Chapter Thirty-Three - A Parting Of The Ways
As Chloe sat there in dumbstruck horror, Lex's body convulsing violently on one side of her and Clark's veins threatening to pop out of his body on the other, she remembered Lex's earlier revelation that she'd end up going insane and killing Ursa. At that time the thought had filled her with dread, but now it didn't seem like such a bad idea. Suddenly Chloe's thoughts were interrupted by Rose Tyler's voice.
"Doctor! You've got to do something!"
The Doctor looked around at everybody. Ursa crouched next to Clark, smiling, pushing the green rock against his chest. Clark, unable to move, his face twisted in agony (his time perception making the painful seconds seem like years). Lex shuddering on the floor, his screams stopping every so often when Ursa would lift her foot off the pain button, refusing to give him the luxury of lapsing into unconsciousness. Meanwhile, Zod just looked on impassively, while Chloe, Rose and Jimmy's eyes had now all turned to The Doctor, looking at him expectantly.
"Stop it, Ursa," he ordered, getting to his feet.
"Stop what?" replied Ursa innocently. "I'm just having a little fun."
"Nobody's going to die today," continued The Doctor. "You and I both know why."
Ursa took the kryptonite away from Clark's chest and released her grip on him that was preventing his weakened body from falling to the ground. She also took her foot off the device that was causing Lex so much pain as she strode over to meet The Doctor.
"And why's that?" she asked defiantly.
"I'll write it down for you," he replied, rummaging through his pockets. "Has anybody got a pen?"
"I hope this isn't a delaying tactic, Doctor," said Ursa. "That wouldn't be wise."
"Does it look like a delaying tactic?" asked The Doctor, heading towards Jimmy Olsen who was now brandishing the pen The Doctor required.
"That's just what it looks like," replied Ursa, as she looked at The Doctor, who appeared to be scribbling some words down on a piece of paper he'd just taken out of his pocket.
Meanwhile, Rose Tyler, who was now just behind The Doctor, looked on in confusion, since The Doctor wasn't actually writing any words on the paper - just pretending to. Suddenly she realized that it wasn't just ordinary paper - it was psychic paper - paper that relied on the viewer's mind to provide the missing information. That was brilliant. Ursa's own subconscious thoughts would provide the reason for her not to kill anyone.
"Here's why nobody's going to die today," said The Doctor, showing Ursa the blank piece of paper.
Ursa looked confused. "It's a picture of you, Doctor… with your head exploding. I have to say it suits you."
As The Doctor looked at Ursa aghast, Rose's heart sank. It appeared psychic paper obviously only worked on normal people - with Ursa's twisted psyche it had acted more like a Rorschach test.
"Not sure why your head exploding would stop anybody from dying," continued Ursa, as she replaced the kryptonite back in its lead box, "but, truth to tell, I wasn't planning on killing anybody… Not today. If I hadn't been so rudely interrupted during my bout of honesty you'd all know that."
Suddenly a tear came to Ursa's eye as she addressed the onlookers (although Lex and Clark were still in no condition to appreciate her words). "I thought I was getting to know you all. I bared my soul to you, hoping for acceptance, but you all just want to get rid of me. You don't want to know why I am what I am. You don't want to try and understand me. But then again you could never understand me. You think Lana had it bad with losing her parents or Clark was grief-stricken over Lana's death - but that's nothing compared to what Zod and I have gone through. Everybody we grew up with, everybody we ever loved, everybody we'd even known … vaporized by an exploding planet."
The Doctor looked at the sadness in her eyes, empathizing with her. He knew exactly what that was like, and he wouldn't wish it on anybody … not even on Ursa.
Ursa, happy that the onlookers were finally silent, continued. "Of course, even Krypton's explosion is no excuse for the things I've done in my life. All of those deaths I caused, all those Kryptonians I killed. But now I know what it's like to lose someone … to lose everyone … and now I know how the families of my victims felt. Of course, I never intended to kill them. In fact, it was their fault. They all begged me to kill them… eventually. I was quite content to continue playing with them, but finally I'd give in to their demands. Call me merciful, call me soft-hearted, but that's what would happen. So it wasn't really my fault, you see, but still the next day I'd feel kind of responsible, sort of remorseful, full of guilt, vowing to never do it again … but inevitably I would. I just couldn't resist. I blame my childhood. It wasn't what you would call idyllic."
Ursa looked around to see everybody's eyes staring back at her, passing judgment.
"Anyway," she continued, "I would share the grotesque details with you, but, quite frankly, I can see that you don't want me here, and I don't really want to be here, so I think Zod and I will be leaving."
"You can't leave yet," said The Doctor. "The Tardis hasn't fully materialized."
"And we've got unfinished business," added Zod, stunned by Ursa's decision.
