Yay! Another chapter!
Her position at CNN was assured if she still wanted it and a vindictive part of her wanted to make Pilar eat crow.
Yeah, even the best of us have those little moments. But I think Lois is going to end up taking the high road, right, Shayne?
And don't forget - Clark said that Lois Lane had the full interview. Are we ever going to get to see it? Will it be played before Clark leaves for his world? (I'm assuming that his efforts in becoming Superman and reassuring the world are successful.) That's an interview I'd really like to see.
It irritated Lois that with everything Clark had already done, most news outlets were ready to relegate him to the position of being a publicity stunt and being an amusing anecdote. They didn’t seem to make the connection between the serious news stories they were telling and the man in the Superman costume.
But even now, who would believe in Superman? After all, he's fictional! I mean, some things are just too crazy, right?
“If we could ever figure out a way to control these rifts, we could advance all branches of science in ways that no one ever could have imagined.” Dr. Ledderman looked excited. “Want to learn about the beginnings of life? Watch it happening.”
“We’re trying to shut this down, Doctor,” Agent White said, “Not turn it into your own personal science project.”
“You don’t understand the potential benefits…”
You know, I have a sneaking sympathy for Dr. Ledderman. He's right about the implications. It's just so darn fascinating....and an opportunity like this comes around once in a lifetime, if that. Researchers would kill for this opportunity.
Unfortunately, what if it means the destruction of all life in our universe, and maybe in some other universes?
You know, when the Los Alamos guys were building the atomic bomb they calculated that there might be a slight chance that the bomb could set off a chain reaction in the atmosphere and destroy everything. But they still went ahead with the A-test, because, after all, you know, they had the bomb there to use, and they'd put a lot of money and a lot of work into it, and you know, there was only a little teensy weensy infinitesimal chance that using it would mean the destruction of all life on earth. So that was OK. (<sarcasm here>)
But, just as with the A-bomb, the genie is out of the bottle, and there's going to be investigation into this dimensional rift stuff - there just has to be. So maybe our best bet is to get Clark on board, and he can make his unique contributions to the project. Because, now that people know it can be done, it will be done. That's just how it works.
Agent White was already looking distracted. He was awkwardly text messaging on his telephone and she wondered what it was he was saying that he didn’t want them to know.
Why do I think of Agent White as some middle-aged government functionary who can use a cell phone but texting is past his comfort level? Good description here, Shayne - once again you've illuminated a character with a very few words.
“Your friend is effectively a weapon of mass destruction. The limits of his powers are unknown. He dresses up like Superman, but we have no reason to believe that the traditional abilities are the only ones he has. “
The dark side of Superman. Right now, the Superman that's actually out there isn't the good guy from the comic books. Well, maybe he is a good guy (we know he is!), but he's a free agent, with his own will, his own agenda, his own thoughts, his own actions. I can totally understand the Secret Service paranoia. They've probably read the comic books too, and a regular staple is Superman turning bad for some reason (hypnosis, magic, alternate worlds, brainwashing, etc, etc., etc.) And who can stop Superman?
Lois was silent for a long moment. “So you are expecting him to rescue me?”
“You’re Lois Lane. If he’s read any of the comic books, he’s going to think he has to make a career out of rescuing you.”
Hee hee hee! This is great!
How did you tell someone that even though you acted and looked exactly like the sister they had lost, that sister was dead and gone, and that worse, you weren’t even in your own world or time anymore?
Yes, I think that would be a hard conversation to have. Frankly, if someone started talking parallel worlds to me, I'd hold onto my wallet. It would take some pretty convincing evidence for me to buy that story.
Shayne, is the Lois in Clark's world really dead in the Congo? Will that be addressed when Clark gets back to Metropolis? And how will Lucy take this information? And how much will Lois tell her about Clark, aka Superman? In the traditional L&C universe, Lucy doesn't know about the secret identity.
“She’s supposed to be in quarantine!” Lois said.
Agent Randal grinned maliciously. “Nobody told me to wear a safety suit.”
“It’s not just for her protection, you twit,” Lois said. “It’s for yours. Her world may have viruses that ours doesn’t.”
You know, I think that smallpox was eradicated in the 1980's, so hopefully both the worlds in this story are smallpox-free. Because, if Clark's world still has smallpox, and it gets into ours, and nobody is vaccinated anymore, we can expect an 80% mortality rate.
Otherwise, I think Clark's world is more at risk from ours - from 1993 to 2008, think of how much more habitat in our world has been destroyed, how many more obscure animal diseases have been exposed and brought to the human cities, how much more population pressure there has been in the last 15 years. AIDS, Ebola virus, dengue fever, cholera making a comeback in South America, multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis - all in our world, and not a pretty sight. I think we have more germs to give to them than the other way around. It's probably a good idea that all those people on the plane have been in strict quarantine.
As a cosmonaut, she knew the details of just how many things could fail, and the thought that her life could lay in the hands of a worker hung over from a weekend of drinking too much vodka wasn’t comforting. Sometimes all it took was one defective part out of a million parts to destroy everything.
Unfortunately, all too true. The Apollo astronauts used to tell each other, "Hey, you're sitting in a spaceship that was built by the lowest bidder." Not too reassuring.
In fact, wasn't there just a press release from NASA that they were having some sort of probe land on Mars, and they're really hoping it goes well? Because they haven't had a lot of luck with their probes there. They've launched something like eight missions to Mars, and only two or three have made it and actually radioed back.
The sudden jerk as they hit the thicker parts of the atmosphere almost made her black out. She felt her neck snap back slightly and the pressure on her body felt as though she was being crushed.
That was Clark catching them, right? More of the comic book physics, please! Is his aura protecting the Soyuz now? It is certain (to quote the Magic 8-Ball)!
The familiar shape of the Soyuz was coming quickly over the horizon, but it didn’t look like it was going to crash at all. It looked like it was flying.
Two Mikoyan Mig-29 fighter planes bracketed it. As it approached, Nikolai could suddenly see why they were so certain the ship was going to land here.
It was being carried.
Another great scene! How are the politicians going to spin this? How can they deny the presence of a Soyuz capsule right there in Red Square, with live cosmonauts? Clark is certainly upping the pressure.
In a way he agreed with her. One of his greatest nightmares had been that the world would reject him, universally fearing him for what he could do. He’d heard Agent White’s comment about him being a weapon of mass destruction.
He’d also heard the jokes that news anchors were making.
The only way to overcome both effects was to prove to the world that first he was real, and second that he was not dangerous.
That meant being even more active than he had been before. Instead of pulling back he was going to have to step up his activities. In the light of day, he was going to force people to believe in him.
And that's the great part of this story! (Well, one of the many great parts.)
And I'm still thinking about a line from a previous post.
"Why the Superman suit?" the reporter asked.
"People know what it means," replied Clark.
Shayne, that's very profound. Clark is coming out of the pages of fiction into reality, and the Suit will pave the way. He's going to live up to what the Suit symbolizes. I'm really looking forward to seeing what he, and everyone else, will do next.
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I think Clark could use the boost in self-confidence of knowing that people see him living up to that role.
