The Last Daughter of Krypton - IC

[ChasNicollette]

Chloe

Chloe peered down at the tablet.

At the Russian there, and the way it mirrored and echoed the little time-capsule snippet left for her by the witch-girl. (Well. Left by the witch-girl. Not necessarily left for Chloe. She had to remember that. No use getting all... non-objective.)

She searched Bruce's face, quietly, as he reflected on his past, and once again she felt firmly struck by the seeming tendency life had to be tangled up together, yet layered with mystery upon mystery.

It was like if M.C. Escher had taken up weaving, and had managed to craft this bizarre four-dimensional tapestry, each strand of which represented a resident of Smallville...

Criss-crossing over under around and through.

She wondered if Bruce could read Russian, too.

But then Var-Sen was talking to her and she looked up at him with weary eyes and an eyebrow arched. "Question."

A bittersweet laugh echoed from her lips. "Where do you keep coming up with these things? I just... don't see what you need me for. You found a Crystal already. You found this tablet. You understand these Kryptonian engravings better than I do and evidently you've already translated the Russian.

"Suggestion," she mused: "Tell us what we're meant to be doing here. You've already chucked us in headfirst at the deep end; there's no sense being all noble and protecting us from knowledge that might do us harm. We're in the thick of this now. You, me, Pete, Bruce? Rose? (Even Kyle, just a little bit)?

"We're like a knot of travelers gathered in the dark," she explained. "And you're the one holding up The Torch."

"Comment," she continued, though at this her expression became a bit roguish, as she turned away and fetched the journal, retrieved it that she might translate some more of the glyphs on the tablet: "You look nice in blue. That's a good colour for your species."

 

[Superman1496]

'Damn she's good.' Bruce thought.

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

Kara smiled.

"Lunch is fine," she said, looking up and down the hallway again.

"But you're more than welcome to come over after school is over. I'm sure my parents wouldn't mind." Kara added just as the warning bell began to ring, sending students scurrying for the doors leading into the classrooms.

"I'll see you later," the young Kryptonian said quickly, taking a few light steps backwards and waving her hand. From what she remembered, Kara had Home Economics first.

Kara shuddered at the thought of having to go through the fiasco of trying to bake yet another cake. She brushed aside some of her blond hair as she walked into the lab, spotting quite a few of her classmates sitting down and waiting for class to start. Most of them were still talking about what happened the other day, and Kara caught quite a few tidbits of information as to the specifics.

Or at least their versions of what happened. It was nearly impossible to get all the stories straight, but she took what she heard and molded it into a fairly concrete picture.

 

[Ravenloft]

"Would you care to head the Kawatche project perhaps? It's yours if you want it." Lex asked as he sipped his irish coffee. "Meyer and Boyajian would no doubt love to assist you in any way, seeing how the three of you have gotten on so well."

 

[AmenRa]

Var-Sen looked at Chloe, then to Bruce.

When he spoke, he didn't look at either one of them. He was looking straight ahead. He might have been looking into the future, or across the room, or straight through the universe to the remnants of Krypton. He smiled for just an instant at Chloe's remark about the color blue, then his voice came out quietly.

"I don't speak Russian," he said, "it was the Kryptonian words that I read. The tablet you see was sent to me by others who seek the same knowledge. The tablet is hollow, and it contained something of value at one time. It is possible that it contained the Crystal we seek here, but I believe it actually contained information, perhaps in the form of a map or guide to the Crystal's location."

He took a breath, then began again, "My world was destroyed," he said in almost a whisper. "Of that I am sure. The red sun Rao no longer is seen in the night sky. The pieces of meteor rock, like that one you have in your desk, Chloe, are fragments of my homeworld that traveled here through a hyperspace vortex."

Var-Sen's jaw clenched. "I believe the destruction of Krypton was no accident," he told them. "And I fear if the Crystal of Knowledge is not found, and its secrets revealed to the one to whom it belongs, then Earth may face the same fate as Krypton. It is my mission now to prepare the Chosen One for her destiny."

