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Features Writer
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Features Writer
Joined: Jun 2003
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Joined: Dec 2005
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Kerth
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Kerth
Joined: Dec 2005
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 Delightful. The guide was still staring into the air. For a moment it looked as though he wasn’t going to answer, but finally he said, “He said ‘Put any name on it you want. Just get it to the people who need it.’” Low key, polite, that's Clark.  Agent White was gritting his teeth. “Your boy just caused six separate diplomatic incidents, including accusations by the Chinese and Russians that the United States is launching missiles toward Asia.”
He turned to her and said, “Since when did he think it was ok to start world war three?” I can't wait for Lois's reply. I expect her to laugh in his face. No more "secrets"! Delightful.
Framework4
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Nobel Peace Prize Winner
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Nobel Peace Prize Winner
Joined: Aug 2005
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Methinks that Clark needs to go to France ASAP and put a permanent stop to that Hadron Collider! I loved how those Burmese soldiers fired and fired and fired on Clark, only to find this: The other soldiers kept firing for a few moments, but the gunshots began to stutter and then die off. For a long moment the figure stood motionless, smoke rising from its right hand.
Then it stepped forward, moving directly toward the Burmese sergeant who just moments before had been refusing to give the MSNBC crew an interview. To the man's credit, he rose stiffly and stood at attention as the garish figure stood less than three feet away from him.
For the first time it spoke. It spoke in Burmese for a moment and stared at the sergeant, who nodded.
It dropped the mass of metal in its hand to the ground and then took off, flying directly upward faster than the eye could see. Hah! Clark is an "it"! Haven't those Burmese soldiers ever read comic books? Nelson turned to his native guide and said, “What did he say?”
The guide was still staring into the air. For a moment it looked as though he wasn't going to answer, but finally he said, “He said "Put any name on it you want. Just get it to the people who need it.'”
The camera zoomed in on the steaming mass of metal on the ground; bullets crushed and fused together, then zoomed on the soldiers unloading the desperately needed supplies. Even the Burmese soldiers know when to comply!  “We've traced the first two incidents to trial runs for the project,” Agent White said. “The first trial was aborted after a period of several seconds, and the second lasted almost a minute. In neither case was the system fully operational. However, the system was not running during the last incident.” The Hadron Collider! Oh no!!! “It's an aftershock,” Dr. Ledderman said, leaning forward. “I'll have to look at the data, but I suspect that the places where the storms are forming don't completely close, at least not right away. We've managed to punch our way through to the other side and maybe there's a delay before there's a backwash of energy, reopening the rift.” An aftershock! Like when there's been an earthquake!!!  Falling to the ground, his mother began to cry. A moment later his father and uncle had caught up to them.
It was the second explosion that caught the adults' attention, followed by a third and a fourth.
The man in the red cape was walking through the forbidden fields staring at the ground in front of him. From time to time something exploded; sometimes so close to the man than it made the adults gasp.
At one point the man stood for a moment and then stomped slightly on the ground. The explosion was loud, but it didn't seem to affect the man at all, although it set the hem of his cape on fire. The man didn't seem to notice and the fire quickly went out, leaving only charred edges.
It was over in less than three minutes. The man in the costume walked toward the group of them.
“Those are all I can see,” he said. “I'm pretty sure it is safe at least out to the second ridge.” Clark cleared a minefield in Iran? I didn't know there were that many minefields in Iran. Slamming on the brakes, Private Jacobson stared at the brightly costumed figure standing in the middle of the road. He ignored the cursing of his team, and a moment later several of them were spilling out of the car, weapons at the ready.
This was a poor spot for an ambush; bombs had leveled the buildings for a thousand yards in all directions leaving only rubble and very little in the way of cover.
The man standing in the middle of the road ignored their shouted demands to surrender, and instead he kicked a box standing next to the road.
The explosion was hot enough to be felt even from a hundred feet away. They ducked and ran for cover, only to stop and stare. As the fires died away, the man in the Superman costume still stood in the same position, although the lower part of his cape had burned away.
