[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/M3SfSt4.png[/img][/center] Small towns play a trick on the mind, especially these days. They don't have huge populations, so it's easy to ignore how much influence they really have when they're all added together. The old mom-and-pop stores have long since been replaced by national franchises, so it's easy to overlook each town's particular quirks and customs. And they often don't have monuments or landmarks that people come from all over to see, so it's easy to assume nothing major ever happened there. It's a trick that gets played all the time on the kind of people who think that most of America is just filler between New York and California, but almost just as often, the people who live in those small towns fall for it too. People might grow up a few hundred yards away from a battlefield that changed the course of a war, or the birthplace of a President or CEO or civil rights leader, or the site of some crazy event that nobody believes even happened anymore, and spend their whole lives never knowing it. Smallville, Kansas, is a place like that. A lot of the old shops on Main Street went out of business when they put up a Wal-Mart, whose parking lot was once home to one of the bloodiest confrontations of the old 'Bleeding Kansas' period. When some of the older farmhouses were torn down to make way for new neighborhoods, they found cellars and secret passages that were once used as part of the Underground Railroad. Every year in October there's a harvest festival where one of the local traditions is making paintings and mosaics of a Native American 'healing snake,' but no one for the life of them could tell you the story behind it. There's a little stretch of dirt road, about three miles total, between the Kent farm and Ben Sutton's place on the way back into town. It doesn't get used much by anyone who isn't Ma or one of the Suttons, so most people would never notice the patch along that road, maybe fifteen yards apart, where nothing has grown for twenty-six years. Every once in a while, the occasional wingnut comes around looking for traces of "the crater," the place where allegedly an alien spacecraft crashed before the government covered it up. "Allegedly." Smallville never gained the same reputation as places like Point Pleasant, Hopkinsville, or Roswell. There aren't big trashy tourist traps with little green men painted on the sign, nobody sells tchotckes of flying saucers or T-shirts with "I Believe" on them, very few people ever bring it up on paranormal forums or discussion threads about possible sites of 'first contact.' Which, more than anything, is a testament to how good Mom and Dad were at keeping secrets. How they went out of their way to make sure I wouldn't feel like an outsider or a freak, or that I was anything to them other than their son. How much they were willing to risk to make sure I didn't spend the rest of my life in a laboratory or a holding cell. The Kent Farm, to most people, is just a few dozen acres of wheat fields, a barnyard, and an old two-story house with fading paint and a rusted-out old Ford out front. To a handful of people, it's home to what might have been the biggest secret in the history of the human race. To me, it was a porch where I had a thousand heart-to-heart talks with my folks, a hayloft where Lana Lang and I used to sneak off to late at night, and an un-tilled field where I would practice jumping higher and higher, until I could choose not to come back down. [color=RoyalBlue]"......and you're [i]selling[/i] it?!"[/color] I say in disbelief, my plate of chicken and dumplings starting to get cold. [color=PaleVioletRed]"Well, hun, what else am I supposed to do?"[/color] Ma asks, sitting across from me at the dining room table. [color=PaleVioletRed]"There's a hundred things that all need doin', and now that Jonathan's not around anymore......anyway, I've hired on some help to get through this year's harvest, then I'm looking at one of those new town-houses off of Sunset Park. This is just...too much house for just me."[/color] [color=RoyalBlue]"I know, I know,"[/color] I say with a sigh, [color=RoyalBlue]"but still, the Farm's been part of the family for so long...."[/color] [color=PaleVioletRed]"Oh, honey,"[/color] she says with a sad smile, [color=PaleVioletRed]"That history, all those memories, that stays with us. A house is just a house, Clark. Besides, are you really going to tell me you were planning on staying here and growing wheat when I'm gone, too?"[/color] [color=RoyalBlue]"....I guess not,"[/color] I admit, finally digging into my dinner. [color=RoyalBlue]"Mm! The chicken's great, Ma. Feels like it's been forever since I've had something to eat that isn't take-out."[/color] [color=PaleVioletRed]"I copied down my recipes for you, hun,"[/color] she laughs. [color=PaleVioletRed]"You just need to find some time to make some of it for yourself."[/color] [color=RoyalBlue]"I know...."