Var-Sen's eyes bored into Chloe. "Whether you like it or not, Miss Sullivan, you are as much a part of this destiny as the rest. You are the glue that binds Bruce, Rose, Kyle, and even Pete Ross together. While you and Pete are the keeper of secrets, the others have secrets to share. We are all aliens of one type or another."

He then turned to Bruce. "Your father was my friend, Bruce. And he collected certain information about ancient writings and French noblewomen. Perhaps he kept a journal? Perhaps he did not. He knew as much about these Crystals as I, and he sought to keep them from the others. Perhaps the remaining Crystal lies somewhere within Wayne Manor as we speak."

Var-Sen walked to the window and looked out. When he turned to face Chloe and Bruce, he was fighting Kryptonian tears. "Your race is selfish, primitive. And yet you are the most noble creatures I have ever met. In times of great need, you will give of yourself without thought to help others whom you don't even know.

"You speak of me being 'all noble'. Chloe, I am only trying to be human."

He stuffed his hands back into his coat pocket and turned to face the window once again.

"And yet I know it is something that I will never be."

 

[Superman1496]

Well, you're right, Proffessor. We will help you out. But, the only thing is...I don't know what exactly I'm looking for. I'm sure there are a few journals my father kept around, but I don't know what I'm looking for. Bruce said.

Bruce thought of his fear of being alone. Loosing his parents, to him, was nothing like being the last of your race. That's alone.

If you would like, Proffessor, you are welcome to my house, and we can both search for it. And, of course, Chloe, you're always welcome over. I said.

Alfred wouldn't have any trouble with them. He loved having people over, telling embarrassing stories of Bruce. It would give the man a good smile.

Just, let me know what to do.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Emil (and Meyer & Boyajian)

"Perhaps you misunderstand me?" Emil suggested mildly, eying his empty cup and wondering when that brunette waitress would stroll back past. He much preferred her bringing him coffee than that overwrought thuggish gardener Boyajian.

"I've little to no interest in the arts and crafts of the local indigenous people," Emil nodded. "I mean, certainly they have their value, but if I'm to be performing archeology then I'm going to be doing so with civilisations far more exotic."

Emil leaned forward in the chair, fingers steepled, face taut, eyes alight with blue fire.

"Forgive me for not being as coy as mayhap you're accustomed to," he murmured, teeth almost clenched. "But I'm well aware that you have been performing experiments upon the meteor rocks. There is no greater expert in this field than I on the face of this Earth. I wish to unlock the full potential of their properties and so, I believe, do you. We may as well work together on this. Naturally, I will need an environment providing equal parts inspiration and seclusion; there will need to be other projects to distract me when I have mental blocks, and I need to be free to work on these, but otherwise I intend to devote myself fully to the deciphering of the isotopic mysteries that are these meteorites.

"If you cannot provide me this environment," Emil drawled, "as I had believed you could, then I might as well go back to that dingy old garage and my pocket calculators, and our business together is concluded."

Meyer and Boyajian looked at Emil like he'd just stabbed a hibernating grizzly bear with a cattle prod. Like Johnny Knoxville without the restraint.

And with wide wide eyes they turned their gazes to Lex.

Like they weren't sure if they should tear him in half now? Or... later.

 

[Ravenloft]

"There was no misunderstanding, I merely brought up the caves, as preliminary inspections have found several veins of our favorite meteor rock that date back many years, possibly millenia." Lex calmly took another sip of his coffee, the faintest hint of a smile playing at the corner of his lips. "Not all of it, green." Lex arched a brow as he set his cup down. "As to your needs, I am certain there is nothing I could not supply."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Rose

Rose turned quietly away, dressed in her Phoncible P. Bone t-shirt and blue jeans far more rugged than she felt, leaving only a similar wave behind her. All five fingers.

