Chapter Two – Facing Destiny
Clark walked down stairs into the storm cellar. Facing him the spaceship was glowing and rays of light were projecting from it into the cellar. He remembered some weeks before when he and his father had introduced the strange rectangular piece that they thought was the spaceship's hard disk inside it the spaceship had activated and talked to them.
"I am Jor-El, your father," said the voice coming from the spaceship.
"My father is dead," Clark answered.
"I am his conscience, his will," proclaimed the voice again, "I am here for you, ask of me your questions."
"Where do I come from?" asked Clark.
"You are Kal-El, the last son of Krypton."
Returning to the present Clark heard the voice again.
"You are destined for great things on this planet, my son. I sent you here with one mission. You must come to me."
"Please, all that I love is here in Smallville," answered Clark.
"Your thoughts are not a mystery to me," said the voice and at these words a hologram of his parents and Lana appeared next to Clark. Clark stretched out his hand to touch Lana's cheek and the hologram turned into a myriad of fragments.
"You have no choice, you must obey me or all that you love will be destroyed," threatened the voice. This made Clark very uncomfortable; he must to stop his father's plans.
"Tomorrow when the sun reaches the highest point in its course, you will come to me."
Finally the light faded and Clark felt better. He decided to try to destroy the spaceship using the kryptonite hexagonal key that Lionel had engineered to try to activate the caves. He must talk with Pete, his sidekick, and ask him for help. Also, he didn't want his parents to know about his intentions, because he thought they might not approve of them.
Clark rushed out from the storm cellar but stopped when he found Chloe standing next to the entrance.
"What was that voice?" asked Chloe confused.
Clark remembered their talk in the evening, and that Chloe wanted to see the spaceship, but now was not the time. "I have no time Chloe; I need to talk with Pete."
"Pete?" asked Chloe confused, "about what?"
"About my biological father"
"Why Pete and not me?" she asked.
"Chloe seriously, I have no time," he said defensively as he started to walk away from her,
But Chloe gently gripped his arm making him stay.
"Okay, he's been helping me for a long time. And he'll help me without questions."
"What happened, Clark? I can help you with it, you know," Chloe offered. "Clark, I'd never… I could never betray you. But I need you to trust me."
"Chloe, please."
"Is it your spaceship that made those lights and sounds?" asked Chloe.
"But Chloe…"
"Please, show me your spaceship."
Clark gently took Chloe's hand in his and guided her downstairs into the storm cellar. Seeing the spaceship, Chloe walked to it and touched it gently with one hand.
"It's so smooth," she said looking at the spaceship, her eyes wide with amazement.
"And dangerous," explained Clark. "This spaceship asked me to go away from Smallville."
"Uh no! Clark it would ruin all my projects for this summer."
"Chloe I am trying to deal with a major problem and you're only thinking of yourself," protested Clark.
"I'm thinking of us, Clark."
"There isn't any 'us', Chloe."
"Well maybe not now, but it will change soon," said Chloe with a smile.
She walked towards him, putting a hand on his chest, looked up and smiled at him. "What is his name?" she asked.
"The name of your biological father, I want to ask him why you must leave Smallville."
"Are you crazy? We don't know what this is able to do. It could hurt you."
"But I have no fear. Please Clark this is the most amazing experience I can imagine. Let me talk with him. I promise to be careful."
"No, Chloe."
"Why not? I want to help you."
"But I don't want you to take risks."
"Clark, taking some risks was part of my plan for this summer anyways. And you need help; maybe I can get your father to see the things from your point of view. Please, Clark what is his name?"
Clark was confused. He knew that Chloe talking with Jor-El wasn't a good idea. He was also sure Jor-El wouldn't want to talk to her. So he finally gave in to Chloe's insistence. "Jor-El" he said in a low voice so that the spaceship wouldn't activate.
"Jor-El!" shouted Chloe.
Suddenly the spaceship glowed again, floated a few inches above the ground and opened.
"Who is this that knows my name?" asked a strong impersonal voice that reverberated throughout the cellar.
"I am Chloe Sullivan, a friend of your son. I want to know why he must leave Smallville."
"This is a question between my son and me, you cannot know."
Chloe was frustrated, so she tried another way, "Okay, do you know what a friend is?"
"Yes," answered Jor-El in a cold voice.
"Your son is my best friend and you want him to face something, I want to help him with it." Chloe changed her tone to a disinterested one "but if you aren't interested…"
Her plan seemed to produce some result; Jor-El answered her question. "Kal-El must be apart from humans to start his voyage."
"What voyage?" Chloe asked fearlessly.
