Lori and Clark – The New, New Adventures of Superman – MMC V 6 25/32
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:
After a few minutes Ching observed as the assistant astrogator started running some computations. When he finished he had a broad smile on his face as he called the senior astrogator over to show him what he had come up with. The senior astrogator checked what his junior had come up with. Once he had satisfied himself of the validity of his supposition he turned to report.
With a motion of his hand, Ching silenced him. He pointed to the junior and said, “He came up with the answer, let him explain it.”
The senior bowed aside and the junior started to speak, “Sir, it was the vector information that was inconsistent. It we had stopped in space relative to the orbit of New Krypton we would be here.” He used a glow stylus to indicate a position in the holo-display. “However, we are here.” He indicated a position south of the plane of the ecliptic as well as behind the orbit of New Krypton and then continued, “I started to wonder why we would have moved down as it were. Then it occurred to me that not only is New Krypton moving in its orbit, but, our sun is also moving in an orbit around the galactic center. By taking that into consideration the new position makes sense.”
Ching put out a general question, “What could have caused us to stop in space while the planets and stars continued to move?”
The chief physicist who was on board offered, “The only thing that could cause us to stop dead in space would be the cancellation of inertia. A body in motion tends to remain in motion, but, that is only when the body has inertia. The corollary is that a body at rest stays at rest until an outside force is applied to it. I would speculate that somehow the activation of the defensive shields, configured as they are in a spherical pattern; somehow negate the property of inertia for all of the mass enclosed in the field. If we were to initiate the field and apply some thrust a minimal thrust should result in tremendous speed because it is being applied to an inertialess mass.”
Ching came to a decision, “We are going to initiate the field and start applying thrust starting at minimum and slowly ramping up the thrust until we are accelerating enough to maintain position relative to New Krypton.”
The crew jumped to their stations. When the panel was all green Ching gave the command to execute.
Ching and Clark followed the chatter between astrogation and helm as they worked together to adjust the thrust. Finally when they were satisfied they gave a report.
“Astrogation reports stationary position, relative to New Krypton. Thrust at twenty-three percent. Velocity approximately 300,000 miles per hour. That equates to approximately 22 percent of light speed. We must be cautious due to time dilation we could be in essence moving forward in time as we accelerate. It would be proportional to the speed/duration interval.”
Ching ordered, “Cut the field.” Abruptly the display on the screens changed slightly. Ching realized that they were still applying thrust so he ordered, “Cut thrusters.” All motion ceased.
He came to a decision, “Navigation, plot a course to take us home.”
After running some computations the navigator replied, “Using conventional power – time to New Krypton – one day seven hours. Using FTL drive – sixty-five minutes.”
Ching ordered, “Helm, initiate FTL, best speed back to New Krypton. Kal, as soon as we get back we need to talk.”
A few seconds later there was the familiar feeling of the FTL drive kicking in. After a relatively short time they felt the return to normal space with the shutdown of the FTL drive. The helmsman reported, “Landing in 25 minutes.”
And now:
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Chapter 24 - First Contact
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Universal Locator designation
Alpha 023 x Gamma 004 x Tau -124 Alt-Prime
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Forty-five minutes later they were in the office where Zara and Lori met them.
Ching and Clark explained what had happened.
Ching asked, “How can we turn this to our advantage?”
Lori asked, “What would happen if an energy beam or a projectile were sent against an inertialess ship?”
Clark answered, “Projectiles, at least, depend on inertia to cause their damage. I would speculate than an inertialess body would simply react by being moved by the projectile and the projectile wouldn’t penetrate.”
Zara said, “Well, that being the case we can tell that they know nothing of this possibility. If they did then that scout ship wouldn’t have been destroyed by that granite meteor.”
Ching said, “We could use the normal thrusters to propel the ship at tremendous sub-light speed to zoom in on their fleet, fire a few projectiles from the rail gun and flee before they knew what was happening.”
Clark suggested, “That would only work if they were sub-light. If they were using a FTL drive we wouldn’t be able to get near them. You have sensors that detect energy usage such as the thrust of a drive. There is yet another possibility. We could do the same thing we did in the tests. If we know what direction the system is moving and at what speed, we could position ourselves so that if we turn on the shields and stop, the natural motion of the universe will go on around us, and at the appropriate time we cut the shields and we are in front of them. There would be no use of thrust to give away the ship’s approach. We fire a few projectiles from the rail gun and then cut in the screens again. To them it would look like we zoomed in at tremendous sub-light velocity and then zoomed out again without a telltale drive signature.”
