*It's good to be President.* Under various threats, he'd stopped saying that to Pete, but that couldn't keep him from saying it to himself nearly every time he took advantage of another perk of office. In this case, it was having access to the National Air and Space Museum during its officially closed hours, any time he felt like it.
It was the place where he could see the record of human attempts to understand and explore the profound mysteries of space. Even if during his first private visit, the first thing he went to look at was the original model of the *Enterprise.* He'd confessed that to Pete, who had shook his head pityingly and said, "Once a geek, always a geek," adding, after a long pause, "Mr. President."
Having friends like that, he'd discovered, meant never being completely alone. Even if they weren't in the same physical location, even if he hadn't seen them for weeks, he only had to think of them to sense their presence, their reactions, their thoughts.
In the museum, the shadow of the teenager who had so often scanned the night heavens with his telescope was very close. Sometimes he wondered if these friendships were somehow Clark's last gift to him. His inheritance. As if Clark had known what would happen and wanted to leave him with the one thing that would dull and smooth the edges of the sharp pain of his absence. For all of them.
He'd have given nearly anything to be able to share this place with Clark. Clark would have loved it, absorbed it eagerly. But even without Clark, he wasn't lonely here.
The sound of a footfall behind him startled him out of his reverie.
"Mr. President."
"Doctor." Lex didn't have to look to identify him. Dr. Arkin's voice was unmistakable, naturally deep but kept from heaviness by the crisp lilt of his Bermudan accent. He turned and shook the astronomer's hand.
As far as Lex was concerned, the museum housed its very own terrestrial mystery: Did Arkin ever go home? Or did he shut himself up in one of his own exhibit cases or possibly take a sleeping bag into one of the many pods and shuttles? Lex had yet to be in the museum, at any hour of the day or night, without the curator coming over to greet him. It was only his respect for the man's massive dignity that kept him from asking--they were on amiable terms but Arkin seemed to keep everybody at arm's length.
"Ah, yes." Arkin nodded at the case Lex had been standing next to. It held simulations of the rocks which had fallen from a comet, which had harbored living viruses. "And what if they had been sentient? What to do then?"
Nearly every time he had encountered the astronomer, Arkin had asked a variant of the same question. Each time, Lex had once realized, his own answer had been slightly different. Most of his predecessors in his office had shown the passing of time through whitening hair. He supposed that since he wasn't able to manage that, his evolving answers marked the impact of the difficult decisions, the sleepless nights. Rather than becoming more involved over time, they had become simpler. "To respond in kind. If it wanted just to learn about us, to let it and to learn from it."
"If it wanted conquest?"
Lex smiled faintly. "To kick its galactic ass."
Arkin smiled in return, acknowledging the underlying determination to protect the world whose destiny he had the power to mold. "And what if it wanted only to find a refuge, to be left in peace to live out its life?"
Lex looked at the models again. "As much as I'd want to study it...if that was what it truly wanted, and if it meant no harm to anybody, to give it that." That was the first time he had come to that conclusion and at Arkin's contemplative gaze, he felt as though the other man was coming to a decision.
"Mr. President, will you come with me?"
AN:
Yes, Arkin is a variant on Dr. Swann's character!
It was the place where he could see the record of human attempts to understand and explore the profound mysteries of space. Even if during his first private visit, the first thing he went to look at was the original model of the *Enterprise.* He'd confessed that to Pete, who had shook his head pityingly and said, "Once a geek, always a geek," adding, after a long pause, "Mr. President."
Having friends like that, he'd discovered, meant never being completely alone. Even if they weren't in the same physical location, even if he hadn't seen them for weeks, he only had to think of them to sense their presence, their reactions, their thoughts.
In the museum, the shadow of the teenager who had so often scanned the night heavens with his telescope was very close. Sometimes he wondered if these friendships were somehow Clark's last gift to him. His inheritance. As if Clark had known what would happen and wanted to leave him with the one thing that would dull and smooth the edges of the sharp pain of his absence. For all of them.
He'd have given nearly anything to be able to share this place with Clark. Clark would have loved it, absorbed it eagerly. But even without Clark, he wasn't lonely here.
The sound of a footfall behind him startled him out of his reverie.
"Mr. President."
"Doctor." Lex didn't have to look to identify him. Dr. Arkin's voice was unmistakable, naturally deep but kept from heaviness by the crisp lilt of his Bermudan accent. He turned and shook the astronomer's hand.
As far as Lex was concerned, the museum housed its very own terrestrial mystery: Did Arkin ever go home? Or did he shut himself up in one of his own exhibit cases or possibly take a sleeping bag into one of the many pods and shuttles? Lex had yet to be in the museum, at any hour of the day or night, without the curator coming over to greet him. It was only his respect for the man's massive dignity that kept him from asking--they were on amiable terms but Arkin seemed to keep everybody at arm's length.
"Ah, yes." Arkin nodded at the case Lex had been standing next to. It held simulations of the rocks which had fallen from a comet, which had harbored living viruses. "And what if they had been sentient? What to do then?"
Nearly every time he had encountered the astronomer, Arkin had asked a variant of the same question. Each time, Lex had once realized, his own answer had been slightly different. Most of his predecessors in his office had shown the passing of time through whitening hair. He supposed that since he wasn't able to manage that, his evolving answers marked the impact of the difficult decisions, the sleepless nights. Rather than becoming more involved over time, they had become simpler. "To respond in kind. If it wanted just to learn about us, to let it and to learn from it."
"If it wanted conquest?"
Lex smiled faintly. "To kick its galactic ass."
Arkin smiled in return, acknowledging the underlying determination to protect the world whose destiny he had the power to mold. "And what if it wanted only to find a refuge, to be left in peace to live out its life?"
Lex looked at the models again. "As much as I'd want to study it...if that was what it truly wanted, and if it meant no harm to anybody, to give it that." That was the first time he had come to that conclusion and at Arkin's contemplative gaze, he felt as though the other man was coming to a decision.
"Mr. President, will you come with me?"
AN:
Yes, Arkin is a variant on Dr. Swann's character!