Chapter 2 Family Time and Anomolies

Family isn't about whose blood you have. It's about who you care about.
Trey Parker and Matt Stone, SouthPark, Ike's Wee Wee, 1998

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Jason came running into the room clearly upset. "Daddy, I'm sorry. I did it again. I broke my drums."

Clark bent down picking up the forlorn youngster. "Jason, it's alright. Remember I used to do the same thing when I was even older than you are now. Come on we'll fix it together, that will make you feel better. Then we'll work on helping you control just how hard to hit the drums. How does that sound?"

"Oh, boy, will you show me how to fix it myself?" Jason was clapping merrily in Clark's arms as they headed down to the basement quickly bouncing back to his usual cheerful mood. Kala was in the basement nearby playing with a karaoke machine in her own little world pretending to be a rock star at a big concert.

"Of course, but I'm sure you'll still let me help you won't you. It is more fun doing it together. Santa was sure smart to bring you this set. It'll help you understand that if you hit or touch things too hard you can break them, even people."

Jason looked at him and nodded slowly tears forming in his eyes as if remembering something he had done. Clark noticed and remembering the piano incident dropped what he was doing immediately. He gathered the little boy back in his arms saying in a soft soothing tone. "Jason, it's alright, that was an accident. We're going to make sure nothing like that ever happens again."

Kala, still in her own little world started a new game, this time pretending to be a news caster. In a low voice moving stiffly pretending to be sitting at a desk she said, "Now going out into the field is our cor-is-pond-dent Miss Kala Lane Kent." Then speaking in her normal voice and standing up straight she continued as if talking into a camera, "I'm standing here at the scene where Superman has just caught some bad men who tried to hold up a bank. But they should know better than that because Superman can fly real fast and catch them before they get away with the money. Back to you now."

Clark had been watching Kala as he was showing Jason how to fix the drum. "Looks to me like someone wants to be an on air TV reporter. Do you write your own copy?"

"Huh, what does that mean, Daddy?"

"I was just teasing you. The copy is what you say to the camera."

"Oh, yes I write my own copy. Daddy, can I interview Superman?"

"You want to interview Superman? What do you want to ask him?"

"What does it feel like to have bullets bounce off of him, does it tickle."

"I guess you'll just have to ask him the next time you see him."

"Oh, Daddy!" she said feigning exasperation. Jason and Clark both giggled.

"Alright, does it tickle? Hmmm, Superman is not really that ticklish. I guess there's really only a slight sensation of something hitting him."

"Does Superman miss his other family, the one from Krypton?"

"Whoo, you're going to be a hard hitting TV Reporter huh. Well, I don't think he does really, at least not that much. It's hard to miss something you never truly knew. I think he does miss what could have been. I don't think he would change anything about his life right now though. Kala, are you missing your other family? It's OK if you are."

"I don't miss my Mom she hated me after Daddy died in the war but is it really OK to miss my other Dad?"

Clark got up from the drum he was just about to finish fixing and went to Kala. Kneeling beside her he took her hands in his, setting the microphone aside. "Honey, it's only natural to miss him. If you ever want to talk about it please, don't be afraid to come to Mommy or me. We know what it's like to lose people we love." He bent forward kissing her forehead.

Kala freed her hands from his wrapping her arms around his neck briefly as she whispered, "Thank you Daddy, I love you."

"I love you too sweetheart."

Clark and Jason both looked up simultaneously at the ceiling hearing Lois enter the house as she arrived home from work. Jason dropped everything and quickly ran upstairs to greet her and soon the two were headed back down to the basement. Clark stood up greeting her with a big smile as they embraced and shared a slightly lingering kiss.

"So what's going on here?" she said with an amused look on her face seeing the drum partly disassembled.

"Me and Daddy are fix-en my drum again and Kala is interviewing Superman for TV reporting."

"Kala's interviewing Superman. Hmmm this I have to hear. Please continue." She sat on the nearby sofa with a big smirk on her face as Clark went back and finished the final repair on the drum with Jason watching intently.

