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 Five
Chloe began, "I was born 17,316 years ago in a place we could call Atlantis."
"Seventeen thousand years," said Clark as his face went pale.
Chloe reached over and took his hand. "It'll be okay, Clark."
"When I was growing up, civilization was on more or less the same technological level as in our own times. Well, your own times. Maybe this will seem strange, but I have learned it is easiest to live in the moment. So I sort of think of the 21st century as my own times, too."
"Anyway, as I was saying, technology when I was born was similar to the twenty first century in many ways. Hover cars. Video Phones. Indoor plumbing."
Lex jumped in, "If they had all of that technology, surely there would be archaeological evidence."
Clark was just thinking about flying cars and how cool that would be.
"I'll get to that, Lex. One of the areas where they were further ahead was nanotechnology. You know, building things with individual atoms. Anyway two events conspired to destroy the Atlantian civilization and remove most traces of it."
"First, similar to our own times, fossil fuels were one of the main power sources. Like some scientists talk about today, greenhouse gases and global warming were a major issue. What no one understood was that the warming altered the course of the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic. This change had the exact opposite effect from what you would expect and tripped the world into a new ice age. And it was not a slow effect taking hundreds or thousands of years. No, the first year snow covered most of the Northern Hemisphere and never went away. In three years significant glaciers were forming everywhere."
"The second thing was a monumental accident or screw up in a nanotech experiment. It started on the far side of the world and the end came very fast, so I don't know all of the details. Apparently, they were working on some 'bots that could break down metals, atom by atom and convert them to heat energy to stop the glaciers. Somehow the experiment got out of control and didn't have the proper safeguards to prevent unrestricted multiplication of the 'bots. Within three days all processed metal products in the world were gone. All structural steel in buildings. All copper in powerlines. All nails in wood buildings. All cars. Everything metallic was destroyed."
"Imagine how quickly all evidence of our civilization would disappear, if the metal was gone. Plus how many people could the world support if the entire infrastructure was gone and you're at the beginning of an ice age? Not billions, only low millions. In the next two months almost everyone died." The last was said at barely a whisper. Even after all of the hundreds of centuries, her memories of those incredibly dark times still had a powerful effect on Chloe.
They all sat for a few minutes waiting for Chloe to continue. Eventually Lex grew impatient and asked, "Chloe, what about you? So far your story explains what happened to the civilization where you were born, but what about you? I am guessing everyone back then didn't live forever."
"No, Lex," said Chloe, "Everyone didn't live forever. Just me."
"Although if the end of that world had come ten years later, it might have been a lot different. Nanotech 'bots had just been introduced in human medicine. Simple specialized 'bots for things like cleaning clogged arteries and mending broken bones. Oh, and virtual reality direct brain interfaces. Gamers were cutting edge back then too. Anyway the 'Holy Grail' of nanotech was a universal adaptive 'bot that could be permanently left in the body to take care of any problems as they came up."
Here Chloe paused for a minute. "My father was the chief scientist at one of the up and coming human research nanotech firms. His company had recently made the breakthrough they had all been striving for when the collapse came. They were about six months into animal trials and my Dad knew they had a probable success on their hands. So when the word of the runaway nanotech problem reached us, my Dad quickly injected me with the experimental 'bots."
"I had turned sixteen three days before and I have been sixteen ever since. One of the benefits or curses of the 'bots."
Lana asked, "So you never get sick?"
"No, and if I get hurt, I heal incredibly fast, like in seconds." said Chloe.
"But Chloe," said Clark, "when you got pushed out of the second story window at Lex's mansion we all saw you bruised and battered in the hospital and the bruises took a number of days to go away."
"The special 'bots they developed had a human brain control interface they adapted from the gaming 'bots, they just hadn't tested it yet during the animal trials. I have the ability to control the recovery once any life threatening damage is repaired. So once I was in the hospital I slowed my recovery to a more normal rate."
Clark asked, "What about your father? We have all met him."
Chloe stared at the statue of Venus at the back of the alcove for a few seconds thinking about how to best to explain. "Sometimes the modern age makes life more challenging for me. Here, in ancient Rome I can be an important member of the upper class at 16 and nobody thinks twice. But back in Smallville, a girl of 16 who is living alone would have all kinds of problems. So I have learned to be more creative and plan further ahead. I mean if I stay in one place more than a few years, people get suspicious.