Lori said, “Then we need to decoy them into dropping out of FTL drive while they are far enough away that we can engage them before they are a threat to New Krypton.”
Zara said, “I’ve got an idea. We have the scout ship. Our engineers have been studying their systems. The engineers have already duplicated the stranger’s FTL drive, weapons, communications system and shields. Why don’t we tow it out and turn on its distress signal. That should bring them to a stop to investigate, if nothing else.”
Ching said, “That is a marvelous plan Zara. By the time they are near the position where we want them we should be able to have the rail guns installed on at least ten of the sphere ships. We should be able to give them a bloody nose at least.”
Clark spoke up, “I’d still like to negotiate with them.”
Lori asked Zara, “Are there any habitable planets in their path that we could put the scout ship on and we could be there waiting for them?”
Zara replied, “There is at least one and it has several moons.”
Lori said, “Perfect. The sphere ships could be concealed on the moons or held on station ready to cut in the shields and go inertialess at a signal if negotiations fail. I can be on the planet with the wreck as a welcoming committee. Can the linguists throw together a translator?”
Clark spoke up, “Now, wait a minute. I don’t want my wife putting herself in danger like that.”
Lori said, “How much danger will I be in? I’m super, remember?”
Clark replied, “Yeah, you’re super, but, I’m going to be there with you.” Clark turned to Ching, “I’ll need one of those battle suits, but, *no* weapons. Just a defensive shield.”
Ching asked, “Kal, are you sure you want to do that?”
“Perfectly. I need to be there with her.”
Ching said, “I mean are you sure you want to go without weapons or a guard detachment?”
“I’m sure. I’m not going there to start a war; I’m going there to prevent one. If I’m armed or if I have a large guard detachment it could be misconstrued.”
“I can see your point. I don’t know that I agree with you, but I can see your point.”
Clark said, “It has to be that way Ching. It’s the *only* way.”
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Preparations were pushed forward. A planet was selected fifteen days travel from New Krypton which lay directly in the path that the approaching fleet would take. The selection was both good and bad. Unfortunately it had an almost white sun so Clark would not have all of his powers; however, it wasn’t a giant world so he would have some of his super strength. This was due to the fact that an individual’s strength is directly proportional to the gravity of the planet of origin. This was demonstrated adequately when Earthmen landed on Luna. The muscles of an Earthman were able to propel him great distances and lift great weights under the conditions of one-sixth gravity.
The atmosphere of the chosen planet was slightly higher in oxygen content and correspondingly lower in carbon dioxide, resulting in a higher barometric pressure at sea level than either Krypton or Earth. This meant a denser atmosphere. The lower CO2 content was probably due to a lack of industry since the planet was uninhabited. This meant that Lori would not need an environmental suit and Clark could forgo the need of a breathing air supply.
Lori received her bow and arrows. She had a variety of arrowheads, all natural minerals. The shafts were of a very hard New Kryptonian wood similar to oak, but it had a golden hue rather than a whitish color, and they were fletched with yellow/gold feathers from a fowl which was the NK equivalent of a turkey. The shafts were fully a meter in length, similar to the so called cloth-yard shafts used with the English longbow in medieval times and used to such effect by the English bowmen.
While all of the other preparations were in process Lori practiced with her bow. She quickly honed her skill with the new equipment so that she had pinpoint accuracy. Her object was to at most disable without killing. It was important that she not kill any of the enemy. Using this new bow she practiced at long distances. After she loosed a shaft, while it was in flight a distortion wave was evident just behind the arrowhead indicating that the shaft was actually moving at super-sonic speed. Anyone standing to the side, between Lori and the target, would have heard a sonic boom caused by the arrow’s passage.
The linguists worked with the computer programmers to produce a translator that would pick up sounds or radio frequency transmissions and convert them to the Lingua Franca used on NK. This was based on English with some of the original Kryptonian product names modified to suit an English speaker since they had become trading partners with Earth. It would also accept input in English and translate it and either vocalize or transmit as the case might be, automatically determining the correct frequency. They prepared two of these devices and made them small so that they could be handheld, one for Lori and one for Kal-El. They also built one into the ship’s communications system.