[/color] I say, [color=RoyalBlue]"it's just....I never feel like I've got time to slow down these days, you know? There's the Toyman, and the Silver Surfer, and a hundred other things pulling at me every minute of the day. And that's just the stuff I'm doing with the cape on, not even including my job, my friends, trying to pay all my bills, and, well....looking for answers about, y'know, myself."[/color] [color=PaleVioletRed]"Found anything new?"[/color] she asks. [color=RoyalBlue]"Maybe,"[/color] I answer, uncertain. [color=RoyalBlue]"When I was fighting the Surfer, he said a word to me, which triggered a lot of....images. Memories, I guess. He said '[i]Kal-El[/i].'"[/color] [color=PaleVioletRed]"Any idea what that means."[/color] [color=RoyalBlue]"I think......I think it's my [i]name[/i],"[/color] I tell her. [color=RoyalBlue]"My [i]real[/i] name. Or, I mean, my original name, not--"[/color] [color=PaleVioletRed]"I get what you mean,"[/color] she laughs again. [color=PaleVioletRed]"Whoever your birth parents were, they had to call you something, right?"[/color] [color=RoyalBlue]"Right, well, anyway, I've been thinking...you know that silver ball you and Pa found in the pod with me? Is that still here?"[/color] [color=PaleVioletRed]"It's not like I could sell it at a yard sale, Clark."[/color] [color=RoyalBlue]"Hah, true. Well, I remember when I would hold it, it would say something a few times, but then it would go quiet and I couldn't get it to respond again. Maybe, I dunno, maybe if it hears the name.....we might get something from it?"[/color] Ma shrugs. [color=PaleVioletRed]"Can't say if it'll work. But it's worth a try."[/color] Getting up from the dinner table, we both head up the stairs to my old room. I left the farm when I was sixteen, after Mom and Dad told me the truth about what I really am. It was just too much to deal with at the time, too many questions they couldn't answer. I didn't see home again until I was twenty-five, when I learned Pa was sick. I slept on the couch in the living room the whole time I was here. I couldn't bring myself to sleep in my old room again, like nothing had changed in all that time. Opening the door, it's like nothing really had changed. It's musty and everything's coated in a film of dust, sure, but it's all exactly where I left it years ago. The walls are adorned with old movie posters, mostly Spielberg and Kubrick. My desk is still cluttered with old homework assignments, and sitting on top of it is Pa's old baseball glove. The dresser is still stuffed with whatever clothes I didn't take with me, topped with a science fair trophy from eight grade, and a framed picture of myself with Pete and Lana from a county fair. I talked with Pete once when I came back to town. He was working at the local IHOP to make ends meet while he worked on his poli-sci Master's from the community college, said he wants to get onto the city council, maybe eventually run for state senate. I haven't seen or heard from Lana since the night I took her flying. Since she ran away from me in tears. Don't get too overwhelmed, Clark. Like Ma said, a house is just a house. It's just a room. It's just stuff. [color=RoyalBlue]"Let's see...."[/color] I say, looking around the bedroom, [color=RoyalBlue]"where did I....oh!"[/color] I squat down and look under the bed. There, behind a box full of baseball cards and a small pile of dirty laundry, is the silver orb, maybe the size of a softball. Reaching for it, I feel it begin to hum and vibrate in the palm of my hand. Even after all these years, it still shines like a polished mirror, not a speck of dust on it. [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/RpLkZck.png[/img] [color=2E2C2C]STATE YOUR IDENTITY[/color][/center] It's a voice, the same phrase I've heard every time I tried to interact with the orb. I don't know the language, don't even have a clue where to start. There's every chance this is just another dead end. Still, it's worth a shot. [color=PaleVioletRed]"Fingers crossed, hun,"[/color] Ma says from the doorway. I hold out the orb, and I say the word the Surfer said to me. I tell it my name. [color=RoyalBlue][b]"Kal-El."[/b][/color] For a moment, there's nothing. Then, the silver orb begins to vibrate again, and says phrases I've never heard before. [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/NuVZg0g.png[/img] [color=2E2C2C]IDENTITY CONFIRMED[/color] [img]https://i.imgur.com/YRZ7dwF.png[/img] [color=2E2C2C]WELCOME, KAL-EL[/color] [img]https://i.imgur.com/NbgIWqF.png[/img] [color=2E2C2C]I AM KELEX[/color] [img]https://i.imgur.com/kEA0vE0.png[/img] [color=2E2C2C]I HAVE SERVED THE HOUSE OF EL[/color] [img]https://i.imgur.com/nvXRVRq.png[/img] [color=2E2C2C]FOR EIGHT HUNDRED GENERATIONS[/color][/center] Suddenly, the orb begins to float out of my hand, and seams appear across the surface. Unfolding like flower petals, the orb opens up, and a light shines from the center. From that