Then she stuck her hands in her pockets and hunched her head and walked. She ducked into a daydream and navigated the halls on autopilot, only colliding with people surprisingly rarely, because this was something she'd long been accustomed to doing.

She had a little bit of claustrophobia and a big chunk of agoraphobia and she wondered, not for the first time, how one little girl with such a simple, nonthreatening life could learn to be so scared. But the crowds and the out-of-control social noises were like razor blades on chalkboards for Rose, especially without an anchor to ground her.

'‘cause I’m broken when I’m open
And I don’t feel like I am strong enough
‘cause I’m broken when I’m lonesome
And I don’t feel light when you’re gone away.'

She trudged along. She had a class to go to.

Some sort of mathematics.

(Sine, sine, cosine, sine! Three-point-one-four-one-five-nine!)

She supposed she should really stand up and take notice. Drink in the world around her. Because, depending on Chloe Sullivan and her little squad of X-Philes, this might be her last day as an actual person. As opposed to a lab rat.

And Rose would have to face that eventually. If for no other reason than she needed to know if Kyle was okay, and if he'd left her a message on Chloe's cell after she'd made that dramatic exit.

But not yet. Not yet.

She wanted to live one last day, one last hour, as a normal person, ride it out for as long as it lasted.

Rose held her head a little higher, and she kept walking. With ease that seemed almost practised, she found her way to her class and settled in behind a desk.

Miraculously, her box of pens and things had remained water tight, though her notebooks had gotten damp.

Wincing, she tugged her father's quotebook out of her pocket and found blank pages. Taking notes as mundane as this in such a sacred tome seemed akin to sacrilege but one did what one must.

She glanced out the window, and saw long low clouds billowing in the sky over Smallville.

One does what one must.

She smiled faintly, and decided to reflect on this, as she wrote down by rote the matters of quadratic equations and solving for x.

'There's a requiem
A new congregation
And it's telling me go forward and walk
Under a brighter sky
Every nerve glowing like a firefly
Glowing divine
Every nerve like a firefly.'

 

[ChasNicollette]

Chloe

Chloe's heart broke a little as she watched John Smith lament at being alone in The Universe, and she felt more than just a pang of guilt for speaking to him so flippantly about his species.

A wise man once said, she reflected, that 'we save this world, or damn it, just by living in it each and every day,' that our actions from moment to moment are just as important as the major crises that history will one day look upon as 'world-changing.'

In which case, Professor, Chloe contemplated, humans are neither noble nor insidious, neither good or evil. Just like any other species, we just are. It's what we do that matters most.

And what you do, while sometimes brain-bendingly alien, is often even more human than that of some residents of this backwater rurality that I could mention. Mayor Tate, f'rinstance? Or those goons that watch the gates at LuthorCorp?

(I never realised that Take Your Daughter to Work Day was supposed to be an exercise in heavy-handed intimidation, at least not at first.)

And then more about Bruce's father came to light, more about Thomas Wayne's strand in the four-dimensional tapestry that was Smallville.

And there came a suggestion about the solving of mysteries and the hunting through an old and storied house.

The look on Chloe's face, if it could have been bottled, would have made millions on the open market. Pure, unfettered delight.

She was tired of solving mysteries, she suddenly realised, from the far end of a keyboard. She wanted to dig for clues.

She wanted to investigate.

Her eyes were half-lidded, though, and her lip quirked in a faint little smirk.

"We could have a slumber party," she suggested. "Everyone brings their favourite feety pajamas and Doc Seuss book, and when the butler goes to bed we break out the magnifying glasses and the fingerprint kits."

She paused for a beat.

"Actually, that doesn't sound too bad..."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Emil

Emil's eye twitched like it had been stung and he sat back heavily in his chair, seeming as if he instantly regretted his outburst.

"Veins," he muttered, "of meteor rock? Dating back millennia? But the first reported incidents of..."