Ursa looked around at Zod. "The Doctor wants me not to kill anyone. I'm not going to make promises I can't keep. Besides, I've had enough of our master plan. At the rate we're going it could take years to find Ultra Woman, and there's no way on Krypton I'm going to let my child be born here. Whereas, if you'd listened to Clark, Jor-El's about to appear in Smallville. He could help us get back home - return us to Krypton."
"But if we stay here we could get Ultra Woman's powers," retorted Zod. "We could be immortal. We could rule the world."
"I don't want this world," replied an insistent Ursa. "I want Krypton."
"Very well, Ursa," agreed Zod grudgingly. "If that's what you want."
"You'll still have to wait for the Tardis to materialize," The Doctor reminded them.
"If the Tardis is telepathic then it should know better than to mess with me," replied Ursa.
At that precise moment, just on the other side of Smallville, the past version of the Tardis started to leave. As it did so, the present version of the Tardis finished its materialization. This, however, was so imperceptible that only a Time Lord would notice it.
"The Tardis … it's … it's finished materializing," said The Doctor, in surprise.
"It sounds like he's trying to trick us," said Zod. "I don't intend to be tricked again."
"Well, go out and check then," demanded Ursa.
Zod walked over to the Tardis' door, opened it and slowly and carefully laid his foot down on the ground outside. "It looks like he was telling the truth."
"Well it looks like we'll be going," said Ursa. "I'll miss you all so much," she added in a way that suggested she didn't mean it in the least.
Ursa then went around to each of them in turn, saying her goodbyes. First it was The Doctor.
"Doctor, despite all your great tales you seem to have ended up as some sort of trans-dimensional taxi driver. What a pity, but look on the bright side -at least you're dressed for the part. Hope we meet again some day."
"Goodbye, Ursa," said The Doctor, not wanting to say any more and jeopardize the chances of her leaving.
"Rose. I've got to say how much I enjoyed punching you in the face."
"Thanks," replied Rose, who was considering finding out if the feeling was mutual.
"And as for you, Jimmy, well I suspect even killing you would have been dull. Still, I can't be expected to get along with everyone."
Jimmy replied but Ursa ignored him and moved on to Lex.
"You're evil, dishonest, lecherous, untrustworthy … all qualities I respect. I'd suggest losing the shirt though. Oh, and you can forget about that list I made."
Lex, still recovering from Ursa's button-pushing, refrained from answering since the words he would have used would have made it obvious to Chloe that he wasn't Clark.
"And you, Chloe. I like you. You remind me of myself at your age."
Chloe was speechless as Ursa handed her the device she'd used on Lex. "You can have this. You'll no doubt want to use it on him when you figure out he's lying. Trust me - it's great fun."
Ursa then knelt down beside Clark, who'd now largely recovered from the kryptonite exposure.
"I'm so sorry I hurt you, Clark, but you do disappoint me. Of course, like me, it's probably due to your upbringing. You can't help acting like an Earthling rather than a Kryptonian I suppose, but you do give up so easily. Sure, Lana's dead, but you could still change things like you originally planned. If you save Krypton you'll change everything - you'll never meet Lana and lead her to her doom. Don't you owe Lana that? Don't you owe yourself that? I know you've learnt to fly Clark. Now learn to soar."
Ursa left Clark sitting there, thinking, as she walked out of the Tardis.
"Wow, an inspirational speech from a serial killer," observed Chloe. "You don't get those every day."
And then Clark stood up and, before Chloe's eyes, Clark's clothes suddenly changed into something more old-fashioned - he'd obviously paid a super-speed visit to the Tardis' dressing room. Then she noticed that he'd slicked his hair back the same way that Lana had slicked it back the last time they were here in 1961. Without a word, Clark started rising from the ground.
"Clark? What are you doing?"
Clark looked back at Chloe, knowing that his actions might change everything, but he didn't care. He had to do this … for Lana.
"I'm soaring," he said, and then all Chloe saw of him was a plaid and brown leather blur heading for the Tardis' door.
"Nice jacket," said The Doctor, on Clark's way out.
Dexter and Lana Lang arrived at the home of the grandparents that Lana had only ever had the flimsiest memories of. As she waited, with baited breath, for somebody to come to the door, Dexter turned to her and passed her a handkerchief to wipe away the tears running down her cheeks.
"It's Lana, isn't it?"
"You know?" gasped a stunned Lana.
"I can read you like a book," replied Dexter, but Lana wasn't paying any attention to him. Her eyes were focused on the woman now opening the door - her grandfather looked just like he had in a photograph Lana had once seen, except that he was now in color.
Her grandfather looked at Lana standing there, still, looking straight at her. "Louise, are you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost."
"Sorry," said Lana, somehow managing to pull herself together. " My mind just wasn't in the present. I'll be okay, I prom-"
And then Lana saw her young grandmother appear, carrying Lana's two-year old mother in her arms.
"Should have brought more handkerchiefs," mused Dexter, looking over at Lana.
