Alien Encounter Part 1


    Late evening began with a bright streak across the orange sunset sky, somewhere over the rural midwest.  It travelled fast, faster than it takes for people who saw it - whether in person or on aircraft radar - to decide whether it was real or hallucination.  Their minds were made up for them when it landed with a fiery, loud explosion in a cluster of trees outside of a small town.

    A lone blonde clawed her way through inch after inch of scorched earth, trying to free herself from metallic wreckage.  It creaked and popped as fire began to engulf its contents.  Only she was spared from its incandescent destruction.  Trees around her began to erupt in flame, and burning branches and ash fell around her.  She could hear this roar, and a distant oscillating wail - neither from the fire.  It was something approaching very quickly.  She finally pulled herself free, and stood.  Then she assessed what she saw coming down the asphalt paved road.

    They were natives of this planet.  Until she knew otherwise, they had to be considered a threat.  She didn’t know what they could do to her.  Though the scientists back home claimed that they were no physical threat to her, their information could have been out of date.  And if they found her ship...

    ...that problem had been solved, at least.  The ship was burning so hot, and dug so deep into the ground.  That meant she had several days to move it before Earth’s natives considered the area safe to dig up.

    Which left plenty of time for her to complete her mission.  She dusted off her red and gold boots, and her blue, gold, and red close-fitting body suit and gold belt, and then shook the dirt out of her hair as best as she could.  Then she checked her silver bracelet for the time, and she did a double take.  Her small craft had malfunctioned - she had been in suspended animation years longer than she anticipated.  That made her job far more difficult.

    The oscillating wail, and accompanying roar was getting closer now, so she had to move.  She started to run, remembering that the scientists said she should be able to run unbelievably fast on Earth.  But she tripped and fell after a few yards, and then she cursed.  They didn’t take into account minor atrophy from being in suspended animation too long.  So she hid a short distance away among some trees.

    The wail stopped when several large, red painted wheeled transports arrived, along with smaller black and white painted ones.  They all had brilliant flashing lights atop them.  She didn’t understand their purpose until humans in protective suits climbed out of the red transports and took out large hoses, and began spraying large amounts of water on the fire.  She wondered why they bothered - it was far from any residences, and she calculated it would burn itself out in a few hours.

    Nevertheless, she thought to use the distraction.  She wondered if she could leap across the road quickly.  But that turned out to be unnecessary when she tried, and didn’t land.  The scientists theorized about being able to fly on Earth; but they thought it would take longer to absorb enough yellow sun.  Fortunately for her, they were wrong - and she flew high, following the road toward a town she could see in the distance.

    Her spacecraft’s navigation was linked to its twin, the one Jor-El sent his son in.  It was not, however, terribly precise in its landing location.  So as dark began to fall, she flew into the small town nearest her crash site, and she landed in an alley between two buildings.  She would have to continue the search on foot, so complete stealth was no longer an option.

    The blonde wore a serious look as she stepped onto Main Street.  People began to stare.  It was a calculated risk, showing herself, because she knew nearly all the town’s police were still by the crash site, and she could handle the rest.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Kal-El zai nar?”  she asked as she stopped a woman in long, flowing, knee length white fabric, who just came out of the building beside her.  The woman looked terrified, or perhaps awestruck, and obviously didn’t understand her.  Wrong language, perhaps?  She tried the second most popular Earth language, heavily accented.  “Kal-El, where is?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I...I don’t know...”  the strange Earth woman said, shaking her head and looking worried.

    Back home, a smile usually calmed someone who was upset or afraid.  The blonde smiled, and tried to come up with something complimentary to say in this strangely structured language.  “Your clothing, it is bright.  For dirt I am sorry.”

    She dusted herself off some more to show what she meant.

    Then her eyes met an older man wearing glasses, coming out of a building across the street.  He looked horrified at first, and then stunned.  Then he turned around, held the door to the building open, and yelled inside... “Martha!”


---


    This vehicle was called a ‘pickup truck’.  The grammar of it made no sense at all, in any language.  But so many things made no sense, this was fairly minor.

    It was made of what the blonde thought of as a very fragile type of metal.  So fragile, in fact, that it had begun to eat away from the very elements of nature.  It was a horribly rough ride, and it creaked and groaned like it was about to fall apart on the road.

