An Odd Place to Find Oneself

Chapter 9: Communication Situation

"Oh, man." Reginald sighed and rubbed his head. "We were so close…" He paced around the lab anxiously.

Professor Hamilton was quiet. "We weren't close enough," he finally sneered.

"What…what went wrong?" Reginald half-whimpered, half-shouted.

The Professor was quiet again for a minute.

"What went wrong is that we weren't aggressive enough," he said with an air of definitiveness.

"But, but, Professor – we can't!" Reginald protested desperately. "I mean…you know, those mental patterns could be delicate and –"

"I don't care!" the professor shouted. "All that matters is that Kent and Lane are awake and talking. Whatever it takes to achieve that goal is worth it."

Reginald swallowed. "But…if…their behavior changes -"

"It will take them weeks to find out, if not more. You know the public's attention span. They'll have long forgotten about our little mishap by then."

"I…I'm not so sure about that, Doc-" Reginald said.

"I'm not Doctor Garver!" the professor shouted. "I am Professor Emil Hamilton. I'm no shady, Parasite-possessing maniac defeated by Superman. I'm widely respected. They won't doubt me! They believe I'm innocent! They want to believe I'm innocent!"

Reginald swallowed. "Okay – I – I understand."

The professor sighed, seeming to calm down a little. "Don't forget why we're here, friend," he said quietly. "This is the technology that will revolutionize everything. This is the technology that the military will pay any amount of money for. And when we make history, no one will care about the things that happened along the way. No one will remember."

"If…if you say so," Reginald replied.

"I do," the Professor said. "When Jimmy comes back here, nothing will stop us. Nothing."

Jimmy lay in bed, staring at the ceiling.

Aside from what happened with Professor Hamilton and Reginald and…well…Clark and Lois, it had been a relatively uneventful day. But what had happened in S.T.A.R. Labs eclipsed everything in his mind.

Clark and Lois are alive and conscious. Somehow. And they…were talking to me. And from what Clark said…they've been conscious since the demonstration…all this time…but how?

Is Professor Hamilton aware of this or…was he lying? And even if he was…what happened to them?

There was so much to think about, but Jimmy's brain couldn't take it all. Those headaches…they kept coming back. Nothing the Professor was doing helped them at all, really.

The more Jimmy thought about it, the more he realized that they didn't really feel like any headaches he had ever experienced before, but he was at a loss as to how to describe them.

What…happened…to me? And is there some connection between whatever happened to Clark and Lois?

…Ugh. My head hurts. It just hurts more the more I think about these things, Jimmy thought to himself. If only Clark or Lois were here to help me sort this out…or maybe Superman. Haven't seen him in a while…

He paused.

Where are Lois and Clark, anyway? I mean…that's a dumb question, I know where they are...lying on those cots in the lab, but…while I was dreaming, it was like…they were in my head.

Jimmy suddenly sat up.

Wait…they were "in my head"…and I've been having headaches…what if…they were "in my head" the whole time? What if…they're actually the cause of my headaches? Could…could it be?

Jimmy shook his head. It sounded so crazy, but…the entire point of the experiment was to transfer thoughts…what if, somehow, it ended up not just transferring thoughts, but…consciousness?

Jimmy took a deep breath. Wait a second. Does that mean…if I go to sleep right now…I can…actually talk to them?

Whoa. That's a crazy thought.

Jimmy got up from his bed and paced around his apartment briefly, even though his headaches made him kinda want to lie down again.

Gee…I already had dinner. I guess there's nothing stopping me from just…getting ready for bed and…well, sleeping. Right now. I mean…I guess, come to think of it, there's not much else I really want to do.

Jimmy was riding in the Daily Planet elevator, ready to begin the day's work. He was cramped, surrounded by a couple of people he was vaguely familiar with and a couple others he didn't know from Adam, but for some reason, he had a good feeling…a feeling that somehow, some way, Clark and Lois would be okay.

Wait, maybe that's not such a strange feeling, he thought to himself. I mean…didn't I figure out last night that they were alive, and conscious, and in my head…w-wait…

Ding! The elevator stopped. Being somewhat lost in thought, Jimmy was almost squished as the people behind him made their way out, but in a few seconds he was on his way to the meeting being held by the Chief that morning.

