Chapter 34

"You know I had thought," Lana said.

She and Clark were sitting in the living room doing homework.

"What's that?" Clark asked.

"I don't think the key was destroyed," Lana replied. "I mean, it managed to survive space and crashing to earth, I don't think whatever happened down there destroyed it."

"What if Chloe found it?" Clark asked.

"That means it might have ended up back with Lex," Lana said as she got a bit worried.

"We've got to go find check those caves again," Clark said. "We can't let that key fall into the wrong hands."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Clark and Lana arrived back in the caves. They began frantically searching for the key.

"What's this?" Clark asked picking up a piece of crystal.

"I don't know," Lana replied. "Hang on to it though."

Clark stuffed the rock into a pocket and continued searching. Suddenly Lana stumbled across something stuck in the wall.

"I think I found it," Lana said.

She grabbed the object and pulled it out of the wall. Sure enough it was the key.

"How did it get in there?" Clark wondered.

"I don't know," Lana replied. "But that's the least of out worries at the moment. Let's get out of here before somebody catches us."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lex Luthor was summoned to the caves.

"What happened?" Lex asked.

"Apparently there was a break in Mister Luthor," the security head replied. "Our motion detectors picked up two objects entering the caves and two objects leaving."

"Well why weren't they caught?" Lex inquired.

"Well that's just it sir. They weren't moving at normal speeds. They were too fast to even be seen by the guards on duty." The security head answered.

"Well has anything happened?" Lex queried.

"As far as we can tell Mister Luthor nothing happened in there." He replied.

"Keep me informed," Lex said. "Let me know if anything is awry."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I thought I'd find you down here," Clark said as he descended the steps into the Kent family storm cellar.

Lana was there just staring at the spaceship, her back to Clark. She didn't even turn to acknowledge his presence.

"Ever since my father told me about this ship, I wondered if there were others out there like me," Lana said. "Thanks to a freak accident I'm not."

"Well I'm glad you think of me as an accident," Clark said as he turned to leave.

"No, Clark I'm sorry," Lana quickly apologized. "I didn't mean it like that. But not all accidents are bad. You're the best accident that's ever happened to me."

"Well I'm glad you feel that way," Clark said. "Come on your mother said that dinner is ready."

"In a minute," Lana said.

Clark shrugged and turned to leave once again.

"I've figured out what this is," Lana stated.

Clark looked to see what she was holding. It was the odd device that he had been shown back in his own reality the day that he learned he was an alien.

"It's the ships heart," Lana explained.

"Really?" Clark asked, although he realized that it made sense. "Have you used it yet?"

"I didn't want to do it alone," Lana admitted.

"Well let's do it together." Clark suggested.

Lana handed Clark the device from the spaceship and then reached into her pocket and pulled out the key. Slowly she stepped toward the ship, cautiously; a bit afraid of what may happen. She placed the key into the slot. It merged with the rest of the ship becoming seamless. The ship rose up a foot of the ground, a series of lights around its edges lit up. The ship opened up revealing a spot that was barely big enough to hold a toddler.

"It's hard to imagine that we were ever that small," Clark joked.

Lana took the device from Clark and held it in her hands for a few moments. Then she thrust it into a slot inside the ship, into which it appeared to have been removed from. The area of the ship where Lana would have sat lit up with messages in the strange symbol language. They swirled around in opposite directions.

"I can read this," Lana said. "But I must be reading it wrong."

"I can read it too," Clark muttered. "What does it say for you?"

"On this third planet from this star, so you shall be a god amongst men. They are a flawed race rule them with strength, that is where your greatness lies." Lana read aloud trailing off at the end.

Lana walked away from the spaceship completely in shock, "I think I was sent here to conquer," she said. "What kind of planet am I from?"

"Maybe we are misreading it," Clark said.

"How?" Lana asked. "You read the exact same thing."

"Even if it is right it's not true." Clark replied. "It's you that decides what kind of a life you want to live. Not me, not your parents, not your biological parents. You get to decide."

"What if it's a part of who I am?" Lana asked. "Is that the kind of person I will become?"

"Lana you're here to do what you think is right." Clark replied. "I know you; you're not a conqueror or tyrant. That message is clearly wrong."

"How can you be so sure?" Lana demanded to know.

"Because I love you Lana," Clark said putting his hands on her shoulders and looking into her eyes.

Lana stared back into Clarks green eyes. He was probably lying just to make her feel better. She didn't care though; it did make her feel better. Next thing that she knew she was hugging Clark as tight as she could.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Back at the Luthor Mansion, Lex was meeting with Chloe Sullivan in his office.

"So what have you managed to uncover?" Lex asked her.

"Well I haven't been able to learn anything about the caves origins or all that much about the paintings. For some reason the Kowatchi chief refused to speak to me." Chloe replied.

"Well I'll see what I can do about making him talk," Lex assured her.

"Anyway, I did find this," Chloe said showing him the crystal she had discovered.

"What is it?" Lex asked.

"I'm not sure," Chloe answered. "But I do know that its composition appears to be very similar to that found in meteor rocks. Which means that it's likely alien in origin."

"May I see it?" Lex asked politely.

Chloe seemed reluctant but she handed the stone over to Lex.

"It seems to have a mark engraved in it," Lex commented.

"Yes," Chloe agreed. "It matches one of the symbols carved in the caves. It also seems to be a part of a large crystal. We need to find the other pieces."

"I agree," Lex said. "I'll begin having teams scour the caves for more of these rocks in the morning."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please Read Over:

Now I know what some of you are thinking. These rocks are stupid. Well they do let Clark build the fortress of solitude in the show, so they're not all that bad. Besides it's not like it has a lame storyline involving a witch and the Teague's to go with them in this story. It's more of a plot device than anything, don't worry they won't come into play for quite a while anyway.

Just another one of the usual reminders that if you want to talk to me about the story or Smallville in general. Go on IRC to the otherside servers, irc. (Port 7000), irc. (Port 7000), or irc. (Port 6667), then go to channel #smallville. Hope to see some people there. If you're looking for an IRC client I would recommend X-Chat although there are many other options out there. Really, please go there to discuss any questions answers will be a lot more direct. That and it gets kind of boring talking to the same two people all the time, I need fresh opinions. And if that doesn't work for you, look for the Smallville Revised Forum. I hope to see you in one of the two places.