From: "L-Soft list server at Indiana University (1.8d)" To: "ARTF@MemoryAlpha.nil" File: "LOISCLA-GENERAL-L LOG0106B" ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 8 Jun 2001 09:14:56 +0100 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Phillip Atcliffe Subject: NEW: Imbalance Part 2 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: QUOTED-PRINTABLE Oh, look, it's Friday again... :D In that case, it's time to consider that there may be more to shifting=20 universes than merely packing and leaving a forwarding address. It's=20 also time to deal with a certain Earth-threatening menace the *right*=20 way! George, Dean, pay attention: *this* is how it's done... ***** Clark lay back on the bed in his hotel room and reflected on events in=20 his life since H.G. Wells had come to his former office and made his=20 fateful offer. It had been both surprisingly easy and incredibly=20 difficult to abandon his "home" world for this one. Once he had made=20 the decision to leave, he had been eager to make the move, to be gone,=20 but, as he began to sever his ties, and to realise that his choice=20 meant making a complete break with everyone and everything that he'd=20 ever known -- with one notable exception -- he found that there were=20 more and more people, and even places, to which it was hard to say a=20 final good-bye; it seemed that his world, for all of the unhappiness=20 that he had known there, had more of a claim on him than he had=20 expected. But, whenever doubt and even fear might have made him falter, a strange=20 partnership of feelings and emotions kept him going -- eagerness,=20 restlessness, and a sense of... incompleteness that he had come to=20 realise had always been there, but now was growing ever stronger. As=20 the days passed, the feeling that something was missing, that there was=20 a void inside him that demanded to be filled but could not be, became=20 more and more intense. He felt that it was beginning to dominate his=20 existence, and the world in which he moved was taking on an air of=20 unreality as it began to colour his perceptions. He could only fight=20 against it by focusing on the positive components of this peculiar=20 cocktail of enthusiasm and emptiness -- the new life ahead, and=20 especially the chance of happiness that it held. Perhaps he should have known that, in the end, it would be Lois Lane=20 who saved him. It seemed obvious, once he thought about it: *she* was=20 what he felt was missing; this gnawing hollowness stemmed from his need=20 for her. Looking back, it had always been there but, for most of his=20 life, it had remained dormant or been held at bay, so that he had taken=20 it for just another aspect of being different. Before he had met the=20 other world's Lois, he literally had not known what he had been=20 missing; after her sudden appearance and the upheaval that she had=20 caused in his life, he had had to deal with having been shown what his=20 life could have been like -- only to have the most important aspect of=20 that life snatched away from him. However, there had still been the=20 possibility of finding her counterpart in his own world; only now, when=20 he knew that that could not happen, was the void inside gathering=20 strength. But, just as she was the cause of this... hunger, so she was the cure=20 for it. As the time for him to leave came nearer and nearer, the sense=20 of unreality that had worried him continued to grow, but differently.=20 Before, he had felt as though the world was being hidden from him, that=20 it was retreating from him behind a wall of darkness that became ever=20 more dense as time went on; now, he felt as though *he* was leaving the=20 world behind as he was drawn more and more strongly by the promise of=20 the new life ahead -- and Lois in particular. It was almost as though he was flying out and away from everything, and=20 he was reminded of the words of Arthur C Clarke: "The Earth is the=20 cradle of Mankind, but one cannot stay in the cradle forever." That was=20 how he felt -- as though he was gradually leaving the world of his=20 childhood to grow in some way, to... metamorphose into something new.=20 It was exhilarating in a way, although at times he would stop and shake=20 his head at his own enthusiasm, and warn himself not to expect too=20 much. After all, he hadn't even *met* the other Lois yet -- supposing=20 she didn't like him? However, such possibilities didn't seem to worry Wells, whom he saw=20 rather less often than he would have liked as they planned the way in=20 which he would bow out as Superman. Clark would have preferred to just=20 quietly fade away but, with his high public profile, that wasn't really=20 an option. In addition, Wells thought that it would be better for him=20 to "go out with something of a bang", to preserve and strengthen the=20 mystique of the dedicated hero from another planet that was to be his=20 legacy here; Wells reassured him that his deeds and example had already=20 fixed the world on course for a better future, but it never hurt to=20 make absolutely sure, now did it? Clark agreed, despite himself, that it wasn't really fair to just turn=20 his back on the whole world when there was another choice, and so they=20 began to create what they came to refer to as The Show, the final great=20 deed of Superman which would both save and inspire humanity, even as it=20 hid his departure. According to Wells, a large asteroid, seventeen miles across (!), was=20 on a collision course with the Earth. Apparently, his counterpart had=20 dealt with his world's version of the asteroid three or four years ago,=20 not long after he'd moved to Metropolis ('and met Lois,' came a whisper=20 from Clark's subconscious). For whatever reason, the corresponding=20 asteroid in *this* universe was somewhat later in making its approach,=20 which turned out to be quite convenient. If matters had been otherwise, he wouldn't have had to worry about the=20 asteroid for some months yet, but Wells said, rightly, that tackling it=20 now had lots of advantages. For a start, the further away from the=20 Earth that he was able to reach the thing, the easier it would be to=20 deflect -- and that could be important; from what Wells told him,=20 literally saving the world was not going to be easy. That was a *big*=20 lump of rock out there, and his counterpart had almost been overwhelmed=20 by his encounter with it. On top of that, the extra distance between=20 Clark and any ground-based observer would make his disappearance=20 (courtesy of Wells' time machine) that much easier to hide. Plus, of=20 course, Clark was in no mood to wait until the human race realised that=20 it was in jeopardy and called for help! So it was that, by means of the Daily Planet and its world-wide news=20 links, Superman announced that he had detected the "Nightfall Asteroid"=20 and the hazard that it presented for the Earth. Astronomers across the=20 planet trained their instruments on the co-ordinates that he provided=20 and announced that the Man of Steel was correct: the entire world was=20 in great danger. In danger, but not without hope, for, as Superman had been the one to=20 discover and reveal the prospective end of the world, so was he the=20 best -- perhaps the *only* -- means of averting it. The realisation of=20 this, and Clark's quietly confident public demeanour, did a lot to=20 forestall any panic that might have broken out, although there was=20 still an undercurrent of public nervousness in the days between the=20 announcement and his scheduled rendezvous with Nightfall. Nowhere was this nervousness more evident than in Clark's office at the=20 Planet. Miss Drake, for all her formidable organisational skills and=20 bulldog determination to protect "Mr Kent's" privacy, spent much of=20 that time in a complete flap. It began with non-stop phone calls,=20 faxes, e-mails and letters from people all over the world. Some were=20 from cranks, whose epistles varied from hostile strictures to paternal=20 (or maternal) advice to mercenary scams; Clark was particularly fond of=20 the letter from the woman whose "ancient Atlantean alien spirit guide"=20 would show him the exact place to touch the asteroid in order to=20 activate its "transformation circuits" and convert it into an=20 interstellar spaceship, which would then calmly go into orbit around=20 the Earth... and all for a mere ten million dollars. Most, however,=20 were from ordinary people who wished him luck, told him that they would=20 remember him in their prayers, or just seemed to want some form of=20 contact with the man on whom all their lives depended. The problem was simply the sheer *number* of these messages. The Planet=20 office phone and fax lines were jammed solid, the e-mail server blew up=20 after every available byte of disk space was filled, and the Post=20 Office took to leaving entire vanloads of mail in the Planet loading=20 dock, from where Clark regularly had to remove them in order for there=20 to be room to load the paper's delivery trucks! A small, but significant minority of these messages were from rival=20 news organisations, requesting (or, in some cases, *demanding*)=20 interviews or instant replies detailing everything that Clark knew=20 about... anything and everything! And then there were the visits from=20 reporters and/or TV crews, none of whom were prepared to take No for an=20 answer -- not that their attempts to charm, bribe or force their way=20 past her to see Clark cut any ice with Mayson, but it was a continual=20 strain on her. Eventually, Clark issued a flat statement to the effect that, in case=20 they hadn't noticed, he worked for the Daily Planet, and anything=20 newsworthy that he had to say would be released through that newspaper;=20 he'd write the articles himself. Anyone who didn't like that=20 arrangement wouldn't even be given any press releases that might, or=20 might *not*, be issued, and would have to get their information from=20 *reading* the paper. Mr Olsen added that any attempt to reproduce,=20 quote from or even refer to the contents of Planet articles without=20 giving proper acknowledgement of the source would see the=20 perpetrator(s) hit with suit for violation of copyright. Whatever the effect of this statement on the clamouring media, it=20 didn't reduce Miss Drake's workload much, because she still had to deal=20 with endless calls from people involved with the Nightfall Mission, as=20 it had become known. Clark was in almost non-stop conferences with=20 astronomers, geologists, the military, EPRAD, the UN, various local,=20 state and federal agencies -- even the White House "requested" a=20 meeting. Trying to keep Clark's schedule in some semblance of order=20 became a nightmare, and she, not unreasonably, felt run off her feet. Which, in Clark's opinion, was something of a blessing. Mayson, he=20 knew, was worried, both about the whole situation and about him in=20 particular. When he'd first noticed this, he'd sympathised and tried to=20 comfort her. *That* had been a mistake; she'd taken it as the first=20 sign of a long-hoped-for romantic interest in her, and had been all=20 over him. He'd had a hard time fending her off and getting their=20 relationship back on its normal, strictly business footing; even now,=20 he was afraid that she'd still had hopes of taking up where she'd left=20 off after the Nightfall affair was over. And then, just to make matters worse, *Lana* had turned up! He=20 shuddered as he remembered flying back to his office after another=20 interminable meeting, and coming out into the anteroom to see his=20 personal assistant and ex-fianc=E9e bristling at one another like a pair=20 of blonde Kilkenny cats -- which, Clark had no doubt, made him the=20 mouse! Nor had the subsequent conversation in his office been any more=20 pleasant; Lana was upset -- missing him (she said), resentful of his=20 new-found fame, scared about Nightfall, *deeply* suspicious of his=20 relationship with Mayson, unhappy that they'd broken up, angry at any=20 suggestion that she had only herself to blame for that... basically,=20 she was brim-full of an all-too-volatile cocktail of emotions that=20 threatened to blow up at any moment -- and Clark wasn't reacting the=20 way she wanted him to. Whatever that *was*; Clark couldn't tell. Lana's mood kept swinging=20 between pathos and anger, and the only constant was that he was the=20 target for whatever messages she might be trying to send -- none of=20 which he could decipher, or was even particularly interested in=20 receiving. In the end, all he could do was let her work it out of her=20 system while he did his best to remain impassive. That impassivity turned out to be the last straw. Not getting the=20 reassurance that she was seeking -- *if* that was what she wanted --=20 Lana began to work herself into a hysterical fit. She began to shout at=20 him, saying that he didn't care about anyone but himself, and then in=20 the same breath accusing him of being under the spell of "that cheap=20 blonde floozy of a secretary". And it got worse: she became less and=20 less coherent, and more and more abusive, and her voice rose to a=20 shrill scream. Clark was horrified; he'd never seen *anyone* act like this, much less=20 Lana, and he didn't know what to do about it -- except that he was sure=20 that answering back was most definitely the wrong thing to do. The last=20 thing that he wanted was to turn this... this *rant* of Lana's into an=20 argument! So, in the end, he didn't do anything. In the face of his continued lack of reaction, Lana eventually broke=20 down and collapsed into a sobbing heap. Clark still didn't dare go near=20 her; if Mayson had over-reacted to a small show of sympathy, he didn't=20 even want to *think* about how Lana might take any attempt to comfort=20 her. Fortunately, if *he* couldn't do anything, perhaps someone else=20 could, now that she wasn't screaming. He keyed the intercom and very=20 quietly asked Miss Drake to send for the Planet's company nurse. The nurse arrived promptly, and she and Miss Drake helped the crying=20 Lana from the room. For all her hysterical accusations, Lana didn't=20 seem to object to assistance from the "cheap blonde floozy" -- or=20 perhaps she was in no state to realise whom it was gently supporting=20 her as they went out of the office. Once the door had closed behind the three women, Clark flopped down=20 into his chair with a huge sigh. 'I gotta get out of here,' he thought.=20 'I can't take much more of this -- and absolutely no more of anything=20 like *that!*' Then, feeling in no state to deal with any more demands=20 from anyone at the moment -- and *especially* from women! -- he spun=20 into the suit and flew out the window. Maybe a leisurely patrol would=20 clear his head. Maybe, if he looked hard enough, he could find enough=20 work for Superman to keep him occupied until it was time to go! ***** And, finally, eventually, it was time. In what was probably the biggest=20 world-wide communications hook-up ever, the peoples of the world -- or=20 those of them who had access to a TV, radio or computer -- watched and=20 listened as their star-born champion prepared for his contest with the=20 approaching menace from those same stars. Clark was struck by the=20 symbolism inherent in what they were seeing: the scientists and=20 technicians attaching sensors and communications gear to the breathing=20 apparatus-cum-harness that he was to wear into space were like the=20 squires of a bygone era, helping their lord into his armour for a joust=20 -- or a battle. Which was why he was putting up with it all. Clark would have=20 infinitely preferred to simply grab the air supply and go, but he had=20 come to realise, in discussions with Wells, that it was the *world*=20 that needed to see and participate in this venture. Earth was almost=20 helpless in the face of the threat from Nightfall, but the difference=20 between *almost* and *totally* helpless was just enough to sustain=20 humanity's self-esteem at a time when it would be so easy to fall into=20 despondence, anarchy and chaos. So, if Clark was to be an inspiration=20 for the future and the saviour of the human race, he would do so as its=20 representative, with all the help that his companions on this precious,=20 fragile planet could offer. It might not-- it probably *wouldn't* be of=20 any use, but he would not refuse it, nor would he be so arrogant as to=20 think that he might not need it; that is, he wouldn't have been, had he=20 not had Wells to help him. For the same reason, Clark had arranged to begin his mission in the=20 presence of the Secretary-General of the United Nations. There were=20 lots of other politicians and diplomats present, but Superman chose to=20 take his leave from the man who was the nearest thing that the world=20 had to a single leader. But, as he rose slowly into the sky, his eyes scanned the huge crowd=20 that had gathered, searching for a few familiar faces. The first was=20 Wells, who smiled and checked his watch before disappearing into the=20 crowd to get to his machine. The second was James Olsen, whose hands=20 were folded as though in prayer, but whose gesture upwards with those=20 same hands was all encouragement and support -- 'Go get it, pal!' Clark felt warmed by that. He'd miss James; the man had become more=20 than just a boss. A bond had formed between the two men, both=20 exceptional in their own way, over the past months. It was based on the=20 understanding of just what it was like to stand out from the crowd, and=20 Clark had come to value it as he had little else. James had never been=20 as awed by what Clark could do in the way that almost everyone else had=20 -- even Perry White -- which meant that the undercurrent of tension=20 that was present with almost everyone else simply wasn't there when=20 Clark was with the younger man. It had been nice to be able to *relax*=20 with someone. The final person -- indeed, the last face that Clark saw before turning=20 his gaze to the sky -- was Mayson Drake. It was odd, but somehow, *she*=20 was the person whom Clark felt the worst about... well, abandoning=20 wasn't the right word, but "leaving" wasn't strong enough. She was=20 pushy, possessive, and could be a right pain in the neck at times, but=20 she had cared about him - *all* of him -- in a way that no-one else on=20 this world had, and he was grateful. Had things been otherwise, they=20 might perhaps have had something together, but it was not to be. He=20 knew where his heart and soul belonged, and it was with Lois Lane. And if, as he began to soar into the heavens, he heard Mayson's tearful=20 whisper -- "Come back to me..." -- he could not and did not hesitate.=20 He had a date with destiny, and the fate of two worlds now rested on=20 his shoulders. ***** What followed was, as Clark and Wells had planned it, quick, dramatic=20 and quite misleading. Once free of the atmosphere, Superman raced=20 towards Nightfall as only he could. So fast did he speed away from the=20 Earth that the watching radar network had trouble tracking his signal,=20 and anyone trying to follow him visually saw only a blur for the=20 briefest of instants. Nor were the watchers able to regain "contact"=20 with the hero. The obvious conclusion to be drawn was that the extreme=20 acceleration -- thousands of "g's" -- that Superman used to reach the=20 asteroid as quickly as possible was just too much even for the=20 supposedly shock-proof military-standard communications gear, which=20 must have been literally crushed against the body of the Man of Steel=20 by its own inertia. All of which was exactly according to plan; Clark needed to be out of=20 contact with Earth so that he could arrange Superman's "sacrifice", and=20 so he'd disabled the comm gear shortly after leaving the atmosphere.=20 Certain that no-one could see or locate him precisely, he flashed=20 towards Nightfall, arriving there mere seconds later. He looped around=20 the rock, matching its velocity. Wells had told him of the effect that=20 crashing into the asteroid had had on his counterpart, and he had no=20 intention of repeating that mistake; instead, he would approach it=20 slowly and *push* it out of its collision course with Earth. It would=20 only take a very small change in the direction of its flight for it to=20 miss the planet by hundreds of thousands of miles. Of course, to move=20 such a huge rock even that much would require all his super-strength,=20 but he was sure that he could do it. And once the Earth was safe, the=20 rest of The Show could proceed. He waved to Wells, who was hovering in his machine a few yards away=20 from the asteroid, hiding from any watching astronomers in the shadow=20 of the rock. Wells waved back, indicating that he had, as they'd=20 planned, marked the best place for Superman to take hold of Nightfall,=20 and Clark quickly saw the yellow-painted area. He moved in and placed=20 his hands flat against the asteroid, and, taking a deep breath from his=20 oxygen supply, began to push. At first, he wasn't sure if he was having any effect, and he began to=20 worry that he'd been as over-confident as his counterpart. But then he=20 looked over at Wells again, and the little man gave him a thumbs-up and=20 waved for him to keep going. That was all Clark needed in the way of=20 encouragement, and his face set in a determined, grim smile as he=20 doubled his efforts, exerting yet more of his incredible power to save=20 his former home. After a time in which all of Clark's consciousness was focused on=20 Nightfall, and the rasp of his breath inside the oxygen mask was the=20 only intrusion into that small, narrow existence, he once again turned=20 to check with Wells. To his relief, his partner in this mission -=20 *both* missions -- gave him a double thumbs-up, their agreed signal=20 that the asteroid had been diverted sufficiently for Earth to be safe.=20 Clark spent a few more seconds pitting his strength against the huge=20 rock, just to be sure, then floated across to the machine and into the=20 soft blue glow that somehow protected the time-traveller from the=20 vacuum of space. "Well done, my boy! Well done!" Wells congratulated him as he sat down=20 in the passenger seat. "Earth is safe. In fact, my calculations show=20 that the asteroid's new orbit will never bring it within a million=20 miles of the Earth at any time in the future. So we needn't really=20 bother with our next step -- except, of course, for its *other*=20 purpose..." The next step that Wells referred to was the planting of a small=20 antimatter charge inside the asteroid. When located properly and=20 detonated, this charge would shatter Nightfall into pieces so small=20 that, were any of them to ever collide with the Earth -- which they=20 wouldn't, now that Clark had changed the rock's orbit -- they would=20 burn up on entry into the atmosphere. The other purpose was, of course,=20 the masquerade behind which Clark would leave this dimension and travel=20 to his new one, with its promise of happiness -- that is, Lois. It didn't take long. Heat vision quickly made a small tunnel into the=20 heart of the asteroid, and the charge was dropped into the hole. Then a=20 special compound of Wells' own devising was packed into the remaining=20 space and spread over a sizable area of the surface around the hole,=20 and the time machine-cum-spacecraft retired to a safe distance from the=20 rock. Wells triggered the charge. The explosion was everything a special effects unit could have wanted,=20 and also exactly what the conspirators had in mind. Nightfall shattered=20 into space-dust in a spectacular, highly visible flare of light --=20 bright *green* light, courtesy of that special compound. To anyone=20 watching from the Earth, the asteroid had disintegrated, exploding from=20 within for some unknown reason -- and what had happened to Superman was=20 a complete mystery. When there was no sign of him following the explosion, the assumption=20 that Superman had been caught in the mysterious blast would be=20 inevitable, and someone was bound to connect the odd green colour of=20 the flare to that peculiar rock that Tempus had used to incapacitate=20 the Man of Steel at his first appearance, before he had been rescued by=20 that enigmatic woman in white. The world, now safe from disaster, would=20 draw the obvious conclusion and would mourn the loss of a hero. Then,=20 inspired by the selfless bravery of its saviour, it would go on,=20 eventually to achieve a better future for all. Only James Olsen had any inkling of the truth. On the hard drive of his=20 personal computer, quadruply-encrypted and protected by all the=20 expertise of a former computer whiz-kid who hadn't lost his touch, for=20 all that he'd moved on from hacking and programming to running a=20 financial conglomerate, and the Daily Planet in particular -- not to=20 mention dabbling in politics on occasion -- was an e-mail message.=20 Clark had left it for his boss-- his *friend!