42
"What was that?" said someone towards the back of the lab. Chester knew what it was. Once you've been through an earthquake, you never forget how it feels. This one wasn't as intense as the one he survived two days before, but the rumbling underneath was frighteningly similar.
"Tremor…" he said curtly, and then he scanned the computer screens for more information. "Looks like the city got lucky this time. Seems to have hit in a mostly open, rural area. With any luck, there may be minimal casualties."
"Let's pray that there were none…" whispered Officer Kubert, not intending for anyone to hear, but the lanky Texan picked up on it right away.
"Amen to that," he agreed, as he continued to monitor the seismographic readings streaming into the computers. "Looks like these rumblings are happening all over the globe at seemingly random moments," he said with a weary voice and he looked up at his friend. Joe smiled back at him, but he could see that the crisis had taken a lot more out of Chester than he had thought. His eyes were tired and sunken into dark circles. His clothes were wrinkled and needed washing. Joe couldn't recall seeing him eating anything in the last twenty hours or so. This man was thoroughly exhausted.
"Say Perfessor, whattaya say we take a break for a while. I could use some chow, and from what I see, so could you."
Chester looked surprised at the suggestion. "Joe, I'm not sure that right now would be a real good time to..."
"It would be a great time! I know you'll be needed here, but you won't be any good to anyone if you're not at the top of your game. I've seen the same thing in the department so many times from new, eager recruits trying to make an impression on detectives baffled by a case they were trying to solve. But the answer is always the same. You can't take care of anything unless you take care of yourself first."
Chester considered the words of his friend and said, "I gotta admit that I am just a bit... spent." He smiled and added, "I guess I could use some chow and a little rest. You know a good place near here?"
"I know a pizza parlor just a couple of blocks away that you'll be crazy about. It managed to be relatively untouched by the quake. C'mon! These guys can call you if anything really serious happens. And we can leave a message for your friends to meet us there if they arrive before you're through eating."
"Okay, you talked me into it. But I need to know if any major changes occur." He jotted something down on a pad then turned and spoke to a lab tech, "Bonnie, would you call me at this number..." He handed the pad to Bonnie. "...if anything notable happens or when the computer is ready to render the holographic simulation? Thanks!"
The two men from different walks of life strode out of the lab together and headed out for a respite from catastrophe.
"Now, don't even think of trying that vision stuff again, Georgie. If I feel the least warmth anywhere on my person, I promise I will pull the trigger on this pistol before I do anything else. This time it's pointed right at your noggin, and it would be a shame if I had to blow your head off. It is such a cute little mug."
Jennifer waved the pistol around as if to emphasize its importance. She seemed a bit unhinged since George last saw her. He attributed her incoherent demeanor to her brush with death in the other runabout and her resulting baldness. Something like that could make anybody lose it, he mused.
"What is it you want, Jennifer?" he asked her.
"Why, what I've always wanted, Georgie," she replied as if the answer was common knowledge. "To be the richest human being that ever existed of course!"
"No, I mean what is it you want from me? ...from us? You came after us to get your runabout back. Okay! You got it back! You managed to blow it up in the process, but you got it back. Your business with us is over! So what is it you want from us now?"
"Let's get something straight. I didn't blow it up, George. You did! You and your alien friend there." She had a wild gleam in her eyes as she continued, "What I want from you two is that you die a horrible painful death at my hands."
Something isn't right about this, he thought. If she wants us both dead, why am I still alive? She should have already killed me, or at least wounded me, if she wants to see me suffer like Guer-On.
He looked at his friend from New Krypton and worried for him. He looked worse. His skin had taken on a greenish tint and his breathing had become shallow. George needed to do something right away or Gary would perish a victim of kryptonite poisoning.
He looked at Jennifer to see if he could spot a weakness and then he looked closely at her pistol. Was it...? Yes, his microscopic vision revealed that it was, indeed the same pistol she had brandished at him in the other ship! The same pistol that he had used as a cutting torch on the kryptonite boulder! The same pistol that had expended all of its energy supply and was now no more than a harmless prop in the hands of a villainous madwoman. Jennifer had been trying to pull off a bluff. George rose slowly from his chair.
"What are you doing? Sit down!" she cried. For the first time since he had met her, a look of panic seemed to spread across her face. "I told you I would kill you! You'd better do as I say!" George calmly continued to ease toward her.
"I don't think you'll be killing me, Jennifer. In fact, I don't think you'll be killing me or anyone else anytime soon."
"Stay back! I warned you!" She pulled the trigger. And then she pulled the trigger again... and again. George was right! It was the same gun that he had used back on the asteroid. Jennifer must have picked it and a hunk of the broken kryptonite rock up from the dig site before sneaking aboard Gary's ship.
"I don't have time for this, Jennifer!" He wrapped his fist around the dead pistol in her grip. "My family and my home are in danger. There are two worlds that have precious little time left before a cataclysmic death claims them. Gary and I can save them both if we get there on time, so I've had enough of you!"
He ripped the gun from her hand and as he did so, Jennifer Alexis Luthor collapsed to the floor of the alien spaceship on her hands and knees and began sobbing and thrashing like a spoiled baby. George paid little mind to her tantrums as he scooped up the radiant green rock and put it into the lead casing they had brought aboard earlier.
With the deadly kryptonite rays safely blocked from him, Guer-On began to recover, but ever so slowly. The greenish hue began to fade from his skin as he found the strength to gradually sit up. "Oooohhhh!" he moaned, "I feel so... drained..."
