The Portal
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 Eight
[Author's Note: Like several of the characters, I assume many of the readers don't read Latin or Ancient Greek. So the readers can follow the dialog and still know which characters know what is being said and which ones don't, I am implementing the following simple method: " Text " = English "L text " = Latin "G text " = Greek
Now on with the story.]
Watching the Governor and his wife walk away, Lex asked, "This Carius is the Professor, right?"
"Yeah," said Chloe as she drained her glass and stood up. "Come on. Lana and I owe a couple of guys a massage. We can talk as we go."
Clark and Lex grinned at this and Lana gave a small smile. They all quickly finished their drinks and stood up.
"Two thousand years is a long time. I only met Carius a couple of times, briefly, at parties where my attention was focused on other things. Plus he looked a lot different in a robe than in a lab coat. But now that Marcus has reminded me, I am certain Carius and the Professor are one and the same." said Chloe.
As they walked, Lex and Chloe brought Clark and Lana up to speed on their conversation with Marcus. When they had finished, Clark asked, "If Marcus doesn't think the Professor has been here in a year, how do we proceed?"
Chloe answered, "Look's like we are going to have to do some detective work. I can think of two places to start. First, we can check out his villa. Second, if you guys are up for it, you could check out some taverns tonight and try to get some info from his guards."
"Why do you think the Professor chose to set up his portal here when his power-base is in Rome?" asked Lana. "It must be hundreds of miles from here to Rome and would take months of travel time. It seems pretty risky to be that far away in an emergency."
Chloe was playing with the waistband of Clark's loincloth as she said, "I don't yet understand why he picked this location, but the travel time is not that bad. Travel times are a lot quicker than you would think. Particularly, if you are traveling under an imperial seal. They had relay stations set up every twenty miles or so for changing horses. Very much like the old Pony Express, except the Romans could handle parties of up to twenty riders instead of the single mail carrier in the Pony Express system."
"Under emergency conditions, you could cover 200 miles a day. Pushing hard, you could make it from Tolosa to Rome in about four days. Alternately, at the right time of year and under good weather conditions you could get from here to Narbo on the Mediterranean Coast in about four hours and then take a ship to Rome. With luck, you could be in Rome in three days."
As Chloe finished speaking they arrived at the attendant who handled the private massage rooms. With a couple of minutes of bargaining, Chloe arranged a room with two massage tables and the appropriate supplies.
As Clark and Lex stretched out on their stomachs on the two tables, Chloe performed a low bow and said, "Which of you honorable sirs will go first?"
Lex glanced at Clark and then said, "I think me. I know Clark is the one you really want to get your hands on so this way you get to continue building your anticipation and I don't end up being the anti-climax."
Chloe and Lana poured a liberal quantity of oil onto Lex's back and began to rub it into his shoulders and upper back. Lana looked down at Lex who had his face turned towards her and asked, "Lex, can I run my fingers over your head, too? I have always been curious what it would feel like."
Lex could see Lana's face from the corner of his eye and wondered if she was serious or just teasing. "If you like, but be careful with the earlobes. Just like a Ferengi, they are one of my erogenous zones."
Lana gave him a blank stare. "You know, Ferengi, Deep Space Nine, Star Trek . . . Oh, never mind, before your time." Geez, I keep forgetting how young they are. Remember, Lex. Two words. Jail bait.
Clark jumped in to the awkward pause. "So Chloe, were you ever someone famous in history that we might have heard of?"
"I don't know, Clark. How many famous sixteen year old girls do you remember from history class?"
"Hmmm, Joan of Arc?" asked Clark.
"Let's see, had visions from God, lead armies into battle, burned at the stake. Nope, I don't remember ever being stupid enough to cause myself that kind of grieve. Well, at least not in the past five thousand years or so. Try again." answered Chloe trying to keep a serious expression on her face.
"Lady Godiva," suggested Lana.
Chloe lifted an eyebrow. "So I go skinny-dipping one time and now I am Lady Godiva?" Lana started to blush.
Wow, thought Chloe, these 21st century kids sure lead sheltered lives. I wonder what her response would be if I offered to give her a full body massage?
"No, Lana, I wasn't Lady Godiva, but an interesting guess."
By now the girls had moved from Lex's back down to his legs. Each of them started rubbing oil in to one of Lex's calves and was slowly working their way back up.
"Mary Queen of Scots?" guessed Clark.
"No. I think I already mentioned I prefer to be the power behind the throne, not the one in charge. Too many people trying to assassinate you. Or overthrow you. How about you, Lex. Any guesses?"
