Corrina, waking up and seeing part 27 had magically appeared was awesome, but then I saw that right next to it was this huge FDK thread. And that scared the living ‘sulfurous place’ out me
But, I still braved this part. Okay, I just chalked it up to a fair warning for a great ride, buckled in, and burned right through it. But since I believe you want to actually see some FDK, instead of reading about me getting ready to give FDK, here you go. Oh, and I don’t mind if Kathy’s trick works again.
The thought of him with his *wife* had seared weeping blisters across her heart.
Lois knew her capacity for altruism did not extend to sharing the man she loved.
Not sharing him with a woman … a wife … a wife of ten years’ standing. A woman he now knew ... and respected ... and with whom he had negotiated a deal for the benefit of their planet.
Aww and she is still a bit irrational on that part
The side she had condemned to perennial hibernation as she had fought and spat and clawed her way up the ladder of her career.
/clap/
If she didn’t marry Kal, she would destroy him – her rejection would quash the new vitality in his life and again reduce him to being merely a shell of the man he was born to be.
If she did marry Kal, she would destroy him – slowly, over time, as her jealousy frothed and reared and eroded all that was good between them.
Now there’s a problem. Wonder how you’re going to write yourself out of that corner. If only you (or Lois) could fly. Oh, wait…
And then *they* would be the family … and she would be the angry alien woman.
I know it’s sad and everything but the ‘angry alien woman’ bit just cracked me up. I can just see the alien floating in her corner, holding her cat, and pointing her antennae the family at the table, snarling as she chews her chopsticks.
With one conversation between Kal and his wife, the entire landscape of being the second wife had become intolerable.
One switch of a button and the entire world made *boooom*.
When Lois emerged from the semi-consciousness of troubled slumber, her swollen eyelids felt like they were lined with sand. Her brain had been reduced to a water-logged pulp.
Interesting. Why is Lois’ invulnerable body still reacting like that? Must be psychosomatic.
He would be hurting – maybe even more than she was. He probably didn’t even fully understand why she had reacted with such animosity.
But he would understand the damage done to their relationship.
Awww and she hadn’t said ‘the damage he had done’.
She’d half-expected him to seek her out – but he had not come.
After that blow-up?
They *had* to work out something.
Seeee? Told ya.
She peeked through his door and saw the shape of him in his bed.
You know, I was scared of all sorts of things at this point. A missing Kal. A Kal that’s not alone. Talking. Not what you think. Of course, talking could be just as bad.
The sight of him spawned an idea. Maybe she should go in there and climb in beside him and disengage her mind and her objections and her ideals and allow their love the expression they both wanted. Maybe then she would be able to accept that her portion was the faithful love of a wonderful man – a man who could offer her the exclusiveness of his heart and his body, but not the exclusiveness of his name.
Down, girl.
Lois needed a solution – not a quick fix.
And in this universe, it really would be a *quick* fix.
Lois ran her fingers across the script. She needed to learn to read Kryptonian - not only to enable her to plumb the intricacies of Kryptonian Law, but also to establish a newspaper. And a library.
/nods solemnly/
Then she saw them - tiny specks of paper peeking from the crevice between the pages. Lois gently eased it wider, revealing a trickle of fragments.
A page had been ripped from this book.
When?
Did not see that coming.
Had someone removed the portion of the law that allowed the Supreme Ruler to marry more than one woman?
Interesting question. But I somehow doubt it. I think. Oh, what do I know.
His hair was mussed and his eyes underscored with shadows. His pants were made of a soft, black material and hung loosely from his hips to his ankles – where his bare feet emerged. His white undershirt clung tightly across his chest and upper arms, but sat slack enough across the waistband of his pants that the slightest movement would risk revealing a sliver of skin.
Her first morning-Kal
Lois was sure no one had ever looked so good.
Then she remembered how they had parted the previous evening. “Hi,” she offered.
Hilarious and sad at the same time.
“I think someone came here after the Report yesterday and removed the part that allows you to marry a second wife,” Lois said.
Kal’s eyes dropped to the book and then he shook his head. “No,” he said. “The page has been missing longer than that.”
Hmmmm…
“Aren’t the pages numbered?”
“No.”