"As for Gabe, he lets me call him Dad and treats me like his daughter, but he really thinks I am the orphan daughter of his second cousins that he took in when they were killed in a car accident." Chloe saw the expression on their faces. "Oh, don't look at me like that. I didn't kill anyone to set this up. Gabe is an only child and so were his parents. He has no other close relatives. So when the courts contacted him saying if he couldn't take me in, then I was going to have to go to an orphanage, he was glad to help me out since he had no other family left. When we get back home I would appreciate it if you don't tell him about me. When the time is right, I would like to tell him myself." She looked each of them in the eye until they all had nodded.
Trying to be practical, Lex jumped into the conversation. "I have lots more questions about you and your life back in Atlantis and I am sure the others do too, but I think we should talk about our current situation first, in case we get interrupted."
"Okay, Lex, what do you want to talk about?"
"First, I think we need to bring Lana and Clark up to speed on your conversation with Marcus."
Chloe nodded, "Short version, then:"
"We are in the town that will eventually become Toulouse, France. It is located near what will be the border between France and Spain in the foothills of the Pyrenees Mountains.
"Using the dating conventions of our time this is the year 37 AD. Remember my discussion about the first emperor Augustus? After his death his adopted son, Tiberius, succeeded him. Tiberius was actually the son of his second wife Olivia from her first marriage. It was common practice in Roman society to adopt younger men to be your heir and successor since the high death rate meant you frequently didn't have a living son to inherit from you. Tiberius was made emperor after Augustus and ruled for 23 years. You remember the old saying 'Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely'? Well, it was coined for Tiberius and also applied to many of the following emperors. Ultimately, Tiberius moved to the island of Capri off the Italian coast and spent his last few years focused on his outrageous perversions.
"Marcus just got word yesterday that Tiberius has died and has been succeeded by Gaius Germanicus." Chloe continued.
Lex asked, "I don't remember this Gaius Germanicus, but from the way you went pale and Marcus' comments there is something more, isn't there?"
"In modern times, Gaius Germanicus is better known by his nickname, Caligula," said Chloe.
"Oh," said Lex turning a little pale himself.
"What is it?" asked Lana. "I was never that interested in ancient Roman history." From the expression on his face it was apparent that Clark was clueless also.
Lex said, "I don't remember it all perfectly, but Caligula only ruled for a couple of years before being assassinated. However during that time he was by all standards quite insane. He declared himself a living god. He killed off about half of the senators. He made his favorite race horse a senator. He turned the imperial palace into a brothel and made his sisters perform as prostitutes. He also quite publicly practiced incest with them. He lived his life totally without limits. I never understood how he stayed in power as long as he did."
"That's easy," said Chloe. "He made sure the military was paid often and well."
"Why does any of that matter to us?" asked Clark.
"It doesn't immediately." explained Chloe. "It really only becomes important if we end up having to go to Rome."
"Why should we have to go there?" asked Lana.
"We still have no idea where the professor is and remember the old saying 'All Roads Led To Rome'." said Chloe.
"Why didn't you ask Marcus about him?" asked Lex. "And why did you introduce me as a flunky from England?"
"It seemed more urgent to develop a reasonable cover story for you guys then to immediately press him about the professor." Chloe stated. "As to the England cover story, since Clark and Lana don't speak Latin it was necessary to say they are from somewhere outside of the empire. They look northern European, but saying they are German is out as too many Germans are spread around the empire as mercenaries. They would eventually be exposed. Britain works better as we are unlikely to run into any real ones to blow our cover. Julius Caesar invaded Britain about 70 years ago, but was forced to retreat. There won't be another Roman military invasion for about another 5 years until Claudius, Caligula's successor makes an attempt. So other than some trading business, most people in the empire have heard of Britain, but have never meet anyone from there."
