The Portal
Author: a_delacroix@hotmail.com
[Author's Note: This story takes place near the end of season one, after Clark invites Chloe to the dance, but before the season finale. At the moment, I find the Clark-Chloe pairing more interesting than Clark-Lana. While I haven't got the entire story finished, it looks to be headed Alternate Universe. Finally, this is my first attempt at a story, so hopefully it is readable and somewhat interesting to others besides me.]
Disclaimer: The standard words that someone else owns all of the main characters in this story.
Rating: R (Where's the fun, if you can't push the boundaries a little further.)
Chapter Three
As they moved away from the pond Chloe walked up next to Clark and took his hand. "Sorry about my reaction before, " said Chloe quietly, "things were suddenly moving too fast."
"So you're not mad at me?" asked Clark with a hopeful tone in his voice.
"Of course not. Is it okay to say I dreamed about kissing you for a long time? And until three days ago it seemed like it was going to stay that way. Then all of a sudden a kiss seemed not only possible, but almost inevitable. Still to find myself kissing you and naked and my body starting to respond to you. Well, if that shiver hadn't interrupted things, I'm not sure if I could have stopped. And that's still a little scary." Chloe gave his hand a squeeze. "I still want to move forward, but maybe just a little slower."
Clark let go of Chloe's hand, then reached around her waist and pulled her closer. "Slower I can handle." After they had walked in silence for several minutes Clark asked, "Is it okay if I fantasize about you in that underwear? You were unbelievably hot."
Chloe blushed a little. "Do you really think so?"
"Ohhh, yes, I have never seen anything as hot in my life."
Teasingly Chloe responded, "So have you seen a lot of other naked girls to make a fair comparison?"
Meanwhile Lex and Lana moved out ahead of the others to give them a few minutes of privacy.
"How are you holding up?" asked Lex.
"Well considering I have been kidnapped, hit over the head, and walked miles in high heels, not too bad." responded Lana.
"Sorry I got you into this," said Lex. "If I had known Prof. Carey was going to do something like that, I never would have invited you to the lab."
"Didn't you think something like this was inevitable using the meteor rocks? I mean every weird thing that's happened to us in the past year seems to trace back to meteor rocks."
Lex stared into the gurgling stream running along the path for a few seconds before responding. "This project was started long before all of the weirdness started to happen in Smallville, so I never thought about it. Have you really found a pattern? Are the meteor rocks always involved?"
"Generally the meteor rocks are involved. Lately since I have become a closer friend with Chloe, I have been talking to her about her wall of the weird. Recently she has computerized the wall and some interesting correlation's have popped out."
"Like what?" asked Lex.
"81% of all 'weird' events in Smallville in the past year somehow relate to meteor rocks. And the actual correlation is probably higher as these were the only ones Chloe could verify. However there is one thing with an even higher correlation to 'weird' events."
"Which is?" asked Lex although he already suspected the answer.
"Clark. 92% of the time he is somehow involved."
"His correlation is really that high? Is that why Clark rated his own wall of the weird?"
"In part," said Lana, "but also because Chloe has had a crush on him for a long time." And at the same time Clark was fixated on you, thought Lex. "So you mix Prof. Carey with his meteor rocks and Clark Kent with his 92% factor and weirdness is almost guaranteed."
"Hmmm, just out of curiosity how do the rest of us correlate to the weirdness according to Chloe's database?" asked Lex.
"I don't remember the exact percentages, but it seemed to be related to the amount of time you spend around Clark. Chloe was around 60%, Pete and I around 50%, and you were about 40%."
Lex walked along pondering this. First of all, why hadn't it occurred to him that a sufficient number of incidents had happened to make computer based correlation a viable approach? And to be outdone by a high school girl. Okay, Chloe had been researching it longer than he had and had access to more information. But still, to be outdone by a young girl took him down a notch. He had never considered anyone in Smallville to be his equal, even outside of Smallville only his father seemed his equal. One more reason to keep an eye on Chloe.
And then his friend, Clark. Yeah, he did seem to be around whenever something weird was going on, but to have a higher correlation than the meteor rocks. Exactly what did it mean?
Just then the subject of his thoughts came running up.
"I saw a flash of light up near the next bend in the canyon about a half- mile ahead," whispered Clark as he started to guide them off of the path. "Someone is coming and I think we should take cover in the trees until we know who it is."
Lex glanced back along the trail, but didn't immediately see Chloe. After a little searching, he saw her moving forward under the cover of the trees.
Before Lex or Lana had time to object or concur Clark already had them in a sheltered position that couldn't be seen from the path ahead.
In another minute Chloe had reached their position. "Is this really necessary?" she asked.
"Better safe than sorry," said Clark. "We are a long way from home and don't really know what is going on."
"I agree," said Lex. "Anyone have a good reason for not taking the cautious approach?" he continued looking toward the girls.
They both shook their heads no. So everyone settled back to wait.
After ten long, nerve-wracking minutes, they all could hear someone approaching. From the sheltered position they had found, whoever was approaching wouldn't be visible until they were even with them.
Finally, two men came into view and quickly moved passed on their way up the canyon.
Lex, Lana, and Chloe were all so stunned by what they had seen that none of them even thought to speak until the men had moved around the next bend in the canyon.
Lana found her tongue first. "Okay, drug dealers I could handle. Or secret military organizations. But why would two guys be hiking up the canyon in full ancient Roman soldier outfits including breastplates on a hot day like this? One of those re-enactment things like the civil war fanatics put on?"
"If so," said Chloe, "they are pretty hard-core, speaking Latin too."
"Latin?" asked Lana. "Are you sure?"