A fleet of ten spherical ships was ready and more were being manufactured. Each was equipped with two rail guns. One unarmed ship, the original NK-SSX was re-designated and prepared to transport Lori and Kal on their mission and to tow the scout ship.
The trap was laid, five of the spherical ships were secreted on the satellites of the chosen system and five more were stationed at intervals so that they could activate their shields and drop in unexpectedly on the enemy fleet.
Under Kal’s direction and orders, the ships practiced their jumps until the crews were operating at peak efficiency. They could activate their shields and cut them dropping into position within meters of their target, loose several projectiles from each rail gun and jump again with minimum exposure. Kal insisted they practice targeting with the rail guns so that they could adjust their aim to hit a small object at a distance of hundreds of kilometers. The gunners were strongly cautioned to target propulsion and shield units which would disable the enemy craft with minimal loss of personnel. It was fortunate that several of the manuals they had found contained the specs for various types of craft within their inventory. These all indicated external features and locations of beam emitters, shield units and drive pod descriptions and locations.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The world chosen was orbiting a sun which was approaching its final stages of existence. It had already started to collapse in on itself and before many more millennia would become a white dwarf. When that happened the planets which still encircled it would become uninhabitable. The planet selected was rather earthlike in configuration as far as size and atmosphere. It was warmer than Earth because of its hotter sun which had dried up almost all of the water turning it to vapor in the atmosphere. The air was so thick with moisture that it was almost akin to trying to breathe while underwater; however the higher oxygen content compensated for that fact.
The day finally came. Lori and Kal were on the planet’s surface standing near the damaged scout craft. They had triggered the emergency signal when the enemy fleet was soon to be in range.
Kal was an impressive figure clad in his battle suit, his size and bulk being enhanced by it.
On the other hand Lori was a vision of loveliness, wearing a more traditional Kryptonian gown of white with gold brocade trim. As in the Greek tradition the bow arm was bare and the top had a single shoulder strap. The skirts were long, almost dragging the ground, but layered and with a slit on the left which as she moved revealed a shapely leg. She had on golden sandals, a golden cord held her hair back in a pony tail and she was carrying her bow and arrows. The alloy used by the NK Engineers to manufacture her bow was polished to a bright sheen and was of a golden color. In this gown and carrying the bow and arrows Lori looked like the Greek Goddess – Artemis!
The ruse worked. When the distress signal was picked up the entire fleet dropped out of FTL drive. One craft was dispatched to the surface to investigate. Before it had gone very far the emergency signal was turned off and a message from Kal-El was broadcast, “We of New Krypton, greet you. We are a peaceful people and would be desirous of establishing a trading relationship with ‘The People’. We are a peaceful people, however, if attacked we are quite capable of and will defend ourselves. My life partner and I are on the surface and we would speak with one of your leaders. We await your response.”
The ship that had been on a trajectory which would have taken it to the surface of the planet reversed course and returned to the formation. A little later another ship, this one somewhat smaller, separated itself from the fleet and shaped course for planetfall in the vicinity of the downed craft.
The first individual out of the craft was a warrior in full battle gear. He easily topped Kal’s six foot plus height reaching a full seven feet three inches to the top of his helmet.. His battle suit would have been intimidating if Kal’s hadn’t been similar. Unlike Kal the warrior wore the helmet and the tinted visor prevented Lori or Kal from actually seeing his visage. The visitors had obviously scanned the area and knew that Lori and Kal were alone. The first thing the warrior did was raise his arm, target Kal and trigger his forearm mounted weapon. A bright amber beam of energy burst forth, blinding in its intensity. There was a coruscation of light as the force beam from the weapon impacted the force shield of the battle suit that Kal wore.
Although Kal was confident in the shield device and the fact that he had a significant portion of his normal super strength he braced for the impact as best he could. Even so, when the beam hit him, despite being prepared for it, the force was still sufficient for it to throw him back against the damaged scout craft.
Seeing that the warrior was targeting her husband, super swiftly Lori nocked an arrow and loosed it, targeting the weapon and striking it after only a brief burst. The arrow went right through the shield as if it wasn’t even there and pierced the casing of the weapon, disabling it. The power behind that arrow carried it completely through the weapon and out the other side.
