Part 8
Lex Luthor set aside the projection disc that had, in the span of a night, thrown his entire life out of the carefully plotted path he had set for himself. "This is insane," he muttered. He was a scientist and this was straight out of science fiction. How could he believe that this was actually a piece of technology from another world? Maybe with leaps and bounds this could be from the future. He could stretch his imagination and belief in intelligence enough to imagine that. What he found hard to grasp as a concept was what this Caelie Mag-el, or at least his memory of Caelie Mag-el, claimed—that he was Lex-ar and he was from the future. It was completely impossible.
He closed his eyes to shut off everything he had seen. Unfortunately, instead of the utter blackness in his expectations, what he saw was the beautiful pale redhead who reminded him of needing him so much, and loving that she needed him.
So many people needed him now, but none of them wanted to need him. At best they mildly detested that their livelihood depended on Lex Luthor.
He shook his head and looked down at the projection disc on the passenger seat. He shifted gears and drove towards the neighborhood community he had developed. Of all the residents in Smallville, there was only one person who was as passionate about his search for answers, who was as intrigued by the mysterious evidences of alien life invading their sleepy little town, who would be the least likely to think he had conjured up this disc and created one giant and explosive hoax.
He was still pretty far from his destination when he saw her, running out of her house, still wearing her a white silk nightgown that flapped around her thighs. Lex pressed on the gas. Chloe Sullivan looked absolutely terrified as she tried to fumble with the keys to unlock her car door.
He parked the car right behind hers so that even if she managed to steady her hands she would not be able to get out of the driveway. He called out, "You're in no condition to drive, Ms Sullivan."
She turned wide panicked eyes to Lex. Right in front of his eyes, the look of terror turned into fury. Her hands fisted at her sides and she asked accusingly, "What the hell were you trying to accomplish, Lex?"
He frowned and got out of the car. "I don't know what you're talking about, Chloe."
She raised her fists and pounded his chest once. "Don't bother denying it," she spitted out.
He held her by the shoulders and said calmly. "Take a deep breath." She did. It was a tremulous one. "Another one." She did. "I haven't seen you for what… seven months? What are you talking about?"
"You," she pronounced, stabbing her chest with her finger at each syllable, "appeared in my house out of nowhere."
"I drove here," he explained slowly. "You saw me drive here."
"Earlier, Lex!" she shouted. "Or did you think I was in the habit of flying out of my house in my nightgown?"
His lips curled a bit, even at the tense moment. "I was hoping you were."
"Lex!" she cried in protest. "Were you trying out a teleportation device or something?" she demanded. "And don't worry I won't break the news yet because it was a flop. You couldn't even hold your presence for more than a minute."
Lex frowned at the words. "What are you talking about?"
"You might want to tweak the flash of light too. It's not dark conference room friendly. And you looked like you were in pain." He shook his head, having no idea what she was talking about. "It was so odd. And you were saying something." Her brows furrowed as she tried to remember.
"What did I say, Chloe?"
She closed her eyes and breathed through the memory. "It was a name. What was your assistant's name? Maybe you were talking to her…" she babbled. "Kelly?"
Lex swallowed heavily as he stared at Chloe Sullivan's face, with her eyes closed and her brows furrowed in concentration. She opened her eyes and he was lost in whirlpools of green light. "Lex…" she whispered. He saw the reflection of the sky, with the myriads of stars contained there.
"I said 'Caelie'?" he clarified.
"So you do know a Caelie," she said.
He could almost recognize the burst of light reflection in her eyes, and realized at that very moment that he was seeing the death of their old civilization in her eyes. "Yes," he answered. "Now I remember." He knew if he turned around, he wouldn't see that explosion of the planet. Not even Chloe saw it. It exploded long ago and its light lit the heavens long before the meteors hit.
"How could you have forgotten something like that?" she grumbled.
"I have no idea," he murmured. "I assure you; I'll never forget again."
"Lex," she repeated nervously.
"How many times have you had to explain something to a person who most likely will think you're insane?"
"Countless," she answered easily.
"It's your turn to be on the receiving end. Will you come with me to the mansion and promise to keep an open mind?"
iLove is an attempt to change a piece of a dream world into reality.
Theodor Reik/i
Torn between love and responsibility, Lex-ar took the one person in the planet whose soul his was entwined unmercifully to the observatory where they had grown past hurts and laughter. Silently, Caelie sat on the floor as far from the telescope as she could manage. He turned to her and took her hand.
"Come look at the sky, Caelie."
"No," she whispered. "I hate those stars, don't you know!"
"You don't hate them," he answered softly. "Caelie, we grew up watching them. I make my living mapping the galaxy and you adore visiting the Hall of the Worlds, seeing what it's like in these other civilizations."
"The stars took you away from me," she told him. "Without them, you'd stay for me, Lex-ar."
He brushed a flaming lock away from her face. "That's not true."