He trailed off, and shook his head.

"It seems that I have more to learn than I had thought," Emil smirked devilishly, deliriously, delightedly. "Have you found any of the blue material? I only ever had a crumb or two of it, but it seemed to do interesting things to incorrectly spliced DNA."

He paused again, collected himself, resumed his more controlled state of emotion.

"But all that's academic, we'll be able to cross that bridge when we come to it," he muttered. "More to the point? When can we begin?"

 

[AmenRa]

Var-Sen broke into a smile.

"We'll need help. I suggest our friend Rose, and her new friend, Kara come as well," he said. "And of course Kyle if you can ever nail him down long enough."

He actually laughed.

"I'll buy pizza," he gestured. He then turned to Bruce. "Of course, its your call, Bruce."

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

Kara smiled as she looked at the marvelous cake she and her classmates had made in Home Ec. It was shaped perfectly, and the icing came out just right.

There was just one thing left to do...

"Well... at least it looks nice," Kara said, her face contorted slightly as she tasted a forkful of their creation. It didn't exactly taste all that great, though her classmates seemed to be enjoying it.

"What, do they make cakes differently out on the farm?" one of the girls teased. Kara shot her a quick glance before she rolled her eyes. She untied her smock and set it in the laundry basket before collecting her books. Class was just about over, and after washing their equipment the bell had finally rung. From what Kara remembered of her schedule, she had History and Phys. Ed next.

Kara wasn't exactly thrilled about gym. Last time she was there she damn near killed someone and almost put a hole in the ceiling.

'Great' she sighed.

 

[Superman1496]

Bruce was almost suprised when Smith laughed. It made Bruce smile. 'Pizza huh?' Bruce thought.

Alfred would love to have you all over. If someone wants to talk to Rose that would be great. I have Kara in my next class. I can see if she wants to go. But, uh, what do I ask her? Bruce said. Then he realized that class was going to be over soon, and time had elluded him.

I'll tell you what Proffessor, you talk to Kara, and let her know why she's invited, and I'll get everything set up with people getting there, and all that, uh, sleep-over stuff. Bruce said.

He had never had a sleep-over before. Actually, he had never really had such close people. Not since a perculiar brunette a while back.

So, uh, just let me know how it goes. Bruce said as he turned to leave.

In the hallway, he texted Chloe, revealing that he had no idea what he was doing, and had never had a sleep-over. Then he sent a second one to her, the message simple:

HELP!

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Kyle

I navigated the halls, threading my way through the masses. From what I was overhearing I missed out on some crazy stuff yesterday. I finally made it to class, & looked out the window. Yup, there were the vultures again. I was going to have to place a call to Bekka.
I tapped the activation key on my watch and the HUD came up. three messages, one from Chloe and two from Gram. I opened the one from Chloe first and noticed that Rose had texted me and was worried. I sent back a quick text, whispering it out. (people thought I was crazy anyway so I really didn't care if they caught me muttering to myself).
Chloe, Rose sent me a text yesterday from your cell. If you see her please pass on that I just received her text and will catch her later. Kyle

That done I had two texts from Gram asking where I was. I texted her back that I was OK, and that I would explain tonight. About the time that was sent the teacher arrived and class started. With any luck today would just be a typical day. I have had enough excitement for this week!

 

[AmenRa]

Smith nodded.

"Okay, then," he said, "I will catch Kara at her lunch break," he said. "Perhaps Chloe can speak to Rose?"

 

[Ravenloft]

"Red... White... Blue... Its rather patriotic down there, actually. It will take some time to get any sizeable ammount of any of it though, as the protection of the cave is paramount, but we will certainly be obtaining some of each, of that you can be assured. As to when we may start, that is just a matter of when you would like to."

