Watchtower. Oliver is busily typing at a computer, searching the Metropolis Police records for mentions of Chloe. Nothing turns up. As the camera sweeps around him, we see several other computers up and running, all searching fruitlessly for Chloe. Tess walks in. "I got your message," she says. "I have to say, it wasn't the call I was expecting." He doesn't bother with a greeting, just announces that Chloe is gone, with a hint of accusation in his voice. "Well, you've been with her for five months," Tess says. "Seems like things are right on schedule." It's not like that, Oliver tells her. She just disappeared without a word. Tess thinks their whole group has trust issues. Oliver says she must not know him at all if she thinks he's just going to sit around waiting for his girlfriend to come back like Clark is doing. Tess sticks up for Clark, saying that Clark respects Lois enough to give her space. "Maybe that's because Lois hasn't completely disappeared," Oliver says. He tells Tess there's no digital record for Chloe anywhere. "It's like she never existed," he says sadly. Tess looks at the bank of monitors with a gleam of recognition and admiration. "The only one who could erase Chloe is Chloe," she says. Oliver accuses Tess of being behind it, showing her an email from Chloe that he thinks Tess forged. She reads it out loud for the audience at home, most of which I'll spare you. It ends with "I've never loved anyone the way I've loved you, and I never will again." Chloe's letter signs off by calling Oliver her hero and "knight in shining leather." Tess gets a little choked up reading it. She's got some crazy clown blush going on here. Maybe the purple prose is rubbing off on her, dermally. Tess tells Oliver she didn't write the letter. Oliver, with tears shining in his eyes, already knew. Tess admits she helped Chloe "reset the system." She trusted that Chloe had a plan. "Maybe it's time you trust her, too." Oliver looks like a lost little boy.

The scenes on this show feel so long. That's not just me, is it? Long scenes of two people just talking at each other. Talking and talking and talking. [It's not just you. - Zach]

We rejoin another pair of conversationalists in Africa. The camera pans across a table laden with golden artifacts from Carter's dig. Lois picks up a blue and gold necklace and snarks about how gaudy it is. Carter, trying to get some work done in another part of the tent, can't let that go by. "You might tell that to its owner, the goddess queen Isis," he says. "She spent eternity searching for the cut-up pieces of her dead husband." Lois relates Isis's ordeal to her own broken relationship with Clark. I hope for your sake that Clark's not missing his penis like poor Osiris. (I've written Egyptian-themed stuff before and yet I've never been able to work that into something until Smallville. Figures.) Carter ignores her and keeps working. Lois wanders around the tent. If she's writing about this dig, shouldn't she be... taking notes or something? She compares Carter to Indiana Jones and keeps touching stuff until he finally tells her to keep her hands off. Lois keeps flapping her gums. Carter, looking like he'd rather take a dive headlong into a crocodile tube than spend another moment in this woman's company, messages Clark: "Lois Lane is safe. You owe me big time." She wonders why a statuette of Ra has the head of a parakeet. "It's a falcon," Carter corrects her. Lois remains unimpressed. "So why was this 'hawk guy' so important?" she asks, displaying the wealth of Egyptological knowledge that made her the perfect choice for this assignment. He relates to her the abridged version of the Sun God myth. She thinks of Clark. A woman, wearing a scarf that conceals most of her face, brings them tea. "Thank you, Ati," Carter says. She leaves silently. Lois talks about how this assignment isn't in her "strike zone," seeing as how she was raised by a very practical General and all. Carter's still trying to work, but Lois goes on about living one's whole life without any proof of a god. "And then one day you look up," she says, "and the guy sitting across from you is Ra!" She goes on, talking a mile a minute, wondering what life is like for this mystery guy. It must drive him crazy having to drive something as slow as a car, for instance. Carter stops working and gives her a knowing look. "This is going to require something stronger than tea," he says. He gets out a bottle of booze and suggests Lois just ask Clark all these questions. Then he tells her to sit down before she drives him crazy. For once, Lois is silent.