Superman: The Ark of Krypton

By

Jason Richard

For a second the room was still. No one knew what to do about an alien probe hiding in the room with them. Not even Superman knew what to do. It had evaded even his powerful senses, and it's presence took him totally off guard. The only one who had an inkling of what needed to be done was, unfortunately, Lex Luthor.

The billionaire whistled and immediately bodyguards from outside the courtroom burst inside, guns drawn.

Luthor pointed at the probe in the corner and shouted, "Take it down!"

The probe moved away, but Luthor's men were well trained, and they blasted the probe with what turned out to be laser rifles. Soon the probe was disabled, and it fell to the ground with a clang, going as quiet as the stunned, and now very frightened crowd.

"You're honor," said Lex. "I believe we should postpone this trial for the time being. Don't you?"

The judge looked away from the probe and said, "What? Y...yes. You're right. This trial will be postponed until further notice."

And he hit the gavel with his hammer, rather weakly one would note. Both Lois and Clark just sat there, stunned at what had just happened.

…

The following trial spelled bad news. Luthor may not have had the only technology that could go up against the aliens in a fight, but apparently, the aliens had a means of hiding themselves, and Luthor had just proven he could uncover them. The worse news came when Superman went in front of cameras to address the situation.

"I know you're all scared," said Superman with microphones and flashing lights in front of him as he stood outside the police station. "But it has been proven that Lex Luthor is guilty of many crimes. We cannot let him continue to break the law, not when innocent people are his victims."

"But can you uncover hidden extraterrestrial weapons," said one reporter. "Weapons we know can devastate our planet. Superman, can you, even with your powerful senses, detect any signs of these forces on Earth?"

The reporters went silent, and Superman was forced to tell an honest truth he was, unfortunately, reluctant to tell.

"I've heard nothing," said Superman. "If more alien probes are here, I haven't detected them.

...

Luthor was pardoned the next day. He walked down the steps of the courthouse a free man, surrounded by his bodyguards and feeling pretty good about himself. As he walked he saw Lois Lane out of the corner of his eye and couldn't resist turning to her and smirking.

She glowered back.

…

Lois paced back and forth angrily, and the entire staff of the Dailey planet watched her. Not that they did so openly. They watched nervously out of the corners of their eyes even as they pretended to keep working. No one was brave enough to interrupt her.

Except, of course, for Clark.

"This isn't over," said Clark.

"Of course it isn't," said Lois. "Luther's going down. The problem is he should have gone down already."

"We couldn't have known what would happen back there," said Clark.

"Don't you think I know that?" Lois snapped. "I know we couldn't have predicted this. Those aliens just had to make Luthor look good. Didn't they? And Superman! He just had to tell people he couldn't find cloaked enemies."

"Telling the truth couldn't have been easy for him Lois," said Clark.

"No kidding," said Lois. "It's made things harder on all of us."

A moment passed, and then Clark asked, "What if Luthor does become the only person who can find this cloaking technology?"

Lois stopped pacing, looking out the window.

"Then he wins," said Lois. "And there's no hope for good and honest people in this world." She turned and glared at him. "So don't say that. Ever."

Clark gave a heavy sigh but nodded to her all the same.

…

"Please give me some good news," said Clark as he paced back and forth in the living room of the Kent farmhouse. His Ma and Pa sat to the side on rocking chairs while Kara fidgeted on the couch. One of Brainiac's probes floated in the living room, transmitting to the Ark.

"I've scanned as much as I can Kal-El, using every method available in my database," said Brainiac. "I can see no sign of extraterrestrial technology on earth aside from the Ark of Krypton, nor did I detect the probe in that infiltrated the courtroom."

"So they could be here and we wouldn't know it?" Said Clark, frustrated.

"It's not as bad as it seems," said Kara. "There's plenty of technology that could let them spy on a room without physically going inside. Krypton had tech like that. The only reason these aliens wouldn't is if something were jamming them, something like the Ark of Krypton."

"I believe Kara is correct," said Brainiac. "We are hampering their ability to spy on Earth with that signal, even if it's only by a small margin."

"Okay," said Superman. "Okay. That's good." He sighed. "Lex Luthor's been pardoned, Zod's still on the loose, and now we have this Apokolips to deal with. It's all too much."

"You'll find a way to protect Earth," said Pa Kent.

"You always do," said Ma.

"Thanks," said Clark. "Well, Brainiac I want you to keep working on this problem. If we're going to protect this planet from Apokolips we have to be able to detect them. Luthor was able to do it, so it wasn't necessarily superior technology he used, but superior technique with the technology he had. See if you can find a way to optimize what we have."

"Right away sir," said Brainiac.

"I'll look over things too," said Kara.

"Thank you," said Clark.

"Speaking of Kara," said Pa Kent uncertainly, "There's something we need to talk about."

Clark didn't like the sound of his voice.

"I...I don't know how to say this," said Pa. "But...well..."

"What he means to say is..." Said Ma, also hesitating.

"Ma...Pa..." Said Clark, starting to worry. "What..."

"I can't stay with them on this farm," said Kara.

Everyone turned towards her, and she blushed a little from the attention.

"Well..." Said Kara. "Can't you hear it Kal-El?"

Curious, Clark closed his eyes and listened to every sound he could. The creaking of the floor as Ma and Pa rocked on it, the animals scampering around outside, the sound of people breathing, their hearts beating...

Wait, one of them was beating more weakly. Who...

Suddenly Clark's eyes snapped open and he looked at Jonathan Kent, saying, "Oh Pa...

His heart wasn't beating the say it should.

"Saw the doctor a few days ago," said Pa. "The news...wasn't good. And...I've had to put out classified ads for more help around the farm...because I can't do work myself anymore."

Clark felt like he'd just been slapped in the face. It had never even occurred to him. Of course, this was why Kara couldn't stay with them. It wouldn't make sense for her to get attached when someone could go at any moment, the way her family and her planet already had.

And it wouldn't make sense to set herself up for exactly the kind of loss that Clark himself was facing.

Clark had to face the fact that for all his power, for all he could do, this wasn't something he could save anyone from. He looked at his father, who smiled weakly, and Clark just sighed.

"It's just one thing after another, isn't it?" He asked.

Silence answered him.