Jonathan pulled a dusty tarp away from something that looked like a gigantic metal egg welded into an irregular diamond-shaped frame.
We were in the very basement he’d just mentioned.
And this was the spaceship.
My spaceship.
It really existed.
Whatever peace of mind I’d managed to regain through four hours of “moving meditation” immediately waved goodbye.
“That’s what you came here in.”
Jonathan looked at me carefully, waiting for my reaction.
“The day the meteor shower hit Smallville.”
I stared at the ship for several seconds.
“Does it open?”
“No.”
He pointed toward one side.
“There’s a depression there.
I suspect it’s for something like a key.”
He sighed.
“We probably lost the key while transporting the ship here.
Things were a little chaotic that day, as you can imagine.”
“Probably.”
I ran my fingers over the hexagonal indentation while my thoughts raced.
“Listen, Dad.”
I finally came to a decision.
“I need to digest all of this.”
I looked at him.
“I’m going to take a walk.”
“Son?”
Jonathan immediately looked concerned.
“Don’t worry.
I’m not going to do anything stupid.”
I gave him a reassuring smile.
“I’ll be back by morning.
I’ve got my phone.”
I glanced at the ship again.
“But I definitely need some fresh air.”
“You don’t want to talk about it?”
“I do.”
I nodded.
“And we’re definitely going to talk about it.
I need a little time for news like this to settle in my head.”
I tapped my temple.
“Right now, all that’s in here are interjections.”
Jonathan sighed and gave me a sarcastic smile.
“I understand.”
He paused.
“I went through the same thing once…”
“Anyway, I’m going.”
I gave the older Kent a reassuring pat on the shoulder and left the basement.
“Be careful out there,” I heard my father call after me.
“Sure.”
I waved without turning around.
*
*
*
I was sitting on a bench beside someone’s grave in the local cemetery.
Well, where else should a dead man go when he needs to think?
A cemetery seemed appropriate.
It was quiet here, peaceful even, and it gave me a place where I could sit, breathe some fresh air, and try to make sense of everything I’d just learned.
I had plenty to think about.
An alien.
I’d been reincarnated as an alien.
Well, that certainly explained the “super strength” and “super speed.”
Maybe something else unusual would manifest eventually.
At the very least, it was possible.
The real question was what this changed for me personally.
The answer was simple.
A hell of a lot.
It completely destroyed my carefully constructed plan for a peaceful, happy life.
I’d been planning for the distant future.
I wasn’t simply the adopted son of a farmer anymore.
I was some kind of…
Whatever the hell I was.
I remembered now.
I was an adopted child in the Kent family.
I also remembered the strength and speed that, apparently, Clark had always possessed for as long as he could remember.
He’d grown so accustomed to them that he’d regarded them as perfectly normal.
He knew other people didn’t have those abilities, and he knew he had to keep them hidden because his parents had told him to.
Now the new me finally knew where those abilities came from.
I could have simply ignored them.
Whatever.
So what?
Unfortunately, that immediately created several deeply inconvenient questions.
First, how and why did I end up alone?
Second, what happened to my biological parents?
Third, are they looking for me?
Fourth, how many others like me are there on Earth?
Fifth, are they a threat to me?
Simple questions.
There weren’t many of them, but without at least somewhat reasonable answers, long-term planning became impossible.
I couldn’t build a peaceful future while knowing absolutely nothing about the world I’d just discovered.
I leaned back against the bench and stared up at the night sky.
Somewhere out there was the planet I’d originally come from.
Or at least, I assumed that was where I’d come from.
I didn’t even know that for certain.
That realization bothered me more than I wanted to admit.
In the darkness, from somewhere near the entrance to the cemetery, I suddenly heard the soft clopping of hooves.
The sound was getting closer.
I knew those hoofbeats.
Actually, around here, there weren’t exactly many people who traveled around on four-legged transportation.
Most people preferred vehicles with wheels.
Which meant…
Lana Lang.
There was another question.
Should I leave?
Or stay?
That morning, everything had been simple.
A boy liked a girl, and the boy wanted to spend some time talking to her.
The girl was a typical teenage girl, meaning she didn’t know what she wanted because she wanted everything at once.
Now…
In light of the new information I’d received, everything had become considerably more complicated.
And one question had suddenly risen to the top of my list.
What the hell was that strange reaction whenever Lana Lang came near me?
It wasn’t an insignificant question.
That morning, I’d assumed I was simply allergic to her perfume.
But now…
Well.
I’d stay.
Let’s see what happened.