She grasped his hand tightly. "You want to tell me that you're leaving, don't you? You want to leave me here so you can work with your stars."
"Caelie, very soon Krypton will be no more than floating rocks and dust."
She detached her hand from his. "Just go. You don't need to make up terror tales so you can leave me here."
He stood up and walked over to the telescope. He located a point in the sky and projected the planet he wanted on the ceiling of the observatory. "You've known me from the first day you were born into Krypton, Caelie. Do you truly believe in your heart that I would abandon you?"
She looked up to see a terra-formed planet, brimming with people the same in appearance and herself and Lex-ar, moving about freely in a planet that looked to her to be as ancient as the old capital city. They had old technology and their vehicles moved about slower because they rolled on wheels on the ground rather than flew in the air. They had constructions that were like blocks sticking up from their land. She and Lex-ar were so similar to the people she saw that they could get lost amidst them.
Her eyes met his.
"I will never ever abandon you," he vowed. Her breath caught in her throat. "I would sooner die."
Caelie closed her eyes, and her tears fell. She gasped for breath. Then, he was kneeling in front of her.
"Jor-el wants all of Krypton transported to this Terra planet. Doing that will annihilate the existence of its people. We are stronger, Chloe, with more advanced technology. Under a yellow sun, we will develop strength a hundred times what we have in Krypton. We will be as fast as our best wind gliders. We will defy the Terra planet's gravity. If we all go, we will render them extinct."
She watched the people in the projection. "That's too much of a price to pay to save Kryptonians."
He nodded tersely. "I must go back and find at least half a dozen Terra planets. We will divide our population and get lost amongst these planets. To inhabit only one will destroy the host. If we are in smaller groups, we can survive without upsetting the planets' balance."
Caelie nodded. She stood up and looked around her and saw Argo City, her home. Soon, even Argo, the only constant in her life, would be gone. "How long does Krypton have?"
"I don't know," he admitted. "I can go now and even on my way to Kryptonopolis the planet can explode. Or we can accomplish the transport and find out that Krypton has a hundred more years. The core is too unstable."
She pulled the lever to open the ceiling. Above them gleamed Krypton's two moons. Caelie pleaded with red-rimmed eyes. "If this was the last night of my home, and tomorrow we never wake up…" Flush with the contrasting moonbeams, she pulled the ribbon of her dress until the material pooled around her feet. She walked naked towards Lex-ar.
He reached for her, at first with hesitation and then with certainty. Lex-ar placed his bare hand on the small of her back. As her fingers tangled with the material that laced the front of his vest, he bent to place hot lips on the curve of her breast.
For six billion time cycles since the birth of the planet, Krypton's two moons threw beams that joined as they struck land and ocean. Under their stalwart gaze Caelie accepted Lex-ar inside her as he silently sealed his promise that she would be with him no matter what fate fell upon Krypton.
As he expelled his seed inside her, Caelie wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "Don't forget," she whispered in his ear.
He buried his face in the moist crook of her neck. "Never."
And he did not forget. Not even when he was ordered to be sealed off by the Council for daring to oppose the plan that could save the population from extinction. The moment the doors slammed shut and all his communication devices lost power, the first rumble of the uranium quake was felt.
Krypton was moaning from the core.
iThe love that lasts longest is the love that is never returned.
Somerset Maugham /i
Despite their immense advancements in science and technology, the Kryptonians were at heart a superstitious lot. It was said that if one saw a comet, he must hide in a cave for one planetary rotation. Caelie knew of an ancestor who tried to follow that belief. When he emerged from the cave an hour earlier than he had to, he found his home burned down. A widely respected superstition was that a bride must avoid jewelry from the Jewel Mountains when she got married so that she would not doom the union.
It was that respect for tradition that made Caelie seek out a string of gems from that very mountain and clasp it around her neck, underneath her gown, on the day she faced in the Palace of Marriage the man she had known since childhood and who ever meant to save her. She held out her arm and waited for Mag-el to clasp the marriage bracelet around her wrist.
When he leaned to catch her lips with his, she turned her head slightly so he would kiss the edge. "This is the only way," he told her. He placed his palm against her stomach.
Lex-ar had abandoned her. Weeks after he left for Keyptonopolis and she had never heard from him again. The Council's plan was simple and cursed. Only select families, who contributed the most to Kryptonian society, could board the transport ships to the Terra planet. She would be perish before she allowed Lex-ar's seed to die with the moaning planet.
With Gab-rel gone, Caelie was in no way going to be admitted into the transport program. The House of El, on the other hand, had built Kryptonian society and had a sure transport of their own.
Mag-el turned to see his father approach, and happily kissed the older man's hand. "I thank you for being part of this celebration."
Zor-el pulled Mag-el aside. At his father's stern words, Mag-el turned to his bride. "Caelie, prepare a clothing case for a night in the capital."
She straightened immediately. "Lex-ar?"
"My father has found him. He had been imprisoned for rejecting the transport project."
tbc
