Lori and Clark – The New, New Adventures of Superman – MMC V 6 12/32
By Ken Janney
Warning: This story is rated PG-13.
Disclaimers: The characters in this story are property of DC, December 3rd productions and Warner Bros. No Copyright infringement is intended. I have just borrowed the characters for a short time.
Previously:
Lori worked until Friday, October 13, 2090 which was two weeks before her due date. On Tuesday, October 24 Lori had an urge to give the whole house a thorough cleaning. Then she decided that she didn’t like the color of the nursery. Going to a paint store she purchased three gallons of a periwinkle blue. She moved the furniture to the center of the room, taped the ceiling corners and molding and laid down a drop cloth. By Thursday, October 26th she had the room done and the furniture back where it belonged.
That night Clark made dinner and after they ate they relaxed and watched a movie. It was a holographic recreation of “Lethal Weapon 3”.
About 11 PM they went up to bed. At 1:30 Lori felt a flood of warm water as her water broke and a heavy pressure on her hips as her back began to expand. Fortunately, having been through this eight times before, they had prepared the bed with a waterproof sheet. She was gasping for breath as another contraction came.
She nudged Clark and said, “Wake up Papa, it’s time to head to the hospital.”
Clark was instantly awake and sent a thought, /”Jessie!?”/
The groggy reply came back, /”What?”/
He sent, /”Jessie, it’s time.”/
Jessie sent back, /”It’s 1:30 A.M.. Take two aspirin and call me in the morning.”/
Frantic now, Clark sent, /”Jessie!”/
Jessie replied, /”Just a little doctor humor there, Pop. I’ll be at the hospital when you get there. Don’t worry, there won’t be any problems. Remember, Mom’s super now.”/
They did the trip to the hospital the ‘old fashioned’ way, in Lori’s Jeep and shortly after they arrived Lori was taken to Labor and Delivery. Clark gowned and joined her as her labor coach.
At 8 AM on October 27, 2090, Clark Jerome Kent Junior announced his arrival by emitting some lusty cries when his sister gave him a light swat on the bottom.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
When the newest member of the Kent clan had been cleaned up, weighed and measured, he had been swaddled and placed in Lori’s welcoming arms.
Lori immediately put him to her breast and he started to suckle. Lori felt the first rush as her colostrums started to flow.
After a short time they were transferred to a room and the next morning Clark took mother and son home.
And now:
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Chapter 11 – The Request
February 26, 2090
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Universal Locator designation
Alpha 023 x Gamma 004 x Tau -124 Alt-Prime
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Lori had been on maternity leave from the Planet for six weeks. When she had returned to work she had placed CJ in the child care facility on the second floor. She felt very comfortable with this, after all she had done this with each of his eight siblings. With him being so close she could go down whenever she needed to nurse him. The security was exceptional and she had made sure that all of the children were on the access list. Rarely a day passed that one or another of his siblings didn’t visit at some time of the day. The staff was very impressed with all of the attention that this one child received, but, they were happy to see the involvement of this large family knowing that this child had a wonderful support system. As the Day Care workers had come to know the family members they had found out that there were quite a few doctors in the mix and occasionally when one of them stopped in the staff would have questions about their charges and the Kent family members were always happy to give appropriate advice.
One evening about two months after Lori had returned to work they were relaxing in the living room. Lori had just finished nursing CJ and Clark was burping him when suddenly a thought intruded, /”Kal-El, we need your help.”/
Clark was startled and looked over at Lori. He asked, “Did you hear that?”
Lori replied, “Yeah, I heard it. Who could have sent that thought?”