He looked at the cape, sighed and then shot directly into the air. But this must be Iraq, and Clark destroying an IED. The film shook unpleasantly, obviously taken by a hand held camera. Bodies were lying scattered on the ground, and as the camera moved it proved to be worse than anyone could expect. Room after room of the dead, their skins blue and cyanotic.
“How many?” Dr. Ledderman asked.
“Two hundred and twelve.” Agent White said. “There were seventeen survivors on the outskirts of the event who managed to get to their breathing equipment in time.”
Lois stared at the scene at the refinery, and something tugged at her mind. “Aren't these scenes from the gas leak in Denver?”
“It was the most plausible explanation,” Agent White said. “But these people were asphyxiated by chemicals not in use in the plant.”
“What sort of chemicals?” Dr. Ledderman asked. “Methane?”
“There were traces of methane,” Agent White said, “But hydrogen sulfide was what killed these men.” Poisonous gas has leaked through a rift? “It killed everything within a thousand yard radius, and we've found small animals injured and dead at twice that distance.” Agent white said. “People in Denver five miles away were able to smell the scent of rotten eggs.”
“So how long would someone have to breathe this stuff before it killed them?” Lois asked.
“We're estimating the concentration in some parts of the plant to have reached twelve hundred parts per million,” Agent White said. “Anything over a thousand parts per million, one whiff and you're dead.”
“The people on the outside edges didn't get out?” Lois asked.
“Low concentrations smell like rotten eggs,” Ledderman said. “But anything over two hundred fifty parts per million deaden the sense of smell, so those on the outskirts wouldn't have known that anything was wrong until it was too late.”
“I thought people on plants like that carried gas detectors,” Lois said.
“Most of them carried badges to detect poison gases,” Agent White said. “Seventeen managed to get to gas masks. Twelve of those are already dead. The survivors are likely to have lasting problems.” Horrible! Those rifts have to be closed. “So essentially you are saying that after all the presumably earthlike worlds we've been connected to, we finally hit one where a planet like Jupiter is on the other side?” Lois said, interrupting him. “It's only going to get worse,” Dr. Ledderman said. “Between the first test and the second, the number of rifts increased geometrically. If they come into full operation, there will be even more rifts and each new one has the risk of bringing just this kind of thing across.” How dense are those Hadron Collider people? They have run two tests and the world is going crazy already... but of course, they wouldn't know about the "incidents",, because authorities everywhere are keeping a tight lid on things, doing their best to make sure that no one should have a clue about what's going on? :rolleyes: A moment later he'd found it. MSNBC was running footage of a brightly colored figure being fired upon by Myanmar troops.
Agent White was gritting his teeth. “Your boy just caused six separate diplomatic incidents, including accusations by the Chinese and Russians that the United States is launching missiles toward Asia.”
He turned to her and said, “Since when did he think it was ok to start world war three?” Come on!!! Even in China and Russia they know the difference between Superman and a missile! Right now Clark needs to put that Hadron Collider where the sun doesn't shine. Oh, wait, it is underground already... well, he sure as heck needs to make that thing inoperable! ![[Linked Image]](http://www.gridpp.ac.uk/cubes/1.jpg) The Hadron Collider... ![[Linked Image]](http://yeskarthi.files.wordpress.com/2007/03/0002.jpg) ...it's got to stop!!! It can't be long, either, until the whole world knows that Superman is here. And everyone is going to know that Superman has found Lois Lane, too. I just wonder if they will grant an interview together, telling the world that they ar leaving it for the greener pastures of Clark's home world. Ann
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Merriwether
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Merriwether
Joined: Jan 2004
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I continue to be intrigued as Lois' conversation unfolds. Agent White seems to have the world's best interests in mind, despite his insistence on keeping the rifts a secret. I imagine that a conversation between the agent and Clark would be interesting, as well.
It took me a few moments to place where Clark went to. I thought he was visiting different locations within the same country. I thought it was terrible with so many soldiers, bombs and mines. Then, when I read there were six diplomatic instances, I wondered where all Clark had wandered off to. Ah, but I'm geographically challenged.
