* * denotes emphasis
< > denotes thoughts
/ denotes telepathic communications./
Previously –
A sudden thought occurred to her about the conversation this evening. She stopped her finger tracing and placed her hand flat on Clark’s chest for leverage as she lifted her head up so that she could look Clark in the face. “Oh, by the way, Herb told me something quite interesting this evening. He didn’t realize it but he did give me a piece of information about *our* future. You know how we’d been wondering just how long we will be together now with the way things are. Well, Herb told me that there will be a string of Lane and Kent reporting teams at the Planet until the mid *24th century*.” She gave this a couple of seconds to sink in. Clark whistled. “Do you think you can put up with me for that amount of time?” she asked, raising an eyebrow archly.
Clark simply grinned, pulled her up and kissed her soundly. “If you can put up with me for that long, I think I can make the same sacrifice.”
She jabbed him in the ribs and they both broke out in laughter.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
In the course of time, somewhere in the early 24th century, when the foundation of Utopia had been established and there were sufficient numbers of Supermen and Superwomen, over 50 of them being direct children of Lois and Clark and therefore three quarters Kryptonian, over 500 grandchildren, 2500 great grandchildren and uncounted great great grandchildren (Etc) it was revealed to the world that the Supermen and Superwomen were all from the Kent family, descendants of the original Superman and Ultra Woman. By this time crime and warfare was virtually unheard of, thanks to their influence, and most of what the Supermen and Superwomen were called on to help with was natural disasters.
When it came time for Lois and Clark to pass on, their children had tombstones erected on their graves engraved as follows:
Clark Jerome Kent
Kal-El - Superman
1966 – 2388
The best father on any planet
Lois Ellen Lane-Kent
The original Ultra Woman
1967 – 2386
Mother of Utopia
And now –
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Epilogue - 2454 Sidereal
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Herb stepped off of the receiving pad in the lobby of TTEMPO Headquarters. Glancing around he saw several of his TTEMPO agents going out on missions. Taking a tube to his floor, he approached his office and the door automatically opened for him, since it was keyed to his bioelectromagnetic signature.. When he entered he hung his bowler hat on the coat rack standing just inside the door. He said “Lights!” and several lamps designed to look like the gas lamps of the late nineteenth or early twentieth century lit up. He walked over to an old fashioned roll top desk and sat down. As he did so the chair actually creaked as it took his weight. He pushed a button on his desk and speaking into the air said “Journal entry.”
A very human sounding voice replied “Working. Journal?”
“Journal entry, book. title … Universal Locator Designation - Alpha 023 x Gamma 004 x Tau -120
Local designation – Prime
“Ready.”
“Date – June 30, 2454. On June 1, 2454 I received the time capsule letter from Lois and Clark dated July 4, 2031 which outlined what had happened and how Lois’ life had been extended. It also contained a description of a visit by my 1912 persona. That visit was five subjective years ago but I remember it distinctly. The letter cleared up some questions which still remained. One question was her possession of one of the pendants. That was taken care of on this trip.
“I have just returned from 2010 where I visited with Prime Lois and Clark. The purpose of the mission was the delivery of her pendant. In view of the fact that this particular Lois already had an extended life span due to her body being sensitized to the Kryptonian aura which resulted from her time as Ultra Woman, it was deemed that delaying until she was into her first round of children would be appropriate. The delivery was timed to coincide with the first child starting to develop his powers. I chose to arrive on September 23 to coincide with Lois’ birthday.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Flashback September 23, 2010
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
As Herb approached 348 Hyperion Ave he started hearing the typical sounds of a family with small children. He climbed the steps and knocked on the door. From inside he heard a feminine voice call, “Jon, sweetie, could you get the door for mommy?”
After a few seconds the door opened and a ten year old lad stood in the doorway looking at him.
Very politely the lad asked, “May I help you?”
Herb, with a broad smile said, “Yes, you may my lad. My name is Mr. Wells and I’m here to see your mommy and daddy. I understand it’s your mommy’s birthday and I have a present for her. Could you let her know I’m here?”
“Who should I say is calling?”
“Mr. Wells.”