“It obviously wasn’t one of the kids. It has to be someone from New Krypton. Let’s see who.” /”Who needs Kal-El?”/
The return thought carried along with the message a feeling of relief, /”Kal, is that you? Thank Rao. This is Ching! I have Zara here with me.”/
Clark sent back, /”Ching, my old friend. How are you?”/
His reply was disturbing, /”I’m fine but we are in desperate need of your help. New Krypton is under attack. We need your leadership if we are to survive. Can you help us?”/
Clark sent, /”Where are you now?”/
Ching replied, /”We are in low Earth orbit, In a Lagrangian point (1) over North America. You should be able to reach us without any trouble. We would appreciate it if you would join us for a council of war.”/
Clark asked Lori, “Feel up to a flight up to low Earth orbit?”
Lori with some apprehension replied, “I’ve never flown that high before.” Then the excitement of the adventure took over and she had a smile as she said, “Should be fun! We will need a sitter. Let me call Lucy.” She sent, /”Lucy?”/
She got back, /”Hi Mom! What’s up?”/
She sent back, /”Is Teri free to babysit for CJ for a little while?”/
/”Let me check.”/ … /”She just finished her homework so she’s free. How soon do you need her?”/
/”ASAP. We just got a call from Ching.”/
/”I know. I think we all heard that call.”/
/”Okay, so you know where we are going, up into orbit. I’m looking forward to the trip.”/
/”I’ll bring Teri over right away. See you in a few minutes.”/
/”Thanks Luce. Tell her grandma really appreciates it.”/
/”She said she knows and she’s looking forward to having some one-on-one time with CJ.”/
Now that the arrangements had been made Clark sent, /”We will be there shortly.”/
Zara replied, /”Will Lois be with you?”/
Clark replied, /”Yes and No. Her name is Lori now. It’s a long story. We’ll explain it to you when we get there.”/
/”Should we send a pod down for you?”/
/”No, that won’t be necessary. We’ll come up under our own power.”/
The reply carried overtones of confusion, /”You’ll both come up under your own power? Will you be carrying Lois, uh, Lori?”/
/”No, she will fly herself. Again, we’ll explain when we are aboard. We will be departing shortly. Have an airlock open for us.”/
Lori got an amused smile on her face as this exchange went on.
/”Depressurizing now. The outer port will be open for you when you arrive. Once inside hit the green button to close the outer port and pressurize the airlock.”/
/”Green button, got it. See you shortly.”/
Clark finished burping CJ and laid him down in his crib.
A few minutes later Lucy and Teri arrived. After Lucy had spent a few minutes with Clark, Lori and CJ, Lucy said her goodbyes and returned home leaving Teri playing with CJ.
Lori told Teri, “I just fed CJ and papa burped him so he should be good for quite a while. This shouldn’t take too long but, if we are gone longer than I expect, there’s some breast milk in the refrigerator already in bottles. Just warm it a bit. You know where everything else is already.”
Teri leaned in and picked up CJ and held him in her arms. “No prob, Grams. CJ and me’ll get along just fine, won’t we CJ? Wave CJ.” She picked up his arm and caused him to wave his pudgy little hand.
Lori leaned in and kissed him, and then it was Clark’s turn. Teri said, “Don’t worry about a thing Gramps. We got it covered. Piece of cake. Go have some fun.”
Clark couldn’t help but laugh. His fifteen year old granddaughter would soon be a supergirl and was so nonchalant about her status as a member of the Kent clan that she was refreshing. So many members of the family were overly serious at the prospect. It was probably due to her mother’s influence. As a child psychologist her kids were among the best adjusted, self confident and comfortable with just who they were of all the Kent kids.
He turned to Lori and said, “Well, you heard her, let’s go have some fun.”
They both spun into their uniforms and as they did Teri held CJ so that he could watch. She provided a running commentary, “See that CJ? See them spin! Ohhh look at the bright colors! Aren’t they pretty! Red and blue and yellow. That’s Mommy and Daddy! There they go!” She said this as Clark and Lori headed for the door. “Say, Bye, Mommy and Daddy! Wave!”
Once Lori and Clark were out of the house they moved to the back of the property where it was wooded and took off from there.
