Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic Comments: Veritas 36

Well, what do you think?

Well said!
Yes!

I loved it when Lois said that 'It would be worth it."

James

"If they see a warm, caring person, it'll help when the government starts labeling you as a terrorist.”

Love the "when!" - unfortunately probably all too accurate.

I miss a voice from that general television clamour - the voice of reason. The voice of science, if you like. Why isn't anybody asking America's best known TV meteorologists what they think about the way the man in the Superman suit took care of those tornadoes? Could it have been a hoax? A new military gadget? If the famous and respected person said no, no known technology is even close to doing what the man in the Superman suit was seen doing, and therefore the best explanation for what happened is that the man in the Superman suit really is, for all intents and purposes, Superman - well, wouldn't a relatively large number of people believe him (or her)?



Pär Holmberg, Sweden's perhaps best known TV meteorologist, being interviewed on Swedish television. If he had commented on how a flying man in a Superman suit had deflected a number of tornadoes and said that this Superman appears to be the real thing, then I, for one, would have believed him. At least if he explained and defended his point of view well, and certainly if there were other well-known scientists, preferably pshysicists, who backed him up.

No, you'll never convince everybody. (Those who don't believe that man has gone to the moon are dead wrong, by the way, and their disbelief just proves that they don't know much about astronomy anyway. They don't realize how nearby the moon really is, astronomically speaking. Give the Chinese another twenty years and they will put their first "taikonaut" on the moon.)

It was interesting that Susan warned Lois about getting involved with Superman. It's fascinating to consider, too, that not only would Susan be able to tell from Lois's behaviour that she cared very much indeed for the man in blue spandex, but Susan would also know that Lois - Lois Lane - was destined to become Superman's girlfriend. I don't know, but if I was Susan, the fact that I was watching a woman named Lois Lane become more and more involved with the supernatural man her name had always linked her with - well, if I had been watching that unfold before my eyes, I would have felt as if I was watching a magnificent prophesy come true. And maybe it would have struck me that none of us had ever known that there had ever been a prophesy.

I agree with Lois that being a like widow half the time would be worth it, if she got to spend the other half with Clark. But Susan could be right that the paparazzi and the constant media exposure could make it all intolerable.

I love this, how you tell us what Lois sees in Clark, and how it changes her entire outlook on life.

Hmmm. Just recently I read that you can learn how many drugs are being used in a particular city, and what drugs are most popular, by analyzing the soil water from that city.

This was so beautiful. Perfect.

That was so funny! But it was also a grim reminder of what everything would be like if Clark stayed here: everyone, indeed, would soon be a critic.

I love how he relaxes - and therefore sags - around her, and how she puts her arm around him and invites him in.

It is unfortunately quite probable that many governments would feel scared indeed if they found out that Superman was real and lived here on this Earth. And they, the governments, don't have any kryptonite!!! (There is an element named kryptonium - dare I guess that there would be a sudden spike in the demand for this substance?)

Yay!!! They are doing the interview!

Now we just need to see how that interview turned out - and of course, we need to see how Lois and Clark's relationship develops, and what is going to happen to Lois and Clark and Lucy and the passengers and the whole universe anyway!

Ann

I don't want to wait for the next segment

Hey, where did this new chapter just come from? I didn´t see it when I wrote into the FDK thread for chapter 35! But I´m definitely not complaining!

Seems that someone in the government has started to use his brain! I think there are agents watching Lois and Susan right now. She is the way to get to Clark, and of course they know that.

Will Lois be left behind? I hope not!

This reminded me immediately of CC Aiken´s `When the World finds out´, it´s the same problem. Clark would have to live in our world without a secret identity. You have listed the consequences really nicely.

Oh yes, I can imagine those bigots...

Wow. A lawyer who isn´t completely cynical! Amazing! :rolleyes:

Trying to control him... the means for that could be Lois or the passengers. Will they try bargaining with Clark? Like `You go and destroy the nuclear facilities in Iran for us and we give you back the passengers and open the rifts to your world´ or `Go and find Osama bin Laden´ or `Get Kim Jong-Il from North Korea and General Than Shwe from Myanmar and bring them over here´. (I actually would like to see No. 2 and 3...) I don´t think Clark will react well to that. He won´t let himself be used as a weapon and Superman never meddles in politics and state affairs.

No longer `the man in the Superman suit´, it seems! Your `first´ Jacob has started thinking of him as Superman. How long will it take until others start calling him that, too?

Beautiful!

First I began to laugh at this. But now, a question has reared its head: Is this Clark talking - or Shayne?

YES! I hoped for that during the whole chapter. Will the agents try to interrupt? How will Lois address him during the interview? Clark? Not likely if the passengers watch TV, too... So there is only one name left...

I just hope you don´t make me wait such a long time again! It seemed to be going on forever! Each morning I checked the boards - nothing! Don´t do that to me again! Please!

First the boy (wasn't he Jacob?) and now the relief worker (Jacob, as well?). It looks like all Jacobs are in agreement, the man in the suit is the real deal: Superman.

What I appreciate most about this segment is the way Susan treats Lois. She isn't merely speaking to a business associate, she is acting like a friend. She is quietly helping Lois to look at things she might not have looked at on her own. As long as she is willing to support Lois whatever she decides, as she has already said she will do, then that constitutes true friendship in my book. Although there are no Jimmys and Perrys floating around, Lois has surrounded herself with as many trustworthy people as she is able to, given the transitory nature of her former job.

No name-calling, please. When you lump all church people together, assume (incorrectly) that they are all judgmental and then call them names it doesn't make anybody look good. If you don't want others to be judgmental (and I certainly don't), then please don't be judgmental yourself. Susan presented a hypothetical situation in a fictional story, but church people are real people and the grand majority are not bigoted.


