From Chapter Three:
A new E-Mail message popped up just before she logged off. [That’s strange, it doesn’t show who the sender is. Is this what they call “spam?]. The subject was “WARNING”.
[Well, I read that this is how spammers entice you to open their mail. Curiosity killed the cat. Well, they’re not getting me. No one else knows my e-mail address. Must be junk], she reasoned to herself, as she clicked on the “delete” button without opening it. [There! I’m going to be a 21st century woman yet!] she smiled to herself.
Well, there were people waiting to use the computer, and it was getting to be time to get back to the church, before it got dark.
Chapter Four
Interlude
He clicked on “read mail”. [Yes, an acknowledgment that Lois read my E-Mail message. NO! It
says she deleted it without reading it. My God, she was always so stubborn. Thinks she knows
everything! Now what do I do? Kent’s already on his way, and if the tip I got is correct, he may
not get there in time. Can’t betray my sources by revealing it was me who sent that E-mail it to
her. Good thing it’s Superman going to get her. Maybe there’s still a chance.]
End Interlude
As they prepared for landing, Clark remembered why he hated commercial flights. First of all, they
put you thru HELL just to get on the plane! [Thank God I checked the luggage that Lois’ chocolates
were in. And that female security agent didn’t have to do SUCH a thorough job either], Clark smiled to himself. [I guess knowing that Superman was taking a commercial flight must be been
quite a hoot to all of them at the gate. Thanks to Tempus, I will never have any real privacy!].
Second of all, a trip that would have taken him 30 minutes, flying at a leisurely pace, had almost
wasted an entire day! [Damn protocol], he swore to himself. It was important to the Daily Planet
that Clark traveled to Congo like anyone else, complete with long lines and aggravation!
Thank goodness, most of the passengers weren’t acutely aware what “Superman” looked like.
Especially in a business suit and glasses! During the entire 18-hour flight, he had been left alone.
Flight attendants treated him as they did anyone else on the flight. [Good thing I can get by
without eating, this airline food is terrible!], he thought.
After the tedious process of obtaining his luggage, and getting thru customs, he was surprised
to discover that Le Meridien Brazzaville was only 10 minutes from the airport. Maybe Lois would
be waiting for him at the hotel? Heart pounding, he took the hotel’s shuttle, anticipation filling his every vein.
Realizing that this hotel was a good distance from the business district of Brazzaville, it seemed
doubtful that Lois could travel this far, unless she was able to hitch a ride.
During his “nomad” period, before he came to work for the Daily Planet, Clark had briefly traveled thru Africa. He had also flown thru the Congo covertly at night looking for Lois, to no avail. He couldn’t allow himself to be seen.
The residue of ten years of war was very apparent while he was traveling to the hotel. Empty buildings and houses, rubble everywhere. Looking at this destruction made him ill. If only he could help.
But as the “other” Lois had told him, “whatever you can do to help is enough.”
He had forgotten how tropical the topography was. They were right on the Equator, after all. The hotel had six floors, and an outdoor swimming pool.
He was disappointed upon entering the lobby that no beautiful, dark-haired, thin woman was waiting for him.
Upon checking in, at about 3:30pm, he was impressed to find that The Daily Planet had sprung for a suite, figuring that he and Lois could share a room, once he located her. They wouldn’t be able to return to the U.S. for a few days at least, anyway.
In order to leave the country and enter the United States, Lois would have to have her own Yellow Fever vaccination, and blood tests for AIDS and malaria, in case she was a carrier. In addition, she needed a complete physical, one that would give her a “bill of health”. She had described herself as thin. Hopefully, several weeks of chocolates and nutritious meals would put some curves back on her body!
Very few of the rooms had telephones. There were two internet kiosks in the lobby of the hotel. Only guests of the hotel were allowed access, by credit card, and a sign up sheet was used. Clark signed up for the next available slot, which was 5:00 p.m., and took the elevator up to his room, on the 6th floor. Ah, good to be on the top floor of the hotel, easy access for patrolling the area at night, with the black shirt and pants he had brought with him.
After an eternity in an airplane, and several hours more bogged down in security checks and customs, even a Superman was tired. He set his wind-up alarm for 4:45 p.m., flopped on the bed, noted how uncomfortable it was, and floated above it. He nodded off, dreaming of Lois in his arms.
