Hmmm, very good part, anonpip! And the A-plot is certainly coming along nicely.

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“And, now that I'm out of the way, Weis has big plans. After he talked to Skagle to confirm that I hadn't shown up, he called someone else. A man named Caragy. From what I could gather, Caragy works for NASA, but he's not exactly what you would call a loyal employee. He's supplying Weis with exact coordinates and projections for Deucalion*.”

“Deucalion?” Lois interrupted. “Isn't that the small ship of Prometheus residents trying to make its way to Mars?”

Clark nodded, “So far, the trip has been a success and they are making good time. If the theories are correct and they discover Mars can be made inhabitable, it will be a coup for the US as the US government is funding the mission. But it seems Weis takes after the man whose empire he now owns.”
Wow!!!! Weis is trying to take over the ship bound for Mars!!!!

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Ah gaaaah. Yes, Nasa is certainly talking about sending people to Mars, though I don't think a definite date has been set, and it won't happen for at least a decade yet.

But how scary would it be to go to Mars? Can you imagine it? First of all, do you realize how complicated it would be to even go there?

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The trip there would take months. And can you imagine what it would be like to be confined inside a small spaceship, and when you look out the window you can see the Earth behind you, shrinking and shrinking the whole time? (Well, most of the time anyway.)

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Shrinking and shrinking, until finally it would be just a pale blue dot?

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No really, the Earth would never look that faint as seen from Mars. It would look like a bright but featureless star. But still, though? Wouldn't it the idea of seeing the Earth being so far away from you be scary?

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Lois groaned. “Oh, so Weis wants to be the first person to make it to Mars and find out if it's inhabitable?
Hey, Weis doesn't have to go to Mars to find out if it's inhabitable! The surface of Mars is all barren and sterile, and it is being bombarded with dangerous ultraviolet light from the Sun. This ultraviolet light makes it all the way down to the surface of Mars because the atmosphere of Mars is much too thin to stop it. In order to survive on Mars, humans will have to build their own protection, maybe so called Mars domes:

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What would that do for him? It's not like he would own it just because he got there first.”

“Weis seems to think he could persuade the government to let him do so,” Clark informed her.

“And how is he going to do that?”

“War,” Clark replied. “He's planning on launching a bomb at Deucalion. He'll threaten other attacks if they thwart his plans.”

“He can't possibly have the means to take on the US military!” Lois exclaimed.

“He doesn't need to,” Clark reminded her. “He clearly has a way to make nuclear weapons. I'm not sure how the US would feel about fighting a nuclear war. Particularly on American soil.”
Well, wow... it's a bit far out, but I like it. Well, I like the A-plot, I mean, I don't like Weis!

The B-plot was very, very sweet. I loved Lois's concern for Clark, and I also loved how Clark rather stupidly subjected himself to more kryptonite radiation in order to get Lois information that she could use to write a Pulitzer-winning article. I loved how Lois fussed over Clark and rather mothered him a bit:

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Lois took a slice of pizza out of the box and sprinkling first the garlic powder, then the red pepper on it, handed it to him. “Eat,” she instructed.

“Lois, I don't need to be babied,” Clark said. Both Lois and Henderson giggled slightly at the whiny sound to Clark's voice.

“I'm not babying you,” Lois insisted, “but your mother said food helps when you've been exposed to kryptonite. Now eat,” she said.
I love it!!!! clap

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Despite herself, Lois felt a fondness for the man beside her that she had sworn she would not let herself feel. But she had never been very good at controlling her emotions. If she had, she would never have fallen in love with Clark in the first place, given her rule against office romances.

The thought made her smile. Maybe she would be better this time. Maybe she would be able to keep her emotions to the strong fondness she felt right now and not be foolish enough to fall in love again.

Reaching out to brush an errant curl out of his eyes, Lois watched the rise and fall of his chest once more. The movement was rhythmic and hypnotizing and within moments, Lois had fallen asleep beside him.
And what an ending! That's just adorable. sloppy

Thanks for telling me who Deucalion was. I'd love it if you'd also explain about this MSG thing!

Ann