"Ummm," said Lex in a pretty relaxed tone. He was really starting to enjoy his massage. "Power been the throne? Maybe Cardinal Richileau?"
That comment earned him a very sharp slap on one of his mostly bare cheeks.
"Hey!" exclaimed Lex, as he started to raise his upper body.
Chloe pressed him back down against the table. "Sorry about that. I wasn't the Cardinal, but I do have some bad memories of him." She started to rub both hands across the red handprint she had left on his white butt. "Here, let Chloe rub it and make everything better." She motioned to Lana who started to work on his other cheek.
"Okay, I have been a famous person a couple of times in the past, but you haven't even got warm yet. So I will let you think about it and we can continue this game another time. I did have a few famous husbands, as well. Mostly scientist types who I gave a little push in the right direction from time to time. One of the more important ones in the development of modern civilization was John Crapper, the developer of modern indoor plumbing. From the fall of the Roman Empire to the mid-1800s was a long, long period of poor plumbing. Finally, enough technology came together that modern plumbing became practical. I am sure someone else would have come up with it in another ten or twenty years, but I got tired of waiting. So every time you hear the word 'crap' you can thank me and my husband, John."
Everyone was laughing. Lex was wondering when Chloe would get past the light, humorous stories. Certainly in 17,000 years there must have been a lot of dark times, too.
Clark was thinking about Chloe being married. She had mentioned back at the temple having been married to Marcus' brother. But so many revelations had been coming so fast; it hadn't really sunk in. What was it, just over six hours ago, that Clark thought he was her first serious boy friend. And now, how many times had she been married? How many men had she known? At least for the moment some of the fun of this adventure had gone out of it for him.
Chloe could sense the sudden change in Clark's mood. She looked over at Lana and said, "Come on, time to switch to Clark for a while."
Lana could also sense Clark's change in mood. She looked from Chloe to Clark and finally to Lex. "Hey, Lex, I think the lovebirds need some time alone. How about we go back to the snack bar and look for some interesting drinks to introduce for a special Roman theme night at the Talon."
One minute he was enjoying a nice relaxing massage with two beautiful girls running their hands all over his body and the next they were trying to hustle him out of the room. What did I just miss, thought Lex. Shaking his head, Lex got up, took Lana's hand and headed for the door. When he reached the door, he turned and said, "Clark, don't do anything I wouldn't do. Wait, scratch that. Don't do anything YOU wouldn't do back in Smallville." Then he turned and headed back out into the exercise area.
After Lex and Lana left, Chloe went over and closed the door. She then walked back over to Clark and put her hands on his shoulders and started rubbing his neck. "Are you okay?"
"Sure, why not?"
"You just got this look on your face like you were troubled by something. Even Lana picked up on it, that's why she drug Lex out of here."
Clark took a deep breath. "I guess the reality of your life just hit home. Chloe, . . . how many times have you been married?"
"Do you want a glib answer or the truth? I suspect the truth. I have been married 237 times. Barely more than Larry King and he is only in his 60's. . . . . Seriously, at the time almost every one of them seemed special. You have to understand how hard it is to be around people, but still to feel apart and alone."
"How about children?"
"Six hundred thirty eight. Unfortunately, my 'bots don't seem to pass on to my children. At least none of them ever lived longer than the normal life span or had extra-ordinary healing powers. Can you imagine what it is like to watch your children grow old and die and then your grandchildren?"
"No, I guess I can't. It must be very hard." Said Clark, hearing the stress in Chloe's voice. "Are any of them still alive? Do you keep in touch with any of them?"
Chloe shook her head. "No, my last grandson died eight years ago, he was 87. It has been almost a hundred years since I have had any children. Most of my children were born a long, long time ago. In fact, a large portion of mankind is probably descended from me."
"What?" asked Clark.
"At the peak of the last ice age the human population fell below 10,000. I read a research paper one time about how mankind has gone through several chokepoints in the past 100,000 years where humans almost died out. Scientists can tell by comparing DNA from isolated people scattered around the world. The last 'chokepoint' occurred about 15,000 years ago and 35% of all people alive today can trace their ancestry to one woman alive back then. That woman was me. I am probably your great, great, great grandmother."
"No," Clark shook his head, "you might be Lex and Lana's many times great grandmother, but not mine."
Clark seems so certain, thought Chloe. Maybe this is part of his big secret. And maybe getting him talking about it will distract him from thinking about me for a while, which will hopefully turn his mood around. After thinking for a few more seconds, Chloe asked, "How can you be so certain?"
"Easy, I am not from Earth," said Clark.