 

[AmenRa]

Sometimes, a hyperspace vortex will end somewhere other than where it should have. This is not at all uncommon, due to the continuing state of flux the spacial place exists in. Oftentimes these wormholes will open into a piece of static matter, such as a moon or other body. Sometimes, they open into stars, or even worse, into collapsed stars; black holes with singularities that never open at all. And, sometimes, they simply open in the wrong coordinate location.

Such was the case with this one that had connected a very far off spiral galaxy with the Milky Way. Instead of opening near the eliptical phase orbit of the third planet of the Sol System, the wormhole opened on the very fringe of that system and into a colliding asteroid field.

The black, delta-shaped ship that rode through this wormhole exited otherspace into a maelstrom of rocks striking each other with fury. The ship's onboard computer, the BRAIN InterActive Construct, sensed this and immediately opened another wormhole. The ship entered this one, taking many of the smaller asteroids with it. This wormhole was precise, and would open within a few thousand kilometers of the third planet, bringing the meteors with it.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Chloe

Chloe got a very quiet look on her face. Very subtle. Very... closed-off.

Like The Walls of Jericho before that one bunch had done laps around them and then raised a subsequent ruckus.

"Yeah," she nodded simply, "yeah, I'll talk to Rose."

Chloe Sullivan considered herself a fairly liberal person.

For the most part, her mind had long ago been made up on political matters, but she also figured, for the most part, that her mind was still open enough that someone could change it if they managed to present her with a well-reasoned and compelling enough argument.

She had not, however, made up her mind about Meteor Freaks.

In a very oblique way, they represented a deep and personal trauma for Chloe.

She had only been a child at the time, but she remembered The Meteor Shower. She remembered the screams and the fire and the blackness that had followed, having been almost buried beneath her shattered house.

That she'd lived had been a miracle, but she remembered the whole thing the way she remembered almost everything she'd ever seen. The blessing and the curse of an eidetic memory.

She remembered that once her father and rescue workers had dug her out of the rubble, blubbering and wailing, she discovered that her mother had been nowhere to be found.

Moira Sullivan had been gone. And she had never yet returned.

And Chloe knew, she knew, that she couldn't blame Meteor Freaks for what had happened to her mother. She knew that they were just as much victims as she was, just as much victims as poor Lana Lang.

She couldn't blame Meteor Freaks for her mother's disappearance any more than she could blame Var-Sen for pebbles from his birthworld pelting her own hometown. (He hadn't even been on-planet at the time it all had happened, God bless, how could it have been his fault?)

Chloe didn't blame Var-Sen for her mother being gone for almost her entire life thus far, how could she blame Meteor Freaks?

And yet she did. A little bit. A little dark shameful bit of herself resented their existence, because if it hadn't been for The Meteor Shower Chloe might have grown up a little bit more whole.

And Rose.

Rose was, ostensibly, a Meteor Freak. True, her secret origins might have come about much further from here than a train track in Granville...

...but that same little dark shameful bit of Chloe had decided that Rose McCrimmon was guilty by association until proven innocent.

Her phone griped at her from its holster, vibrating hungrily and angrily. (At least that's how it sounded to her, from her presently murky perspective.)

She tugged the phone out of its sheath and she saw that she'd gotten a text from Bruce. That startled her a bit; hadn't he just left?

And then another one came in, hot on the first one's heels.

And then a third came in. This one from a number she didn't recognise.

Good grief, she grunted inwardly, smiled ruefully. It never ends, does it? I wonder if this is how award-winning actresses feel: constantly in demand.

"Excuse me a second, Professor," she suggested, pseudo-amiably.

Her thumb darted about, quickly composing a message to Bruce. That they could maybe meet after school and figure out what a party would require, and that he shouldn't fret about it overmuch.

She saw his worried cry for help, and she chuckled faintly, adoringly, and she texted him back a :: hug :: and a ^_^, because even though she despised such shorthand, she understood that simplicity could often be a balm in troubling times.

Then she read Kyle's message, and she nearly, darkly, laughed out loud.

All roads lead to Rose McCrimmon, she pondered.

