Chapter 10 "Harsh, but Life"
Notes: A week has passed. It's July, 25.
Warnings: uh...someone calls himself an a**hole and Kara makes an illustration of some kryptonian realities that some may disagree with. I enjoyed thinking them as well as their role at explaining things in a "logical" way. Any kind of feedback will be welcome, as usual. Enjoy.
*****
"Lane, Kent, office!"
Perry's voice traveled its way through the busy bullpen from his office.
"Well, I see Perry's throat is back, and as good as ever," mumbled Lois.
"We better go before we get yelled at again."
They both stood up and went to the office.
"You know?," said Lois, "I miss the basement days, when if somebody from upstairs wanted to talk to you, they had to use the phone."
Clark merely snorted at her statement, making Lois turn her head questioningly. "What?"
"You don't miss the basement days, Lois," he remarked.
"You're right, I don't."
"And FYI, he does yell through the phone too."
"Does he?"
"You don't talk to the people downstairs very often, do you?"
"Is it that obvious?"
Clark didn't have time to reply, Lois was already entering the editor's office, only to stop abruptly in front of a young redhead staring back at them smiling.
"James Bartholomew Olsen," the young man said extending his hand. "But you can call me Jimmy."
If you didn't know Lois Lane, her smile and quick handshake to the newcomer would be regarded as a professional and normal act of acknowledging somebody. If you were Clark Kent, one of the few fortunate people to whom Lois Lane opened herself to, you'd know that those gestures and her quick apology to go back to work were nothing but a fruitless attempt to hide a mixture of shock, sadness and pain.
"Pleased to meet you, Jimmy. I'm Clark," he said returning the handshake. "Excuse Lois, when she's busy with a story--"
"Oh, no worries, Mr. Kent," he said cheerfully, "I understand."
"Kent, do me a favor and show him around, I want this kid to know where the coffee machine is ASAP."
"Of course, Perry," said Clark, turning back and stumbling with the same chair he stumbled on every time he went into his office.
"Sorry," he said. "I can't seem to avoid this chair, it seems," he added sheepishly, not oblivious at all at Perry's rolled eyes.
Who seemed blind about everything except for his merry mood was the young photographer, who turned to Perry before leaving with Clark. "Thanks again for the opportunity, chief," he said enthusiastically shaking Perry's hand.
"Oh, for crying out loud, not another one!" Perry protested.
Clark and Jimmy got out of the office. Clark noticed Lois was not on her chair.
Jimmy's question interrupted his thought. "What did the chief mean by that?" he asked a little worried.
"He doesn't like to be called chief."
"Oh, gosh, I'll try to remember that!" he enthusiastically apologized. "Thanks for telling me, Mr. Kent."
"Don't worry. And call me Clark."
"Of course! Sorry, Mr. Clark!"
Would there be a point in saying that he had meant just 'Clark'? Observing him, Clark decided there wouldn't.
"I guess I'm nervous, first day and all," he continued. His enthusiasm covered any fear the boy might harbor. "Oh, it's going to be great working with you, Mr. White told me I'd be assigned to City; I have to be honest with you, Mr. Clark: I have a deep admiration for Miss Lane, I hope she likes me."
Clark managed a smile. "I'm sure she will. Listen, Ja--Jimmy." Clark realized how hard it was to say that name. "I have to check on something. Would you mind having a walk around on your own for a while? I suggest you go downstairs, they have a pretty neat camera collection on the ground floor, I'm sure you'll like to have a look there."
"Jolly! That would be great! Thanks, Mr. Clark!"
Jimmy went down, leaving Clark with an odd sensation inside. The resemblance with his older brother was striking. As his keenness. A sad smile took space in his face, remembering Jimmy's face when he confirmed him he was the red-blue blur. That smile, just hours away from his dead. Chloe didn't talk much about their last moments together, but secretly Clark hoped there were happy memories within her. That somehow, beyond the outcome, beyond the pain, Chloe held that smile he hoped she got to see once more as a sweet and warm memory. Because if Jimmy ever smiled those last moments, it would have been because of her. Thanks to her.
Once the kid was out of sight, he focused his hearing.
Her heartbeat took him towards the restrooms. The single sound showed that she was alone. He gently pushed the door open and entered.
"Lois?"
Once he stepped inside he could see her drying her face. "Clark, this is the ladies room."