"What? You said you had special abilities, but what do you mean you're not from Earth?" The words came tumbling out too fast as they often did for Chloe when she got excited. How could Clark not be from Earth? Boy, this was certainly turning into a day of revelations for everyone.
"It all goes back to the big meteor shower that hit Smallville. I was in a spaceship that crashed in the middle of the meteor storm," explained Clark.
The investigative reporter, who had always been a large part of Chloe even before she came to Smallville, jumped in. "How could a spaceship have crashed without anyone noticing?"
"Oh, somebody noticed, my parents. When the ship crashed it came so close to my parents' pickup that my Dad flipped the truck trying to avoid it."
"But," said Chloe, "a spaceship, surely more than just your parents saw it crash or saw it later."
"Actually, it was very small, only about eight long and four feet wide. Before anyone else saw it my Dad hid it in our storm cellar."
"How could something that small travel from another planet? How could it hold sufficient air and food?" asked Chloe.
"I don't know," answered Clark, "I didn't even know about the spaceship until last fall. Since then we have been unable to activate it or even open it."
"How could you not know about the spaceship you arrived in?"
"Well, I was only three at the time, so I don't remember my arrival. Then my parents felt it was best I didn't know. They were afraid I might accidentally say something to give myself away. It was hard enough to pound into my thick skull to never use my powers in front of others."
"So you have put it off long enough, tell me about your 'powers'," said Chloe.
Clark, who was still lying on his stomach, sat up and jumped down from the bench. "Perhaps showing you is better than telling you." Then Clark vanished. Chloe was standing two feet in front of Clark, looking directly at him, when he appeared to blur a little and then was just gone. She quickly spun around, but Clark was no where in sight. Then, just as suddenly, Clark was standing in front of her again.
"Wow, Clark," exclaimed Chloe, "how did you do that?"
Clark blushed a little, "Like I said, I can move very fast."
"How fast?"
"You know how occasionally I miss the bus?" Chloe lifted an eyebrow. "Okay, more than occasionally. Anyway my personal best time for the five miles from the farm to school is fourteen seconds."
"Five miles in fourteen seconds?" Clark watched as Chloe's eyes rolled up towards the ceiling as she did the math in her head. "That's over twelve hundred miles an hour."
"Actually, over short distances I have gone even faster. Several times in the past year, since all of the meteor-related freaks have started to show up in Smallville, I have had to outrun bullets to keep from getting hit or stop someone else from getting hurt."
"Clark Kent, faster than a speeding bullet, who would have guessed." chuckled Chloe. "That is a very interesting and usefully 'power'."
"Ahh, hope you're not too freaked out," said Clark watching her eyes. "There's more."
Chloe walked over to the other bench and leaned back. "I'll admit that in 17,000 years I thought I had seen it all, but I guess not. I am not freaked yet, so let's hear the rest."
Clark leaned back against his own bench. "I am very strong."
Chloe looked at the chiseled muscles of his chest and abs. I knew there was a special reason I liked that body, she thought. "Okay, I'll bite. How strong are you?"
Clark shook his head. "I am not sure. Remember back at the homecoming dance when Whitney and his buddies found their pickups stacked on top of each over?" She nodded. "I did it as a little payback for them making me the scarecrow and leaving me tied up out in the cornfield."
"So let me get this straight, you stacked three four-thousand pound trucks on top of each other by hand?"
Clark nodded, "And over the past year all of my powers have really been growing. I am not certain how strong I am now."
"But," said Chloe, "if you are so strong, how did Whitney manage to tie you up in the cornfield?"
"The only weakness I have is close contact with meteor rocks. It is strange and seems like it must somehow be the key to who I am. I mean, I show up in a giant shower of the one thing that can hurt me. If I get within a few feet of one, I get dizzy and start to feel weak. Within one foot and its like I have the strength of an eighty-year-old man. Touching one feels like I am about to die. Although the absolute worst experience was coming though the portal. Usually it starts with wherever the rock is touching like my hand and then slowly spreads across my body. But with the portal it is like every molecule in my body is being ripped apart. I am not looking forward to the trip back through the portal to get home." Clark took a deep breath and slowly let it out.
"Anyway back to the scarecrow story. Remember the green stone pendant Lana use to wear?"
Chloe nodded. "Sure, the piece of meteor rock that killed . . . Oh, meteor rock," said Chloe as she fell silent.
"Yeah, I always felt sort of sick around her and seemed unusually clumsy and off balance. I never understood why. It has only been during the past year with all of the 'wall of weird' activity that I finally saw the pattern that it was always around the rocks that I felt sick."
"Oh, Clark, and here we are chasing after the Professor trying to get his meteor rocks. What happens when we find them?"
