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Joined: Jun 2003
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Features Writer
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Features Writer
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 814 |
Well, what do you think? Sorry about the delay again. Family reunions and real life have been hitting recently.
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Joined: Dec 2005
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Kerth
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Kerth
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 2,020 |
Delightful part. And now we head to a crisis of unparalleled magnitude.
Framework4
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Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 2,445
Kerth
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Kerth
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 2,445 |
Or involving all too many parallels (worlds, that is)
Marcus L. Rowland
Forgotten Futures, The Scientific Romance Role Playing Game
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Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 144
Hack from Nowheresville
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Hack from Nowheresville
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 144 |
Finally! I have been waiting and looking every morning...  Lois touched his arm. “Clark…do you really think that any version of you could have seen what’s been going on in the world and not get involved?”
Clark suddenly seemed to deflate.
“I suspect that if you’d been around in World War II, things would have gone very differently,” Mr. White said. “Even if you had to make it all look like a coincidence.”
“I couldn’t have stood by once I found out about the Holocaust,” Clark said. “Or once I saw how many people were being killed.” Or perhaps our world´s Clark tried to help undercover, without flying around in the suit. The problem is, with the comics he would have blown his cover completely, no secret identity for him. But I agree with you, if our world´s Clark would have been anything like Superman, he wouldn´t have stood by and watched. Mr. Smith shook his head. “He’d have the chance to take the long view. Even charities tend to prefer short term solutions. You give a child a vaccine and he doesn’t get sick. You get instant gratification. Teaching new agriculture techniques and providing farm implements…the rewards of that sort of thing are too far away for most people.” It´s mostly in the case of big desasters that the charity organizations have to resort to short-term solutions. Most of them are working a lot on long-term projects, like building schools and providing teachers, digging wells, providing people with building material for houses and farming devices and so on. `Helping them to help themselves´ is what we call it here. She sighed and picked up a piece of bacon. “So what are they expecting me to wear to the hearings?” How very female!  Mr. Smith hadn’t wanted to say it, but Clark knew that some of the strongest contributions he could make would be to allow scientists to study him. Over time they’d learn the secrets that allowed him to fly. Then they’d be able to launch their own satellites. His secret is the sun, as we know. The rest is alien biology. But earth scientists will not be able to take blood or cells from him, even if Clark agrees to it. What was right? Was selling out ultimately the thing that was going to do the most good for people? Or would he be better off maintaining his impartiality? What he needs is some kind of Superman Foundation who deals with the money for him, but separated from him, with a management of its own (without politicians!). He needs to be able to influence the board, but otherwise keep himself out of it and interfere only if there are problems. IMHO that should be the best way of dealing with these things. Two thousand scientists working in a ring of tunnels twenty seven miles in diameter on a project costing ten billion American dollars and they were going to shut everything down. Ten billion dollars... how much good could have been done with that money! And now it´s just scientific junk. So sad. Of course, teams of American scientists were part of the project, but none of them were in the room. Pierre didn’t particularly like the American teams. They tended to be too loud and aggressive for his tastes, and he didn’t like their politics.
Plus, the blonde had snubbed him. You had me  “We’ve attempted to contact Mr. Kent through the Chinese, but they say he’s out of contact, digging water sluices in the mountains.”
Dr. Ledderman had caught up with them by this point, and he paled. “The previous tests only lasted for less than a minute and a half. If they get that thing up and running…” I thought the threat was all about Lois, I never thought of the CERN! Something is definitely hitting the fan! I also find it interesting that they are calling Clark `Mr. Kent´ instead of Superman now... She’d spent too long just reporting on things other people did. It was time for her to step up. If this was the beginning of the end of the world, then she had to do everything she could to help. What can Lois do right now? Is Clark already perfectly tuned in to her? Will he hear her when she calls him? Come on, Lois, it´s just two words! (And very famous ones... ) Or are you going to let our world be destroyed? Please, don´t let me wait so long for the next chapter! 
