"Bruce, what's wrong? What is it?"
"This little mystery isn't so little anymore. We know that the meteor fragments were the remnants of a planet, one that held at least some life. Hamilton said as much, right?"
"Yeah, that's what he said, but we still haven't totally verified his findings."
"Well, just go with me here, Lucius. Okay, so we know there was at least some life on this planet. Now add the titanium—the milled titanium. That to me suggests not just life but intelligent life. Life with a level of intelligence at least equal if not superior to our own. Then take into consideration the fact that the Kents found the kid in the midst of the meteor shower."
"What does the kid have to do with this?"
"Think about it Lucius. What one industry uses more titanium than any other does? Actually, never mind that. What one object uses more titanium than any other?"
"I'm not in the mood for trivia, Bruce. Just tell me."
"The aerospace industry uses the most titanium, Lucius. And the one object that uses the most? The space shuttle. That's how the kid fits into this."
"Let me get this straight. You're suggesting that the titanium was part of a spacecraft, and that the kid was in it? That would make him an alien! You know, Bruce, if you weren't acting so serious right now, I'd be laughing at what you just said. You can't really believe all this."
"Well, no. At least, not a hundred percent anyway. But after all I've seen in this town, I'm not going to dismiss it either. Alien or not I need to talk to this kid. Before I do, I need to take a trip to Metropolis."
"What do you need in Metropolis?"
"Well, Hamilton said that all the meteor fragments had been exposed to some cosmic radiation. If the kid was in space, he would have been exposed to some of it too. I'll get a Geiger counter at S.T.A.R. and see if he shows signs of exposure. "
"How do you plan on testing this kid for radiation exposure? If he's really an alien, he and his parents have kept it a secret for a long time, and I don't think they'd just give that secret up."
"Don't worry about it Lucius. I'll find a way."
Bruce drove up the lane to the Kent farm early the next afternoon. He had already come earlier, in the wee hours of the morning under cover of darkness to see if he could find anything out of the ordinary. After spending an hour looking and finding no evidence of strange weather balloons or alien autopsies he decided to go back to his hotel. As he walked through the barn to leave, he nearly tripped on a divot in the floor. He reached down, swept away the hay and saw a handle. Not wanting to leave obvious signs of his presence, he left the trapdoor closed. He instead pulled out the Geiger counter. The tech that had lent him the equipment had given Bruce only a cursory demonstration of how the counter worked. As Bruce set the counter on the trapdoor, he watched the needle bounce all over the gauge, and thought the tech had either been wrong or the Kents were storing nuclear waste in their storm cellar. Something was definitely down there.
As he got out of his car, he saw Clark walking towards him.
"My parents aren't here."
"Uh, okay…. Good for them. I wanted to ask you a question…."
"Did you not hear me? I said my parents aren't here. Even if they were, they wouldn't sell the farm to you."
"Who said anything about buying your farm?"
"Lex told me all about you. He said that you were going to try and buy our farm. He also said that if my parents don't sell, you'd buy the note from the bank and foreclose on us."
"Do you have a hearing problem, pal? I just said I'm not interested in your dinky little farm! I just came by because I wanted to get your opinion on the meteor rocks."
"I'm not interested in what you want. Please get back in your car and go. Now."
"Jeez, man. Can I at least ask you one question?"
"What is it?"
"You know that coffee shop in town?"
"You mean the Beanery? What about it?"
"Do you go there often?"
"Well, Chloe goes a lot to get her cappuccino fix, and I usually go with her. Why?"
"Well, I was just going to say that if you go there often, you might want to stop doing this…."
Clark watched as Bruce reached in his pocket and tossed something metallic at him. Clark caught it against his chest and realized what it was. A look of horror spread across his face. Anyone looking at him would have thought he had just caught a live grenade. It wasn't a grenade. Just a spoon.
"You've got secrets Kent…."