At approximately 4:55 p.m., he walked downstairs to the lobby. An hour of sleep had recharged him. His turn to use the computer was coming up.
On a whim, he went to the front desk, and with his working knowledge of the French language, asked if there had been a dark-haired American woman in her mid-thirties waiting in the lobby at any time in the last 24 hours.
“Oui, monsieur. But she left with someone”, the clerk replied.
“Can you describe her companion?” Clark asked, feeling the anxiety well up in his chest.
“Oui, he looked very similar to you, monsieur. Dark hair and glasses.”
Clark was in a panic. He realized it was his time to use the kiosk. Maybe she had e-mailed him a message?
He sat down at the computer and pulled up Daily Planet’s web site. Logging to their “employee only” site, he was able to pull up his e-mail from anywhere in the world! Yes! There was a message from Lois, and also one with no sender listed.
==============================
To: CKent@DailyPlanet.com
From: LLane@yahoo.com
Subject: Your Arrival
Clark, by the time you read this you should be in Brazzaville. I’m going to try to get a ride to the hotel somehow, but if I can’t, please look for me on the outskirts of town. There is an abandoned church that has been turned into a haven for refugees. I’m sure you won’t have any problems finding me. See you soon. Thanks for coming to get me.
Lois
=======================
The message was sent yesterday, about 5:30 p.m., Congo time.
The next message was strange. No sender. Subject: DANGER. Normally, he wouldn’t open it, but at this point, perhaps there was some important information about Lois. He clicked on the message line:
==============================
To: LLane@yahoo.com
Bcc: CKent@DailyPlanet.com
From: <Unknown Sender>
Subject: DANGER
“Can’t reveal my sources but word on the street is that something big is going down. The Daily Planet’s web server has been compromised and none of the e-mails are secure. The underworld may be aware that you’re alive, Lois. Be very cautious until Kent gets there.
An old friend”
=========================================================
Clark’s mind was racing. [Message was sent yesterday around 11:15, EST time, right after I left the Planet and headed to the airport. The e-mail went directly to Lois, with a “blind” cc to me. Lois should have been wary of someone approaching her, then. There must be another American women with dark hair staying in the hotel here! Maybe I’m panicking for nothing. Maybe it wasn’t Lois that he saw. They say everyone has a double, anyway. Lois would be too smart to go with some stranger in broad daylight].
Clark was stunned, though, to know that the Daily Planet’s web server had been compromised, and he thought he had a pretty good idea who the mystery e-mail was from. [Hmmm. I better get a ‘Yahoo’ e-mail address so that Lois can reply to me without some goons reading it!], he reasoned.
=======================================================
To: LLane@yahoo.com
From: CJKent@yahoo.com
Subject: New e-mail address
Lois, I’m here in Brazzaville and you’re not in the hotel lobby. That warning message that we both got has me worried. Don’t send any other e-mails to my Daily Planet address. I now have this “Yahoo” address. Be very careful. I’m out looking for you right now.
Love, Clark
~‘send’~
======================================================
Immediately after clicking “send”, Clark realized what he had done. Too many years of a fantasy
relationship with Lois had caused him to let his guard down, acting too familiar towards her.
[Omigod! What did I do! I sent that message and signed it with ‘love’! What is she going to think? Too late now, message is sent, can’t delete it. Well, I’ll deal with that later. Time for Superman to make his appearance -not!- ]
Clark logged off and took the elevator to the sixth floor. He changed into his black shirt and jeans, and walked down the hallway.
There was a outdoor patio on the roof. Luckily, no one was using it. He scouted the area with his enhanced vision, decided it was deserted enough, and lifted off. It was 6:00 p.m. and the sun had just set.
He found the church fairly easily. He could not believe how many people were crammed into that small building. He landed down the street from the church adjacent to some mango trees. He was horrified by the conditions. Sick that “his” Lois had had to live in these conditions, but also nauseated at the famine and disease over here, while Americans had so much. Obesity was getting
to be the #1 health problem in the United States; in Congo, malnutrition was the norm.
[There is just so much a Superman can do. Whatever you can do is enough].
He approached one of the women. “Is Linda here?” he asked her.
The woman looked fearful of him, then realized that most of these Congolean women had been ravaged by the rebel forces for so long, they were intimidated by the male species.
She wouldn’t meet his eyes as she answered, “No, monsieur, she went to town. Should be back by now”.