    The old man the blonde saw a short time ago was driving.  He introduced himself as Jonathan.  The woman sitting next to him was his spouse, her name was Martha.  In town, the two of them were very patient and tried to make the blonde understand that her manner of dress would draw unnecessary attention in this town, or any town for that matter.  They offered her a ride to somewhere more discreet, and she agreed.  She had, after all, nothing to fear and nothing to lose.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I didn’t catch your name.”  Jonathan said as he drove.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I...not understand,”  the blonde replied.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Your name?  What are you called?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Mmmm.”  The girl nodded in understanding.  “Kah-ra.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“And that symbol on your chest.”  Jonathan said.  “We know someone else who wears it.”

    Her eyes widened, and she perked up.  “You...you know where is Kal-El?”

    He nodded.  “But I’m not ready to tell you just yet.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Jonathan!”  Martha scolded him.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Martha, we had space criminals come here looking for him before--”  He stopped mid-sentence when the young girl climbed through the back window of the pickup, and jumped off before they were stopped.  She was already to the door of the Kent house before he managed to get out.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Now just a minute there!”  Jonathan yelled after her.

    Evidence.  That’s what she was looking for.  Evidence to show where Kal-El went.  She barged through the door, smashing it.  

    The first room she saw was very primitively furnished in colors that didn’t match, with natural materials like wood instead of more efficient, less wasteful, and stronger synthetics.  There was a thin layer of dust, too.  Yet that didn’t concern her so much as that right there, in the living room was...

    ...kind of what she needed?  Photos.  Lots of framed photos on top of what smelled like a primitive fire pit.  She started picking some of them up for a closer look.  There was Jonathan and Martha, and also a younger man and a younger woman.  One of them showed the man in front of a sign that said ‘Daily Planet’.  But he was all grown up.  Why was he all grown up?  How long had she been in space?

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Daily Planet,”  she repeated.  She remembered seeing a bundle of paper with the same words sitting on another table.  She grabbed it, and unfolded it.  “Met...Metropolis.”  she read.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Young lady, you can’t go around smashing doors...!”  Jonathan scolded as he caught up, panting breathlessly.

    The girl gently shoved him aside and flew through the doorway.  She didn’t have time to play games with these people.  She had to get to Metropolis and complete her mission.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Kids these days.  No manners at all.”  Jonathan complained.

    Martha shook her head sadly too.  “We should call Clark, and warn him.”  Then she added, “I hope she’s going to be okay.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“She’ll be fine.”  Then he chuckled.  “Remember when Clark broke the front door?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Yeah,”  Martha laughed.  “Yeah, I do.”


---

    
    Supersonic flight had the benefit of blasting most of the remaining dirt out of Kara’s hair, and off of her clothing.  She was growing increasingly annoyed, though.  So many of these Earth people were intent on delaying her, or wasting her time.  None of them could answer a simple straightforward question.

    She didn’t know where Metropolis was, but she was tired of trying to ask.  So she flew directly above a large highway called an Interstate, so she could read the signs whizzing by.  Within a short time, she could see tall, shiny buildings.

    No wonder, she thought to herself, that Kal-El decided to call Metropolis home.  The large city was much more like those on Krypton than Smallville.

    Ã¢â‚¬ËœSmallville’.  On the way out of the small town, she discovered that’s what it was called, once again through the signs on the highway system.

    She cruised between buildings, past a giant globe, and finally circled around and landed in the middle of a very busy street where she thought was approximately the center of the city.

    There was a low-pitched screech, and the sound of a small air horn.  Kara looked around at all the small wheeled transports to see which one it came from, as neither sound was long enough in duration to track.  But then she figured it out, when a man climbed out of a bright yellow colored one and began yelling.

    While she didn’t understand him, she didn’t like his tone one bit.  But she tried to stay on task.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Daily Planet, where is it?”  she asked, her grammar improving slightly from reading some of the print on that newspaper at Jonathan and Martha’s home.

    More angry gibberish from the man.  Yet another human wasting her time.  She frowned and started to walk away.

    The man grabbed her arm, and tried to stop her.  This was a big mistake.  She grabbed him angrily, lifted him, and threw him onto the hood of another vehicle.

    Her actions caused a completely unexpected result.  All of the humans within her immediate reach began screaming, abandoning their vehicles, and running away.  The ones on foot alongside the road began to do the same thing.  Kara was struck by fear when she intelligently put together what that meant:  Someone would report this, and she would soon be inundated with authority figures.  More wasting time.

