I should be proud. I have every right to be. I was the first African-American to be appointed to this company's board of directors. I am the only black CEO this company has had-one of only a handful in the U.S. and the only one to run a Fortune Global 500 company. I have a corner office on the 75th floor, an eight-foot mahogany desk (a gift from the NAACP and presented to me by the Rev. Jesse Jackson)—
"Mr. Fox your 11 o'clock is here."
— my own secretary. So why am I not satisfied? It's not the name. At least that's what I tell myself. Just because my name isn't on the logo doesn't mean that it's not my company. But I still stand here looking north, out the window towards Robinson Park and see the cars at a standstill on the streets below, and I find myself just as jealous of them as they are of me. Which, to me, means only one thing: I've forgotten why I do this job.
Hamilton opened the heavy oak door to the CEO's office and saw a man many regarded as a pit bull facing the window with his shoulders hunched.
"Quite an impressive view, Mr. Fox."
"One of the perks of being CEO, Dr. Hamilton. Have a seat. I assume you're here to give me your report?"
"Yes, sir."
"Well do you think I could see it?"
"Sorry, sir. Of course."
He handed the thick sheaf of papers across the desk. Fox skimmed over the first few pages of the report. It read like a cross between a physics and chemistry textbook. Fox sees Hamilton's potential, and is disappointed in what he's become. Once a prominent black researcher and educator, he was now being blackmailed by Luthorcorp because of a careless fling with a student. His own indiscretion forced him to move to the middle of nowhere and hock fake meteor rocks so he could support himself while he studied the real ones. Now Hamilton had the audacity to doublecross Lionel Luthor, and bring this information to Luthorcorp's prime competition.
"This is impressive, but it may as well be written in Greek. Care to give a brief synopsis?"
"Yes sir. From what I can determine the samples are the salt of an oxyacid of-"
"English, Dr. Hamilton. Not Greek. "
Fox was a career businessman and had little patience for scientists impressed by their own techno-babble.
"Very sorry, Mr. Fox. The samples are composed of various metals such as iron, copper and tin fused with a chemically combined structure of hydrogen, oxygen and a radioactive form of krypton gas. There are, however, several problems with this composition. First the concentration of krypton in these samples is impossibly high. One gram of this stuff has more krypton than all the air in this building. Also, this krypton has a molecular weight that's never before been observed in nature. Then there's the composition itself. These gasses would never naturally combine with these metals."
"Are you saying these rocks are manmade?"
"Well, Mr. Fox, yes and no. The krypton could possibly be the byproduct of a fission reaction, but it's highly unlikely. I've also determined that these elements were combined by nuclear fusion, which makes them definitely not manmade."
"Hamilton, if they aren't manmade and they don't occur naturally then how'd they come to exist?"
"My best guess—the collapse of a star. It's the only feasible explanation for nuclear fusion of the scale required to manufacture these rocks reaching solid matter."
"You're saying that some distant star collapsed and in the process destroyed a planet and created these rock samples? Forgive my skepticism Doctor, but even comic books aren't this far-fetched."
"I understand, sir. I do have other evidence to support my theory. The meteors also contained rock very similar to the Earth's crust. In these samples I found the strongest evidence to support my theory—microfossils. Sir, I can say definitively that these meteors were the remnants of a planet—one that held at least the basic forms of life."
"This is just the kind of proof those Roswell nuts have been looking for."
"Exactly, sir. There is another property exhibited by the samples. As I said, the krypton is radioactive. However, the radiation emitted by the samples is apparently harmless to humans. I can't be sure but I believe our immunity is linked to the sun's UV rays. Now, there have been some reports of strange occurrences linked to the meteors, but I believe these people were bombarded with massive amounts of the radiation. If I'm correct, these samples could conceivably be used as a safe alternative to uranium."
"Doctor, I appreciate your suggestion, but the potential use of such a substance is not our primary concern."
"Dr. Hamilton, how confident are you in your results?" Hamilton snapped his head around to see the owner of this new voice. Out of the corner stepped a man who appeared to Hamilton to be six feet tall, around 200 pounds, and no older than twenty. He took a seat next to the doctor. The doctor stammered for a moment, but he eventually got his answer out. "Ninety percent, sir."
Hamilton couldn't tell if he was more startled by the fact that this man had been behind him watching the entire meeting or if it was just the man.
"Did Lionel Luthor ever mention why he was so interested in this stuff?"
"I never spoke to Lionel Luthor, sir. It was Lex who put me up to this. And no, he never mentioned why. Apparently, someone else had told him of my work with the meteor rocks. He came to my shop one day and offered me money in return for any information I could give him about the rocks."
"So you've told someone else about the rocks?"
"Well, there was a girl poking around a few times. She was trying to do an article for her high school newspaper."
"Did this newspaper girl have a name?"
"Chloe Sullivan, sir."
"Alright, this information goes no further. Dr. Hamilton, you've done the right thing by coming to us. When the time is right, you will receive a position at S.T.A.R. Labs as promised. In the meantime you are to return to Smallville. Luthor cannot know this information nor can we allow him to suspect anything is amiss. Lucius, talk to our new district attorney. Luthorcorp is rumored to have had dealings with organized crime. Perhaps Mr. Dent can shake down a few informants and get us something."
"What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to pay a visit to Smallville. Now, if that's all you have for us Doctor, you should go. Get back home as quickly as possible."
"Yes, sir. Thank you, gentlemen."
Hamilton left the room and the two executives continued their conversation.
"This guy has obviously done his homework. It appears as though he's been studying these rocks almost since they got here," the voice said.
"He comes across as an obsessed lunatic. Did you know he's even named this stuff? He's calling it Kryptonite."
"There's nothing wrong with obsession, Lucius. Don't knock it 'till you try it."
"I just remembered something," Fox said and grinned.
"What's that?"
"Why I do this job."