Clark sent to Lori, /”Okay. While we are still below 10,000 feet, take a deep breath and hold it.”/ Then he projected to Ching, /”We’re airborne. We should be there in a matter of minutes.”/
They used their supervision to scan the heavens. As they gained altitude Clark sent, /”Ching, can you flash some lights so that we can get a fix on your position?”/
He got back, /”Starting rainbow flash.”/
Suddenly, about thirty degrees to the left and twenty degrees below they saw lights start to flash. They started as red and moved through the rainbow spectrum through orange to yellow to green and blue before returning back in reverse order before starting over again.
They altered course and headed for the lights. As they got nearer the actual size of the craft became apparent. It was huge. It was larger than the ship that had been used when they had come to Earth back in the 1990s. It took a minute to find the open airlock but, find it they did and as soon as they were inside Clark hit the green button. The outer hatch closed quickly and they could feel the pressure build which was a comforting feeling after the vacuum of space. It took a couple of minutes to bring the pressure up to normal and they simply floated there until the inner hatch opened. Ching was standing there with Zara to welcome them aboard.
As soon as they floated through the port they were taken by surprise as they entered the zone of artificial gravity and they ceased to float and staggered as they dropped suddenly to the floor. Embarrassed at being caught off guard like that they each had a chagrined expression as they caught themselves. Ching and Clark gripped their right arms together in a forearm shake. Lori took off her uniform mask and Zara said, “Lois, you’re as lovely as ever.”
Lori laughed and said, “The name’s Lori now. We’ll explain later.”
Ching said, “Let’s go to the salon. There are some people that wish to welcome you. After that we can be comfortable there while we discuss what brought us here.”
Ching led the way through a labyrinth of corridors and a lift, finally arriving near the center of the ship in a large lounge area. Trey and several other members of the Council of Elders were there to greet them. They all gave the closed fist striking the chest salute as Kal-El entered. Even though he had chosen to abdicate in favor of Zara and her chosen mate Lt. Ching, many of the Elders still considered him the rightful ruler because he had saved them from Nor’s rule.
Clark returned the salute and then walked over and grasped Trey’s arm, asking, “How are you my old friend?”
Trey relaxed and said, “I am fine, for an old man. It is good to see you again, Lord Kal-El.”
Clark performed the introduction, “Lord Trey, I’d like to introduce Lori-El, my bond mate.”
Trey had a quizzical expression as he asked, “Is this not the same woman we met previously?”
Clark replied, “No, well, yes and no. Physically she is not the same woman, however, memory wise she is. It’s kind of hard to explain.”
Trey replied, “There is no need to explain. It is enough that she is your bond mate.” He turned to address Lori, “Lady Lori-El, I am pleased to meet you, I just wish it were a happier occasion.” At Clark’s quizzical look Trey turned to address him and concluded, “I am confident that Lord Ching and the Lady Zara will fill you in.”
Trey turned to the other members of the Council and said, “We have welcomed Lord Kal-El. Let us now leave so that Lady Zara and Lord Ching can brief him on our difficulty.” The members of the council filed out and Ching, Zara, Lori and Clark settled on a couple of couches facing each other.
Zara, her curiosity getting the best of her asked, “You said that your name is Lori now. What did you mean by that?”
Lori replied, “I am not the woman that you met the last time. That woman, Lois Lane, was the previous vessel of this soul. When she passed away her soul took up residence in this body, but, rest assured, I have all of her memories. To all intents and purposes I am Lois Lane, but actually, I am more than Lois, I am Lori. It’s complicated.”
Zara continued, “Obviously you are more than Lois Lane, you now have Kal-El’s powers. How is that possible?” Turning to Clark she asked, “Have you found a way to duplicate you powers in the Earth humans?”
Clark replied, “The answer to that question is no, we have not. A very special form of Kryptonite was found by accident which endows the Earth human mates of Kryptonians with the powers once their bodies have been transformed by exposure to the Kryptonian aura.”