Looking over at Lex, Chloe said, "You don't speak Greek, do you?" At this Lex shook his head no. "I didn't think so. All well-bred Romans can read, write, and speak Greek. I tried to come up with a story for you that explained how you speak the same language as Clark and Lana, and still gave you the best upward potential I could. Fortunately, there is no stigma here against hard-working self-made men."
Lex nodded and turned this information over in his head. "What about giving me the middle name, Germanicus?"
"It is common practice to name children after someone important in your life. Drusius Germanicus the Elder was a successful general who served mostly in the Rhine area who happens to be Caligula's grandfather. Caligula's father was also named Drusius Germanicus and was another general who fought often in Germany. Caligula's father died when Caligula was a child. Cladius, who followed Caligula as emperor, was Darius Germanicus' younger brother and Caligula's uncle."
"So Chloe," continued Lex, "how did you fit into all of this?"
"Oh," Chloe responded with a smile. "I fit into this very well, thank you. I was part of one of the primary ruling families from the old Republican days, the Flavians. Okay, I will admit I was the ruling matriarch of the family for over 400 years. Well, since Rome was always a male dominated society, I was more the power behind the throne of the family. You have to realize that by the time of the Roman civilization, I had thousands of years of experience. I had found it was best to be near the top of the civilization rather than at the actual top to enjoy a long tranquil existence. Plus I had achieved the perfect setup for me with major estates scattered all over the empire. After spending six years in Rome, I had recently relocated to our estates in Egypt. After five or six years there I would move on to Spain and then maybe Greece. Eventually I would return to Rome as my daughter and begin the cycle all over again."
"So if it is best to be near the top of civilization, how did you end up a small town girl in Smallville?" asked Lex.
"The difference between the near the top and a slave at the bottom was huge in the 'not-so-good' old days. Now the lifestyle differences between a small town girl and say Lex Luthor are not that great. I mean we both have cars, stereos, phones, hot water, air conditioning, and travel by planes. You may have more material things, but I have all of the things that make modern life pleasant.
"Anyway," concluded Chloe, "I think everyone has enough to think about. It is time to enjoy one of the few things they really knew how to do right, a Roman bath. I know my brain will be functioning better after a nice relaxing soak and massage."
End of Chapter Five
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 Five
Chloe began, "I was born 17,316 years ago in a place we could call Atlantis."
"Seventeen thousand years," said Clark as his face went pale.
Chloe reached over and took his hand. "It'll be okay, Clark."
"When I was growing up, civilization was on more or less the same technological level as in our own times. Well, your own times. Maybe this will seem strange, but I have learned it is easiest to live in the moment. So I sort of think of the 21st century as my own times, too."
"Anyway, as I was saying, technology when I was born was similar to the twenty first century in many ways. Hover cars. Video Phones. Indoor plumbing."
Lex jumped in, "If they had all of that technology, surely there would be archaeological evidence."
Clark was just thinking about flying cars and how cool that would be.
"I'll get to that, Lex. One of the areas where they were further ahead was nanotechnology. You know, building things with individual atoms. Anyway two events conspired to destroy the Atlantian civilization and remove most traces of it."
"First, similar to our own times, fossil fuels were one of the main power sources. Like some scientists talk about today, greenhouse gases and global warming were a major issue. What no one understood was that the warming altered the course of the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic. This change had the exact opposite effect from what you would expect and tripped the world into a new ice age. And it was not a slow effect taking hundreds or thousands of years. No, the first year snow covered most of the Northern Hemisphere and never went away. In three years significant glaciers were forming everywhere."
"The second thing was a monumental accident or screw up in a nanotech experiment. It started on the far side of the world and the end came very fast, so I don't know all of the details. Apparently, they were working on some 'bots that could break down metals, atom by atom and convert them to heat energy to stop the glaciers. Somehow the experiment got out of control and didn't have the proper safeguards to prevent unrestricted multiplication of the 'bots. Within three days all processed metal products in the world were gone. All structural steel in buildings. All copper in powerlines. All nails in wood buildings. All cars. Everything metallic was destroyed."
"Imagine how quickly all evidence of our civilization would disappear, if the metal was gone. Plus how many people could the world support if the entire infrastructure was gone and you're at the beginning of an ice age? Not billions, only low millions. In the next two months almost everyone died." The last was said at barely a whisper. Even after all of the hundreds of centuries, her memories of those incredibly dark times still had a powerful effect on Chloe.
