Torchwood/Smallville - fic - Our Last Hope, parts 3 & 4/6?, Jack, Clark/Lex, PG
Part 3 was really hard to write, making up some of that technology stuff.
Title - Our Last Hope, parts 3 and 4
Author - laurab1
Characters/Pairings - Jack, teams, Clark/Lex, Kents
Rating - PG, for language and mild sexual content
Length - 2340 words
Spoilers - Torchwood 1.1, Skinwalker, Rosetta
Summary - Torchwood pick up and translate Jor-El and Lara's message, and locate Clark Kent, aka Kal-El, the last son of Krypton
Disclaimer - None of these people are mine, Twiz TV transcript used, for some bits of part 4
Thanks to in_the_bottle, kyanoswolf and ladydey for tech advice/brainstorming on these parts :)
Feedback is loved and appreciated, especially as to whether the technobabble makes sense :) Enjoy!
Un-betaed, WIP, will later be re-posted as a completed and betaed version. Currently nearly 4000 words, in total.
Original drabble Prologue Part 1 Part 2
part 3
Ten years previously, Jack had begun enhancing Torchwood Three’s computer systems with the 51st century technology of his iScan. Of course, as the computers were replaced, he had to ensure he removed the improvements. As twentieth century technology gradually improved, and CPU speeds increased, enhancements took less and less time to complete.
Last October, it had only taken one hour to upgrade all four of the model IIci Macintoshes London had just bought them, along with all the network equipment. Back in 1984, just one fledgling Macintosh and a modem had taken three hours to enhance. The LaserWriter Jack had bought the following year had been upgraded in around forty five minutes.
He was sat at his desk, looking at the report Beth and Peter had just presented him with. Three months since he received the files, and they’d only got a little further than Siobhan’s team had. They’d analysed the symbols as much as they could, had a few theories about equivalents to vowels and consonants. This wasn’t going to be easy.
“Jack?” Peter wandered back into his office.
“Peter.”
“This is going to take years, not months,” Peter said, taking a seat when Jack indicated he could.
“Yeah, I know. I’m gonna call Siobhan and tell her that,” Jack sighed. “Now, I want you and Beth to write a program to look for our alien characters, ready for when the public get on the network, next year. A search engine.”
“Okay, Jack.” Peter got up and left his office.
“Beth!” Jack heard him call. “Come and help me write what Jack tells me will be called a search engine, apparently.”
***
In November 2002, there was finally a hit on the search program Beth and Peter had written all those years ago. By that time, Jack had lost her to a Weevil and Ioan to a bullet. Peter was now his second in command. He and Jack had hired Suzie Costello, an engineer, in July 2000. Jack had hired Dr Owen Harper in June 2002. Jack had identified the language as Kryptonian in August 1995, during a particularly quiet patch...
“One single language? For a whole planet?” Peter said.
He was a smart kid, it wasn’t that difficult to accept as a concept, was it? “C’mon, Peter, it’s not that strange. Just think how many people speak English, either as their first or second language. And if it’s not English, then it’s probably French, Spanish, Portugese or Chinese. Empire builders, all of you.”
“Jack!” Peter called. “Get down here, please!”
Jack left his office and went down to the main area and Peter’s desk.
“Look,” Peter said, and he sounded confused. Pointing at two of his monitors, indicating the stories that had been found, in the newspapers of a place called Smallville. “What the bloody hell is some of our alien language doing in a Native American cave in Kansas?”
***
Over in Smallville, Kansas, USA, Clark Kent was wondering exactly the same thing. Along with being told various legends of the Kawatche tribe that were far too familiar, far too close to home. His people had been here, he was sure of that. But how? A ship, like him? Or some other way?
Months later, the dreams started.
part 4
Clark’s dreaming. Flying through the clouds, under his own power, he then descends. He enters the cave, with the paintings that may or may not be Kawatche. The paintings that resemble the symbols on his disk. From his ship. His alien ship.