And she texted back to Kyle, succinct and reiterative: 'Yeah, I'll talk to Rose.'

She snapped her phone shut, and she shrugged apologetically to Var-Sen.

"When you talk to Kara," she suggested, "could you ask her to come see me, too? I might have a job for her, if she's interested. Fresh perspectives on yesterday's chaos, after the fact. A good follow-up story. I don't think she was here during all of that, and that's a valuable viewpoint for me."

 

[AmenRa]

Chloe went somewhere for just a second. Var-Sen cocked his head curiously at her. It was at the mention of Rose. Var-Sen thought he detected something there...an emotion...resentment? Prejudice? Fear?

Rose was no different than he, and he was sure Chloe did not fear him. Or perhaps she did. Rose was simply a human endowed with extraordinary gifts.

A thought occurred to the Kryptonian: what if his trust in Chloe Sullivan was misplaced? What if she turned out like the others he had trusted? What if she betrayed him, and spread the secrets of Krypton for every human on Earth to see?

Was this why she inquired about Kara? Did she somehow know and simply had not told him she knew because she had plans to use this knowledge?

Some would say Var-Sen was being paranoid.

Others would say he was just being Kryptonian.

If Chloe betrayed him, what would he do? He knew he would do what he would have to do, what he would have no choice but to do.

He hoped this did not come to pass.

"Certainly," he answered, his eyes narrow, carefully watching her for any sign of deceit. "I will relay your message to Kara."

He then turned towards the table where the tablet lay. His eyes glowed a faint red, and the top of the tablet smoldered quickly. Approximately 2 milimeters of the tablet turned to a fine, white ash. Var-Sen bluew a puff of air across the tablet, scattering the ash away. The surface beneath was as clean and as smooth as glass, the ages-old and indescript writing now clearly defined.

"In case you wish to read further," he said as he turned and walked out the door.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Rose (and Mikey)

Trigonometry had been hard, but fortunately most of it had just been note-taking.

English class had been a little easier. Today's discussion had been on G.K. Chesterton, fortuitously enough, and given Rose's father's deep and abiding love for the portly eloquent gentleman, Rose had been able to knock the pop quiz out of the proverbial park.

And next was a Study Hall, and she was actually looking forward to it, as it would give her much-needed time to catch up on homework from the day she'd missed.

But as she was strolling down the hall, head a little bit ducked, mind a little bit wandering, she heard someone calling her name.

She blinked, and straightened, and smiled when she saw that this was, in fact, Michael, from The A/V Club. The fellow who'd helped her lug Thomas out of harm's way yesterday.

"Rose?" he asked, breathless, holding up a piece of paper for her. "One of the administrators told me to give you this? They said your schedule had gotten a little mixed up in the computer, that your third period every day was a Study Hall? Tuesdays and Thursdays third period's supposed to be Physical Education."

Rose accepted the slip from him with a dubious sigh. "You're saying I need to go to Gym Class... right now?"

Michael nodded, his facial expression suggesting that he felt her pain, seriously he did. "Yeah. That's about the size of it."

Rose sighed, and crumpled up the paper against her forehead.

"Great," she sighed.

She looked back up at Michael, though, and she touched his shoulder gently.

"How're you feeling?" she wondered. "You weren't doing so hot yesterday."

"I'm okay," he acknowledged, laughing faintly. "Just got out of sorts, I guess. Nothing further to report. Still, though, if you see that CKU professor guy-- I saw him earlier, but he was in a hurry or something --could you send him my way? I need to ask him for some pointers with PowerPoint. His presentation the other day was very smooth."

Rose nodded, and moved away from him, hurrying in the opposite direction so she wasn't impossibly late for Gym. "I'll do that," she promised. "Be okay, okay?"

"Okay," Michael saluted, and watched her hurry off.

Rose hurried to the gymnasium, picking through her backpack. She had gym clothes in there-- apparently her mother had packed them for her that first day in a moment of prescience --but they were just as mildewy-smelling as everything else.

