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Luthor stepped back and reviewed the equations he’d worked all night on. The two grad students set to watch him were asleep at their desks and the physics students who had come in to watch were still slack-jawed as they tried to make sense of it.

It had taken Luthor hours to tease the information out of the AI’s data banks. A lesser intellect wouldn’t have been able to do it at all. He’d had to approach it indirectly – the AI hadn’t wanted to divulge the information he needed. But finally Luthor was able to step back and take a deep breath.

The equations were elegant in their simple complexity, revealing an underlying structure to the universe that was unlike any theory Luthor had ever heard about. It was both thrilling and frightening to realize that his continued existence depended on understanding something the human mind was not prepared to comprehend.

But he, Lex Luthor, had done it.

  He sat down and began to contemplate how he was going to take advantage of his new knowledge of the universe.



Lois awoke to find she was alone in her bed. She got up, put on her robe and padded out to the living room. Clark was seated at the dining table, going over the Kryptonian data again while Jason watched in rapt attention.

She took a moment to watch the two of them together. No time. No time to get to know his son. No time for anything. Lois noted he still looked tired. Last night she had assumed his fatigue was mostly emotional. Now she wasn't so sure. Before he left, Superman had been able to go days without food or sleep, so long as he had sunlight to sustain him.

“Have you gotten out into the sunlight recently?” she asked.

He nodded. “It helped.”

“It’s Luthor’s abomination, isn’t it? It’s poisoning you.”

He nodded again then gestured to the figures in the air over the table. “I know how to fix this, assuming it can be fixed. But I need to leave in a few hours, three at most, otherwise I doubt I’ll be able to do it at all.”

“Do what?”

“Change history.”

“You can do that?”

“I think so. It must be possible otherwise it wouldn’t be forbidden.”

“Why don’t you leave now, then?” Lois asked. “Why risk not being able to do it?”

“I need to see Luthor, for one. It won’t do much good to try to stop him if I don’t know exactly what he did and how he did it,” Clark explained.

“Like he’s going to just tell you?”

Clark actually smiled. “Well, he might not be willing to tell me, but I have great faith in your powers of persuasion.”

“Let me throw on my clothes and drop Jason off at the office,” she responded.



Repairing the damage Luthor did was going to be more complex and far more dangerous than Clark led Lois to believe, but he felt few qualms at misleading her. If she knew how badly the odds were stacked against him… He wasn’t sure what she might do. Maybe even try to stop him.

And it wasn't simply going back in time that was complex. There was the issue of stopping Luthor in such a way as to make it impossible for him to misuse the Kryptonian technology again.  Simply killing Luthor was not an option Clark was willing to go with. And from Lois’s description of Luthor’s prison release, putting him back in prison was not an option because he had gotten out of prison on a legal appeal, no matter how questionable that appeal had been.

He had an idea of how to do it. But he was going to need help doing it.

Clark flew Lois and Jason to the Daily Planet, landing in the alley behind the building. Jason was wide-eyed with wonder.

“Wow, can we do that again?”

Clark ruffled Jason’s hair. “Maybe when all this is over,” he said. But when this is all over, he won’t remember ever flying with me.

He followed Lois and Jason into the building, ignoring the surprised looks he was getting. For what he needed to do, he needed to be Kal-El, not Clark or Superman. Kal-El’s uniform was close fitting gray-black with the emblem of the House of El across the chest.

The somber tones seemed to keep people at arms length.

Perry was in his office. He was one of the few not intimidated by the dark Suit. He came out and shook Clark’s hand. “Glad to see you back, son. Wish it was under better circumstances.”

“I’m working to change those circumstances,” Clark said.

Lois settled in at her desk and turned on her computer while Jason chattered to Perry about flying with Superman.

“Lois,” Clark said quietly. “I need a favor. I need a list of eleven people you know. People, who if they were called together on a jury say, would be willing to invoke the death penalty on Luthor.”

Lois simply pulled out a telephone book and handed it to him. “Take your pick.”

“Eleven will be enough,” he said trying to suppress a chuckle.

She hurriedly wrote out the eleven names. Clark was impressed. Lois hardly had to think about it.

Her name was at the top of the list with Richard White and Perry White. Clark was surprised to see Bruce Wayne’s and Oliver Queen’s names on the list. He gave her a questioning look, pointing them out to her.

“Bruce lost Selena and Alfred when Gotham was leveled during the first shockwave. Queen lost his wife and his older son. I think the only reason neither of them has gone ahead and killed the bastard is the hope he might actually have a fix for what he did,” Lois explained.

Clark continued down the list. He didn’t recognize the other names

“Could you note down where these last six were before they evacuated?”

Lois took back the sheet and added four company names with cities. Then she noted down where the four were currently. “A hanging jury, huh?”

