THREE
Xavir fell to his knees and clenched his eyes shut as he waited for the nausea to pass. Hearing a cough, he turned around just in time to see a blonde-haired woman expelled from the time window just as it disappeared.

"You shouldn't be here," he groaned, struggling to rise to his feet. He stumbled a little, gaining his balance by bracing against a pillar.

"Oh God," she grunted holding a hand to her mouth.

With a frown, Xavir searched around the large white sterile room for a trash receptacle. Finding one, he slid it over in her direction. He remembered how he had felt after his first trans-era trip.

He was impressed when she gained her composure without making use of the bin. The only evidence of her jet lag was her pale complexion and damp brow.

"Where are they?" she demanded.

Xavir's shoulders dropped as he realized just who had followed him. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Chloe's eyes narrowed. "I think you do." Chloe pulled herself into a straighter stance. "Where are Lois and Clark?"

"Listen," Xavir started, glancing around looking for his device. He just might be able to send her back before things could get any worse.

"Are you looking for that?"

Xavir's head shot up and he turned his attention to what she was pointing at. With a groan he rushed over and squatted on the floor next to his broken device. He figured that he must have dropped it upon re-entry. The screen had completely shattered, and the iridescent liquid had pooled unto the floor. It was already losing its color.

Chloe watched as he ran a hand across his jaw. She had a bad feeling that whatever that thing was, that he was acting despondent over, was connected to the fate of she, Lois, and Clark.

"Kairo to Christian."

Chloe jumped at the sound and lifted her gaze to the ceiling in search of the source.

"Christian here, Professor," Xavir responded, rising to his feet.

"Xavir, I am sitting with a few of your colleagues wondering if perhaps you were planning to join us for the meeting."

"Yes, Sir. I was working on the extrapolator…"

"Hm-hmm." The sound of someone clearing their throat interrupted Xavir's explanation. "Did I request an excuse?"

"No, Sir. I'll be right there, Sir."

"Good. Kairo out."

Xavir sighed and looked at Chloe. He was going to have to stash her somewhere until he could deal with this crisis.

"Come with me," he said urgently. When she opened her mouth, he cut her protest off with a wave. "I'll tell you whatever you want to know, but I need you to come with me. If you stay here… well, you can't."

He bent and picked up his device with a sorrowful expression. "Please."

Chloe nodded and followed as he crossed the room and headed for the door.

Xavir led Chloe through back hallways until they reached his office. Once there, the doors slid open and they entered.

Chloe stepped into the room and turned abruptly when she noticed that Xavir hadn't followed her inside.

"Where are they?" she demanded.

"I don't know… but I want to find them as much as you do. Believe me," he replied with a heavy sigh. He held his hands aloft as she moved toward the door. "I have to get to a meeting. I'm late, but you need to stay here."

He tapped something into a metal panel embedded into the wall near the entry.

"Are you locking me in here?" Chloe asked with indignation.

"No… I'm just locking everyone else out." He stepped back as the doors began closing. "Just… don't touch… anything."

"I guess that rules out going to the police," Lois commented. She looked around with more interest, her earlier fatigue all but forgotten. The discovery had helped her find her second wind.

"Why?" Clark asked. He figured they could use all the help they could get.

Lois shot him a sideways look. "What do you think will happen if we walk into the station claiming to have somehow been transported from the past… a nice padded room and a Thorazine drip, is what."

"Stranger things have happened…" Clark faltered. Actually, the thought of aliens crashing on earth was somehow less absurd than time travel.

Lois smirked and turned to face him. "So what did you find around the corner?"

Clark blinked in brief confusion. He had been moving so fast that he hadn't really seen anything. "Nothing… uh, nothing… open, at least."

Lois shrugged. "So, in the future everyone stays inside after dark. Sounds like fun," she retorted flatly.

"You really believe we're in the future?" Clark asked with a frown.

Lois wasn't sure if she did or not. Their surroundings seemed rather Twenty-First Century to her; not what she would expect for a society supposedly a hundred years in the making.