Still flying, Clark focuses on the circular painting full of symbols with the octagonal groove in the middle. Moving closer, he runs his hand over one symbol - a circle with a line through it and a diamond shape to each side. He has the octagonal disk in his other hand, and it bears the same symbol. Three symbols surround the octagon on the wall, all of them matching the disk. Clark moves into a standing position. He looks back at the disk and places it into the groove in the wall, lining up the symbols. Nothing happens. Puzzled, he slowly reaches out his finger and touches the disk. There’s a sudden blast of energy, and he blacks out.
***
The next thing Clark knew, a car came speeding up behind him. He turned around and held up his hand, as the car stopped just inches from his face. Lex stepped out of the car.
“Clark? What are you doing out here?” his friend asked.
And he didn’t exactly have an answer. “Sleepwalking? I don’t really know, Lex.”
Lex took Clark’s hand and pulled him up. “C’mon, in the car. You can sleep at the mansion, and run home in the morning.”
He just let Lex open the passenger door and push him inside the car. Sleepwalking? Sleepflying, more like, Clark suspected. But he needed to get that right, in his own head, before he divulged yet more alien weirdness to his friend.
***
And as they drove, Clark considered his relationship with Lex.
After the Level Three incident, Clark had gone over to check on Lex. The closeness and concern had resulted in their sharing a few kisses. Behind Victoria’s back (Lex said himself that he didn’t love her), the kisses then changed into making out sessions. These had continued until Club Zero happened, and his mom made them cool it off.
Nothing else at all happened for nearly a year. Clark discovered the cave and became very attached to a girl called Kyla. Soon after that, Lex found his half brother, and Mr Luthor kicked him out of the mansion.
Lex had stayed at the farm, and Clark couldn’t have been happier. As there wasn’t really anywhere else for Lex to sleep, they’d shared Clark’s bed, and proximity had lead to more than simply making out. Before things could go further than that, Clark confessed his secrets as they stood at the time to Lex, and offered his heat vision as assistance in helping him beat both Lionel and Lucas, at least at one game.
“We’re here,” Lex announced, turning to Clark and drawing him out of his contemplation. “C’mon, let’s get you settled.”
***
The next morning, Clark tried sneaking into his own home. His mom and dad caught him as he was a few steps up the stairs, and expressed their worry over where he’d been. He tried telling them something, just to get them to leave him alone, but his dad knew him far too well.
“Hey, hey. Son, what is going on with you? You've been acting strange all week. It's like your mind's somewhere else. What's up?”
Sitting on the stairs, Clark told them everything - waking up in the road, Lex nearly running him over, going back to the mansion. Then he got to the dream, and the flying - “I've been having this dream all week. Flying over Smallville. I always end up at the cave. It's like it's calling out to me, like it's trying to give me answers.”
“Answers to what, Clark?” his dad asked.
“I'm not sure. In my dream, I take the key and I put it in the slot in the cave wall. And there's this bright light...”
“And?” his mom prompted.
All Clark could say was, “I don't know. That's when I wake up.”
“Clark, dreaming about putting that key in a rock wall is one thing, but we have absolutely no idea what would happen if you actually did that,” his dad said.
“These dreams are getting more intense every night. Who knows where I'll wake up tomorrow?” Clark exclaimed.
“It's too dangerous,” was his dad’s only reply.
“Dad, that cave could have all the answers I'm looking for. Why are you so afraid to let me find out?”
There was no response, and Clark started up the stairs again, saying, “I gotta get dressed for school.”
***
That afternoon, Dr Frederick Walden, the man he’d employed to help translate the cave symbols, entered Lex's study. Lex sat behind his desk, and took advantage of the position.
“Dr. Walden. I got a call this morning from the State Preservation Society. They heard a rumor that you plan on removing a section of the wall? Now, I of course told them that you wouldn't consider such a radical move without consulting me.” This was the local Native American tribe’s, the town’s, and Clark’s history the man could be trying to destroy, and he couldn’t let that happen.
“It's a common archaeological practice,” the doctor said, desperately trying to justify himself.
“Among 19th century imperialists," Lex informed him. “If I didn't know better, I'd say you were trying to cut me out of the process.”
“You're paranoid.”
“Really.” Tell me something I don’t know. Lex stood, and walked over to Dr Walden. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn't fire you right now.”
“Because I'm on the verge of a major breakthrough,” he claimed.