* -- before he'd flown=20 into space, hoping that it might at least alleviate some of the pain=20 that his "death" would cause -- and, indeed, Olsen had found it when=20 he'd returned to the office to try to cope with the loss of one of the=20 few people whom he could treat as an equal -- even though they were=20 very different -- by burying himself in work. The message was short,=20 but Olsen had stared at it for what seemed like hours before storing it=20 away where no-one could possibly get at it, and then settling down to=20 work with a much lighter heart. It read: Dear James, Don't believe everything you read in the papers. ;-) I have to go now, but I may be back -- some day. -- CK And now, he was here -- on a world like his own, and yet unlike. A=20 world that had never heard of Clark Kent, much less Superman. A world=20 that needed him, according to Wells, because there was someone on it=20 who needed him, as he needed her -- though she didn't even know of his=20 existence yet! A world with *Lois*... Which thought brought him to what he was going to do tomorrow. He=20 needed to set himself up in this world. Wells had provided him with all=20 the documents that he needed -- and they were all authentic, too; how=20 Wells had managed *that* was something that Clark would have to ask=20 him, if and when they met again. He had a bank account, too, with more=20 than enough in it for him to live very comfortably for quite some time=20 -- which is why he was staying in *this* hotel. This was a far cry from=20 the flea-pit he'd lived in when he first arrived in his own Metropolis. But, of course, this version of Metropolis was going to be his now. So,=20 with his material needs provided for, he could devote the next day to=20 "settling in" -- look for an apartment, and all the things that went in=20 one, maybe think about buying a car... Who was he kidding? Tomorrow, he was going to be on the Daily Planet's=20 doorstep, first thing in the morning. To do some research in their=20 morgue, to check out the possibility of getting a job there -- and, if=20 he was lucky, to see *her*. ***** But not until next time... Phil ------------------------------------------------------------------ "We gotta get out into Space / If it's the last thing we ever do!" =20 -- Return to the Forbidden Planet A sentiment echoed by Phil Atcliffe (Phillip.Atcliffe@uwe.ac.uk) ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 8 Jun 2001 08:18:07 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Natascha Kortum Subject: Re: NEW: Imbalance Part 2 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed S P O I L E R S P A C E WOW! Wendy and Phil, you continue to amaze me. This part was all and so much more I could ever hope for! I loved the introduction. Clark's introspection on why he had to leave was perfect. It make me ache for him. Using the asteroid as a cover-up for his leaving was absolutely brilliant. The Mayson/Lana scenes also made perfect sense. Mayson still trying to get Clark, Lana changing tactics to get him back... poor guy. Thank God, Welss was there to help Clark move the asteroid out of the way... we wouldn't want another FTGG now, would we? ;) But I am glad that the world will view Superman's ultimate sacrifice as a symbol of hope for the future. I am also glad that he decided to leave a note for James. He deserved to know that not everything was over. :) Hey, now Clark is in the new world, ready to find Lois. >But not until next time... I am ready when you are. Natascha _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 8 Jun 2001 06:22:08 -0600 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Debby Subject: How to Write with Style Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" I found this in a magazine advertisement many years ago. I'm glad I hung on to it... * around words indicates italics in original. There is a list below and in the original, the listed items were in bold, with regular-type explanations after each list item. How to Write with Style By Kurt Vonnegut (International Paper asked Kurt Vonnegut, author of such novels as "Slaughterhouse Five," "Jailbird" and "Cat's Cradle," to tell you how to put your style and personality into everything you write.) Newspaper reporters and technical writers are trained to reveal almost nothing about themselves in their writings. This makes them freaks in the world of writers, since almost all of the other ink-stained wretches in that world reveal a lot about themselves to readers. We call these revelations, accidental and intentional, elements of style. These revelations tell us as readers what sort of person it is with whom we are spending time. Does the writer sound ignorant or informed, stupid or bright, crooked or honest, humorless or playful - ? And on and on. Why should you examine your writing style with the idea of improving it? Do so as a mark of respect for your readers, whatever you're writing. If you scribble your thoughts any which way, your readers will surely feel that you care nothing about them. They will mark you down as an egomaniac or a chowderhead - or, worse, they will stop reading you. The most damning revelation you can make about yourself is that you do not know what is interesting and what is not. Don't you yourself like or dislike writers mainly for what they choose to show you or make you think about? Did you ever admire an empty-headed writer for his or her mastery of the language? No. So your own winning style must begin with ideas in your head. 1. Find a subject you care about. Find a subject you care about and which you in your heart feel others should care about. It is this genuine caring, and not your games with language, which will be the most compelling and seductive element in your style. I am not urging you to write a novel, by the way - although I would not be sorry if you wrote one, provided you genuinely cared about something. A petition to the mayor about a pothole in front of your house or a love letter to the girl next door will do. 2. Do not ramble, though. I won't ramble on about that. 3. Keep it simple. As for your use of language: Remember that two great masters of language, William Shakespeare and James Joyce, wrote sentences which were almost childlike when their subjects were most profound. "To be or not to be?" asks Shakespeare's Hamlet. The longest word is three letters long. Joyce, when he was frisky, could put together a sentence as intricate and as glittering as a necklace for Cleopatra, but my favorite sentence in his short story "Eveline" is this one: "She was tired." At that point in the story, no other words could break the heart of a reader as those three words do. Simplicity of language is not only reputable, but perhaps even sacred. The Bible opens with a sentence well within the writing skills of a lively fourteen-year-old: "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." 4. Have the guts to cut. It may be that you, too, are capable of making necklaces for Cleopatra, so to speak. But your eloquence should be the servant of the ideas in your head. Your rule might be this: If a sentence, no matter how excellent, does not illuminate your subject in some new and useful way, scratch it out. 5. Sound like yourself. The writing style which is most natural for you is bound to echo the speech you heard when a child. English was the novelist Joseph Conrad's third language, and much that seems piquant in his use of English was no doubt colored by his first language, which was Polish. And lucky indeed is the writer who has grown up in Ireland, for the English spoken there is so amusing and musical. I myself grew up in Indianapolis, where common speech sounds like a band saw cutting galvanized tin, and employs a vocabulary as unornamental as a monkey wrench. In some of the more remote hollows of Appalachia, children still grow up hearing songs and locutions of Elizabethan times. Yes, and many Americans grow up hearing a language other than English, or an English dialect a majority of Americans cannot understand. All these varieties of speech are beautiful, just as the varieties of butterflies are beautiful. No matter what your first language, you should treasure it all your life. If it happens not to be standard English, and if it shows itself when you write standard English, the result is usually delightful, like a very pretty girl with one eye that is green and one that is blue. I myself find that I trust my own writing most, and others seem to trust it most, too, when I sound most like a person from Indianapolis, which is what I am. What alternatives do I have? The one most vehemently recommended by teachers has no doubt been pressed on you, as well: to write like cultivated Englishmen of a century or more ago. 6. Say what you mean to say. I used to be exasperated by such teachers, but am no more. understand now that all those antique essays and stories with which I was to compare my own work were not magnificent for their datedness or foreignness, but for saying precisely what their authors meant them to say. My teachers wished me to write accurately, always selecting the most effective words, and relating the words to one another unambiguously, rigidly, like parts of a machine The teachers did not want to turn me into an Englishman after all. They hoped that I would become understandable - and therefore understood. And there went my dream of doing with words what Pablo Picasso did with paint or what any number of jazz idols did with music. If I broke all the rules of punctuation, had words mean whatever I wanted them to mean, and strung them together higgledy-piggledy, I would simply not be understood. So you, too, had better avoid Picasso-style or jazz-style writing, if you have something worth saying and wish to be understood. Readers want our pages to look very much like pages they have seen before. Why? This is because they themselves have a tough job to do, and they need all the help they can get from us. 7. Pity the readers. They have to identify thousands of little marks on paper, and make sense of them immediately. They have to *read*, an art so difficult that most people don't really master it even after having studied it all through grade school and high school - twelve long years. So this discussion must finally acknowledge that our stylistic options as writers are neither numerous nor glamorous, since our readers are bound to be such imperfect artists. Our audience requires us to be sympathetic and patient teachers, ever willing to simplify and clarify - whereas we would rather soar high above the crowd, singing like nightingales. That is the bad news. The good news is that we Americans are governed under a unique Constitution, which allows us to write whatever we please without fear of punishment. So the most meaningful aspect of our styles, which is what we choose to write about, is utterly unlimited. 8. For really detailed advice. For a discussion of literary style in a narrower sense, in a more technical sense, I commend to your attention *The Elements of Style,* by William Strunk, Jr., and E. B. White (Macmillan, 1979). E.B. White is, of course, one of the most admirable literary stylists this country has so far produced. You should realize, too, that no one would care how well or badly Mr. White expressed himself, if he did not have perfectly enchanting things to say. --Kurt Vonnegut (insert advertisement box for International Paper Company, "We believe in the power of the printed word") ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 8 Jun 2001 12:29:13 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Kate Crane Subject: Re: NEW: Imbalance Part 2 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Wow Phil, that was spectacular!! Terrific writing all around. Kate ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 8 Jun 2001 11:09:15 -0600 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Becky Bain Subject: Re: How to Write with Style In-Reply-To: <200106081219.f58CJgr07493@mail2.thuntek.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Debby said: >I found this in a magazine advertisement many years ago. Wonderful stuff! Thanks for sharing it! Becky rbain@qwest.net "I do not like to form in my mind an idea that I don't have any proof of." - Rosa Parks, from her autobiography Stride Toward Freedom ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 8 Jun 2001 13:50:25 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Melisma McGregor Subject: Alert: for Francophiles who get French CBC Just coming out of lurkdom for a minute to let you know that Lois et Clark: Les Nouvelles Aventures de Superman will start airing Monday to Friday at 11 am on SRC, the French CBC channel, starting THIS MONDAY!! I found it on my Vancouver area schedule for that time, and most affiliates air the same schedule as us, I've noticed. Check your local schedule to be sure. Personally I'm looking forward to it, as I started taping after I got pretty much all my English eps - they were on Bob et Carol et Lois et Clark the first one I taped. But after they ran l'Ultime Aventure de Lois et Clark, they took it off the schedule. I'm hoping I can fill in the blanks now, heehee! Melisma (ducking back under her Rock to lurk some more) ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 9 Jun 2001 08:01:05 +1000 Reply-To: jenerators@optushome.com.au Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Jen Stosser Subject: Dean in "The Glow" In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Saw this on ZenTertainment PORTIA DE ROSSI & DEAN CAIN SHOOTING 'THE GLOW' Portia de Rossi (Ally McBeal) and Dean Cain (Lois & Clark: The Adventures of Superman) are currently in Toronto shooting the FOX telepic THE GLOW. The actors play a struggling married couple who have a chance meeting with some elderly benefactors with a dramatic secret in the thriller, directed by Craig R. Baxley (Stephen King's Rose Red, Storm of the Century). Hal Linden (Barney Miller), Dina Merrill (Bonanza), Joe Campanella (The Practice), and Grace Zabriske (Twin Peaks) also star. In related news, Portia has also signed on to lead the cast of the Australian romantic comedy feature LOVE SMARTS, according to The HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. She'll play a young journalist helping her best friend test a cynical dating and mating strategy. Jen jenerators@optushome.com.au -*- This message is umop ap!sdn -*- -*- Jenerator or Some1Else on IRC) -*- JenerEight on AIM -*- Photos of David (8) and Megan (5) on the Stosser Family HomePage: http://www.geocities.com/j_stosser -*-Please sign our guestbook! ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 8 Jun 2001 18:30:11 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Judith Williams Subject: Re: Dean in "The Glow" MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Another '7 degrees of ' coincidence? Whatever happened to the flic Teri and Portia were supposed to shoot? I think it was called "2 Girls from Lemoore". Girls? The title alone is enough to send it to the scrap heap. :) Jude ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jen Stosser" To: Sent: Friday, June 08, 2001 3:01 PM Subject: Dean in "The Glow" > Saw this on ZenTertainment > > PORTIA DE ROSSI & DEAN CAIN SHOOTING 'THE GLOW' > Portia de Rossi (Ally McBeal) and Dean Cain (Lois & Clark: The Adventures of > Superman) are currently in Toronto shooting the FOX telepic THE GLOW. ========================================================================= Date: Fri, 8 Jun 2001 18:44:46 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Judith Williams Subject: Re: Dean in "The Glow" MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Oops. Darn, where's the edit button. Make that 6 degrees of separation. Jude ----- Original Message ----- From: "Judith Williams" To: Sent: Friday, June 08, 2001 6:30 PM Subject: Re: Dean in "The Glow" > Another '7 degrees of ' coincidence? Whatever happened to the flic Teri and > Portia were supposed to shoot? I think it was called "2 Girls from > Lemoore". Girls? The title alone is enough to send it to the scrap heap. > :) Jude > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Jen Stosser" > To: > Sent: Friday, June 08, 2001 3:01 PM > Subject: Dean in "The Glow" > > > > Saw this on ZenTertainment > > > > PORTIA DE ROSSI & DEAN CAIN SHOOTING 'THE GLOW' > > Portia de Rossi (Ally McBeal) and Dean Cain (Lois & Clark: The Adventures > of > > Superman) are currently in Toronto shooting the FOX telepic THE GLOW. ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 9 Jun 2001 12:35:16 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: lcfic Subject: Message Board Index Update through June 8 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Hi FoLCs! Lots of activity this week on the new board! A couple of vignettes, several new stories, lots of new story parts, and a new toc! Links at http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Meteor/7378/lnc.html New stories this week: ACCIDENTAL HUSBAND, THE: ERIN KLINGLER BRAVE NEW WORLD (KAL'S STORY): CHRISH EXODUS II, THE: EARTHBOUND: THANATOS FROM THE FRONT SEAT OF A JEEP COMPLETE VIGNETTE BRENDA LOVE IN THE BACK END COMPLETE VIGNETTE ARTEMIS PICTURE'S WORTH, A: NICNACS SATURDAY IN THE PARK: LARA BLASINGAME New part(s) posted: ALIEN GIFT: BETHY CHARADE: NAN SMITH FEAR OF DISCOVERY IV: YVONNE CONNELL GREEN CARD: WENDY RICHARDS HAND THAT ROCKS, THE: PINTOFOLC (AKA CHRISTY L) IMBALANCE: PHIL ATCLIFFE AND WENDY RICHARDS JUST LIKE CLARK: KESHANDRA Completed stories this week: none New TOC's IMBALANCE: PHIL ATCLIFFE AND WENDY RICHARDS Added to the Archive this week: Flying Lessons by Nicola Baker Only Superman by Wendy Richards Puddle Adventures by Bethy Till There Was You III: The Imperfect Hero by ChrisH Enjoy! Dawn & the Index Crew __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail - only $35 a year! http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 9 Jun 2001 21:14:50 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Nancy Smith Subject: Charade: Part 6 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Charade: Part 8 by Nan Smith "Somebody searched your room?" Jimmy repeated. "How do you know?--not that I don't believe you." "I was in the tub and heard him opening things," Lois said, a little curtly. She could still feel a trace of the adrenaline rush tingling along her nerves. "After I scared him into leaving, I looked around. Some of my things were disturbed--not much, but I could tell someone had been messing with them." "What should we do?" Jimmy asked. "The last thing you need is for them to pay a lot of attention to you." Lois nodded. "True. But an ordinary person would report it. If somebody was trying to check on our credentials and we don't report it, that will make them suspicious, too." "I don't like it that somebody might be checking on us," Jimmy said. "They could be suspicious." "Maybe. Or maybe it's standard operating procedure around here and they do it to every guest. These people probably have a lot to hide." "Yeah." Jimmy paced a few steps. "I guess there's no choice." "Not really." Lois stood up and turned toward the door. "Let's go. I think we should report it to the butler. With luck, that will take care of it. After all, I might not be completely *sure* there was someone in my room." She winked at Jimmy. He looked puzzled for a few seconds, then the light dawned. "Oh, you're giving them an out. Good idea." ********** Rogan was appropriately disturbed at the report and promised to investigate. Even the possibility that someone had entered Miss Davenport's room without permission seemed to shock him to the soul. He assured her that if anyone had been there, the transgressor would be identified. It was possible, he said, hopefully, that a maid had entered the room by error and when she discovered that she was in the wrong room, was frightened and had fled. Lois agreed that it could have been exactly that way, and she and Jimmy left with the assurances of the butler that the matter would be dealt with. "Whew," Lois said softly, when they were out of earshot, "I think that went over all right." "I hope so," Jimmy said. He slipped his arm around her waist as they went up the stairs. The whole idea of so casually manhandling his superior had made him pale when she had suggested it upstairs, but he hadn't argued. They had an image to consider. Lois was aware of the butler's gaze on them from below, and put her arm around Jimmy's waist as well, snuggling up to him. She could see beads of sweat on the young man's forehead and controlled the urge to grin, schooling her expression into one of affection for her companion. Once inside the room, Jimmy let her go. He wiped his face with the back of his hand and Lois regarded him with a smile. "Do you act like that with all your girlfriends?" He had turned a dull pink. "No, but they're not *you*." She laughed outright. "I don't bite." "Yeah, tell Ralph that," Jimmy muttered. "But you're not Ralph, Jimmy," she pointed out, reasonably. "Ralph has all the sensitivity of a rhinoceros. Somehow, I don't think you'd even consider trying to take advantage of the situation. Take it easy." Jimmy relaxed a little. "I guess not." "I *know* not. We're doing a job, that's all. So, what's been going on with you and the other guys? Do you know what de Los Rios is after?" "I think so," Jimmy said. "He's been talking about possible cooperation between the companies. I'm not completely sure, but I think what he's got in mind may be illegal." "Big surprise there," Lois said. "Yeah. He hasn't come right out and said so yet, but some of the others are looking a bit doubtful about it. I wonder what he's going to do if they say no." "Lex never took no for an answer," Lois said. "I'm sure he's got something in mind to deal with them, if he has to." "But if he wants to force them into cooperation with him, what can he do?" "I'm sure there are plenty of things," Lois said, a trifle grimly. "Lex never worried about a little thing like uncooperative business partners. If they won't go along with him, he'll have a backup plan." "I wonder if that's why he wanted us here with no way out unless he lets us," Jimmy said, slowly. "Have you or Clark tried to call out?" "Clark tried with his cellular phone," Lois reminded him. "He couldn't." "Yeah, well I tried it with the regular house phone, this afternoon," Jimmy said. "I got a recorded message saying that the connection wouldn't go through. Rogan told me that they have a lot of trouble with the phones. We're supposed to be having sunspots right now, or something. Am I wrong, or is something really screwy here?" "You're not wrong," Lois said, "but we're going to find out what it is." She glanced at her watch. "It's already past four-thirty. I have to talk to Clark as soon as I can. He needs to know about Arianna." "Yeah," Jimmy said. "Lois, are you *sure* that was Lex that died in the tunnel? This couldn't be the real one, could it?" Lois shrugged. "I've been sort of wondering about that, myself. But even if he is, what difference would it make? A clone with his memories would act exactly the same way. What I'm more worried about is Arianna." "Yeah, me too." Jimmy said. "Which one of them is really in charge here, I wonder." "You've been thinking about that too, huh?" "Yeah," Jimmy said again. "You know, I'd almost rather it was Luthor than Arianna. She scares me. I mean--" he floundered a second, "they both scare me, but she actually scares me more." "I know what you're trying to say," Lois agreed. "What I'd like to know is how they got into the positions they're in. How did Lex get to be the head of Caribbean Imports? For that matter, how did they get hold of this island and all the trappings? Where did they get the money? Lex didn't have any after that lawyer of his robbed him blind--except the money he stashed under my name." She grimaced slightly. "If I could get on line, I could probably dig up some of the answers," Jimmy said. "As it is, we're stuck." Lois shook her head. "No, we're just going to have to find our answers the old fashioned way. I want a look into Arianna's office. Maybe I can get in tonight, if I can figure out where it is." "I can show you," Jimmy said. "I saw Rogan go in there this morning. It's right off the sitting room." Lois gave him a grin. "You know, Jim, you're a lot more useful on this trip than I expected--and don't be insulted. I know you're smart; I just didn't realize you had such a gift for espionage." Jimmy looked down at his shoes. "I don't. I just notice things. I only wish I had the talent you and CK do for putting the facts together." "You will," Lois said. "It just takes experience." She glanced at the clock. "Oh, great, it's nearly five! We better start getting ready for dinner. We don't want to be late." ********** Lois checked herself over one, last time, craning her neck to see the back of her gown in the full-length mirror. There, that looked good. The thin, black dress was fairly low cut and hugged her curves without being too daring, and the modest string of pearls added just the right touch. She mustn't forget that although Kellie Davenport was James Riley's mistress, she had excellent taste in clothing. Black, high heels just matched the dress, and Lois dabbed a new French perfume that Clark had brought her straight from Paris on her wrists and behind her ear. There, that was just right, she decided: attractive, without being outstanding. Being too plain could draw as much attention as the opposite. While she waited for Jimmy to finish dressing, she stood looking out the window, squinting her eyes against the brilliance of the setting sun. There was something that had been nagging at her all afternoon and she couldn't quite put her finger on it. It was some minor thing that she'd observed during her walk that morning. At the time, she hadn't thought much about it, but some part of her mind must have taken note, for now she found herself trying to recall what it had been. The scenery below was bathed in gold, pink and red. Even the ocean had taken on a pinkish hue, but the shadows were long, and the ground shaded by the tall, fragrant pine trees was shrouded in gloom. Down by the line of trees, there was movement. She squinted, shading her eyes against the sun, trying to discern what it might be--an animal, bushes waving in the evening sea breeze or something else. Peering into the darker area beside the trees, half-blinded by the brilliant sunset, she couldn't make it out, and reached into her bag for the opera glasses. She lifted them to her eyes, careful to avoid looking at the red ball swimming on the horizon, and trained them on the ground by the tree line, but if there had actually been anything to see, there was nothing, now. She put the glasses back, berating herself for letting her imagination get the best of her. A few seconds later a short, stocky man--the gardener, she thought, judging by his clothing--emerged from the hedged-in gardens and made his way toward the side of the mansion, disappearing after a minute or two around the corner of the building. His appearance brought to mind the man she had seen earlier, crossing the lawn toward the gardens. He had definitely not been the gardener. He had been wearing a long-sleeved, white shirt and a pair of dark slacks, and his head had been bare. It hadn't occurred to her to wonder at the time, but where had he gone? She had watched him enter the gardens through the gap in the hedge, she had seen him walking along, inside the hedge, and suddenly he had vanished. There was almost certainly a logical explanation for it, but she wanted to find out what it was, especially since the man had seemed so familiar. Since they had so few clues as to what Lex and Arianna were actually up to, anything out of place might be a lead. The gardens looked like one more place she and Clark were going to have to check out. The sun had sunk noticeably in just the time she had stood there, thinking, and the shadows were growing longer. She turned away from the window at the sound of a knock on the connecting door. Time to go downstairs and face the enemy once more. ********** They were early, Lois realized, as soon as they reached the downstairs hall. No one had yet arrived in the sitting room, and the only person besides themselves in sight was Rogan, hurrying back toward the kitchen. She glanced at Jimmy. "Maybe we better go back upstairs." "Yeah." Jimmy checked the sitting room again. "I think Mrs. de Los Rios is in her office." "Great. I don't want to be anywhere near her unless I'm in a crowd. I better--" She broke off as the door of the office began to open. Arianna Carlin turned in the doorway, speaking over her shoulder to someone behind her. Trapped, Lois did the only thing she could think of. She backed into the hall and covered the ten feet to the front entrance nearly as fast as her husband could have accomplished it. There was no time to go up the stairs and remain unobserved. She opened the front door and stepped out onto the broad, stone steps. Behind her, as she closed the door gently, she could hear Jimmy, still with his--to her--surprising presence of mind, greeting Arianna courteously, quite as if his dinner partner hadn't just made a precipitous retreat. Thanking her lucky stars for Jimmy, Lois tiptoed down the steps, feeling nothing in the world like Cinderella. It looked as is her best bet was to go around to a side entrance and knock, she decided, a minute or two later. She wouldn't even bother to explain to the servant who answered the door. She would simply return to her room for a few moments, wait until more of her fellow guests appeared, and follow them down to the sitting room. That seemed simple enough. Accordingly, she started around the building, lifting her black gown carefully so as not to trip on the trailing hem of the garment. >From somewhere, she heard the loud backfiring of an outboard engine, and managed not to jump at the sound. There was, of course, no reason that she shouldn't be out here, but if she was seen it would draw unwelcome attention, so she moved as quickly and quietly as she could toward