Okay,
I'm listening to a few naggers -- this is just a tad early. So for all of you who are out there supporting me -- thank you and here's the next part. Again thanks to Laswa, my incredible BR.
More date/place jumping around, more parts of the play and stuff from the radio -- so keep on your toes. And yes, more evil parts -- hang on.
Again, I really appreciate the comments.
From Part 7
Acting the part of Jonathan Brewster wouldn’t be taxing on his genus. Acting the part of Richard Thurston would take a little more effort, as he had to indulge in sophomoric hyperbole whenever he was around these rustics.
The character of Jonathan Brewster is supposed to have killed twelve people. Lex ironically ticked off the twelve names on his own list. Two months ago twelve people had wanted him dead and now he was seeking revenge. Well, five down. Five insignificant lives extinguished--insignificant nothings, who had sought to hurt or destroy him. They were dead and he was alive!
tbc
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Part 8
Smallville, Kansas
Tuesday,
February 1, 1994
3:30 p.m. CST
The Barton house four, as Tom, Cindy, Keith and Emily were calling themselves, met on the Maple Street Bridge. They looked over at the house at 417 and Tom Mock took out his camera. From their vantage point on the bridge, they could get some interesting angles of the house. In fact, from certain perspectives, the house on Maple Street could even be termed somewhat gothic. Tom tried a variety of shots as he deftly perched on the bridge railing.
Lois Lane slowed her card down, parked by the Maple Street Bridge and joined the group.
“Glad you could make it, Miss Lane,” Tom told her, climbing down. “We want to show you what we’re doing.”
“No problem,” Lois said to her students. “How’s it going?”
“Fine,” Emily Cox said, quietly. It had been a little over two weeks since her aunt had been killed and, and since the school counselor had killed herself; but she and the other students were getting on with their lives and with their work.
“We’ve written up a family tree,” Emily continued. “We also got the history of the Bartons and we even got all of the stuff on the murders that the newspapers....”
“But, I still think we’re still missing something,” Keith interrupted.
“Missing what?” Cindy asked him.
“I don’t know. The story just seems incomplete,” he said, looking at the rest of his group. “Our assignment,” he continued, glancing at his teacher. “Is to research the family as in the ‘House of the Seven Gables’. We’ve *got* the basic facts, but there’s no understanding, no depth. I don’t know. I just think there’s something there that we’re lacking,” he finished, looking over at the house.
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Smallville, Kansas
Sunday,
October 30, 1938
7:50 p.m. CST
Inside the house at 417 Maple Street, Libby Barton looked down at her hands, which were now handcuffed together. She watched callously as her family’s bodies were being taken away. Sheriff Kent leaned down. “I know this is a stupid question, but how are you doing, Libby?” he asked.
Libby looked up at him dazed, just as Joe Clark entered the front door. Following right behind Joe was his wife Theresa, who sat down next to Libby and put her arm around her. “Is this necessary?” she asked Jerry Kent, while indicating the handcuffs.
“Probably not,” Sheriff Kent told Theresa Clark and unlocked the cuffs.
Libby rubbed her wrists where the cold metal had chaffed them and looked around at the people discussing her life; but she couldn’t concentrate on what they were saying. It was as if she was far removed, a casual observer, as if she was simply a member of an audience watching actors on a stage who had no real ability to alter her world.
“We’ll take her to our house,” Theresa Clark told the sheriff. “She shouldn’t be in jail.”
“I’d take her to mine,” Sheriff Kent told his friends. “But you know that Betty is due any time now,” he explained.
“She’ll be fine at our place,” Theresa told him.
“We’ll get her to the courthouse when she’s needed there, and I’m sure old Judge Murdock will release her to our care until all of this can be sorted out,” Joe declared.
The group left, each going their separate ways. As young Libby Barton got into the Clark’s car, she looked back at the Maple street house.
No one had thought to turn off the radio, and the program continued playing to an empty house.
##### SMITH: I have been requested by the governor of New Jersey to place the counties of Mercer and Middlesex as far west as Princeton, and east to Jamesburg, under martial law. No one will be permitted to enter this area except by special pass issued by state or military authorities. Four companies of state militia are proceeding from Trenton to Grover’s Mill, and will aid in the evacuation of homes within the range of military operations. Thank you.