“Will this, uh, breakthrough finally allow you to translate these symbols?” Lex asked.
“It's hard to say... now that I won't be able to get a sample back to my lab. Who tipped off the State?”
“The State is threatening to revoke LexCorp's custodial management of the cave. Another foundation is chomping at the bit to take over. If my instincts are correct, I believe my father is behind it. I don't need excuses. I need answers. You've got three days,” Lex sternly dismissed Walden.
Returning to his desk and sitting down again, he could only hope Walden would do something incredibly foolish within those three days, giving him cause to fire the doctor, answers or no answers.
He’d just have to hire someone else. Lex sighed in frustration, before getting back to his reports.
***
At school, Chloe, Lana, Pete, and Clark made their way to the Torch office. Stories to write and pictures to take, as always.
Chloe berated the assignment they’d just been given, declaring it lame. “Family trees are so 20th century.”
Clark could see her point. With the exception of Pete, they were all missing at least one parent, or had another circumstance which would make a family tree difficult to produce. Pete left, revelling in his normality, and Lana tried to arrange a time to talk about the assignment.
Suddenly, there was a screeching sound, making Clark gasp and clutch at his head.
“Did you guys hear that?” he asked.
The girls just thought he was complaining about the assignment, and sort of laughed at him. When it became apparent that the noise was only audible to him, in a brief respite from it, Clark said, “I gotta go,” and hurriedly left the Torch.
***
He ran home, and went to the loft of the barn, where the screeching noise started again. Tracing the noise’s location, Clark pulled a box out of a cupboard. Breaking its padlock, he opened the box. A light shone out of it. Pushing some things aside, he discovered the octagonal disk at the bottom, glowing. When Clark took the disk in his hand, it calmed down; no noise, no light. It had to be now, he was certain. He closed his hand over the disk, protecting it, and ran to the cave.
***
As Clark stood before the circular wall painting, it was just like his dream. Except this time, the disk flew out of his hand, and straight into the octagonal groove in the wall.
Almost subconsciously, he checked no one was watching. Returning his gaze to the disk, Clark could see its symbols glowing red, yellow and blue. The symbols on the wall also lit up, and both sets bean to spin in opposite directions.
Then a hole appeared in the middle of the disk. Clark moved closer, to investigate, and a beam of multi-colored energy shot out. It struck him in the chest and came out through his back. Clark was suspended in mid-air, as the energy kept pouring into him. And then, he once again blacked out.
***
Lex entered the cave. Finding Clark unconscious on the cave floor, he bent over him and shook his shoulder to try and wake him up. Breathing a sigh of relief, as Clark opened his eyes, Lex asked, “Are you okay?”
Clark acknowledged him. “Lex. What happened?”
“I was hoping you could tell me. What were you doing down here?” Lex watched Clark’s eyes shift to the octagon surrounded by paintings. What had he done?
“I was just finishing up some work for Dr. Walden, he claimed, pulling himself upright. “I figured I'd do it while it was quiet.”
“Yeah, and...? The guard said there was an explosion. You didn't touch any equipment, did you?”
“Of course not!” he said, too fast.
“C’mon, then, Clark. Tell me. Please?” Lex almost pleaded.
Clark sighed. “I put the disk in the wall, it glowed and hit me with a beam of energy...”
At that moment, Doctor Walden entered the cave, and Lex made frantic “shh!” gestures to Clark.
“I find it interesting that you managed to get around the guard in the first place. What's your secret, Mr. Kent?”
“Back off, Doctor. Can't you see he's been hurt?” Lex said.
He heard Clark claim, “I'm okay. I just need to get some air.”
Clark started to go and Lex dashed after him. “Are you sure you’re okay? Clark, first I find you lying in the middle of the road and now here. Do you want me to get Toby to examine you?” he whispered.
“Lex, I'm fine. I just got to get home before my parents start to worry.”
“Okay,” Lex replied. “But please don’t come back down here on your own. Let’s try and work it out together.”
Nodding his agreement, Clark left.
Walden then asked, “Why'd you just let him walk out of here? He knows more than he's telling us.”