"Fortunately, I have found that lead blocks the effect on me. To finish the scarecrow story, Lana had given Whitney her necklace. When he and the other football players came for me, he got close to me and I collapse before I realized what was happening. Then he left me tied up with Lana's pendant around my neck. If Lex hadn't showed up and accidentally removed it, well I might still be out in that field.
"Once I figured out that lead acts as a shield, I convinced Lana it was time for her to let go of her parents by putting away her pendant in a box I had given her, which just happened to be made of lead."
Clark looked Chloe in the eye. "You need to help me find or have made a lead box before we catch up with the Professor, so I can be safely around the rocks until we return to the portal."
"Of course," agreed Chloe. "I'll put it at the top of my list of things to do after we leave the baths."
Chloe stood up, walked over to Clark, and put her arms around him. "Do you still have more to tell?" Clark nodded. "Could we stretch out on one of the benches and you hold me while we continue to talk?" Clark nodded and slid back on the bench, which he had been leaning against.
Chloe climbed up beside him. She half rolled over until her left leg was drape over his. Her left arm was stretched up across his chest, so her left hand could run through his curly black hair. She leaned her face close to his and whispered. "Before you continue, can I kiss the strongest, fastest man I have ever met in all my long life?"
Clark didn't even bother to nod he just leaned forward till his lips touched hers.
In a few seconds it became obvious that all thoughts and concerns about Chloe's past and Clark's powers were being forgotten. Now it was just Clark and Chloe, two old friends growing into something more.
It seemed like they had only been kissing for moments when someone started rapping on the door. Reluctantly, they broke the kiss and Clark glanced towards the door.
"It's Marina." Clark whispered.
Chloe looked at the closed door and then at Clark with a quizzical expression on her face.
Clark grinned and squinted his eyes at her. "X-ray vision," he explained.
"What? Come on. Super fast. Okay. Super strong. We'll wait and see. But X-ray vision, too?"
"If you don't believe me, open the door and see for yourself," said Clark as he laid his head back down on the bench while waiting for her to move.
Slowly Chloe got up off the table letting her fingers linger playfully on one of his nipples before she walked over to the door. Opening it, she was not at all surprised to see Marina standing there.
"LHi, Coelia. Hope I am not interrupting anything too exciting." said Marina.
"LNo," answered Chloe, "Lbut if you had waited ten more minutes . . ."
"LSorry about that, but we need to head to the baths soon. I have several things I need to attend to before dinner," explained Marina.
"LYeah, me too. Let's go find Lex and Lana so we can be on our way." Chloe turned to Clark. "Time to hit the baths. I guess we will have to finish this conversation later." Chloe's eyes ran down Clark's body one last time before he climbed down from the bench. Her eyes stopped at his loincloth. "Looks like you need to spend some time in the frigidarium."
Clark glanced down and started to blush. Chloe noticed the blush and was glad to see in some ways he was a normal 21st century sixteen-year-old kid.
Chloe tossed him one of the large towels to give him a little extra cover. As they headed out into the main exercise area she asked, "So, are all walls as transparent as glass to you?"
Clark shook his head. "No, fortunately not. Life would be a lot more difficult if all walls were nearly invisible all of the time. I have to focus my attention to kick in the x-ray vision. And then it is a lot like an x-ray, solid objects like metal, stones, and bones are pretty clear, but the rest of peoples bodies are little more than outlines."
"If Marina was little more than bones and an outline, how did you know it was her?" asked Chloe.
"Lucky guess. No actually, since the person on the other side of the door was about five months pregnant, the odds it was Marina were pretty high."
"Oh, I forgot, I guess being five months pregnant and standing at that door would narrow it down." answered Chloe.
As they rounded the corner into the other leg of the exercise room they saw Lana and Lex sitting down by the snack. Chloe waved to get their attention and they rose and meet the others half way.
"Time to hit the baths," explained Chloe. "We have a few tasks we still need to accomplish today."
It had only been a few minutes since they had left the massage room, but Lana could tell by just looking at him that Clark's mood had changed for the better. A few minutes alone with Chloe had made a big difference. If only she could spend a few minutes alone with Whitney or maybe Clark. How would Whitney be coping if he had traveled back in time instead of Clark? She hated to admit it, but probably not as well. Hopefully, she could continue to cope also.
As they reached the entrance to the bathing areas, where the boys and girls had to separate, everyone was a little disappointed the fun times at the baths were coming to an end. Oh, a relaxing soak in the baths still lay ahead, but being segregated would take most of the fun out of it. Everyone took one last lingering look at the others' skimpy exercise attire before heading into the baths.