ANNOUNCER TWO: You have just been listening to General Montgomery Smith commanding the state militia at Trenton. In the meantime, further details of the catastrophe at Grover’s Mill are coming in. . . . #####
As the Clark family car drove across the Maple Street Bridge, which creaked and moaned in the wind with the weight of the several cars traversing it; Libby took one more look back at the house on Maple Street and realized that things were never going to be the same again. The bridge creaked once more and Libby turned and looked ahead, wondering what lie in store for her.
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Smallville, Kansas
Tuesday,
February 1, 1994
3:45 p.m. CST
The bridge creaked beneath the feet of the four students and their teacher, and then suddenly there was a loud crack, as one of the support beams gave way. The bridge began to lurch. The five yelled out and grabbed on to the side rail as the road fell out from under them.
Almost instantaneously, a red and blue flash appeared and flew under the bridge, lifting the support beam back in place. Superman, using his heat vision, shored the beam together more permanently and flew up to check on Lois and her students.
“Are all of you all right?” Superman asked, helping Emily up and, seeing that Lois was okay, refrained from rushing over to his fiancée to hold her to him.
Lois struggling to her feet and giving Cindy a hand, smiled over at him and nodded that she was fine, while Keith and Tom righted themselves.
Libby Barton came quickly down the steps in front of her house and arrived at the bridge. “Is everyone okay? Is everyone all right? Why don’t all of you come in for a few minutes and rest? I have hot chocolate on the stove.”
The students looked at each other and then nodded.
“They’ll be fine at my place, Superman,” Miss Libby echoed the words of so long ago.
Superman, seeing that they were in good hands, flew off, and the five followed Miss Libby into the house that held so many secrets.
The Barton House four looked around the living room as they sat on the couch waiting for their hot chocolate. Cindy and Keith had spoken a couple of times to Miss Libby during rehearsals and had received some tidbits of information, but being in the house was going to give the four some new insight.
The house was the same as it was that night in 1938--turn of the century wallpaper, now thoroughly faded, furniture circa early 1900s perhaps, and a large Philco radio taking up a lot of the floor space.
As Miss Libby brought the chocolate out on a tray, there was a knock on the front door. Lois took the tray from her and passed out the cups, as Miss Libby opened the door to Clark Kent.
Clark rushed over to Lois. “Are you really, okay?” he asked, concerned.
“I’m fine, Clark. Superman saved us all.”
“Would you like to join us for hot chocolate?” Miss Libby asked.
“That would be nice,” Clark said, and as all the living room seats were taken, propped himself on the window seat. Just as he sat down, a very soft humming began, a sound that only Superman could hear....
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Cassville, New Jersey
Sunday,
October 30, 1938
8:33 p.m. EST
David Trask threw open the door of his house on Spring Street. “Mary!” he yelled out and moved quickly through the few rooms looking for her. As he entered the bedroom, he noticed articles of clothing strewn on the bed and the floor. He looked into the closet and realized that a suitcase was missing.
When he returned to the living room, it was the first time that he was aware of the radio being on.
##### ANNOUNCER: The strange creatures after unleashing their deadly assault, crawled back into their pit and made no attempt to prevent the efforts of the firemen to recover the bodies and extinguish the fire. Combined fire departments of Mercer County are fighting the flames, which menace the entire countryside. We have been unable to establish any contact with our mobile unit at Grover’s Mill, but we hope to be able to return you there at the earliest possible moment. In the meantime we take you -- just one moment please. #####
During the pause, David walked into the kitchen and saw the emergency jar empty on the table. He walked back slowly into the living room, trying to figure out what to do next.
##### ANNOUNCER: (Whispering.) Ladies and gentlemen, I have just been informed that we have finally established communication with an eyewitness of the tragedy. Professor Pierson has been located at a farmhouse near Grover’s Mill where he has established an emergency observation post. As a scientist, he will give you his explanation of the calamity. The next voice you hear will be that of Professor Pierson, brought to you by direct wire. Professor Pierson.
The radio squealed.
