Chapter 25

Clark trudged across the driveway. His boot falls beat like a sordid drum to his ears. He bowed his head. He knew he should've been celebrating. He and Lana were taking their first steps together as a couple. She acknowledged him…the whole him…and wanted to know more.

Granted she was dealing with what that entailed. Still she was willing to try.

Lana was….His mother was….Problem was…well…the usual one….

Jonathan wanted everything as it was.

Dejection weighed on him. Still Instinct guided him toward the barn. He had two more things to show Lana about himself. He wanted to at least support the mysterious Aunt Louise's story in those regards. Perhaps he might learn a few things in his own right.

"Clark! Clark, wait!" Lana called to him. She rushed in his wake across the chilled dirt.

He stopped in his tracks. He fumed at himself for not waiting for her. "Sorry, Lana. I just had to get out of there." He shook his head. "It wasn't anything you did."

"Your Dad was getting harsh in there." She glanced back toward the house. "Wow. And I thought Nell goes nuclear over my questions about my parents? That was way over the top." She embraced him. "I'm here for you, Clark. I may not understand what's going on. Still you're figuring it out. The least I can do is support you."

He embraced her as well. "You have no idea how long I've waited for you to say that." He kissed the top of her head. "I love you, Lana."

The breath caught in her throat. Her heart skipped a beat. Joy's tear drizzled down her cheek. Her eyes twinkled in the starlight. She pressed her lips onto his. For several seconds, she pressed the contact. Then she stepped back. "And I love you, Clark Kent…Kal-El of Krypton…whoever you are…you're my knight. Just let me process it all. Fair?"

He grinned. He took her hands in his. His eyes glistened into hers. "Take as much time as you need. Meantime I have a couple of things to show you." He led her into the barn and toward his father's tool cabinet.

"What's in here? It looks like any other barn," she presumed. "Nothing I haven't seen a hundred times, Clark."

"Oh there are things here you haven't seen. Trust me on that." He took a deep breath. His hand reached toward the cabinet's handle. As he did so, he noticed a light shining from it.

"Clark, what's with your Dad's cabinet?" she wondered.

"I don't know. I…." He grimaced. His ears recoiled from a high pitched shriek. He clapped his hands over his ears. "AHH!"

"Clark! What is it? I don't hear anything! Is there something….?" She grabbed and pulled him backward. Fear and Curiosity grabbed onto her simultaneously in turn.

He was doubled over. He ground his teeth. Sounds seared his brain. "Lana? This has never happened before. I don't know what this is. Don't touch it. I…"

"Something's different now, Clark." She disregarded his advice. Much as Pandora did with a certain box, she slowly eased the drawer open. She recoiled from the light's intensity. "So bright! I…." She closed her eyes while reaching into the drawer. Her fingertips whispered and then gripped a hard object. Her hand seized onto it. "What the?"

The light dimmed allowing her to see the octagonal disc. "I know this! Clark, this was Lex's!"

Clark gasped in short breaths. The sound, although not totally gone, had lessened. "He found it in Chandler's Field not far…from where the Ship crashed. My father…Joe, I guess…put that in the Ship. It must've jarred loose when it crashed."

"So this is what makes it run?" She recalled seeing something metallic and almost triangular flying toward them in the twister. It had seemed to flank Clark and her almost like a safety net of some kind.

It is the key to many of our secrets, Human, a strange voice declared tersely. Follow Kal-El to his vessel and bring the disc. There you both shall know.

"Clark? Who's that?" she wondered. She glanced about the barn. Almost like a frightened rabbit, her eyes skittered over every beam and hay bale.

"I...don't know. I've never heard it before," he gasped. As he said those words, the pitched sound stopped. He caught his breath.

"Clark, there are some kind of glowing marks on it." She considered the octagon's symbols. "Do you know what these mean?"

"Dad and I saw them. We have no idea," he informed her. He glanced back toward the house. "Mom and Dad will want to know. They…."

On cue, the pitch picked up again. It screeched into both of their ears rather loudly this time.

"Guess…not." She caught her breath as the sound decreased again. "Guess we should find this vessel?"

"Follow me." He allowed her to carry the disc. He led them both out of the barn and across the grassy meadow beyond. He was surprised that his parents weren't running out of the house to find them. He looked back to make sure Lana followed.

"I'm right here. Where are we going now?" she queried expectantly.

"The storm cellar." He opened the door to the underground chamber. "Brace yourself."

"Clark, it's a storm cellar. Been in dozens of them. Rode out tornadoes in them. It's like any other one," she presumed. She followed him down there. Her eyes scanned the shelves of Martha's preserves. She stopped at the tarp covered bulge in the dark corner. As she stepped closer, the disc began to vibrate in her hand. "Clark, now this thing is shaking. Is this vessel close?"

"Right here." He ripped the vessel from its position on top of the Ship. "This is my ship. I guess this proves Louise's story?"

She stared aghast at the vessel. Before that week, she'd read a great many stories about aliens and possible invasions. She'd heard of little green men. Still Skepticism had maintained a healthy buffer for her sanity. Even as the weird and strange things related to the meteor shower had happened, Disbelief had kept her (somewhat) sane.

Now the evidence lay in front of her. Aunt Louise had spoken the truth. Clark wasn't human…at least not from Earth. Her eyes went wide. Her jaw slackened.

As this happened, the octagonal disc wrenched itself from her loose grasp. It streaked through the air.

"Lana, the octagonal disc!" He attempted to streak toward it.

Before he could reach it, the key turned three times in midair. Then it cemented itself into the slot on the Ship's hull.

The light in the storm cellar glowed extraordinarily bright. Symbols like the ones on the disc glowed across the walls. The symbols rotated around them at greater and greater rates of speed.

"Clark, what's going on?" Incredulity unnerved her more and more with each passing heartbeat.

The answers you seek, Human, the Voice told them.

From the Ship, twin bolts of lightning stabbed through both of them.

The teens spasmed and shook. They screamed without sound. Then they collapsed to the dirt underfoot.

And with that, the Ship went dark again. It's purpose on that night had been served.

Who knew what would happen where Clark and Lana were concerned though?