Beyond the Sun

31

When it eventually came to landing, the ship ended up being half buried in the snow; Annie blinked widely, Clark looked at her oddly and couldn't help but roll his eyes at the sight of a lone polar bear. By now they could see outside, likewise the polar bear could see them, or rather it looked at the ship and then growled lowly before shambling off on its own business.

They hadn't been airborne for long, only a couple of minutes if that to get away from the base and its human occupants; who were by now surely awake and aware to something being a miss. A very big and obvious something. Wherever they now were, looked even more desolate, there would surely be no one out there in that terrain. Which meant with no threat of someone cropping up, they could in fact now explore at their own pace. NorthCom were far, far away and there was nothing stopping them from finding out all the secrets that this ship held. Or at least, finding out some of them.

"Hey," she said quietly watching him reach for the pendant which was now around his neck. He never answered, instead he pulled the metal from around his neck and hesitantly looked at her before he let go of her hand. Making sure that she was behind him, he took a step forwards. Annie followed his line of sight and saw a port ahead, it was identical to the one which had ceased the actions of the sentry robot which had attacked Clark earlier. He hesitated to place the metal into the console, he inhaled shakily as he did so. "It's okay," Annie piped up quietly, he looked at her and she gave him a gentle smile. Once again, the key fitted into the space perfectly. A radiating three-dimensional display appeared above the cylinder. Lines and streams of alien code darted across the screen as the console booted itself up.

Stepping from around him, Annie peered at it with confusion. She frowned, what all of this was, she naturally had no clue, but it didn't make it any less fascinating. They both anxiously looked from each other to the thing before them. It only lasted a few seconds before they both registered the fact that they weren't alone. Unlike last time, Annie didn't scream and almost have a heart attack. She turned and looked up at the man, who didn't seem to be a too dissimilar height to Clark. She looked at the bearded man who just popped up out of nowhere, after all the running and chasing they did, and here he is; a holographic projection of a man who had once lived, a long time ago. He moved slowly and gracefully forwards until he was in front of them. The hold on Annie's hand increased ever so slightly, not that hers didn't in return.

The hologram smiled kindly, he looked with an almost fond expression on his face, and there was a reassuring aura about him, despite him not being a living breathing person. "To see you standing there grown into an adult. If only Lara could have witnessed this."

"Who are you?" Clark asked with a low, yet serious tone as he looked at the man with a steady gaze.

"I am your father, Kal. Or at least a shadow of him, his conscience. My name is Jor-El." The now named hologram explained in that same calming tone with a slight tilt of his head.

"And Kal? That's my name?" Clark asked uncertainly. He remembered Annie suggesting such a thing, a long time ago. He hadn't ever really mused over what his birth name was, or what it could've been. The name which was given to him, was the only one he had ever known.

"Kal-El, it is."

Annie smiled slowly, looking away from Jor-El, she looked to Clark as he seemed to be struggling to process this let alone remember the questions he wanted answered. She gave his hand a slight squeeze, snapping out of his daze he looked at her, "Not Yoda, then?" She whispered with a small smile. Despite trying to fathom the meeting of his birth father, Clark couldn't help but smile at that. She had been right; he did have another name, and now they knew it. Looking back to Jor-El, who was looking at them both with a faint smile, Annie looked back at him. "Go on..." She nodded her head slowly towards the hologram. Standing here in silence wasn't going to get them anywhere.