"Definitely," injected Lex. "Chloe, I didn't know you spoke Latin."
The others all turned and looked at her.
"Ahh . . ." Chloe stammered. Where is that quick wit when I need it? This is one of those questions I never expected to come up. "The summer between seventh and eighth grades, just before I moved to Smallville, my Dad sent me to one of those total immersion summer camps for a month."
"I don't remember you ever mentioning it before," said Clark.
"I didn't want to seem like a total geek the first time I met my new classmates and after that the subject never came." she answered. Then trying to divert the subject she asked, "What about you, Lex? Where did you learn Latin?"
"I had a couple of years in college. My father felt it was important that I should be able to read some of the classics like Machiavelli's The Prince and Dante's Divine Comedy in the original."
"But I think we better focus on the current situation. Why would two guys dressed as Romans and speaking Latin be walking up this canyon? Thoughts anyone?" continued Lex.
For several minutes no one spoke. Clark finally spoke up to get them thinking in the right direction based on his earlier observations during his run down the canyon. "Maybe they are real."
"What do you mean, 'Maybe they are real'?" asked Lana.
"If you asked me this morning, when I got off of the bus, if it was possible to instantaneously travel a great distance, I would have said it was pure science fiction. Right now time travel doesn't seem any more outlandish."
"Time travel," said Lex with a thoughtful expression. "I did see one or two papers on the feasibility of time travel via wormholes. It would explain a few things."
"Like what," asked Chloe as she experienced another shiver down her spine.
"Why Lana appeared to arrive seven hours before the rest of us. And why Prof. Carey looked about ten years older than when I saw him six months ago. I naturally assumed it was due to stress and overwork, but now . . ." he trailed off.
Chloe spoke up. "Sitting here is not going to resolve anything. We have two choices, first go question the two guys headed up the canyon or second continue down the canyon and collect more data."
Lex said, "I vote we continue down the canyon. If we get clear of this canyon, we can try the cell phones again. Plus those guys had swords, no point tangling with them, if it can be avoided. And neither of them is the professor and finding him is suddenly looking more important."
No one could disagree with Lex's logic so they continued down the canyon. The going was much slower now, as they tried to stay undercover as much as possible while simultaneously watching their backs, in case the two soldiers returned.
It was near dusk when they came in sight of the wall across the entrance to the canyon. With the large plain visible beyond, Lex pulled out his cellphone and tried to get signal.
"My phone doesn't lock on any signal. How about yours, Chloe?" asked Lex.
Chloe pulled her phone out of her shoulder bag. "No signal on mine either."
Lana looked from one to the other. "Couldn't we just be in a remote area or out of the country?"
"That is the most likely situation," responded Lex. "Still . . ." he trailed off.
"Look," said Clark. "It is almost dark. How about as soon as it is dark enough, I go over the wall and reconnoiter. I can get over the end near the canyon wall, no problem."
"I should be the one to go," said Lex. "I got you into this."
"Lex, how much time have you spent in the wilderness? Every fall since I was ten I have gone deer hunting with my Dad. Four glorious days of hiking and camping out in Miller's woods. I need to be the one to do this."
Lex frowned, when did I lose the leadership of this group?
"Fine, Clark, you go."
"I'll be back as soon as I can," said Clark as he headed up towards the wall.
As soon as he was hidden by the darkness, Clark picked up the pace. Reaching the wall, he cleared it with a single bound, landing lightly on the other side.
The first thing Clark did was head for the small town he had seen on his earlier trip down the canyon. He needed to find them some appropriate clothes so that they could blend in until they found the Professor.
Although Clark didn't know it yet, he was approaching the Roman garrison town of Tolosa on the French side of the Pyrenees that would one day become the French City of Toulouse. However now it was a typical Roman garrison town; high dirt wall, closed wooden gate, and all.
The town was laid out in the standard square street plan. The main military, civilian, and religious building were located around a central forum; not that Clark was interested in that at the moment. He was looking for a house where he could score some clothes.
Sticking to the darker back alleys, Clark worked his way towards the more prosperous part of town. If they were going to blend in, they might as well go first class. Eventually, he found a darkened villa. Using his x- ray vision, he saw only one couple sleeping in a room near the back. Probably caretakers thought Clark.
Quietly, Clark entered the house searching for clothes. Ben Hur. Spartacus. Gladiator. What did the well dressed Roman citizen's wear? The best he could come up with were an assortment of white robe/toga things. But nothing that seemed to fall into the proper category of underwear, things might be a little breezy until they figured that one out. Also he located several backpacks to replace their contemporary ones.
It had been ten minutes since he left the others, time to head back before they did something foolish.
Bundling the clothing into one of the backpacks, Clark left the villa. Finding a dark spot in the surrounding dirt barrier wall, he was quickly over it and headed back towards the canyon.
Two guards were stationed outside the passage through the wall into the canyon. They were sitting by a small fire chatting about the previous day's chariot races while waiting for their shift to end at midnight. They had been pulling the evening shift for the past six months and it had always been easy duty.
As Clark approached the wall, he realized it would be easiest for the others to leave through the passage. Plus the soldiers' uniforms and swords might come in handy. Although Clark hated to hurt innocent people, he quickly tapped them over the head and dragged them through the passage and on to where the others were hiding.
"Lex, give me a hand with these guys." Clark announced as he approached.
As the others stood up, he continued, "We need to strip off their clothes and tie them up before they come to."
As always, Lex was impressed by Clark's strength. While the two men were not large by modern standards, together they weighed over three hundred pounds, but Clark was dragging them like they weighed twenty pounds each.