They all sat for a few minutes waiting for Chloe to continue. Eventually Lex grew impatient and asked, "Chloe, what about you? So far your story explains what happened to the civilization where you were born, but what about you? I am guessing everyone back then didn't live forever."
"No, Lex," said Chloe, "Everyone didn't live forever. Just me."
"Although if the end of that world had come ten years later, it might have been a lot different. Nanotech 'bots had just been introduced in human medicine. Simple specialized 'bots for things like cleaning clogged arteries and mending broken bones. Oh, and virtual reality direct brain interfaces. Gamers were cutting edge back then too. Anyway the 'Holy Grail' of nanotech was a universal adaptive 'bot that could be permanently left in the body to take care of any problems as they came up."
Here Chloe paused for a minute. "My father was the chief scientist at one of the up and coming human research nanotech firms. His company had recently made the breakthrough they had all been striving for when the collapse came. They were about six months into animal trials and my Dad knew they had a probable success on their hands. So when the word of the runaway nanotech problem reached us, my Dad quickly injected me with the experimental 'bots."
"I had turned sixteen three days before and I have been sixteen ever since. One of the benefits or curses of the 'bots."
Lana asked, "So you never get sick?"
"No, and if I get hurt, I heal incredibly fast, like in seconds." said Chloe.
"But Chloe," said Clark, "when you got pushed out of the second story window at Lex's mansion we all saw you bruised and battered in the hospital and the bruises took a number of days to go away."
"The special 'bots they developed had a human brain control interface they adapted from the gaming 'bots, they just hadn't tested it yet during the animal trials. I have the ability to control the recovery once any life threatening damage is repaired. So once I was in the hospital I slowed my recovery to a more normal rate."
Clark asked, "What about your father? We have all met him."
Chloe stared at the statue of Venus at the back of the alcove for a few seconds thinking about how to best to explain. "Sometimes the modern age makes life more challenging for me. Here, in ancient Rome I can be an important member of the upper class at 16 and nobody thinks twice. But back in Smallville, a girl of 16 who is living alone would have all kinds of problems. So I have learned to be more creative and plan further ahead. I mean if I stay in one place more than a few years, people get suspicious.
"As for Gabe, he lets me call him Dad and treats me like his daughter, but he really thinks I am the orphan daughter of his second cousins that he took in when they were killed in a car accident." Chloe saw the expression on their faces. "Oh, don't look at me like that. I didn't kill anyone to set this up. Gabe is an only child and so were his parents. He has no other close relatives. So when the courts contacted him saying if he couldn't take me in, then I was going to have to go to an orphanage, he was glad to help me out since he had no other family left. When we get back home I would appreciate it if you don't tell him about me. When the time is right, I would like to tell him myself." She looked each of them in the eye until they all had nodded.
Trying to be practical, Lex jumped into the conversation. "I have lots more questions about you and your life back in Atlantis and I am sure the others do too, but I think we should talk about our current situation first, in case we get interrupted."
"Okay, Lex, what do you want to talk about?"
"First, I think we need to bring Lana and Clark up to speed on your conversation with Marcus."
Chloe nodded, "Short version, then:"
"We are in the town that will eventually become Toulouse, France. It is located near what will be the border between France and Spain in the foothills of the Pyrenees Mountains.
"Using the dating conventions of our time this is the year 37 AD. Remember my discussion about the first emperor Augustus? After his death his adopted son, Tiberius, succeeded him. Tiberius was actually the son of his second wife Olivia from her first marriage. It was common practice in Roman society to adopt younger men to be your heir and successor since the high death rate meant you frequently didn't have a living son to inherit from you. Tiberius was made emperor after Augustus and ruled for 23 years. You remember the old saying 'Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely'? Well, it was coined for Tiberius and also applied to many of the following emperors. Ultimately, Tiberius moved to the island of Capri off the Italian coast and spent his last few years focused on his outrageous perversions.
"Marcus just got word yesterday that Tiberius has died and has been succeeded by Gaius Germanicus." Chloe continued.
