Beyond Smallville: Fan Fiction

Laura had decided to explore the Tekameh Caves alone. She’d borrowed a number of items from Tim, such as a flashlight, digital flash camera, small trash bag, small pick ax, large test tubes, and a heavy duty shovel.

The equipment was no problem for her to carry due to her substantial strength and endurance. Her aim was to collect a number of the yellowish stones, the surrounding golden liquid, and any other soil samples.

Tim could study all of these and hopefully come up with a connection to her acquired super powers.

What Laura didn’t know was that this day would completely change her life. She had talked her Aunt Wanda into letting her buy a dirt bike. She could certainly run faster than the machine, yet Tim had told her that she needed to keep up appearances.

The specter of being turned into a lab rat still frightened her, though she was beginning to doubt that any cell could hold her. Laura had only told two people where she was going, Tim, and her Aunt Wanda, the busy middle-aged lady who had been Laura’s legal guardian since her parents had died.

Wanda thought that Laura was silly for exploring musty old caves on a beautiful spring day, but let her have her fun. She meant well, Laura grumbled, but Aunt Wanda tended to be overprotective. She’d only recently told Laura about the brutal slaying of her parents when she was a child.

Laura had been depressed for months after hearing the truth, but soon realized that she had needed to understand it. Today, she was full of an almost obsessive curiosity about the caves and the strange yellow minerals which ran through them. She sped towards Crater Lake on her dirt bike.

Laura loved speed. It was a bit reckless of her, she knew, but it’s not as if she was going to get hurt on the powerful motorbike. She was mindful, of course, that she could hurt others. Quickly, she came upon the trail nearly rendered invisible by the vegetation’s overgrowth.

The trail led up a slight incline, which was just above the Tekameh Cave entrance. Laura had spied the yellow liquid still running beneath the fresher clearer water of Comet Creek. She slowed and then stopped her motorbike, prudently hiding it behind some dense shrubbery.

Laura hopped off and immediately examined the yellow minerals just below her feet. She dug a bit of it out, and placed it carefully in the first of the large test tubes. Using her immense strength, Laura had crushed the yellow mineral rocks into powder. She sealed the tube and stored it in Tim’s kit.

Laura located the partially hidden entrance to the cave, and engaged her high powered kryptonite flashlight. The greenish glow played across the dark cave walls. She advanced slowly, peering into the darkness with her superior vision. She caught a glimpse of some odd colored stones just ahead.

The young explorer walked up to the rocky crag and gazed intensely at the color patterns. She aimed the specialized flashlight’s beam at the wall. The color patterns were actually some type of drawings, apparently engraved into the cave wall. As she moved along, the drawings disappeared.

The etchings only became visible under the direct beams from the flashlight. They appeared in between the more common Native American writings. "That’s bizarre!" She exclaimed aloud. Laura used her heightened sense of touch to feel the images that had been carved into the rocks.

To the uneducated, the indentations would appear to be simple imperfections in the cave wall surface. The perfect way to hide a message from the ancient Tekamah Tribe, Laura assumed. The writings on the walls could have been meant for a more advanced race...to be read in the future!

Laura flipped the flashlight beams further along the passageway, following the hidden drawings deep into the cavern. The rocky path led her in a roughly circular pattern toward a much larger antechamber. Finally, the mysterious writings ended at an amazingly smooth patch of cave wall.

At the center of the antechamber was a good sized pool of the yellow liquid. It had congealed in the deepest part of the cave floor. Laura couldn’t see the bottom without using her super vision. The yellow minerals bubbled up from beneath the floor just as Tim had predicted.

A leak or spring from far deeper beneath Crater Lake? Laura guessed. This chamber also had a number of strange symbols carved into the walls at seemingly random intervals. She reached down gingerly into the edge of the mineral pool and came up with a roughly fist sized yellow rock.

Instantly, Laura felt a surge of energy, like if she’d had too much sugar or caffeine. The rush seemed to command her full attention. Hmm...I wonder...? Laura experimented by crushing a much larger yellow rock, crumpling it like a piece of paper. She repeated the experiment on a clear, normal looking gray rock, with much the same result. Fear, excitement, and a bit of relief washed over her.