"We need to move quickly and get to the grove of trees on the other side of wall before someone comes looking for these guys." said Clark. "I have found a change of clothes for everyone but we can wait till we are clear of here before changing. Be sure to get all of our gear, so no one will know we have been here."
After tying up the soldiers he handed one of the swords to Lex. "Lex, in all of your fencing training did you ever use one like this?"
As he accepted the sword he said, "It's called a Gladius, the Roman short sword. And no I have never used one."
While Lex took a couple of experimental swings, Lana said, "I hope you don't need to use it."
"Me, too." said Lex lowering the sword. "Guys who used these spent years training full-time."
Soon they had all of their gear collected and were heading through the wall. As they crossed the road that ran past the canyon, Clark pointed to the left, "See the town over there. No sign of electric lights, but I think we are going to have to check it out in the morning to see if we can find a lead on the Professor."
As they entered the cover of the trees, Chloe asked, "So, are we really back in time?"
"It's looking more and more like it" answered Clark looking for a secure spot to spend the night and stash their gear.
Birds singing. Wind rustling the trees. Clark awoke just as the sky was getting light. This was his favorite time of day, before all of the hustle and bustle of the farm day begins.
All of a sudden he remember where he was. Reaching out he touched Chloe curled up beside him. Shaking her lightly by the shoulder, "Chloe, time to wake up."
Rubbing her eyes, "Clark, what are you doing here . . . oh, it wasn't all just a dream, was it?" she asked. Looking around she took in the small clearing in which they had been sleeping. A few feet away Lex and Lana were still asleep. Sitting up she heard a stream gurgling nearby. "Clark, I need to go wash my face."
Clark had already scanned the area with his x-ray and knew it was clear. "Okay, I am going to check out the area before waking the others. Be careful."
About ten minutes later they both returned to the campsite and woke the others.
"Well, Clark now that we have some light let's see what clothing you found us." said Chloe as she opened the backpack Clark had acquired the night before.
While Chloe was sorting through the robes in the bag, Clark was trying on the clothes he had liberated from one of the guards.
After putting on the robe Clark said, "Good thing these are 'one size fits all' or I would have a hard time finding anything in my size. What do you think?" he asked Chloe as he held up the breastplate.
"Very cute, but I think you should just wear the leather vest that goes under the breastplate, unless your goal is to be sucked into the Roman Legion." she answered and Clark quickly dropped the breastplate.
As Lana and Lex returned from the stream Chloe turned to them. "Hurry up and change clothes. I want to hike into town and find some breakfast."
"What about the granola bars?" asked Lana as she started checking out the robes.
"I think we should save them for an emergency. Besides, if we are going to risk visiting the town, we might as well do it in time for breakfast." While Chloe was talking she had casually stripped off her clothing from the day before and slipped into one of the robes. What little modesty she had shown the day before was not evident this morning.
Lana had noticed Chloe changing, "Ah, don't you want a little privacy while you change?"
"When in Rome, Lana. Modesty about the human body was not the same back then. Didn't you ever see that show on the Discovery or Learning Channel about the open-air bathrooms arranged around the public square? The long rows of stone seats with the openings to the flowing water below, where the people could 'do their business' while socializing."
"We don't have cable at my house so I guess I missed that one," answered Lana. "But just the thought, Brrr, . . . a guys, I am really, really ready to go home now."
As the others, still sort of modestly, started changing, Chloe said to Clark, "Wherever you got these clothes, you forgot something important."
"I didn't have much time and didn't see anything that looked like underwear." said
"I am not talking about underwear." As Clark looked over, she held up one foot and wiggled her toes at him.
"Shoes." he said.
"Yeah, I'm not excited about hiking too far barefooted. One more item to acquire when we get to town. I think it's a good thing you brought along all of the extra gold coins. We may need to buy a lot of supplies before we are done."
Once everyone had changed, Lex and Clark set to work secreting their 21st century belongings so that they wouldn't be easily found, yet marked so that they would be able to find them on their return.
Everyone's stomachs were grumbling by the time that they made it to the edge of the trees. After making sure the coast was clear, they stepped out onto the road and turned towards the town.
While finding a secluded spot the night before they had drifted in the opposite direction from the town. Now they had a little over a mile to travel before reaching the earth embankment surrounding the town.
To break the silence, Chloe said. "Clark, do you remember the time I got pushed out of the second floor window at Lex's mansion?"
"Of course."
"And when you stopped by the hospital room and made out as though it was all your fault?" she continued with the start of a grin.
Clark was not sure where she was headed with this, particularly with the expression on her face. Cautiously he said, "Yeah."
"I then said that not only did I hold you responsible for my accident but also a whole bunch of other things up to and including the fall of the Roman Empire. You did understand I was kidding, right? Right? You didn't arrange all of this," and she waved her hand taking in the hills, and town, and plain, "Because of my comments?" Her grin was getting broader.
"Ummm, and if I said I did," said Clark with a smile as he started to get into the spirit of the moment.
"Well now that we are here are you going to a) stop the invasion of the Goths and Vandals who over ran Italy, or b) going back further in time keep Rome a republic as many historians credit the change from a republic to an empire as the start of the decline?"
Clark thought about it for a minute as they happened to be passing the entrance to the walled off canyon. Now there were four guards stationed outside the entrance and several additional men just inside talking to the two naked guards from the night before.
As they walked by, in the immortal words of Hans Solo, they all tried to 'fly casual'. Noticing the activity, but not paying too much attention since none of them was the professor.
"Actually, my plan to prevent the fall of the Roman Empire is to challenge the Emperor to one on one combat and then after I slew him I am going to outlaw the use of lead pipes in the Roman drinking water system. Everyone knows it was lead contamination that destroyed the empire." explained Clark. "Then we are next going to use the time machine to go to 1904 Russia and fluoridate the water to prevent communism. Everything always comes down to the water."