"He has a mission on Earth."
"And this is?" asked Chloe.
"You cannot know, only Kal-El."
"I think that Clark, sorry, Kal-El doesn't want this mission."
"He has no choice. He is destined; if he does not obey me all that he loves will be destroyed."
"One moment, what kind of father are you?" asked Chloe fearlessly.
"You are human. Humans are weak and selfish you cannot understand the mind of a superior being."
"Superior, huh?" said Chloe sarcastically. "He is with me now. If you want him to do something for you, tell us what it is and we will give you an answer. If not I have more important things to do tonight."
Jor-El didn't answer for some time, but the spaceship remained activated. Chloe turned around and started walking to the stairs. She took Clark by the arm guiding him to follow her. They started to walk side by side out from the cellar, but they only made it a few steps away when Jor-El spoke again.
"You are brave, Chloe Sullivan, facing the unknown. I think that you could help my son in his voyage. I will reveal to you this information, but on one condition."
"What condition?"
"You cannot reveal this information to anyone under any circumstance, even if your life is at risk. If you betray this agreement you will die. Think well upon it Chloe Sullivan. You have seen only a few of my powers, do not doubt I can kill you if you betray me."
"I accept," answered Chloe without fear.
"No!" shouted Clark walking to her. "Please Chloe don't risk yourself in this way."
But it was too late because Joe-El started his speech, "My son must search for three stones that were hidden on this planet in ancient times by Kryptonian travelers, and take them to the caves. Then his real voyage will start."
"The caves? What relation do the caves have to this?" asked Chloe.
"The caves were, in the past, a connection between my world and Earth. This connection was broken before I sent Kal-El here, but in the caves remains the key for my son to start his voyage."
"And where can he find these stones?"
"These stones were hidden in the most remote extremes of the Earth to avoid someone putting them together. The travelers, who made the stones as a backup of our civilization's culture, ensured that these ancient civilizations worshipped these objects as sacred and hid them from human eyes."
"And how could Kal-El find them?"
"I do not know, I have given you all the information I have. This is his mission, his voyage; I cannot help him more because I do not know."
"And why didn't you tell it to him?"
"Because he challenged me, he refused to accept his mission, his destiny."
"Because of Lana?" asked Chloe, sure she had guessed correctly.
"You know my son well," answered Jor-El with a little pride in his voice.
"Don't worry Jor-El, I will ensure your son accomplishes his mission."
"Jor-El," called Clark. "You tested Chloe; you can see that she is trustful. Withdraw your threat."
"I cannot do so, my son. It is very important information and she cannot reveal it to anyone under any circumstance."
"But you can't threaten her life. She only asked you to help me. Please, withdraw your threat, I can't live if she dies… if she dies, I want to die too."
"You didn't tell me that she is your match."
"What do you mean?"
"The woman who you love, who you will spend your life with. I thought this was Lana."
Clark remained silent for a moment he still loved Lana, but he loved Chloe in some way, he just wasn't sure how. In this moment, seeing her life at risk he can't decide, and can't say that he didn't love her. Also he knew that Jor-El knew about his feelings… he hesitated before saying "Yes, I love her."
"While you love her, she is safe. I cannot kill the match of my son. I think that you could not choose better."
"Please Jor-El, withdraw your threat."
But the spaceship slowly turned off and the glow faded. Clark knew what this meant; he wouldn't be able to speak more with Jor-El. He turned slowly to Chloe.
Chloe was speechless, but only for a few seconds. When she spoke again she did it with high excitement.
"Clark. I talked with an alien who died some years ago, it's amazing! I think that this summer will be better than I planned. Think about it, Clark! You and me traveling throughout the world, searching for these stones, you with your incredible force and me with my Google."
"I don't want to wake you up from your beautiful dream, Chloe, but we don't know anything about these stones," observed Clark.
"Well according to what Jor-El said to us, they are hidden by ancient civilizations in distant places of the world… I am thinking the Egyptian, the Chinese and the Mayan civilizations right now. All we need to do is to research it on the Internet, Clark! Something likes ancient archaeological objects with mysterious origin. Maybe some strange facts or myths and legends about them can guide us too."
Chloe remained a moment silent and then added "and according to what you said to Jor-El, you love me."
"Yes, as a friend."
"As a friend? Oh… I won't want to live if she dies… It's so sweet, Clark, you would've won my heart if you hadn't already. You love me, Clark. You just need to take your Lana blinders off in order to see it.
Chloe looked at him and Clark didn't say anything to her so she added. "If I must tell someone this information I hope you still love me… or I'll die."