"I know. I don't care."
He approached her and kissed her forehead, examining her eyes for traces of tears. There were not, but only because he knew she had probably fought hard not to.
"It's just...somehow it caught me off guard," she quietly spoke. Clark didn't say anything. He just held her in his arms. "Some reporter, uh?"
"Best there is," he whispered.
Lois let herself lost in his arms. "It must be my damn hormones," she said trying to excuse her sudden change of mood.
"It must be the fact that this makes you hurt," he gently corrected. "And it's all right, Lois. I'm here for you." Clark looked at her and she reached for his lips.
"I know," she said after kissing him. "And I was the one helping having him here, even if it's just on probation, but I can't seem to be able to take Jimmy's face out of my mind."
"Me neither," he confessed. "But, try to see the fact that he wanted to be here, and you made it happen."
"At the potential cost of my sanity, at this pace."
Clark reflected on her words. "There's a lot in your mind right now, isn't it?"
She nodded, but she tried to shove away the importance, like she used to do. "Chris, baby, ghosts from the past...nah, just a regular day at the office."
Clark tightened his embrace, not really wanting to let go. "It will be alright, Lois. Somehow it will be."
"I know, Smallville. But the journey doesn't plan to be a piece of cake."
"Somehow I don't think you'd enjoy it that way."
He blessed whatever spoken words made her chuckle.
"You're right, farmboy. It wouldn't. So let's enjoy this bumpy road properly," she said while she looked at him as if expecting something.
"Which means..."
"That you bend over and kiss me silly, clueless mild-mannered reporter."
***
Kara had been a good help. It was obvious by the outer constitution of both genders in kryptonians that they were biologically designed as mammals, and their bodies pretty much functioned as the human did. The breasts in kryptonian women had the same purpose as in humans, and by Kara's description of her aunt Lara's pregnancy, the process seemed very close to a human one.
The scans had showed however a different structure that explained why Clark's sperm wasn't able to find the way inside a human body. Kryptonian women did not have functioning oviducts: the conduct connecting ovaries and womb had been altered. By kryptonians themselves, seriously hampering reproduction. Kara had calmly explained Emil the reasons. The scientific logic behind that ablation didn't vanish the emotional wrench Emil felt.
*
"The Krypton I knew was the result of millennia of systematic destruction of nature, Dr. Hamilton," she said. "Of exhaustion of subterranean sites of energy and mineral sources, of destruction of forests and of an overdevelopment of huge cities, growing uncontrolled under the banner of so-called progress."
Emil stood silent.
"The Krypton I knew," she continued, "and generations had known before me, was an artificial planet, existing only by means of sheer survival of a few oasis, and artificially re-created primary products."
To her it was the most normal thing, Emil told himself in a stern effort to understand the coldness of her telling. It had been her reality. She had grown up with it. She had not known anything else.
Yet it hurt.
"We were alive only because the same science that had destroyed our ancient natural wealth, had the resources to keep us alive, both as a civilization and living beings. But the damage had been too big, and only my uncle Jor-el, Clark's father, had been brave enough to accept that they had hurt their home to the core."
"How did that affect your reproductive system?," Emil attempted to ask.
Kara stood silent a few seconds, and he wondered if he had gone too far in his asking. But she continued. She was doing this for her family, and Emil understood how important was that for her. But telling someone about the cruel population control laws you lived in, norms that left you barren, probably for life...It was one thing to choose. But this was something completely different.
"You must understand, Dr. Hamilton, that Kryptonian population could never be one person over the quantity of resources available. It was a question of survival within an equal society, and nobody questioned that."
"Equal society?"
"There was a hierarchical structure to keep the order, but hunger, poverty and social differences were something unbeknown to us. The thought of its existence was intolerable. I never questioned that law," she said.
"It doesn't make it any easier," he replied in sympathy.
Kara smiled. "It happened centuries before my birth. It never bothered me much."
"So what happened?"
"Kryptonians started to modify the female reproduction system."
"To mutate it?," he asked. Kara nodded. "And there was no conflict?"
"We couldn't grow back the resources we had destroyed, and the animal and plant species that had survived were highly protected in order to make them grow again," she said. "But the landscape had been forever changed, so the species not adapting to arid areas were doomed to confined and isolated populations. Kryptonians knew and understood that from a very early age. It was how it was. You don't question this things, Dr. Hamilton. You just act accordingly so you can live." Kara saw his discomfort. "I can continue another day if you wish," she gently offered.
