Superman: The Ark of Krypton
Chapter 44
by
Jason Richard
The whistleblower who had been on the phone with Lois Lane was a short, dark haired man in a lab coat. He was also an employee of Lexcorp. He stared at the white skinned clone of Superman in complete shock. He had no idea what was going on, apart from the fact that he now knew why Luthor had invested in cloning tech. At the moment, though, his mind was racing to figure out what to say to this clone.
"Where Lois?" asked the Clone again, his head tipped to the side curiously.
"Um..I...uh…" the whistleblower stammered, but he didn't find anything to say before Lex Luthor himself rushed into the room. Luthor paused, looked back and forth between the clone and his employee, and motioned for the clone to follow him.
"Alright," said Luthor. "Follow me."
"But I hear Lois," said the Clone.
Luthor frowned and gave his employee a very displeased look. Of course Luthor didn't know the man was a whistleblower, but that was one of the many possibilities that ran through Luthor's mind. The employee didn't need Luthor to tell him that he'd have to explain himself quick.
"Oh wasn't speaking to Lois Lane," he said, putting his mouse on a nearby computer and bringing his browser up. It showed a video of a Lexcorp press conference where Lois could be seen asking questions, and one angle even managed to capture her face.
"I was...uh..." he said, telling part of the truth. "Well I was interviewed by miss Lane once about my work with solar panels and...well...I was watching footage of her to...to try and...work of the nerve to ask her out."
Lex Luthor continued to glare at him for a few seconds, before relaxing.
"I see," said Luthor. "Good luck with that. You'll need it Mr...uh..." he checked the man's nametag and said. "Lytener."
"Thank you sir," said the employee, Mr. Lytener. "Um...I'm sorry but...what's with the big bizarro looking guy who just crashed through the roof?"
A hint of Lex Luthor's glare returned and he said, "What big bizarro looking guy?"
It took Mr. Lytener a second to catch on before he replied, "Right. I didn't see anything. An accident with a laser is what put a hole in the ceiling."
"Glad to hear it," and he turned to the clone and said, "Come along...bizarro."
"But I'm Superman," said the Clone, unable to comprehend anything that was going on, though it followed Lex Luthor anyway. Meanwhile Mr. Lytener could feel his heart pounding as he took a deep breath. That was close. Way too close.
…
That evening Clark took another visit to the Ark of Krypton in the North Pole to learn about another chapter in Kryptonian history. Specifically the heritage of the House of El, and how it tied into the history of Krypton that he had learned before. He would also learn of it's relation to other houses, but he was mostly interested in learning more about his birth parents, Jor-El and Lara.
…
Meanwhile, back in the Lexcorp facilities, the clone of Clark, AKA Superman, began dreaming of two lives it didn't fully understand. One was on a planet far far away, and the other was in a farmhouse not so far away. It didn't understand why, but it too was learning of the past...a past that only seemed to be its own.
…
Within the Ark, Clark learned that the house of El wasn't entirely on either side during the Kryptonian invasions centuries ago. Some were among the peace loving minority, and some were among the tyrants who set themselves up as gods. It got a little tedious hearing about various names he probably wasn't going to remember any time soon, but it did give him context concerning a name he was interested in. Jor-El.
The ship's AI did have a few recordings of Jor-El working at a kryptonian university, in strange rooms with technology Clark didn't' fully understand. As he saw these the AI explained much of Jor-El's life there.
"When Jor-El joined the science academy," said the AI. "It was about the time that Kryptonians had forgotten what their power was like. Jor-El himself was the third generation to grow up with no such abilities, and while he did enter projects to discover where their power went, he only did so because it was expected of all Kryptonian scientists. By the time he and other scientists discovered the secret Jor-El wasn't certain if he even wanted to use it. Here is some footage showing what attitudes were like at the time."
Clark watched, eager to learn anything he could about his birth parents.
The image showed Jor-El, as well as Kal-El's mother Lara, in a room filled with strange machines. They stood at control consoles and seemed to be performing some kind of experiments as the machine mixed together balls of liquid suspended in some sort of zero gravity field.
"So you've really discovered it?" asked Lara excitedly. "Where the power of our ancestors came from?"
"We have," said Jor-El passively. "Though I'm not allowed to share any details yet."
"Oh that's so mean!" she said, looking like she might start jumping up and down. "I mean it was starting to feel like a legend or a myth, but now we know it's real. It's amazing."
"I suppose," said Jor-El.
Lara gave him a quizzical look and asked, "Is everything alright?"
Jor-El sighed and said, "Everyone's making a such a fuss about it. So what if our team found the secret? Does that mean our current way of life has to change? I've tried to imagine going back to the way our history says we live and...I don't know, I kind of prefer things as they are."
"I suppose that's fair," conceded Lara, before getting really excited again. "But haven't you ever wondered what it would be like? Think about it. To fly with no ship or vehicle, even through space. To be able to go up, look down, and have nothing between you and the view below but air and be perfectly safe. Not to mention the strength, the speed, and everything else."
"I won't lie," Jor-El admitted. "I'm curious, but in a way my curiosity is my entire reason for being apprehensive about this. Think about it. If we really do go back to the old ways, will we continue to study science? Our species only took it up because our powers were lost, but...honestly...I love it. I love discovering new things about our universe and learning the intricacies of how our world works. If we really did abandon it in favor of that power, don't think you'd miss it?"
The question surprised Lara, "I've never thought about it like that." she looked up and rubbed her chin. "Well...I definitely would miss it...but there's no reason we'd have to abandon scientific study just because we got our old powers back. Is there?"
"I suppose not," said Jor-El. "Just the way everyone reacts to the news...well perhaps I'm being paranoid."
"Tell you what," said Lara. "No matter what happens, I'll continue to study science with you, no matter what other Kryptonians decide to do."
"That would be nice," Jor-El.
They smiled at each other pleasantly then got back to work, and the screen faded. As Clark watched, he felt content. He was learning more and more about his place of origin every day.
As well as more and more about his birth parents.
…
The Lexcorp clone couldn't make sense of the dreams it had. It had a few flashes of Krypton, but they were brief. The memories that stood out the most were memories of a farm, doing chores, learning how his powers worked, and most importantly the man and woman who took care of him.
Ma and Pa.
With a grin the Clone got up out of the bed of it's room...a plain room with white walls, and flew out, crashing a hole in the roof into it was outside. It then flew to its 'home.' the kent farm.
Meanwhile, in his office, Lex Luthor heard a crashing sound. He didn't need to see it to know what it was.
"Clone superman," he said to no one in particular, rubbing his temples. "This is either going to lead to my greatest achievement, or be the biggest mistake of my life."