the corner of the building. Fortunately, by now the sun had set and only the after-colors still lit the sky. Above her, a gibbous moon was just visible over the roof and here and there, some of the brightest stars were beginning to appear. She was at the corner of the mansion when the sound of running footsteps behind her made her stiffen. Instinctively, she turned toward the sound. A tall, dark-haired man was sprinting down the sidewalk toward her. Without warning, he turned sharply and angled across the lawn, toward the stand of pines. As she watched, stunned, he plunged into the trees and vanished. Lois stared after him, her mouth slightly open. "Clark?" she whispered, incredulously. What had her husband been in such a rush for? Something must have happened. Without another thought, she turned and ran after him. ********** Clark took the lemon meringue pie from the oven and set it carefully on its rack to cool. Everything was prepared for dinner and his job was technically finished for the evening. Rene checked the dessert and nodded his approbation. "Very well done," he said. "You are a true relief after Donald." "Donald?" Clark asked. "Yeah," remarked the assistant who was quickly and efficiently loading the dishwasher. "Don Baler. The guy said he was a cook, but he couldn't boil water without burning it. He lasted a week. Mrs. D got rid of him the first time she had to taste his cooking. Turns out he used to flip burgers at some greasy spoon." "Ah," Clark said. "I understand. There is much difference between someone who 'flips burgers' and a true artist." "You said a mouthful," the assistant said. "The first time I tried to eat one of his steaks I nearly broke a tooth." Clark tidied his cooking area quickly. Being confined to the kitchen unfortunately tended to hamper his ability to do as much snooping as he would like. He was sure Lois was more than capable of handling the majority of it, herself, but he wanted to be able to help her, and to do a little of his own special brand of investigating, himself. The sooner he finished and Rene dismissed him, the better. He was just wiping the last crumb from the spotless counter when he heard her voice whispering his name. It didn't sound as if she were in trouble but for some reason she wanted him. He'd better get out of here as quickly as he could and find out what was up. He rinsed out his rag and hung it neatly on its appointed rack. Lois's voice whispered his name again as he turned toward Rene to ask his permission to depart, but he was destined to be frustrated once more. Her third whisper of his name coincided with the opening of the kitchen door and Arianna Carlin stepped within. She surveyed the kitchen and its occupants with a critical eye. "Madame," Rene said, hurrying forward to greet her. "Can we be of assistance? "Thank you, Rene," Arianna said. She smiled fractionally. "I only wanted to meet this new chef, Raoul, whom you recommend so highly. Where is he?" Rene beckoned to Clark. "This is Raoul Desrosiers, Madame." Clark reminded himself that he was meeting Madame for the first time and came forward quickly. The woman extended her hand, and instead of shaking it, Clark took it and lifted it to his lips. His skin crawled as he brushed his lips over her knuckles, but he controlled the reaction and smiled into her eyes. "Madame." She showed no reaction as he released her hand and smiled pleasantly at her. "Mr. Desrosiers. I must agree with Rene that your cooking is far superior to that of our last assistant chef. We'll discuss your employment tomorrow. I'm sure Rene will be glad to have competent help." She turned to cast her eyes over the kitchen. "We'll be sitting down to dinner in a few moments, Rene. Miss Davenport apparently had a slight problem with her dress and will be joining us later. We won't be delaying dinner." "Very good, Madame," Rene said. Arianna smiled again--her smile never reached her eyes, Clark noticed--and turned back to Clark, studying him for a split second longer than really necessary. "Is it possible we've met before, Mr. Desrosiers?" "I do not believe so, Madame," Clark said, easily. "I should certainly have remembered such a lady as yourself." Again, that slight, cold smile. "Very likely." She turned back toward the door, and Rene hastened to open it for her. Clark allowed himself to relax slightly as the panel closed behind her. Rene had already returned to his supervision of the dinner, but took a moment to speak to Clark. "If you are finished, you may go, Raoul." Clark began to remove his apron. "Will you need me?" Rene shook his head. "No. Your part is done for the evening. An excellent first full day at work, may I add." He smiled warmly at his new colleague. "Go and relax. You must be tired." He had barely left by the servants' entrance when he heard Lois's whisper again, and this time it was not only more urgent, but also held a note of alarm. "Clark! I need you!" He strode to his room in a businesslike way, closed the door behind him and an instant later was launching himself through the bathroom window faster than the human eye could follow. Fifty feet in the air he paused, orienting himself by her heartbeat. She wasn't in the house, he discovered at once. She was to the west of him. He soared in that direction, and within seconds had located her. She was on the beach, kneeling in the sand beside the body of a man. He landed beside her a bare instant later. "You took long enough!" was her greeting, delivered in low tones, but none the less fierce for its lack of volume. "Sorry. I couldn't get away. What's happened?" "I don't know. I found this guy here. I think he's dead." Clark examined the man with his x-ray vision. "Almost, but not quite. If I don't get him to an emergency room fast, though, he will be. Wait here." With that, he scooped up the severely injured man and headed for the mainland. ********** (tbc) ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 9 Jun 2001 21:16:48 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Nancy Smith Subject: Charade: Part 6 is really Part 8 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit sorry, that should have bee part 8. Nan ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 10 Jun 2001 23:52:59 -0000 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Bethy Em Subject: Alien Gift (2/?) Revised Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed Wendy raised some good points ('quibbles') about this section, so I revised it. I'm reposting it now, to make sure the revisions work. Her main points were 1) Why did L&C automatically assume the girl is an alien if she looks so much like humans? 2) Why would Clark think Superman would reassure her more? (more likely the swirling cape and bright colors would scare her) and 3) Klein's thoughts/etc while interacting w/Superman seemed more like those of *our* Klein than the one of the alternate universe. So now I'm wondering if my revisions fixed these points adequately. Thanks, Bethy PS Thank you, Carol, for your comments on the first two parts. I really appreciate them. Clark broke out of his reverie and raced towards the child -- for it was a child, that much he could now tell. Whether it was alive, or even human, he didn't know. It lay crumpled on the ground, blood streaming from wounds all over its body. Jet black hair, cropped short (though messily), fanned out, blending in with the black of the parking lot, except where it was wet with blood. In the dimness of the parking lot, it seemed that the blood was a few shades lighter than normal, but he couldn't tell for sure. Clark brushed a lock aside to reveal a swollen, battered face. It was unmistakably a girl's though. She was fine boned, very thin, and appeared about seven years old. At least, about seven human years. Part Two: He quickly x-rayed her, ostensibly to check for injuries, but really to satisfy his curiosity. Her outer appearance was almost exactly like that of a human, from what was visible beneath the blood and bruises, some old, some in the process of forming. But inside...inside was a different story. She appeared to have all the internal organs of a human, well, except for a missing appendix, but that could have been removed...two extra ribs...oh, and there were four lungs, two on each side. Maybe not human, after all. Suddenly, she moaned again and her pale blood bubbled from her cracked lips. Her eyes fluttered open and Clark was shocked by the depths of pain and beauty he saw there. Such eyes...Clear, deep green, they contained understanding no child should possess. "Shh," Clark soothed instinctively, irrationally. Of course she couldn't understand him. His language, his culture, his attitudes. All were more foreign to her than those of different cultures on earth are to humans. "You'll be okay." He felt Lois's comforting touch on his shoulder. He had no idea how long she'd stood there behind him, so lost was he in his reverie. She whispered a question, as though afraid of disturbing the prone child, but her words had virtually no effect on the alien's state. The child. The alien. The girl. She must have a name, even though she was from another culture, another planet. Right? "Is she okay?" Lois repeated her question more forcefully. "Huh?" Clark's head jolted up and around. "Oh. Yeah." He stammered a bit, trying to focus. "I don't know. She's badly injured, and I don't know her normal biological processes, so I can't determine what, exactly, is out of whack. Other than the obvious cuts and bruises, of course." "Normal biological process? What do you mean?" Lois's eyes widened. "You mean she's not human?" "No. At least, I don't think so. She's got a few missing organs, a few extra organs, and I'm pretty sure her blood's a lighter color, but I can't tell for sure in this light." "Oh. So, what are we going to do?" Clark sighed. "I don't know. We can't exactly drop her off at the nearest hospital, or call social services." "Why don't we take her to Dr. Klein?" "Great idea, except that A, it's not even four in the morning, and B, I'm not sure I want to move her. I don't want to aggravate anything unnecessarily. I suppose I could go as Superman and borrow a stretcher or something." He mused aloud, knowing that keeping their ideas in the open was the way he and Lois worked best together. "Why don't you do that, and I'll wait here with her?" Lois agreed, and stepped forward to kneel beside the girl. Without warning, the girl shuddered and tried to move away from Lois. Soft keening sounds emanated from her mouth and her eyes were filled with sheer terror. Lois hurriedly backed away and turned towards Clark. "Well, I guess that plan isn't going to work." Funny, the girl didn’t seem to have any fear of Clark. So what was the problem with Lois? She randomly came up with a few ideas, such as the possibility that she resembled the girl's tormenters. Or, perhaps, they were merely female and now the child associated all females with pain. Maybe females were just the gender associated with cruelty on this foreign world. Filing these ideas away for future reference, Lois asked Clark if he'd x-rayed for broken bones. "Yeah, she's got a couple of cracked ribs, one fully broken, a broken fibula, collarbone, wrist, and what looks like a hairline fracture in her ankle." Shocked at the list of broken bones, which by no means was the extent of the injuries, Lois still managed to focus on the problem at hand. "So, no problems with her spinal cord? I don't see why, if you're careful, you can't just carry her to Dr. Klein." "I could," Clark acquiesced, "but I'm afraid I might shift the ribs and end up puncturing a lung. But it looks like that's just a risk I'll have to take." He took Lois a little further away and spoke in conspiratorial tones. "I can't tell if she's lucid or not, or if she'll even remember any of this, but just in case, I think I'd better leave and change into Superman. You'll only be alone with her for a second, and hopefully she'll still respond okay to me as Superman." "You don't think the bright colors will scare her?" "I don't know if she even sees colors the same as us, but I don't really see any way around it. If, by some off chance, she remembers this, we can't exactly blow our secret." Not after they'd worked so hard at creating it. "Anyway, I can't exactly fly in to Dr. Klein's as Clark Lane, can I?" Lois shook her head in agreement and he disappeared. * * * Superman flew over StarLabs, only to be disappointed by the lack of light from Dr. Klein's lab. he berated himself. But what was he supposed to do now? He couldn't exactly wait until morning to get Dr. Klein (or, at least, *a* doctor), this girl needed medical attention ASAP. The fact that she'd passed out before he came back as Superman made the situation even more urgent. He tried to calm his thoughts, noticing that every time they got out of control, the girl tensed, even in unconsciousness. He repeated the three words in his head, almost as a mantra, hoping that they would calm him enough to prevent agitating the child any more than she already was. And, hey, there was the off chance that it might produce some flash of brilliance. He debated whether to put her health over her secret and take her to the emergency room, but discarded the thought rather quickly. After all, her physiology was obviously somewhat different than that of a human, and, other than stopping external bleeding (which was slowing already), there was little any regular doctor could do. No, Dr. Klein was his best hope for getting her any real medical assistance. Private weekend time notwithstanding, he was going to have to intrude on Dr. Klein's sleep. Having made his decision, for better or for worse, he felt better and immediately began flying towards the Klein residence. He noticed that the girl seemed to calm a bit in reaction to his resolution. Was she that sensitive to his tenseness? Or was it something else? No matter, he could worry about that later, right now he had some medical attention to seek. * * * "Dr. Klein?" Superman called hesitantly after opening the unlocked front door. He had knocked first, of course, but knocking appeared to have been insufficient to waken the slumbering scientist. Was he really so trusting as to not bother with locks? Or just so absentminded that he completely forgot about them? Either way, it didn't matter now. Superman stepped into a short, sparse hallway with absolutely no lights. He looked for a place to lay down the girl in order to have both hands free when attempting to wake Dr. Klein. The kitchen was obviously out, all it had was a flimsy card table and some rickety folding chairs. And a counter covered with open containers of food, all in various stages of mold and decay. Was this a symbol of a lazy bachelor, or a scientist who was so obsessed with his work that he turned everything into an experiment? A look into the living room seemed to indicate the latter -- there was a couch covered with papers, journals, empty bowls, and what looked like half-eaten sandwiches. The couch itself, an old, battered sofa bed style, looked like a relic of Klein's college days. Come to think of it, it probably was. All this was taken in with a glance, and Superman quickly cleaned off the couch as best he could, gently laying the girl down without aggravating her injuries. Despite the shift, she remained unconscious. Still detecting no signs of life from Dr. Klein, Superman gritted his teeth and headed towards the bedroom. He just hoped Dr. Klein didn't sleep in the nude, or anything scary like that. He knocked on the half-closed bedroom door. He really hoped he wouldn't have to go in there. Already breaking and entering, not to mention invading this poor man's privacy, Superman didn't want any more obstacles to getting the doctor's help. "Dr. Klein?" He spoke a little louder than a whisper; when that didn't work, he repeated himself more urgently at a normal speaking level. "Wha...what?!?!" Dr. Klein sat straight up in bed, his eyes searching the darkness. "Who's there? What's going on? Don't come any closer! I've... I've...” He rummaged around on the floor and grabbed a discarded (and very misplaced) pancake flipper. "I've got a weapon!" "Dr. Klein, relax! It's me...Superman." "Superman?" Dr. Klein frowned, trying to assimilate this new information. "You're not a burglar." Superman let out a nervous laugh. "No. Um, your front door was unlocked, and it was a bit of an emergency, so I...just came in." "Oh. Okay." Dr. Klein was still too sleepy to fully understand what Superman was saying, but it seemed to make sense. "Wait a minute, you said emergency? What kind of emergency? Are you hurt? You'd better sit down. Now!" Dr. Klein jumped out of bed, displaying the ragged sweatpants and t-shirt that he obviously used as sleepwear. Superman felt some measure of relief that at least he didn't sleep in the nude. "Calm down, Dr. Klein. I'm fine. It's this little girl..." Dr. Klein looked thoroughly confused now. "A little girl? Why didn't you take her to a hospital? Cla--Superman," he caught the slip quickly. He had begun treating the superhero when he still maintained his Clark Kent persona. Even though Clark had abandoned that to become Superman full time over a year before, Klein still had a hard time remembering to call him Superman instead of Clark. He wished he could just continue using the name Clark, but Superman insisted, and Dr. Klein tried, as his friend, to abide by that wish. "Superman, I'm not really qualified as a pediatrician. Heck, I'm not even supposed to be practicing as a medical doctor, I just do it to help you out, but…Why didn't you just take her to a hospital?" "Well, you see..." Superman hesitated. He didn't want to spring another shock on the poor man, but couldn't see any way around it. "She's an alien." "Oh. An alien." Dr. Klein stopped, as though trying to understand this point, then simply gave up. "I see. Well, where is she? Let's go." * * * "Hmm...Broken rib, probably a couple more fractured, can’t really tell without an x-ray. Looks like a couple more broken bones, definitely a broken fibula -- you know it’s broken when there’re two knees. Internal bleeding. Probably a concussion, eyes don’t seem to be focusing. Course, that could be because she’s unconscious. I never could get that stuff straight." Dr. Klein muttered to himself as he examined the child. He didn’t totally understand what was going on, and wasn’t sure he wanted to. If he could just help this girl and send her back wherever she came from, he could get back to his normal life of mad-scientist experiments and treating his usual extra-terrestrial. "Yeah, that’s about what I found." Superman’s voice cut into his thoughts. He’d almost forgotten about the superhero. "I found a couple of cracked ribs, with one fully broken on the right side, broken right fibula, left collarbone and wrist, and what looks like a hairline fracture in the right ankle. I can’t verify the concussion, though, but I’d agree with you there." "Wow, Superman, I didn’t realize you had such extensive medical knowledge." He knew that Clark Kent had been an intelligent reporter with wide travel experiences, but never realized the extent to which his knowledge ranged. "I don’t really. I’ve learned how to recognize wounds, and stop immediate bleeding when necessary, but I usually leave the medical treatment up to the professionals. Which is why I brought her here. What are you going to do?" He sounded really worried about the girl, adding to Dr. Klein’s confusion. Since Superman had 'killed' Clark Kent, he pretty much avoided personal attachments, preferring instead to fly in, save the day, and depart to places unknown. But it seemed like he had some deeper attachment to this child. Maybe she was another Kryptonian...no, then she’d be invulnerable. Besides, her physiology bore subtle differences from Superman’s and from that of humans, which explained why Superman didn’t want to bring her to a hospital. But as to her origins... Klein guessed this was just another mystery he’d have to file away and wait for answers later. Noticing the relative lack of blood from the wounds, combined with the tall, thin skelstructure, Klein surmised that the alien was from a lower gravity planet than Earth. In the long run, that would pose some problems. The higher gravity of Earth would place added pressure on her heart, forcing it to work harder that it was capable. "Superman, can you run, er, fly over to StarLabs and get me some medial equipment? I don’t have anything here to treat her with, other than a regular first aid kit." Noting the surprised expression on the other man’s face, Klein retorted, "I may be absent-minded but that doesn’t mean I’m not capable of taking care of myself!" "Sorry." Superman looked contrite. Probably hadn’t realized his thoughts showed so clearly on his face. "What do you need?" * * * After Superman returned from StarLabs, Dr. Klein treated the child’s injuries as well as he could. Superman turned out to be a great help, x-raying as they went, alerting Dr. Klein to potential problems and letting him know when bones were in line. "Okay, I think we’ve done all we can. Now it’s up to her." "Shouldn’t we wake her up now? I know that you aren’t supposed to let people sleep very long with a concussion." Dr. Klein considered this. "Well, that is a good point. But sleep is also a healing device. If we wake her up now, she will most likely panic, and then even if she does sleep again, it will be uneasy. But if she reacts the same as humans to a concussion, letting her sleep could be very dangerous. I don’t know!" "I’m not completely sure, but I think she can sense emotions. Every time I tensed up while carrying her, she got restless. But she was more calm with me than with...anyone else." He sounded like he was going to say a person’s name, but caught himself in time. Naturally, this aroused Dr. Klein’s curiosity -- who was Superman with in the middle of the night? Or was he speaking of generic bystanders, ones he happened to know? "Why don’t I leave the room and you wake her up? Then, if she seems calm, I can come back in." Dr. Klein hoped his reasoning was sound. In truth, he wasn’t sure if he *wanted* to be there when the girl woke up. He didn’t have very good people skills, nor was he talented when it came to bedside manner. He was even worse with children. Even when he was a child, he just seemed to have a hard time understanding the intricacies of the immature mind. "Okay," he heard Superman say, not without some relief. "Fine, why don’t I go change then, maybe get some breakfast, and you call when you’re ready, okay?" Klein cut himself off before he could truly babble. "Right. I’ll just go, then." * * * "CLARK!" Lois’s voice rang out, slicing through the early morning silence. "Where *is* he?" she muttered, shivering in the cool night air. He’d only left a few minutes ago, but it seemed an eternity to Lois. What exactly did he expect her to do? Sit on her duff while he had all the fun? She instantly revoked the thought -- of course he wasn’t having *fun.* But still... "Clark! I wish you would hurry up, it’s freezing out here." The thought never even crossed her mind that she might appear a little bit crazy -- standing in the middle of a motel parking lot, at four in the morning, wearing nothing but a baggy pair of cotton shorts and a tee-shirt, talking to her non-existent husband. Nope, not crazy at all. It was still early spring, and the heat of summer hadn't yet arrived, so the night air remained cool. Rubbing her arms to restore circulation, Lois began pacing in circles. She rationalized her aversion to logic by remembering her favorite quote about assumptions. A sudden light interrupted Lois's thoughts, and she realized that people in the motel were beginning to get up and prepare for the new day. Just then noticing her situation, she decided that maybe it was time to return to the room. Not that she *cared* if people saw her...in her pajamas...in the parking lot...pacing in circles...No! She was just getting cold, and wanted to warm up a bit. Having completely justified her decision, she resolutely headed back to her room to wait for Clark...under the covers. * * * Pain. Pain so great it was coming out of her ears. She tried to move, but it hurt. She tried to open her eyes, but it hurt. She tried to breathe, but it hurt. What didn't hurt? She couldn't tell anymore. There was no longer any difference between consciousness and pain. With one came the other. The only relief came when she (mercifully) passed out. Which was where she *was,* but now there was this annoying sound intruding on her relatively painless peace. G'way. She wanted to get rid of the noise, but it just wouldn't go away, and she couldn't make herself actually *do* anything about it. * * * TBC... _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 10 Jun 2001 20:10:40 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Pam Jernigan Subject: Re: Alien Gift (2/?) Revised MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit This is just as much fun, if not more, the second time around, Bethy... s p o i l e r s p a c e > He repeated the > three words in his head, almost as a mantra, hoping that they would calm him > enough to prevent agitating the child any more than she already was. And, > hey, there was the off chance that it might produce some flash of > brilliance. This was good, and then that last sentence had me LOL > Was this a symbol of a lazy bachelor, or a scientist who was so > obsessed with his work that he turned everything into an experiment? A look > into the living room seemed to indicate the latter -- there was a couch > covered with papers, journals, empty bowls, and what looked like half-eaten > sandwiches. Not to nitpick, but I'd say the living room tended to prove the former (first) theory. :) > He just hoped Dr. Klein didn't sleep in the > nude, or anything scary like that. I love these little light moments :) > Even though Clark had abandoned that to become Superman full time > over a year before, Klein still had a hard time remembering to call him > Superman instead of Clark. He wished he could just continue using the name > Clark, but Superman insisted, and Dr. Klein tried, as his friend, to abide > by that wish. Now there's an interesting clue ... but it makes sense, since this world's already been alerted to the *idea* of a secret identity, so he'd have to be extra careful not to give any indication that he had one. > If he could just help this girl and send her back wherever she came from, he > could get back to his normal life of mad-scientist experiments and treating > his usual extra-terrestrial. > Even when he was a child, he just > seemed to have a hard time understanding the intricacies of the immature > mind. Your verbs are a bit weird, here... it almost sounds like Bernie turns into a child from time to time, when he feels like it. How about "Even when he had been a child, he just seemed to have had a hard time..." It's a great idea, though :) > "Clark! I wish you would hurry up, it’s freezing out here." The thought > never even crossed her mind that she might appear a little bit crazy -- > standing in the middle of a motel parking lot, at four in the morning, > wearing nothing but a baggy pair of cotton shorts and a tee-shirt, talking > to her non-existent husband. Nope, not crazy at all. If the thought never crossed her mind, it can't really show up in her POV :) Maybe it could briefly cross her mind, only to be rejected. Besides, she can tell people that her husband is blind and needs to listen to her yelling to find his