I’m no genetic freak! She surmised. The mineral rocks had somehow caused the effects! That still didn’t explain exactly what happened, or how long the effects would last. She made her way back towards the cave entrance where she’d first seen the mysterious symbols.

She again let her flashlight beam play over them. It was no use, to her the symbols were still unrecognizable. It could have been written in Egyptian Hieroglyphics for all she knew. Tim would know, he always does. Laura thought as she flipped open her digital camera cell phone.

She called her young genius friend. "Hey Tim, this is Laura." The science student was engrossed in yet another web researching venture. "Thee Laura Lake? Spelunker extra ordinaire? The Lara Croft of Falcon Claw?" He asked sarcastically. "You’re calling me? What happened? Did you break a nail?"

Laura sighed before answering. "Funny, Tim! Give me some credit, will ya?" She responded before shining the flashlight beam on the first of the unusual drawings. "I found some cave symbols. They only appear after being illuminated. Observe." Laura pointed her camera phone at the drawings.

As if on cue, the symbols were bathed in a greenish glow. She popped the flashlight off, and they disappeared. Flipping the light on them again caused their reappearance. "Voila!" Laura remarked proudly. "I’ll just bet that no one ever bothered to read them before, assuming they could be read."

Tim squinted to see the illuminated patterns. "Nice! Nice!" He commented as he studied them. "What’s it say?" Laura shrugged off the question. "I have no idea. You’re the brains of the operation." She quipped. "Me explorer, you scientist." Tim laughed loudly. "I’m going to record this."

"We’ll enlarge the images and study them later." Tim said excitedly as Laura slowly played the kryptonite beams over the indentations. "The patterns do seem to have some uniformity." Tim added. Laura nodded. "I’ll bet that they’re some ancient Native American language that no one knows."

"Laura, you’re a genius!" Tim playfully praised. "Hardly." She chuckled. "It’s probably Native American graffiti that says ‘Palefaces Suck!" Tim grinned thinly. "Okay, I’ve set up the DVD to store the info. Just walk slowly along the wall shining the beam on them. Good." Laura did as instructed.

She made her way along the edge of the rocky path. "This is way cool!" Tim yelled. "Really? You haven’t seen anything yet." Laura stated as she examined one of the walls. "Wait! Stop!" Tim ordered and Laura froze in her tracks. "What?" Tim’s eyes narrowed. "Back up a bit."

Laura complied. "That’s the first symbol that I could actually recognize." Tim explained. "The two-headed dragon." Laura stepped back to catch the full image. "Dragon?" She questioned. "I thought that was only found in Asian cultures and Dungeons and Dragons for Geeks 101." She snidely remarked.

"I haven’t seen any of the more common Native American symbols like ‘Water’ ‘Sun’ ‘Moon’ and the like. At least that’s what Mr. Hargrove taught in American History class." Tim informed her.

"One of them probably saw a mutated iguana or something." Laura downplayed the figure's significance. "True." Tim reluctantly agreed.

“Dragons and other winged animals were common hieroglyphs in the Southwestern United States, Mexico, and Central and South American cultures. Some examples would be the Aztecs, Inca, and Mayans.” Tim continued, much to Laura’s chagrin.

“They tended to worship the symbols as their deities.” Laura couldn’t resist. “Oh no! Beware the iguana god!” She laughed. “I bet they sacrificed virgins, too!” Tim flashed a smile of false bravado.

 “That wouldn’t have anything to do with me.” He joked. “That would most likely be your problem, Laura.” She loved teasing her geeky school friend. “Yeah right!” “They certainly would’ve sacrificed a young minx like you to their Iguana God!”

Tim quipped. Laura snickered. “What if they made me their queen instead?” She playfully challenged. “Have you ever seen writings like these, before?” Laura asked as she moved on.

            Tim moved in closer to view the images on screen. “Not really. I’ll have to look them up in the Native American databases, though.” He replied. “Check the wall behind you.” Laura swiveled around, and sure enough there were more cave drawings. Some were written in the nearly invisible green kryptonite color, and others were inscribed the more common black color.

