Lex Luthor was reviewing the following email message during Tempest on his computer. The author of the message is not known, but it was written during the time Lex was attempting to orchestrate the employee buyout of the LuthorCorp Plant in Smallville. The text in bold received a close up during the episode. The rest of the message was taken from a still frame. The title of the message was "Crisis". The page breaks reproduce what was seen on the screen.
Crisis[]
rebel prompting Alexander to march on their city. Calmer
heads do not prevail. Alexander seizes the "opportunity" to
send a powerful statement to the rest of his empire. He and
his armies kill six thousand Thebans, demolish the city and
sell the 30,000 survivors into slavery. Scorched earth, Lex.
That was how Alexander the Great choose to inaugurate his
reign at what my college history professor liked to call the
first modern empire's birthplace. But that is only history.
Now you have a choice between seizing the opportunity or
fleeing from the danger. What you do will define your
regime, as Alexander's actions defined his for generations
to come.
I sincerely hope you will seize this "opportunity" to show
your father and the business world--as well as those of us
who serve you--an example of righteous and compassionate