Kala retrieved the microphone, "Does Superman ever run into birds when he flies high in the air?"

Laughing Clark went over and sat next to Lois on the sofa. "I think there have been a few close calls but no direct hits yet, knock on wood." Everybody laughed including Lois who tried to brush his hand away as he pretended to knock on her head.

"Jason is going to be like you, now that you're my Daddy too, will I be like you?"

Turning very serious Clark motioned for both kids to come and sit on his knees. "It appears that Jason is going to be a lot like me. We don't really know just how much like me yet. We'll find that out as time goes by. Kala you'll be like Mommy, maybe even a TV reporter if that's what you want. Think of all the amazing things she's done, she never lets anyone stop her, not even me. Kala, it's not what you can do but rather what you do with what you can do that's important. I firmly believe that you can do anything you set your heart out to do. If it's right you can find a way to make it happen."

Kala looked up at Lois and smiled "I want to be just like you!"

Jason looked between the three and boldly said, "And I am going to be just like my Daddy, Superman!"

Lois and Clark's eyes met with shared pride and joy and then a realization that they were definitely going to have their hands full as these two grew up.

Sighing deeply Lois said, "I don't know about the rest of you but I've been working all day and I'm starving. What are we going to have for dinner?" She said this smiling inwardly remembering all the Superman coverage she had seen and heard during the day while the kids had been at school.

Jason jumped up screaming excitedly, "Burritos!"

Kala jumped up grabbing Jason's hands, dancing with him. "Jason, you always want burritos, how about PIZZA this time!"

Lois and Clark looked at each other both saying almost simultaneously "how about Chinese?"

"I know the best Chinese restaurant we could eat there instead of take out."

"Don't tell me it's in China?" Lois said, the children's excitement rubbing off on her even after a long tiring day.

"Am I really that predictable?" Clark reached over hugging her laughing, "I think not, I was actually thinking of Ching's on 5th Avenue."

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Superman and General Lane were going over a feed of data records being presented in the holographic imaging system of the Fortress.

"I still can't get over this. Your heartbeat was down to a steady 4 beats per minute, respiration almost immeasurable and temperature in the 40's. How did your body sustain itself in those conditions?"

"They actually have it pretty close to reality in some of those SF movies. Once the body is in a deep stasis it's cooled off and very little is needed to sustain life, almost indefinitely."

"This must be were you are waking back up, the signs are close to human standards. Look here, your heartbeat and respiration is suddenly erratic and your temperature is rising. Do you remember what happened here?"

"That's the aftermath of when I saw what had truly happened. I was also receiving massive Kryptonite radiation exposure at the same time. I barely escaped the planet and as I did it was like my ship was magnetically attracting the radioactive pieces in its wake."

"I see where you fell back into the stasis mode but here you rates almost fall off the charts."

"Yes, my ship's own design almost killed me at that point. As I stated in that article your read, the ship is designed to pull energy from various sources as needed. Krypton's sun had no viable energy to draw from therefore radiation from Krypton was the only energy source available and my ship absorbed it. It was very slowly killing me, even the stasis chamber was only a partial shield. If the ship hadn't dissipated the radiation energy for the superior energy source from Polaris when it did, I would have died."

"I find it fitting you were saved by the North Star. That star has saved so many lost travelers over time." Changing topics General Lane looked over at Superman, "You said you had a way for me to draw your blood. Do you want to do that now?"

"Sure, I made several needles out of pieces of crystal. Being from Krypton they'll pierce my skin. Just let me go retrieve them."

When Superman retuned General Lane took the needles looking them over with great interest. Then opening up his bag he took out three small vials and some tubing. Using one of the needles with the tubing attached he filled all three vials with Superman's blood.

"Once I've had time to study this I think I should also get a sample from Jason's blood to study and compare as well."

"I agree. You're aware Jason appears to not be affected by Kryptonite?"