             “Those look a little more familiar.” Tim assessed. “There are the symbols for water, bison, hunt, moon, and sun.” Laura pointed the camera to each. “Maybe their writing style changed over the years.” She speculated. Tim’s voice rose with excitement.

“We may be looking at the evolution of a new Native American language, Laura. Think about it. No one has likely ever seen these hidden symbols before.” Laura nodded. “Do ya think I’ll get extra credit grades for Sociology this year?” She quipped.

            “I wouldn’t doubt it.” Tim grinned. Laura had reached the end of the passageway. She was about to put the phone away when she caught a glimpse of more greenish writings partially hidden behind a large stalagmite. “Tim! Check this out!” She waved the camera phone at them.

            “What? Did you find the Great Iguana God? I bet he’s got a nice big tongue just for you!” He taunted. “Dude, you’re sick!” Laura laughed. “No, see for yourself.” The images were carved into the wall in a perfect circle.

Laura aimed the flashlight in a wide beam. A second ring was built within the first, and several figures were inscribed between them. Each section contained unique characters. “Whoa! That’s pretty high tech for a bunch of iguana worshipping aborigines!” Tim said as he admired the carvings.

              None of these symbols looked familiar either. “Maybe it’s related to the Aztec Calendar.” He speculated. Laura steadied the camera phone so Tim could get a nice clean shot of it. “Do you think we’ll be rich?” She asked hopefully. “Probably not,” He added.

            “Even the best geologists, archaeologists, and linguists only make decent money. Certainly not like in the technology sector.” Laura was disappointed. “We can’t all be techno-geeks like you, buddy.” She said. “Though it beats working on the farm in this half-ass backwards one cow town for the rest of my natural life.”       

            “If we combine our forces young Pad Wan, we could create a techno-agricultural farm complete with hybrid crops, low cost labor, and mad-cow disease free livestock.” Tim quipped. “It is to dream.” Laura joked. “Can we hire some flunkies to shovel out the barn and corral, so I don’t have to do it?” She snickered.

            “Whatever you desire my cow-pie pitching princess.” Tim shamelessly flirted.

"'kay. Have you got the shot recorded?" Laura asked. "Yes." Tim confirmed. "And now for something completely different." She teased, placing the camera phone atop a flat rock nearby. "Nothing up my sleeve..."

Laura grabbed a softball size boulder with one hand and a good-sized rock filled with the yellow mineral with the other. "You see before you two average looking rocks." She added. "Observe." Laura smashed the two rocks into each other.

Immediately they turned to dust with the force of the impact. "Whoa!" Tim exclaimed as he nearly fell out of his chair. "See? Freak of nature." Laura sighed with disdain. "You need to gather those samples and get back here!" Tim gasped.

"I'll need to run some tests on the rocks, the minerals, and you." He directed. "Will do, Dr. Frankenstein." Laura said and snapped off her cell phone. She also took a few moments to grab some still photo shots of the more intricate drawings.

Before she left, Laura traced the yellowish water to its alleged source, the deep pool near the back of the cavern. She proceeded to scrape some of the dried mineral into a test tube, collect some of the liquid version, and pack it all away for Tim's study.

The topaz yellowish mineral deposits led to a crack in the cave wall about two feet above the cavern's steep gradient. It poured in like a faucet, presumably from beneath Crater Lake. Laura washed her hands in the fresh yellow water.

She headed back out of the caves with the samples. Suddenly, Laura felt a burst of energy, like she was amped up on caffeine. She imagined herself to be indestructible. Laura was normally an average dirt bike rider.

She'd only been riding for a few months, since spring began. Laura loaded her things onto the back of the motorbike and tied them securely to the seat storage area. Laura hopped onto the bike and peeled out, her eyes had gone completely topaz, refracting light.

She plowed through some flatlands at the bike's top speed, and tore through a nearby mud bog. Laura began to do tricks with the bike. She zipped up a mogul and backflipped the bike onto a well worn trail.

Laura sped down one trail and up the next without any regard for safety. On a slope she hit a bad angle and was thrown off the bike at full speed. The teen was now airborne, and solidly crashed through a tree, severing it in half!

The bike slid into a deep bog and stalled out. Laura finally landed several yards away, face first against a rock outcropping. The rock split, dividing evenly in two! She lay atop a series of bramble bushes, which shredded her clothes.