He nodded.

“So, when do you…” She made the sideways motion with her hand that seemed to be the universal sign for Superman flying away.

“I have a few things to do before I see Luthor,” he said. He pulled a small bag from a thigh pocket and opened it to reveal twelve small thin crystals.

He took one and placed it against Lois’s forehead. “Think about what happened, the disaster, the after effects, everything. Imagine it like a movie.”

She closed her eyes and the crystal glowed. After a moment, the crystal went dark again.

“What is that?” she asked.

“A memory crystal. It reads and records the surface thoughts. The Kryptonians used them for affidavits, recording research, that sort of thing.”

She nodded as if she understood.

Clark repeated the procedure with Perry and Richard. Then he hurried off to find the other people on Lois’s list and do the other errands he needed to do before he left. He hoped President Morton wouldn’t be too upset with him for having allowed his horror to happen in the first place.



Luthor was jolted from his dreams of world domination by another quake. He hadn’t realized he’d even fallen asleep. His two minders seemed inured to the shaking.  Instead, they were watching the holographic display of the Earth’s mantle, murmuring to one another. Luthor was hit with a sudden flash of anger. They took my crystals… I found Superman’s hideout. I deciphered their language, their mathematics. Those are my crystals, my discoveries. I was Prometheus giving the monkeys fire. All I ever wanted was my cut.

“There’s little time left, Mister Luthor,” Father Mike said. Luthor tried to hide his surprise at seeing the priest in the lab. No one was allowed in the lab after he kicked the physics students out the night before. They had started to argue with him over some of the ramifications of his discoveries and he’d been too tired and annoyed to put up with their foolishness.

“I’m just waiting for the big blue Boy Scout,” Luthor said. “But as you can see, he’s not here. Maybe it finally occurred to him that this planet wasn't worth saving. Maybe he built himself an ark for him and his chosen few.”

“And where would they go, Luthor?” Superman asked.  Luthor looked over to see Superman standing with the Lane woman. This time he was dressed in a dark gray body suit. It made him look stern, even ominous.

“You know as well as I do the crystals didn’t list any suitable planets within a hundred light years of Earth and precious few within a thousand,” Superman continued. “So where do you propose this ‘ark’ take them? And how many would be alive when they got there?”

Luthor shrugged. “It was just an idea, big guy. I never said it was a great idea.”

Superman grimaced at him and walked over to the white board. Luthor watched as he scanned the equations and nodded.

“I see you came to the same conclusion I did,” Superman said. Luthor hid his surprise. He’d seen the Kryptonian correct equations that no human – aside from Luthor – could hope to comprehend. But he still couldn’t get his mind around the idea that this… man-child, this alien boy who dared call himself Superman, could simply look at equations Luthor had spent hours working through and understand them on sight. It was enough to shake Luthor’s sensibilities, until he reminded himself that the man wasn’t a man at all.

“It was the only logical solution still open,” Luthor admitted. It galled him that his thunder had been stolen.

Superman nodded. “One more small task before I… do what I have to do to fix this horror.”

  “And what’s that?” Luthor asked.

Superman pulled a small bag from a thigh pocket and retrieved a small crystal – a crystal Luthor recognized from his survey of the Kryptonian data crystals – a memory crystal.

“Think about what happened. Imagine it like a movie, starting at the beginning,” Superman instructed, placing the crystal against Luthor’s forehead. “When did you steal my crystals?”

What does he think he’s doing, demanding that Lex Luthor give up his secrets? Luthor fumed, glaring at the tall man. He hate the curl, hated everything about him.

Luthor felt a tickle against one ear and realized that Lane had moved close behind him. “If you don’t cooperate with this, I guarantee you will be begging to die long before the world comes to an end,” she whispered. “So, when did you get hold of the Kryptonian crystals?”



Lois watched Luthor’s eyes widen at her threat. Then the crystal glowed for a moment and went dark. Clark took the crystal and placed it against his own forehead. His expression was stony but there was a tenseness in his neck that told her he was trying to keep from gagging at whatever foulness he was getting from Luthor’s memories.

After a moment Clark dropped the crystal into the little bag and put the bag in the thigh pocket. “Thank you,” he said, nodding to Luthor.

“Anything for a good cause,” Luthor responded. Lois wanted to wipe the smirk off his face. Instead she followed Clark out of the lab and out to the snow covered lawn in front of the building.

“Lois…” Clark began. “If I succeed, this will never have happened.”

“I understand.”

“I just…”

Lois pulled him into a hug. “Be careful.”

“Kal-El,” Mike interrupted gently. Lois hadn’t even realized he had come out with them.

“It’s time,” Mike added.