End of Chapter Eight
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 Eight
[Author's Note: Like several of the characters, I assume many of the readers don't read Latin or Ancient Greek. So the readers can follow the dialog and still know which characters know what is being said and which ones don't, I am implementing the following simple method: " Text " = English "L text " = Latin "G text " = Greek
Now on with the story.]
Watching the Governor and his wife walk away, Lex asked, "This Carius is the Professor, right?"
"Yeah," said Chloe as she drained her glass and stood up. "Come on. Lana and I owe a couple of guys a massage. We can talk as we go."
Clark and Lex grinned at this and Lana gave a small smile. They all quickly finished their drinks and stood up.
"Two thousand years is a long time. I only met Carius a couple of times, briefly, at parties where my attention was focused on other things. Plus he looked a lot different in a robe than in a lab coat. But now that Marcus has reminded me, I am certain Carius and the Professor are one and the same." said Chloe.
As they walked, Lex and Chloe brought Clark and Lana up to speed on their conversation with Marcus. When they had finished, Clark asked, "If Marcus doesn't think the Professor has been here in a year, how do we proceed?"
Chloe answered, "Look's like we are going to have to do some detective work. I can think of two places to start. First, we can check out his villa. Second, if you guys are up for it, you could check out some taverns tonight and try to get some info from his guards."
"Why do you think the Professor chose to set up his portal here when his power-base is in Rome?" asked Lana. "It must be hundreds of miles from here to Rome and would take months of travel time. It seems pretty risky to be that far away in an emergency."
Chloe was playing with the waistband of Clark's loincloth as she said, "I don't yet understand why he picked this location, but the travel time is not that bad. Travel times are a lot quicker than you would think. Particularly, if you are traveling under an imperial seal. They had relay stations set up every twenty miles or so for changing horses. Very much like the old Pony Express, except the Romans could handle parties of up to twenty riders instead of the single mail carrier in the Pony Express system."
"Under emergency conditions, you could cover 200 miles a day. Pushing hard, you could make it from Tolosa to Rome in about four days. Alternately, at the right time of year and under good weather conditions you could get from here to Narbo on the Mediterranean Coast in about four hours and then take a ship to Rome. With luck, you could be in Rome in three days."
As Chloe finished speaking they arrived at the attendant who handled the private massage rooms. With a couple of minutes of bargaining, Chloe arranged a room with two massage tables and the appropriate supplies.
As Clark and Lex stretched out on their stomachs on the two tables, Chloe performed a low bow and said, "Which of you honorable sirs will go first?"
Lex glanced at Clark and then said, "I think me. I know Clark is the one you really want to get your hands on so this way you get to continue building your anticipation and I don't end up being the anti-climax."
Chloe and Lana poured a liberal quantity of oil onto Lex's back and began to rub it into his shoulders and upper back. Lana looked down at Lex who had his face turned towards her and asked, "Lex, can I run my fingers over your head, too? I have always been curious what it would feel like."
Lex could see Lana's face from the corner of his eye and wondered if she was serious or just teasing. "If you like, but be careful with the earlobes. Just like a Ferengi, they are one of my erogenous zones."
Lana gave him a blank stare. "You know, Ferengi, Deep Space Nine, Star Trek . . . Oh, never mind, before your time." Geez, I keep forgetting how young they are. Remember, Lex. Two words. Jail bait.
Clark jumped in to the awkward pause. "So Chloe, were you ever someone famous in history that we might have heard of?"
"I don't know, Clark. How many famous sixteen year old girls do you remember from history class?"
"Hmmm, Joan of Arc?" asked Clark.
"Let's see, had visions from God, lead armies into battle, burned at the stake. Nope, I don't remember ever being stupid enough to cause myself that kind of grieve. Well, at least not in the past five thousand years or so. Try again." answered Chloe trying to keep a serious expression on her face.
"Lady Godiva," suggested Lana.
Chloe lifted an eyebrow. "So I go skinny-dipping one time and now I am Lady Godiva?" Lana started to blush.
Wow, thought Chloe, these 21st century kids sure lead sheltered lives. I wonder what her response would be if I offered to give her a full body massage?
"No, Lana, I wasn't Lady Godiva, but an interesting guess."
By now the girls had moved from Lex's back down to his legs. Each of them started rubbing oil in to one of Lex's calves and was slowly working their way back up.
"Mary Queen of Scots?" guessed Clark.
"No. I think I already mentioned I prefer to be the power behind the throne, not the one in charge. Too many people trying to assassinate you. Or overthrow you. How about you, Lex. Any guesses?"