“Whoa! Wipeout!” Laura joked as she sat up. The scrappy teen hadn’t a scratch on her! “What a rush!” Within seconds she stood and walked back toward her slowly sinking motorbike. Her gear had flown over the handlebars and into a thicket.

She hoped that the test tubes, mineral samples, and rock comparisons were still intact. Laura stepped into the mud bog and lifted the bike out with one hand, lofting it carefully back onto the smooth trail.

Power! I’ve acquired super power! Laura thought, on a major ego trip. The bike’s engine was filled with muck. It wouldn’t be starting anytime soon. No problem! She held the bike up with one hand and gathered her things with the other. They were still secured in her backpack.

Laura zipped home at hyper speed. Luckily the samples hadn’t been disturbed as she examined them back at her Aunt Wanda’s farm. She considered the entire afternoon. The horrendous crash would have killed a normal person, she rationalized. Her heart seemed to beat twice as fast as she remembered the impact.

Maybe I overdosed on the mineral rocks? She silently speculated. It’s obvious that they have an effect on me. The accident felt more like a bump. She’d barely noticed it at all. After a speedy shower and whirlwind change of clothes, Laura called Tim.  

“Dude, you’re not gonna believe this!” Laura began excitedly after Tim answered her call. “You discovered a Wooly Mammoth encased in ice at the back of the cave and brought it back to life?” Tim’s voice dripped with sarcasm.  “No, butthead!” Laura snapped.

“The yellow minerals seemed to amp me up!” Laura still sounded too hyper. “I stuck my hands in the pool of yellow water and…” Tim interrupted her. “And you discovered an ancient sewer system?” He couldn’t resist the temptation to tease her. “Ew!” Laura wrinkled her nose. “And Ew again!” 

“The topaz yellow minerals soaked into my skin and turned me into some kind of superhero!” Laura could barely contain her excitement. At first Tim was silent. “Get out!” He scoffed. “You’ve been watching too many Saturday morning cartoons.” She quickly explained what had happened. 

Laura had mentioned that before she’d left the caves, she’d felt indestructible. “I’m just reaching Laura…” He speculated. “But what if it’s a type of performance enhancing drug?” Laura was understandably skeptical. “Buried in a cave in the middle of nowhere?” 

Tim’s brow wrinkled. “It could have been a type of illegal chemical dump.” Laura considered that. “Nope, remember the stories of the Tekamah Indians? They discovered the caves and considered them ‘bad medicine’ or cursed by dark spirits.” She recalled the event for the teen genius.

“Yes.” Tim confirmed. “That would’ve been several centuries before any drug experimentation took place, illegal or otherwise. Let’s backtrack. What kinds of abilities do you use consistently?” Laura ticked off the bizarre elements on her long thin fingers. 

“Superior strength, hyper speed, setting fires with my eyes, immediate healing, seeing through solid objects, and now virtual indestructibility.” She responded. Tim reflected thoughtfully. “It still sounds like genetic manipulation but by whom, how, and why?” 

“Losing me, wonder boy.” Laura was growing frustrated. “A singer’s voice can be trained, but they had to have some degree of genetic talent to begin with.” Tim added, “Unlike American Idol!” Laura still felt jittery. “You mean the mineral rocks may have nothing to do with it?” 

“I can’t prove anything without further evidence and experimentation.” Tim explained. “The opposite can also be true…that you’re infected by the minerals and it’s ramping up your genetic code.” He postulated. “Like an amplifier for an electric guitar?” Laura decided that made the most sense. 

“Exact-amundo, my sweet!” Tim flirted. “How can we be sure one way or the other?” Laura asked in passing. “We can’t. For all we know, you’ll wake up tomorrow morning and this will all be gone.” 

“Well, the good news is that I feel tired.” Laura yawned to emphasize her point. “That could mean that the mineral’s effects are limited.” Tim stretched. “That is good news! Tomorrow you’ll zip by and drop off the samples, correct?” Laura nodded as her eyelids felt heavy. “See you then.” 

