Just a short little fic touching on something that's bugged me for years. On another note I'm about 7500 words into a longer fic and in the market for a beta if anyone is interested =)
It's All About Timing
by Lieta
Disclaimer: This is a fan work based on “Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.” All rights to the characters belong to DC Comics and Warner Bros. No profit was made off this work.
Lois Lane felt the shudder of the module docking with the space station with a sense of elation. She had *done it*! The first reporter to cover a space launch from inside a vehicle!
She quickly released the straps securing her to the launch seat and, with a sense of wonder, felt the weightlessness of space for the first time.
"Who are *you*?" cried an outraged voice from the hallway.
Lois put on a winning smile, "I'm Lois Lane, from the-"
Another voice cut her off, "You know, Ms. Lane, redeeming my husband and helping my daughter and I get our places back on this launch doesn't mean I appreciate a stow away in a place where resupplying is as complicated as *this*." Lois shrank from Mrs. Platt's glare. "You're lucky the room you were in was empty due to Dr. Lyon getting a stomach bug at the last minute." Mrs. Platt folded her arms angrily as she floated in the doorway.
Lois hoped her smile was still winning her points as she reasoned, "Well, I just wanted to report on the launch. I'm fine with going right back down to print the story."
The first voice, a man who appeared to have some authority judging by the insignia on his jumpsuit, snorted derisively. "Ms. Lane was it?" Lois nodded. "Well, Ms. Lane, this initial crew of the Space Station Prometheus all signed on for a minimum of six months of service."
Lois froze, her smile dropping off her face, "But... supplies, surely you get supplies?" In the ensuing silence Lois hunched her shoulders. "Dr. Lyon getting brought up? Anything?" she finished desperately.
The authoritative figure smiled grimly. "Now that there's a crew here, we get *unmanned* supply modules often enough. But those won't even be jettisoned before we're ready to interphase with a manned vehicle to swap out crew."
"Ms. Lane, you've just volunteered your services to the EPRAD space program for six months. And you'll be lucky if they don't have a jail cell waiting for you when you get planet-side."
* * *
A long interphase with EPRAD had left Lois feeling utterly idiotic. She'd made rash calls before, but this one took the cake. She wouldn't even be allowed to publish anything until she returned to the planet and was thoroughly debriefed on what was and was not for public consumption.
Lois was quickly bored on the station too. Everyone else was there for a purpose. There were countless experiments being conducted, but Lois was only useful to the other crew members for her ability to fetch and carry. None of them even wanted to talk to her at down times. She was the unwanted intruder in nearly every way.
Then, as the final indignity, EPRAD managed to transmit a copy of the Daily Planet only a day after her ill-fated choice to sneak aboard the launch vehicle.
"I'm a Friend and I'm here to Help" by Clark Kent burned Lois' eyes as she read about a man who *flew* in skin tight clothing, saving people from an apartment fire that had erupted the night of the launch. Another story by Kent of all people said that it looked like someone had been attempting to make a bomb in the apartment and had instead set fire to his own building.
In trying to get the story of the year... she'd missed the story of the millennium.
End