Wait…I'd planned on trying to see if I could communicate with Clark and Lois while I was dreaming, right? But I don't remember that happening…did I just…forget my dream or something? And completely forget about what I had been trying to do this morning, too?

Ugh! Jimmy couldn't believe himself. He desperately wished that wasn't the case, but…what other option was there?

Sighing, Jimmy gathered with the other reporters. But to his shock, the Chief wasn't there. Instead, there was a man who looked really familiar.

Jimmy gasped. Oh my gosh…it's David! David Schoell!

Though he tried, Jimmy had never been able to erase the childhood memories he had of David – from the first time David stole his string cheese to the time he revealed that Jimmy still slept with a stuffed stegosaurus every night. Thankfully, he also couldn't forget the feeling of pleasure he felt when David and his family moved - until now, that is.

"Hey, what's up, Daily Planet?" David said, his words and intonation extremely reminiscent of his nine-year-old self. And aside from being even bigger and taller, he had apparently barely changed in appearance over more than a decade. "I'm your new Editor-in-Chief, and I'm planning on mixing things up a bit. But first of all" – he pointed directly at Jimmy – "I'd like you to get me coffee. Extra cream, please."

Jimmy swallowed and quietly, but quickly shuffled away. As he filled a cup full of coffee, he couldn't help but think to himself, How could this be happening? How could I have not known until now the Chief was being replaced? And what the heck are the odds that…that David Schoell could become my boss?!

Freakily enough, he actually remembered having a dream like this before, years ago. It was long before coming to the Daily Planet, back when he worked for Round th' Clock Pizza. It was pretty much the same exact thing – his boss being replaced by David Schoell for seemingly no reason.

He made his way back to David and gave him the coffee. "Thanks, Slim Jim," David said. "Whoops!" He splashed a bit of the hot coffee on Jimmy, causing him to yelp in pain. "Didn't mean to do that," David said. He smiled to himself. Many of the other reports chuckled. Jimmy's cheeks burned intensely, and he tried to quietly slink into the background.

"Well, enough fun and games - time to get to work." He clapped his hands and rubbed them together, then began walking around the crowd of reporters and pointing to various people. "Flynn and Taylor, get ready to cover the mayor's speech. Hammett and Troupe, get on the school controversy. The rest of you guys, get on the whole 'Daily Planet reporters rendered comatose by mad scientist' thing, except for you, Olsen." He smiled down at Jimmy, towering over him. "I want you to stick around here, 'kay? You never know when I might need something."

Jimmy groaned.

The other reporters quickly got on their various tasks, while Jimmy just stood there.

"First job, Jim: It's the janitor's day off, so clean the bathrooms. Try not to get any poop on yourself, bud."

Jimmy sighed and silently slunk off.

Jimmy miserably swirled a scrub brush around the bowl of a toilet. How can this be happening? he asked himself. This is just like a bad dream…

He paused.

Wait a…second, he thought to himself. Maybe this is a dream. That would make perfect sense. I didn't forget about trying to talk to Lois and Clark in a dream, I'm having that dream right now!

Jimmy's mood brightened for the first time that day…Well, technically, I guess it's night since I'm sleeping…

Something occurred to Jimmy that re-dampened his mood: It may be a dream, but Lois and Clark are still in comas, if "the Chief's" assignment to the bulk of the staff is any indication…but, on the other hand, if Lois and Clark are really in my head, they aren't really comatose, so…I should still be able to talk to them somehow, right?

Jimmy scratched his head. If this is a dream, nothing I'm experiencing is real. It's all in my head…maybe I can just sort of make things be the way I want them to. I mean, now that I know I'm dreaming I should be able to change what I'm dreaming …right?

Realizing there was no point in obeying an imaginary boss, he sat down his supplies, opened the stall door, and walked out, only to bump right into a large man.

"Oof! Excuse me – wait, is that you, Jimmy?" said a familiar voice.

"C-Clark?!" Jimmy said as he looked up.

Well, I didn't expect it to be that easy.