Superman: The Ark of Krypton

Chapter 1

By

Jason Richard

Clark Kent couldn't remember when he found out he was adopted, but he'd never forget the day he discovered he wasn't even human.

It started subtly at first, but Clark, when he was fifteen, started hearing things he realized he shouldn't be able to hear. He was in school and realized he could hear all the classes simultaneously, hear children passing notes in other classrooms, and could even hear the insects crawling on the wall.

It eventually occurred to him that all that sound should be making him scream in pain, and yet it all felt natural somehow.

Not only that, but he could also seem to see through things if he looked hard enough. Once he was worried when his friend Pete Ross was sent to the principle, and actually found he could look through the wall and hear everything that was going on. It was nothing of course. A simple reprimand for getting to class a few minutes late one too many times.

It made Clark less worried than his ability to witness this conversation from the school gym.

At home on his father's farm, however, was when things got really weird. Helping his dad with chores was a lot easier than he remembered. Things that originally took hours seemed to take but half an hour. Things he lifted like bales of hay or farm equipment seemed lighter than before. Clark was beginning to think he was going insane.

Then, one day, it happened.

Clark was walking home from school, still distracted by the overwhelming amount of things he was hearing, when he heard one thing in particular. On a backroad somewhere Clark heard a car swerve off the road after a tire burst on a nail, only to fall over a railing and straight into a lake.

At first Clark kept thinking that maybe he'd imagined it, as he felt he had been imagining things since all of this started. Then it occurred to him that it someone really was in danger, he might be the only person who knew about it.

He had to be certain.

He ran to the area where he thought he heard it, and though he traveled a fairly long way and he remembered the entire route he took, it seemed to take little more than a few seconds for him to get there.

And when he did, he saw the car sinking into the lake, the passenger blacked out.

Clark, forgetting anything else, immediately jumped in and swam to the car. Thinking only of getting the man out, he tried to open the door, but with the immense pressure of the water already holding it in place, all he managed to do was break the handle off.

Not having any better ideas, he pulled on the entire door frame and ripped it clean off. The car filled with water quickly, but Clark was able to rip him out of his seat belt and drag him out before the car went completely under.

He made it to the shore of the lake with the man in tow and brought him up onto the dirt. It occurred to him that he should be exhausted after something like that, but he felt fine. In fact this adult man had weighed little more than a toy to him. As he kneeled next to this man he couldn't help but feel that this made absolutely no sense.

But then the man started to awaken. Not wanting to explain how he did it...for he wasn't exactly sure himself...he bolted, leaving the man to look around, confused as to how he got there.

And Clark made it home to the farm in seconds...still completely confused as to what had just happened.

He immediately ran to the barn where he heard his father working, stacking hay bales on a truck.

"Pa!" said Clark.

"Oh there you are," said Pa Kent, known as Jonathan to most. He was an old silver haired man with brown eyes. He looked a little rough but was fairly soft spoken.

"Pa!" said Clark, desperately trying to get his father's attention.

"I'm running a bit behind on this," said Pa Kent, just putting a bale on the truck. "You wouldn't believe the day I've had."

"I'm pretty sure I can believe your day Pa," said Clark sarcastically.

"Don't bet on it son," said Pa Kent, grabbing another bale. "First the tractor broke, and then…"

The moment he turned around with that bale of Hay in his hands, he saw the second strangest thing he had ever seen in his life. His son, Clark, was holding their tractor over his head...with one arm.

Calmly, and quietly, Pa Kent put the bale of hay down and said, "Would you put that down pleased."

A little confused about how calm his Pa was being, he nevertheless complied, setting the tractor down with a thump as it landed on the grown. Pa Kent then walked right up to the tracker, and very gently tried to pull it up...with no results. He gave up quickly and looked at him son. After a few minutes of stareing, something seemed to ocurre to him.

Pa Kent took a deep, long breath, and said, "Oh."

"Oh?" said Clark in disbelief. "That's it? I just lifted a tractor like it was nothing, and all you can say is oh?" his face grew dark, and then he said, "Why aren't you more surprised by this?"

Pa Kent gave clark a knowing look and said, "Son...there's something I need to show you."

...

Pa Kent showed Clark a hidden trapdoor he had never noticed. It was hidden in the barn, and when Pa Kent opened it Clark saw a sort of basement with something covered by a tarp down below. Down the stairs they went, and once at the bottom, after turning on some lights, Pa Kent pulled the tarp off to reveal something strange.

Clark saw a cylindrical object with a soft interior, big enough for a man to sleep in. At first Clark thought it was a coffin, but upon noticing it's shape, and the various lights and buttons within the interior, he realized it was something else. It was some kind of pod...or a ship. Also while it looked like a man could sleep in it, there was another indentation in the softer material, just large enough for an infant...an infant like...

"Pa," said Clark. "You said you found me by myself."

"We did," said Pa Kent reluctantly. "We just didn't tell you that we found you...in this thing. We were going to...it just never seemed like the right time...until now."

Clark didn't know what to make of this, "So what does it mean?" he looked up at the man he had known as his father for so long, almost begging for some explanation. "Did you know I could do this stuff?"

"Clark," said Pa Kent, wiping some sweat of his forehead. "Your mother and I knew that...something might happen with you. I mean...a child showing up in a spaceship doesn't exactly happen everyday. It didn't really matter though. You were a child who needed us, so we decided we'd be there for you."

"But what am I?" asked Clark, still confused. "Some mad scientist's experiment? Am I even human?"

Pa Kent sighed and put his hand on Clark's shoulder, saying, "Clark, what is your fondest memories of growing up here?"

The question surprised him, but he answered, honestly, saying, "Christmas...any of them...maybe?"

Pa Kent chuckled, put his hand on Clark's shoulder, and said, "Good answer. And I'll bet you there are a lot of kids out there who would give a similar answer...if not the same one. And you know what? You'll still get Christmas. I promise. Whatever else you might be, you're still my son, and that is never going to change. As far as this goes, I know you have questions, and you have every right to ask them, so we'll do whatever we can to help you figure this all out. Okay?"

Clark wiped a tear from his eye as he hugged his father, who had managed to find just the right thing to say to cheer him up. He still wanted to know where he had came from, but for now he was content with where he was.

"Jonathan!" said an alarmed voice high above them.

Pa Kent and Clark looked up to see Ma Kent, otherwise known as Martha, looking down on them in confusion. She was a silver haired older woman with blue eyes. She was a direct woman, not easily flustered. This, however, was one of the rare moments where she was, indeed, quite flustered.

"You showed him?" she asked, a hurt look on her face. "I mean, Clark, we were always planning to...but Jonathan we should have shown him together. Why didn't you talk with me first?"

Jonathan didn't know how to respond to that as he stammered, "Well...you see...it's like...well…"

"Hey ma," said Clark, standing next to the pod.

Both his adopted parents looked at him as he used one arm to lift the pod a couple of feet into the air. Pa Kent nodded while Ma Kent stared with an open mouth.

"Yes," said Pa Kent. "That's why I went ahead and showed him.

After an awkward silence, Ma Kent said, "Oh." and after another awkward silence, she added, "Well...supper's ready."