PIERSON: Of the creatures in the rocket cylinder at Grover’s Mill, I can give you no authoritative information -- either as to their nature, their origin, or their purposes here on earth Of their destructive instrument I might venture some conjectural explanation. For want of a better term, I shall refer to the mysterious weapon as a heat ray. It's all too evident that these creatures have scientific knowledge far in advance of our own. It is my guess that in some way they are able to generate an intense heat in a chamber of practically absolute nonconductivity. This intense heat they project in a parallel beam against any object they choose, by means of a polished parabolic mirror of unknown composition, much as the mirror of a lighthouse projects a beam of light. That is my conjecture of the origin of the heat ray . . . #####
David Trask sank down on a chair. He had warned them. He had warned them all. He had told those around him that there was a danger out there--hordes of invading beasts, and that we, as a nation, were vulnerable. Yes, he had believed that the onslaught would come from across the seas, not across the skies--but the onslaught had arrived.
##### ANNOUNCER TWO: Thank you, Professor Pierson. Ladies and gentlemen, here is a bulletin from Trenton. It is a brief statement informing us that the charred body of Carl Phillips has been identified in a Trenton hospital. Now here's another bulletin from Washington, D.C. Office of the director of the National Red Cross reports ten units of Red Cross emergency workers have been assigned to the headquarters of the state militia stationed outside Grover’s Mill, New Jersey. Here's a bulletin from state police, Princeton Junction: The fires at Grover’s Mill and vicinity are now under control. Scouts report all quiet in the pit, and no sign of life appearing from the mouth of the cylinder . . . And now, ladies and gentlemen, we have a special statement from Mr. Harry McDonald, vice-president in charge of operations.
MC DONALD: We have received a request from the militia at Trenton to place at their disposal our entire broadcasting facilities. In view of the gravity of the situation, and believing that radio has a responsibility to serve in the public interest at all times, we are turning over our facilities to the state militia at Trenton. #####
David walked over to the window. The road in front of his house was clogged with people evacuating. Evacuating to where? Most seemed to be heading south and away from what they thought was the source of their terror.
##### ANNOUNCER TWO: We take you now to the field headquarters of the state militia near Grover’s Mill, New Jersey.
CAPTAIN: This is Captain Lansing of the signal corps, attached to the state militia now engaged in military operations in the vicinity of Grover’s Mill. Situation arising from the reported presence of certain individuals of unidentified nature is now under complete control. The cylindrical object, which lies in a pit directly below our position is surrounded on all sides by eight battalions of infantry. Without heavy field pieces, but adequately armed with rifles and machine guns. All cause for alarm, if such cause ever existed, is now entirely unjustified. The things, whatever they are, do not even venture to poke their heads above the pit. I can see their hiding place plainly in the glare of the searchlights here. With all their reported resources, these creatures can scarcely stand up against heavy machine-gun fire. Anyway, it's an interesting outing for the troops. I can make out their khaki uniforms, crossing back and forth in front of the lights. It looks almost like a real war. There appears to be some slight smoke in the woods bordering the Millstone River. Probably fire started by campers. Well, we ought to see some action soon. One of the companies is deploying on the left flank. A quick thrust and it will all be over. Now wait a minute! I see something on top of the cylinder. No, it's nothing but a shadow. Now the troops are on the edge of the Wilmuth farm. Seven thousand armed men closing in on an old metal tube.... #####
Captain David Trask looked at the bars on his shoulder. How effective could the state militia be using traditional weaponry? If they had just listened to him, this country would have been researching who and what our enemies might be, and locating alternative means to destroy those who would dare to invade us.
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Smallville, Kansas
Thursday,
February 3, 1994
7:20 p.m. CST
Teddy/Donald Botts: CHARGE!
The script told Teddy to dash upstairs, stop at the top of the balcony and signal others to follow. Donald pretended to do this as he and the other actors were still in the practice room and the set has not as yet been finished.
Teddy/Donald Botts: Charge the blockhouse!
Rev. Harper/Rev. Mock: The blockhouse?
Aunt Martha/Libby: The stairs are always San Juan Hill.
Rev. Harper/Rev. Mock: Have you ever tried to persuade him that he wasn’t Teddy Roosevelt.
Aunt Abby/Beatrice: Oh, no!
Aunt Martha/Libby: He’s so happy being Teddy Roosevelt.
Aunt Abby/Beatrice: Once, a long time ago [She crosses below to Martha.]--remember, Martha? We thought if he would be George Washington, it might be a change for him...
Aunt Martha/Libby: But he stayed under his bed for days and just wouldn’t be anybody.