He put his hand on the woman’s chin, and smiled his 1000 watt smile at her. Slowly bringing her face up to look him in the eyes, he said, “Merci. Au revoir, madame”.
He followed the road from the church to the town. No sign of her. It was dark, and now that the war was over, none of the refugees felt they had to keep moving at night. The streets were deserted.
He again felt squeamish at the sight of abandoned villages everywhere. It was starting to look like Lois had taken off with a stranger in the hotel who looked enough like him to throw her off guard. The Lois Lane he knew, however, was way too suspicious to do that. No….she MUST be around!
“Waitaminute” he thought. “She had said there was an internet café in the foyer of Le Choc. That must be where she sent her last E-mail from! Shouldn’t be too hard to find!”
When he had speed-walked sufficiently far from the church, he flew off, blending into the darkness, heading back toward the business district. Nearing the center, he gently dropped down to street level and super-sped on foot the rest of the way.
There it was. Le Choc. One of the most prominent newspapers in Congo Brazzaville. [Darn! The foyer is closed at night. She couldn’t have been here recently], he reasoned. [I wonder if there is anyone working that might have seen her?].
There was a guard on duty. He knocked on the glass. “Monsieur, s’il vous plais?”
“We are closed, monsieur. Open at 6am tomorrow morning.”
“I’m looking for an American woman who may be in danger. May I speak with one of your reporters?” Clark loosely translated.
“What is your name, monsieur?”
“Je m’appelle Clark Kent, de l’Estats Unis, foreign correspondent, Daily Planet newspaper.”
“Please wait here.” He saw the guard talking to someone on what looked like a cellular walkie-talkie. “Monsieur, one of our affiliated reporters does want to meet with you. He’s coming downstairs.”
To Clark’s absolute shock, a Caucasian man with dark hair and glasses appeared at the door and let him into the foyer.
“Clark Kent, what an honor to meet you.” He offered his hand. “Mark Boyle. I’m a foreign correspondent for the BBC,” he informed Clark. He spoke English with a heavy British accent.
Clark shook his hand, wondering if this is the man Lois took off with. From a distance, they would look alike. Approximately the same height, brown/black hair, glasses. He looked to be a bit older, maybe in his forties. Clark, of course, was more muscular than Mark, but otherwise, they were similar in appearance. “Pleased to meet you as well,” Clark said.
“I don’t mean to be rude, but may I see your identification?” Mark asked him. Mark’s press card and photo I.D. was clipped to his shirt pocket.
Clark smiled. Back in the States, where everyone knew him to be Superman, he’d never be asked for I.D. Traveling overseas gave him a sense of anonymity. It was kind of nice!
“Sure. No problem”. Clark said, pulling his wallet out of his pants pocket. He handed Mark his press pass, his Visa, and his New Troy driver’s license.
“Thank you. Sorry if it put you off.” Mark said. “You really can’t be too careful over here.”
“No problem. I’m looking for an American reporter that was lost over here. Her name is Lois Lane,” disclosed Clark.
“I know you are,” he said, smiling. “She told me you were coming to bring her home. Why don’t
you come upstairs with me to our newsroom, and you can meet her,” he said.
“She’s here? With you? Thank God,” Clark exclaimed, relief flooding his body. “She was supposed
to stay in the hotel lobby waiting for me to get there.”
They headed into the elevator lobby, Mark pushed the “up” button, and they waited.
Mark smiled. “My old friend Perry White e-mailed me. He told me that word was on the street that Lois might be a target, and that I should ‘baby-sit’ her until you got here. Not that I minded, she’s a beautiful woman, even though she’s quite frail right now. If only I had known before that she was here.”
Clark felt a wave of jealousy engulf him. [What did he mean, ‘If only he had known she was here!’ What would he have done? Hit on her?]
Suddenly he realized that he was about to meet the woman he had fantasized about for the last seven years. He hoped he hadn’t put the imaginary Lois on such a pedestal that the real Lois couldn’t possibly measure up!
“She didn’t want anyone to know she was alive until the war was over. Apparently her family had been threatened by Luther Corp, should she try to return to the States.” Clark informed him.
“Yes, that’s what she said,” Mark agreed, as they both got into the elevator.
They got off at the third floor. Apparently Le Choc had a “foreign correspondent” room, courtesy of
their arrangement with the AP and the BBC. There were computers and even a plasma TV/monitor
set to “BBN”, the British version of “LNN”.