Everyone was laughing by now, as Lex interjected, "Truthfully, Chloe, Clark told me about your comments when you were in the hospital, so I invented the time machine to come back to prevent the fall to help Clark get back in your good graces."
"And how are you going to prevent the fall, Lex?"
"Easy, set up the only accounting firm using the Arabic numbering system and double entry bookkeeping. In a couple of years I'll be 'King of the World'." laughed Lex.
Chloe was still giggling and turned to Lana. "I suppose you were in on it, too. So what is your plan to prevent the fall of the Roman Empire."
"I don't know that I want to prevent the fall. I mean, if the Roman Empire doesn't fall, won't every night at the Talon be Toga night? Toga, Toga, Toga. Wouldn't that get boring after awhile? Would we have a temple at the end of Main Street dedicated to John Belushi?" The thought of which had them all laughing again.
This had kept them pleasantly distracted from the strange and scary situation they were in, as they walked up to an unknown town.
The wooden gate through the earthen wall was standing wide open in the bright morning sunlight. They had passed several carts loaded with merchandise and farm products during the hike along the road, but the traffic was getting almost congested as they approached the gate.
Observing the activity as they approached, they realized the soldiers and clerks were stopping and investigating the carts, but the foot traffic was traveling through unimpeded. So they proceeded past the gate trying to look like they belonged.
The local industry was located on the outskirts of the town. Leather tanning, wool bleaching and dyeing, blacksmithery, carpentry, laundry and soap production. The smell was quite impressive.
Finally, Lana said, "Isn't someone going to comment on the smell?"
"Not me," said Clark, "I grew up on a farm."
"Not me," responded Lex, "I run a fertilizer plant."
"Okay," smiled Chloe, "I'll say it. Ewww, the smell here is absolutely unbelievable. Almost as bad as the time I had to go undercover in the boy's locker room to get that story."
"Chloe Sullivan, you didn't dress as a boy and go into the boy's locker room!" exclaimed Lana with a mildly shocked look on her face. Although after Chloe's behavior in the past two days, maybe she shouldn't have been. You just don't get to know someone until you've gone on a 'Wall of the Weird' camping trip with them.
"Hey, an investigative reporter has to learn to do what it takes to get the story. And I needed the practice." explained Chloe with nary a blush.
"Okay, guys how about we postpone the story of Chloe's cross-dressing adventures for a later time." Said Lex, "We are approaching the center of town and I think we should focus on getting some breakfast without giving ourselves away."
The others quieted down and started to notice the smells were starting to become more mouth-watering and less offensive.
Soon the large central forum of the town came into view. The north side of the square contained two joined buildings of traditional stone, fronted by giant Doric columns. The left building, three stories tall, was obviously the local government office based on the people queued up in front. The purpose of the right building was less apparent, but would perform some other government function.
The East Side of the square contained the palace of the local magistrate. Built of red sandstone in the local style, it contrasted pleasantly with the white marble of the office complex.
The West Side of the square housed the imperial temple. Its most impressive feature was the eighteen life size statues lining the roof. Some of them were stone, and some were silver and gold, but none of them gave the necessary clue for the group to firmly tie down the current year.
What attracted their attention was along the south side, numerous food stalls doing a brisk business. They wandered along the row, checking out the choices. Eventually they settled on mystery meat kabobs, oranges, apples, and a jug of wine.
Before making their purchases, Chloe said, "I better do the talking, since I guess my Latin is the best. I also think we should have some signals so that the rest of you can do the right thing depending on the situation."
"What did you have in mind?" asked Clark continuing to eye the food with a hungry look.
"Well, I may have to claim that you and Lana are barbarians since you can't speak the language. Anyway just keep an eye on Lex and me. One finger means keep your eyes downcast in a servile manner. Two fingers means give a deep, courteous bow. And three fingers means 'Run like Hell'."
Without giving anyone a chance to argue, Chloe set off for the food stalls. She quickly began haggling with the vendors. 'Just like a day at the Smallville Farmer's Market,' she thought. With ten minutes effort, she had the items they wanted for a total cost of three silver coins and six of copper.
Finding a couple of benches with a good view, they settled back to eat and watch the crowds.
"Now, children," warned Lex, "don't tell your parents I was serving alcohol to minors. I don't believe the 'no drinking till 21' laws go into effect for about, oh, two thousand years."
As the others all smiled, he continued, "But seriously, the wine jug was for show, let's mostly stick to the apples and oranges. I don't want any of us losing our edge. If anyone screws up here, the penalty will be much more than a slap on the wrist."
As they were all nodding, a large group of soldiers marched into the square escorting a pair of sedan chairs carried by six slaves each. These were the first men who were definitely slaves they had seen. Perhaps some of people they had seen in the industrial area were slaves, but none of them had the downtrodden, vacant stares of these broken men. It wasn't until this moment that the seriousness of their situation really hit home. If they weren't careful, they could end up like these men or worse.
While they were watching the slaves and then the man and woman exit the sedan chairs, none of them paid any attention to the group of men on horseback who entered the far end of the plaza.
As they finished up their meal they were trying to prioritize their goals for the day: finding a cobbler for some shoes, finding a place to spend the night, and figuring out how to proceed with inquiries about the Professor without giving themselves away. Suddenly a man striding towards them called out in Latin "Coelia Dionysia Flavius, what a pleasant surprise" interrupting their discussion.
Chloe's expression quickly went from the frown of someone trying to recall a long forgotten memory to the shock of recognition and finally to an incredibly wide, gleeful smile as she surged to her feet.