    So she turned and looked for somewhere to hide.  Being in the air wasn’t sufficient - she would be spotted leaving and tracked.  And she had seen strange hovering aircraft with a spinning rotor flying overhead in Smallville, so hiding on a roof wouldn’t be entirely secure either.

    She entered a glass front shop that smelled very good.  They were serving some sort of drinks called Espresso, Cappuccino, and Coffee, all smelling similar.  Two uniformed females, the only ones in the shop, stared at her.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Daily Planet.  Where is it?”  Kara repeated to them.

    One of them pointed to a rusty metal device at the front of the shop, filled with bundles of paper.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“No.”  Kara shook her head.  “The--”  She held her hands vertically apart to mime a tall building.

    That’s when she realized the uniformed female hadn’t been pointing at the machine.  Directly across the street was a tall building with a huge globe on top.  Just below the globe, in large enough type, were the words ‘Daily Planet’.

    At that moment, two black and white cars with an ear-piercing wail and flashing lights stopped in front of the coffee shop.

    Kara vaulted over the counter, prompting a screech from the two people working there, and then she raced through the curtain separating the front area from the kitchen.  She kept going until she crashed through a metal door into the alley, and then she went skyward.

    She quickly circled around and flew high over the black and white vehicles, so their occupants hopefully wouldn’t spot her, and then she landed beside the Daily Planet building.  Fortunately the building had an entrance from the side street.

    Inside, the lobby looked, once again, like it was from Krypton.  Everything was gleaming white marble, brightly lit.  There were three sets of double doors on the right side wall, gold colored metal, and in the center of the room, a single tall and wide desk with an image of the globe from atop the building on its front.

    Behind that desk was a man in a uniform.  Another uniform.  Kara approached the desk.  “Where Kal...Clark Kent is?”

    Now the story of how she managed to figure out that name.  Jonathan and Martha had a small silver metal receptacle box outside their home, and as they drove in, she noticed it said ‘Kent’.  It was only a guess that was their family name rather than a trade, or some sort of instructions.  As she flew away, the elderly couple weren’t aware that her hearing had as long a range as Kal-El’s.  She heard everything up to and including the part about Clark breaking the door.

    The man cleared his throat, and tried to calmly say, “You’ll have to sign in if you want to visit anyone here.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Sign...in?”  Kara asked.

    He rolled his eyes.  “You sign your name here, and you put the date and time here!” he impatiently replied.

    Kara turned around, and saw a listing of names and four digit numbers in an encased plaque on the wall.  One of them did say ‘Kent, C’.  “What does that number mean?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Floor and office number, now are you going to sign in or what?”  he asked.

    She was fed up by now with wastes of time.  She took the clipboard off of the marble desk and hurled it at the man, narrowly missing him before embedding its edge in the wall behind him.  Then she stormed off to the elevator.

    Kara figured out how the elevator worked because there was a number above each one, and only a single button to go up.  Once she was inside one, however, she regretted taking it, because it was extremely slow.  She tapped her foot impatiently during the long ride up.

    When the metal doors opened again, her way was blocked by six men with the same uniform as the one at the desk downstairs.

    The largest of them said, “We can do this the easy way, or I can bust you up.”


---


    Lois Lane simply rolled her eyes when there was the loud sound of crashing safety glass at the Daily Planet office.  She calmly stepped out of her office to see what the commotion was.

    Two security guards were lying on the floor, covered in glass.  Another four were wrestling with a teenage girl in a skin-tight red, blue, and gold body suit and losing badly.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Guys, guys!”  Lois scolded them.

    Immediately the wrestling match ceased, and the four men let go of the girl.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Honestly, what the heck is going on here?”  the reporter asked.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Got a call from downstairs,”  the largest of the guards said.  “She didn’t sign in.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I never sign in either.”  Lois indicated.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“But you’re--”

    Lois waved at them angrily.  “Get out!  All of you.  Geez!”

    Kara was stunned as she watched the guards leave.  Then she looked at Lois Lane.  She remembered Lois from the photos.  Now she knew her name, from the ‘PRESS’ tag the woman wore.  For the first time since Kara arrived, someone actually saved her some time instead of wasting more of it.  She liked that.