After they hung up, Tim began preliminary research, and Laura dropped right off to sleep. The next morning she thought that she was back to her old self. Laura felt refreshed and unusually happy. She even started humming one of those sappy love songs that she’d always hated to listen to. 

Laura spun in and out of the shower, dressed, and set the kitchen table for breakfast, all before Aunt Wanda had awakened. The hyper speed power was still there. Laura was a bit disappointed that things hadn’t truly gone back to normal. Maybe this is a mixed blessing, she pondered. 

Saturday, after breakfast, Laura called Tim. She knew that the boy genius was already awake and pounding info into his computer. How could I face mundane Falcon Claw High classes Monday morning, knowing that I’m some type of mutant super hero? She silently went over the last few days.

“Hi Tim!” She greeted him ecstatically. “Are you ready for the sample testing?” Tim confirmed that the desktop computer and his laptop were both ready to go. He’d already had some programs running overnight to determine if there were any instances of unnatural abilities posted on websites. 

He’d been amazed at the volume of incidents the various searches had recovered. He’d put the whole database on a number of backup discs. The young boy was obsessed with gathering information. He’d only slept for a few hours. Laura informed him that she’d be over shortly. 

Outside, Laura had completed all of her chores, and was busy speeding around the farm hopefully using up some excess energy. The teen beauty hadn’t yet broken a sweat. On a whim, Laura glanced around and then jumped skyward…rising above the grassy field a good twenty feet! 

“Wow!” Laura yelled and spun around in a circle, creating a minor dust storm. The sand, soil, and pebbles quickly rotated away and settled a good distance from her. On a major power trip, young Laura ran at hyper speed and leapt towards Aunt Wanda’s barn. 

She soared higher and higher, landing atop the grain silo’s apex! “This is so cool!” 

  Laura gazed out over the greenish amber farm fields, enjoying the mid-morning sunshine. I’d better get going…either this will be a disaster or a new experiment she thought and jumped from the top of the grain silo.

Laura spread her arms like birds’ wings and sailed above the tree line, some low foliage, past the horse corral, across the gravel access road and dove into her Aunt Wanda’s backyard. She landed in a heap of mud, shoulder first, somersaulting to a stop. Got to work on those landings, girl… 

She was silently quite proud of herself. One day, I’ll master the power of flight. Laura zipped back into her room for another quick change before starting out for Tim’s house. She opted to use her hyper speed for the time being. Moments later she was at his door, samples in hand. 

“Hi Tim!” Laura couldn’t contain her excitement. “Guess what I did this morning?” He ushered her into the lower level den where his computer system was ready to go. “You won the lotto?” Tim asked sarcastically. “Nope, I flew.” Laura stated, calmly waiting for that to sink in. 

Tim’s supercharged mind went blank. Silence. “Flew? As in ‘flew like a bird?” He realized what she had related. Laura laughed. “Exactly. My form was closer to an albatross than a swan. My landings need work.” Tim’s eyes widened. “Flying? Defying gravity? That’s so not normal.”

“Do ya think?” Laura sounded petulant. “My surprising supernatural abilities just keep on coming.” She gave him a few more details. “Okay, well, how did you sleep?” Tim was analyzing something on his laptop. “Fine, I guess, though I had a couple of nightmares.” Laura admitted. 

Suddenly, Laura’s x-ray eyesight kicked in, and she saw right through Tim. Immediately she closed her eyes and opened them, therefore eliminating the unsettling vision. I have to learn to control my abilities, she rationalized. “Let’s have a look at the cave drawings…” She changed the subject. 

“Here are your samples, Tim.” She handed him the backpack. “Great! I’ll get my chemistry set to start analyzing them.” He bolted to the basement, leaving Laura alone with her thoughts. She concentrated on the complex set of problems that these changes brought. 

Tim set up a number of chemical tests for the yellow mineral, and returned after a bit to Laura, who had already pulled up the cave drawings DVD on the laptop. She’d also been absently scribbling some figures on a nearby pad of paper. “Laura!” He shouted. “What? Gawd! I’m right here!” 

“Your hair…” Tim began with an open mouth. “Yeah? What about it?” Laura asked warily. “It’s gone blonde!” He gasped. “Blonde? I don’t understand. I never color my hair!” Laura added. “I’m supposed to be naturally brown to black-haired.”

