Of course I couldn't resist this:
"The Big Dipper is not a constellation," Clark told her.
"Yes it is," Lois argued, "I may not know much about the stars but I know the Big Dipper."
He chuckled as she refused to back down. "Yes, but it's not a constellation. It's an asterism. It's like a constellation within a constellation. The Big Dipper is part of the constellation of Ursa Major," he grinned as Lois shot him a venomous look.
How true!
![[Linked Image]](http://www.physics.louisville.edu/astro/students/107-01/topics/constellations/UrsaMajorMessier_sm.jpg)
This is the constellation Ursa Major, the Big Bear. The Big Dipper is actually the hind part of the Big Bear, the long tail(!), the tummy, the lower back and, hmmm, the bum, I suppose.
"The larger one's Ursa Major and the smaller one's Ursa Minor. Ursa Minor contains Polaris, the most Northerly star although it's slightly off centre. It moves like the other stars, only in a much smaller circle so it looks like it stays in the same place."
Well, the stars don't actually move in circles, but rather it is the Earth that turns on its axis. (Similarly, the Sun doesn't actually move across the the Earth's sky during the day, but instead the Earth turns on its axis, so that the Sun moves in and out of view.)
However, if you point a stationary camera at the sky during a clear night, the stars will trace out circles, or parts of circles, on the sky, in response to how the Earth moves. Polaris is situated
almost, but not quite, above the Earth's north pole, so it will trace out a very small circle:
![[Linked Image]](http://photo.net/bboard-uploads/008g66-18556884.JPG)
He had to laugh at her slightly off-centred logic. "You think?"
Lois smiled back at him, realising how much she sounded like she was grasping at straws in this argument. "I have no idea. It's not an impossibility though."
He kissed her. There was no rational thought behind it on his part. She was just being Lois, in his arms, in the starlight, her face centimetres from his. So Clark leant forward and cautiously kissed her on lips. He'd never kissed anyone before, not even a peck on the cheek. He had no idea what he was doing but he knew that was what he wanted to do, so he did it.
Oh, I love it! Love it! Love it!
(Sorry, I couldn't resist.)
He did not expect her to respond to his kiss and certainly not as passionately as she did.
[img]
http://cache.viewimages.com/xc/3096...4D8CF980336B021CB2488FF9A55A1E4F32AD3138[/img]
So this is certainly not Lois and Clark, but....
Luthor smiled genteelly at him. "I want to recapture Clark."
"You lost the alien?" Trask exclaimed in horror, losing his caution as his paranoia took over. "It's out there, somewhere, probably contacting its home planet and giving them information for the invasion?"
Jeepers! This Trask fellow is completely off his rocker!
"Mr. Trask, remember our little arrangement?"
"Huh?" As Trask turned to face Luthor, he heard the shot of a gun. He glanced down at his shirt and saw a growing patch of a sticky red substance flowing from the area in which he knew his heart was located. He'd been shot. He looked at Luthor. He was smiling at him. He'd just killed him and he was smiling! "You son of a--" Jason Trask died before completing his final sentence.
OMG!!! Luthor shot him and smiled while he was doing it!!!
Wow, what a chapter, Alisha!
Ann