“Okay, wait a minute.” Herb couldn’t resist an even larger smile as the lad shouted, “Mommy, it’s a Mr. Wells!”
From farther inside he heard a very familiar voice say, “Did you say, Wells?!?!?!”
“Yes, Mommy! He said his name was Mr. Wells!”
“I’ll be right there!”
Reopening the door the lad announced, “My Mommy says she’ll be right here.”
“Thank you my boy. I heard her.”
A few seconds later a somewhat frazzled Lois appeared at the door with a baby on her hip. “Herb! Come on in.” Turning to her son she said, “Thank you Jon for getting the door.”
Jon said, “You’re welcome, Mommy.” and then he ran off to play.
“Here Herb, let me take your hat.” She took his bowler and placed it on a table in the foyer as they passed through. “I was in the middle of a diaper change when you knocked. What brings you here this time?” Lois invited Herb to take a seat. Herb remembering a previous visit, which had not occurred as yet since it was a future event that his previous self had made, chose to sit in the wing back chair across the coffee table from the sofa where Lois then sat down with the baby on her lap.
After taking his seat and relaxing into the embrace of the comfortable chair he said, “I have a couple of reasons. First, unless I have my dates wrong, I believe that I have come on your birthday. Am I here on the correct day?”
Chuckling Lois replied, “Yes, Herb, you are in fact correct. You came at just the right time. When Clark gets home a sitter will be arriving to watch the kiddos while he takes me out for a romantic dinner for my birthday.”
“I don’t wish to delay you significantly from your dinner, but that brings me to the second reason for my visit. I got your letter.” At that statement Lois got a very puzzled expression on her face. “I do have some things to discuss with you and Clark. What time do you expect him?”
Lois’ puzzled tone matched her expression as she looked at her watch then she said, “He should be here within a half an hour. Is it something serious? Do you need us to help out somewhere, because if you do, I really can’t go. I have to take care of the kids. If you won’t be gone too long you can probably take Clark. I mean, if he’s really needed I could let him go for a little while. What am I saying, you’re a time traveler! You could take Clark somewhere and stay for a year and come back two seconds after you left and I might not even realize you had been gone if my back was turned. It isn’t going to be something dangerous is it? If it’s going to be dangerous I would really want to be there because Clark might need me and I’d need time to arrange a sitter. How long would we be gone?” It was like what he had said suddenly hit her and she said, “You said you got our letter. What letter? We didn’t send you any letter.”
Herb had started chuckling half way through her babble and when she finished he said, “No my dear, it’s nothing like that. I have a birthday present for you and I simply want to give it to you and explain to you and Clark where it came from and how to use it. As to the letter, I’ll explain that when Clark is here.”
“Okay, wow, oh, that’s a relief.” Suddenly she perked up as she realized what he had said.. “Did you say a birthday present? It’s so nice of you to remember it’s my birthday. That's so sweet of you.” The baby in her arms started to fuss a little so she started bouncing her on her knee.
Observing the child dressed up in a pink onesie with pink booties and having brown hair, brown eyes and dimples Herb asked, “Which child is this, if I might ask?”
Proud mama that she was Lois smiled and held up the baby for inspection saying, “This is baby Lucy. She is six months old today and I think she’s getting hungry. If you don’t mind, I’ll go ahead and feed her.”
“That’s quite alright my dear. Go right ahead.”
Lois went over to a changing table located in a corner of the living room and picked up a drape. She snapped the fastener around her neck and allowed it to drape over her upper torso. Reaching under she fiddled around releasing her breast from its confinement and brought baby Lucy under the drape. Lucy immediately latched onto a nipple and began nursing while Lois returned to the couch. “So, Herb, we haven’t seen you in some time. What have you been doing? Solving more time problems?”
“No, my dear, most of my time is being spent documenting your family history in the various universes.”
It didn’t take long for what he had said to register and she blurted out, “Wait a minute. Various universes? I thought there was only ours and the Alternate universe.”
“Oh, my, my, my. No, no, there are many universes within the multiverse. I would really like to save that explanation until Clark is here, if you don’t mind. That way I only need to go over it once. What has been happening with you and Clark?”