Lex had to maintain the cover, for now. “Probably. But you've got enough on your plate, Doctor. Let me worry about Clark Kent.”
TBC
Title - Our Last Hope, parts 3 and 4
Author - laurab1
Characters/Pairings - Jack, teams, Clark/Lex, Kents
Rating - PG, for language and mild sexual content
Length - 2340 words
Spoilers - Torchwood 1.1, Skinwalker, Rosetta
Summary - Torchwood pick up and translate Jor-El and Lara's message, and locate Clark Kent, aka Kal-El, the last son of Krypton
Disclaimer - None of these people are mine, Twiz TV transcript used, for some bits of part 4
Thanks to in_the_bottle, kyanoswolf and ladydey for tech advice/brainstorming on these parts :)
Feedback is loved and appreciated, especially as to whether the technobabble makes sense :) Enjoy!
Un-betaed, WIP, will later be re-posted as a completed and betaed version. Currently nearly 4000 words, in total.
Original drabble Prologue Part 1 Part 2
part 3
Ten years previously, Jack had begun enhancing Torchwood Three’s computer systems with the 51st century technology of his iScan. Of course, as the computers were replaced, he had to ensure he removed the improvements. As twentieth century technology gradually improved, and CPU speeds increased, enhancements took less and less time to complete.
Last October, it had only taken one hour to upgrade all four of the model IIci Macintoshes London had just bought them, along with all the network equipment. Back in 1984, just one fledgling Macintosh and a modem had taken three hours to enhance. The LaserWriter Jack had bought the following year had been upgraded in around forty five minutes.
He was sat at his desk, looking at the report Beth and Peter had just presented him with. Three months since he received the files, and they’d only got a little further than Siobhan’s team had. They’d analysed the symbols as much as they could, had a few theories about equivalents to vowels and consonants. This wasn’t going to be easy.
“Jack?” Peter wandered back into his office.
“Peter.”
“This is going to take years, not months,” Peter said, taking a seat when Jack indicated he could.
“Yeah, I know. I’m gonna call Siobhan and tell her that,” Jack sighed. “Now, I want you and Beth to write a program to look for our alien characters, ready for when the public get on the network, next year. A search engine.”
“Okay, Jack.” Peter got up and left his office.
“Beth!” Jack heard him call. “Come and help me write what Jack tells me will be called a search engine, apparently.”
***
In November 2002, there was finally a hit on the search program Beth and Peter had written all those years ago. By that time, Jack had lost her to a Weevil and Ioan to a bullet. Peter was now his second in command. He and Jack had hired Suzie Costello, an engineer, in July 2000. Jack had hired Dr Owen Harper in June 2002. Jack had identified the language as Kryptonian in August 1995, during a particularly quiet patch...
“One single language? For a whole planet?” Peter said.
He was a smart kid, it wasn’t that difficult to accept as a concept, was it? “C’mon, Peter, it’s not that strange. Just think how many people speak English, either as their first or second language. And if it’s not English, then it’s probably French, Spanish, Portugese or Chinese. Empire builders, all of you.”
“Jack!” Peter called. “Get down here, please!”
Jack left his office and went down to the main area and Peter’s desk.
“Look,” Peter said, and he sounded confused. Pointing at two of his monitors, indicating the stories that had been found, in the newspapers of a place called Smallville. “What the bloody hell is some of our alien language doing in a Native American cave in Kansas?”
***
Over in Smallville, Kansas, USA, Clark Kent was wondering exactly the same thing. Along with being told various legends of the Kawatche tribe that were far too familiar, far too close to home. His people had been here, he was sure of that. But how? A ship, like him? Or some other way?
Months later, the dreams started.
part 4
Clark’s dreaming. Flying through the clouds, under his own power, he then descends. He enters the cave, with the paintings that may or may not be Kawatche. The paintings that resemble the symbols on his disk. From his ship. His alien ship.
Still flying, Clark focuses on the circular painting full of symbols with the octagonal groove in the middle. Moving closer, he runs his hand over one symbol - a circle with a line through it and a diamond shape to each side. He has the octagonal disk in his other hand, and it bears the same symbol. Three symbols surround the octagon on the wall, all of them matching the disk. Clark moves into a standing position. He looks back at the disk and places it into the groove in the wall, lining up the symbols. Nothing happens. Puzzled, he slowly reaches out his finger and touches the disk. There’s a sudden blast of energy, and he blacks out.