Elisabeth

Yee-hah! Another chapter! I've been on tenterhooks waiting for it and it's finally here! Thanks so much. You made my day.

The can of worms that is Superman in our universe continues to open and the worms are writhing.

And doesn't that tell you a lot about Lois? Good insight into her character. I know that Lois, the TV reporter, would write her own copy and not just read someone else's words. "The pen is mightier than the sword" - very true in the case of Lois Lane.

I really enjoyed how you described this. It's very real. Who among the talking heads (or any of us in that position) would want to be the first to commit to something so fantastic? And yet it's true. It's crazy but it's true.

There it is.

The nature of power demands this. A power threat must be destroyed, co-opted, controlled, or treatied with. The other option is to submit - politically impossible for any president or ruler. Clark is smart and he'll put forth some sort of palatable option - probably he'll be portrayed to the media as working for or with the government, or at least under government aegis. Heck, we know he wants to obey the laws and be a good citizen. Hopefully our government won't put him in a position where he feels he has to break the law to do what's right.

The romance blossoms! Clark + Lois = Destiny! It's in seventy years of comic books, movies, novels, newspaper cartoons, radio and TV shows. To quote from "The Ten Commandments" - a favorite scene of mine is where Pharaoh is giving orders - "So it has been written, so it shall be done."

Right here, right now, Lois has made her decision.

When's Clark going to make his decision? Does he have to break up with Lana first? That implies that he has to get back to his own world. And since he's not leaving without the plane passengers....

You know, Shayne, I'm still wondering about this technology. Will Clark be able to help the scientists tame it and control it? I just can't see the genie getting put back into the bottle. Access to parallel universes is just so smokin' cool! And now that the world knows it can be done, there will be an outcry for it. Why not visit a parallel Earth without humans and drill for its oil? No messy environmental laws there. And in fact, the whole environmental movement is based on the fact that this is the only planet we've got. Suddenly, that's not true anymore.

And the fact that Superman is in public makes it pretty clear that parallel worlds/universes do exist. If technology exists, it will be used. Technology is a tool. The best we can do is hope to control it. I don't know if you'll be able to address that in your story or not but I hope so.

Shayne, so well put. The mood in America right now is just like Lois felt, pre-Superman. As you said in an earlier chapter, we are all damaged.

I am a firm believer in this as well. Faith without works is dead. Superman is the ultimate expression of good works.

Now, on the other hand, don't forget the motto: No good deed goes unpunished. And the reward for a job well done - is another job. (Do you detect my cynicism here?) Oh well, maybe it'll be good for the story.


That's very true, Shayne. So it's all about the proper spin. I hope that all the spin doctors aren't tied up on the current Presidential campaigns! Oh, wait - Lois is in the media business, and so is Clark. I'm sure they'll know how to put the proper emphasis on things.

Yay! Sunshine is the best disinfectant. How true that it'll be when the government labels Clark as a terrorist. That seems to be their favorite ploy. But if Clark and Lois get their side of the story out, now the President has to meet with Superman - can you imagine what a press conference that would be? Every reporter in the world would sell their firstborn to be there.

And half the battle is won for Clark already - he's got seventy years of Superman folklore and pop culture backing him up. Everyone in our world knows that Superman is a good guy. It's just now that he's walked off the pages into real life, that's all. (Man, I'd love to know how the comic book shops are doing! Their business must be booming. And the Superman Museum in Metropolis?)

Shayne, this is off topic, but have you ever read those sprawling Victorian novels? And, for example, in a Charles Dickens novel, in the last chapter or so, he tells what happens to all the characters - not just the protagonists, but the minor characters as well. I hope you're able to do this - I'd love to follow up on Jacob the cancer kid, and the Burmese kid wearing the Superman T-shirt, and the Russian cosmonauts and Jim the curator at the Superman Museum. You've already shown us Jacob the charity worker and I appreciate seeing him again. And let's not forget Susan, and Agent Randal, and Agent White, and Lucy, and everyone!

If Lois and Clark do get to meet the President and other Powers That Be in Washington, I can just see the Secret Service having kittens. They haven't even allowed Lois in the same city as the President or VP, much less Clark. And now the Secret Service has to protect the President against Superman? And their only "weapon" is that Clark says he doesn't mean any harm? It'll be agonizing for the professional security people. It's totally against their training. Do you think Clark will offer to have some sort of Secret Service interview first?

I hope that Agent White can be a liaison. Of course, if he is, will this taint him, and ruin his future career?

Thank God for the First Amendment. (For non-American readers, it's the one about freedom of the press, among other things).

Of course in our current world, the all-too-true joke is: If the Iraqis need a constitution, why don't we give them ours? It's worked for over two hundred years, it was written by a lot of really smart guys, and we aren't using it anymore. (Bitter laugh).

Shayne, your story has pointed out the erosion of our civil liberties. A true example of fiction as a mirror of our current society.

I'm late to the party (work has been insane), and can't add anything to all the great comments here already. I just have to add my own appreciation for this gem, though:
A great chapter laying out the challenge that Lois and Clark face. And I liked the way you used Jacob the charity worker to give Clark the message that Lois gave him in the series: whatever you can do, it's enough.

I hope the next part comes soon. Part 36 arrived just in time; I was starting to go through withdrawal.

Hey, I graduated from "Blogger" to "Freelance Reporter"! Woo-hoo!

Elisabeth wrote
I´m sorry if I was offending. About church people: I am one of them, myself... and I know that there are differences! I know several of that special kind, and they are the ones I had in mind.