Emil reacted, he was acting like an asshole. He gathered his thoughts, reminded him why they were doing it and apologized. "No, Miss-- "
"Just Kara."
"I'm sorry, I was...I was a bit more carried away than I should have. Please, do continue."
"Some scientists came up with a gen that when injected into women would start a process of retraction of the...how do you call them? They connect the ovaries with the womb."
"Fallopian tubes."
"That's right. This gen had a controlled spatial mutation range, so it would only affect this conduct, not the rest of the reproductive system, internal or external," she remarked. However, looking at Emil's clueless face she realized that she had been too explicit in her explanation, so she elaborated further. "Kryptonians had their physical aesthetics deeply imprinted, as well as their physiological gender differences, despite the laws" she said.
The continuous use of the past tense whenever she referred to her people didn't escape Emil's ears.
Kara continued her explanations oblivious to Emil's reflections.
"They didn't want genetic alterations to affect women's conceptions of themselves. Breasts were seen by kryptonians as an identity agent and essential organ, and given their historical background, for women it meant their affirmation that they were the ones feeding the children: it was a feral reaction to the accepted castration."
Emil knew how much Lois complained about the kryptonian's cold mind, especially when referring to Kara and Jor-el. He had assumed it was because it made them cold people, watching the world through an unhealthy lens. It was obvious that neither her nor Clark knew about this reality, but the doctor wondered that maybe Lois sensed the stoicism, not the coldness attached to them, and that was what really made her mad. Because she knew kryptonians could feel far more than Kara allowed herself to. The way Kara was describing that harsh reality, as a scientist whether it was a medic or an almost anthropological explanation had nothing to do with the view Clark had of reality. Never delusional, but real. Yet somehow full of warmth, of a complete truth about facts and people that seem to go beyond human comprehension. So secretly he hoped that Lois and Lana, who had become very close with her, could someday knock some humanity in her, and make her belong.
"I take it that the change was permanent?"
Kara nodded. "In twelve generations the retracted organ was naturally inherited by all girls born."
And Kara was no exception.
"Only a number of women were allowed to procreate each generation. The Population Management kryptonian law had an age of reproduction set," she explained. "Every woman reaching that age went into a process of selection, given the case that she was willing to have a child, and if she was qualified, her body would be readjusted only to be altered again once she had given birth and it was certified that the baby was fine and would live." She smiled. "My aunt Lara was selected."
"But you weren't."
"Oh, I knew I met the standards. I just hadn't reached the reproduction age when Krypton exploded and I was placed in the ship."
*
Words demolished.
Kara had concealed Clark that harsh reality of their planet, because Emil knew he would hurt despite her efforts to hide it behind a varnish of science. She had also told him that due to the alteration of their bodies, conceiving children had become difficult. Sperm, used to find an abrupt end, didn't seem to be able to know where to go once they had a new path to choose. Half joking she'd talked about those silly tadpoles preventing her to have a little cousin.
That had helped. So most successful conceptions in kryptonians had been through IV techniques. And of course, Kryptonians had not been willing to change that because it had turned out to be an added means of reproduction control. As for how would a kryptonian-human hybrid developed inside a human womb, she didn't have a clue. That was a thing for Emil to find. And only under the condition that Lois' life would not be put in danger, had been her final remark. A condition they all, maybe except Lois herself, agreed upon.
That whole background gave Emil a newborn respect and admiration at the stoic woman, taken as an adult out of a dying planet and doomed to extinction once she died. When all in all, our existence was meant to keep us alive with no other utter motive but reproduction.
But now he had some solid ground to work on. If he found a way for the sperm to be compatible with a human egg, they would only have to lead them.
Far-fetched, he knew. But he had learnt to believe in the impossible long ago.
Most realizations of the existing laws of nature had come up with random events and unseen evidences realized much later. Newton and the apple, Darwin and the finches...
Emil got to work hoping to find his own unsuspected compass.
***
His pacing from one end to the other enhanced his words. "This is madness, Dad."
"Chris, we've talked about it...," said Clark trying to reason with the teenager.
"Yes, I know, but try and stay encased in a fortress for two weeks when you're actually free."
"I thought you went out with Diana almost everyday," said Clark.
"It's not the same."
