Chapter 10
For the last few hours Clark had just felt numb. But it's amazing how quickly you can think when you're numb.
After returning to earth with the Doctor and getting Lana and Lex to Smallville Medical Center, he had been subject to a four hour interrogation with Sheriff Adams. Smart as a fox, he always found it next to impossible to get anything past her. But after not convincing her with a story about the radiation sickness being due to some isotope at Luthorcorp, where he and Lana were Lex's guests tonight, she surprisingly let him go. She never trusted any of his stories, but she always trusted his motives. That's what he kept telling himself as the blackened night time streets of his home town rushed past him.
Upon arriving at the Center, he found Jonathan sipping a cup of coffee in one of the small waiting rooms. "How is she?"
His father looked up at him, his fatal expression being all Clark needed to know. He looked down the corridor to see the white sheets of a hazmat team thrown up around the room where he had left the girl he had loved for so long. His heart sank; he knew they wouldn't let him see her.
It was then that he heard a familiar British accent. "It's just a precaution. You were right to tell them that you thought she had radiation sickness". He whirled around to see the Doctor standing there. He decided he wasn't going to waste any time. "Doctor, you said you were going to tell me".
Slowly the stranger nodded. "Yes. I did".
Jonathan jumped to his feet. "Think I may like to hear the explanation too".
The Doctor turned to the farmer. "Jonathan, I'm sorry, but this is just for me and Clark".
Jonathan took a step forward. "Mister, I'm Clark's father. In the past few hours his best friend's home has been destroyed, his friends have been abducted by who knows what, and the person he cares about most in the world is fighting for her life. He needs me with him".
"But he's also one of the most special people on this planet. Someone with a future before him beyond anything he, you, maybe even I can imagine. There are some things no one should know. Unless they absolutely have to. And you do trust him, don't you?"
"I trust my son more than anyone".
Taking in a sharp breath the Doctor nodded. "Then it's agreed. Clark, there's bound to be an empty field around here somewhere".
Quick as a flash, Clark's figure blurred and once again Jonathan was on his own.
An ominous wind blew through the pitch black Kansas air, rattling the corn stalks in the field that was empty except for two figures. "They'll be back, won't they?" said Clark.
The Doctor gave a grave nod. "Probably. They're probably only not back already because he's still getting accustomed to controlling the whole crew".
"Who's 'he'? Not Pete, I take it. This 'Henshaw' guy you mentioned?"
Another grim affirmative from the Doctor. "Hank Henshaw. American Airforce pilot and astronaut. Wanted to be the first man on Mars, but only today he's gone far further".
"So how come he hates me so much?"
"Because you killed his wife".
"What?!"
"Well, that's what he thinks. A few years from now, he and his wife, Terri, blast off from Cape Canaveral on their mission to the red planet. But something goes wrong. They hit a belt of cosmic radiation that mutates them".
"You mean like the one we saw today?"
"Very similar. Only the first time around, you didn't save them".
"But how could I?"
The Doctor shook his head in admiration. "Because in the future, you are someone so special. A good man with unearthly strength, able to defy gravity, fly in space, and willing to help anyone. Absolutely anyone". The Doctor noticed Clark's wide-eyed, disbelieving stare, but continued anyway. "You're someone it has been my absolute privilege to fight alongside. Anyway, when you heard that the shuttle was in trouble, you flew to them to bring them back. Unfortunately it had already begun to break apart. Henshaw ordered you to save the rest of the crew by moulding a lead casing around them. You did this in the blink of an eye, but you could only salvage enough lead to hold the crew, not the Henshaws themselves. You brought the crew safely back to earth, but by the time you returned to the shuttle, it was too late. Terri Henshaw had died from radiation poisoning from the cosmic wave".
"But why didn't Hank die too?"
"You thought he had. His body was a withered husk, but somehow he managed to transfer his consciousness to the shuttle computer. After you returned the bodies to earth, he managed to fire the retro thrusters and return to his home planet. He built a robotic body for himself and tried to kill you for letting his wife die, but you being you managed to defeat him".
"So how did he get here?"
"I was visiting you in the future with a friend when he reared his ugly head again. He'd infested the computer system in an experimental nuclear power station and threatened to blow up Metropolis if you didn't come to him. You flew the entire power station right into the stratosphere, but the explosion of the new quantum materials created a time corridor that he must have forced his consciousness through. He managed to infect one of the computers in your school, and then transferred his consciousness to your friend. The rest you know".
"No I don't. How did you get here?"
"I'm a Timelord".
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I'm a time traveller. My TARDIS can travel through time as well as space".
"Then why can't we go back and stop this from happening?"
"Because that would be crossing my own timeline. Time can be rewritten but if something like that happened it would be like writing over the same piece of paper with a pencil too many times. Reality would crack".
Tears of frustration began to well in Clark's eyes. "Is that the rule?"
"That's always been the rule".
"You mean the rule of the Timelords? The 'Gallifreyan Way'?"
The Doctor held Clark's shoulders. "Clark, from my point of view I've known you for years. You were an inspiration to me before I even met you, but one day you stopped my TARDIS from falling into a red giant. You were even more surprised than just now when you saw what it looked like on the inside. But we developed a friendship that became very special to me. Not just because of who you were, but because, unlike anyone else, you understood things I thought no one else did?"
"Like what?"
"Like I said, I'm a Timelord. But you understood the dangers of trying to change history. You realised that what you changed could lead to even bigger tragedies".
"And how exactly did I know that?"
"From experience. In your youth – which I suppose is now – you'd tried to do it before".
"Tell me what happened!"
The Doctor had no answer. The rustling of the plants was all that could be heard for the moment, but then the Doctor heard the noise of air filling a vacuum quickly, and knew that he was alone in the field.
When he arrived back in the waiting room, Jonathan stood up to greet him. He knew something was wrong, as his father had tears in his eyes. He threw his arms around his son. "I'm sorry, Clark. They couldn't save her".
Clark closed his eyes and held his father tightly. He felt hot tears flowing down his cheeks and it was a good minute before he looked up again. Through the haze of his own tears, he saw a familiar figure. "Lex?"
"Hi, Clark. Mind telling me what just happened?"