    Lois looked her clothing over.  “You must be looking for Clark,”  she said.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I am!”  Kara replied enthusiastically.  She felt like she was close, finally.

    The reporter went to a desk next to hers, and grabbed a long overcoat.  Then she approached the blonde girl, but stopped as she remembered what happened to the last people who touched her.  “May I?  I think that getup of yours is attracting too much attention.”

    The girl relented, and nodded.  She allowed Lois to drape the coat over her, and then tighten the belt.    

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Clark isn’t here, okay?”  Lois started to say.

    Kara sighed, and looked angry and frustrated.  But unlike most people Lois could tell.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“But I know where and when he’ll be back,”  she said.  “Be patient.  You’ll find him as long as you don’t run off.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Lane!”  a loud voice called out.  “Why is my glass wall in pieces?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Hang out here for a bit, I have some work to do,”  Lois said.  She rolled a chair at her desk toward the girl, and then she raced off to talk to the man who was doing the yelling.

    Kara sat down and started looking through things on the desk.  The computer woke up as she accidentally bumped the mouse, and it showed some story Lois was working on.  A small window showed the local news broadcast, and Kara immediately understood what was going on.  The caption said something about Superman investigating a disturbance...just outside the Daily Planet.  She wanted to go outside and talk to him, but with cameras and authorities everywhere she would have to wait.

    She saw a young man roll back the office chair next to her and sit down.  It was disturbing how forward he was, and also how much he smiled.  He had a camera in his hand.  He wore a jacket made out of a soft natural material, and torn blue jeans.  She knew what jeans were from advertising plastered all over Metropolis.

    If he wasn’t an annoying human, he might be kind of cute, she thought to herself.  But she abruptly looked away, trying not to encourage him any further, even unintentionally.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Hi, I’m Jimmy,”  he said.  “I’m a photographer, I take pictures.  Can I take one of you?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“No.”  Kara answered plainly, still refusing to look at him.

    He rolled his chair closer.  “I saw the outfit you were wearing--”

    She turned to frown at him, and give him an icy look.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Wait wait...I just wanted to say I’m a friend of Superman’s, and--”  He stopped when Lois Lane was suddenly standing right next to him.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Don’t you have work to do, Jimmy?”  Lois asked.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“You know him?”  Kara asked Lois.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Yeah.”  Lois replied, mischievously smiling in Jimmy’s direction.  “He’s a young man, he’s just curious about you.”

    Kara followed Lois’ gaze to Jimmy.  This time, he was blushing and the camera he was holding was a little sweaty.

    Lois continued, “Anyhow, you-know-who is going to meet you on the roof.”

    Without hesitation, Kara stood and headed toward the elevator.  She pressed the up button, and waited.

    Jimmy caught up with her a moment later, and spoke up immediately.  “The elevator doesn’t go to the roof.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“No?”  she asked without looking at him.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“You have to take the stairs.”

    She looked around, trying to find something that looked like these stairs Jimmy talked about.  But she didn’t see anything obvious - there were no signs which had that word, and she didn’t know what stairs were anyhow.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“This way.”  Jimmy tried to reach for her hand, but she pulled it away.  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to--”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Just point me to there,”  Kara interrupted him coldly.

    He did as asked, and pointed to a plain wooden door at the end of the row of glass walls - one of which was now missing - separating the newsroom from the hallway.

    She raced to it quickly, and opened the door.

    Now Kara knew what stairs were.  They were made of metal, and went both upward and downward.  Unfortunately for her, there was no gap in the center, forcing her to run up the steps instead of flying straight up.

    Finally, she pushed open the door at the top.  She was outside, and it was extremely windy.  The overcoat she wore whipped noisily in the wind.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Lois gave you my coat?”  Superman asked as she approached him.

    The girl shrugged.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I heard what you did to Ma and Pa’s door.  And across the street,”  he said.

    She shrugged again.  “I have a mission.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“So you’re not sorry about it at all?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“No.”  She shook her head.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Look, Kara, I know you’re new here, but this isn’t Krypton.  There are different rules.  You and I have to follow them, plus some extra ones because we’re so powerful.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I do not care.”  Kara said.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Why not?”  he asked.