Lex asked, "I don't remember this Gaius Germanicus, but from the way you went pale and Marcus' comments there is something more, isn't there?"
"In modern times, Gaius Germanicus is better known by his nickname, Caligula," said Chloe.
"Oh," said Lex turning a little pale himself.
"What is it?" asked Lana. "I was never that interested in ancient Roman history." From the expression on his face it was apparent that Clark was clueless also.
Lex said, "I don't remember it all perfectly, but Caligula only ruled for a couple of years before being assassinated. However during that time he was by all standards quite insane. He declared himself a living god. He killed off about half of the senators. He made his favorite race horse a senator. He turned the imperial palace into a brothel and made his sisters perform as prostitutes. He also quite publicly practiced incest with them. He lived his life totally without limits. I never understood how he stayed in power as long as he did."
"That's easy," said Chloe. "He made sure the military was paid often and well."
"Why does any of that matter to us?" asked Clark.
"It doesn't immediately." explained Chloe. "It really only becomes important if we end up having to go to Rome."
"Why should we have to go there?" asked Lana.
"We still have no idea where the professor is and remember the old saying 'All Roads Led To Rome'." said Chloe.
"Why didn't you ask Marcus about him?" asked Lex. "And why did you introduce me as a flunky from England?"
"It seemed more urgent to develop a reasonable cover story for you guys then to immediately press him about the professor." Chloe stated. "As to the England cover story, since Clark and Lana don't speak Latin it was necessary to say they are from somewhere outside of the empire. They look northern European, but saying they are German is out as too many Germans are spread around the empire as mercenaries. They would eventually be exposed. Britain works better as we are unlikely to run into any real ones to blow our cover. Julius Caesar invaded Britain about 70 years ago, but was forced to retreat. There won't be another Roman military invasion for about another 5 years until Claudius, Caligula's successor makes an attempt. So other than some trading business, most people in the empire have heard of Britain, but have never meet anyone from there."
Looking over at Lex, Chloe said, "You don't speak Greek, do you?" At this Lex shook his head no. "I didn't think so. All well-bred Romans can read, write, and speak Greek. I tried to come up with a story for you that explained how you speak the same language as Clark and Lana, and still gave you the best upward potential I could. Fortunately, there is no stigma here against hard-working self-made men."
Lex nodded and turned this information over in his head. "What about giving me the middle name, Germanicus?"
"It is common practice to name children after someone important in your life. Drusius Germanicus the Elder was a successful general who served mostly in the Rhine area who happens to be Caligula's grandfather. Caligula's father was also named Drusius Germanicus and was another general who fought often in Germany. Caligula's father died when Caligula was a child. Cladius, who followed Caligula as emperor, was Darius Germanicus' younger brother and Caligula's uncle."
"So Chloe," continued Lex, "how did you fit into all of this?"
"Oh," Chloe responded with a smile. "I fit into this very well, thank you. I was part of one of the primary ruling families from the old Republican days, the Flavians. Okay, I will admit I was the ruling matriarch of the family for over 400 years. Well, since Rome was always a male dominated society, I was more the power behind the throne of the family. You have to realize that by the time of the Roman civilization, I had thousands of years of experience. I had found it was best to be near the top of the civilization rather than at the actual top to enjoy a long tranquil existence. Plus I had achieved the perfect setup for me with major estates scattered all over the empire. After spending six years in Rome, I had recently relocated to our estates in Egypt. After five or six years there I would move on to Spain and then maybe Greece. Eventually I would return to Rome as my daughter and begin the cycle all over again."
"So if it is best to be near the top of civilization, how did you end up a small town girl in Smallville?" asked Lex.
"The difference between the near the top and a slave at the bottom was huge in the 'not-so-good' old days. Now the lifestyle differences between a small town girl and say Lex Luthor are not that great. I mean we both have cars, stereos, phones, hot water, air conditioning, and travel by planes. You may have more material things, but I have all of the things that make modern life pleasant.
"Anyway," concluded Chloe, "I think everyone has enough to think about. It is time to enjoy one of the few things they really knew how to do right, a Roman bath. I know my brain will be functioning better after a nice relaxing soak and massage."
End of Chapter Five