Aunt Abby/Beatrice: And we’d so much rather he’d be Mr. Roosevelt than nobody.
Rev. Harper/Rev. Mock: Well, if he’s happy--and what’s more important you’re happy [He takes a blue-backed legal paper from inside pocket.} --you’ll see that he signs these.
Aunt Martha/Libby: What are they?
The door to the practice room opened suddenly and banged shut. A small man stood in the doorway eyeing the participants. The actors stopped. Lois, Clark, Richard and Wayne Irig who were sitting on the sidelines, waiting to rehearse their scene, stopped reading their scripts and stared at the visitor.
“We’re in the middle of rehearsal,” Mrs. Kent informed the man.
“I’m looking for Martha Kent,” the man said.
“I’m Martha Kent,” she responded.
“Well, you need to sign these papers.”
“What are they?” Martha asked, realizing how bizarre this all sounded in light of the scene they were rehearsing.
“The Smallville Players is mentioned in Lex Luthor’s will. You simply need to sign here and $100,000 is yours.”
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“Here’s the $100,000,” Jaxon said, throwing the wrapped bundle at the man dressed in black. “And here’s your next assignment.”
The man known--to those who had enough to pay him--only as the shadow, read the name, nodded and left the office.
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Cassville, New Jersey
Sunday,
October 30, 1938
8:37 p.m. EST
##### ANNOUNCER: Wait, that wasn't a shadow! It's something moving . . . solid metal . . . kind of shield-like affair rising up out of the cylinder . . . It's going higher and higher. Why, it's standing on legs . . . actually rearing up on a sort of metal framework. Now it's reaching above the trees and the searchlights are on it. Hold on! #####
David Trask opened the cellar door and walked down the stairs. He took a key from where it was secreted behind a water pipe and unlocked his gun cabinet and loaded the rifle. He placed extra shells into a belt and strapped it on. He knew that his arsenal would have no effect, but he was starting to fear that it wouldn’t be the Martians that would need repelling, but the so-called peaceable citizens running for their lives.
#### ANNOUNCER: Ladies and gentlemen, I have a grave announcement to make. Incredible as it may seem, both the observations of science and the evidence of our eyes lead to the inescapable assumption that those strange beings who landed in the Jersey farmlands tonight are the vanguard of an invading army from the planet Mars. The battle which took place tonight at Grover’s Mill has ended in one of the most startling defeats ever suffered by any army in modern times; seven thousand men armed with rifles and machine guns pitted against a single fighting machine of the invaders from Mars. One hundred and twenty known survivors. The rest strewn over the battle area from Grover’s Mill to Plainsboro, crushed and trampled to death under the metal feet of the monster, or burned to cinders by its heat ray.
The monster is now in control of the middle section of New Jersey and has effectively cut the state through its center. Communication lines are down from Pennsylvania to the Atlantic Ocean. Railroad tracks are torn and service from Metropolis to Philadelphia discontinued except routing some of the trains through Allentown and Phoenixville. Highways to the north, south, and west are clogged with frantic human traffic. Police and army reserves are unable to control the mad flight. By morning the fugitives will have swelled Philadelphia, Camden, and Trenton, it is estimated, to twice their normal population. At this time martial law prevails throughout New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania. We take you now to Washington for a special broadcast on the National Emergency . . . the Secretary of the Interior . . .
SECRETARY: Citizens of the nation: I shall not try to conceal the gravity of the situation that confronts the country, nor the concern of your government in protecting the lives and property of its people. However, I wish to impress upon you -- private citizens and public officials, all of you -- the urgent need of calm and resourceful action. Fortunately, this formidable enemy is still confined to a comparatively small area, and we may place our faith in the military forces to keep them there. In the meantime placing our faith in God we must continue the performance of our duties each and every one of us, so that we may confront this destructive adversary with a nation united, courageous, and consecrated to the preservation of human supremacy on this earth. I thank you. #####
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Smallville, Kansas
Thursday,
February 3, 1994
7:30 p.m. CST
Martha Kent stared at the papers in front of her. This was incredible, but knowing where the gift came from, she was wary. “Any strings attached, Mr....uh....Mr.?” she asked the man.
“Sheldon Bender. And no.”
“I’m sure it’s fine, Martha,” Richard said. “I’ve been asked by young Jaxon Luthor to advise him financially, and to insure that his father’s original wishes were carried out. This is what Lex Luthor wanted--for the Smallville Players to carry on.”