way ;) > Pain. Pain so great it was coming out of her ears. She tried to move, but > it hurt. She tried to open her eyes, but it hurt. She tried to breathe, > but it hurt. What didn't hurt? She couldn't tell anymore. There was no > longer any difference between consciousness and pain Now *this* is a powerfully written paragraph. Very sobering, in fact, after the light-hearted stuff earlier, and I am going *crazy* over here wondering who this girl is, and where she's from, and *why* someone was so determined to hurt her, and why she seemed afraid of Lois, and why she was dumped in a parking lot right in front of Superman, and whether Dr. Klein will get close to figuring out Clark Lane, and, and, and ... post more, Bethy! -- Pam Jernigan / ChiefPam / jernigan@bellsouth.net http://www.geocities.com/~chiefpam http://personal.rdu.bellsouth.net/~jernigan/ The difference between journalists and other people is that other people spend their lives running from violence, tragedy, and horror and we spend ours trying to get in on it. --P.J. O'Rourke ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 10 Jun 2001 20:20:44 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Pam Jernigan Subject: Vote for your favorite website, music video, and funny fic, in the AltKerths! Comments: To: Nfic List , afolcslife MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hello again :) Well, nominations for the Alt-Kerths have closed, we've counted the noms, and we have a ballot :) Many thanks to everyone who nominated; you guys did a great job. Voting starts today, and goes until next Sunday (the 17th) -- that's *one* week, so don't procrastinate too long ;) Check out AltKerth headquarters on the web for links to the automated ballot form. Here are the finalists: Best L&C Fan Site Andi's Archive (http://members.nbci.com/andisarchive/loisclark.htm) Annesplace (http://www.annesplace.net) Erin's LNC/Kerth Page (http://www.ida.net/users/davek) Zoomway's site (http://www.zoomway.com) Best General Fanfic Site Annesplace (http://www.annesplace.net) The Fanfic Mailing List (http://listserv.indiana.edu/archives/loiscla-general-l.html) Genevieve's Kerth Site (http://users.erols.com/nightsky/kerth.html) The L&C Fanfic Archive (http://www.lcfanfic.com) Zoomway's Message Boards (http://www.zoomway.com/boards and http://www.lastson.com/boards/ultimatebb.cgi) Best Personal Fanfic Site FOLC Fanfic Obsession Page (http://www.geocities.com/~chiefpam/) LabRat's Stories (http://www.chantico.com/labrat/) Lois & Clark: The Continuing Adventures (http://sharper93.homestead.com/LnC_home.html) Wendy's Flights of Fantasy (http://www.chantico.com/wendy/) Music Videos (all music videos can be found at http://www.nfanfic.net/musicvideos.html) Best WAFFy Music Video At the Beginning/Andrea Gidusko >From This Moment/Anne Ciotola Glory of Love/Karen Ward This Kiss/Andrea Gidusko You'll Be In My Heart/Erin Klingler Best Comedic Music Video Any Man of Mine/Karen Ward Every Little Thing She Does/Andrea Gidusko I'm Too Sexy/Anne Ciotola Love's Funny That Way/Andrea Gidusko Best Image/Lyric Match in a Music Video Any Man of Mine/Karen Ward >From This Moment/Anne Ciotola Glory of Love/Karen Ward This Kiss/Andrea Gidusko Wasn't It Good/Karen Ward That's the end of the Jimmies (technical awards) and now we move on to the Griffins! The Prankster (Kyle Griffin) was noted for his sense of humor, among other things, and FOLCs proved we can be just as warped ;) if less destructive... at least in real life! "Tank Endings" are noted for destroying everything, in style. Best Story Tank Ending (http://www.annesplace.net/juliefic/storyte.html) Are You Lonesome Tonight?, by LabRat Dear Lois, by Shayne Terry Faux Pas, by Wendy Richards Near Wild Heaven, by Kaethel So Strong a Foundation, by Wendy Richards Best Episode Tank Ending (http://www.annesplace.net/juliefic/epite.html) All Shook Up, by Pam Jernigan Green Green Glow of Home, by Jo March Ordinary People, by Shayne Virtually Destroyed, by Jo March Silly Revelation (http://www.annesplace.net/juliefic/sillyrevel.html) Bolt from the Blue, by LabRat Green Green Glow of Home, by Yvonne Honeymoon in Metropolis (both versions), by Tank Individual Responsibility, by Supermom Miscellaneous, by LabRat The Source, by MissyG Best L&C Musical (http://www.annesplace.net/juliefic/musical.html) House of Luthor ("Let's Call the Whole Thing Off") by Supermom I've Got a Crush on You ("Anything You Can Do") by amac Lord of the Flys ("Consider Yourself") by Eraygun Pilot ("You're the Top") by Jude Tempus Fugitive ("If I Only Had A Brain") by Hazel Tempus Fugitive ("The Time Warp") by KitKaos Reader's Digest Fic (http://www.annesplace.net/juliefic/rdversions.html) A Future Not Now, by Tank Wilson Caped Fear, by LabRat Fate Worse than Death, by Pam Jernigan For the Greater Good, by Wendy Richards Season 6 Finale, by Phil Atcliffe Once you all vote, and we get the votes tallied, we'll have an online award ceremony ... we'll be using all the familiar Kerth wavs for IRC, with a new set, just for the altKerths! :) You can make sure you have them all by checking here: http://www.annesplace.net/kerth/kerthsounds.html Make sure you save them to the proper directory -- in mIRC, that's usually C:\mirc\sounds. You should be able to check your IRC software to see where it looks for sound files. Also, we still need presenters for the ceremony, so if you're interested, contact Pam (jernigan@bellsouth.net). The Awards Ceremony will be held on Saturday, the 23rd of June, at 4pm EST (two hours earlier than the usual Kerth time). We'll be giving out trophies in #AltKerths and gossiping about the winners in #AltKerthChat ;) Be there or be square Thanks everyone for your participation :) And congratulations to all the nominees! We appreciate your efforts to entertain the rest of us. Pam, Wendy & Anne -- Pam Jernigan / ChiefPam / jernigan@bellsouth.net http://www.geocities.com/~chiefpam http://personal.rdu.bellsouth.net/~jernigan/ The difference between journalists and other people is that other people spend their lives running from violence, tragedy, and horror and we spend ours trying to get in on it. --P.J. O'Rourke ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 10 Jun 2001 20:06:12 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Carol L Moncado Subject: Re: Alien Gift (2/?) Revised/Hearts Divided MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit May be a couple of spoilers here - warning! Okay - had a couple of questions but reading Pam's post helped remind me what the deal with Klein knowing CK=S and the Clark Lane thing. Enjoyed it and think that it answered the issues that were brought up. I also am curious about this girl. And Pam - since I got kicked offline - which happens way too often - read the next part of Hearts Divided and loved it. Kind of disappointed that something didn't happen,but it is probably better than way. Can't wait to see what happens next! CM ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2001 09:51:11 +0200 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Hazel Subject: Fanfic Alert! :) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed I just checked the "What's New" page on the archive, and there's a new story by Mobile Richard: Life in a Different World, Part 4. I knew Ms. Moby was working on a continuation of "The Fugitive," but this was *very* unexpected and *very* welcome news! Well, I'm off to read it. I just wanted to make sure everyone knew. :) Hazel _______ "Lots of little Bigwigs, Hazel! Think of that, and tremble!" ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2001 07:51:45 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Yvonne Subject: Fear of Discovery IV: Part 3/? Previously on FoDIV: -------------------- "I suppose you'd give up Superman too, right?" she interrupted again, her anger rising sharply. "Because he comes with a whole bunch of responsibilities, doesn't he?" He didn't answer her immediately. He picked up the photo album and turned to the last page. Looking down at one of the pictures, he said, "Yes. Yes, he does." She looked across at the album and saw to her surprise that he was staring down at a picture of a woman who could have been her twin. Now read on... -------------- ******** Our Universe "Let me get this straight. You want us to just barge in on him and tell him to pull himself together, go back to Metropolis and start being Superman again?" Clark was standing in the middle of the living room, his Superman suit covered in oil and dirty water, laying into Wells with a show of temper Lois rarely saw him display. Wells seemed to shrink into his pin-stripe suit. "In a nutshell, yes. But I wouldn't put it quite like that. I rather thought you could have a quiet chat with him about Lex Luthor, and perhaps help him come up with a way of bringing the man to justice." "Hasn't it occurred to you that maybe he's not interested in that?" exclaimed Clark, thrusting a hand out towards Wells. "Maybe he just wants a quiet life with Lois." "I find it hard to believe that Clark Kent in any universe wouldn't want to bring a villain such as Lex Luthor to justice," said Wells. "Well, he's not the same as me." Clark retorted flatly. Wells blinked up at Clark, seemingly momentarily floored for words. Lois stood up with a sigh and put a hand on Clark's mucky shoulder. "I don't think you're being entirely fair there, Clark. The Clark2 I knew had a very well-developed sense of justice." "When it suits him." She frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?" "Just that he has a different set of priorities - I told you that before." She remembered he had said something about a rescue that he thought Clark2 had taken too long to make up his mind about. Still, she thought Clark was being uncharacteristically uncharitable towards his friend. "Honey," she began after a pause, modifying her tone to a more conciliatory one. "Why don't you get cleaned up and get changed before we talk about this any more? That grimy suit can't be very comfortable." He eyed her balefully. "I'm tired and grumpy, that's what you're really saying," he observed. She reached up and kissed the end of his nose, one of the few parts of him which wasn't spattered with oil. "And you smell," she added with a smile. He lifted the back of his hand up and took a sniff. Wrinkling his nose, he said, "Okay. But don't let him talk you into anything while I'm gone." She rolled her eyes at him, and he disappeared upstairs in a blur of red and blue. "Oh, dear," fretted Wells from the sofa. "I really don't seem to have come at a good time." "Actually, there's never a good time to discuss universe-hopping, in my opinion," replied Lois dryly. She let the room fall into awkward silence until Clark came zooming back down the stairs again, clean and fresh, and dressed in jeans and his favourite black t-shirt. Under different circumstances, she reflected, she would have happily ravished him right there in the living room, he looked so delectable. A spot of ravishing would also have done wonders for his mood, whereas Wells' presence patently did not. Clark shoved his glasses up his nose and sat down opposite Wells. "Okay, I'm sorry if I was a bit short-tempered before," he said calmly. "Ladling thousands of gallons of crude oil doesn't bring out the best in me, apparently." "I can imagine," agreed Wells, fiddling with the rim of his hat again. Lois stretched out a hand. "How about I hang that up for you?" she suggested pleasantly, trying not to let her irritation show. "Ah - most kind," said Wells, letting her confiscate the hat from him. Clark gave her a grateful look; evidently the nervous fiddling had been annoying him, too. "I did some thinking under the shower," said Clark, "and I can understand why you want Clark2 back in Metropolis and working as Superman again-" "Oh, good - so you'll go?" interrupted Wells eagerly. "I said I understood, not that I agreed," said Clark sharply. "Who knows what causes a civilisation to change its moral code? Okay - so you saw a statue of Clark Kent in this Utopian future you visited, but I don't think that's enough proof on its own that Clark2 is the foundation of that future." "Exactly," interjected Lois, coming back from the coat stand to join Clark on his sofa. "So I don't think that's a good enough reason for us to go over there and start telling him what he should and shouldn't do with his life. What do you think, Lois?" "I think he and Lois need to lead the life they want to live, not what anyone else thinks they should live." She paused. "I do think he sounds like he's lost his way a bit, though. And I wonder what Lois thinks of it all." "True," agreed Clark, "but I also don't think it's right for me to go dashing over there every time he runs into trouble. He's got to figure things out on his own sometime - or with Lois, now that he's got her." "I rather think the Lois of that universe is somewhat less...stable than your good self, Lois," interjected Wells. "She has problems of her own to solve." "But that's life," objected Clark. "We didn't have anyone bailing us out whenever things got rough." "Yes, we did, Clark! What about your parents? Clark2 doesn't have anyone like that to talk to." "OK, fair point. But aren't we all jumping the gun here? We don't know for sure that he's done anything other than take Lois to Smallville for the night - in fact, we don't even know for sure if that's where they went. So I think we should just leave them alone and let them get on with it. I'm sure they'll do just fine now that they're together." He smiled at Lois. "Sure worked for me." "I see," said Wells, clearly disappointed. "And you, Lois? Do you feel the same?" Instead of answering him, Lois looked at Clark. "Would you excuse us for a few minutes, Mr Wells? Maybe you could help yourself to some more tea in the kitchen." "Tea? Ah...yes. Yes, that's a good idea. I'll just go and make some more tea. Tea would be nice." Wells stood up and crossed to the kitchen door. "You'll call me...yes, of course you will. I'll be in here when you're ready. Making tea." Lois waited until Wells had disappeared. "I swear he gets worse." "Maybe time travel does that to you," suggested Clark. "All the more reason why we shouldn't go with him." "Well..." "Well what?" "I've been thinking. Yes, we shouldn't go over there just to drag him back to Metropolis, but don't you think it would be nice to meet this other Lois? We both know how lonely he's been, and how hard he's tried to find his Lois, and now he's found her at last...well, I feel like Clark2 is a good friend we don't get to see very often. If we've got the chance to see him and meet his new girlfriend, I wonder if we should pass it up just because Wells has a different agenda." He gave her a sideways look. "This wouldn't have anything to do with what happened a couple of weeks ago, I suppose?" She shrugged innocently. "It might have." "Lois..." he said in his 'don't beat about the bush' voice. "Okay, yes - it does," she replied. "I think this a great chance to patch things up between you and him-" "We already did that." She raised an eyebrow. "You did?" "Yes," he nodded. "We talked everything through while I was there, and ended up parting on pretty good terms, actually." "Except you still don't trust him," she observed. He pulled a face. "Trust isn't something you fix overnight - it takes time." "True, but I remember you saying a long time ago that you trusted him implicitly, so what's changed?" Not that she didn't know, of course; the difference was that since then he had learnt that Clark2's feelings for her were so strong, he had almost kissed her. But she was making a point - or at least, she was trying to. "I think you know the answer to that," he replied evenly. "Exactly. So maybe between the three of us, we can work that out. And maybe with his Lois there, you'll be able to see where his feelings really lie." "Maybe," he agreed without conviction. "And if they do need help with Luthor, or anything else, we can do that too." She laid a hand on his knee. "Come on, Clark - let's do it. Let's go over there and clear the air once and for all." He covered her hand with his own and stared at it for a long time. "I guess it would be good to meet his Lois," he said at last. "She must have quite a story to tell, if she's come back from being lost in the Congo for...what would it be? Four years?" "That sounds about right. I wonder what she was doing all that time - although maybe she doesn't remember." He looked up at her. "You remembered everything that happened to you after you got your memory back, didn't you?" She nodded. "Mostly. There were one or two blanks, but they came back eventually." "Maybe that's something you could set her mind at rest about," he suggested. "So - you agree? We'll go over there, say hi, and maybe spend a couple of days with them if they don't mind?" "That's a very big 'if'," he observed dryly. "I'm not even sure they'll want us there at all." "Hey, when did that ever stop us doing anything?" she asked with a wink. He smiled. "Replace 'us' with 'me', and I might agree with you." She pretended to punch his arm. "Cheeky." "I'll go fetch Wells," he said, standing up. "Let's hope he hasn't electrocuted himself in there." ********* The Other Universe Clark stared glumly into the washing-up bowl as it filled up with water and soap-suds. He'd known she wouldn't like the idea of just dropping everything they'd been involved with back in Metropolis, and that was why he'd wanted them to spend just a little longer together at the farmhouse before he'd introduced her to the idea. He'd hoped that she would start to unwind and begin to enjoy the peace and quiet of the farmhouse and its surrounding countryside, and hopefully get just a tiny bit hooked on the tranquility and lack of hassle. Then he could have slipped the idea into the conversation naturally, and it wouldn't have seemed like an outrageous, off-the-wall suggestion, but a natural consequence of the happiness they'd found together at last. He shoved his hand into the bowl and encouraged the soap suds to lather up. Of course, he had been kidding himself. There was no way Lois was going to let go of the investigation and forego her determination to see Luthor jailed for life. The man had hurt her too badly for that; Clark knew that really. And her determination was why he loved her, after all. That, and a whole bunch of other reasons. But he was so tired. Life just seemed to be one big climb up a slope that got steeper and steeper. He turned off the water and started to wash the first glass. <> His hand nearly crushed the glass in shock. It had been a few weeks since he'd heard that voice in his head. <> he replied after a second, surprised at how quickly the dormant skill came back to him. <> <> he asked. <> "Clark, I'm going for a walk. When I come back, we'll talk about this properly, okay?" He was aware that Lois had walked into the kitchen and spoken to him, but he couldn't spare enough brain power to figure out what it was she had said. When it was this rusty, telepathy took all of his concentration. <> he asked CK. "Clark? Are you listening to me?" Again, she had spoken, but her words faded into the background while he was straining to sense CK's reply. <> <> "Fine - have it your way. Maybe you'll be in a better mood when I come back." Suddenly, Lois's words crystalised into meaningful sentences and he whirled around to reply to her directly. "Sorry! I was miles away." <> "Well, maybe that's because your conscience is telling you that's exactly where you should be - miles away from here," she replied acerbically. "Lois, please stay," he blurted out, suddenly realising that if she walked out the front door right now, she'd bump into Lois and CK. <> <> He really couldn't cope with this dual conversation. She had her hands on her hips. "Clark, I'll follow you to the ends of the earth, but not until we've finished what we started back in Metropolis." "No, I meant please don't go out for a walk right now. We need to talk." He needed to tell her about parallel universes, for a start... "I know we do, but you seemed to want to perform household duties instead." <> <> "Just give me one minute to clear this up, okay?" he said frantically. "Then we'll talk." "One minute?" She glanced at her watch. "Okay, you've got 60 seconds, starting now. I'll be in the lounge, counting." She turned on her heel and walked out. Clark turned back to the washing with a huge sigh of relief. <> He could feel the smile in CK's thoughts. <> <> <> <> He felt CK's chortle. ********* "How about a stroll down to Shuster's field?" suggested Clark. Lois smiled. "A stroll down memory lane?" "No doubt it looks just the same here, but I have to admit I'm curious. I never got around to looking last time I was here." Lois linked arms with him. "Let's find out." ********* "57, 58, 59-" Clark zoomed into the lounge and stopped dead in front of Lois. She looked up at him. "60. OK, you got here in time. Now sit, and let's talk." Clark sat down slowly in his Dad's old armchair, buying himself thinking time. He had no idea how he was going to pull this off without annoying Lois any more than she already was, but somehow he had to do it. "So, explain to me again why you think it's a good idea to abandon everything we've been working towards for the past two weeks," demanded Lois. "I don't think I quite got it first time around." "It's...a lot of things," he began cautiously. "Do you remember that woman I told you about, who looked exactly like you? The one we all thought actually *was* you?" She frowned. "That was her picture, wasn't it? The one you were looking at over lunch." "Yes. I shouldn't really have kept it, but it was the closest likeness I had of you for a long time. Anyway, I think I told you she just appeared from nowhere and said she was you, didn't I?" "Perry partnered the two of you on a story," said Lois, nodding. "That's right. But I haven't really told you everything about her." "Oh?" She raised an eyebrow. "No." Clark paused, and considered Lois's skeptical, slightly impatient face, feeling his way gradually into an explanation which wouldn't sound too crazy. "She wasn't really an imposter," he said finally. "She was you." Lois gave him a look which told him he'd failed dismally. "She was me," she repeated heavily. "So who am I? Snow White?" "No...look - before you heard of me, did you believe in aliens from outer space?" "No, of course not," she said impatiently. "But what on earth has all this to do with you wanting to drop the investigation, Clark?" she exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air. He leaned forward on the chair. "Lois, please - bear with me," he implored. "I'll get to the point eventually." "Does hell freeze over first?" she asked sarcastically. In spite of himself, he smiled slightly at her pithy comment. "No, I promise we'll get there before the next ice age sets in." "Well, then, get on with it!" He drew in a slow, calming breath. "Okay, so you agree that the idea of alien life was pretty much fantasy to you until I came along?" She shook her head at him. "I have no idea where you're going with this, but, okay, yes, I agree." "Fine." Time to go for the punchline... "Because that's pretty much how I felt about parallel universes until I met a visitor from one," he declared. "Parallel universes." She nodded sagely. "Well, why not? I guess I was probably wrong about fairies and leprachauns too. And the moon *is* really made of cheese, isn't it? One of those holey ones, like Emmental. Yup, parallel universes makes sense to me." He eyed her warily. "You're not buying this, are you?" "Full marks, Clark!" she erupted. "Of course I'm not buying it - are you crazy? Do you think *I'm* crazy?" "I think you're the sanest person I know, actually," he murmured as an aside. "And why should parallel universes be any less credible than aliens from outer space? You would have said they were both the stuff of science fiction once upon a time, but yet here I am, the living proof that you were wrong." "Well, okay, but does that have to mean that everything I don't believe is now true?" she retorted. "Just because I was wrong once doesn't mean I was wrong all the time." "True, but can't you at least keep an open mind about this?" "Why, Clark?" she asked, clearly utterly bemused and frustrated by his clumsy explanations. "Why do I need to believe in parallel universes?" He considered his options. He could hedge around some more and try to get her thinking more openly about the concept, so that the news that her doppelganger from another universe was about to come knocking on their front door wouldn't be so much of a surprise when he finally told her. However, he seemed to be making a hash of that tactic so far. Alternatively, he could just hit her straight up with the facts. One thing he'd learned about this Lois, he thought ruefully, which was the same as the other Lois, was that she never skirted around an issue. She went straight for the jugular, and so maybe he should do the same with her. It couldn't go much worse than anything he'd tried so far. He faced her directly. "Because the woman in that picture was from a parallel universe, her name is also Lois Lane, and in about twenty minutes' time, she's going to be walking through the front door of this farmhouse," he said, throwing caution completely to the wind. "I figured you'd want some warning before she arrives with her husband." He watched her tensely. Not unsurprisingly, she just stared at him open- mouthed to begin with. Eventually, she spoke. "Clark, are you feeling all right? I-" He shook his head in frustration. "I'm fine, Lois! This-" She held up a hand to stop him. "I know last night's fight with Lex upset you a lot more than you're admitting, but making up stories about strangers from parallel universes isn't the way to deal with it. You need to talk about the real issues. We both do." "I know we do, and I'm not trying to avoid all that. It's just that this is important - I'm trying to prepare you for a surprise. A big surprise." "Oh, Clark..." She was shaking her head again, and incredulity had been replaced by a look of concern. "Don't do this to yourself." He sighed. This really wasn't going very well at all. ********** "How do you think she's taking it?" asked Lois as they strolled down the lane towards Shuster's field. "If she's anything like you, she's probably giving him a hard time," Clark replied with a grin. "Huh! And so she should. It's a lot to have thrown at you all at once." "True. But again, if she's anything like you, she'll handle it just fine," he said with a smile. "If she's anything like me," agreed Lois, tightening her hold on his arm. Clark looked at her. "Nervous?" She smiled ruefully. "Just a bit. I've never met myself before - what if she doesn't like me?" He stopped, slipped her into his arms and kissed her lightly. "Impossible," he told her. "What's not to like?" She looked up at him, studying his face. "You're very cheery," she observed. "What happened to my grumpy, irritable husband?" He shrugged. "The sun is shining and it's a beautiful day." "You're not worried about meeting Clark2 again?" "Of course I am, but we're here and there's no going back, so I may as well enjoy a stroll in the sunshine with my wife rather than fret about a meeting which is going to happen whatever I do." He took her hand and led her forwards. "Come on, the gate is just around this next bend." She walked with him until they rounded the corner and then he stopped again. "Uh-oh," he said. "End of the line, I think." "What?" Instead of answering