"You'll be okay in a few minutes, Gary. Just relax and recharge a bit." George scanned Jennifer with his x-ray vision and found a device hidden in the bodice of her outfit. "As for you, Jennifer, let's get this e-suit off..." He extended his hand and helped his adversary to her feet. In moments, she shed the e-suit. "Now, if you don't mind, I'll take that little box with the red button...?"
Still choking back tears, she looked at him questioningly, but he didn't back down. "I know where you've stashed it, Jennifer," he said. "Either you can hand it to me or I can reach down and take it. I think we'd both prefer the former over the latter."
Jennifer reached into the bosom of her skimpy outfit and gave it to George. "Damn your eyes..." she muttered.
"How are you feeling, Gary?"
"Better, George. But I still feel like a metalavore just did a mating dance on my head."
"What can we do with Ms. Luthor, here?"
"Didn't we already have this conversation?"
"Afraid so. But the fact of the matter is that we're in the same boat as before. I don't think locking her in a cargo bay will do it this time."
"I agree," Guer-On managed to get off the floor and find his way to a seat by a control panel. "She seems intent to repeat history." His fingers began flying across the panel. In a few seconds, a glow enveloped Jennifer Luthor and she was gone. "There. I daresay she won't be bothering us again."
George was aghast! "Wha... You killed her! Gary, I wouldn't have thought... Why? She was beaten! Disarmed! Broken! It would have been difficult to proceed with her distracting us but..."
"No, no, no, George! I would never take a life knowingly. All I did was put her in a place where she could not escape and we would not have to divide our attention between her and the job we have to do."
"What... place is that?" asked George with more than a little confusion.
"A dimension between realities. One of your ancestors discovered a way into it."
"The Phantom Zone? You have a Phantom Zone projector on board your ship? That seems rather odd, if you don't mind my saying so."
"I don't mind you saying so, and I thought it was a bit 'over the top' as you say on Earth, too. But my colleagues were concerned about security and this was one solution. Looks rather like they were psychic, doesn't it? In any case, Madame Luthor will be safely incarcerated in the zone until we are able to complete our work."
"And we can retrieve her at any time? Safely?"
"Absolutely. And in view of her previous treachery, I think this option is our safest towards meeting our deadline."
George thought about it a moment and then curtly replied, "Agreed. Setting course for Earth. And Gary...?"
"Yes?"
"Please don't say 'dead.' Okay?"
The Kents arrived at the lab at about the same time Chester and Joe returned from their break. Jimmy was once again in the coat, jeans, and cowboy hat outfit that he had been wearing while traveling. The sight of him in this attire brought a smile to Chester's face.
"Nice Stetson there, cow puncher. Makes me feel like I'm back home!" he said as introductions and hugs ensued all around.
"Thanks, Mr. Carr. Linda Kaye came up with this get-up. She said it could be my 'secret identity.'"
"Linda Kaye, huh? You know, I'm glad you got hooked up with her. She's a mighty sweet little girl." He looked at Noel and added, "But not as sweet as your little sister, here! How're ya doin', cutie?"
Joe was showing her the city from the window he had been looking through earlier. "Just fine, Mr. Carr... Wow! This is a neat view of Metropolis from up here. Hey, Jimmy! Look at this!"
Her brother shrugged and joined them at the glass and took in the sight of the man-made landscape. Chester turned to Phyllis and asked, "What's this 'secret identity' thing he was talking about?"
"We've had a few... changes since you last saw us, Chess. But I'll give you those details later. What have you learned about the eruptions?"
"That's what we're about to find out. There've been tremors over the entire globe including another one just outside of the city."
"Yes, we know. Our hyper-train was trapped in a cave-in because of it."
"Really? Well, what happened? Did you all get out through an emergency tunnel?"
"Mmmm... Sort of..." Phyllis smiled. She knew he was talking about the man hole sized escape tunnels built at regular intervals along the route, but those had been caved in by the quake as well. The one they had taken had to be constructed by Jimmy in a matter of minutes.
"Mr. Carr?" Bonnie's voice called out from the mass of electronic wizardry. "The computer is almost finished compiling the data and rendering the holo-image! You might wish to see the results."
Chester winked his apologies to Phyllis and they both ambled over to the holoviewer. "Have you called Professor Infantino?" he asked.
"Yes, sir. But he's been busy providing information for the rescue and search operations. He sends his regrets and says he is confident in your ability to handle the job here."
That caught Chester by surprise. Up until now, he thought Infantino saw him as a hick from Texas whom he invited onto the geologic team only because of his recent celebrity status. When he had admitted that some of his information had come from the nearly two hundred year old journal of a mild mannered reporter, he was afraid that his association would end right there. The only reason it didn't, he pondered, is that it turned out to be right. Twice. "Can't think of higher praise coming from him. All right, let's see what we've got..."
Bonnie ran her fingers over the keyboard and the holo-screen began to project a three dimensional image of the Earth spinning before them as if they were approaching it from some vista in outer space.
"Okay, Bonnie. Let's see where the seismic activity is." Bonnie pushed another couple of keys and a grid surrounded the globe. In two more seconds, red markers indicating tremors began to throb on virtually every land mass. "Not good. Let's see how widespread our mystery element is." Another keystroke and a purple web-like pattern appeared instantly, covering almost the entire globe. Chester's jaw dropped as he saw how far the purple plague had spread.
Gathering up his resolve, he asked, "How deep has this thing gone, Bonnie? Let's get a cross section." Another few commands punched in and the sphere divided in half. Bonnie and Chester gasped as Joe and the Kent family gathered around the display.
"What is it, Perfessor?" asked Joe.
"It's worse than I thought," he answered. "Our mystery element is almost three quarters of the way down to the core."
"Oh, my God..." Joe said it, but everyone had the same thing on their minds.