End of Chapter Three
Author: a_delacroix@hotmail.com
[Author's Note: This story takes place near the end of season one, after Clark invites Chloe to the dance, but before the season finale. At the moment, I find the Clark-Chloe pairing more interesting than Clark-Lana. While I haven't got the entire story finished, it looks to be headed Alternate Universe. Finally, this is my first attempt at a story, so hopefully it is readable and somewhat interesting to others besides me.]
Disclaimer: The standard words that someone else owns all of the main characters in this story.
Rating: R (Where's the fun, if you can't push the boundaries a little further.)
Chapter Three
As they moved away from the pond Chloe walked up next to Clark and took his hand. "Sorry about my reaction before, " said Chloe quietly, "things were suddenly moving too fast."
"So you're not mad at me?" asked Clark with a hopeful tone in his voice.
"Of course not. Is it okay to say I dreamed about kissing you for a long time? And until three days ago it seemed like it was going to stay that way. Then all of a sudden a kiss seemed not only possible, but almost inevitable. Still to find myself kissing you and naked and my body starting to respond to you. Well, if that shiver hadn't interrupted things, I'm not sure if I could have stopped. And that's still a little scary." Chloe gave his hand a squeeze. "I still want to move forward, but maybe just a little slower."
Clark let go of Chloe's hand, then reached around her waist and pulled her closer. "Slower I can handle." After they had walked in silence for several minutes Clark asked, "Is it okay if I fantasize about you in that underwear? You were unbelievably hot."
Chloe blushed a little. "Do you really think so?"
"Ohhh, yes, I have never seen anything as hot in my life."
Teasingly Chloe responded, "So have you seen a lot of other naked girls to make a fair comparison?"
Meanwhile Lex and Lana moved out ahead of the others to give them a few minutes of privacy.
"How are you holding up?" asked Lex.
"Well considering I have been kidnapped, hit over the head, and walked miles in high heels, not too bad." responded Lana.
"Sorry I got you into this," said Lex. "If I had known Prof. Carey was going to do something like that, I never would have invited you to the lab."
"Didn't you think something like this was inevitable using the meteor rocks? I mean every weird thing that's happened to us in the past year seems to trace back to meteor rocks."
Lex stared into the gurgling stream running along the path for a few seconds before responding. "This project was started long before all of the weirdness started to happen in Smallville, so I never thought about it. Have you really found a pattern? Are the meteor rocks always involved?"
"Generally the meteor rocks are involved. Lately since I have become a closer friend with Chloe, I have been talking to her about her wall of the weird. Recently she has computerized the wall and some interesting correlation's have popped out."
"Like what?" asked Lex.
"81% of all 'weird' events in Smallville in the past year somehow relate to meteor rocks. And the actual correlation is probably higher as these were the only ones Chloe could verify. However there is one thing with an even higher correlation to 'weird' events."
"Which is?" asked Lex although he already suspected the answer.
"Clark. 92% of the time he is somehow involved."
"His correlation is really that high? Is that why Clark rated his own wall of the weird?"
"In part," said Lana, "but also because Chloe has had a crush on him for a long time." And at the same time Clark was fixated on you, thought Lex. "So you mix Prof. Carey with his meteor rocks and Clark Kent with his 92% factor and weirdness is almost guaranteed."
"Hmmm, just out of curiosity how do the rest of us correlate to the weirdness according to Chloe's database?" asked Lex.
"I don't remember the exact percentages, but it seemed to be related to the amount of time you spend around Clark. Chloe was around 60%, Pete and I around 50%, and you were about 40%."
Lex walked along pondering this. First of all, why hadn't it occurred to him that a sufficient number of incidents had happened to make computer based correlation a viable approach? And to be outdone by a high school girl. Okay, Chloe had been researching it longer than he had and had access to more information. But still, to be outdone by a young girl took him down a notch. He had never considered anyone in Smallville to be his equal, even outside of Smallville only his father seemed his equal. One more reason to keep an eye on Chloe.
And then his friend, Clark. Yeah, he did seem to be around whenever something weird was going on, but to have a higher correlation than the meteor rocks. Exactly what did it mean?
Just then the subject of his thoughts came running up.
"I saw a flash of light up near the next bend in the canyon about a half- mile ahead," whispered Clark as he started to guide them off of the path. "Someone is coming and I think we should take cover in the trees until we know who it is."
Lex glanced back along the trail, but didn't immediately see Chloe. After a little searching, he saw her moving forward under the cover of the trees.
Before Lex or Lana had time to object or concur Clark already had them in a sheltered position that couldn't be seen from the path ahead.
In another minute Chloe had reached their position. "Is this really necessary?" she asked.
"Better safe than sorry," said Clark. "We are a long way from home and don't really know what is going on."
"I agree," said Lex. "Anyone have a good reason for not taking the cautious approach?" he continued looking toward the girls.
They both shook their heads no. So everyone settled back to wait.
After ten long, nerve-wracking minutes, they all could hear someone approaching. From the sheltered position they had found, whoever was approaching wouldn't be visible until they were even with them.
Finally, two men came into view and quickly moved passed on their way up the canyon.
Lex, Lana, and Chloe were all so stunned by what they had seen that none of them even thought to speak until the men had moved around the next bend in the canyon.
Lana found her tongue first. "Okay, drug dealers I could handle. Or secret military organizations. But why would two guys be hiking up the canyon in full ancient Roman soldier outfits including breastplates on a hot day like this? One of those re-enactment things like the civil war fanatics put on?"
"If so," said Chloe, "they are pretty hard-core, speaking Latin too."
"Latin?" asked Lana. "Are you sure?"
"Definitely," injected Lex. "Chloe, I didn't know you spoke Latin."
