A Mother's Work

Chapter One

Martha was getting worried. Clark was acting strangely. Sure, Clark was never like other boys, but he seemed to drift off in to his own little world almost constantly these days, his grades were slipping fast and he even seemed to spend less and less time with his friends, Pete and Lana, preferring to remain alone in his room, or out in the field. “It’s probably nothing, Martha, he’s fifteen now.” Jonathan would say. “You know how teenagers can be.” But Martha wasn’t convinced. She’d try to talk to Clark about it, but he’d just dodge the questions and go back to his room. It had never been like this before, Clark had never been like this before. He’d never been one to keep secrets, he’d always been totally open and honest with his folks, Martha especially. Something was seriously wrong.

Martha didn’t know what to do, so she turned to the only person who might. She went out in to the barn, to the ship. It was a silver pod, round, except for the odd fin-like thing on the back. If she remembered right, you had to press the right button combination on the panel, which was located on the right side of the ship. Damn it! The code! What was the code!? She couldn’t even read the “numbers” right, alien symbols that they were. She was going to have to take a chance. She started to press the buttons, praying she didn’t set off a self-destruct sequence or something. Nothing happened. She tried again, and again, nothing. “ Third times the charm.” Martha muttered to herself. One last try. A-HA! Got it! “And Bingo was his name-o!” Martha said aloud, feeling immediately embarrassed about saying something so dorky, thank the Lord that Clark and Jonathan were in town. They’d tease her something fierce if they heard that one. She’d half expected the ship’s door to open slowly, with a loud *kshhh* noise like the movies. But it opened quickly and quietly, as if somehow impatient with her. Then, sitting comfortable in the padded ship, Martha saw what she was looking for, the projector.

That’s what Clark had called it. “The hollogrammatic projector.” Or the “gizmo,” as Jon called it. This was how Clark had found out about his home-world, Krypton, about his rea… his biological parents. It was an odd looking thing, silver like the ship (Kryptonians weren’t a colorful bunch, were they?) discus-shaped, with handles on each side, and a small light in the center of it. She lifted it up, and found herself oddly drawn to the small light. It began to make noises, odd whirring noises, oh dear. Well it was easier to use than the ship, at least. She remembered Clark attempting to explain how the projector worked, she was always amazed when Clark started talking about Krypton and it’s technology, it seemed like such a wonderful place and Clark had an almost poetic eloquence when describing it. She stared in to the light, the light got brighter, and then Martha Kent was gone.

Well, not gone. She was technically still standing in the barn, and probably looked rather silly standing there like a vegetable. But her mind, her mind was somewhere else entirely, she wasn’t in Kansas anymore. She remember Clark’s explanation, how the projector beamed in to your head and how it was like actually being on another planet. How the wealth of Krypton’s history was explained by digital copies of Jor-El and Lara themselves. Martha found herself in a room, a living room, by her reckoning. It seemed too large to be one and the advanced technology made it even harder to tell, but Martha found it oddly recognizable. “Heh, it reminds me of when Jonathan dragged me, kicking and screaming, to the movies to watch Star Wars when it first came out.” Martha mused.

She looked out the window. The sheer grandeur of Krypton was more than she could have imagined. Jor-El and Lara apparently lived out in the countryside, but she could see the city from where she was standing, and it was unbelievable. She thought Metropolis was the ultimate city, but it had nothing on this. It was everything Clark had said and more. Enormous spires, flying cars! It was like something out of a comic book. She could swear there were mountains made out of crystal. Martha was so engrossed in this visage that she didn’t notice the two figures appearing behind her.