"Ummm," said Lex in a pretty relaxed tone. He was really starting to enjoy his massage. "Power been the throne? Maybe Cardinal Richileau?"
That comment earned him a very sharp slap on one of his mostly bare cheeks.
"Hey!" exclaimed Lex, as he started to raise his upper body.
Chloe pressed him back down against the table. "Sorry about that. I wasn't the Cardinal, but I do have some bad memories of him." She started to rub both hands across the red handprint she had left on his white butt. "Here, let Chloe rub it and make everything better." She motioned to Lana who started to work on his other cheek.
"Okay, I have been a famous person a couple of times in the past, but you haven't even got warm yet. So I will let you think about it and we can continue this game another time. I did have a few famous husbands, as well. Mostly scientist types who I gave a little push in the right direction from time to time. One of the more important ones in the development of modern civilization was John Crapper, the developer of modern indoor plumbing. From the fall of the Roman Empire to the mid-1800s was a long, long period of poor plumbing. Finally, enough technology came together that modern plumbing became practical. I am sure someone else would have come up with it in another ten or twenty years, but I got tired of waiting. So every time you hear the word 'crap' you can thank me and my husband, John."
Everyone was laughing. Lex was wondering when Chloe would get past the light, humorous stories. Certainly in 17,000 years there must have been a lot of dark times, too.
Clark was thinking about Chloe being married. She had mentioned back at the temple having been married to Marcus' brother. But so many revelations had been coming so fast; it hadn't really sunk in. What was it, just over six hours ago, that Clark thought he was her first serious boy friend. And now, how many times had she been married? How many men had she known? At least for the moment some of the fun of this adventure had gone out of it for him.
Chloe could sense the sudden change in Clark's mood. She looked over at Lana and said, "Come on, time to switch to Clark for a while."
Lana could also sense Clark's change in mood. She looked from Chloe to Clark and finally to Lex. "Hey, Lex, I think the lovebirds need some time alone. How about we go back to the snack bar and look for some interesting drinks to introduce for a special Roman theme night at the Talon."
One minute he was enjoying a nice relaxing massage with two beautiful girls running their hands all over his body and the next they were trying to hustle him out of the room. What did I just miss, thought Lex. Shaking his head, Lex got up, took Lana's hand and headed for the door. When he reached the door, he turned and said, "Clark, don't do anything I wouldn't do. Wait, scratch that. Don't do anything YOU wouldn't do back in Smallville." Then he turned and headed back out into the exercise area.
After Lex and Lana left, Chloe went over and closed the door. She then walked back over to Clark and put her hands on his shoulders and started rubbing his neck. "Are you okay?"
"Sure, why not?"
"You just got this look on your face like you were troubled by something. Even Lana picked up on it, that's why she drug Lex out of here."
Clark took a deep breath. "I guess the reality of your life just hit home. Chloe, . . . how many times have you been married?"
"Do you want a glib answer or the truth? I suspect the truth. I have been married 237 times. Barely more than Larry King and he is only in his 60's. . . . . Seriously, at the time almost every one of them seemed special. You have to understand how hard it is to be around people, but still to feel apart and alone."
"How about children?"
"Six hundred thirty eight. Unfortunately, my 'bots don't seem to pass on to my children. At least none of them ever lived longer than the normal life span or had extra-ordinary healing powers. Can you imagine what it is like to watch your children grow old and die and then your grandchildren?"
"No, I guess I can't. It must be very hard." Said Clark, hearing the stress in Chloe's voice. "Are any of them still alive? Do you keep in touch with any of them?"
Chloe shook her head. "No, my last grandson died eight years ago, he was 87. It has been almost a hundred years since I have had any children. Most of my children were born a long, long time ago. In fact, a large portion of mankind is probably descended from me."
"What?" asked Clark.
"At the peak of the last ice age the human population fell below 10,000. I read a research paper one time about how mankind has gone through several chokepoints in the past 100,000 years where humans almost died out. Scientists can tell by comparing DNA from isolated people scattered around the world. The last 'chokepoint' occurred about 15,000 years ago and 35% of all people alive today can trace their ancestry to one woman alive back then. That woman was me. I am probably your great, great, great grandmother."
"No," Clark shook his head, "you might be Lex and Lana's many times great grandmother, but not mine."
Clark seems so certain, thought Chloe. Maybe this is part of his big secret. And maybe getting him talking about it will distract him from thinking about me for a while, which will hopefully turn his mood around. After thinking for a few more seconds, Chloe asked, "How can you be so certain?"
"Easy, I am not from Earth," said Clark.
