Smallville

Part 10: Hell Erupts

Something didn't feel right out in the bleachers. Clark felt a strange vibration, through the seat of his pants. It wasn't the vibration that the train made when it was highballing it along the main line into town, nor was it from truck traffic down Main Street. It wasn't the vibration of a low flying plane, nor was it coming from the race track. It was something totally different, something Clark thought he might have felt before, but couldn't place where. He looked around, but no one else in the stands seemed to notice anything, every one else was busy cheering for one team or the other. Maybe it was his heightened robotic senses that enabled him to notice what he was feeling, if so then it must have been a very weak vibration, and probably nothing to worry about. Except. Except that it was somehow familiar, and it was not a good memory.

Poindexter Drake watched the flow meters as the pumps operated. Considering how much fracking fluid they had pumped into the well head overnight, the amount of oil and gas being captured by the extraction pump was a bit of a disappointment. Either the geologist's estimate of the size of this field was way off, or their well hadn't been exactly on target.

Clyde Coch poured off a sample of the crude into a large beaker and swirled it around.
"This oil is a bit on the thin side, but it still looks like high quality stuff." He told Drake. "I've seen far worse from the many wildcat wells I've put in."

"Yeah but the flow rate is poor." Drake said. "Take a look at the logs, see how much fracking fluid we've pumped into that well? We should be getting twice the flow out of it."

"Maybe." Clyde said. "We might have to relocate the well head. There might be a flaw in the shale down at the level where the well penetrated the deposit. You might not have hit the sweet spot close enough."

"Then were did all the release agents go?" Drake asked.

"We'll have to get the helicopter and do an aerial search of the area." Coch said. "Hopefully you guys can spot where the leak is. Somewhere out there, a fissure in the ground may have opened up, releasing the pressure pumped down below. If you spot what looks like a tar pit, that's our leak."

Bob Sparks was busy moving from one side of the water tower to the other, moving his eye to each of the three telescopes that he had up on the tower gantry walk. He used a portable wireless microphone to report what he was seeing on the air at the local radio station. Bob realized that most of the town was probably somewhere out in the streets, but some of theme were carrying their portable radios with them and were tuned into his broadcast. If you wanted to know what you were missing on the other side of town, you'd be listening to Bob's program on KSVL. As Robert walked on the narrow corrugated metal cat walk he suddenly felt a twinge of instability. It was as if the platform had started to undulate beneath his feet. The feeling quickly dissipated, so Sparks figured it was probably due to a heavy truck going down the street.

Donald Hughes was in the air above the auto race track in his blimp. Behind the pilot's seat were the three camera men from the television stations, and a news reporter with a digital SLR and a long lens. They had a good view of the race, now nearing the 1/4 way point. The makeshift race track was holding up well to the 120 mph traffic of the stock cars with their slick tires.

Tiberius Mooney was a good lap and a half ahead of the driver in second place. His souped up Chevy big block was purring like a kitten, and roaring like a tiger. He was gaining on the car ahead of him, about to increase his lead to two full laps when the Ford he was following suddenly flipped and started rolling across the field. The other cars narrowly avoided colliding with the out of control Ford, when a second automobile disappeared from view at exactly the same spot where the Ford had gone out of control. A large crevasse suddenly opened in the middle of the track, swallowing the second automobile. Mooney braked, spun his steering wheel, and hit the gas in a desperate move to avoid the opening in the track. His left rear tire rode on the very edge of the pit, but he managed to avoid disaster. The driver of the automobile behind him was not so lucky, as that car plunged into the opening right on top of the first.

"Holly Crap!" look at that! Hughes yelled from the cockpit of the blimp. Seconds after the second car fell into the widening opening in the earth, a tongue of flame erupted from the crevasse, making the race track look like a volcano had erupted in the middle of it. Sirens started to wail as the red flags were unfurled on the track by the officials. The remaining contestants managed to slow down and pull over without incident as the race came to a halt.

Up on top of the water tower, Robert Sparks felt the swaying as his perch began to rock back and forth slowly. The up and down undulation that he had felt a few minutes ago started up again, with greater intensity. It now felt like a pile driver was hammering away at the structure and he could visibly see the ground moving below him as the tower rocked a good ten degrees from right to left. In the distance, over by the race track, he could see a column of smoke quickly rising, and could hear the wail of the tracks warning sirens.

Professor Ochanomizu and Reno were walking about on main street, keeping their eyes moving. So far they hadn't spotted Astro, although they realized that he'd probably be dressed in some kind of farmer's clothing. Suddenly they heard the siren wailing in the distance from over by where the auto race was being held. Reno felt the vibration of the ground shaking before the Professor did, and he knew what it was.

"Ochanomizu Hakase, Earthquake!" he yelled out.

The tremor increased. In the distance He they could see the town water tower bouncing around. The radio tower mounted on top of it broke loose and fell toward the ground. Suddenly, panic hit the town, with people running all over the place.

Clark Kent jumped off of the bleachers and landed behind the ball field. He looked around to make sure nobody was looking and ripped off his clothes to reveal the tight fitting Superboy outfit he wore under his farmer brown bib overalls and long sleeve shirt. He quickly exchanged his work shoes for the red boots that were tucked into a pocket in his cape.

Astro took off skyward. Once airborne he saw the water tower, now missing its radio antenna was rocking back and forth beyond the limits of its center of gravity. The tower was falling over. Bob Sparks was hanging over the edge of the railing for dear life. Astro grabbed the tower and pushed it back straight. He grabbed Sparks by his shoulders and lowered the man to the ground a safe distance from the tower.

Reno spotted the costumed hero flying toward the falling water tower. "Hakase, look" he pointed, "That must be Astro!"