***
The next thing Clark knew, a car came speeding up behind him. He turned around and held up his hand, as the car stopped just inches from his face. Lex stepped out of the car.
“Clark? What are you doing out here?” his friend asked.
And he didn’t exactly have an answer. “Sleepwalking? I don’t really know, Lex.”
Lex took Clark’s hand and pulled him up. “C’mon, in the car. You can sleep at the mansion, and run home in the morning.”
He just let Lex open the passenger door and push him inside the car. Sleepwalking? Sleepflying, more like, Clark suspected. But he needed to get that right, in his own head, before he divulged yet more alien weirdness to his friend.
***
And as they drove, Clark considered his relationship with Lex.
After the Level Three incident, Clark had gone over to check on Lex. The closeness and concern had resulted in their sharing a few kisses. Behind Victoria’s back (Lex said himself that he didn’t love her), the kisses then changed into making out sessions. These had continued until Club Zero happened, and his mom made them cool it off.
Nothing else at all happened for nearly a year. Clark discovered the cave and became very attached to a girl called Kyla. Soon after that, Lex found his half brother, and Mr Luthor kicked him out of the mansion.
Lex had stayed at the farm, and Clark couldn’t have been happier. As there wasn’t really anywhere else for Lex to sleep, they’d shared Clark’s bed, and proximity had lead to more than simply making out. Before things could go further than that, Clark confessed his secrets as they stood at the time to Lex, and offered his heat vision as assistance in helping him beat both Lionel and Lucas, at least at one game.
“We’re here,” Lex announced, turning to Clark and drawing him out of his contemplation. “C’mon, let’s get you settled.”
***
The next morning, Clark tried sneaking into his own home. His mom and dad caught him as he was a few steps up the stairs, and expressed their worry over where he’d been. He tried telling them something, just to get them to leave him alone, but his dad knew him far too well.
“Hey, hey. Son, what is going on with you? You've been acting strange all week. It's like your mind's somewhere else. What's up?”
Sitting on the stairs, Clark told them everything - waking up in the road, Lex nearly running him over, going back to the mansion. Then he got to the dream, and the flying - “I've been having this dream all week. Flying over Smallville. I always end up at the cave. It's like it's calling out to me, like it's trying to give me answers.”
“Answers to what, Clark?” his dad asked.
“I'm not sure. In my dream, I take the key and I put it in the slot in the cave wall. And there's this bright light...”
“And?” his mom prompted.
All Clark could say was, “I don't know. That's when I wake up.”
“Clark, dreaming about putting that key in a rock wall is one thing, but we have absolutely no idea what would happen if you actually did that,” his dad said.
“These dreams are getting more intense every night. Who knows where I'll wake up tomorrow?” Clark exclaimed.
“It's too dangerous,” was his dad’s only reply.
“Dad, that cave could have all the answers I'm looking for. Why are you so afraid to let me find out?”
There was no response, and Clark started up the stairs again, saying, “I gotta get dressed for school.”
***
That afternoon, Dr Frederick Walden, the man he’d employed to help translate the cave symbols, entered Lex's study. Lex sat behind his desk, and took advantage of the position.
“Dr. Walden. I got a call this morning from the State Preservation Society. They heard a rumor that you plan on removing a section of the wall? Now, I of course told them that you wouldn't consider such a radical move without consulting me.” This was the local Native American tribe’s, the town’s, and Clark’s history the man could be trying to destroy, and he couldn’t let that happen.
“It's a common archaeological practice,” the doctor said, desperately trying to justify himself.
“Among 19th century imperialists," Lex informed him. “If I didn't know better, I'd say you were trying to cut me out of the process.”
“You're paranoid.”
“Really.” Tell me something I don’t know. Lex stood, and walked over to Dr Walden. “Give me one good reason why I shouldn't fire you right now.”
“Because I'm on the verge of a major breakthrough,” he claimed.
“Will this, uh, breakthrough finally allow you to translate these symbols?” Lex asked.