her, he took a couple of paces further forward and stopped again. "Definitely." He put his arm around her shoulder and hustled her back around the corner again. "What, Clark?" "Maybe Clark2's never been down here, or the field's been ploughed recently," he said, "but there's definitely kryptonite back there." "Are you all right?" she asked immediately. He smiled reassuringly. "I'm fine - I could sense it before I got too close." "Then it looks like Lois and I have a clean-up operation ahead of us," she concluded. Clark nodded. "I think that would be a very good idea." ********** Clark paced up and down in front of Lois, unaware that he was further damaging his cause by presenting the perfect image of a man at the end of his tether. "Lois, I promise you I'm not having some kind of breakdown because of what happened last night with Luthor," he insisted. "Do you really think I'm that unstable?" "Well, what else am I to think?" replied Lois, following him from her position on the sofa as he crossed backwards and forward. "First you fly us out here in the middle of the night instead of taking us back to your apartment, then all morning you refuse to talk about anything except your happy childhood on the farm and what a great place Smallville is, and now you're telling me this crazy stuff about parallel universes and other Lois Lanes instead of having a proper discussion about why we're still here, which is what you promised me when we sat down here ten minutes ago." She paused for breath. "Lois-" "If that's not the behaviour of someone trying to avoid reality, I don't know what is," she added. "I am *not* trying to avoid reality! I'm trying to introduce you to some." She rolled her eyes at him. "And just look at yourself, Clark - you're pacing around like some kind of caged animal." He stopped. "That's only because I'm frustrated." But when she simply stared at him, he sat down again and settled deliberately into the back of the seat. "Look, I'm sorry," he said in a quieter voice. "I don't seem to be handling this very well. I only just found out myself that the other Lois is on her way here, so I haven't had much time to plan how to say all this." "Only just found out? How?" Clark groaned internally. This probably wasn't the time to tell her about telepathy. "Her husband contacted me," he said, skirting around the truth. "When?" "When I was washing up." She crossed her arms. "I didn't notice a phone in the kitchen." "It's behind the door," he answered quickly, reflecting that at least that much was true - even if it wasn't actually connected. "So you see I haven't had very long to figure out the best way to break this to you." "Or very long to invent a plausible story," she muttered, but before he could dissimilate, she continued. "Okay, say I believe you. I still don't understand what this has to do with you wanting to set up home here instead of going back to Metropolis." "Well, it doesn't really having much to do with that..." he trailed off, suddenly realising that this so-called social visit of CK's and Lois's was an amazing coincidence. No sooner had he arrived at the farmhouse with the idea of leaving his life in Metropolis behind, than here they were, knocking on his door. Almost as if they'd been sent. Well, if they'd been sent to persuade him to change his mind, then they could go straight back to their own universe. They, or H G Wells, had no business telling him what to do with his life. "So why are they here?" asked Lois. "That's a very good question," he said dryly. ********** ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2001 07:30:56 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Nancy Smith Subject: Charade: Part 9 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Charade: Part 9 by Nan Smith Lois got slowly to her feet and mechanically brushed sand from the black gown. This thing was going to need to be dry-cleaned before she could wear it again, she thought absently. It was an open question whether the shoes would even be salvageable. She looked uneasily around. Whoever had shot the unknown man, or stabbed him or whatever, might not be far away. How long had he lain here in the sand? There was no way for her to know, but she hoped Clark would hurry. And how about that guy she'd mistaken for Clark? True, she hadn't gotten a good look at him, but she'd thought it was her husband. He'd ducked into the trees and disappeared. Where had he been headed in such a hurry? It had certainly looked like some kind of emergency. Was it possible the man she had found was the cause? The moonlight was bright enough tonight, now that she was out of the trees, and the white sand gleamed under its light. Lois stooped to look at the spot where he had lain. There were a few ominous, dark patches, and the sand had been churned up there, and now that she was thinking straight again, she could see the tracks where he had dragged himself. Slowly, she backtracked the marks in the dry sand. He had crawled up from the water line, she thought. Come to think of it, his clothing had been wet. She had hardly noticed it at the time. He had somehow made it out of the ocean where he must have been dumped after someone had tried to kill him. So perhaps the would-be murderer wasn't around here after all. But where had he come from? A shadow drifted down silently from the sky, and her husband's voice said, "Find anything?" "He crawled out of the ocean," Lois said. "I figured that. He was sopping wet," Clark said. "Someone might have thrown him overboard from a boat, or something." "Is he alive?" Lois asked. Clark shrugged, uncomfortably. "He was when I left him--just barely. He didn't have any identification that I could see." "I've never seen him before, either," Lois said, "so he wasn't a guest here on the island." "At least not that we know of," Clark amended. He was turning his head right and left, and Lois figured he was scanning the surrounding vicinity. "There's no one around. You know, it's possible he *jumped* overboard from a boat." "What?" "Sure. If you're going to dump a body, you do it in deep water. He might have jumped, if he was conscious--on the chance he could make it to the island." "Clark, he had to know he was badly hurt!" "Well, sure." Clark was still checking over the area closely. "But if I were in his position, I'd take any chance that was offered to survive. Wouldn't you?" "I guess so," Lois said, a little doubtfully. "But what was he doing here?" "That," Clark said, "is the million-dollar question. Somebody wanted him dead, that's certain." He stopped, then strode forward. Something lay on the sand, inches from the water line. Clark picked it up and extended his hand for her to examine what he held. "A pack of cigarettes?" Lois said. "It's not. Look." Delicately, Clark peeled back the cover, to reveal a tiny camera. "It's a miniature digital camera. It looks as if somebody was taking pictures where he wasn't wanted." "But it's soaked," Lois said. "Do you suppose the pictures would still be good?" "Maybe. Dr. Klein should be able to recover the data, or most of it." Clark glanced around once more. "Look, why don't I take you back to your room so you can get changed out of these clothes. I'll take this to Dr. Klein, and be back as soon as I can. Arianna told Rene that you had a problem with your dress. What happened?" "I guess that was Jimmy's idea." She let him scoop her up in his arms. "Did you know he has a real talent for this kind of thing?" ********** As a result of the delay, Lois arrived several minutes after the other guests had gone in to dinner. She walked in quietly and took her seat beside Jimmy without fuss. Lex, or whoever he was, glanced at her and said, smiling, "I see Miss Davenport has arrived." Arianna nodded to her and spoke in a low voice to Rogan, who replied softly and left the room. "Just in time," Jimmy murmured to her. She nodded without speaking, wondering how she was going to get through the evening without coming face to face with her host. Fortunately, about twenty minutes into dinner, one of the waiters approached and informed Mr. de Los Rios that he had a phone call on his private line. He frowned slightly, excused himself and left the room. He didn't return. Lois's mind went to the unidentified man on the beach. Was it possible that the people who had lost him were just now reporting to their boss? If so, she wouldn't want to be the underling responsible for allowing their victim to escape. Of course, it was barely possible that the man on the beach had nothing to do with de Los Rios. Yeah, right, she told herself. There was something going on here on the island, and it was becoming apparent that she, Clark and Jimmy weren't the only outside parties interested in it. ********** A few moments after she entered her room, Clark was knocking softly on the window, and she let him in. He wasn't wearing his Superman outfit. Instead, he wore dark, close-fitting clothing as he had last night. "How did it go?" he asked. "All right. Nobody paid me much attention," she said. "So, what did Dr. Klein have to say?" "I handed the camera over to him, and he said he'd get right on it. He thinks he ought to be able to recover most if not all of the data. Then I stopped by in Kansas to say hi to Mom and Dad and play with the kids for a few minutes. CJ was 'helping' Dad milk the cow." He chuckled. "It's only when I see them with CJ and Marta that I really understand how patient they must have been with me when I was little. I used to 'help' Mom in the kitchen, and 'help' Dad with the chores when I was too little to do anything but get in the way, but they never let on for a second that they could have done the job quicker and more easily without me. Mom and Dad are crazy about kids." "I could see that the first time Martha held CJ," Lois said. "It's sad that they couldn't have any other children, but maybe that was because they were meant to raise you to be the person you are. You were so lucky having them for your parents." "I know." He slipped his arms around her. "But then, I was incredibly lucky to get the wife I did, too." Lois emerged from the subsequent kiss with her ears ringing slightly. "Flattery will get you everywhere, mister." She turned her head at the knock on the connecting door. "I don't think Jimmy will ever lose his sense of timing, though." Clark opened the door for their junior companion. Jimmy's eyes widened slightly. "How did you get here, CK? I was in the hall talking to Harry Blumenthal until a couple of minutes ago." "He was waiting for me," Lois said. "Smooth," Jimmy said. He grinned. "Are you going with us, tonight?" "Going with you?" Clark asked. Lois nodded. "Arianna's office is right off the sitting room. I want a look in there." "You bet I'm going," Clark said. "I guess you haven't had a chance to fill Jim in about what happened this evening, huh?" "Not yet," Lois said. "What happened?" Jimmy asked. "Lois found a man lying on the beach," Clark said. "He'd been shot in the back." Jimmy's eyes widened. "What did you do?" "I signaled Superman," Lois said. "He promised to keep an ear out for us, in case of a real emergency, remember. He took the guy to the mainland." "Who was he?" Jimmy asked. "We don't know. But Superman found a digital camera near him, so Dr. Klein is trying to recover any data on it right now," Clark said. "Superman will let us know what he finds. If we're lucky, it'll have something on it we can use." Jimmy shook his head. "I don't think anybody could convince me right now that these people aren't up to their necks in something pretty ugly," he said. "I think we're all agreed on that," Lois said. "I have an idea about tonight. We can't go until nearly everyone is asleep, anyway, so we have a little time to get our plans straight. They'll probably have a night watchman or a security guard or something, so we'll have to avoid him--or them--and if either of you have any suggestions, say something. This is how I think we should work it..." ********** "Anything?" Lois asked. Clark shook his head. "There's an upstairs security guard, but he's walking through de Los Rios' den, right now. If we move fast, we'll be long past by the time he gets here." "Where's Jimmy?" "Talking to the night cook. The guy's fixing him a sandwich." Lois gave him an unbelieving look. "You're kidding! He keeps a cook on at night?" Clark nodded, scanning the hall visually. "Apparently so. He's there in case his boss wants a middle-of-the-night snack." "It's got to be Lex--or his clone," Lois muttered. "Nobody else would think of something like that--except maybe a hotel. He did the same thing when--when we were engaged." She gave a faint shudder. "I stayed at the penthouse the last couple of nights before the wedding. When I think what a fool I was--" "Well, if I hadn't been so bull-headed, I would have told you, as Superman," Clark said. "It wouldn't have gotten that far. I was an idiot, but at least it worked out all right in the end." "I still have nightmares about it," Lois said. "It just seems like I can't ever be free of him. Every time we think he's gone for good, he comes back in some other incarnation." "Well, we're going to bring him and his company down," Clark said. He squeezed her hand lightly. "Let's go." He lifted her lightly in his arms and they drifted noiselessly into the hall, half an inch off the floor. Lois closed the door behind them. At the bottom of the stairs, he set her down. They crept softly toward the sitting room, both of them alert for any slightest sound. Once Clark paused. "There's a guard covering the hall ahead," he breathed in her ear. "Where?" "Up there, just around the corner. He'll see us when we go in unless--Wait a minute." He grinned, suddenly. "He's half asleep. When he closes his eyes for a few seconds, we'll go. Hold your breath." He gripped her around the waist, watching the nodding, uniformed man. The guard was leaning against the wall, blinking sleepily. As Clark watched, the other man's mouth opened in a jaw-cracking yawn, and he swept them both across the open space and into the sitting room. They stood in the shadows, waiting, Clark scanning the immediate vicinity with his special eyesight and hearing. "Where's Jimmy?" Lois asked, in a whisper. "He's coming. He's got a tray of roast beef sandwiches and some milk." As he spoke, they both heard Jimmy's voice speaking to the hall guard and a second later he appeared in the doorway, carrying a generously laden tray before him. Calmly, he picked a spot almost directly in front of the door, set the tray on a coffee table and sat down in plain view of the guard and of anyone else who might pass by in the hall. Casually, he produced a novel, switched on the lamp behind him, picked up a sandwich and settled in to read. Not once did he so much as glance at Lois and Clark where they stood against the opposite wall. After a few seconds, they tiptoed to the door of Arianna's office. It was locked, as might be expected, and Clark examined it closely for alarms. There was one, but a needle-thin burst of heat vision took care of that hazard. A few seconds later, he had cracked the lock's alpha-numeric code, and the door opened quietly for them. Jimmy hadn't looked up from his book. Lois and Clark slipped inside the office and closed the door behind them. ********** (tbc( ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2001 12:23:20 -0500 Reply-To: truitt22@flash.net Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: timothy truitt Organization: tnt technical services Subject: Re: Fanfic Alert! :) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I've read it Hazel, and it's well worth the read. Enjoy merry Hazel wrote: > I just checked the "What's New" page on the archive, and there's a new > story by Mobile Richard: Life in a Different World, Part 4. I knew Ms. Moby > was working on a continuation of "The Fugitive," but this was *very* > unexpected and *very* welcome news! > > Well, I'm off to read it. I just wanted to make sure everyone knew. :) > > Hazel > > _______ > > "Lots of little Bigwigs, Hazel! Think of that, and tremble!" ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2001 13:41:36 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Pam Jernigan Subject: Question re: Wells MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Just a tiny detail ... what year did HG Wells die? The real one, I mean... thanks :) -- Pam Jernigan / ChiefPam / jernigan@bellsouth.net http://www.geocities.com/~chiefpam http://personal.rdu.bellsouth.net/~jernigan/ The difference between journalists and other people is that other people spend their lives running from violence, tragedy, and horror and we spend ours trying to get in on it. --P.J. O'Rourke ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2001 13:50:03 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Adam Labotka Subject: The Exodus II: Earthbound (part 2/4) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Well here's some new stuff ;). Hope you enjoy it. Still working on part = 3 so I don't know if I'll have a part ready in a week but I'm gonna try. Public and private feedback greatly appreciated. from part 1=20 ******=20 It was several days before Jor-El was able to return to his work. He had = been afraid to leave Lara and Kal-El alone while they were adjusting to = their new routine. Kal-El was still so small and helpless, it was hard = for Jor-El to leave, but he had to work. There wasn't much time left, = and so much planning to do.=20 First though, Jor-El needed to figure out how long they had left. By now = he should have enough data on the rate of increase of the intensity of = the quakes to make a reasonably accurate estimation.=20 As he made his calculations, he couldn't believe the results. He checked = them over and over again, but each time he reached the same inescapable = conclusion. In about two months, Krypton was going to explode.=20 and now part 2 ******=20 Jor-El tried to quell his rising panic. He had only two months to get = all this work done; the task seemed impossible. There was no way he'd = have enough time to build a transport large enough for all three of them = - one man could only do so much.=20 Attempting to calm down, Jor-El tried to collect his thoughts. 'No time = for panic now', he told himself. He'd build a ship for his son, and that = would have to be enough. There might not be much time left, but = hopefully he could manage that much. It wouldn't need to be very large = so it should be easier to construct than a ship for all three of them, = because it wouldn't require as much material and support systems as a = larger ship would.=20 He began to methodically plot out what he needed to get done. First, = Jor-El had to find a place to send his son where he could survive. = Second, he needed to develop a way to cover the vast distance in a = reasonable time. Third, a support system to keep Kal-El alive for the = journey was needed. None of these tasks were simple, but haste was = required to get them all done in time.=20 Jor-El turned to the computer and prepared to search the immense archive = of planets discovered by Krypton's probes. He considered what criteria = he should set for acceptable planets: atmospheric conditions and = composition similar to Krypton's own were an obvious first choice. In = addition, an edible, nutritious food source, that was readily available, = was required. Also, since Kal-El wouldn't be able to support himself = initially, sentient and friendly beings that would be willing to take in = and raise a child were needed. Finally, and Jor-El realized it was = unlikely, biological computability with said inhabitants, so that one = day Kal-El might meet a woman, fall in love and have a family of his own = - much like Lara and he had now. The last was given low priority, as = Jor-El knew it was highly unlikely any other species would be compatible = with their own, especially one that developed on a different world in a = different environment, but one could always hope.=20 After setting up and executing the search, Jor-El turned to consider the = other tasks. Through most of recorded history they had been sending out = probes to many different places. Those probes all had a special drive, = which allowed them to travel great distances in a very short amount of = time. Perhaps, Jor-El mused, this could be adapted for a living being. = Little was known about what happened to the probe when the drive was = used, but hopefully it wouldn't be anything Kal-El couldn't survive.=20 With that decided, Jor-El looked at the time. He was shocked by how late = it was, not having noticed the passing of time much as he worked. It was = time to head home and get some rest, there was still a lot of work to do = and tiring himself out wouldn't help. Taking one last look around, and = making sure the search was still running, Jor-El closed up his lab and = went home.=20 ******=20 Jor-El arrived home shortly after leaving his lab. Lara greeted him = absently as he entered, busy fussing over Kal-El. He smiled as he = watched the two of them together, momentarily forgetting about what was = going to happen, before the reality came crashing down on him and his = smile turned into a frown.=20 He must have let out a sigh, because Lara looked up at him worriedly and = asked, "What's wrong?"=20 Jor-El sighed dejectedly, "Oh, nothing really. It's just when I saw you = and Kal-El there I thought how great this is, then suddenly remembered = the disaster coming. That kinda ruined the mood."=20 "Oh," Lara said, in a small voice. "Well, we shouldn't dwell on that and = enjoy what time we have left. If we worry about what is to come, then = what time there is will be wasted."=20 "I guess," Jor-El replied, dejectedly. "It's hard though, especially = with all this work I have to do to save our son. I've barely started and = there's so much to do."=20 As they were talking, Kal-El began squirming in Lara's arms. She turned = her attention back to him. ""What is it? Whatcha want? Huh?" She cooed. = Noticing Kal-El seemed to be reaching toward the sound of Jor-El's = voice, she continued in the same tone, "You want to see your daddy? Is = that it?"=20 Lara gave Kal-El to Jor-El carefully, and he settled into Jor-El's arms. = Jor-El smiled down at Kal-El. "Hey there, little guy." Jor-EL said in a = soothing tone. "How was your day? Did you behave for your mom?"=20 Lara chuckled. "He was a perfect little angel, not very fussy at all," = Lara said. Changing to a more serious tone, she continued, "So how did = it go at the lab today?"=20 "Huh?" Jor-El asked distractedly, looking up from Kal-El as he was = playing with the collar of Jor-El's shirt. "Oh, well I calculated the = time we have left, and it's only two months as best I can tell. It = doesn't give us much time, but I started a search for a place to send = him," Jor-El said, indicating the child in his arms. "I also began = formulating a way to traverse the distance in a reasonable amount of = time. It's a long-shot, but if we can adapt the drives that we use on = our probes for a manned flight, we just might be able to do it."=20 Lara tried to hide her surprise at the news. "Will we have enough time?" = she said somewhat uncertainly.=20 Jor-El shook his head sadly, saying, "I just don't know Lara, but I = intend to try."=20 Lara sighed. "I suppose that's the best we can do," she replied. "This = makes what I was thinking about all the more important. I can take care = of Kal-El as easily at our lab as I can here, so I think we should join = you there so we can spend as much time together as we can, during what = little time we have left."=20 After a few moments of musing, Jor-El replied, "Of course I want to = spend as much time with you as I can. We can try it and see how it goes. = Hopefully it won't hinder my work, but I'll take the risk for now."=20 "Okay. So tomorrow Kal-El and I will accompany you. We should get some = rest, we'll need it in the days to come," Lara said, taking Kal-El from = Jor-El's arms. She placed him carefully in his crib and watched him for = a moment as he settled into sleep. Then she turned to Jor-El and took = him by the hand, leading him into their bedroom.=20 ******=20 The next few days went by in a blur of activity. Jor-El ceaselessly = worked on adapting the probe drive for manned travel. Contrary to his = fears, Lara and Kal-El's presence did not hinder his work. In fact with = Lara there to help out it went even faster then before.=20 Taking the globe, an amazing piece of technology which had been around = for millennia and could store incredible amounts of data, run several = programs and even project holograms, from where it was sitting = prominently on the skeleton of a ship, Jor-El approached Lara, who was = rocking Kal-El. He watched with a light smile before clearing his throat = to get her attention.=20 Looking up from the bundle in her arms, Lara asked, "What is it, dear?"=20 Somewhat uncertainly Jor-El said, "I've been thinking. I was planning on = using this device," indicating the globe in his hand, "to store the = navigational data to guide Kal-El to whatever place we find for him. But = it has more then enough storage for that, so I thought maybe we could = use the extra storage to leave something of ourselves for our son, so = he'd know where he came from, and why we sent him away, that his parents = loved him. I could tune it to him to only reveal them when he's old = enough to understand. It's not much but at least we could leave him = something of who we were."=20 Lara looked at Jor-El for a moment, then back down at Kal-El in her = arms. Voice choking on emotion and with tears in her eyes, she said, "I = don't think I could do that. It's hard enough for me knowing what's = gonna happen. I don't think I'd be able to hold it together to leave him = a message. I get through the days by not thinking of the future." She = broke off, unable to finish.=20 Crossing over to her quickly, Jor-El carefully took her in his arms, = wary of the child in her arms. "I'm sorry honey," he said = apologetically. "I didn't mean to bring up painful thoughts. I should = have realized how this would affect you. Don't worry I'll take care of = them myself, you won't have to worry about it," he finished = comfortingly, trying to ease her pain.=20 Sniffling a bit, and trying to gain her composure, Lara told him, "I'll = be fine. You couldn't have known how your suggestion would affect me. = It's a nice thought really I just don't think I could handle doing it. = It'll be enough for me to leave him this blanket," she indicated the = blanket Kal-El was wrapped in, "Something tangible, something I made for = him. You should get back to work."=20 Reluctantly, Jor-El released them and picked the globe from where it had = fallen when he carelessly dropped it. He buried himself in his work = again, escaping from his own grief at what was coming.=20 ****** ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2001 13:51:31 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Chris Carr Subject: Re: Question re: Wells On Mon, 11 Jun 2001 13:41:36 -0400, Pam Jernigan wrote: >Just a tiny detail ... what year did HG Wells die? The real one, I >mean... thanks :) >-- > 1946. (He was born in 1866, in case you're interested.) Hope that helps. Chris. ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2001 13:55:13 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Adam Labotka Subject: Re: Question re: Wells MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable I looked it up and it was August 13, 1946, a bit more then you asked for = but hey it might help. Also says he died in his sleep. ;) ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2001 16:52:40 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: No Name Available Subject: Re: Fanfic Alert! :) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 06/11/2001 1:15:57 PM Eastern Daylight Time, truitt22@FLASH.NET writes: << I've read it [Life in a Different World 4] Hazel, and it's well worth the read. Enjoy >> Yeah, but I'm waiting for the rest of the The Fugitive!! -Laurie (who noticed that Merry has the Labby & Yvonne syndrome of replies going to them and not to the list) ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2001 23:13:22 +0100 Reply-To: Yvonne Connell Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Yvonne Connell Subject: Help! I need a name for Lois MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Hi! FODIV spoilers... S P O I L E R S P A C E Those of you reading FoDIV will know that our Lois and Clark are over in = the alt universe with altLois and Clark. Now, Clark usually calls = himself CK when he's in the alt universe, so I need a similar sort of = name for Lois. It can't be Lois2, because that would be too confusing. = So, what do you suggest? I considered Loisette, but personally, I don't = really like the name, I suspect Lois wouldn't either, and I hate the = Soul Mates episode with an intensity bordering on insanity , so what = else is left? I doubt she'd like Lo-Lo, either... Yvonne (yvonne@yconnell.fsnet.co.uk) ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2001 18:35:01 -0600 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Erin Klingler Subject: Help, Quick! :) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Just a quick question...what was the addy for Clark's Clinton Street apartment? Finishing up the next installment for 'Accidental Husband,' and I can't remember it! Thanks in advance, Erin __________________ erink@ida.net erink@lcfanfic.com Visit my LNC/Kerth Website: www.ida.net/users/davek ***** "It's not the years that count, it's the moments...right now, as they happen." __________________ ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2001 20:37:18 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Pam Jernigan Subject: Re: Help! I need a name for Lois MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit my reply's below the spoiler space... Yvonne Connell wrote: > > Hi! > > FODIV spoilers... > S > P > O > I > L > E > R > > S > P > A > C > E > Those of you reading FoDIV will know that our Lois and Clark are over in the alt universe with altLois and Clark. Now, Clark usually calls himself CK when he's in the alt universe, so I need a similar sort of name for Lois. It can't be Lois2, because that would be too confusing. So, what do you suggest? I considered Loisette, but personally, I don't really like the name, I suspect Lois wouldn't either, and I hate the Soul Mates episode with an intensity bordering on insanity , so what else is left? I doubt she'd like Lo-Lo, either... > Interesting dilemma. I can think of a lot of names that *wouldn't* work... "LL" would tend to remind them of Lex, which would be bad. Lois has used a couple of pseudonyms on the show ... she might not mind Lola Dane. "Wanda Detroit" of course, would be disastrous although it might be kinda funny if she suggested it ... I mean "funny" in an appallingly heart-breaking way, of course, but still ;) Maybe a longer set of initials, as in "LLK". And of course, she is the closest thing to a "Mrs. Kent" around Sorry, this probably wasn't very helpful I'll just go back to counting altKerth votes, then... -- Pam Jernigan / ChiefPam / jernigan@bellsouth.net http://www.geocities.com/~chiefpam http://personal.rdu.bellsouth.net/~jernigan/ The difference between journalists and other people is that other people spend their lives running from violence, tragedy, and horror and we spend ours trying to get in on it. --P.J. O'Rourke ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2001 19:54:53 -0500 Reply-To: peabody Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: peabody Subject: Fw: Help! I need a name for Lois MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Yvonne asked: > >> I considered Loisette, but personally, I don't really like the name, I > suspect Lois wouldn't either, and I hate the Soul Mates episode with an > intensity bordering on insanity << LOL, Yvonne. I've been enjoying your story very much, and am eagerly looking forward to the meeting of the Loises ;) I liked Soulmates, but that name, Loisette, (sounds like a femine hygiene product or something one would use to clean the bathroom ) makes me gag; I completely agree with your decision not to use it. > >> so what else is left? I doubt she'd like Lo-Lo, either...<< I'm kind of partial to Lo-Lo, but somehow I don't think the adult Lois would want her other world counterpart to identify her with her high school nickname. How about a variation on Clark's use of initials? You could call her LJ or possibly just use her middle name, which I think is Julia. Pat peabody@ameritech.net pattijean@aol.com ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2001 18:01:30 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Nancy Smith Subject: Re: Help, Quick! :) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Erin, it was 344 Clinton. Nan Erin Klingler wrote: > Just a quick question...what was the addy for Clark's Clinton Street apartment? Finishing > up the next installment for 'Accidental Husband,' and I can't remember it! > > Thanks in advance, > > Erin > __________________ > erink@ida.net > erink@lcfanfic.com > Visit my LNC/Kerth Website: www.ida.net/users/davek > ***** > "It's not the years that count, it's the moments...right now, as they happen." > __________________ ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2001 18:29:22 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Judith Williams Subject: Re: Help! I need a name for Lois MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Wasn't her middle name Joan not Julia? I don't like either of those anyway. How about Elle? Or there's Louisa. Or Double L? :) Jude ----- Original Message ----- From: "Yvonne Connell" To: Sent: Monday, June 11, 2001 3:13 PM Subject: Help! I need a name for Lois Hi! FODIV spoilers... S P O I L E R S P A C E Those of you reading FoDIV will know that our Lois and Clark are over in the alt universe with altLois and Clark. Now, Clark usually calls himself CK when he's in the alt universe, so I need a similar sort of name for Lois. It can't be Lois2, because that would be too confusing. So, what do you suggest? I considered Loisette, but personally, I don't really like the name, I suspect Lois wouldn't either, and I hate the Soul Mates episode with an intensity bordering on insanity , so what else is left? I doubt she'd like Lo-Lo, either... Yvonne (yvonne@yconnell.fsnet.co.uk) ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2001 19:29:32 -0600 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Erin Klingler Subject: Re: Help, Quick! :) In-Reply-To: <3B2569EA.D4CD5C4C@earthlink.net> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > Erin, it was 344 Clinton. > > Nan Thanks Nan! I owe you one. :) Erin __________________ erink@ida.net erink@lcfanfic.com Visit my LNC/Kerth Website: www.ida.net/users/davek ***** "It's not the years that count, it's the moments...right now, as they happen." __________________ ========================================================================= Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2001 22:06:35 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Pam Jernigan Subject: Re: Help! I need a name for Lois MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I think her middle name is Joanne, but that's never been established on the show, so I'm going by comics book canon here. So basically we can take it or leave it, as we please. -- Pam Jernigan / ChiefPam / jernigan@bellsouth.net http://www.geocities.com/~chiefpam http://personal.rdu.bellsouth.net/~jernigan/ The difference between journalists and other people is that other people spend their lives running from violence, tragedy, and horror and we spend ours trying to get in on it. --P.J. O'Rourke ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2001 09:17:48 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: James Tull Subject: Question for a fic This may sound out of FAR-left field, but here is goes... In Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Wonka mentions two different kinds of 'beasts' that attacked the Oompa Loompas. Can anyone tell me what they were? This is for a short comedy. James. ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2001 14:49:36 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Natascha Kortum Subject: Re: Question for a fic Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed Hi James, In a joint effort, my friend, her son and my colleagues were able to find the answer: They were called the :Wang Doodles"... Btw, I have never seen the movie. Natascha >From: James Tull >Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" > >To: LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU >Subject: Question for a fic >Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2001 09:17:48 -0500 > >This may sound out of FAR-left field, but here is goes... > >In Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Wonka mentions two different >kinds of 'beasts' that attacked the Oompa Loompas. > >Can anyone tell me what they were? > > >This is for a short comedy. > >James. _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2001 21:20:47 +0100 Reply-To: Yvonne Connell Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Yvonne Connell Subject: Re: Help! I need a name for Lois MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I knew I could rely on you wonderful people to come up with some good suggestions. Several of you suggested 'L' or 'Elle', and that's what I'm going with. It matches up nicely with 'CK', and even sounds a bit like Ellen, which sparked off a useful exchange between Lois and Lois . Yvonne (yvonne@yconnell.fsnet.co.uk) ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2001 15:27:41 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Carol L Moncado Subject: Re: Question for a fic MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Wish I could help you, but just so you know - I have been singing the "Oompa Loompa" song all day! CM - who has heard the movie can only be fully understood if you're high, but doesn't know from personal experience! > >From: James Tull > >Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" > > > >To: LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU > >Subject: Question for a fic > >Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2001 09:17:48 -0500 > > > >This may sound out of FAR-left field, but here is goes... > > > >In Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Wonka mentions two > different > >kinds of 'beasts' that attacked the Oompa Loompas. > > > >Can anyone tell me what they were? > > > > > >This is for a short comedy. > > > >James. > > _________________________________________________________________ > Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2001 18:45:01 -0600 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Becky Bain Subject: Re: Question for a fic In-Reply-To: <20010612.152744.-183585.0.cmoncado@juno.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Y'all realize it was a book before it was a movie, right? Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, by, um, Roald Dahl, I think. (A copy is actually in this house somewhere, but darned if I'm going to look for it!) Becky rbain@qwest.net "I do not like to form in my mind an idea that I don't have any proof of." - Rosa Parks, from her autobiography Stride Toward Freedom ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2001 20:06:28 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Carol L Moncado Subject: Re: Question for a fic MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Yep - and there was a sequel - Charlie and the Glass Elevator - I think. Much better than the movie! The elevator will go in any direction and they push this button that they've never pushed before and they go shooting through the roof and go to Charlie's house and pick up his mom and all of his grandparents (who are all in the same bed still of course because they won't get out). Or am I nuts and that's really part of the Chocolate Factory? I do remember alien creatures who weren't part of CF, that were in elevators and each became a different letter to spell a word or something? Hey it's been a while! CM - who hopes it helps James, in a desperate attempt to stay on topic!:-) On Tue, 12 Jun 2001 18:45:01 -0600 Becky Bain writes: > Y'all realize it was a book before it was a movie, right? Charlie > and the > Chocolate Factory, by, um, Roald Dahl, I think. (A copy is actually > in > this house somewhere, but darned if I'm going to look for it!) > > Becky > rbain@qwest.net > > "I do not like to form in my mind an idea that I don't have any > proof of." > - Rosa Parks, from her > autobiography > Stride Toward > Freedom ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2001 22:13:36 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Adam Labotka Subject: Exodus II MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable well I'm just writing this e-mail because no one has been commenting on = my fic, Exodus II: Earthbound here and I'm wondering if I should stop = posting it here, since everyone who wnats to read it is reading it on = zoom's boards. I know there's less feedback here but I normally see = some for the other fics posted here so I feel I'm just spamming people = with my fic. I don't want to add to peoples mail volume for no reason = so just let me know. ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2001 20:36:11 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: StarKitty Subject: OT: Fw: words of wisdom Comments: To: Vanya Smith , Nancy , "Smith, Chuck" MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Just a little something I got from a friend of mine :) I thought you'd = appreciate it. Tara ----- Original Message -----=20 From: Elizabeth=20 To: Tara L Smith ; Lea ; elke Dingeldey ; Yauch ; Dolphin Lover ; Doug ; = Bobby Vermette=20 Sent: Tuesday, June 12, 2001 18:12 Subject: words of wisdom Do not keep this message. The tantra totem must leave your hands in 96 hours. You will get a very pleasant surprise. This is true, even if you = are not superstitious. ONE. Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully. TWO. Marry a man/woman you love to talk to. As you get older, their conversational skills will be as important as any other. THREE. Don't believe all you hear, spend all you have or sleep all you want. FOUR. When you say, "I love you," mean it. FIVE. When you say, "I'm sorry," look the person in the eye. SIX. Be engaged at least six months before you get married. SEVEN. Believe in love at first sight. EIGHT. Never laugh at anyone's dreams. People who don't have dreams = don't have much. NINE. Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt but it's the only way to live life completely. TEN. In disagreements, fight fairly. No name calling. ELEVEN. Don't judge people by their relatives. TWELVE. Talk slowly but think quickly. THIRTEEN. When someone asks you a question you don't want to answer, = smile and ask, "Why do you want to know?" FOURTEEN. Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk. FIFTEEN. Say "bless you" when you hear someone sneeze. SIXTEEN. When you lose, don't lose the lesson. SEVENTEEN. Remember the three R's: Respect for self; Respect for others; Responsibility for all your actions. EIGHTEEN. Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship. NINETEEN. When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps = to correct it. TWENTY. Smile when picking up the phone. The caller will hear it in your voice. TWENTY-ONE. Spend some time alone. Now, here's the FUN part! Send this to at least 5 people and your life will improve. 0-4 people: Your life will improve slightly. 5-9 people: Your life will improve to your liking. 9-14 people: You will have at least 5 surprises in the next 3 weeks 15 and above: Your life will improve drastically and everything you ever dreamed of will begin to take shape. ========================================================================= Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2001 22:16:42 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Melisma Subject: OT: Listmom, need help... In-Reply-To: <200106130504.f5D541d25903@continuity.intergate.ca> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" I'm so sorry to send this to the list in general, but I can't find your address. I've been on digest for the last couple weeks, and now I want to go back to regular mail. I went to the listserv archive and tried to change it there, but they won't let me - either that or I'm doing it wrong. Is there any way that I could impose on you to fix my settings, or failing that, help me figure out what I'm doing wrong? Thanks a gazillion! Melisma (getting frustrated under her Rock) Visit my rock at http://www.intergate.ca/personal/melisma/index.html ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2001 09:17:35 +0100 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Phillip Atcliffe Subject: Re: Exodus II In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII On Tue, 12 Jun 2001 22:13:36 -0500 Adam Labotka wrote: > well I'm just writing this e-mail because no one has been commenting on my fic, Exodus II: Earthbound here and I'm wondering if I should stop posting it here, since everyone who wnats to read it is reading it on zoom's boards. I know there's less feedback here but I normally see some for the other fics posted here so I feel I'm just spamming people with my fic. I don't want to add to peoples mail volume for no reason so just let me know. < Adam, keep posting. It's a fact of life that most of those people who give FDK tend to do it on the MBs these days (like me), but there are FoLCs out there who don't use the boards or may not have access to anything other than e-mail. Don't deprive them of your work -- or, fot that matter, people who simply see the story here before they get to the MBs. And _don't_ worry about "spamming" us. This is the fic list, so posting fics can hardly be considered spam. And compared to the number of posts we get on fic-related questions, philosophical debates, etc., actual stories or parts thereof are a minor component of the traffic here (which is not a complaint, BTW). Phil, who will be posting part 3 of "Imbalance" on Friday as usual ------------------------------------------------------------ "I think... I think I am! | I think _I_ am: Therefore I am... I think?" | Phil Atcliffe -- The Moody Blues | (Phillip.Atcliffe@uwe.ac.uk) ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2001 05:59:04 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: John Debbage <106532.433@COMPUSERVE.COM> Subject: Universal Union Book3/Part30 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Title: Universal Union Book3/Part 30 Author: Jenni Debbage Rating: PG-13 ~~~~~~~~~~ How could a very short time seem so long? From the moment of his leaving the bedroom to the moment when he would leave the environs of her= life, mayhap, forever, each drawn out minute was indelibly etched into Lois' consciousness. = Exhausted and cried-out, Lois had finally quit the tiled bathroom, which had increasingly taken on the aspects of a sterile cell rather than= the haven she needed. Ignoring the cluttered mess of the room, she sough= t refuge in the place where she felt closest to home, the apartment which K= al had fashioned for her when her well being had been his paramount concern.= = Sadly, she reflected, all things change and even the strongest commitment= could fade. She had grown up with the example of her parent's disastrous= marriage always before her, yet she had foolishly assumed that her relationship with Kal would be different, more enduring. Now the suddenness and swiftness of the estrangement shook her to the core. She didn't doubt that Kal still cared for her but that wasn't enough for Loi= s; she needed his respect. In the deepest corner of her soul, Lois realised= that she had that respect but her hurt feelings of abandonment and isolation robbed her of her balance, and thus, she resorted to her old tried and trusted remedy; retire behind the barricades and repulse any attempt at reconciliation. Early in the morning, Kal had shown up at her door, hoping against hope to find Lois more tolerant of the position he felt he had to adopt. = Hesitantly, he knocked and waited for permission to answer, giving her so= me control over the situation. But, as the minutes passed, he began to doub= t that Lois was prepared to speak with him. Kal sent his supplication in thought through the door. Yet all was still and quiet. Obviously, his wife remained in a huff. Dejectedly, he stared at the unyielding door as if b= y prayer alone the barrier would disappear. Unfortunately, the inanimate object wouldn't cooperate. Slowly he turned to walk away. In the estimation of his wife's state of mind, however, he had done Lois a disservice. Throughout the night, she had alternated between paci= ng the floor or staring at the dark velvet sky until, as dawn approached, he= r exhausted body had given way to sleep. Kal's wake-up call had surprised her from the realms of an uneasy, nightmarish sleep where she had watched= helplessly as Nor had brutally attacked Metropolis and single-handedly killed her family and friends. It had taken some moments before her sleep-fogged brain had recalled last night's disastrous quarrel and that Kal was not actually inside the apartment = As fast as her legs would carry her, Lois dragged herself from her b= ed and scurried across the living room. Kal had come to apologise; to tell her that it was alright for her to travel to Earth. Despite her lack of sleep, her step and her spirits lightened as she made her way to the door= . In the passageway, Kal halted in mid-stride at the sound of the heav= y door opening. Guardedly, he took in the sight of Lois' wan face and the darkened shadows beneath her eyes. Hurting her was the last thing that K= al wanted to do, yet Lois had to understand that his decision had been made for her own good and for their baby's too. Squaring his shoulders he fac= ed up to his wife. "Thank you, Lois. May I come in?" he asked formally. "= We need to talk." With a sinking heart the Lady of El appraised her husband. This was= no supplicant lover. There might have been the glimmer of entreaty hidde= n in the depths of his eyes, but his features were set in harsher lines tha= n Lois had ever witnessed when turned upon herself. This was the face of t= he ruler of all Krypton... stern and immovable. Well, Kal was about to realise that Earthlings were not so accommodating as his own people. Lois Lane was not for turning. = Carefully, she watched him pass her and move to the centre of the room. = "What do you want, Kal?" "To talk, Lois, just to talk! I can't stand this... impasse! And it's so unreasonable!" "Hmph!" Lois exclaimed with force. "Why is it, when I differ from your point of view, that I should be considered unreasonable?!" Kal raised his eyes to the ceiling in exasperation. "That's not wha= t I meant, Lois, and you know it!" "No, Kal, I don't know anything anymore." Lois hugged her arms arou= nd her, closing in her body stance. "I thought that our marriage was a partnership! But now I've discovered that it's a very unequal partnershi= p and I'm certainly not on top!" Kal-El felt his vexation building. "Is that what you want, My Lady?= = To be on top?! Is this what all this is about? Getting your own way?" "No!" Lois studied Kal's face. How could someone, who professed to= love her, have made such a wounding and inaccurate accusation? "You make= me sound like a spoiled brat! And it isn't that at all! I just wanted t= o be your equal." Her voice almost broke on her last statement. "Lois, you are... in every way that matters!" Kal tentatively stepp= ed closer to his angry wife but stopped when she backed off. Yet he did rea= ch out a hand to her, hoping to touch her somehow. "I don't mean to downgra= de you by asking you to stay home. I believe that giving birth to our baby = is the most important thing there is, and I'm so sorry that I won't be right= here with you." Kal's voice betrayed his deep disappointment that he'd miss out on the miracle of welcoming their child into the world, yet Lois= was so entrenched in her own aggrieved feelings that she failed to recognise her husband's sincerity. "But I would feel that way whether yo= u were giving birth to the heir to the throne or to an ordinary baby. You have to believe that, Lois." "But that's just it, Kal! How can I believe that! You've never kno= wn what being ordinary means! Since you were a small child you've been rais= ed in the knowledge that your duty to this world came before anything else, and I was foolish to think that our love could change things.... But, no= w I'm quite clear on my position in your life. You've taught me that less= on well and I won't make the same mistake twice." Lois voice was resigned y= et unyielding. "Put me first!' Is that what you're asking, Lois? You can't mean that! Sometimes, duty to others must come before our own needs.... And this involves your world too!" "No! You're twisting my motives! I would never...." But Lois couldn't go on. Somehow, she'd been made to sound silly and selfish agai= n, when all she'd wanted was to help her people. But Kal still refused to acknowledge that. There was no way through this morass of misunderstandi= ng that had opened up between them. Instead, she resorted to steely silence= . A light went out behind Kal's eyes and Lois felt herself shiver involuntary at the ice that formed there in its stead. "Clearly, My Lady= , you've made up your mind about my motives and there's nothing more I can say to make you understand my position. You will, however, remain here while I and my troops deal with Nor. And you have my word that I will do= my utmost to ensure that your people suffer as little as possible at that= madman's hands." The coldly courteous timbre which had replaced his normal warm, husk= y tone chilled Lois to her very core, but pride forbade her from allowing h= er distress to show. Nevertheless, she couldn't be sure that her voice wouldn't tremble, so she briefly inclined her head. Oh, zor! Had it come to this, when Lois couldn't even bare to speak with him?! Kal cleared his throat of the lump that had formed there. = "Then if you've nothing further to say, My Lady, I'll alleviate you of my= presence. I have much to do before our departure tonight. There will be= a ceremonial leave-taking at the spaceport.... I'll send Poli to fetch you= ." Lois was informed somewhat imperialistically. "I see no reason to upset= others with the knowledge of our estrangement." A curt nod of the head and he was gone, the door left ajar behind hi= m. Then again, Lois Lane refused to be subjugated and her voice followed hi= m down the corridor. "Don't look for me, My Lord. I have a premonition that I'll have th= e world's worst headache this evening!" But for all her bravado, Lois felt totally depressed and she wandere= d back to her bedroom where she indulged in yet another bout of weeping....