No, it wasn't. Diana's plane enabled Chris to get out of the Watchtower protected, but it still was an enclosed space.
That wasn't flying.
"It's not the real thing," Chris said.
Indeed, it wasn't.
"I know, Chris, but it is for your own protection."
"Dad, I understand that. I know that going to Metropolis would be like...well, Mom wouldn't approve, but--"
"Ok."
Chris looked at Clark not understanding. "Ok what?"
Clark sighed. "You're right, this is unfair to you, maybe we are being overprotective," reasoned Clark.
Chris didn't hide the surprise in his face. "You are?"
"Going back to Earth is out of the question, but I guess...I guess a little walk won't get us killed." The slightest of smiles curved his lips.
"I promise not to tell Mom."
"You better. Otherwise I'll say it was your fault."
"Dad, you're the best!," said Chris jumping towards him.
"Ok, then," said Clark. "A quick flight, above the clouds, we go, we come."
*
Soon, father and son were flying over the skies of Africa. Chris looked below.
"Dad, I know you said above the clouds...," he started.
"We are on a safety altitude, son, don't worry," said Clark.
"We're heading North."
"So?"
"We're about to fly over the biggest desert on Earth. Here the trade winds blow away the clouds, so it's not really over the clouds, right?...On the other hand, I don't think camels will tell anyone about us."
Clark couldn't help but laugh. "Alright. Let's go East."
"Until Australia?," he tried.
To no avail.
"Mongolia tops, Chris, I have to get back to--" Suddenly Clark stopped dead, making Chris nearly hit him.
"What's wrong, Dad?"
Chris only saw Clark's concerned frown and focused eyes on him. A little frustration and the very characteristic tilt his head made when he was trying to listen to something. Then, an order, and by his seriousness, he wasn't about to rebate.
"Back, now." Chris obeyed, and soon, they were back inside the Watchtower.
Ollie was passing by from the meeting room where he liked to work, just having finished filing the request Dick had sent him about leaving Troia available, when he saw Clark.
"Well that was quick," he said in his usual carefree tone, soon changed into a more serious face when he saw Clark's clenched jaw muscles. "What happened?"
Ignoring Ollie, Clark gently led Chris to stand in front of him. "Stay still, Chris," he said while he scanned him. Ollie saw the squinting of his eyes. "Damn it," he suddenly growled.
"Clark!," said Ollie a bit louder. His friend looked at him.
"You're scaring Chris, what's wrong?"
Clark looked at the boy. "I...I'm sorry, Chris," he said realizing his protective instincts had gotten over disregarding Chris. He explained himself to both. "When we went outside, I started hearing something. A frequency. It came from Chris, but I can't see anything."
Ollie sensed his discomfort. "Clark, we have a scan at Medbay, maybe there is something you're not supposed to see. I'll call Cross, I think he's available."
***
Clark cursed himself. When he had scanned Chris looking for damage after the League rescued him, he hadn't thought about tracking devices implanted on Chris. Lex had done it. A tracker lined with lead and small enough to be unseen near the distal end of the scapular spine where Dr. Mid-nite had found it. Once they'd been out in the open away from the protective shield of Diana's plane, it had began transmitting.
Thankfully, Lois was not coming soon, so he had some time to calm down. Chris was ok, the danger had not been to his health, otherwise experimenting no changes. He was resting now. Ollie approached.
"Clark?"
"I'm angry," he said. "I should've predicted it."
"Don't beat yourself up on this, Clark. Granted this sucks, but--"
Ollie and Clark didn't always see things eye to eye. They knew that and they had learnt to respect their differences. But even knowing themselves that well, Ollie did not expect Clark's sudden assertion.
"It's time to end this, once and for all."
*****
Notes: I never understood how could life exist in a Planet mainly made of icy crystals, because that's what you see in the movies and the Fortress of Solitude (don't know that much about the comics). My questions increased with Krypto. They had dogs? Where were the wolves the dogs came from? And wildlife in general? As I said, I don't know about the comics, so I made up my own story; and this explanation seemed the most logical to explain kryptonian's survival in that apparently barren land. Yeah. I went deeper trying to explore also homosexuality, but as interesting as it was, didn't fit in the story.
Music notes:
Coldplay "Everything's not lost" Clark and Lois' little bathroom talk.
Kara's description of Krypton: Lisa Gerrard "Gloradin".