The others all turned and looked at her.
"Ahh . . ." Chloe stammered. Where is that quick wit when I need it? This is one of those questions I never expected to come up. "The summer between seventh and eighth grades, just before I moved to Smallville, my Dad sent me to one of those total immersion summer camps for a month."
"I don't remember you ever mentioning it before," said Clark.
"I didn't want to seem like a total geek the first time I met my new classmates and after that the subject never came." she answered. Then trying to divert the subject she asked, "What about you, Lex? Where did you learn Latin?"
"I had a couple of years in college. My father felt it was important that I should be able to read some of the classics like Machiavelli's The Prince and Dante's Divine Comedy in the original."
"But I think we better focus on the current situation. Why would two guys dressed as Romans and speaking Latin be walking up this canyon? Thoughts anyone?" continued Lex.
For several minutes no one spoke. Clark finally spoke up to get them thinking in the right direction based on his earlier observations during his run down the canyon. "Maybe they are real."
"What do you mean, 'Maybe they are real'?" asked Lana.
"If you asked me this morning, when I got off of the bus, if it was possible to instantaneously travel a great distance, I would have said it was pure science fiction. Right now time travel doesn't seem any more outlandish."
"Time travel," said Lex with a thoughtful expression. "I did see one or two papers on the feasibility of time travel via wormholes. It would explain a few things."
"Like what," asked Chloe as she experienced another shiver down her spine.
"Why Lana appeared to arrive seven hours before the rest of us. And why Prof. Carey looked about ten years older than when I saw him six months ago. I naturally assumed it was due to stress and overwork, but now . . ." he trailed off.
Chloe spoke up. "Sitting here is not going to resolve anything. We have two choices, first go question the two guys headed up the canyon or second continue down the canyon and collect more data."
Lex said, "I vote we continue down the canyon. If we get clear of this canyon, we can try the cell phones again. Plus those guys had swords, no point tangling with them, if it can be avoided. And neither of them is the professor and finding him is suddenly looking more important."
No one could disagree with Lex's logic so they continued down the canyon. The going was much slower now, as they tried to stay undercover as much as possible while simultaneously watching their backs, in case the two soldiers returned.
It was near dusk when they came in sight of the wall across the entrance to the canyon. With the large plain visible beyond, Lex pulled out his cellphone and tried to get signal.
"My phone doesn't lock on any signal. How about yours, Chloe?" asked Lex.
Chloe pulled her phone out of her shoulder bag. "No signal on mine either."
Lana looked from one to the other. "Couldn't we just be in a remote area or out of the country?"
"That is the most likely situation," responded Lex. "Still . . ." he trailed off.
"Look," said Clark. "It is almost dark. How about as soon as it is dark enough, I go over the wall and reconnoiter. I can get over the end near the canyon wall, no problem."
"I should be the one to go," said Lex. "I got you into this."
"Lex, how much time have you spent in the wilderness? Every fall since I was ten I have gone deer hunting with my Dad. Four glorious days of hiking and camping out in Miller's woods. I need to be the one to do this."
Lex frowned, when did I lose the leadership of this group?
"Fine, Clark, you go."
"I'll be back as soon as I can," said Clark as he headed up towards the wall.
As soon as he was hidden by the darkness, Clark picked up the pace. Reaching the wall, he cleared it with a single bound, landing lightly on the other side.
The first thing Clark did was head for the small town he had seen on his earlier trip down the canyon. He needed to find them some appropriate clothes so that they could blend in until they found the Professor.
Although Clark didn't know it yet, he was approaching the Roman garrison town of Tolosa on the French side of the Pyrenees that would one day become the French City of Toulouse. However now it was a typical Roman garrison town; high dirt wall, closed wooden gate, and all.
The town was laid out in the standard square street plan. The main military, civilian, and religious building were located around a central forum; not that Clark was interested in that at the moment. He was looking for a house where he could score some clothes.
Sticking to the darker back alleys, Clark worked his way towards the more prosperous part of town. If they were going to blend in, they might as well go first class. Eventually, he found a darkened villa. Using his x- ray vision, he saw only one couple sleeping in a room near the back. Probably caretakers thought Clark.
Quietly, Clark entered the house searching for clothes. Ben Hur. Spartacus. Gladiator. What did the well dressed Roman citizen's wear? The best he could come up with were an assortment of white robe/toga things. But nothing that seemed to fall into the proper category of underwear, things might be a little breezy until they figured that one out. Also he located several backpacks to replace their contemporary ones.
It had been ten minutes since he left the others, time to head back before they did something foolish.
Bundling the clothing into one of the backpacks, Clark left the villa. Finding a dark spot in the surrounding dirt barrier wall, he was quickly over it and headed back towards the canyon.
Two guards were stationed outside the passage through the wall into the canyon. They were sitting by a small fire chatting about the previous day's chariot races while waiting for their shift to end at midnight. They had been pulling the evening shift for the past six months and it had always been easy duty.
As Clark approached the wall, he realized it would be easiest for the others to leave through the passage. Plus the soldiers' uniforms and swords might come in handy. Although Clark hated to hurt innocent people, he quickly tapped them over the head and dragged them through the passage and on to where the others were hiding.
"Lex, give me a hand with these guys." Clark announced as he approached.
As the others stood up, he continued, "We need to strip off their clothes and tie them up before they come to."
As always, Lex was impressed by Clark's strength. While the two men were not large by modern standards, together they weighed over three hundred pounds, but Clark was dragging them like they weighed twenty pounds each.
"We need to move quickly and get to the grove of trees on the other side of wall before someone comes looking for these guys." said Clark. "I have found a change of clothes for everyone but we can wait till we are clear of here before changing. Be sure to get all of our gear, so no one will know we have been here."