"Yes, Lois told me about your little experiment. Do you think it will remain the case as his powers come in full force?"

"It could go either way. I would like that he not have to feel the pain of the radiation exposure but then again I worry about his having too much power."

Superman's attention was suddenly diverted by an alarm only he heard. He quickly waved his hands over the crystal control panel and the hologram changed to a star field. General Lane noticed his sudden alertness and change in mood.

"What is it?"

"I'm not sure. I just got a warning that there's something out there, something that shouldn't be out there." Superman was looking very intently at the hologram then touched a control that caused it to zoom in on a particular zone. "There… wait …now it's gone."

General Lane looked trying to see what Superman was referring to but all he saw was the same although enlarged star field. "What is the warning for, have you ever gotten a warning like that before?"

"I have a perimeter set up to alert me whenever anything comes with a certain range. I've had warnings before for asteroids which mostly proved to be inconsequential. But this looked totally different. It changed direction slightly with a trajectory point right to Earth and then simply disappeared altogether."

"Where was it located, how far away from Earth?"

"It appeared in the star field near Sirius which is the brightest star in the night sky located approximately 8.6 light years away. I'm still trying to triangulate the distance of the object. I do know it was heading this way within 5 light years, that's what caused the alarm."

Superman seemed to calculate something in his head and then slowly said. "I can't be positive with the limited data, but it appears to be only 4 - 3.75 light years away. If it is coming here it could arrive in a matter of days."

"But I thought nothing could travel faster than light."

"Sorry, that's a human myth. I've traveled faster just flying many times. My ship can go even faster than I can fly. Einstein was right though time is distorted when flying faster than light. But there are ways of getting around that problem otherwise I would have returned thousands of years later from my trip rather than just a little over five years."

"Hmmm, it has completely disappeared from the screen. There isn't anything I can do right now. I've set my controls here to be on high alert. I'll know if anything else appears anywhere within the range. In the meantime I think I'll go talk to some friends at SETI. They have some of the best equipment available outside my own for observing anomalies in space."

"What really bothers me is the location of the sighting and the fact that it was moving in a controlled trajectory this way then simply went dark. By going dark I mean as in hiding. If it was any thing else it would have registered on my equipment, even space debris."

"Well, I've got everything I need to get started. I'll let you know what I find. Maybe I can figure out a way to lessen the radiation poisoning affects on you."

"I'm not sure that's possible, although if Jason is truly immune perhaps there is something that can be done."

Superman took General Lane home and then headed straight for the Center for SETI Research at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California. As he approached the center he could see and hear the excitement. The observation area was filled with scientists talking animatedly.

Dr. Jill Kragan ran up to Superman as he entered. "Superman we haven't seen you since your return, welcome back by the way. Did you see it? Is that why you're here?"

"Thank you, I take it you're referring to the anomaly in the Sirius quadrant and yes that is why I'm here." They continued walking into the main computer observation area.

"Yes, our instruments picked it up but then it was gone almost instantly. We're still trying to understand the data. Frankly I don't believe we got enough information to decipher anything from it. What about you?"

Superman told them exactly what he had told General Lane just a short time before. "If you don't mind, I might be able to configure your computer program slightly to better source the information you missed."

"Please do." Dr. Kragan nodded to the man sitting at the computer console. Superman sat down for about 45 seconds. The screen changed to the programming screen but past that the people standing around could not see what was happening the screens were changing so fast.

Slowing down his movements Superman hit a final key and the screen opened back to where he started. Only the screen was enhanced with much more detail.

"I've just coded in some coordinates to zoom in on and also certain characteristics to search for in particular. This is the enhanced version of the anomaly. See it's definitely there and coming this way. Then it simply disappears. If this was Star Trek, I would say the cloaking device had been activated!"

Superman turned from the computer screen towards the scientists gathered around him with an ominous look of concern clearly featured on his face. Dr. Kragan had she been a betting woman would have bet her last dollar that Superman knew something he wasn't sharing, something that had even him worried.

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End of Chapter Two

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