Chapter 7: Clark

The clarity made Lex feel almost giddy. Everything that he — and Dolman — had experienced since that morning, since that message was sent, in fact, fell into place. However dire and tangled the outcome, something astonishing had happened to the world.

His companions, on the other hand, stared at him, looking as though they needed convincing.

"Okay," Lois said slowly. "How has this Clark Kent done … what has he done?"

"Look," Lex ventured, thinking aloud, "what would have happened if Lillian Luthor had never received that message?"

"Who knows?" Lois said. "She never would have left her husband, I suppose is what you're getting at."

"If she hadn't left, I would have been raised by Lionel Luthor. And if that had happened, obviously Martha and Jonathan Kent would not have adopted me."

"Just because Lionel Luthor already had a son," Martha said, "I don't see why he would give up Kal-El to us."

From his exile across the room, Kal-El stirred at this, and stared at her, frowning. Martha noticed, but directed her explanation to her son and daughter-in-law.

"Lex's mother gave him his name before she died, and we decided to honor that. If it had been my choice, I would have named a son Clark. So when I heard that name …" She regarded Kal-El and shook her head with uncertain wonder. "It was familiar to me — something I had once imagined myself."

"You were supposed to find me that day," Kal-El said bleakly, almost to himself. He seemed no longer able to meet Martha's gaze, and looked at Lex instead.

"What day?" Martha asked.

"The day of meteor shower," Lex answered. "Instead, because I was here and not with the Luthors, I was injured, and you and Dad were busy taking care of me. But in some other time, you found Kal-El, and named him Clark Kent."

"He couldn't have planned for all that to happen," Lois said. "And even if he could, why would he want to? If you're right" — and Lex could hear she wasn't entirely persuaded — "and Clark Kent and Kal-El are the same person, what would Kal have that Clark couldn't get for himself? Don't they have the same powers? Was it too late to start the world domination plan, and he needed to start from scratch with a Luthor upbringing? Why did he do it?"

"No, I think you're right that he couldn't have intended the changes that happened. The simplest explanation is exactly what the message said: He wanted Lillian to leave her husband before I was born. He didn't think ahead to what fallout there might have been if he succeeded. I think —" Tired of pretending, to himself and to the others, that he did not remember, Lex decided to take the leap. "I think he did it for me."

"To break up your parents' marriage?" Lois asked.

It was Kal-El who spoke. "To save him from Lionel."

"I think so," Lex said.

"There's no way we can know this is true," Martha said.

"No, but it fits with what we know," Lois admitted.

"It fits with what I know." Lex looked at the two women, then at Kal-El, who leaned against the doorframe, for the moment seemingly oblivious to the conversation, lost in thought. Lex continued, "Are any of you … Do you have memories that you're not sure you had yesterday? That you're not sure belong to your real life?"

Kal-El did not respond or look up, but Lois and Martha both shook their heads.

"Just me then," Lex said with resignation. "And Dolman." Lois had had no experience of the physicist's muddled frame of mind that morning, but Lex saw Martha's look of alarm, and assured her, "Don't worry, I'm not insane. He was recalling two lives and couldn't tell the difference. I can tell, and I don't have nearly as much of that other life in my head as Dolman seemed to. But I do remember. It's taken me until now to accept that, but I do. I dreamt about it last night. Kal-El was there and he saved my life. My father was there and treated Kal-El as if he knew him better than he knew me. I don't think it was just a dream. It happened to me. And Clark Kent was there."

"This morning it was only a dream," Lois said. "I'm sorry, but do any details of this life come to mind when you're awake?"

"I remembered that we were friends," Lex insisted. "That was why I couldn't kill him. I don't know if I would have recognized what I was feeling if I hadn't been with Dolman today; his case was so … severe. Apparently no one else has been affected by the change. I have no idea why the two of us were."

The whine of the screen door caught their attention, and the three turned to see that Kal-El had walked out.

Lois frowned after him, then said, "So what do we do now?"

Lex abruptly removed the ring and set it on the counter. "I'll go talk to him." It was not the answer to her question, and he knew it, but he had no answer to that yet. The world had been upended; did they now just live with it?

"Wait." Lois halted him. "If you want to keep him here for some reason, I will go talk to him. He's not your friend."

"I know him."

"No, you don't. You're not walking out there to talk to Clark Kent. And you're not safe with him without the ring. I am. He trusts me, and I've got memories of him that I know were not just a dream."

Kal. Lex had noticed the name, but not heeded it until now. She had called him Kal, a sign of familiarity that in no way could have stemmed from this morning's encounter.

"You know him," Lex said, his tone deceptively mild. "Better than you've ever told me."

"I knew him when I worked for Lionel."

He briefly closed his eyes, trying to collect himself, as his mother said, "Lex, I know this other world is real to you, but it's not real to him."

"Or to anyone else, I know. It doesn't matter. The message has to do with us, and maybe I just need to talk to him. And for the moment, I trust him — enough to go out without the ring, anyway."

Martha offered no more resistance. Though plainly still irked, Lois threw up her hands and stepped aside. Lex headed for the door.