light, images appear, holographic projections floating in front of me. Images of people, of a whole world, that looks like the one I saw when the Surfer said my name. A world completely alien, yet one I feel like I've known my whole life. [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/VZHSI91.jpg[/img][/center] [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/tnphBNL.png[/img] [color=2E2C2C]I WILL BE YOUR PRIMER ON THE HISTORY,[/color] [img]https://i.imgur.com/8DeaZD8.png[/img] [color=2E2C2C]LANGUAGE, CULTURE, AND VALUES[/color] [img]https://i.imgur.com/8L2wcUA.png[/img] [color=2E2C2C]OF THE PEOPLE OF THE HOUSE OF EL[/color] [img]https://i.imgur.com/BMVQCG3.png[/img] [color=2E2C2C]AND THE WORLD OF KRYPTON[/color][/center] [color=RoyalBlue]"I....I don't understand!"[/color] I say, trying to communicate with it. [color=RoyalBlue]"I don't speak this language, is there some way I can--"[/color] [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/RAY0w5p.png[/img] [color=2E2C2C]ATTENTION[/color][/center] The images flicker out of existence, and the flower-petals of the orb snap shut. [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/kw6Olr7.png[/img] [color=2E2C2C]COLONY POD LOCATED[/color] [img]https://i.imgur.com/cYmvFOm.png[/img] [color=2E2C2C]RELOCATING[/color] [img]https://i.imgur.com/7lRdk32.png[/img] [color=2E2C2C]ACTIVATING FORTRESS[/color][/center] Without warning, the orb zips out the bedroom window, shattering glass as it blurs across the twilit sky, and leaving me dumbstruck. [color=RoyalBlue]"I don't get it,"[/color] I say, feeling powerless as the answers I've been looking for escape me again. [color=RoyalBlue]"I don't know what I did.....what any of that was...."[/color] Ma puts her hand on my shoulder. [color=PaleVioletRed]"You got to see your world,"[/color] she says, choking back tears. [color=PaleVioletRed]"Your people. You got a glimpse of who you really are."[/color] Thinking about it for a moment, I shake my head. [color=RoyalBlue]"[i]This[/i] is my home,"[/color] I say. [color=RoyalBlue]"[i]You[/i] are my people. And as for who I really am, well--"[/color] I'm startled by a sudden vibration on my right thigh. It's my phone. The sudden surprise takes me out of the moment completely, and by instinct I pick it up. [color=RoyalBlue]"He--"[/color] [color=Violet][i]"Smallville! I'm in your apartment, and you're nowhere to be found! Where the hell are you?!"[/i][/color] [color=RoyalBlue]"Oh, hi Lois, I'm just over at--....wait, how'd you get into my apartment?"[/color] [color=Violet][i]"Jimmy let me in,"[/i][/color] she answers. [color=Violet][i]"Say hi, Jimmy."[/i][/color] [color=Orange][i]"Hi, Jimmy!"[/i][/color] [color=Violet][i]"Hilarious. Anyway, I've been trying to reach you ever since that whole thing out in Central City. I was scared to death you were---...never mind. I'm over here because I need to drop off your train ticket."[/i][/color] [color=RoyalBlue]"I'm sorry, train ticket?"[/color] I can dodge bullets and outpace fighter jets, but I can't keep up with Lois Lane when she's in her zone. [color=RoyalBlue]"What are you talking about?"[/color] [color=Violet][i]"You didn't hear?"[/i][/color] she asks. [color=Violet][i]"The Bat-Man picked a fight with the Gotham City PD, apparently beat the hell out of them. Perry wanted me on the story, since I'm going to be in the city tomorrow anyway, but I'm chasing a lead on the Toyman. So I told Perry [u]you'd[/u] be the one best equipped to take on the Bat. So congratulations, Smallville, you're off sports and making the front page!"[/i][/color] [color=RoyalBlue]"Lois, I'm....I'm kind of in the middle of something,"[/color] I say, a bit sheepish. [color=Violet][i]"Is it as urgent as a cop-assaulting vigilante running amok?"[/i][/color] [color=RoyalBlue]"I, erm, I guess not."[/color] [color=Violet][i]"Then tell your Mom I said hi, get a good night's sleep, then get your ass back here by 7 o'clock. First thing in the morning, we're taking a field trip to Gotham City."[/i][/color] [color=RoyalBlue]"Okay, I, erm, I'll see you then,"[/color] I sputter. [color=RoyalBlue]"Have a, um, have good night, Lois."[/color] Hanging up, I put my phone back in my pocket, then notice Ma giving me a sly grin. [color=RoyalBlue]"....what? It's just a work thing,"[/color] I say. [color=PaleVioletRed]"Sure it is, Clark,"[/color] she says with a wink. [color=PaleVioletRed]"I know that look, that sputter. You always did melt whenever you tried to talk to a pretty girl."[/color] [color=RoyalBlue]"Ma, I'm just--"[/color] [color=PaleVioletRed]"Uh-huh,"[/color] she cuts me off. [color=PaleVioletRed]"Well, I think you've had enough excitement for one day, and it sounds like you've got another big day tomorrow. C'mon, supper's probably stone cold by now."[/color] She heads back downstairs, and I give an exasperated sigh. [color=RoyalBlue]"'too much excitement for one day,'"[/color] I repeat. [color=RoyalBlue]"You're not kidding."[/color]