“If I were to hazard a guess, I’d say that your genetic code and possibly your adolescent hormones are in flux.” Tim stared as Laura’s eyes flashed from blue to green and back again. “Oh crap!” She exclaimed. “Don’t stare!” Tim courteously glanced away. Laura’s coloring returned to normal. 

“What are you doodling?” He returned his attention back to her. Page after page of cave symbols crossed his laptop’s screen. “Nothing! Why?” Laura looked down to find that she’d written a series of the cave’s walls symbols in a specific pattern akin to a paragraph. 

“Yikes! I wasn’t even paying that much attention to the cave drawings.” She defended as Tim examined her steno pad and cross referenced the writings with it from the laptop photos. “Laura! What you wrote is a continuation of the wall drawing patterns!” 

Laura was starting to freak out again. The computer beeped indicating that its search of Native American databases had ended. The system had found no exact matches in its archives. Tim double-checked Laura’s scribbling and the computer’s analyses. 

“This language is totally unique!” He stated with confidence. “Really?” Laura was amazed. “Then, it’s a significant historical find?” Tim eyed the steno page again and frowned. “Yes! Laura, what does this say?” He circled a group of symbols with a pen. “How should I know?” She whined.

Laura’s eyes briefly flashed a bright golden yellow as she read the steno pad. “It says something about a great fire in the sky…turning night into day.” She parroted as if detached from the whole situation. “A warrior had fallen to Mother Earth…” She shook her head. “What the…?” 

“You can read this language!” Tim accused. Laura dismissed him with a wave of her hand. “No! No, I can’t!” She protested as her eyes flashed once again. “The daughter of the first house shall rule with an iron fist!” Laura seemed to be discussing this from a distance. “Now, you’re scaring me.”

Tim involuntarily shivered. “De-Nile ain’t just a river in Egypt, my dear!” Laura’s eyes returned to normal. “How can I read this language? I can’t even speak Spanish properly and I’m halfway through the semester.” She admitted with confusion. “Read some more.” Tim directed her. 

Laura forced herself to concentrate on the symbols both on her steno pad and the laptop. “The sins of the father will be revealed…” She muttered. “The chosen one will take her place in the skies on the back of an eagle...justice will be meted out. What the hell does all that mean?” She grumbled. 

Tim shrugged. “The part about turning night into day probably refers to the comet which crashed to Earth and created Crater Lake. But the phrase ‘justice will be meted out’ doesn’t sound like anything an uneducated Native American would say.” Laura sighed. “Maybe the writings are all fake?” 

“Possibly…” Tim wasn’t convinced. “Which gives us a new set of problems like who wrote them, and why. It sounds like a group of Nostradamus’s ominous predictions. I’m more interested in how you learned to read this language, real or not, with virtual immediacy.” 

“I couldn’t read them before I’d crashed.” Laura reminded him. “There have been instances of changes in behavior caused by a sharp blow to the head, or getting struck by lightning.” Tim recalled. “Sometimes, skydivers claim to have had their hearing restored or asthma cured after jumping.”

“That doesn’t seem to apply here. These instances are extremely rare.” He concluded and sat down next to his mutant friend. “I told you that I’m a freak show!” Laura said with disgust. “Now what?”

Tim was puzzled. “Keep reading the symbols. Maybe they hold an answer.” 

“I’ll type it all up after we’ve finished and analyze what we have.” He offered. Laura translated as much of the writings as she could within a couple of hours. She still hadn’t deciphered the main collections of characters within the twin circles. 

They seemed to have a different pattern, as if a new author had written them. “What do we have, Tim-ster?” Laura asked after she grew tired of reading the endless symbols. Tim stared at the printouts. “There are about a hundred or so phrases, warnings, and descriptions that I’ve logged.” 

“What about the encircled ones?” Laura was still frustrated by the mysterious writings. “I’m not sure. Maybe they’re a different form of communication, like mathematics or musical notes.” He replied hesitantly. “One thing that’s certain…the stories are about you!” Tim dropped the bomb on her.

“What?” Laura gasped.

link to chapter 4: Topaz