Elisabeth
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Pulitzer
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Pulitzer
Joined: Feb 2008
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Wonderful as ever. This part paints an interesting picture of Clark doing good works and getting metaphorically kicked in the teeth in response. Gently it set the container down on the ground and stood. It ignored the bullets being sent at it until a Burmese soldier crouched with a submachine gun and sprayed it. You try to do something good, and what happens? You get shot at. Also, in this section, I liked the way you referred to Clark as "the figure" or "it". Good way to represent the POV of the Burmese soldiers and other onlookers. Then it stepped forward, moving directly toward the Burmese sergeant who just moments before had been refusing to give the MSNBC crew an interview. To the man’s credit, he rose stiffly and stood at attention as the garish figure stood less than three feet away from him. In a few words, you let us know of the strong character of the Burmese sergeant, facing a... whatever...that has certainly demonstrated that the Burmese weapons are ineffectual against him. The sergeant must have been wondering if he were about to be killed by this strange figure. Obviously he decided to meet his fate bravely. Just in the little phrase about standing at attention, you told us much about this minor character. Good work. MSNBC was running footage of a brightly colored figure being fired upon by Myanmar troops.
Agent White was gritting his teeth. “Your boy just caused six separate diplomatic incidents, including accusations by the Chinese and Russians that the United States is launching missiles toward Asia.”
He turned to her and said, “Since when did he think it was ok to start world war three?” Again, no good deed goes unpunished. We keep these secrets because we have to,” Agent White said. “At this moment we have no idea when these phenomena will reappear, or whether they will ever reappear.” This is sounding more and more serious. It's not fun and games anymore, if it ever was. From everything you've been saying, Shayne, it's as if the problem could destroy the entire world. Or maybe our entire universe. “It’s only going to get worse,” Dr. Ledderman said. “Between the first test and the second, the number of rifts increased geometrically. If they come into full operation, there will be even more rifts and each new one has the risk of bringing just this kind of thing across.”
“I think the rifts were bigger too.” Lois said. Cue the ominous music. “We’d like to bring him in,” Agent White said. At her expression he raised his hand. “Not to lock him up. Anyone capable of carrying a passenger jet and surviving being hit by a two thousand pound missile isn’t likely to be containable.” Glad to see they're realizing just who came through the rift. And maybe they're realizing that he's their only hope for dealing with universe-damaging dimensional holes, traveling eurypterids, and worse. Time to get Clark on board. Who else can handle it? This is a job for Superman! The irony, of course, is that they didn't need to fire missiles at him and chase him throughout the country. All they'll have to do is ask him. Just ask him for his help. You'll know he'll give it. In slightly accented Persian, the man said, “I believe this belongs to you.” For the first time it spoke. It spoke in Burmese for a moment and stared at the sergeant, who nodded. Clark is using some of his 347 languages! You know, I forgot - did this alternate Clark also travel around the world in his earlier days before starting at the Daily Planet? They are more advanced in some things than they should be,” Agent White said. “Which we consider to be possible evidence of mad scientist types. According to the passengers, both Star labs and Luthercorp are organizations known to work on what there world considers to be the fringes of science.” I love this! That's why the L&C world had primitive computers but human cloning! Also, on a more serious note, it shows that we need to put more money into basic research. The explosion was hot enough to be felt even from a hundred feet away. They ducked and ran for cover, only to stop and stare. As the fires died away, the man in the Superman costume still stood in the same position, although the lower part of his cape had burned away. You know, it's a good thing that he didn't take the Christopher Reeve cape from the Superman Museum after all. Although that maybe might have added to the value... Shayne, other things I'm wondering about: I know you're not showing the Metropolis world right now, but I'm hoping later on you'll tell what happened there when the plane didn't show up. If we had a scheduled flight with 200 people on it that just disappeared, there would be a fuss. To put it mildly. And if they found half of a wing.... Does the Metropolis world have a Hadron Collider? Are they using it at the same time? Or is the problem caused solely by our world? What about the diplomatic incidents? How is the State Department going to explain those? Everyone in the world knows of Superman, but certainly everyone also knows Superman is American - after all, he grew up in Kansas! So the USA has to do some fast diplomatic soothing here. And, with reference to your last post, where Clark said that he'd given the full interview to Lois Lane - are we ever going to get to see that interview? I hope that we can.
