Chapter 67 - Risks

"I don't like it."

Clark felt like the wind had been knocked out of him. Having learned from previous encounters, he'd decided to run his plans by Lex before carrying them out, and he'd come to the study excited to share his idea, but Lex hadn't even given him a chance to finish explaining. "But if you'd just—"

"I didn't bring Ryan here so I could exploit his abilities as a mind reader."

"He helped us with Lucas."

"And there are times I regret allowing that. But anyway, this is different."

"He would want to help with this."

"He's a kid."

"So am I, and you still let me test my abilities!"

"Test. I don't send you out to clear the streets of crime using your abilities."

"No, but I do that all on my own." Clark shook his head. "I don't understand. I thought you'd be happy. You could finally figure out what your father's been planning, you could find out who his spies are."

"I don't want Ryan anywhere near my father."

"We wouldn't take him to your father. You'd just have Ryan nearby while you had conversations with each of your servants about the recent sabotage, and Ryan can tell you what they're thinking."

"Clark . . ." Lex paced a few steps, away from his desk. "I don't want Ryan to overhear that. You're both kids, but he's twelve. You're fifteen, and you're from an alien planet, so who knows how fast your species matures? Do you really not see the difference?"

Clark could feel his blood pressure rising. "Ryan was being experimented on at Somerholt. He's overheard worse things, plans to hurt him. If we did this, he'd only be hearing plans to hurt you. Is this really about Ryan's age?"

Lex stopped short, and his head hung. "Yes. But you're right. It's not about what I'm afraid he'll overhear. It's about . . ." He straightened up. "The Turing Machine."

Clark blinked. "The what?"

"During World War 2, Alan Turing built a machine that could crack German codes. He used it to determine exactly which cities and towns would be attacked by air raids in the following days and weeks."

"What does this have to do with—"

"So they could save whatever cities they wanted. Evacuate towns, set up defenses."

Clark's voice caught. "I—I guess."

"But they didn't. They couldn't. If the Germans found that every town they attacked had been evacuated the night before, they would know their code had been cracked. They would switch to an entirely different system of communication, and Turing's work would be for nothing. They had to allow hundreds of people to die to save thousands, or thousands for millions."

"I—okay." Clark couldn't imagine having to make that choice, but at least now he was starting to see how it might fit with their situation. If Lionel knew they had found his spies, he would blackmail or threaten someone else to carry out his plans. "But isn't it still better to know?"

"Of course it's better to know. But what if we had known about every trap we were going to walk into this last week? We would have to make a choice about which ones to prevent and which ones to allow."

"This isn't a war, Lex."

"Yes it is, Clark. The sooner you see that, the sooner you'll understand—"

"So, what, you're not going to try to stop your father at all?"

"Of course I'm trying to stop him. But not by reading minds."

"Because it would be too effective?"

"I don't want him to know we have a mind reader."

"And so you'll have to decide which of his plans to defend against? Isn't that worth it?"

"I can make that decision. You shouldn't have to, but maybe you can. Ryan . . ." Lex's jaw pulsed. "I don't want him to be a part of this war, Clark. At all."

"Ryan doesn't have to be a part of the decision making."

"Clark, if you could overhear someone's plot to harm your friends, and your friends were failing to stop it, wouldn't you get involved where you had no business?"

"I have powers, Lex."

"And if you didn't?"

Clark let out his breath. He knew why Lex didn't want to get Ryan any deeper into this than he already was, but in his mind, he was absolutely convinced it was worth it.

"It's not worth the risk, Clark."

"Is anything worth the risk for you?" Clark's voice had risen, to the point of shouting now. "You spent months working on this whole . . . cure thing, and now you won't even try it on Pamela, even though she's dying."

"It's not ready yet. The scientists are still running biological simulations, we're still trying to—"

"You know, you're right about this town not understanding you. They all think you're hung up on progress, but it's the opposite. You're a coward."

Lex's voice rose immediately to shouting. "Do you have any idea what I've been dealing with today?"

Clark swallowed. He didn't see how it was relevant. He breathed in to say so.

But Lex started in first. "Mutiny, Clark. My employees have finally rounded up and unionized. They're asking me to resign. You know what happens if I lose this plant? My father swoops in and takes over. He takes control of the livelihoods of 2500 families, he'll have the entire town in his pocket. Your family's farm included. So forgive me if I don't want to pull a twelve-year-old into my war. Forgive me if I don't want to let anyone else I care about be caught in the crossfire."

Clark took a step back. He'd known this must be weighing on Lex, but he didn't know how much. "I'm going to head home," he said.

Lex winced. "Clark . . ."

"I'm sorry I pressured you. I know you're doing everything you can do."

It was silent for a long moment, then Lex said, "It helps to know that at least you haven't given up on me."

"I won't," Clark said. "And for what it's worth . . . I wouldn't want you to give that drug to anyone before it's ready."

"Of course not," Lex said. "See you later this week?"

"Yeah. See you."

Lex nodded, and Clark headed out. Most days, he ran home, but today he walked, giving himself plenty of time to think.

When he reached the farm, his father was loading hay onto a tractor. Clark joined him without a word.

His dad continued working, eying Clark for a moment. "Something's wrong," he said.

Clark sighed. He had mixed feelings about the fact that his parents could always seem to read his thoughts. He breathed in to say he'd gotten into an argument with Lex, but he figured his parents were still constantly on the edge about how they felt about Lex, so he held back. "Dad . . . Have you ever been in a really tough place, and you felt like you knew what the right thing to do was, but . . . other people didn't agree with you?"

There was a short pause, then his dad stopped what he was doing and took a step closer. "Does this have anything to do with Lex or the accidents at the plant?"

Clark lowered his head. "Kind of."

His dad let out a long breath. "Son," he said, placing a hand on his shoulder, "your mother and I trust your judgement. But if there's ever anything we can offer advice on . . ."

"It's, uh . . . I'm not allowed to talk about all of it. Some of it involves secrets that aren't mine to tell."

His dad nodded slowly. "Well, I would advise you think carefully about it. But at the end of the day, all you can do is what you believe to be right."

Clark hesitated, then he nodded, and his dad went back to his work.

It hadn't been the most specific advice he'd ever had, but that settled it.

He was going to have to talk to Ryan alone.