Wishing to eliminate this new threat, the warrior raised his other arm. Lori allowed him to aim at her and braced herself for the impact. He triggered his weapon and again that amber force beam came from the weapon. Lori stood firm holding up her right palm to intercept the beam. Because of her invulnerability and super strength the beam had virtually no effect on her.
Seeing that his weapon was ineffective he activated a control by flexing a muscle in his forearm. The intensity of the beam increased and it became brighter, rivaling the sun for its brightness. Seeing that it was still ineffective, he twitched another muscle and the character of the beam changed moving through the spectrum of color as the frequency changed.
The beam was being deflected from Lori’s invulnerable hand and it was reflected striking a nearby hillside. As it did it created a tunnel and a small landslide. After several seconds when his weapon started to overheat because he had pushed the intensity of the beam to its maximum, he stopped shooting.
As soon as the beam was off, with a look of satisfaction Lori said, “Okay, now it’s my turn.” Calmly she nocked another arrow and loosed. This arrow took out his other beam weapon.
Lori’s superhearing picked up a high pitched whine emanating from the weapon. She saw the warrior act startled, and then try desperately to remove the weapon, however, the mechanism attaching it to his forearm was stuck and he couldn’t detach it. Lori seeing his desperation used her super speed and flew to him and ripped the device from his arm. Nonchalantly she flipped the device up. She retreated again and took a position between the warrior and Kal. As the weapon was leaving the atmosphere it detonated.
The warrior had volunteered for a suicide mission, but he hadn’t expected his own weapon to be the cause of his demise. When his weapon overloaded he had desperately attempted to remove it. If he could at least get it outside of his shield he should be okay, but his attempt was doomed to failure. He realized that he was running out of time and was preparing himself for his death when this being moved faster than he could follow and removed the weapon that was threatening to explode and remove it from the immediate vicinity. That, almost negligent, toss of the weapon which resulted in it leaving the atmosphere was startling with the power it displayed. He was relieved that this being had saved him but, he still had a mission to complete and he would do so. Even the gratitude he felt would not prevent him from completing it. Seeing both of his primary weapons disabled and seeing also that Kal was back on his feet, he pulled out a wicked looking bladed weapon similar to a two handed broadsword having serrations along one side and sharp projections along the flat sides. The sharp edges would cause a lot of damage when used for striking while the side projections would cause additional damage when the weapon was used in a thrusting motion.
Lori pushed a switch on her bow and it folded itself into a compact form which slid into her quiver. She advanced on the warrior.
Kal shouted, “Lori, no!”
Back over her shoulder Lori said, “I’m finishing this the only way he’ll understand.”
She was bare handed and apparently defenseless, yet, as she approached, the warrior raised his weapon and started to swing an overhead blow at her head. Lori reached up with one hand and caught the warrior’s arm, stopping it in mid descent. The warrior was startled. His exoskeleton powered suit gave him the strength of twenty men and this slight female with no suit or any other means of boosting her strength had stopped his blow as if it was nothing. She then calmly reached up with her other hand and ripped the blade from his grip even though he put all of his power boosted strength into his grip to prevent it from happening. He felt like a child in her grasp. He had flashes of a small animal and a very large predator; he was the prey helpless in the jaws simply awaiting death.
To his utter surprise, now that she was in possession of his blade she stepped back, releasing his arm. He was relieved that she hadn’t used his own weapon to thrust him through and he was amazed to see what she was doing. Apparently she could do things he had never conceived of. As he watched somehow the metal of his sword started to glow red and then using her bare hands on this obviously hot metal with impunity, she started to stretch it like taffy. This warrior had his shield unit mounted on the back. Knowing that while his shield unit was active she wouldn’t be able to do what she wanted to do, she swiftly floated up and over her opponent. When she came down she reached out and grabbed the shield generator crushing it with her hand. Then she used the metal band she had created from his weapon to bind his arms to his sides.
Once he was secure she pulled out her translator and said, “You are now my prisoner. You could just as easily have been dead, but, that is not our way. We value life, all life. We would welcome friends, but, if you chose to be enemies we will deal with you as such. You have seen my power. You are powerless against me. If you chose the right path I can be your friend, but, you would find me an implacable enemy. Who among you can make the choice? What will it be, peace, or war?” The translator was synthesizing her message into their speech so that the warrior could hear and was also broadcasting on a range of frequencies, their emergency frequency among them. The entire fleet was listening.
Kal moved over and stood by Lori as they waited.