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Freelance Reporter
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Freelance Reporter
Joined: May 2007
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Poor Clark is finding out the meaning of the phrase No good deed goes unpunished. He's trying to help and is causing an international incident instead. I hope he and Lois can straighten this out.
"We've been sitting here all night and the longest conversation you've had with a woman was when your mom called."
Leonard to Howard: The Big Bang Theory
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Beat Reporter
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Beat Reporter
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Hollywood movies notwithstanding, scientists are generally responsible people, and if presented with evidence the LHC is causing serious harm would shut it down without hesitation. It would be a shame for Clark to damage an incredibly expensive piece of scientific equipment when it still needs to be nailed down that the LHC is in fact the cause of the problem (though that seems to be the leading theory at the moment). Even if it has to be shut down permanently (which would have a terrible impact on an entire field of physics research), they need to determine what's causing this effect so that it doesn't happen again in another context. I'm sorry to see Clark's good deeds stirring up a hornet's nest; I hope it doesn't put him off the idea of being Superman. He really needs to make a lengthier public statement so that people understand his good intentions. Maybe Lois can interview him on CNN. Agent White might actually approve as a way of calming things down. Thankfully, this is the L&C Lois, not the Margot Kidder Lois, so it would be a good interview rather than "I Spent the Night With Superman." 
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Top Banana
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Top Banana
Joined: Nov 2003
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Agent White is superb
If she had to move heaven and Earth, perhaps come back to haunt Perry and explain the story after they'd killed her, she would do it.
Waking a Miracle by Aria
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Kerth
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Kerth
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The bad side of being a real-world superhero is real-world problems with pesky things like laws, accidentally starting WW3, etc.
Marcus L. Rowland
Forgotten Futures, The Scientific Romance Role Playing Game
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Pulitzer
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Pulitzer
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Originally posted by TOC: A moment later he'd found it. MSNBC was running footage of a brightly colored figure being fired upon by Myanmar troops.
Agent White was gritting his teeth. "Your boy just caused six separate diplomatic incidents, including accusations by the Chinese and Russians that the United States is launching missiles toward Asia."
He turned to her and said, "Since when did he think it was ok to start world war three?"
Ann Actually, no, they wouldn't. Clark has so far carried 6 railroad car sized containers into China. On radar, they would look like missles. Totally awesome posting and I can't wait for White to meet Clark. James
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Hack from Nowheresville
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Hack from Nowheresville
Joined: Feb 2006
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Scary chapter! The other soldiers kept firing for a few moments, but the gunshots began to stutter and then die off. For a long moment the figure stood motionless, smoke rising from its right hand.
Then it stepped forward, moving directly toward the Burmese sergeant who just moments before had been refusing to give the MSNBC crew an interview. To the man’s credit, he rose stiffly and stood at attention as the garish figure stood less than three feet away from him.
For the first time it spoke. It spoke in Burmese for a moment and stared at the sergeant, who nodded.
It dropped the mass of metal in its hand to the ground and then took off, flying directly upward almost faster than the eye could see. I have to say: this Burmese sergeant shows some courage! I hoped for something like this, a little bit of intimidation, but nothing violent. I actually had a knot in someone´s gun in mind...  “We’ve traced the first two incidents to trial runs for the project,” Agent White said. “The first trial was aborted after a period of several seconds, and the second lasted almost a minute. In neither case was the system fully operational. However, the system was not running during the last incident.” So there has to be another trigger for this... or does someone start his hadron collider from the other side? Who? Wild guess: Lex Luthor! It was the second explosion that caught the adults’ attention, followed by a third and a fourth.
The man in the red cape was walking through the forbidden fields staring at the ground in front of him. From time to time something exploded; sometimes so close to the man than it made the adults gasp.