    Kara frowned.  “I gave up my life for this mission.  I gave up being with family on the last days of Krypton.  I was to teach you our ways and history but I was too late, and all anyone here does is get in my way!”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I barely even remember my Kryptonian family, Kara--”  he started.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I do,”  she interrupted, “I do, and it is horrible to remember them.  To know that they died alone and afraid without me.  Now I am all alone, and it wasn’t supposed to be!”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Kara, I feel for you, I do.  But before I help you, you have to start by apologizing.  No matter what you feel, it’s no excuse for your behavior.”

    Kara raised her voice louder as she became angry.  “Maybe they should apologize to me!  Maybe you should, for treating family this way!”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“If you keep up with this attitude, Kara, you will be alone!”

    Kara quickly unwrapped the coat she was wearing over her Kryptonian clothing and hurled it at Superman, so it hit him in the chest.  She then took to the air so quickly that just about every object on the roof shook from the sudden shock wave.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Nice going, smooth talker.”  Lois Lane taunted him.

    He put his head in his right palm and shook his head.  “I...I knew I shouldn’t have said that as soon as it came out.  What am I going to do now?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Take your own advice, and apologize.”  Lois suggested.  “Maybe if you start, she will follow.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I...don’t even know where she went.”  Superman replied, as he quickly scanned the skies.

    Lois raised an eyebrow.  “Where do you go when you want to be alone?”


---


    Kara spun around slowly to take in what she found.  She was inside a Kryptonian fortress at the far North end of the planet.

    She sort of found it by accident after she headed that direction blindly, and in anger.  Quite a while after she began her supersonic flight, she began to feel chilled, because he air was unbelievably cold.  She stopped to seek some sort of shelter and try to warm up before heading back the other way to find a warmer place.

    The fortress solved both problems at once.  It was warm inside, and it could be a good place to hide from this world for a while.  However, she was more than a little suspicious about who built it - there was only one other Kryptonian around.  Then again, she half hoped he would find her there.  Maybe she could get him to talk to her away from the humans, where he feels less protective and more open.

    In the mean time, she started to look around.  Most of the place was an enormous, empty cathedral.  There was a collection of Kryptonian recording crystals that she wasn’t interested in.  What really interested her was a large hall filled with a collection of hundreds souvenirs that Kal-El collected from his various battles protecting Earth, complete with descriptive plaques.

    That’s when it struck her: Kal-El really loved these people.  All of those battles...so many times that he fought as the champion for this backwards and confusing planet.  She stopped after the first half-dozen or so large objects encased in ice...

    ...and she leaned against the back wall, slid to the ground, and started to cry.  Because she realized that she didn’t love anything.  She was stuck in a frozen crystal construct that was a pale imitation of what was no longer Krypton, because she didn’t belong among either the humans or the only other Kryptonian.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“The most important Earth custom Ma and Pa taught me...forgiveness.”  Superman said as he entered the souvenir display.

    Kara heard him enter; but she didn’t care.  She wanted to stop crying, but she could only partially stop it, so her eyes were still watery and occasionally streaming tears down her face.  She wanted to stand and face him, but she didn’t feel like she had the strength.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“The second most important thing they taught me, inviting someone who’s lost their way over for dinner.”  He reached out and offered her a hand.  Then he smiled, and said, “I’m sorry, Kara.  I shouldn’t have treated you that way.”

    She looked up at him for what seemed like an eternity, as she decided whether to stand and take him up on his offer, or stay right where she was and hope he would leave.  But just then she remembered the reason why she was sent to Earth in the first place.  

    Because she was strong.  Because she would stay on task, and alert, even in the face of crippling failure.  She was a top student, she took care of her mom and dad, and her friends, right up until the day she left.  Kara boarded that rocket with a smile on her face, and an empty promise that everything would be okay, and someday she would be reunited with her family.

    Kal-El was her family, and her people.  She must reunite with him; and she must perform her duty, wear a smile, and tell him that everything would be okay, as the day she left Krypton.

    Kara took his hand and returned to her feet.  Rather than look down, she dried her eyes on her sleeve and looked directly at him.  Then, slowly, she smiled, swallowed her pride, and said, “I am sorry too.”

    Superman nodded, and said nothing.  He was afraid of ruining the moment with another comment that might be misunderstood.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“My mission was to teach you about Krypton,”  Kara said quietly.  “I should not fail at that, at least.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Dinner first,”  he corrected her.  “Lois is waiting.  We’ll have plenty of time for learning about Krypton later.”