Lori pulled out her pendant for Zara to see as she said, “Contained within this pendant is a fragment of a blue Star Sapphire Kryptonite meteor and a fragment of a red Kryptonite meteor. The red Kryptonite energizes the Star Sapphire Kryptonite and that gives me the powers.”
Turning to Clark, Zara asked, “Would that work for us under a red sun?”
Clark replied, “We have no way to know. It would have to be tried. We don’t even know if Lori would have the powers under those conditions. It has never been tested. I must admit to being very curious. It isn’t every day that you visit Earth. What is the purpose of your visit?”
Ching spoke up, “Kal-El we need your help. There is a great probability that New Krypton is going to come under attack. We were approached by a new space-faring race. They call themselves ‘The People’ as if they are the only ones that are people. They consider all other races as inferior. So far we have encountered only a scout ship but our long range detectors have detected a fleet of ships in route. Even with our Kryptonian technology we had a hard time defeating a single scout ship. After the encounter we found that same scout ship severely damaged by a collision with a small asteroid. The crew was all dead. We don’t know if they were able to notify their home base of how little we were able to do to them. We have been a peaceful culture for so many years that we have neglected the military. We were hoping that you could come and give us the benefit of your knowledge of Earth weapons and tactics. If we are incapable of defeating this threat it is only a matter of time before they will be a threat to Earth as well.” After this introduction to the problem, Ching went into greater detail, finally finishing up with, “There you have it. We are unsure of exactly what we are facing, but, if our worst fears are realized we are facing possible extinction.”
Lori and Clark both had shocked expressions as they listened to Ching. Clark was the first to speak, “How long do we have until they are in close enough proximity of New Krypton to be a threat?”
“If we were able to leave immediately we could be back at New Krypton in time to have a New Krypton month, roughly equivalent to forty-five Earth days, to prepare.”
“That’s not very much time. We have to talk it over.” He looked at Lori and said, “We have a big decision ahead. Let’s head home.” To Ching he said, “We’ll let you know by tomorrow, will that be okay?”
Zara spoke up, “Kal, Lori please keep in mind that the continued existence of New Krypton rests on your decision. If we cannot defend ourselves we will have to evacuate and abandon what we have created. It will be the same as when Krypton exploded. We will be homeless vagabonds in space.”
Clark said, “We could hardly forget. We will inform you of our decision shortly.” Ching exited with them to guide them back to the air lock.
Before they entered the air lock, Ching held out his arm and Clark grasped it. Ching said, “I know that you will make the right decision. Watch the pressure indicator. The outer hatch will open automatically when the pressure is at zero.” Knowing that they would be leaving the zone of artificial gravity they started to float and as Ching stepped back they floated into the air lock and Ching sealed the door. They each took a deep breath and held it while they watched the pressure gauge drop. When it reached zero the outer hatch opened automatically and they flew out and shaped their course for Metropolis. They managed to control their reentry so that they didn’t appear as a couple of streaks across the sky and landed in the Kent residence back yard. They spun into their casual attire and walked to the house.
As they walked Clark said, “I think we need to call a family council. What do you think?”
She replied, “I don’t think we have the time for that. I think we have to go, but, what about CJ?”
Clark said, “CJ could be a problem. He isn’t fully Kryptonian and might not survive under the red sun and higher gravitation of New Krypton. Can we leave him with one of the kids? We actually need to make this time away look like we are away on vacation. How would it look if we left him with one of the kids?”
“More importantly, how are we going to explain the time away from the Planet?”
“We could say that since NK is a trading partner we were invited to come and report on the conflict since it could affect that trade.”
A few seconds later they entered the back door of the house and Lori called, “Teri, we’re home!”
Hearing concern in the voice of their granddaughter they heard Teri call from the living room, “Grams, you better come in here, NOW! There’s someone here to see you.”
comments go here TBC