Just as he finished asking that question, two six year old whirlwinds swooped into the living room, one boy and one girl and the boy asked, “Mommy, can Celeste and me have some cookies and milk?”
“It’s Celeste and I, Honey. Yes you may.” In a louder tone she called their older sibling. “Jon?!?”
A small voice replied, “Yes, Mommy. I’ll be right there.”
When Jon arrived he stood in front of Lois and listened attentively. “Jon, could you help your brother and sister get some cookies and milk? In fact, why don’t you get Lara, Jessie and Jimmy and you can all have a party in the kitchen.”
All enthusiasm now Jon said, “Wow, thanks Mommy. I’ll go get ‘em. Can we have the choco choco chip?”
Chuckling she replied, “Any kind you want, Sweetie.”
“*All right*!” He ran off to get his siblings.
She now addressed the twins, “Why don’t the two of you go wait for your brothers and sisters in the kitchen and take your seats at the table.”
“Okay Mommy!” They chorused and headed for the kitchen door.
Chuckling she said, “They all inherited my love of chocolate. Well, I guess you can see we have our hands full. Lucy is number seven and it doesn’t look like there is an end in sight. We had some metabolic studies done and it looks like I am aging at the same rate as Clark. When I was Ultra Woman and had a Kryptonian aura my body began to behave the same way as his. It looks like we will have a long life together. Can you give me a hint as to just how long?”
“Now, now my dear. Too much information too soon is not good. I must say, your children are a joy to behold. They are very well mannered.”
Looking toward the kitchen Lois had a very thoughtful look as she replied, “We really love them and they know it and they love us and we know it. We just act in love all the time and they are the product of that love.
Just as she was finishing this statement the baby started to whimper. Lois readjusted and moved her over to the other side to finish nursing and she settled in again nursing happily.
While Lois had been in the process of shifting Lucy around Clark had walked in the door. He had heard an extra heartbeat and had scanned the house before entering so he was forewarned that Herb was there. He walked toward Herb and stuck out his hand. Herb stood up and grasped his hand and shook it. Clark said, “Herb, it’s been a long time since we saw you. I guess it was, let’s see, late 1999 or early 2000 wasn’t it?”
“Actually I think it was late 1999. You were expecting Jon at the time and it was very early in the pregnancy.”
“Right, I remember now. We had dinner with Bernie Klein. What brings you here at this time?”
“I actually have a couple of reasons for being here at this time. First I bear a present for Lois for her birthday. This present doesn’t come from me however; I’m just the delivery boy. Now before I give it to you I have some explaining to do. This will be a somewhat lengthy explanation, so please bear with me.”
Lois interrupted, “Before you start, would you like some refreshments?”
“No, thank you Lois that will not be necessary. I don’t want to hold you up from your dinner any more than necessary. First, I need to explain a little bit about the multiverse. I’m afraid that I left you with a misimpression some time ago when we found ourselves stranded by Tempus in that alternate universe. At that time I also didn’t understand the multiverse in general and alternate universes in particular. I more correctly should have said that we were in *an* alternate universe. You see there are many, many alternate universes in the multiverse. The Clark you know from our previous adventures together is from a universe I’ll call 36 for the sake of convenience. If you recall when you last saw him we were leaving after having dealt with Tempus. That Clark was lamenting the fact that he couldn’t find his Lois. I attempted to assist in his endeavor. It the course of that adventure we learned more about alternate universes and he made a rather unique discovery. His discovery has been made into a pendant to be worn by Lois. I think that you will be very pleased with the result.” Herb pulled a small case from his pocket and handed it to Lois.
As Lois’ hand touched the box she felt a surge of energy. Her hearing and eyesight both became very acute. Startled she gasped and as she opened the box she asked, “Herb, what’s happening to me. I feel like I did when I was Ultra Woman and had Clark’s powers.” Inside the box was a pendant in the shape of Superman’s crest in Sterling Silver with Star Sapphires embedded in it and suspended on a silver chain.
“You do my dear. That is the other Clark’s gift to you. Now you will have the powers you will need to cope with your super offspring. Also, you will now have no need to fear for your continued well-being. No one will be able to harm you. You are now safe from kidnappers and any other criminals that may in some way discover Superman or Ultra Woman’s true identities.”