Martha, getting the okay from Richard, signed the documents and returned them to the outstretched hands of Mr. Bender.
The attorney placed the papers back into his briefcase. “I’ll post the documents at the probate court and return with your copies tomorrow,” he explained and scurried out the door.
“There’s got to be a catch,” Clark said, walking over to his mother.
“I know,” his mother pondered. “But what?”
“No catch,” said a voice entering the practice room. Jaxon Luthor stood in the doorway surveying the group. “My father had varied interests and many of them were named in his will. I’m here to let you know that this is no hoax.”
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Smallville, Kansas
Sunday,
October 30, 1938
7:59 p.m. CST
“It’s all a hoax,” Betty Kent told her husband, Jerry, as he walked through her door.
“What’s a hoax?” he asked, watching as his wife walked over to turn off their radio.
“All that carrying on about Martians landing. None of it is real. It’s just a radio play for Halloween.”
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Cassville, New Jersey
Sunday,
October 30, 1938
8:45 p.m. EST
Captain Trask cleared a spot on the table near the window by throwing all its contents to the floor, and placed a rifle on it. He returned to the cellar to get yet another gun.
##### ANNOUNCER: You have just heard the secretary of the Interior speaking from Washington. Bulletins too numerous to read are piling up in the studio here. We are informed the central portion of New Jersey is blacked out from radio communication due to the effect of the heat ray upon power lines and electrical equipment. Here is a special bulletin from Metropolis. Cables received from English, French, German scientific bodies offering assistance. Astronomers report continued gas outbursts at regular intervals on planet Mars. Majority voice opinion that enemy will be reinforced by additional rocket machines. Attempts made to locate Professor Pierson of Princeton, who has observed Martians at close range. It is feared he was lost in recent battle.
Langham Field, Virginia: Scouting planes report three Martian machines visible above treetops, moving north towards Somerville with population fleeing ahead of them. Heat ray not in use; although advancing at express-train speed, invaders pick their way carefully. They seem to be making conscious effort to avoid destruction of cities and countryside. However, they stop to uproot power lines, bridges, and railroad tracks. Their apparent objective is to crush resistance, paralyze communication, and disorganize human society. #####
David returned with the second rifle and placed it by its brother. He went into the kitchen to bolt the back door but heard some noise in front of the house. He moved swiftly back to his sniper position from which he could protect his home forgetting to lock the back door.
###### ANNOUNCER: Here is a bulletin from Basking Ridge, New Jersey: Duck hunters have stumbled on a second cylinder similar to the first embedded in the great swamp twenty miles south of Morristown. Army fieldpieces are proceeding from Newark to blow up second invading unit before cylinder can be opened and the fighting machine rigged. They are taking up position in the -- foothills of Watchung Mountains. Another bulletin from Langham Field, Virginia: Scouting planes report enemy machines, now three in number, increasing speed northward kicking over houses and trees in their evident haste to form a conjunction with their allies south of Morristown. Machines also sighted by telephone operator east of Middlesex within ten miles of Plainfield.
Here's a bulletin from Winston Field, Long Island: Fleet of army bombers carrying heavy explosives flying north in pursuit of enemy. Scouting planes act as guides. They keep speeding enemy in sight. Just a moment please. Ladies and gentlemen, we've run special wires to the artillery line in adjacent villages to give you direct reports in the zone of the advancing enemy. First we take you to the battery of the 22nd Field Artillery, located in the Watchtung Mountains. #####
David Trask’s rifle shattered the glass of his living room window as he thrust it through one of the pains and positioned it to ward off any attack.
Behind him the radio prepared an assault of its own.
##### OFFICER: Range, thirty-two meters.
GUNNER: Thirty-two meters.
OFFICER: Projection, thirty-nine degrees.
GUNNER: Thirty-nine degrees.
OFFICER: Fire! #####
Then the boom of a heavy gun came from the radio. Then silence.
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Smallville, Kansas
Thursday,
February 3, 1994
7:30 p.m. CST
Sheldon Bender left the high school and walked toward the parking lot. He heard a noise and turned around in time to barely make out, beneath the dim illumination of a lamppost, what appeared to be just a shadow. It held up a gun and fired.
tbc.
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