    Kara sighed, and rolled her eyes.  “Earth people have such slow sense of time.”  She looked at Superman, and quickly added, “I guess I will learn to adjust.”


---


    Lois Lane heard the patio door to the condo slide open.  She was reading a book, but she looked up briefly to see that both Clark and Kara had returned together.

    She lowered the book long enough to motion to the dining table, where three large Chinese carry-out containers were sitting.  “I was hoping you two would show up before it got cold,”  she said.

    Kara sat down quickly and opened one of the containers.  “I have not eaten since I arrived,”  she said.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“It’s a good thing I stopped to get you some Earth clothes before I picked up the food.”  Lois added.  “Otherwise it really would have been cold.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“You got me...what?”  Kara asked with her mouth full.

    Lois sat down at the table too.  “You can’t walk around in that all the time.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“It’ll help you blend in, so people don’t treat you like an oddity all the time.”  Clark chimed in.  He was last to the table because he went to change into Earth clothing of his own before eating.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Oh.”  Kara returned to eating.

    By the time dinner was done, Kara managed to eat one entire box of Chinese food, plus part of Lois’ box, and Clark’s fortune cookie.  Then she went to the refrigerator and tried some ice cream as well.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Do we have enough food for this?”  Clark asked Lois quietly.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“I can hear you.”  Kara replied from the kitchen.  She then peeked around the corner to glare at the two of them.

    Lois took that as a cue to retrieve a large laminated paper bag she left near the hallway and hand it to Kara.  “Take a shower, try them out, see what you think.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Shower?”  Kara asked.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“You’re going to love this part.”  Lois led her into the closest bathroom, pulled back the curtain, and turned on both faucets.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Ohhh...I know this.  Did not know what it was called here.”

    A little while later, Kara re-entered the living room wearing a long tee-shirt, jeans, and socks.  She noticed that Clark wasn’t there, but Lois was.  And of course, Lois was on a laptop computer, working at home on the couch and coffee table, so she could spread out the papers she had.

    Kara knew then she took too much time in the shower.  She savored it, since she still felt internally chilled from both the too-long suspended animation, the additional chill of visiting the frozen far North end of this planet, and also because she still felt the dirt from the crash-landing and her day’s activities in her skin and hair.  It was refreshing to finally be completely clean and warm.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“He was called by the JLA,”  Lois explained without even looking up.

    Kara paused, and looked around to see if there was something to do, but nothing jumped out at her as obvious.  That caused her to scrap the idea of not bothering Lois further, so instead she asked the question nagging at her.  

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“What’s the JLA?”  Kara asked.  She sat in a plush chair that matched the couch but was made for one person, and she folded her legs beneath her.

    Lois looked up and paused, as if she wasn’t sure whether she should interrupt her work to reply.  But she did.  “Justice League of America.  It’s a group of super-heroes who work together from time to time.  Their headquarters is this satellite in low orbit.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Oh.”  Kara replied.  “Should I meet them?”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Invitation only, kid.  Can’t get in unless you’re a member or someone invites you.”  Lois returned to her work.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“You think I will be invited someday?”

    Lois looked up again.  “Would you really want to?  You don’t strike me as a join up and schmooze with the big names type.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“You are right.”  Kara nodded.  Then she asked one more question on her mind.  “Where do I live?”

    Lois looked up, and opened her mouth, but she didn’t really have an answer for that one.

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“You would not want me to live here,”  the girl pointed out.  “You need...privacy.”

    The reporter leaned toward her.  “It’s okay for now, Kara.  After that...we’ll figure something out.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Here.”  Lois reached for the television remote and turned on the History channel.  “If you’re bored, learn something about this world.”

    Ã¢â‚¬Å“Oh!”  Kara whispered excitedly and sat back in the chair to watch.

    She figured out the cable television program guide in the first few minutes, and started to browse through several kinds of learning channels.  Kara was baffled.  These somewhat primitive humans were more obsessive about recording history than Kryptonians, and it was marvelous.  It was possible to learn all about Earth, though since this television device could only view one program at a time, it would take an excruciatingly long time.  But as she discovered, it was actually time she had.

    Kara settled in front of the television and watched.  And as she watched, Lois secretly watched her, happy that for a little while at least, she looked like a normal kid.  


TO BE CONTINUED

Story written by Jason Froikin.  Most characters are property of D.C. Comics, used without permission.