She looked over at Clark and said, “Wow!! That’s too much! Can you believe this? Now you won’t need to carry me to Paris for dinner, I can fly under my own power. Thank you Herb and please, thank Clark for us when you see him again.”
“I’ll be sure to do that. One thing I need to tell you about this, you need not worry about criminals gaining access to the pendant. It will only bestow the powers on Lois or any other individual that is at least half Kryptonian due to the physiological changes brought about by exposure to the Kryptonian aura. To anyone else it will simply be a piece of jewelry. Incidentally the Superman Foundation is commissioning the manufacture of like medallions for general sale using various birthstones. In that way it will be unremarkable for Lois to be wearing one. Now secondly, the letter.”
Lois interrupted at this point, “Yeah, the letter. What letter? We didn’t write any letter and how would we get it to you if we did?
“In approximately twenty years my younger self, my 1912 persona, will be paying you a visit. You must at that time conceal from him your abilities and your longevity. It is important that you conceal these things as too much information too soon is not a good thing. We must learn things at their proper time. After that visit you will write a letter and it will be delivered to me in the future, rest assured. It has happened, it will happen. Again, my best wishes on your birthday and may you have many more.”
Lois asked, “Just how many more?”
“Ah, now if I told you, where would the mystery be?”
Contritely Lois responded, “I guess you’re right. Too much information too soon isn’t necessarily a good thing. But you can’t blame a girl for trying.”
Herb stood up to take his leave. Baby Lucy had finished nursing during Herb’s narrative and had promptly fallen asleep so Lois readjusted her clothing and putting the baby over her shoulder gently rubbed her back. Even though asleep she still managed to burp and continued her gentle snoring.
Clark held out his hand and said, “I don’t know how to thank you Herb. This is a tremendous gift. Now Lois will be safe from harm. It’s a dream come true.”
“I’m happy to have been the bearer of this gift. Now keep in mind, you have to be wearing the pendant to have the powers. As soon as you remove it the powers are gone.”
Lois replied, “We’ll remember. Thanks again.” Lois with the baby on her shoulder leaned over and gave Herb a kiss on the cheek.
Herb blushed at this and stuttered his goodbyes and took his departure.
After Herb was out the door Lois put her unoccupied arm around Clark's neck and pulled him down into a kiss. Then she whispered in his ear “Why don’t you give Luce and call and get her over here. I need to get my old uniform out of the closet and dust it off.” With a wicked grin and an arched eyebrow she asked, “What do you think about joining the ‘Mile High Club’?”
“I don’t know how that will work. When we are ‘active’, I can’t always keep my mind on flying although I do float occasionally. That might be enough.”
“Well, as long as at least one of us can keep us up, that’s all we will need, right? Let’s try it out over the ocean so that if we are both distracted too much at least the worst we will get is a dunking.”
Clark had a silly grin on his face as he picked up the phone and called the sitter, Aunt Lucy, who was going to bring her children so that they could play with their cousins and she could watch her nieces and nephews as her birthday present for her sister.
Lois walked over to the crib and gave the baby a kiss on the forehead and after whispering, “I love you baby girl” she put baby Lucy down for her nap. As soon as she was down and covered Lois flew upstairs on her quest.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
End Flashback
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Herb completed his entry, “History shows that they did conceal her status from my earlier self successfully and they did mail the letter. End entry.
The End
comments go here Lois Lane Mother of Utopia Matchmaker Chronicles Volume 1A The Early Years (A Christmas Story) A/N:
Sidereal (pronounced sai’diera.el) time is a universal constant based upon the movement of the planets and stars. Primarily used by astronomers. In my L&C universe (this and other stories to come) it will be used. Because in other stories I will be having events occur ‘out of sequence’ with the L&C universe of the series but the ST or UT will provide the touchstone.