"I don't know," she answered. "But I'm all out of ideas, and it's the only thing that would make sense… even though it doesn't make sense."

Clark ran a hand through his hair. "What do we do now?"

Lois stared at the inscription on the building for a moment and set aside the sudden urge she felt for a panic attack. Lanes were always in control. "Future or not, no city completely shuts down for the night. We need to find the action."

"Okay."

Clark followed as Lois began walking down the street, away from the direction they had come from, and further into the unknown.

"Don't you ever get tired of that, Smallville?"

Clark frowned. "Tired of what?"

"Of just coasting through life," Lois answered, her gaze taking in their surroundings as she walked. "I mean, you just follow everyone else's plan all the time… you decided on your college for your parents, a call from Chloe and you go super sleuth, and now I say let's go find the action, and you say 'Okay.'"

Clark shot her a confused look. "It was a good plan," he offered.

Lois shook her head with a slight smile on her face. "Yeah."

"There's not much else we could do," Clark pressed, his brow creasing.

"I know," Lois replied lightly. Something in the distance caught her attention.

"I don't always just go along with everything, you know," he stated, searching his memory for a good example.

"Forget I said anything," Lois started.

Clark shook his head earnestly. She didn't sound like she believed him. "I do take charge, but I don't see the point if someone else already has a good plan."

Lois fought off the smile that tugged at her lips. "You're right. Satisfied?"

Clark frowned again and sighed.

"Come on, there's something over there that I want to take a look at."

Clark followed, his brow still creased.

Lois stopped at a News Stand that had "The Daily Planet" painted in large white letters on the side. She peered inside and realized that the stand was actually an information booth. A stack of maps sat on the counter.

Picking one up and scanning it, she muttered, "Well, that explains a lot."

"Explains what?" Clark asked, reaching for a map himself. "Welcome to 'Old Town Metropolis," he read aloud. "This is some kind of theme park?"

Lois nibbled on her lower lip and nodded, her gaze still focused on the paper in her hand. "That's what it looks like. I think we've stumbled onto the future's version of Universal Studios… or something like that."

From what they could gather from the map, the park was supposed to be a historical reproduction of what the city of Metropolis looked like in the early 21st century. The park's attractions were made up mostly of museums, like the one they had seen earlier called "The Daily Planet."

Lois and Clark looked up from their maps and exchanged a look. Things were getting stranger by the minute.

"We can't just take it," Clark protested.

The duo had followed the map to the underground parking ramp. It turned out that the roadways and 'highways' of this future world were all underground, deeper than the Metro train railway they had found earlier. Clark supposed that the reason he hadn't discovered the highways was because he had assumed the train was the source of the energy he had sensed below them.

"Well what do you suggest?" Lois asked.

The fact that Old Town Metropolis was closed had helped to explain why there were no people in the city. Realizing that it was unlikely that they would be able to get any answers from a place that was essentially a ghost town, Lois and Clark were preparing to leave. The mode of transportation was now their biggest concern. It seemed that the security detail for the park traveled on hovercycles, something similar to motorcycles except lacking wheels.

Lois was currently perched on one. Scanning the buttons on the bike's control panel, she pressed a button. A soft whirring sound began as the engine started. She gave Clark a victorious smirk and slipped a helmet over her head.

Clark glanced around, looking for another way out that didn't involve Grand Theft Auto… or Grand Theft Bike, for that matter. Crime in this timeline must be pretty rare if all it took to start the vehicles was a pressing a button.

Lois held out another helmet toward him. "We're just borrowing it," she told him.

Clark reached out and took the helmet. "Fine, but I'm driving."

Lois shook her head and slid back on the seat to make room. "Men," she groaned, although she wasn't really upset. She didn't want to admit it, but the whole situation was making her a bit jumpy. Allowing Clark to drive would give her a chance to take in their surroundings and think.

After a choppy start, Clark got the hang of the bike's acceleration and breaking capabilities. Still, he smirked as Lois tightened her hold on his shirt as he took off with a final jerk. They rode in silent anticipation as they neared the ramp's exit. They had no idea what to expect next.

TBC