After tying up the soldiers he handed one of the swords to Lex. "Lex, in all of your fencing training did you ever use one like this?"
As he accepted the sword he said, "It's called a Gladius, the Roman short sword. And no I have never used one."
While Lex took a couple of experimental swings, Lana said, "I hope you don't need to use it."
"Me, too." said Lex lowering the sword. "Guys who used these spent years training full-time."
Soon they had all of their gear collected and were heading through the wall. As they crossed the road that ran past the canyon, Clark pointed to the left, "See the town over there. No sign of electric lights, but I think we are going to have to check it out in the morning to see if we can find a lead on the Professor."
As they entered the cover of the trees, Chloe asked, "So, are we really back in time?"
"It's looking more and more like it" answered Clark looking for a secure spot to spend the night and stash their gear.
Birds singing. Wind rustling the trees. Clark awoke just as the sky was getting light. This was his favorite time of day, before all of the hustle and bustle of the farm day begins.
All of a sudden he remember where he was. Reaching out he touched Chloe curled up beside him. Shaking her lightly by the shoulder, "Chloe, time to wake up."
Rubbing her eyes, "Clark, what are you doing here . . . oh, it wasn't all just a dream, was it?" she asked. Looking around she took in the small clearing in which they had been sleeping. A few feet away Lex and Lana were still asleep. Sitting up she heard a stream gurgling nearby. "Clark, I need to go wash my face."
Clark had already scanned the area with his x-ray and knew it was clear. "Okay, I am going to check out the area before waking the others. Be careful."
About ten minutes later they both returned to the campsite and woke the others.
"Well, Clark now that we have some light let's see what clothing you found us." said Chloe as she opened the backpack Clark had acquired the night before.
While Chloe was sorting through the robes in the bag, Clark was trying on the clothes he had liberated from one of the guards.
After putting on the robe Clark said, "Good thing these are 'one size fits all' or I would have a hard time finding anything in my size. What do you think?" he asked Chloe as he held up the breastplate.
"Very cute, but I think you should just wear the leather vest that goes under the breastplate, unless your goal is to be sucked into the Roman Legion." she answered and Clark quickly dropped the breastplate.
As Lana and Lex returned from the stream Chloe turned to them. "Hurry up and change clothes. I want to hike into town and find some breakfast."
"What about the granola bars?" asked Lana as she started checking out the robes.
"I think we should save them for an emergency. Besides, if we are going to risk visiting the town, we might as well do it in time for breakfast." While Chloe was talking she had casually stripped off her clothing from the day before and slipped into one of the robes. What little modesty she had shown the day before was not evident this morning.
Lana had noticed Chloe changing, "Ah, don't you want a little privacy while you change?"
"When in Rome, Lana. Modesty about the human body was not the same back then. Didn't you ever see that show on the Discovery or Learning Channel about the open-air bathrooms arranged around the public square? The long rows of stone seats with the openings to the flowing water below, where the people could 'do their business' while socializing."
"We don't have cable at my house so I guess I missed that one," answered Lana. "But just the thought, Brrr, . . . a guys, I am really, really ready to go home now."
As the others, still sort of modestly, started changing, Chloe said to Clark, "Wherever you got these clothes, you forgot something important."
"I didn't have much time and didn't see anything that looked like underwear." said
"I am not talking about underwear." As Clark looked over, she held up one foot and wiggled her toes at him.
"Shoes." he said.
"Yeah, I'm not excited about hiking too far barefooted. One more item to acquire when we get to town. I think it's a good thing you brought along all of the extra gold coins. We may need to buy a lot of supplies before we are done."
Once everyone had changed, Lex and Clark set to work secreting their 21st century belongings so that they wouldn't be easily found, yet marked so that they would be able to find them on their return.
Everyone's stomachs were grumbling by the time that they made it to the edge of the trees. After making sure the coast was clear, they stepped out onto the road and turned towards the town.
While finding a secluded spot the night before they had drifted in the opposite direction from the town. Now they had a little over a mile to travel before reaching the earth embankment surrounding the town.
To break the silence, Chloe said. "Clark, do you remember the time I got pushed out of the second floor window at Lex's mansion?"
"Of course."
"And when you stopped by the hospital room and made out as though it was all your fault?" she continued with the start of a grin.
Clark was not sure where she was headed with this, particularly with the expression on her face. Cautiously he said, "Yeah."
"I then said that not only did I hold you responsible for my accident but also a whole bunch of other things up to and including the fall of the Roman Empire. You did understand I was kidding, right? Right? You didn't arrange all of this," and she waved her hand taking in the hills, and town, and plain, "Because of my comments?" Her grin was getting broader.
"Ummm, and if I said I did," said Clark with a smile as he started to get into the spirit of the moment.
"Well now that we are here are you going to a) stop the invasion of the Goths and Vandals who over ran Italy, or b) going back further in time keep Rome a republic as many historians credit the change from a republic to an empire as the start of the decline?"
Clark thought about it for a minute as they happened to be passing the entrance to the walled off canyon. Now there were four guards stationed outside the entrance and several additional men just inside talking to the two naked guards from the night before.
As they walked by, in the immortal words of Hans Solo, they all tried to 'fly casual'. Noticing the activity, but not paying too much attention since none of them was the professor.
"Actually, my plan to prevent the fall of the Roman Empire is to challenge the Emperor to one on one combat and then after I slew him I am going to outlaw the use of lead pipes in the Roman drinking water system. Everyone knows it was lead contamination that destroyed the empire." explained Clark. "Then we are next going to use the time machine to go to 1904 Russia and fluoridate the water to prevent communism. Everything always comes down to the water."