= = Only this time she was all cried out and managed just a few snorts and sniffles, resorting instead to pummelling a convenient pillow. Perhaps, had she been able to see her husband's expression as he strode off, she might have derived a small measure of comfort. Despite his ferocious demeanour, at her words, Kal had found his stiff lips curling, of their o= wn violation, into a tiny grin. That was his Lois! ***** In a different part of the castle, another young lady had no ambivalent feelings about how she would take farewell of her loved one. = Zara paced back and forward in the empty atrium, awaiting her fiance to answer her summons. In some way, Zara was a little surprised at her enterprise and her daring. Evidently, close contact with Lady Lois had taught the youngest and, customarily, well behaved daughter of the house = of El, just how subterfuge could be used to one's own advantage. = She had sent for Ching in the name of the First Lady and no one had sought to doubt her. Either everyone was too preoccupied with the coming= expedition or Zara was becoming quite adept at deception. Whatever was t= he reason, Zara didn't care overmuch. She had almost lost Ching once and sh= e wasn't about to let him go back into battle without sharing one last mome= nt of love together. = The sliding of the doors interrupted her thoughts as Ching, handsome= ly attired in the finery of his new rank, trod into the spacious greenhouse.= = It only took a moment for Zara to catch his hand and lead him into the cover of the densest bushes where she proceeded to show him wordlessly ho= w much he would be missed. The shock of it overwhelmed the Major for but a= moment, then he was eagerly returning her kisses, his hands pulling her closer and entangling in her long silken hair. These interludes were few= and precious, therefore they clung to each other hungrily. After many protracted minutes of blissful desire, reluctantly, the couple parted, ye= t their lips strayed not far from the other's. "Zara, you know this is dangerous." Yet, though his words were of censure, their tone was gentle. "We shouldn't meet like this in a public= place." "No one is here, Ching. I checked earlier and everybody is too busy= to take time out to visit the gardens and the surveillance camera was tak= en down months ago." Zara leaned back against her dearest's encircling arms= . = "Besides, I don't really care if we are found out. I couldn't let you go= without saying goodbye or wishing you well. You almost died last time, a= nd I never would have had the chance to tell you goodbye, or let you know th= at I would always hold you in my heart. I remember how terribly it hurt, standing in that control room, listening to Dax-Ver inform us you'd been badly injured, and trying to pretend that it only mattered a very little.= = I think my heart broke that day and it only mended when you came back to me." "Oh, Zara, I'm sorry you were frightened so." Ching's fingers softl= y traced the tears that slipped slowly from Zara's overbright eyes. "But, = as you see, you can't get rid of me so easily. I intend to be in your life for a very long time to come." A tender smile lit up Zara's pale face and she pulled Ching in the direction of the chaise- longue by the fishpond where she, Lois and Gelli= s had begun the plan to fool the Mais into betraying their crimes. The fir= st act of the plot that would finally send her sweetheart, her brother and t= he whole Kryptonian armed forces off into the far reaches of space to protec= t an alien planet from the ravages of a mad man. Zara settled into the cushioned seat and drew Ching beside her, holding fast to his hands. "Just make sure that you keep that intention, my love. And please don't be too brave." She sent him a shy smile. "I know that we're hopin= g to have you created a peer but I think I'd rather have you live as a frie= nd than lose you in attempt to become my husband." "I'll remember, Zara." His fingers intertwined with her's as he spoke. "And if fate is kind, then perhaps we can have both." A soft, wondering laugh escaped his lips. "You know, I never thought we'd be together... talking like this... about the possibility of marriage. And it's all thanks to Lois and Kal." A heavy sigh burst from Zara at the mention of her brother and his wife. Contrary to Kal's directive that the rest of the family and castle= household should remain in ignorance of the rift between the two, the knowledge of the continuing quarrel had spread like wildfire. The fact that the First Lord and Lady were, normally, never far from each other's company and were very tactile in their relationship, meant that it wasn't= difficult for onlookers to guess the current state of affairs between the= two. And it certainly was no secret from Zara or Ching. "How is Kal?" Zara hadn't seen her brother since morning when he'd made himself scarce by heading directly for the space port, immediately after his visit with Lois. "Busy! Pretending nothing's amiss! Then acting like someone who's just lost everything he holds dear and making life difficult for anyone w= ho comes in contact with him." "Oh, dear, that's not at all like Kal.... He's usually such a mild-mannered person." Ching laughed derisively. "You're right! It's taken quite a few of= the subordinates by surprise, I can tell you, and a number of the commanders too. Anyone whose work isn't up to scratch is being taken to task by a stricter First Lord than I've ever known. He's even sniped at = me a couple of times...." "Oh, Ching, I'm sure he doesn't mean it. It's just that this argume= nt has made him so unhappy." "I know that, Zara, and so does everyone else. Or they're putting i= t down to his worries over what havoc Nor is wreaking on Earth. No one's taking offence. Kal-El might be their First Lord but to the military he'= s still a brother officer and a very well thought of one at that." Ching lifted Zara's hand and placed a reassuring kiss on her fingertips. Then = he hesitated a moment, being less sure of his ground when it came to feisty,= pregnant Earth women. "How are things with Lady Lois?" "Not good either! She's locked in the apartment feigning a headache= . = And she never get's these. She wouldn't speak to anyone, until mother threatened to send for Physician Tamar and then she let us in. Much good= it did us though... she's just not talking." An anxious look suffused Zara's face. "Is there anything we can do to help?" "You mean, apart from knocking their heads together?!" "Ching!" The younger lady of El was astounded by Ching's lese-majesty, yet she found herself smiling despite herself. "If you have a better idea, I'm open to suggestion!" "Isn't it awful... for them to be fighting like that... and it came out of nowhere!" "And both of them are too stubborn to say they're sorry! Except, th= at in this case, I can see Kal's point of view!" "But surely, Ching, you can understand why Lois feels that she has t= o be with her people! Her family are in danger! And I know that if the situations were reversed, Kal would insist on going home!" "But Kal wouldn't be about to give birth... so it's not the same thi= ng at all!" Wide-eyed, Zara regarded the man she hopefully had chosen to be her husband. All her life she had accepted the rule of her male relatives an= d fortunately their rule had always been kindly. Yet, even when the questi= on of her betrothal to the inept Rol-Fre had arisen, she had never sought to= question their authority but agreed to do her duty as a member of the roy= al house. So why was she now looking askance at the man she loved with all her heart? Was Lois' independent nature nurturing a similar characterist= ic in her own personality which, until now, had remained dormant? Zara hear= d herself say accusingly... "And that's a very sexist remark, Ching, and n= ot one I'd thought to hear from you!" "Zara! This isn't man versus woman! We have females in our militar= y, which you well know!" "But not in the front line!" "No, I'll give you that... but there will be women along with the fleet. I'm quite sure that if Lois wasn't pregnant, Kal would want her with him. He's only trying to protect his wife and child here!" "Only, Lois doesn't think she needs protection!" "Exactly." Ching shrugged dejectedly. "A stalemate!" = Zara found herself mimicking Ching's dejected shrug. "Isn't there anything we can do?" "You could persuade Lois into coming to say goodbye to Kal. I think= he's afraid that she won't turn up." At this suggestion the young girl's chin firmed determinedly. "Yes,= I can do that! Lois should be there. If anything bad were to happen to Ka= l, she'd never forgive herself...." "Sweetheart, nothing bad will happen to Kal... or me. Everything wi= ll be fine, I promise." Strangely, Zara seemed to accept his assurances without question. Her complete faith in him filled him with a quiet strength and he found himself believing his risky promises. "Now enough about Lois and Kal." Ching pulled her against his hard body and covered her upturned face with hungry kisses. "We don't have much time and I'm selfish enough to want to say goodbye to my fianc=E9e without thoughts of= our warring friends distracting me." ***** tbc in Part 31 ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2001 05:59:26 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: John Debbage <106532.433@COMPUSERVE.COM> Subject: Universal Union Book3/Part31 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Title: Universal Union Book3/Part 31 Author: Jenni Debbage Rating: PG-13 ~~~~~~~~~~ True to her intention, Zara had, finally, talked Lois into accompanying the family to Elvar's space port to wish the departing fleet= well. It hadn't been an easy task, as Lois had remained adamant about he= r decision to stay in the castle, for most of the afternoon. Yet, wheneve= r Zara touched on the subject that soldiers were very often hurt or killed = in battle, she could feel her sister-in-law relent. Of course, Lois refused= to admit she'd been persuaded by this thought, preferring to excuse her change of heart for considerations of keeping up appearances'. Zara, however, wasn't fooled. She knew that the First Lady wouldn't give a hoo= t for appearances' if Lois felt herself to be completely in the right. This much was true, but Lois still considered herself to be the much= maligned victim' in her wrangle with Kal and in some degree with the council that had backed his decree. Therefore, it was a steely-eyed, sti= ff and silent lady who emerged from the royal transporter as dusk fell early= in the autumn evening. Since his angry exit, she had not seen Kal again during this eternal= ly long day. From all accounts, Kal had left the castle soon after his visi= t to the apartment and had remained with his troops for the rest of the day= . = He had not even tried to reach her with his thoughts and, though she kidd= ed herself that she would have ignored any such attempts, this too had hurt more than she ever thought possible. So this was the other side of the coin to love... this empty, aching= feeling... this knowledge that everything in her life was less clear, les= s comforting and, most of all, so dreadfully lonely. Where was her friend = to share a tantalising tease, or to brighten her day with a word of encouragement... or even to chivvy her with a barbed and witty remark. S= he would give anything for the return of his camaraderie. And more; she wou= ld give her soul to feel the strength of his arms around her, caring for her... loving her. To lose herself in the depths of his solicitous gaze and receive the complete understanding that she had found no where else i= n this universe. And yet, the Kal she thought she knew didn't exist in this distant, courtly leader that stood on the dias of the space port, awaiting the delegation from Elvar who had come to say goodbye. This Kal had certainl= y not understood her need to travel to Earth. How could she have been so wrong about someone? She'd believed that she'd learnt everything there w= as to know about her husband and yet this stranger was an enigma to her. Ha= d love blinded her to his faults? = Yet the greatest problem was that she still loved him. Despite her anger and her pain, she couldn't stop her traitorous heart from leaping = at the sight of him; or rein in the desire to cast herself into his arms and= plead with him to forget all that had happened during this last disastrou= s day. So spake her heart... but her head refused to yield, and so she woul= d do none of these things. Lois would play her part to the hilt. The Firs= t Lady of Krypton would be the epitome of a regal consort, and no one would= recognise the struggle that was taking place deep within her soul. Except, mayhap, Kal who felt the echo of her torment. Yet, just as his wife, he saw no way through this maze of misunderstanding. As he watched Lois come towards him in this vast tomblike place, he too longed = to take her in his arms and kiss away the hurt that was held frozen in her beautiful face, to banish the tears that no longer flowed from her eyes b= ut were hidden in the secret places of her heart. Kal knew all those thing= s because he felt them too. But to soothe away her doubts and cares, Kal would have to renounce his decision to leave her behind, safe and well on Krypton, and he just wasn't prepared to do that. Where he was going was a place of danger and= , perhaps, death. Even though he understood, and was proud that Lois would= wish to journey to be with her people in their hour of need, he couldn't sanction her request. Hopefully, given time, Lois would see that he'd be= en right. If only it didn't hurt so much to say goodbye in this public and impersonal way. He'd been a fool, he should have abandoned his pride and visited Loi= s to take his leave, whether she would have listened or not. But there was= no time for regrets, heartfelt though they were. Lois and his family wer= e mounting the dias to stand before him. = "My Lady," Kal offered his clasped hands to Lois and was thankful th= at she didn't seek to ignore them. Did her hands tremble in his? Kal held = on a little tighter to still her shaking grasp and was thankful that she didn't pull away. He found he had to steady his breathing before he coul= d speak. "Lois, please trust me. I will do all that I can to save your world. Rad-Nor will not be allowed to destroy Earth. You have my promise!" Lois had been looking at some point on Kal's chest; at the rise and fall of the bold shield that emblazoned his uniform. Was his heart beati= ng too quickly? She was aware of the tumultuous racing of her own. Afraid that, if she looked into hi= s eyes, her hard won composure would crumble, Lois kept her gaze level. "I= 'm sure that you'll do everything in your power to bring Nor to justice." H= er voice was little more than a whispered monotone and it cut her husband to= the quick. Kal willed her. Of their own violation, Lois' eyes flew to his and their gazes locke= d. Wounded pride warred with fear and loneliness and abject longing. Kal's= large hand lifted to cup Lois' cheek and the pad of his thumb brushed a sole tear that had escaped from the damn of her determined will. For a moment neither trusted their voices. Kal was the first to regain the pow= er of speech and the sense that they were being watched closely by all those= around them. "I love you, Lois." His voice was husky with suppressed desire and his ardent gaze echoed his words. She had to believe him! "I know!" Came the quietly spoken reply, yet the thought that followed, reached him. A quick intake of breath and a tightening of the lips was the only indication that the First Lord gave that she had wounded him. Even now, when they could possibly be taking leave of each other for all time... ev= en now, she could not leave her slights alone. Then the cool, remote ruler returned and his hands loosened about he= r own. "Take care, My Lady.... And take care of our little one." At that= , Kal surprised himself by letting his hand stray to caress the child, cradled within Lois' body. It was a familiar gesture to both of them, bu= t one that at the moment felt very daring. And yet again, she didn't move away. Her voice too was more friendly when she answered. "You know I will! I love him too!" Lightly her hand covered his on= her stomach... but the touch burned and both quickly drew away. "Take care, Kal, and come back safely." Lois stood achingly still as a chaste kiss was dropped on her lips, then with some relief, she stepped aside to allow his family and friends = to say goodbye. When the First Couple broke apart, the cue was given to the= rest of the visitors to say farewell to their own loved ones. This mobilisation for battle was a new, albeit an unwished for, experience for= this younger generation of Kryptonians and there were many tears shed in the great space port. As Lady Lois-El, standing in solitude in this sea = of people, gazed around her, she recognised that even in this supposedly formal society, emotions were running deep. War had a way of freeing pent-up sentiments.... Only why couldn't it do that for her and Kal? Absentmindedly, Lois watched as Zara hugged her brother. There was one case in point. Both siblings were much more open with their feelings= , and it warmed Lois' frozen heart, at least a little, to know that she had= some influence over their interaction. Zara was whispering into Kal's ea= r and the lost First Lady was intrigued, despite her preoccupation with her= own pain. She walked closer to eavesdrop. "Come back safely, Kal." "I will try, Zara," Kal's voice broke on a weak laugh, then he lower= ed his voice. "And don't worry about Ching. I'll make sure he's kept out o= f the firing line. Once injured is enough." The fact that Ching was Kal's bodyguard meant that this promise woul= d be a difficult one to keep. Zara, knew enough about her brother to reali= se that he would not send his men into battle while he remained in the background. And wherever Kal went, Ching would be close by to protect hi= m. Zara didn't doubt that for a moment. "Ching, I'm sure will have something to say about that, Kal. Just look out for each other and come back to us." Zara smiled mistily throug= h her tears. "And try not to worry about Lois and the baby. We'll all tak= e good care of them." Zara stretched on her tiptoes to reach his ear; this= was for Kal alone. "She loves you still... she's just a little mixed up and a lot hurt. This whole thing with Nor attacking Earth is very hard f= or her." "I know, Zara!" Kal pressed a kiss to his sister's cheek, extremely= grateful for her loving assurances. "I know!" Then Kal turned to his parents. Once more he offered his mother his= clasped hands, only this time she used them to pull him to her and hugged= him hard. On this occasion, neither was Lara concerned by stuffy protoco= l. This was her son, and he was going to war.... She would not let him go without one last touch of his mother's love. Lara spoke no words, but he= r thoughts carried to Kal and he returned them with a hushed. "Oh Mama, I'= ve made such a mess of things...." = He hadn't spoken in quite that tone of voice for many a long year an= d Lara didn't need to ask which things he meant. "No, my son, you did what= you thought was best... what we all thought was best. Lois will come to see that. I'll talk to her.... This can be mended." And she stepped ba= ck and smiled encouragingly upon him, as her hand strayed to push back his errant lock of hair... just as she had done when he was a little boy and = in need of her comfort. "Be well, Kal." = The moment was over and she gave way to Jor, who was standing by her elbow. The slender, quiet Jor-El gazed at his strong son through a haze = of tears, but he wouldn't let them fall. Jor refused to contemplate that Ka= l would not return. Raising his hands to Kal's broad shoulders he spoke wi= th his usual calming kindness. "I'm so very proud of you, my boy.... Soon you'll be a father and you'll know how good it feels to be proud of your son." The elderly man gave one of his rare, beaming smiles which faded a= s the realisation came to him that there was a faint chance that Kal would never see his child, but he wouldn't think of that. This was a time for positive thinking and Jor steadied himself. "You're the best son I could= ever have. The futures of Krypton and Earth are safe in your hands. Com= e home to us whenever you can, and know that your family will be safe here waiting for you." "Thank you, Father. Take care of my child until I get back... and Lois...." But here words failed Kal and, understanding, Jor nodded silently. With a last squeeze of Kal's shoulders, he went to be with hi= s wife. The line of solemn-faced councillors waited and Kal went to take his= leave of them, though his torn heart wasn't really in this, but with the forlorn girl who stood alone in the centre of the dias. Only with a sens= e of great relief, Kal realised that Lois was no longer on her own. His parents had taken station on either side of her and the ever faithful Gellis had found her way to her friend and mistress. The young lady-in-waiting had said goodbye to her father and brother in a hololink earlier in the day and now hovered, like a mother hen with her chick, in the background. Lois was with people who cared for her. = This goodbye ceremony was growing tedious... but he could do this. = Kal forced his concentration away from his ambivalent and troubled though= ts of his wife, focussing on the men before him. Many of these lords had become his supporters and a few had, indeed, become his true friends. Th= ey deserved his full attention. = The farewells continued and Zara, with great daring, went to Ching w= ho was standing at the foot of the steps leading to the platform. She remembered him telling her that he was bound for his home, directly after= he left her in the castle, to say goodbye to his widowed mother and elder= brother. Strange how she knew very little of Ching's family; she had met= them on a couple of military occasions but they didn't move in the same circles as the court. His father had been a high-ranking officer who had been killed while= on active duty, commander of a reconnaissance mission to a neighbouring galaxy which had unfortunately run into a great solar storm and tragicall= y perished. It had been partly due to this circumstance that Ching had bee= n picked as Kal's companion and future bodyguard; to show the First Lord's and his council's appreciation of the family's sacrifice and to remove th= e financial responsibility for the boy's care and tuition from the grieving= widow. But, although, the youngest son of the family became a member of the royal household, that didn't give the others an entry into the hallow= ed precincts of the castle and the community of nobles. For the first time = in her life, Zara began to really appreciate the unfairness of the Kryptonia= n class-bound society and, also for the first time, she pledged herself to actively helping Lois and Kal to change Krypton's ancient ways. And, in one small way, she would start right now. Coming to stand i= n front of Ching, she raised her clasped hands while giving him a secret smile. "Major Ching, I couldn't allow you to leave on such dangerous a mission without wishing you zorspeed." = Her clear young voice echoed loudly in Ching's ears... too loudly, a= s in a daze he took the proffered hands. "Thank you, Lady Zara-El," the flustered young man replied just as loudly, while his eyes asked plaintively what she thought she was doing. "Don't worry so!" Zara's voice dropped to a whisper. "Everyone is too busy to pay us much heed." But she was not foolish enough to put the= ir fragile connection in jeopardy, and, when she spoke again, it was in norm= al tones. "I trust you with my brother's life. Take good care of him for us...." And yourself, said her eyes. Zara couldn't trust herself with more and, spritely ascending the steps, she joined her family. Finally, the last dutiful goodbye was made. Without any formal announcement, those who had come to witness the fleet's departure and had= spread out amongst the ranks of gleaming craft to say private farewells, began filtering back to the lobby of the spaceport. The general movement= went slowly at first, but in ever increasing numbers the citizens left their relatives while the uniformed troops began to make their way to the= ir various ships. Most were young, and eager to be off to do their duty in this great adventure'. They were Kryptonians; proud to carry their code = of honour, truth and justice to the far reaches of their galaxy. Only the older soldiers amongst them recognised that the rightness of their cause wouldn't save all of them from injury and death. War was an evil state, and one which, thankfully, Krypton had been free of for many generations.