A dark haired woman with her hair up in a bun and dressed in tattered khaki clothing stood up when the door opened. “Are you Clark?” she asked, almost shyly.
Clark’s body kept walking toward her but his mind was frozen in time. He had dreamed of this moment for so long, but never had he imagined meeting her under these circumstances.
“L-L-Lois? Is it really you?” he said, his voice more of a husky whisper.
“Welcome to Congo Brazzaville”, she said, offering him her hand.
On a whim, Clark brought her fragile hand up to his lips and kissed it. He felt a chill and a wave of
anxiety just from the contact. “Lois, you have no idea how happy I am that you’re safe,” he breathed.
“I’m sorry if I gave you a start when I wasn’t at Le Meridien. Apparently, Perry contacted Mark here to tell him something was going down and he wanted to make sure I was safe. I managed to hitch a ride to the hotel, and while I was waiting in the lobby Mark here walked in. I thought he was you, so I ran up to him. Turns out he was looking for me anyway. Mark and Perry worked together decades ago! He offered to show me his newsroom at Le Choc while I was waiting for you, and I just couldn’t resist that, and it had computers there, so I figured I would just send you an e-mail that I was waiting for you here instead. I just got the e-mail you sent me with your new e-mail address,” Lois babbled, finally stopping to catch her breath.
Clark smiled broadly. Ten years of horrific living hadn’t changed the famous “Lois-speak” that he
had become so familiar with when he had visited the other Universe. Suddenly, the last part of
what Lois had said hit him hard. She had read that last e-mail, which he had signed “love, Clark”. He suddenly felt very self-conscious.
“Well, Lois, it was super to meet you,” Mark said, realizing that it was time for Clark and Lois to
go back to Le Meridien and begin preparations for Lois’ departure. “Anytime you want to give
me an interview on your experiences here, call me,” he offered, giving her his business card.
Lois replied, “Thanks Mark, but my heart belongs to Metropolis and the Daily Planet.”
[And, hopefully, to Clark Kent some day too], Clark thought.
“Do you need a ride back to the hotel?” Mark asked.
Lois smiled and looked at Clark. “Do we?” she asked.
“No, I believe we do have another means of transportation that will get us back rather quickly, but thanks for the offer,” Clark replied, and turned and smiled at Lois. It was the first time Lois got to be the recipient of Clark’s 1000-watt smile that melted many hearts, unbeknownst to him.
“I think I know what means of transportation that might be,” he winked, looking at Lois. “Superman Airlines, right? I won’t tell a soul,” he joked.
“Thanks, I appreciate that,” said Clark. “Thanks so much for keeping Lois safe until I could get here.”
“It was entirely my pleasure,” Mark said, shaking both of their hands, and walking them out to the elevator lobby.
Lois and Clark took the elevator down to the foyer. “Clark, this is where I was e-mailing
you from!” Lois pointed to the computer kiosks. She felt so happy. Life was finally taking
a turn in the right direction.
As they said good-bye to the night guard, and walked out to the street, Clark asked Lois,
“Are you ready for this?”
“You’re joking, right? ‘Mad Dog Lane’ passing up the chance find out first-hand that rumors of your powers haven’t been greatly exaggerated?” she exclaimed. “No way! Bring it on!”
“I swear, no propaganda”, he quipped, reminding them both of the sarcastic tone in the first e-mail
Lois had sent to him.
It was starting to rain. The dry season started in June, so this was typical for March. “Do you want
to go straight back to the hotel, or do you want to take a little world tour first? As long as it’s dark and no one can see us, I mean”, Clark said earnestly, looking into Lois’ deep brown eyes.
“Clark, you can take me anywhere you want, as long as we’re safe, and I can leave this
Godforsaken place, even temporarily,” Lois replied with enthusiasm.
They walked a little way down the street, and crossed over into a grove of trees. Clark picked
Lois up in his arms. [She’s so light, got to get this woman a good meal!]
“Are you cold?” he asked her. “A little,” she said. Clark gently used his heat vision to make
her more comfortable.
“Wow! What did you just do?” Lois asked. “That felt so wonderful.”
“That was propaganda, Lois,” he smiled. With that they lifted off into the night sky, rising above
the rain clouds, up to where the moon and the stars shone brightly. [If I’m dreaming, please don’t
let me wake up,EVER].
TBC
