Yay! Yahoo! Another chapter! I'm sorry that real life commitments have encroached on your writing time. Here's hoping that everyone in the family stays well.
As ever, an excellent chapter, Shayne, ending with a vaguely ominous cliff-hanger.
“How would you like to be able to feed two million people in Africa, steer hurricanes away from populated areas and cut the source of human disease in half?”
Clark sank back into his chair.
“I’m listening.”
It sounds good, but what's the catch? There's always some sort of catch to these offers. Maybe that's why the comic-book Superman is a free agent. He makes his own decisions.
And the Clark - Lois attraction is heating up!
It felt like an eternity since Clark had seen Lois. He stared at her for a long moment, wondering how he’d forgotten how good she looked. It was almost as though she’d become even more beautiful since the last time he’d seen her.
“You gave me the courage to stand up and do what I should have done a long time ago,” Clark said. “Not everyone can say that.”
The essence of their relationship. We need Superman, but Superman needs Lois Lane.
Clark said, “I broke a foster brother’s arm when I was thirteen. The look on my foster mother’s face….that was the day I decided I wasn’t going to hurt anyone ever again.”
The smell of seared flesh came to his nostrils and he looked away from Lois. He’d violated that promise in China already, and even though it had been to save lives, it still sickened him.
was an excellent reminder that sometimes we must do things that we don't want to do. Necessity - the harshest master. I didn't post a review for that chapter, but Clark's recognition of the need for a field amputation, and his sick nausea afterward, were very moving.
He’d always felt like an outsider, like the stranger staring in at a world he would never truly been a part of. It had taken traveling to another universe to find someone who understood him the way Lois had.
The desire to return home had been a burning need since this entire debacle had begun, but strangely he was beginning to feel content about the idea of staying.
Maybe....but it's still better if they go back into Clark's universe! Our world is too screwed up for them. Clark's identity is blown here, and Lois has nothing except Lucy, who really belongs in the other world. She's lost her job (although, since she's
Lois Lane she'll always have another), she's having trouble with her sources, she's on the Internet accused of bestiality, has lost her privacy....she really needs to go and be the award-winning reporter for the
Daily Planet in Clark's world.
Opening the door quietly, the agent froze for a moment as he realized that security had been breached. Despite the alerts by the others that there had been a momentary lapse in the security cordon, he’d hoped not to have to deal with the situation on his watch. They’d been waiting for this opportunity for several days after several mistakes earlier in the week. He closed the door gently and then began walking away. He murmured into his lapel, setting a pre-planned series of events in motion.
Oh no! What is the evil plan? (And why do I assume it's evil? Maybe because you've spent the whole story implying that?) You've shown this agent to be an honest ex-Marine with ideals. Why did he hope that he wouldn't have to deal with the situation on his watch? Could whatever it is they're planning be....
evil?
Part of him was able to maintain objectivity. The target was something to be tracked and monitored closely until it was proven dangerous or hostile. It was in the unique position of being both a distinct military threat and a potential military asset and being able to make its own decisions.
This is heartbreaking - Clark is an "it"! It's what he's always been afraid of.
Helping people and having a code of honor had brought him into the marines and later into national security. It had shaped his life; the thought of giving his life for his country wasn’t something he looked forward to, but it was something he was willing to do.
It had been disappointing to learn that some of his superiors let pragmatism supplant that idealism. Others, especially the civilian leadership, appeared never to have had any honor at all.
Wow is that true! I'll refrain from more lest I go into a full rant. One thing to ponder: We get the government we deserve.
A fictional Superman had made him aspire to be a better person when he was a child. How much more influential would the real thing be?
Heroes inspired people to be better. With the right inspiration, and enough people, it was possible to truly change the world.
Oh, Shayne, it's something to look forward to!
And now, in the category of no good deed going unpunished....
The man nodded. “Worse, there are certain extremist elements of society who have been making threats. We suspect it’ll only be a matter of time before those threats extend to the passengers, especially after the news media gets to them. We may have to set them up with new identities through witness protection.”
Clark scowled. When he’d tried to save the plane he hadn’t intended to disrupt so many lives. He’d only intended to save them.
And in the ominous-implications department:
“How long do you think it will be before this happens again?” Mr. Smith said. “If we’re surrounded by worlds that are similar to our own, then it’s only a matter of time before more of them develop the same technology.”
Clark felt a sudden sense of alarm. The idea of a whole cluster of worlds developing the same technology at nearly the same time alarmed him. It meant that his own world was in just as much danger as this one, but with fewer defenses because they were fifteen years behind and without someone like him to defend them.
Ooh boy! We're in trouble now - it's multiple-universe, dimension-spanning, run-and-hide-beneath-the-covers time! Yes, we do need to find out more about it. But is this something where finding out more could be lethal, not only for the researchers, but for our universe as well? Maybe the reason it hasn't happened before is that it's Darwinian - the universes that develop this technology soon implode or fall apart through the rifts or die in some horrible manner. Maybe our world (and Clark's world, so far as we know) are only still standing because of the presence of the friendly Kryptonian.
Once again, Shayne, you're making thought-provoking comments with only a few words.
Things I'm dying to know:
What's this mysterious deal that Clark is being offered? Is this going to involve weather control or something? But improving the weather in one area implies changing it in another - and once the weather can be controlled, it's another weapon. Is Clark willing to be used like that? And will he see the implications? (I'm sure if he doesn't, then Lois will.)
Will Lois be considered a tool to control Clark? (Yes, obviously, but how far is the government willing to go? They said they don't want to make him angry.)
Can the mad scientists investigate the rifts without killing themselves or our universe?
Can Clark and Lois get back to his universe? Isn't the best thing some sort of deus ex machina, where they go back in time so that the whole thing never happened, so the rifts never developed between his world and ours? Or, can Clark do something to burn out or totally fritz up the technology, to prevent dimension-hopping? (This involves the background assumption that dimensional rifts are wrong, and they're a danger to any universes they're in or connect with.)
And what about the investigation of the technology? It's fascinating, and if I were a researcher, I'd sell my house, move to Timbuktu, to be in on this research. Is it going to set up a Golden Age of dimension hopping?
The scary thing is, if the dimensional rifts stay, and if Superman can come through one into our world, what's to stop the comic book villains from coming to our world as well? I'd sure hate to see Darkseid, or Doomsday, or face the machinations of a suave Lex Luthor. After all, the presence of a superhero implies the need for a super-villain. And we don't have the whole Justice League here. Even Superman needs help sometimes.