“It's hard to say... now that I won't be able to get a sample back to my lab. Who tipped off the State?”
“The State is threatening to revoke LexCorp's custodial management of the cave. Another foundation is chomping at the bit to take over. If my instincts are correct, I believe my father is behind it. I don't need excuses. I need answers. You've got three days,” Lex sternly dismissed Walden.
Returning to his desk and sitting down again, he could only hope Walden would do something incredibly foolish within those three days, giving him cause to fire the doctor, answers or no answers.
He’d just have to hire someone else. Lex sighed in frustration, before getting back to his reports.
***
At school, Chloe, Lana, Pete, and Clark made their way to the Torch office. Stories to write and pictures to take, as always.
Chloe berated the assignment they’d just been given, declaring it lame. “Family trees are so 20th century.”
Clark could see her point. With the exception of Pete, they were all missing at least one parent, or had another circumstance which would make a family tree difficult to produce. Pete left, revelling in his normality, and Lana tried to arrange a time to talk about the assignment.
Suddenly, there was a screeching sound, making Clark gasp and clutch at his head.
“Did you guys hear that?” he asked.
The girls just thought he was complaining about the assignment, and sort of laughed at him. When it became apparent that the noise was only audible to him, in a brief respite from it, Clark said, “I gotta go,” and hurriedly left the Torch.
***
He ran home, and went to the loft of the barn, where the screeching noise started again. Tracing the noise’s location, Clark pulled a box out of a cupboard. Breaking its padlock, he opened the box. A light shone out of it. Pushing some things aside, he discovered the octagonal disk at the bottom, glowing. When Clark took the disk in his hand, it calmed down; no noise, no light. It had to be now, he was certain. He closed his hand over the disk, protecting it, and ran to the cave.
***
As Clark stood before the circular wall painting, it was just like his dream. Except this time, the disk flew out of his hand, and straight into the octagonal groove in the wall.
Almost subconsciously, he checked no one was watching. Returning his gaze to the disk, Clark could see its symbols glowing red, yellow and blue. The symbols on the wall also lit up, and both sets bean to spin in opposite directions.
Then a hole appeared in the middle of the disk. Clark moved closer, to investigate, and a beam of multi-colored energy shot out. It struck him in the chest and came out through his back. Clark was suspended in mid-air, as the energy kept pouring into him. And then, he once again blacked out.
***
Lex entered the cave. Finding Clark unconscious on the cave floor, he bent over him and shook his shoulder to try and wake him up. Breathing a sigh of relief, as Clark opened his eyes, Lex asked, “Are you okay?”
Clark acknowledged him. “Lex. What happened?”
“I was hoping you could tell me. What were you doing down here?” Lex watched Clark’s eyes shift to the octagon surrounded by paintings. What had he done?
“I was just finishing up some work for Dr. Walden, he claimed, pulling himself upright. “I figured I'd do it while it was quiet.”
“Yeah, and...? The guard said there was an explosion. You didn't touch any equipment, did you?”
“Of course not!” he said, too fast.
“C’mon, then, Clark. Tell me. Please?” Lex almost pleaded.
Clark sighed. “I put the disk in the wall, it glowed and hit me with a beam of energy...”
At that moment, Doctor Walden entered the cave, and Lex made frantic “shh!” gestures to Clark.
“I find it interesting that you managed to get around the guard in the first place. What's your secret, Mr. Kent?”
“Back off, Doctor. Can't you see he's been hurt?” Lex said.
He heard Clark claim, “I'm okay. I just need to get some air.”
Clark started to go and Lex dashed after him. “Are you sure you’re okay? Clark, first I find you lying in the middle of the road and now here. Do you want me to get Toby to examine you?” he whispered.
“Lex, I'm fine. I just got to get home before my parents start to worry.”
“Okay,” Lex replied. “But please don’t come back down here on your own. Let’s try and work it out together.”
Nodding his agreement, Clark left.
Walden then asked, “Why'd you just let him walk out of here? He knows more than he's telling us.”
Lex had to maintain the cover, for now. “Probably. But you've got enough on your plate, Doctor. Let me worry about Clark Kent.”
TBC