TTEMPO (pronounced Tempo) Time Travel Enforcement and Multiverse Protection Organization founded in 2435 by Herb and a group of research scientists working at what was then called Uni (short for Universal) Labs, a descendant of S.T.A.R Labs. They were a multi-disciplinary group with specialties ranging from computer science to particle physics and beyond. When Herb approached them with the method he used for time travel they were interested enough to hear him out on his proposal. He had seen the affects of uncontrolled time and dimensional travel and saw the need of an organization which would oversee such travel and which would be able to take the necessary steps to correct alterations to the time lines as needed. Thus the organization was formed with several branches, Admin, Research, Documentation and Enforcement. They approached the Superman Foundation which had assumed certain governmental responsibilities with the establishment of Utopia, and were granted a charter for their activities.
TaDT - called a ‘Tad’, actual name - Time and Dimension Transporter. A small device slightly larger than a Blackberry or I-Phone type Smart phone with a full keypad (no need to use alt characters to type in numbers) and a large display. It has a tremendous amount of computing power and memory and is powered by a Kryptonian power source of tremendous power for its size. In its initial form it was only capable of moving through time since it was based on the principles of Herb’s Time Sled and was called a TT – Time Transport. After a while the ability to move geographically was added and the name was changed to TLT – Time and Location Transport. Once this was accomplished and the actual nature of the alternate dimensions was determined it was a simple matter to use the base algorithms from the geographical movement to add dimensional movement. It is capable of opening a ‘portal’ either within time lines, alternate dimensions or both. The default setting when crossing the time ‘barrier’ is location zero (Please see Herb’s recounting of his initial adventures in his book “The Time Machine”). The default when crossing the dimensional barriers is time zero, current time Sidereal, NOT local. Tempus had managed to acquire one of the later versions which enabled him to cross the dimensional barrier to Alt 1. The one unpleasant ‘side effect’ of using the Tad is that it does tend to create an almost imperceptible weakness in the dimensional barrier and a ‘worm hole’ type effect which has two fixed end points. Tempus use of the device created a paradox of sorts in that it alerted Herb to the existence of alternate dimensions. Herb was able to bring this knowledge to TTEMPO which facilitated the development of the TaDT which device Tempus later stole.
The multiverses are separated from each other primarily by their vibratory state expressed as 3 vectors. The closer the 3 vectors are to each other in total indicates the relationship of one universe to another. For instance universe: Alpha 023 x Gamma 025 x Tau 040 would be more closely related to and in fact an offshoot of Alpha 023 x Gamma 025 x Tau 036 (Alt 1) than Alpha 023 x Gamma 004 x Tau -120 (Prime) as can be seen by the similarities in the Gamma and Tau values..
The creation of universes within the multiverse will be explained in a future work.
The Kryptonian naming convention is as follows: The male children carry the family name, or surname, after a hyphen which follows the given name. The female children carry the family or surname as part of the given name without a hyphen. Upon marriage they then adopt the family name of their husband in a format similar to the males it being added after the given name and hyphenated. For instance Zara was Za of the house of Ra (An example of this coming into play is the story “Backwards” by CarolM when Lois Kent ‘hears’ a message from Jor-El when examining Kal-El’s ship telling her “In the absence of the House of Ra, you have my blessing.” which was referring to Zara.) Kal-El’s mother Lara would have been La of the house of Ra indicating that Kal-El and Zara were distant cousins at the time of their birth marriage as infants. Although it is not mentioned in either movies, series or comics Lara would most properly have been Lara-El having taken the family name of El upon her ceremony of union to Jor-El as Zara would have become Zara-El if the ceremony had been completed wedding her to Kal-El. In this story Lara Kent’s Kryptonian name is My of the house of El – Myel. In “Luck and Consequences” by Bob Bartholomew, Lois made up a Kryptonian name. At the press conference she said her name was Lor of the house of El as her married name. This would have had to be L of the house of Or prior to her marriage indicating to me that this was a spur of the moment creation or else she would have come up with a longer given name, although this is still perfectly legitimate. This naming convention is an aid to Kryptonian genealogists in tracing family histories. There are cases such as Lt. Ching or Lord Nor where the surname is not mentioned. This could be due to the presence of the title: Lt. or Lord. In the case of Lt. Ching the reason would be the presence of a *military* title. The same would apply to General Zod. With Nor and Trey it could be because they are members of the aristocracy. I seem to recall at some point that Nor is referred to as Zara’s brother which would make his complete name Nor-Ra.
Klj