Everyone was laughing by now, as Lex interjected, "Truthfully, Chloe, Clark told me about your comments when you were in the hospital, so I invented the time machine to come back to prevent the fall to help Clark get back in your good graces."
"And how are you going to prevent the fall, Lex?"
"Easy, set up the only accounting firm using the Arabic numbering system and double entry bookkeeping. In a couple of years I'll be 'King of the World'." laughed Lex.
Chloe was still giggling and turned to Lana. "I suppose you were in on it, too. So what is your plan to prevent the fall of the Roman Empire."
"I don't know that I want to prevent the fall. I mean, if the Roman Empire doesn't fall, won't every night at the Talon be Toga night? Toga, Toga, Toga. Wouldn't that get boring after awhile? Would we have a temple at the end of Main Street dedicated to John Belushi?" The thought of which had them all laughing again.
This had kept them pleasantly distracted from the strange and scary situation they were in, as they walked up to an unknown town.
The wooden gate through the earthen wall was standing wide open in the bright morning sunlight. They had passed several carts loaded with merchandise and farm products during the hike along the road, but the traffic was getting almost congested as they approached the gate.
Observing the activity as they approached, they realized the soldiers and clerks were stopping and investigating the carts, but the foot traffic was traveling through unimpeded. So they proceeded past the gate trying to look like they belonged.
The local industry was located on the outskirts of the town. Leather tanning, wool bleaching and dyeing, blacksmithery, carpentry, laundry and soap production. The smell was quite impressive.
Finally, Lana said, "Isn't someone going to comment on the smell?"
"Not me," said Clark, "I grew up on a farm."
"Not me," responded Lex, "I run a fertilizer plant."
"Okay," smiled Chloe, "I'll say it. Ewww, the smell here is absolutely unbelievable. Almost as bad as the time I had to go undercover in the boy's locker room to get that story."
"Chloe Sullivan, you didn't dress as a boy and go into the boy's locker room!" exclaimed Lana with a mildly shocked look on her face. Although after Chloe's behavior in the past two days, maybe she shouldn't have been. You just don't get to know someone until you've gone on a 'Wall of the Weird' camping trip with them.
"Hey, an investigative reporter has to learn to do what it takes to get the story. And I needed the practice." explained Chloe with nary a blush.
"Okay, guys how about we postpone the story of Chloe's cross-dressing adventures for a later time." Said Lex, "We are approaching the center of town and I think we should focus on getting some breakfast without giving ourselves away."
The others quieted down and started to notice the smells were starting to become more mouth-watering and less offensive.
Soon the large central forum of the town came into view. The north side of the square contained two joined buildings of traditional stone, fronted by giant Doric columns. The left building, three stories tall, was obviously the local government office based on the people queued up in front. The purpose of the right building was less apparent, but would perform some other government function.
The East Side of the square contained the palace of the local magistrate. Built of red sandstone in the local style, it contrasted pleasantly with the white marble of the office complex.
The West Side of the square housed the imperial temple. Its most impressive feature was the eighteen life size statues lining the roof. Some of them were stone, and some were silver and gold, but none of them gave the necessary clue for the group to firmly tie down the current year.
What attracted their attention was along the south side, numerous food stalls doing a brisk business. They wandered along the row, checking out the choices. Eventually they settled on mystery meat kabobs, oranges, apples, and a jug of wine.
Before making their purchases, Chloe said, "I better do the talking, since I guess my Latin is the best. I also think we should have some signals so that the rest of you can do the right thing depending on the situation."
"What did you have in mind?" asked Clark continuing to eye the food with a hungry look.
"Well, I may have to claim that you and Lana are barbarians since you can't speak the language. Anyway just keep an eye on Lex and me. One finger means keep your eyes downcast in a servile manner. Two fingers means give a deep, courteous bow. And three fingers means 'Run like Hell'."
Without giving anyone a chance to argue, Chloe set off for the food stalls. She quickly began haggling with the vendors. 'Just like a day at the Smallville Farmer's Market,' she thought. With ten minutes effort, she had the items they wanted for a total cost of three silver coins and six of copper.
Finding a couple of benches with a good view, they settled back to eat and watch the crowds.
"Now, children," warned Lex, "don't tell your parents I was serving alcohol to minors. I don't believe the 'no drinking till 21' laws go into effect for about, oh, two thousand years."
As the others all smiled, he continued, "But seriously, the wine jug was for show, let's mostly stick to the apples and oranges. I don't want any of us losing our edge. If anyone screws up here, the penalty will be much more than a slap on the wrist."
As they were all nodding, a large group of soldiers marched into the square escorting a pair of sedan chairs carried by six slaves each. These were the first men who were definitely slaves they had seen. Perhaps some of people they had seen in the industrial area were slaves, but none of them had the downtrodden, vacant stares of these broken men. It wasn't until this moment that the seriousness of their situation really hit home. If they weren't careful, they could end up like these men or worse.
While they were watching the slaves and then the man and woman exit the sedan chairs, none of them paid any attention to the group of men on horseback who entered the far end of the plaza.
As they finished up their meal they were trying to prioritize their goals for the day: finding a cobbler for some shoes, finding a place to spend the night, and figuring out how to proceed with inquiries about the Professor without giving themselves away. Suddenly a man striding towards them called out in Latin "Coelia Dionysia Flavius, what a pleasant surprise" interrupting their discussion.
Chloe's expression quickly went from the frown of someone trying to recall a long forgotten memory to the shock of recognition and finally to an incredibly wide, gleeful smile as she surged to her feet.
End of Chapter Three