A minute later they saw the port in the ship open again. Lori reached back and grabbed her bow. Hitting the button the bow automatically unfolded itself into its ready position. She reached back and pulled an arrow out and nocked it without drawing, allowing the bow to hang down in her left hand, her right hand on the string, fingers spread with the arrow nestled between them. She could raise, aim and loose in less than a second if needed.
As they watched a smaller individual emerged. He was smaller only in comparison to the warrior; his suit was not a battle suit but one like Kal’s, defensive only. The exoskeleton would only be adequate to support him under a higher gravitational pull than what he had grown up with. He like Kal was without a helmet.
When the scout ship had been found some of the crew had managed to at least partially don environmental suits giving the NK medicos a chance to examine at least that much of the stranger’s physiology. This was the first time that they had seen an intact head. This individual’s head was somewhat larger than theirs with a high forehead with a ridged bony plate which would afford additional protection to the brain when in conflicts and projected out over his eye sockets giving his eyes a sunken look. His hair was somewhat long and unkempt. His moustache and beard were full, but trimmed neatly.
As he approached the defeated warrior moved to kneel and bow in reverence. Lori handed her bow to Clark and assisted the warrior by removing the metal band she had bound him with. Finishing this she recovered her bow. The smaller individual reached out and touched his helmeted head and the translator picked up and translated what he said, “Arise, Goroth. You have done well.”
Goroth stood to his feet and moved to stand behind the other, like a servant or bodyguard.
The leader spoke again, “Please excuse Goroth for attacking you, but, we had to test you and your resolve. We have never met such a formidable race. How and why did you destroy our scout craft?”
Kal spoke up, “We did not. We found the ship floating in space and recovered it. We discovered that the crew had all died in an accidental collision with an asteroid.”
“Ah, I see. My name is Golosselei and I am High Minister of ‘The People’. We heard your words about being peaceful, but, we saw you with one of our craft which had been destroyed and was emitting a distress call. We needed to know what your intentions *really* were.”
“The same way that we needed to discover your real intentions,” said, Kal. “We had deciphered some of the documents carried on this craft and thought that we had discovered you to be a hostile, conquering race.”
“We conquer only those races that are themselves hostile. We are explorers. If we find a race that is extremely backward we will establish a relationship with them and assist them to move toward a more modern, civilized society. If they are exceptionally aggressive we will take steps to quarantine them and contain their influence. In many cases they eliminate themselves as a threat by wiping themselves out with global warfare. We then colonize the planet, if it is still habitable.”
Clark said, “We represent the remnant of an advanced society. Our planet destroyed itself. There was instability in the planet’s core which caused it to explode. A small colony ship survived and the passengers settled in a nearby system.” Kal informed. Indicating Lori he continued, “As my bond mate said, we are a peaceful society. We already have peaceful relations and trading relationships with other cultures. We would welcome a new trading partner, but not a conqueror. It would be necessary to conduct those negotiations with our Council of Elders.”
“The fact that your bond mate would have been just as capable of killing Goroth as she was of subduing him has shown me the truth of your statements. The act of preserving his life by removing the weapon when it went on overload, thus sparing his life also told us much. I will order our fleet to immediately return to our space. I will return with it and bring a proposal to our governing council for establishing a trade relationship with your planet. How can we contact your Council of Elders to set up the meetings for negotiations?” As the translator finished converting his words into English he stopped and looked at Lori’s bow. He said, “Please, I am an old man and not much of a threat; could your bond mate please put away her most formidable weapon?”
Clark and Lori had both forgotten that Lori had her bow prepared. She put her arrow back in the quiver and hit the button to cause the bow to fold into its compact form, which she stowed away.
Answering his question, Clark said, “We know the frequencies that you use and are now able to translate your messages. When you are ready you can send a signal. I would suggest that this planet be used as a meeting site. We will arrange for shelter and meeting space. We would request only a small delegation.”
Suddenly Kal’s com link chirped an alert tone. Ching’s voice came over it, “Kal, one of their ships has broken formation and is headed your way.”
Kal looked at Golosselei and asked, “What’s going on?”
The translator had converted the message and spoken it aloud to Golosselei. He replied, “I’m not certain. Perhaps they think I’ve been down here too long. It could be a ship from the Hangaresi. That is the war party within our government. At times they are difficult to restrain.”
“Why would they be approaching the planet?”