At one point the man stood for a moment and then stomped slightly on the ground. The explosion was loud, but it didn’t seem to affect the man at all, although it set the hem of his cape on fire. The man didn’t seem to notice and the fire quickly went out, leaving only charred edges. Clearing a mine field in Iran... how will the government there react? As we all know, the goverment there is very fond of the United States and everything coming from there - and Superman isn´t exactly what I would call un-american... “The correlation with the testing-" Dr. Ledderman began.
“Isn’t perfect,” Agent White said. “For all we know, they have an identical collider on the other side and the effects only happen when both are running at the same time.” But didn´t the third time happen without the hadron collider on this side running....? “Well, had any of the passengers ever heard of a Hadron collider?”
“No,” Agent White admitted.
“Clark is a reporter,” Lois said. “If anyone would know, he would.” Not if Lex is really behind it. He would have kept the whole thing a secret, and Clark wasn´t suspicious of him - until he came to our world. “I think so,” Lois said. Clark had never described exactly where he’d come through, but he’d certainly seemed to know where to look. “I think the passenger pigeons were coming through from the same place too.” Didn´t Clark say somewhere in your story that there are no passenger pigeons in his world?  The man standing in the middle of the road ignored their shouted demands to surrender, and instead he kicked a box standing next to the road.
The explosion was hot enough to be felt even from a hundred feet away. They ducked and ran for cover, only to stop and stare. As the fires died away, the man in the Superman costume still stood in the same position, although the lower part of his cape had burned away.
He looked at the cape, sighed and then shot directly into the air.
The members of the crew stared at each other for a long moment before slowly filing back into the vehicle.
As Private Jacobson shifted gears, he saw that his hands were shaking.
He was suddenly glad that he wasn’t yet a sergeant. He wouldn’t want to figure out how to report this, or why. I love the cape problem!  And Private Jacobson is another of your well described side characters, there are a lot of them in this chapter!  How can the plane passengers and Clark get back to their own world if they can´t trigger a new series of rifts? And they can´t because it could cause horrible damage, even complete destruction, to our world! Clark would never allow that... so what do you have in mind? Agent White was gritting his teeth. “Your boy just caused six separate diplomatic incidents, including accusations by the Chinese and Russians that the United States is launching missiles toward Asia.”
He turned to her and said, “Since when did he think it was ok to start world war three?” You told three of these incidents in your story, Burma, Iran and Iraq, or did you mean the six cargo container `missiles´? As far as I renember, Clark kept his trajectory well away from China and Russia, so why are they making such a fuss? The video footage from Burma shows clearly what really happened and that Clark isn´t a danger to anyone. Iran will probably tell a different story than what really happened to Hadi and his family, but who believes Ahmadinejad? I like very much that you show Clark in such different environments, even countries that are clearly hostile against USA, helping the Burmese victims, clearing a minefield in Iran and rescuing US troops in Iraq. (By the way, a good way to get him supporting the troops without getting too much involved!) And he shows his neutrality by doing things like that! And please, Agent White, stop blowing things up! China and Russia didn´t launch their own missiles, so they must have gotten it by now! There probably were some very urgent telephone calls between Moscow, Beijing and Washington, but there is enough trust (other than in the seventies and eighties) an every side, so that they will sit back by now and watch Superman´s show! I´s not like they would have another choice... I hope Lois will straighten him out in the next chapter! Does he already know Lois in `Mad Dog Lane´ mode? Please, next chapter, and don´t you dare to let me wait for such a long time again!  
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Pulitzer
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Pulitzer
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~•~
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Kerth
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Kerth
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Originally posted by Marcus Rowland:
The bad side of being a real-world superhero is real-world problems with pesky things like laws, I don't know about that. Who says he has to accept the laws of any of these countries, including the USA, as valid or binding on him? In the series he was raised an American and self identified with the USA and accepted the social compact but he clearly dislikes this darker USA that is illegally, to his mind, holding his people.
Framework4
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Beat Reporter
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Beat Reporter
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By the way, Clark was probably dealing with land mines in Afghanistan, where 50% of the population speaks Persian, rather than in Iran.
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