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Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 5,797
Nobel Peace Prize Winner
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Nobel Peace Prize Winner
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 5,797 |
It was very interesting to see the political side of this, on so many levels. There was the committee hearings, the bickering between the scientists at CERN (I appreciated Lars, a fellow Swede and claustrophobiac  ) and the heated discussions between proponents and opponents of solar energy. Well, that's the real world for you. Shayne, your fic is so realistic and so fascinating at the same time. It's a brilliant new take on Superman! But, as Cornelia pointed out, the way things may be going at CERN, this could indeed prove to become the end of the world! All hell and universe mixups could break loose at any moment. Do you know what the second law of thermodynamics is? Well, that is the law that says that everything inexorably gets more and more mixed up over time. Imagine that you have a salt shaker with salt in it and a sugar shaker with sugar in it. It's easy to create a mixture of salt and sugar by sifting some sugar as well as some salt onto a platter, isn't it? Mixing is easy. Ah, but now try unmixing the salt and sugar again. That is not easy at all, and in fact, unless you can think of a smart way to to use chemical processes or solutions or reactions, unmixing the salt and sugar mixture is next to impossible. This is my point. Mixing up two universes might prove all too easy, but unmixing them again, getting them back the way they were, may prove next to impossible! So this is an emergency, indeed. The universe-mixing must be stopped before it leads to an irreversible catastrophe! I agree with Cornelia. There is one thing here that I really, really want Lois to do! ![[Linked Image]](http://www.tdot.state.tn.us/incident/help/images/help1.gif) ![[Linked Image]](http://www.thevoiceofreason.com/superman/DestructionInc/images/Header.jpg) Ann
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Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,864
Merriwether
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Merriwether
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,864 |
Too many days of sleepless nights from the kids ear infections has left me too crabby to comment on the political part of this, but I did want to mention that I'm still reading even if I don't leave good feedback.
Elisabeth
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Pulitzer
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Pulitzer
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 2,823 |
Another chapter, yay! Gosh, Shayne, your view of the short-sightedness of democracies is right there. It's so depressing to think about it, I can't even comment any more than you already have. Glad to see Clark realizing that if he does "sell out", he's only going to make money that's a drop in the bucket compared to what governments are able to spend. You put it truly: “You talk about me spending eight billion dollars a year,” Clark said, his expression still distant. “But that would be a drop in the bucket compared to what the United States government could spend…or Japan or France or Britain for that matter.” Mr. Smith's line of argument was so seductive in the last post....but it would be wrong. Cornelia in her post above has the best idea: What he needs is some kind of Superman Foundation who deals with the money for him, but separated from him, with a management of its own (without politicians!). He needs to be able to influence the board, but otherwise keep himself out of it and interfere only if there are problems. IMHO that should be the best way of dealing with these things. “At the moment you are the world’s greatest Superman expert,” Mr. Smith said. “THE committee wants to hear from you.”
“Um, I’d have thought I was the world’s greatest Superman expert,” Clark said. That was funny. Lois suspected that some of these people still thought the Internet brought messages through tubes. You know, the scary thing is this is very probably true. Dr. Ledderman had caught up with them by this point, and he paled. “The previous tests only lasted for less than a minute and a half. If they get that thing up and running…” Oh no! Things aren't looking good for our world right now! Good plot twist, making it be someone else who re-started the Large Hadron Collider. Who did it, anyway? Is it some Lex Luthorian plot, in some trans-universal fashion? Who is the mysterious guy whose family is being held hostage to ensure his cooperation? Will Lars and Pierre make it? What about all the other researchers at CERN? If there is some sort of murder plot to kill all the LHC workers, the world is in big trouble. And why would there be a terrorist intrusion at the LHC anyway? Because it's a weapon that could destroy the world? And if the LHC is up and running again with the experiment that led to the transdimensional rifts, how long are the rifts going to last this time? And will they happen in the same places they did before? So is it worthwhile evacuating Denver? And (jumping the gun here), assuming that we get everything settled so that Clark can take the people from his world back to where they belong, will they all be put on a plane again? Or will Clark ferry them through one by one? That would certainly introduce Superman to Clark's world! Shayne, you've got me on the edge of my chair. Glad to hear that your family has re-union-ated, but I'm hoping that you have more time to write to finish this fascinating and excellent story!
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Pulitzer
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Pulitzer
Joined: Feb 2008
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Originally posted by IolantheAlias: Another chapter, yay!
Gosh, Shayne, your view of the short-sightedness of democracies is right there. It's so depressing to think about it, I can't even comment any more than you already have.
Glad to see Clark realizing that if he does "sell out", he's only going to make money that's a drop in the bucket compared to what governments are able to spend. You put it truly:
“You talk about me spending eight billion dollars a year,” Clark said, his expression still distant. “But that would be a drop in the bucket compared to what the United States government could spend…or Japan or France or Britain for that matter.”
Originally posted by [b]Cornelia:
What he needs is some kind of Superman Foundation who deals with the money for him, but separated from him, with a management of its own (without politicians!). He needs to be able to influence the board, but otherwise keep himself out of it and interfere only if there are problems. IMHO that should be the best way of dealing with these things.
“At the moment you are the world’s greatest Superman expert,” Mr. Smith said. “The committee wants to hear from you.”
“Um, I’d have thought I was the world’s greatest Superman expert,” Clark said.
Lois suspected that some of these people still thought the Internet brought messages through tubes.