Pages not numbered. Paragraphs not numbered. How do they find anything in there. Anything at all.
Kal considered it. “That is possible - there is no carryover sentence, no break in the text to arouse suspicion.”
After reading the rest, it does make a lot of sense. After all, if the person writing this book knows he’s going to rip the page out, he would make sure it is possible with the least amount of trace left.
Lois reached for the book. “Maybe *I* can,” she said.
You know, ‘Just say Noah’ – Female Hawk – Supervision to read yesterday’s words.
Nor had expected his news would alarm his father. Instead, he merely said, “It is good, my son.”
“But Father, you said *I* would be the Supreme Ruler of New Krypton.”
Petulent little twirp. Hilarious.
“And so you shall be, my son.”
“But how, Father?” Then Nor knew. “We’re going to kill Kal-El?” he queried eagerly.
“No.”
I wonder if patricide has been bred out of the noble-born on Krypton.
“I told you I did not believe the claims that Kal-El had survived the Transition and was living in seclusion somewhere on New Krypton,” his father corrected.
“You were wrong,” Nor snarled.
“So it seems.”
Temper, young one. Temper. *sigh* both the Emperor *and* Yoda would be most disappointed with this youngling.
“There is another tool of war, my son.”
Nor pouted. “Which is?”
“Patience.”
“Patience is for the weak and unimaginative.”
“There is a little known Law ... a Law that hasn’t been enacted in many centuries. A Law that says if the Supreme Ruler fails to provide an heir within the timeframe, the mantle can be removed from him.”
“One hundred, twenty-five months.”
Ked rubbed his chin as he thought. “He wouldn’t fight anyway, he’s always supported unification.”
“Then he is dispensable,” Nor concluded.
“Totally,” Ked agreed.
[…]
“Can you ensure there will be no trail back to you?”
Nor sniggered. “Of course.”
“Well done, my son.”
This is so magnificently evil.
In a few hours, Kal-El would be in exile.
He would not fight the Law.
He would not fight for *his* rights.
Of that, Nor had no doubt.
Kal-El only ever fought for the rights of others.
He would accept his failure and would not dispute his disgrace.
So, maybe, Nor *is* jumping the gun? And he does not yet know about the angry alien woman Kal-El now has by his side. And she is a wild one.
Kal watched over her shoulder. After a few minutes, he said, “I don’t recognise the part of the Law you are writing. I am sure I have never read this.”
“What does it say?” Lois asked.
When Kal didn’t answer immediately, she turned from her task and looked into his face. He had coloured a little. “Basically it is instructions for the diagram,” he said.
Lois continued writing for a few minutes, then stopped. “What does it say?”
Again Kal didn’t answer. Again, when she turned, he was looking uncomfortable.
“Well?” she asked.
He cleared his throat. “It is instructions for obtaining the sample.”
“But if you never read this, how did -.” Lois felt the colour flood to her face. “Ah ... forget I ...”
Lois raised her shoulder and brushed his hand with a soft kiss.
When her mouth lifted from him, he crouched at her side.
“Lois,” he said. “I’m -.”
Awwww
The door flung open and four armed soldiers charged in.
They were followed by Nor, Ching and Yent.
Kal straightened, though his hand remained on Lois’s shoulder.
Nor stepped forward. “Kal-El,” he said, his voice coldly triumphant. “You are hereby informed that under the Law of New Krypton, having failed in your duty to provide the necessary heir within the allotted timeframe, you have been deposed as the Supreme Ruler of this planet.”
I think I might be out of smilies so I’ll just put it this way: You just deposed Carol.
Corrina, this was awesome! And the ideas coursing around in this FDK thread, well, I do admit, Kal on Earth has potential, now with the Re-set. Did I say, ‘awesome’? And what about part 28. I want to see what Lois does to Nor. I don’t think Za has a complete volume, or she would have told Kal and not lied to his face. After all, Nor becoming Supreme Ruler would be bad for her, too. Now, of course, that she’s just the wife of a commoner, Nor probably doesn’t even care for her as a concubine and he already has a wife. So, Kal can release her, return to being Supreme Ruler by producing an heir before the 125 months are up, and get back to being happy.
Michael
PS: Is part 28 up already?
PPS: Just kidding.
PPPS: Or not.