Clark delicately touched her cheek with his hand, "I am sorry, I never wanted to put you in danger. It has made me more sure of my decision. I must talk with Pete."
"What decision?" asked Chloe confused.
"I am thinking about destroying the spaceship. I think that I know a way to do it."
Chloe face turned to concern. "What? Are you crazy? This spaceship is your father… or his memory… you can't destroy it… it would be like killing your father," she protested.
"But Chloe we don't know anything about my parents, about their civilization. What if they sent me to conquer the Earth for them? I don't know what this spaceship is able to do. So I think the best thing is to destroy it before it has a chance to hurt the people I love."
"Clark you can't destroy the only proof of alien technology that we have. You don't understand that people have asked for centuries if there is other civilizations in the Universe and this is the answer. We can learn a lot from the spaceship; maybe all the problems of humanity would be solved by studying this spaceship."
"But it would mean that my secret would be revealed."
"It has no relation to you. If you don't want to reveal your secret you could delay telling people about it, but destroying it is very different than hiding it. Also it is special to me, you come to our world in this spaceship, to me!" said Chloe smiling and walking again to the spaceship.
"Chloe this isn't the right time for romanticism."
"Clark I love you, it's always the right time for romanticism."
"Chloe, please be serious, we are facing a big problem."
"We must talk about it with your parents and Pete," said Chloe.
"Chloe I don't want my parents to know about it. They might not understand."
"But you can't travel the world without your parents knowing."
"Chloe I don't have any intention of traveling the world. I want to stay here with Lana. I must destroy this spaceship. Do you want to help me?"
"Clark, because of Lana, you want to destroy this amazing machine. You don't know what kinds of things it's able to do."
"Well, it cured my mother, when she and I were ill," explained Clark.
Chloe face darkened at the memory of Clark being ill. Not only because he had rejected her again after she had opened up her heart to him, but more so because she had lived the fear of losing him.
"More reasons for you not to destroy it," she said sincerely.
"But Chloe…"
"Come on, Clark. Come with me to talk with your parents. Everything will be fine."
Clark and Chloe walked into the house and found his parents there. Jonathan was on the couch looking at some papers in his lap and there were more papers spread out over the coffee table. Martha was in the kitchen preparing dinner.
"Mom, Dad, I must tell you something," started Clark.
His father looked up from his papers and his mother turned to him.
"Chloe knows my secret."
His parents got concerned. Jonathan's face darkened and he started to talk. "I don't know what the reason for Clark explaining it to you was, Chloe. But you must understand that you can't tell it to anyone."
Chloe chuckled "Sorry, Mr. Kent. Clark and I are friends, best friends, and I would never betray him. I know it's potentially dangerous information to know, but I am glad to know it and be here for him."
"Yes, I know, Chloe," Jonathan answered and continued, "I know that you are a good friend but this is more than a friendship issue. You are at risk knowing it and Clark is also more at risk when more people know." Then he looked to Clark, "You must tell us before making this decision, son."
"Dad… It wasn't my decision…" said Clark a little defensively.
"Mr. Kent, Clark wasn't himself when I learned about him. He was affected by something."
"Himself or not he must take responsibility for what happened."
Clark was afraid to continue talking after seeing his father so angry with him. But he knew that Chloe wouldn't permit him to not tell his parents and so he thought it might be better to finish telling his father as soon as possible.
"Dad… there is something else… tonight the spaceship activated again and told me that I must leave Smallville or all that I love will be destroyed. I was trying to do something about it when Chloe came and insisted that she should talk with the spaceship herself and Jor-El told her that my mission is to travel the world in search of some stones from Krypton and put them together in the caves."
"You can't go traveling the world in search of some stupid stones just because a voice from the spaceship said you should." Jonathan said angrily. He was worried about his son as always when he heard from Jor-El. They didn't know Jor-El's intentions and everything that they learned until then wasn't hopeful.
"Sorry, Mr. Kent. You know that this spaceship is more powerful than we can imagine. And we can't know what kinds of things it could do. It could even force Clark to do what it wants, or injure someone trying to use it. I think it's better to take its words seriously," proposed Chloe.
"I am not sure what to think, but Clark is only a boy. He can't go alone traveling the world searching for some stones for Jor-El," answered Jonathan.
"He doesn't need to go alone, Pete and I could go with him, and help him in this, Mr. Kent," replied Chloe.
As soon as Chloe finished her sentence, Clark heard the kitchen door opening and turned towards it. In front of them was Lana, standing next to the door and looking at them.
-tbc-