Dr. Ledderman had caught up with them by this point, and he paled. “The previous tests only lasted for less than a minute and a half. If they get that thing up and running…”
Will Lars and Pierre make it? What about all the other researchers at CERN? If there is some sort of murder plot to kill all the LHC workers, the world is in big trouble. And why would there be a terrorist intrusion at the LHC anyway? Because it's a weapon that could destroy the world?
And if the LHC is up and running again with the experiment that led to the transdimensional rifts, how long are the rifts going to last this time? And will they happen in the same places they did before? So is it worthwhile evacuating Denver?
And (jumping the gun here), assuming that we get everything settled so that Clark can take the people from his world back to where they belong, will they all be put on a plane again? Or will Clark ferry them through one by one? That would certainly introduce Superman to Clark's world!
Shayne, you've got me on the edge of my chair. Glad to hear that your family has re-union-ated, but I'm hoping that you have more time to write to finish this fascinating and excellent story! [/b]
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Joined: Feb 2008
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Pulitzer
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Pulitzer
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 2,823 |
Another chapter, yay! Gosh, Shayne, your view of the short-sightedness of democracies is right there. It's so depressing to think about it, I can't even comment any more than you already have. “Do you realize how many jobs this scheme of Mr. White’s would cost? He’s talking about putting thousands of coal miners and truckers and power plant workers out of jobs!” The buggy-whip manufacturers said the same thing about Ford's Model T. But at that time, Congress was smaller, and there was less of a history of politics interfering with business in America. Glad to see Clark realizing that if he does "sell out", he's only going to make money that's a drop in the bucket compared to what governments are able to spend. You put it truly: “You talk about me spending eight billion dollars a year,” Clark said, his expression still distant. “But that would be a drop in the bucket compared to what the United States government could spend…or Japan or France or Britain for that matter.” Mr. Smith's line of argument was so seductive in the last post....but it would be wrong. Cornelia in her post above has the best idea: Originally posted by Cornelia:
What he needs is some kind of Superman Foundation who deals with the money for him, but separated from him, with a management of its own (without politicians!). He needs to be able to influence the board, but otherwise keep himself out of it and interfere only if there are problems. IMHO that should be the best way of dealing with these things. Good point, Cornelia. I totally agree. “At the moment you are the world’s greatest Superman expert,” Mr. Smith said. “The committee wants to hear from you.”
“Um, I’d have thought I was the world’s greatest Superman expert,” Clark said. That was funny. Lois suspected that some of these people still thought the Internet brought messages through tubes. You know, the scary thing is this is very probably true. Dr. Ledderman had caught up with them by this point, and he paled. “The previous tests only lasted for less than a minute and a half. If they get that thing up and running…” Oh no! Things aren't looking good for our world right now! Good plot twist, making it be someone else who re-started the Large Hadron Collider. Who did it, anyway? Is it some Lex Luthorian plot, in some trans-universal fashion? Who is the mysterious guy whose family is being held hostage to ensure his cooperation? Will Lars and Pierre make it? What about all the other researchers at CERN? If there is some sort of murder plot to kill all the LHC workers, the world is in big trouble. And why would there be a terrorist intrusion at the LHC anyway? Because it's a weapon that could destroy the world? And if the LHC is up and running again with the experiment that led to the transdimensional rifts, how long are the rifts going to last this time? And will they happen in the same places they did before? So is it worthwhile evacuating Denver? And (jumping the gun here), assuming that we get everything settled so that Clark can take the people from his world back to where they belong, will they all be put on a plane again? Or will Clark ferry them through one by one? That would certainly introduce Superman to Clark's world! Shayne, you've got me on the edge of my chair. Glad to hear that your family has re-union-ated, but I'm hoping that you have more time to write to finish this fascinating and excellent story!
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Posts: 1,999
Merriwether
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Merriwether
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 1,999 |
This is turning out to be one of the most interesting fics we've had the pleasure to read. Not only is the idea so very original, but Shayne's ability to 'make it real' for us is remarkable.
I think more than any other instalment, this one shows us that 'super heroes' couldn't exist in 'real' world like ours.
In order for a super hero to exist you need a world that is a bit more innocent. But mostly you need a world that can trust. Individuals can choose to trust, but large organizations, bureacracies, and governments can't. It's the nature of the beast. They all have to build in 'checks and balances' in order to function because there is no trust.
Agent White's comments and the questions from the committee really point this out.
I don't know what Shayne ultimately has in mind for Clark and Superman, but whatever it is, if this Superman stays here, he can never be like the Superman of fiction. We're just not wired that way.
Tank (who had some examples in mind to point out the trust issue but didn't want to accidently turn the thread into a political debate)
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