Kal-El had gone no farther than the porch, where he did not turn to look as Lex walked out the door, but continued to ponder the bleak landscape that lay before him.

Lex felt uncomfortably aware of Dolman's corpse a distance off, but said lightly, "I come in peace."

"I know you don't have the ring. I heard you." He looked over just as Lex himself glanced in Dolman's direction. "I'll call my people to have the body taken away."

Small comfort, Lex thought, but he chose to ignore the comment and moved to the opposite end of the porch, leaving behind the disconcerting sight of the dead body. "Do you remember anything?" he asked Kal-El.

"No, just this life. Not you. Not this place."

"But you believe me. Why?"

"Because it's my voice on that device, and I can't imagine any circumstances that would have made me record it in this life." He paused, looking almost forlorn. "I wish I could remember — being him. Being Clark Kent. Imagine growing up on a farm. It's peaceful here."

"The peace of death, more like it. It wasn't always like this." No matter how neutral Lex's tone, it sounded, rightly, like an accusation. Not the right move to engender trust, but it was difficult to stop himself.

Kal-El did not seem to take offense, but his response was unrepentant. "She's been subject of an embargo, on my orders. No supplies, no farmhands will offer themselves for work. But as I expected, she has some small help from neighbors, friends. The garden, the upkeep of the house — she's done better than I might have thought."

"You're not making this easy, are you?"

He seemed slightly surprised. "This can't be news to you."

"No, it's not," Lex sighed. "But yes, compared to Metropolis, it's quiet here. I couldn't get out soon enough, as much as my dad wanted me to carry it on. One of the many things we did not see eye to eye on. I just couldn't be what he expected me to be. Now I'm wondering if you would have been."

"Well, no matter what time you're talking about, I'm exactly what I was supposed to be."

"Lionel …?"

Kal-El snorted dismissively. "Lionel had no particular ambition for me, except to keep me under his control and push me to develop my powers so that he could use them. I was his favorite scientific project and tool. No. I mean my biological father. He sent instructions along when he sent me here: This is a flawed race, and my destiny is to rule over all. And so I did. Trying anyway." He surveyed the farm, despondent, and continued, "Sometimes I think I'm just doing it to fill the hours. As far as I know, I'm going to be here forever. Live forever," He seemed to have forgotten that Lex was there. "But why would I want to live in a world without her in it?"

Lex knew with a sudden certainty about whom Kal-El was speaking. "We're digging up all kinds of pasts today," he said. That brought Kal-El back from his reverie, but Lex did not pursue the subject of his wife. "I have to say," Lex continued, "no matter what your biological father's orders were, in that recording, Clark Kent didn't sound like someone who was ruling the world. Or trying to."

Kal-El finally seemed irritated, though probably more at himself for letting his mask slip than at Lex. "Is that what this is about?" he snapped. "You think you can stop me by appealing to my farm boy alter ego?"

"It's a little late for that. I'm thinking bigger. We need to stop all of this. Figure out a way to put the world back to the way it was."

Kal-El looked scornfully dubious. "How?"

"Dolman was so intent on finding the device, reversing what he thought I'd done. Stopping the original message from ever being sent. There has to be a way to do it. He had to have designed it that way."

"You said he was insane."

"Yeah, well, I'm banking on him having gotten some things right. He only gave up when he realized the device was out of his reach. But however it's done, I can't do it without your help. Dolman said the device's power source was at Level Three — where you found the thing. And only you can get us back there."

"You know what you're asking — you're asking to be raised by Lionel Luthor. Is that what you want?"

Lex had not stopped to consider this. "Maybe it would be different for me. He'd see me as a son, not the subject of scientific experiments. And I don't have any powers to exploit."

Kal-El responded with a cheerless smile. "I can see how it would all turn out so well that this Clark Kent, whoever he is or was, would try something so drastic to get you away from Lionel before you were even born."

"And now you're doing it too."

"Doing what?"

"Trying to save me from him."

"Don't assume that I care what happens to you," Kal-El scoffed, unconvincingly. "I just don't know why you think that other life would be so much better. Maybe you're still president of the United States, except you're just like Lionel. What then?"

"I can't possibly have the power to make things as bad as they are now," Lex replied.

Kal-El looked taken aback, even wounded.

"It's the way it's supposed to be," Lex said, more gently. "You are supposed to be the son of Martha and Jonathan Kent, raised on this farm, not as some lab rat for a billionaire."

"You're assuming all that —"

"No, I don't know how, or why, but I know it. Another thing I know: that you are my friend and you saved my life."

"Clark did."

"Yes — the person you are meant to be. Now it's my turn to save Clark Kent."

"But you need my help to do it."

"Looks like it," Lex granted. "Save yourself."

They were silent a few minutes. Scattered drops of rain came from the overcast sky, and Lex absently put his hand out to catch them.

"He certainly seemed to be at other people's beck and call, didn't he?" Kal-El finally said.

Lex chuckled. "True, there seemed to be a least one person in that life who could make him jump to."

Though he still seemed dispirited, there was something like relief in Kal-El's face. "I'll help you," he said.