Maybe they'll let me play in what I've got on, she groaned inwardly, as she accelerated sightly into a slow jog.

 

[turnkeymaster]

Wow How Does All This Work

:dwow How Does All This Work Can I Jump In Anytime

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

:dwow How Does All This Work Can I Jump In Anytime

OOC: You apply via PM to me. If I like what you have to say, either about your character or your quality of writing, chances are you can join the thread.

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

History class seemed rather dull and boring compared to how it had been the day before yesterday. Their original teacher was back, and he seemed old and boring. Despite this, however, Kara managed to stay awake, and she paid particular attention to the parts about the great leaders of the ancient world. They had been of power and majesty, commanding thousands and marching towards the ends of the Earth.

The bell had finally rung as they were discussing Alexander the Great, and Kara quickly picked up her belongings and headed out the door.

She sighed upon reaching the hallway, not really looking forward to her next class. Hopefully the little accident that had occurred last time wouldn't repeat itself.

Kara walked to the gym and entered in the girls locker room, following closely behind a few of her classmates. They were chatting and gossiping as usual, and one of them actually turned to ask Kara what she thought about it all. She had responded that she was sick that day, and had therefore missed all the excitement. What she didn't tell them was that she had actually ran away from home for nearly the entire day.

But Kara came back... and that was what mattered most. Especially to Martha and Jonathan Kent.

Kara slid out of her dusty, red jacket and tossed it inside her locker. She had some spare clothes to wear, and she slipped into a plain white t-shirt and red shorts. She felt a bit awkward showing up to class wearing her fancy wristcuffs, and so she took them off and placed them away inside her locker.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Chloe

Fire came out of Var-Sen's eyes, and the colour left Chloe's face.

Naman. Naman was meant to pour fire from his eyes. Chloe stumbled back a bit, and she couldn't get her breath back before Var-Sen departed via his traditional mode of egress: get the last word, and gone.

Chloe felt like she'd been punched in a stomach, two kidneys, and a heart.

From the look on his face, she could only think she'd betrayed him somehow. That she'd done wrong by one of his venerable ancestors in a past life or somesuch, and she couldn't...

...in her head, she trailed off, didn't finish the thought.

Limited telepathy, she recalled in an instant, and she walked helplessly over to the tablet, picked it up, and carried it over to the desk where Kyle's folder waited.

She sat down in a slump at that desk, hands covering her face.

He'd seen it. He'd seen it, like a Cask of Amontillado on the other side of a brick wall, he'd seen her little chunk of decay in her heart and he had been repulsed by it. He'd seen her inner shame and had judged her for it.

Chloe, softly, bitterly, began to cry.

She was just so tired...

...and who The Hell was John Smith to be judging her for little secrets? It's not like she wanted to be a racist against Meteor Freaks. It's not like she wanted to be a bad person. But nobody was perfect and as much as she railed against that minuscule secret part of her it still wheedled and connived within her, a tiny, insistent voice.

This is why real people aren't telepathic. Because we can barely co-exist as a species given the stuff we say out loud.

She recovered somewhat, drawing strength from her indignation, and she sat up and gazed at the things that waited for her on the desk. She slid her eyes from the tablet to the folder.

Eany, meany, miney, mo...

The two unsolved mysteries sat before her. One mystery had begun in one of 28 known galaxies, but not in this one. The other had begun a few states to The South.

The tablet had resembled a palimpsest, worn away by time's etching new messages atop the old. The folder was a conundrum wrapped up in a paradox.

Chloe sniffled a little bit. She rubbed at her nose with the knuckles of one hand.

Her eyes darted left to the tablet. Right to the folder.

'Choose Your Own Adventure.'

She found a quarter in the bottom of one of her myriad pencil-cups, and with an air of portent and of omen, she flipped that coin.

It came up Heads.