Chapter Ten - Hearts and Minds
"Clark," began The Doctor, "I think there's something we need to discuss."
Clark looked at The Doctor blankly and managed to refrain from saying "What's up, Doc?" while The Doctor continued.
"Now you and I both know what it's like to be the last member of an alien race, and, of course we come into contact with human females but, as we all know, such relationships are doomed to failure."
Clark looked stunned. "They are?"
"Well, there's the obvious longevity difference, not to mention the fact that they'll never be our intellectual equal."
"That's not fair," replied Clark. "Sure I'm not too smart but -"
The Doctor gave Clark a wide smile. "That dumb act you do, Clark. Sheer brilliance! But I'm sure with that mind of yours you can think at least a hundred times faster than any man alive."
"Well, that's true, I guess," considered Clark, "but it just means that I can come up with a hundred more bad ideas than anyone else, and trying to sort out the wheat from the chaff takes me forever. To tell you the truth, the sheer library of babble my brain generates on a daily basis leaves me permanently clueless."
"But hasn't your brain developed any parallel thought processes yet to handle that sort of stuff," asked a surprised Doctor. "I've got tons of them, all with different personalities."
"No, there's just me in here," confessed Clark, "all alone with my thoughts."
"Hey, don't worry," replied The Doctor, "maybe you've just not heard from them yet. They can take a while to meet up. Anyway that's not important at the moment. I wanted to talk to you about Ursa."
"Ursa?"
"Yes, Ursa. Suddenly we're flung into a situation where somebody who thought he was the last survivor of an alien race suddenly encounters a female from that alien race. Suddenly powerful feelings start to surface, intelligence gets clouded by instinct."
Clark started to blush. "Do you really need to talk to me about this?"
The Doctor suddenly turned serious. "Yes I do, Clark. I saw the way you kept looking at Ursa."
"But I wasn't," protested Clark.
"There's no need to deny it. It's all very natural."
"But I wasn't looking at Ursa," insisted Clark. "I was looking at Zod."
"Oh, okay," replied The Doctor. "Well if you're attracted to Zod …"
"I don't know how to react to Zod," replied Clark, looking at the floor, confusion in his voice. "He sounds exactly like my father Jor-El."
"Oh, is that all?" said The Doctor. "I wouldn't worry about that. A man from a different reality sounds just like your father - so what, it's just a coincidence."
"Are you sure?" asked Clark.
"Yeah," said The Doctor reassuringly. "There's probably even a Clark from some other reality who looks and sounds just like your father."
"Well, actually, before he sounded like Zod, Jor-El did look and sound like me," explained Clark to a bemused Doctor.
Meanwhile, in the reality that The Doctor and Clark had recently vacated, Jimmy and Rose were walking towards The Daily Planet building so that Jimmy could apologize to that reality's Jimmy for losing his camera.
"Jimmy, I've been meaning to ask. Do you know Clark's secret?"
"Yeah," replied Jimmy. "Tempus' diary had all the details. Do you?"
Rose nodded, relieved that she didn't have to be careful about keeping Clark's secret in front of Jimmy. "So, do you think Lex knows Clark Kent's Superman?"
"Maybe," replied Jimmy, "but I'm pretty sure Clark doesn't. What about the others?"
"Well, The Doctor knows but I doubt if he cares, whereas, if the TV show and movies are to be believed, Lana, Zod and Ursa don't know, but Chloe knows that Clark's got powers but doesn't know he's an alien."
"Do you think we'll be able to keep Clark's secret from them all the way through this journey?" asked Jimmy.
"Hey, if glasses can fool these people, I'm pretty sure I can."
Chloe and Lana were sat in a diner, Lana having used the funny money she'd got off Jimmy (which was fortunately legal tender in this reality) to treat Chloe to coffee.
"So, what's your expert opinion?" asked Chloe.
"Well, the coffee's not up to Talon standards."
"No, I mean Clark. Why's he acting so strange since he got back from wherever he went?"
"No idea," replied Lana. "But I'll never forget the way he looked at me when you two returned from that dinosaur's cardiac arrest. It was like he'd seen a ghost."
"Maybe he had," said Chloe, taking out a photograph and sliding it towards Lana. "This is a wedding photo from the future," Chloe explained.
Lana looked at it, amused by the familiar, yet older, faces, and then she suddenly realized what Chloe was talking about. "Where am I?"
"I don't know," replied Chloe. "I never asked."
Chloe hated lying to her friend, but she would have hated telling her the truth even more.
Zod, Ursa and Lex, united by their love of the color black, had split off into their own fashion clique and were now wandering through the streets of Metropolis. General Zod marched ahead, trying to ignore the small talk that Ursa insisted on making with Lex. Still that small talk would end once Lex was dead.
"So, you're the President in this reality as well," said an unimpressed Ursa. "If we still had our powers you'd be surrendering to me about now."
"I'm sure we could come to some arrangement," said Lex, looking at the evil gleam in Ursa's eyes. Beneath her fair façade, Lex was sure there lurked a woman who'd delight in killing him. No doubt he'd end up marrying her.
"Come with me," she said, and suddenly pulled Lex into a back alley.
Zod carried on marching, confident that Ursa would make short work of Lex Luthor. General Zod's defeat at the hand of Superman had taught him to be more wary of the tactics he now used. Rather than use a straightforward assault, this was now a game of divide and conquer. When Chloe Sullivan had left them in that previous reality to search for coffee, he'd sent Non to take care of her. Of course Zod hadn't foreseen the dinosaur, which had been both inexcusable and careless, but this time would be different. Lex's inevitable death would be the first step in what would no doubt turn out to be General Zod's greatest victory - a victory that would make him immortal.
The Doctor looked at Clark. "So, you're not interested in Ursa at all?"
"No, Doctor, she's all yours."
The Doctor looked at Clark aghast. "What makes you think I'm interested in her?"
"Well, all that stuff you were telling me earlier about you being the last of your race and how suddenly a female's turned up for you."
The Doctor laughed. "I don't think you've been listening, Clark."
"Well, of course I've been listening," explained Clark. "I've been listening all along. That's how I know Ursa's a Gallifreyan like you."
"And what makes you think that?" asked an uncomprehending Doctor.
Clark rolled his eyes. "Why else would she have two heartbeats?"