Kal-El moved away from Lois and Mike moved closer. “A warning,” the priest said softly. “There are those who believe this world should be left to its fate. That it deserves what the purveyors of madness have done. They will try to stop you.”

“Then I have to be stronger, and smarter, than they are,” Kal-El said. Mike reached up and pulled Kal-El closer, kissing him on the forehead. Kal-El looked surprised at the move and Lois thought, for just a moment, she saw an imprint of lips glowing on Clark’s forehead.

“Just remember,” Mike said, his voice growing deep and majestic, completely at odds with his appearance. But even his appearance was morphing into something tall and bright and a little frightening. “You are never alone,” the being called Mike said.

Clark eyes had widened in surprise but then he nodded. “I have to go. Goodbye Lois.”

He disappeared before Lois could react.

Good bye Lois…



Clark had been surprised to see Luthor’s equations on the white board – equations giving angles and speeds, all the necessary information to achieve the impossible.

It is forbidden for you to change human history.

But Clark knew he had no choice. He had to do it or die trying.

He knew Luthor was not likely to tell him when the crystals were stolen, but he also know how ‘persuasive’ Lois could be. She didn’t disappoint him and he had no doubt she had put a fright into the mad man.  When Clark checked the memory crystal he was sickened by the twisted thought processes, the self-centered egotism and hatred that flooded Luthor’s mind. Thoughts recorded for all time – or until Clark chose to destroy the crystal.

It had been all he could do to keep from gagging. But now he knew when he had to arrive.

He walked outside with Lois, intending to say his good byes to her. It was snowing again.

“Lois…” he began. “If I succeed, this will never have happened.”

She looked up at him, so beautiful, snowflakes decorating her eyelashes. “I understand.”

“I just…”

She pulled him into a hug. “Be careful.”

“Kal-El,” Mike interrupted gently. Clark hadn’t noticed he had followed them. “It’s time.”

Clark knew he was right. The Earth was running out of time. Mike stepped closer to him. “A warning,” the man said earnestly. “There are those who believe this world should be left to its fate. That it deserves what the purveyors of madness have done. They will try to stop you.”

“Then I have to be stronger, and smarter, than they are,” Clark told him. It was as simple as that.

Mike reached up and took Clark’s face in to his hands. His hands were cool, cooler than normal for a human, even given the weather. The priest kissed him on the forehead. Clark almost jerked back in surprise – the place where Mike’s lips touched him burned white hot. Painfully hot.

“Just remember,” Mike said. His voice changed, deepening with added overtones and undertones a human would not be able to detect. His appearance was changing as well, changing into something still humanoid, but tall and slender and alien, utterly alien.  The Mike-being had wings. Clark looked past Mike to see other winged beings watching, waiting. One stood close to Lois but she didn’t seem to see him/her.

“You are never alone,” the being known as Mike added.

Clark nodded. ‘This world is not God’s only dominion, nor is it her first creation.’ Mike had said. It wasn’t just for humanity that Clark was doing this. There was more at stake than just Earth. More than he had ever imagined.

“I have to go. Goodbye Lois.” Clark didn’t wait for Lois’s response. He shot into the air, into the stratosphere, high above the Earth, outside the atmosphere.

The Earth was below him, and he could see the crack in the crust as it finally split open. Within seconds, there was no planet Earth. All that was left was an irregular radioactive crystal that glowed malevolently in space.

Good bye Lois…



Luthor looked up as the grad students gasped. The hologram of the Earth showed a broad bright gash across the globe.

“It’s really happening,” one of them said. A trembler hit, more powerful than any of the previous ones. One wall of the lab collapsed, taking part of the ceiling with it. The two students didn’t even have time to scream. Maybe they hadn’t even tried.

Luthor grabbed the Kryptonian crystal Superman hadn’t bothered to take and looked around. “Unchain me!” Luthor shouted to the guard at the door. “I can save us!”

Then he realized the guard wasn't there. Instead there stood a creature that could have only come from a nightmare – all shadow and darkness, no form, no face. Just fear and anger and hatred.

“And why would I want to do that?” The words seemed to burn through Luthor’s brain as the floor of the lab disintegrated and he plummeted into the abyss below.

-o-o-o-

Lois stumbled as the trembler hit. “Jason!”

“Come,” Mike said, reaching out to her. There was a feeling of warmth, the rustling of strong pinions. Then she was in the Daily Planet newsroom. She ran to Jason, pulling him into a tight hug.

“I love you,” she murmured through her tears. Richard, Martha and Ben huddled close to her and Jason, as if they could protect them and each other from what was to come. Again there was a feeling of warmth, like a summer breeze.

“You are never alone…” Mike’s unearthly voice murmured soft as a lover’s touch. “You are loved.”

Then there was nothing.