Noelle had agreed almost immediately.
Clark wasn’t sure if that was because she trusted him, or because she’d long since accepted that living like this wasn’t living at all. Either way, the simulations could only take him so far. It was time for the actual clinical trial.
He smiled as he entered the laboratory.
It felt a little forced. Despite every test, every simulation, and every adjustment he’d made over the past several weeks, there was still the possibility that he’d overlooked something. Simulations were controlled, after all, but reality wasn’t.
Which was why Clark had insisted Francis and the others weren’t here for this. If it worked, they’d have all the time in the world to celebrate.
If it didn’t…
He’d rather they didn’t see it.
Doctor Mother stood behind one of the observation consoles, hands folded behind her back. The Custodian lingered in the laboratory as she did every other room in the base, silent enough that Clark barely registered her presence anymore.
Neither said nor did anything. Good. There wasn’t anything left to say.
The machine occupied the center of the room, its diagnostics already running by the time Clark reached the console. He checked each readout carefully, making sure every system was operating within the parameters he’d set.
Even after the diagnostics cleared, he went through them a second time. And only after he was satisfied did he look through the transparent panel.
Noelle met his eyes.
“Are you ready?” he asked.
She let out a long breath before nodding. “As I’ll ever be.”
Clark returned the nod, then rested a hand on the activation switch. “I’m starting now.”
For just a moment, Noelle looked as though she wanted to say something.
Instead, she nodded.
He pressed the button, and the machine began to whirr.
Noelle closed her eyes.
She didn’t want to hope.
Hope was dangerous.
It crept in slowly, convincing you that maybe this time would be different. That maybe the nightmare was finally over. Then reality reminded you why you’d stopped hoping in the first place.
She’d learned that lesson a long time ago. Back on Earth Aleph, before the accident. Before she became this.
The machine whirred around her, the vibrations just barely perceptible through the padded surface beneath her. She focused on them instead of the thoughts threatening to overwhelm her.
She thought of Francis, of Marissa, Jess, Luke, Oliver, and even Cody.
The seven of them had been through far too much together. So much so she wondered if they’d ever laugh again, and not the forced kind they’d learned to fake over the years.
She hoped Francis wouldn’t blame himself if this failed, but she knew he would. There wasn’t much she could do about that.
She sighed, her thoughts drifting to Superman.
He was such an odd man, or well, alien. He smiled so easily, believed so completely, and looked at her—not the thing she’d become—but her. As though the monster below her upper body wasn’t the first thing he saw.
As though she was still Noelle Meinhardt.
Maybe he was naive. Or maybe he’d simply never learned to stop believing in people. Either way… She hoped he was right.
She hoped that the next time she opened her eyes, it would be to a different body. A body that belonged to her. One she could hug her friends with, walk with, sleep with, live with, and maybe…
Maybe a different life too.
Her heart began to race despite herself. The whir around her grew louder, warmth spreading through her body. And then everything disappeared.