“I could be the target. I am with the Caregeigh or peace party.”
Kal pushed a button on his com link and said, “Deploy ship one. I want that ship disabled. Target shield generators, weapons and propulsion systems.”
“Acknowledged.”
A minute later, Golosselei’s communicator started to sound. Golosselei listened intently for a minute and then turned to Kal and with a tone of awe said, “A ship appeared from nowhere and launched projectiles against our ship and then disappeared again. How did you penetrate our shields?”
Clark replied, “I’m afraid that will have to be our secret. Be assured that we will keep the knowledge confidential, unless and until you demonstrate an aggressive nature. If that were to occur we would be forced to reveal our secret to any sentient race that you would attack. Keep in mind that we value life; however, we will not stand by and see other races attacked without provocation. We will act in our own defense and the defense of others. Our respect for life called for restraint in this encounter; however, I’m sure you are aware that we were quite capable of utterly destroying that craft and any others that you might chose to send against us. We are a peaceful people, but, do not mistake our desire for peace to be weakness. Others have made that mistake and lived to regret it.”
“I acknowledge the correctness of your statements. Our ship is disabled. There were some minor injuries but no fatalities. You would indeed be a formidable foe.”
“As I said, we value life and we could just as easily have destroyed that craft.”
“I can see that. There will be no further tests.”
Lori burst out with, “That was another test!?!?”
Golosselei asked, “You didn’t expect me to accept your word that you would be capable of defending yourselves, did you? Seeing an individual, even one such as yourself, displaying powers far above that of normal people, how could we trust that your race would be able to defeat us?”
“You took a big chance.”
“Not as big a chance as you would suppose. That was a robot craft with life synthesizing dummies. In this way we were able to determine the level of injury that would have been inflicted. If you had simply destroyed that craft, with little or no concern for the life on board, we would have known you to be an aggressive species in need of watching. The fact that you do indeed value life has now been amply displayed. We now believe you. Your actions have spoken and shown the truth behind your words. I will now return to my fleet. We will be returning to our space and begin preparing for the negotiations to establish a trading relationship with your people. I, as a representative of ‘The People’, I bid you adieu.”
A second before the translator said ‘the people’, they heard Hangaresi and Lori and Clark realized that this was their name for themselves. With a small formal bow Golosselei turned and re-entered his ship. Goroth followed him and closed the hatch. A few minutes later they lifted off.
Kal-El’s com link chirped and he heard Ching’s voice, “Kal, as soon as the ship that was on the surface with you lifted off, one of their other ships broke formation and moved over to take that ship we attacked in tow. Once the docking was completed and the disabled ship was secure the combined vessels returned to their formation. Now the entire fleet is starting to move away.”
Kal touched his com link and in a weary tone said, “That was expected. You can come and pick us up. Tell the other ships that they can stand down. This entire encounter was an elaborate series of tests to determine whether or not we were a hostile race. I’m happy to say, we passed the test. The decision to respect their lives and avoid killing was the key. If we had given in to our baser instincts and simply destroyed that ship we would have initiated a very costly war. It would have been costly in both lives and resources. As it is we now have the foundation laid to establish a trading relationship with them.” Wearily he said, “Come get us, we’re ready to go home.”
Clark and Lori could hear cheering behind him as Ching replied, “We’ll be there shortly.”
Lori turned to Clark and said, “Wow, this really didn’t take all that long. I wonder why Herb told us that we would be gone for eight months. By the time we get home it will have only been about three and a half months.”
Clark thought for a few seconds before answering, “Maybe we will have to stay until the negotiations are complete.”
Lori’s reply was immediate, “I don’t see why, unless we might need another show of force.” Before she continued a look of deep concentration took over her features, “You know, this has gotten me to thinking. Why don’t we propose to the kids that they take turns taking vacations here on New Krypton? It would give them the opportunity to learn about the culture and each spouse could be the local superhero while they are here.”
Clark started to smile as he replied, “You know, that’s not a bad idea. Let’s bring it up to Ching and Zara when we get back to NK.”
Lori brought it back to the original topic, “If we don’t have to stay here for the negotiations then why did we stay? We might need to stay for a little while to prepare some things, but that still doesn’t explain how we were gone for eight months. Herb did say eight months. He should know since he has to bring CJ back to us. I’ve got a really bad feeling about this, like something’s going to happen.”
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