"What? You said you had special abilities, but what do you mean you're not from Earth?" The words came tumbling out too fast as they often did for Chloe when she got excited. How could Clark not be from Earth? Boy, this was certainly turning into a day of revelations for everyone.
"It all goes back to the big meteor shower that hit Smallville. I was in a spaceship that crashed in the middle of the meteor storm," explained Clark.
The investigative reporter, who had always been a large part of Chloe even before she came to Smallville, jumped in. "How could a spaceship have crashed without anyone noticing?"
"Oh, somebody noticed, my parents. When the ship crashed it came so close to my parents' pickup that my Dad flipped the truck trying to avoid it."
"But," said Chloe, "a spaceship, surely more than just your parents saw it crash or saw it later."
"Actually, it was very small, only about eight long and four feet wide. Before anyone else saw it my Dad hid it in our storm cellar."
"How could something that small travel from another planet? How could it hold sufficient air and food?" asked Chloe.
"I don't know," answered Clark, "I didn't even know about the spaceship until last fall. Since then we have been unable to activate it or even open it."
"How could you not know about the spaceship you arrived in?"
"Well, I was only three at the time, so I don't remember my arrival. Then my parents felt it was best I didn't know. They were afraid I might accidentally say something to give myself away. It was hard enough to pound into my thick skull to never use my powers in front of others."
"So you have put it off long enough, tell me about your 'powers'," said Chloe.
Clark, who was still lying on his stomach, sat up and jumped down from the bench. "Perhaps showing you is better than telling you." Then Clark vanished. Chloe was standing two feet in front of Clark, looking directly at him, when he appeared to blur a little and then was just gone. She quickly spun around, but Clark was no where in sight. Then, just as suddenly, Clark was standing in front of her again.
"Wow, Clark," exclaimed Chloe, "how did you do that?"
Clark blushed a little, "Like I said, I can move very fast."
"How fast?"
"You know how occasionally I miss the bus?" Chloe lifted an eyebrow. "Okay, more than occasionally. Anyway my personal best time for the five miles from the farm to school is fourteen seconds."
"Five miles in fourteen seconds?" Clark watched as Chloe's eyes rolled up towards the ceiling as she did the math in her head. "That's over twelve hundred miles an hour."
"Actually, over short distances I have gone even faster. Several times in the past year, since all of the meteor-related freaks have started to show up in Smallville, I have had to outrun bullets to keep from getting hit or stop someone else from getting hurt."
"Clark Kent, faster than a speeding bullet, who would have guessed." chuckled Chloe. "That is a very interesting and usefully 'power'."
"Ahh, hope you're not too freaked out," said Clark watching her eyes. "There's more."
Chloe walked over to the other bench and leaned back. "I'll admit that in 17,000 years I thought I had seen it all, but I guess not. I am not freaked yet, so let's hear the rest."
Clark leaned back against his own bench. "I am very strong."
Chloe looked at the chiseled muscles of his chest and abs. I knew there was a special reason I liked that body, she thought. "Okay, I'll bite. How strong are you?"
Clark shook his head. "I am not sure. Remember back at the homecoming dance when Whitney and his buddies found their pickups stacked on top of each over?" She nodded. "I did it as a little payback for them making me the scarecrow and leaving me tied up out in the cornfield."
"So let me get this straight, you stacked three four-thousand pound trucks on top of each other by hand?"
Clark nodded, "And over the past year all of my powers have really been growing. I am not certain how strong I am now."
"But," said Chloe, "if you are so strong, how did Whitney manage to tie you up in the cornfield?"
"The only weakness I have is close contact with meteor rocks. It is strange and seems like it must somehow be the key to who I am. I mean, I show up in a giant shower of the one thing that can hurt me. If I get within a few feet of one, I get dizzy and start to feel weak. Within one foot and its like I have the strength of an eighty-year-old man. Touching one feels like I am about to die. Although the absolute worst experience was coming though the portal. Usually it starts with wherever the rock is touching like my hand and then slowly spreads across my body. But with the portal it is like every molecule in my body is being ripped apart. I am not looking forward to the trip back through the portal to get home." Clark took a deep breath and slowly let it out.
"Anyway back to the scarecrow story. Remember the green stone pendant Lana use to wear?"
Chloe nodded. "Sure, the piece of meteor rock that killed . . . Oh, meteor rock," said Chloe as she fell silent.
"Yeah, I always felt sort of sick around her and seemed unusually clumsy and off balance. I never understood why. It has only been during the past year with all of the 'wall of weird' activity that I finally saw the pattern that it was always around the rocks that I felt sick."
"Oh, Clark, and here we are chasing after the Professor trying to get his meteor rocks. What happens when we find them?"
"Fortunately, I have found that lead blocks the effect on me. To finish the scarecrow story, Lana had given Whitney her necklace. When he and the other football players came for me, he got close to me and I collapse before I realized what was happening. Then he left me tied up with Lana's pendant around my neck. If Lex hadn't showed up and accidentally removed it, well I might still be out in that field.
"Once I figured out that lead acts as a shield, I convinced Lana it was time for her to let go of her parents by putting away her pendant in a box I had given her, which just happened to be made of lead."
Clark looked Chloe in the eye. "You need to help me find or have made a lead box before we catch up with the Professor, so I can be safely around the rocks until we return to the portal."
"Of course," agreed Chloe. "I'll put it at the top of my list of things to do after we leave the baths."
Chloe stood up, walked over to Clark, and put her arms around him. "Do you still have more to tell?" Clark nodded. "Could we stretch out on one of the benches and you hold me while we continue to talk?" Clark nodded and slid back on the bench, which he had been leaning against.
Chloe climbed up beside him. She half rolled over until her left leg was drape over his. Her left arm was stretched up across his chest, so her left hand could run through his curly black hair. She leaned her face close to his and whispered. "Before you continue, can I kiss the strongest, fastest man I have ever met in all my long life?"
Clark didn't even bother to nod he just leaned forward till his lips touched hers.
In a few seconds it became obvious that all thoughts and concerns about Chloe's past and Clark's powers were being forgotten. Now it was just Clark and Chloe, two old friends growing into something more.
It seemed like they had only been kissing for moments when someone started rapping on the door. Reluctantly, they broke the kiss and Clark glanced towards the door.
"It's Marina." Clark whispered.
Chloe looked at the closed door and then at Clark with a quizzical expression on her face.
Clark grinned and squinted his eyes at her. "X-ray vision," he explained.
"What? Come on. Super fast. Okay. Super strong. We'll wait and see. But X-ray vision, too?"
"If you don't believe me, open the door and see for yourself," said Clark as he laid his head back down on the bench while waiting for her to move.
Slowly Chloe got up off the table letting her fingers linger playfully on one of his nipples before she walked over to the door. Opening it, she was not at all surprised to see Marina standing there.
"LHi, Coelia. Hope I am not interrupting anything too exciting." said Marina.
"LNo," answered Chloe, "Lbut if you had waited ten more minutes . . ."
"LSorry about that, but we need to head to the baths soon. I have several things I need to attend to before dinner," explained Marina.
"LYeah, me too. Let's go find Lex and Lana so we can be on our way." Chloe turned to Clark. "Time to hit the baths. I guess we will have to finish this conversation later." Chloe's eyes ran down Clark's body one last time before he climbed down from the bench. Her eyes stopped at his loincloth. "Looks like you need to spend some time in the frigidarium."
Clark glanced down and started to blush. Chloe noticed the blush and was glad to see in some ways he was a normal 21st century sixteen-year-old kid.
Chloe tossed him one of the large towels to give him a little extra cover. As they headed out into the main exercise area she asked, "So, are all walls as transparent as glass to you?"
Clark shook his head. "No, fortunately not. Life would be a lot more difficult if all walls were nearly invisible all of the time. I have to focus my attention to kick in the x-ray vision. And then it is a lot like an x-ray, solid objects like metal, stones, and bones are pretty clear, but the rest of peoples bodies are little more than outlines."
"If Marina was little more than bones and an outline, how did you know it was her?" asked Chloe.
"Lucky guess. No actually, since the person on the other side of the door was about five months pregnant, the odds it was Marina were pretty high."
"Oh, I forgot, I guess being five months pregnant and standing at that door would narrow it down." answered Chloe.
As they rounded the corner into the other leg of the exercise room they saw Lana and Lex sitting down by the snack. Chloe waved to get their attention and they rose and meet the others half way.
"Time to hit the baths," explained Chloe. "We have a few tasks we still need to accomplish today."
It had only been a few minutes since they had left the massage room, but Lana could tell by just looking at him that Clark's mood had changed for the better. A few minutes alone with Chloe had made a big difference. If only she could spend a few minutes alone with Whitney or maybe Clark. How would Whitney be coping if he had traveled back in time instead of Clark? She hated to admit it, but probably not as well. Hopefully, she could continue to cope also.
As they reached the entrance to the bathing areas, where the boys and girls had to separate, everyone was a little disappointed the fun times at the baths were coming to an end. Oh, a relaxing soak in the baths still lay ahead, but being segregated would take most of the fun out of it. Everyone took one last lingering look at the others' skimpy exercise attire before heading into the baths.
End of Chapter Eight