= = Hopefully, the mission to save Earth would be carried out with speed and efficiency, and, with the more poignant hope, that few of these young liv= es would be lost. = The appointed time had arrived and Lord Kal-El placed himself at the= head of his officers who had gathered by the platform, and began the marc= h to his battleship. At the ramp, he ushered his group inside and turned t= o survey those he'd left behind.... Lois! She stood as tall and proud as her swollen body would allow and never had she looked more beautiful to him. She was trying so hard to be the brave First Lady that she believed= her adopted people wanted her to be, and he wouldn't burden her with his thoughts. And yet, one sentence escaped and went winging its way down th= e path to the podium, to the keeper of all his dreams. " Then he disappeared inside and without a sound the ramp closed. = One-by-one the serried spacecraft lifted into the air, the faint hum of engine noise becoming a well-honed chorus. In a line they hovered toward= the open end of the great hanger and took off, vertically, into the descending darkness of the Kryptonian night. The great flagship... Kal's= ship, was the last to depart. A dreary sadness reigned over the onlooker= s in the now empty port, until, with nothing left to stay for, the people turned to go. "It's over!" Lois gasped as she felt her heart falter and her knees= began to shudder, but a comforting arm came round her shoulders, keeping her upright, and yet another's hand covered her shaking ones. Kal's parents were with her. "Courage, Lois!" Jor said in her ear while Lara's thought echoed inside her head. Lois could no longer ignore the terror th= at had been hovering on the edge of her conscious thoughts but, which, until= now, she'd been stubbornly ignoring. There it was again.... Lois couldn't keep the vexation from her thoughts. "Oh, Lara, what have I done? Letting Kal leave without telling him how much I love him." Lois was so distressed that she reverted to speech= and Lara answered her in the same way. "Kal knows, Lois! He knows!" ***** tbc in Part 32 ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2001 05:58:42 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: John Debbage <106532.433@COMPUSERVE.COM> Subject: Universal Union Book3/Part29 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Title: Universal Union Book3/Part 29 Author: Jenni Debbage Rating: PG-13 Comments: Sorry this is a little later in the week than usual, but it ha= s taken me a couple of days to catch up on things since I came home. You probably didn't miss UU3 anyway. I hope you enjoy this chapter. I'm = an a-plot writer and, perhaps, not quite so good with the emotional passages= . = As always, I would welcome your opinions. :)) ~~~~~~~~~~ Chapter Thirteen Forgotten Promises As soon as the connection with Earth had been closed, Kal made his apologies to Lois and, with Ching at his side, had hurried off to Elvar's= spaceport to oversee the arrangements for mustering the fleet. It had be= en agreed that the two main exit points would be from Elvar and Veren, and that the two battle squadrons would rendezvous once they'd cleared Krypton's atmosphere. From there, they would travel at the fastest speed= s possible to reach Earth, hoping that Nor and his forces would not wreak t= oo much destruction on Lois' home planet in the interim. = Watching her husband go, Lois had felt somewhat left out of the loop= . = However, she did appreciate that her condition made her cumbersome, and = a busy space terminal, where technicians were readying ships for flight and= where troops were massing to embark for war, was not the best place for h= er to be. Besides, she had preparations of her own to make, but in that too= she was frustrated. Trey had asked for her assistance in updating the Federation members on the current state of the invasion. She had been flattered but she'd also been a little put out and, if she was honest wit= h herself, she was feeling very weary. A short nap wouldn't go amiss and Lois found herself more than a little exasperated with her pregnant state= . = There was no time to be tired. Kal would return soon and she didn't want= to be a hindrance. This, however, proved to be a slight miscalculation on her part. Lo= is had time for a long nap, and dined with her lady-in-waiting, bodyguard an= d the rest of the family, all without the company of her husband. He had sent a message, shortly before the dining hour, to warn her that he would= eat at the spaceport while he and his commanders attempted to add details= to the bare skeletal plan of the rescue mission. Lois tried hard not to feel excluded but it just wasn't working. At= the dining table she'd made an attempt to join in the conversation withou= t success. Small talk just didn't interest her while her head was filled with horrifying pictures of death and destruction. She understood that t= he El family were doing their best to distract her but, truthfully, Lois didn't want to be diverted. Her home planet was under attack and all she= wanted was to be there with them. Even before the last course was served, Lois excused herself and, telling Gellis to stay behind, she sped to the solitude of her bedchamber= . = Once in the corridors, she sensed another presence and glancing behind sh= e caught sight of her familiar shadow. In the shaded light of the passagew= ay her bodyguard's face looked strangely blank and enigmatic. Part of her mind recognised that Poli probably felt as excluded as she but, at presen= t, she just didn't have the energy to give it much thought.. Gratefully, Lo= is reached the sanctuary of her room and throwing herself across the bed, sh= e indulged in a much needed bout of weeping. She'd never cried so much wh= en she hadn't been pregnant and, normally, she didn't approve of wallowing i= n tears but tonight, somehow, the sobs wouldn't stop. = she remonstrated with herself. Herself, though= just wasn't cooperating. Dashing a hand across her wet cheeks, she climb= ed clumsily off the bed and, ignoring her snivelling, she hurried, as best a= s her pregnant body would allow, into her closet. There was a trunk in her= e, somewhere, and after a haphazard search she finally found it. It wasn't easy, due to her bulk, to drag the thing from its hiding place into the bedroom and onto the platform at the foot of the bed. If only she knew how to work that matrix thingy! But then again, perhaps trunks, not being permanent pieces of furniture, weren't programmed into the castle's matrix. Now that she came to think about it, perhaps nothin= g in the castle was incorporated into matrixes. She certainly couldn't remember seeing things appearing and disappearing here. So maybe that meant that only occurred in newer or temporary structures. = Having managed to open the heavy lid, Lois hastened back into her closet and began selecting suitable attire for visiting a planet that was= engaged in a struggle for its very existence. Her sobs had subsided to sporadic gulps and sniffs which she ignored stoically and, so intent was she on her task, she didn't notice the door opening or see a discomfited Kal come into the room. "Lois, what are you doing?" Kal's gaze took in the piles of clothin= g that lay strewn over the bed and on various pieces of furniture. Lois halted mid-stride on her way to the trunk with yet some more clothes. She smiled sadly through her messy tears. "Oh there you are, Kal. I didn't see you come in," she whispered huskily and hiccuped. Kal walked forward slowly, taking in the clutter around him. "Lois,= what's all this?" His hands lifted wearily at the jumble. It had been a= gruelling day and his tired mind couldn't assimilate why his chamber shou= ld look like the garage-sales he'd heard about on Earth. It might be that Lois had attempted to take her mind off Earth's plight by clearing out he= r wardrobe. Or, maybe, it was that nesting thing that seemingly happened t= o women in their latter stages of pregnancy. If that was the case, his bab= y would be nestled in very expensive and totally unsuitable swaddling clothes. Yet, his weary brain refused to tackle that particular, if somewhat puzzling, subject. He tried a different tack. "What are you doing here, honey? I thought I'd find you at the apartment." "Well, I did think of it," Lois stated earnestly, her earlier depression superceded by her galvanisation into action. "But the clothes= I keep there are mostly casual and I figured, if I'm going to Earth as the First Lady of Krypton, the council will expect me to dress accordingly, though I shall probably put in a couple of Earth outfits." "Excuse me?!" Kal's brows drew together in a frown. "Close your mouth, Kal, and don't look so dumbfounded," Lois advised= , starting to go through her latest acquisitions from her cupboard. "You'r= e not usually so slow, Kal. I'm packing!" "Packing!" "Yes! And you shouldn't hang about either... or has your valet already packed for you. I must admit I haven't seen him but then he migh= t have packed while I was at dinner... and I haven't checked your closet. = I've been too busy deciding what to take.... I mean, I know I have to lo= ok like a First Lady but I don't want to put the people of Earth off.... Wh= at do you think?" Lois held up a silk dress before her. "Too grand?! What= am I saying?! You've got much more important things to think about than = my outfits! I have much more important things to think about than what I'm going to wear!" Lois sank onto the bed amid the silks and satins. "Is there any news?" = "Jace is monitoring the situation, and it seems that President West has taken our advice. He's asked for a meeting with Nor but so far he's had no reply. I would imagine that Nor is displaying his power before he= comes to the council table." Kal sat down beside Lois and gently removed= the garment that she was pleating between agitated fingers. It was one o= f her favourite dresses and she'd be upset if it was ruined.... Strange ho= w these silly inconsequential thoughts overtook his befuddled brain in moments of stress. He just didn't want to face up to what he had to do next. "I'm so sorry, Lois." "You have nothing to be sorry for," Lois quickly assured, her hand curling round Kal's. "All that stuff you mentioned in the council chamber... about being responsible for Nor's attack on Earth because you asked me to marry you, is just not so. You couldn't have known what Nor would do." "Well, that's not what I was apologising for, but I do feel responsible." "That's because you're a kind and caring individual and I love you s= o much for that. But now we must hurry! We don't want to keep the fleet from flying. The sooner we leave, the sooner we can deal with Nor." Loi= s attempted to rise but found that she was detained by Kal who was still clinging to her hands. "Kal!" Her tone was becoming impatient. "We don= 't have time to indulge your obsessing!" "Lois! I'm not obsessing... well, maybe a little." Once more she tried to stand and again he stopped her. "Lois, please listen to me!" H= is intensity gained her attention and she turned to watch his lovely, yet unusually guarded eyes. "Sweetheart, you're not going!" "Pardon!" "Lois, you must understand! You're about to give birth! It's just too risky!" Lois' blank stare reflected Kal's worried one. A few words... with just a few little words, Lois' dream of partnership came tumbling down. = "I'm not going? To Earth, you mean?" "Yes! And no! We decided that it would be safer for you to stay on= Krypton." "We! Who is we?" "Well, me... and the council." Lois jumped up as quickly as her swollen body would allow and this time Kal let her go. "But this is my home that's under attack.... I should be there!" "I know how you feel, honey, and under different circumstances I mig= ht agree to take you with me. But we're going into a battle zone and I just= couldn't focus on my job if I were constantly worrying about how you were= doing. You must see that, Lois. I couldn't bear it if I lost you or the= baby." Lois rounded on him, a little whirlwind in action. "No, you don't know how I feel! These are my people who are being killed!" She stood i= n the centre of the room, her hands clenched and never had he seen her so defiant. "And you expect me to stay here in comfort and luxury while on Earth my people are suffering. You can't expect that of me!" "But I do, Lois... for the sake of our baby." Kal softened his tone= , hoping to reach her with thoughts of the child who would very soon join them. "The baby! The precious heir! That's what this is all about! Neve= r mind how I feel! Let's just be certain that our next First Lord is safe!= " "Lois! That's not true!" Kal too bounded to his feet. "You know that you're just as important to me as any child we might have. But yes,= I am concerned about the safety of our baby.... I don't see what's wrong i= n that! I don't see what's wrong about wishing to keep you and our child o= ut of a war. But even if I did agree to your going, the council would never= sanction it!" = = "Oh, don't pass the buck! You could overrule the council!" Lois to= ok a couple of steps towards him. "In fact, that's just what you should do!= = Tell them you want me with you!" "I can't, Lois!" "Can't what?" "Overrule the council!" Desperation was creeping through Kal's soul= . "Now I know that's not so!" Lois crossed her arms and rested them with some difficulty on top of her protruding bump. "I've been reading u= p on Kryptonian law and it seems that the First Lord can overrule his counc= il in personal matters." "Under certain circumstances, yes!" "Under these circumstances!" "No! This situation doesn't apply! That was only put in to make su= re that the First Lord could have the final word on his domestic situation. = If I remember correctly, it had something to do with some long-ago ancest= or of mine wishing to divorce a lady of high rank. It was even before the civil war, when the ruler married into the aristocracy. The lady in question came from an important family and the council didn't approve of the divorce. It seemed, though, that the First Lord's passion for a much= younger lady was stronger, and he forced through the legislation. First Lords were more absolute rulers back then. It's one of these old laws tha= t people have almost forgotten but, as you see, there are no similarities."= = Kal had rushed through the explanation almost frantically. But he wouldn= 't hide behind a lie. "Though I expect I could use it if I thought fit." = Lois held her breath as Kal watched her; his dark gaze beseeching her to understand. "Only, in this case, I agree with their decision. I can't condone your journey to Earth." "Kal!" Lois' hands fell to her sides. "Lois! You're only three weeks away from giving birth. You can't want to give birth in the middle of a battle!" "But it wouldn't come to that! I could stay on your spacecruiser...= well back from the fighting." "Lois, there's no place that can be guaranteed safe in a battle zone= !" "Kal, this is something I need to do! Just as you told the council that you needed to be there with your troops. Surely you understand!" Kal remained implacable, his face taking on a shuttered look. "No, Lois! What I understand is that I have a job to do... just as you have your own job to fulfil... giving birth to our child in safety." The two combatants stared at each other across a wider space than th= e physical one between them. How ever could it have come to this? Each isolated in their own unswerving opinions. Lois was the first to break t= he silence but not the deadlock. "Fine! Fine! You go off and do whatever your testosterone induced state of mind tells you to, and I'll just stay here at home and play the part of the little woman to the hilt!" "Lois! It's not like that!" "Well, that's the way it appears to me, and you are an 'absolute' ruler... you can do whatever you think is best and I'll just have to go along with it. But get this, Kal, I don't have to like it! Now go! And= let me put all this stuff back in the cupboard because, obviously, I won'= t be needing it!" Lois grabbed blindly for the pile of dresses on the bed and stumped off towards the closet once more. Only this time she slammed the door an= d hurried through the adjoining portal to the bathroom, thinking the locks shut as she went. The tears from earlier returned in full force and this= time were accompanied by her heart breaking. Outside, Kal debated unlocking the doors and following his wife. He= hated seeing her in such a sad state but would his presence help her? = There was no way that he could agree to her request and he understood his= Lois well enough to know that only a complete about turn by him would appease her, and he just wasn't prepared to do that. This time, he was i= n the right and no amount of arguing or tears would change his mind. From the beginning, he had known that Lois wouldn't be happy with his stipulation, but he had hoped that she would come to see the wisdom of hi= s decision. Perhaps, if he gave her time to reflect.... Kal left the roo= m with a heavy heart. One thing Lois was right about... he did need to pac= k! ***** tbc in part 30 = ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2001 06:00:05 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: John Debbage <106532.433@COMPUSERVE.COM> Subject: Re: Alien Gift (2/?) Revised MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Hi Bethy, s p o i l e r s p a c e Since I've been away for a few days, I'm just catching up on new stories and sending fdk. I like the way you've started this story. You've certainly caught my interest. Who is this girl? Where does she come from and why was she dumped here? And did whoever it was that abandoned her know that Lois an= d Clark were in the vicinity? Lots of questions to be answered and I'm looking forward to finding out how this story unfolds. = I love you're interpretation of Bernie and I'm glad that he's in on the secret. I also like the way you've mixed drama with lighter moments, a b= it like real life.:)) I look forward to more of this story, Bethy. Yours Jenni ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2001 06:06:18 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: John Debbage <106532.433@COMPUSERVE.COM> Subject: Re: Exodus II MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Hi Adam, I'd say keep posting. I'm not reading your story at the moment, but you and I have talked of this before. People don't seem to comment on storie= s posted on this list much these days, but I wouldn't say that it follows that no one is reading it. I know I will, just as soon as I finish with my tale of Krypton and I'll send fdk then too. Yours Jenni ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2001 11:07:54 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Carol L Moncado Subject: Re: Universal Union Book3/Part31 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Jen - so glad to see this! The only thing that kept me from bawling is that my husband is home from work and would think that I am nuts, but I couldn't keep a few tears from falling. May be because I'm pregnant too. I missed this last week when you were gone! More soon! CM ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2001 10:43:37 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Carol L Moncado Subject: Re: Exodus II MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Adam - I haven't read Exodus I, so I have been waiting for a chance to do that. I am saving these posts for when I have a chance. CM On Tue, 12 Jun 2001 22:13:36 -0500 Adam Labotka writes: > well I'm just writing this e-mail because no one has been commenting > on my fic, Exodus II: Earthbound here and I'm wondering if I should > stop posting it here, since everyone who wnats to read it is reading > it on zoom's boards. I know there's less feedback here but I > normally see some for the other fics posted here so I feel I'm just > spamming people with my fic. I don't want to add to peoples mail > volume for no reason so just let me know. ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2001 10:42:42 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Carol L Moncado Subject: Re: OT: Listmom, need help... MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I wish I could help you, but I can't - but I am VERY glad to see you back! I even checked my "Hi welcome to the list email and it told me how to put it on DIGEST, but not how to take it off. CM (who hopes someone else can help melisma so her rock doesn't end up in little bits after being beating in frustration!) On Tue, 12 Jun 2001 22:16:42 -0700 Melisma writes: > I'm so sorry to send this to the list in general, but I can't find > your > address. I've been on digest for the last couple weeks, and now I > want to > go back to regular mail. I went to the listserv archive and tried to > change > it there, but they won't let me - either that or I'm doing it wrong. > Is > there any way that I could impose on you to fix my settings, or > failing > that, help me figure out what I'm doing wrong? Thanks a gazillion! > > Melisma (getting frustrated under her Rock) > > > > Visit my rock at http://www.intergate.ca/personal/melisma/index.html ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2001 11:09:00 -0600 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Erin Klingler Subject: Re: OT: Listmom, need help... In-Reply-To: <20010613.110758.-204359.1.cmoncado@juno.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Melisma, Did a bit of legwork, and found that if you go to the list archives, there's an option of 'join or leave list, or change subscriptions settings,' or something to that effect. The url to make those changes is: http://listserv.indiana.edu/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=loiscla-general-l&A=1 I browsed briefly down through the choices, and it seems that you'd be able to do what you looking to do through there. Goodluck! :) Erin __________________ erink@ida.net erink@lcfanfic.com Visit my LNC/Kerth Website: www.ida.net/users/davek ***** "It's not the years that count, it's the moments...right now, as they happen." __________________ ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2001 12:26:40 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Wendy Richards Subject: HOW TO CHANGE YOUR LIST SETTINGS For Melisma, and anyone else wondering... If you want to do anything with your list settings by *email*, you need to send the message to the listserv, and not the list. The listserv address is here: listserv@listserv.indiana.edu To go from Digest back to Mail, simply send a message saying Set Loiscla- General-L MAIL (just as, if you want to go on Digest, your message would say Set Loiscla-General-L DIGEST). Answers to this, and most other questions related to the operation of this list, can be found at the listserv FAQ which Kathy and I wrote last year, and which is housed on the Fanfic Archive website. To go directly to the FAQ, go here: http://www.lcfanfic.com/faq_listserv.html Wendy ------------ Wendy Richards wendy@lcfanfic.com ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2001 17:59:51 -0000 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Bethy Em Subject: Alien Gift (3/?) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed This will answer a few questions. I think. :p Just to let you know, I’m leaving in, oh, about ten minutes to visit relatives in California. I’ll be there for a little over three weeks. I know that most of them have internet access, but I don’t know how often I’ll be able to access the boards/e-mail. So, I probably won’t be commenting much, and I don’t know if I’ll be able to stay on schedule with these posts. On the other hand, I should have some time to get some more writing in. ;) Bethy Previously: Pain. Pain so great it was coming out of her ears. She tried to move, but it hurt. She tried to open her eyes, but it hurt. She tried to breathe, but it hurt. What didn't hurt? She couldn't tell anymore. There was no longer any difference between consciousness and pain. With one came the other. The only relief came when she (mercifully) passed out. Which was where she *was,* but now there was this annoying sound intruding on her relatively painless peace. G'way. She wanted to get rid of the noise, but it just wouldn't go away, and she couldn't make herself actually *do* anything about it. * * * Part Three: How exactly was he supposed to wake this girl up? With Lois, he usually called her name or shook her a little, but neither of those were options here -- he didn't have name to call and he was afraid that shaking would cause her unnecessary pain. Seeing her lying there, not moving at all, he had a sudden urge to wake the sleeping beauty with a kiss. He ran his hand through his hair and it came to him. Sing! He remembered his early years, before he had places to be at certain times, and before he had the responsibility to get where he needed to go, his mother would come in and play music to wake him up. It was always a pleasant way to greet the day. With no music easily accessible, the next best bet was a live performance. Unfortunately, at this highly inopportune moment, all song lyrics immediately flew from his mind. Finally he thought of the one tune every American child knows by heart by the time they reach age two. "Happy Birthday to you; Happy Birthday to you; Happy Birthday to...(lo-o-ong pause. What was he supposed to put here? He had no name! Umm...well, just keep going), Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday to you." But, with little other choice, he kept going. Wait! Was that a twitch? Yes! Encouraged by the slight movement, he continued singing. "Happy Birthday to you; Happy Birthday to you; Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday (), Happy Birthday to you." {Elsha} What was that? It almost felt like...no. It couldn't be...could it? He reached out tentatively with his mind. {Elsha?} {My name. It's Elsha.} He didn't know how he could understand her, but he could. It wasn't the same as speech -- he wasn't 'hearing' words in his mind...It was more of a sense. Like a flash of intuition, he *knew* her name was Elsha. Her eyes slowly opened and she gazed at him sagely, fully awake and without fear. Somehow he knew he was right. She was telepathic, and she had just told him her name. He felt a hesitant touch in his mind and realized she was trying to continue. Unsure of how to properly respond, he chose to try and calm his mind and pictured doors opening, inviting her to enter. It seems she had sensed his confusion over his understanding of her name, and so she sent a 'picture' of what it looked like in the printed form of her language. It didn't exactly resemble the English alphabet, the closest connection he could get was Gopkweh. {All that is simply said, "Elsha"? Wow. Well, I'm pleased to meet you, Elsha. Can you tell me how you're feeling?} Calming a little from the exhilaration of this previously untried method of communication, he remembered what he was supposed to be doing. {I...hurt.} Startled eyes flew towards the doorway. Superman followed her gaze, only to hear Dr. Klein's soft call. "Superman?" He could feel Elsha's question. {That's my name: Superman. And that's how we communicate, out loud. I mean verbally. Do you know how to speak?} She gave him a withering glance with those startling green eyes. He was struck by how alien and yet how human they seemed at the same time. Without bothering with words, either spoken or thought, she communicated her opinion of the intelligence of that question. {Hey, give me a break! I literally know nothing about you and your culture!} He smiled to ease the impact of his words, then wondered if her people smiled, and if they did, if it meant the same thing as it did to humans. {Yes.} Huh? {Oh, sorry. Can you 'hear' my thoughts, even when I'm not directing them to you?} {Yes. I can block them if I want, and if you knew how you could block from me, but...I don't know how to explain. I'm tired, can I sleep now?} "Superman?" Dr. Klein's voice invaded again. Superman noticed Elsha's wince at the sound. He wasn't sure if she was that sensitive to sound, or if it was a result of her already painful head injury. {I'm sorry, Elsha, I need to ask Dr. Klein, I'll be right back.} Striding over to the door, he tried to block his thoughts to protect Elsha. He didn't know if it would work, but since 'opening doors' seemed to have (or, at least, it hadn’t hurt), this time he imagined a brick wall around his mind, keeping his thoughts within it. "She's awake, Dr. Klein, and lucid. Is it okay if she goes back to sleep now?" "But how do you know she's lucid? I didn't hear anything. Can she speak? Does she understand English?" Dr. Klein's fear of interpersonal relations was overshadowed by his interest in the scientific unknown. "I'll explain in a minute, but basically she's telepathic. Now, can she sleep?" "Oh, well, yes, I guess that would be fine. If she's really lucid, we can probably let her sleep for a few hours, but I don't think we should go any longer than that. Just in case, you know?" "Sure," Superman responded with a slight smile. "I'll let her know, and then I'll be right out, okay?" "Fine, fine." * * * After Superman had explained, as best he could, the updated situation to Dr. Klein, he pleaded an emergency to be able to leave. "But wait! What am I supposed to do with her? I don't know anything about kids!" Dr. Klein's terror-filled expression amused Superman, but he didn't let it show. "After all, you're the one who found her," he finished, almost petulantly. Without knowing it, Dr. Klein had given Superman a way out. He'd wondered how he was going to transfer the situation to Lois and Clark, seeing as how they were much better equipped to deal with investigation, authorities, taking care of Elsha, etc. "Actually, I didn't," he replied. "Lois and Clark Lane found her while on vacation, and they called for me to bring her to you. They knew that you helped me with my medical needs, and thought that you'd be the best at dealing with extra-terrestrial life forms. So, since they discovered her, why don't we let them decide what to do next?" Placated by the compliment (and the knowledge that he wouldn't have to make any decisions regarding Elsha), Dr. Klein quickly agreed. "Can you get them now? I'm sure they're wondering what's going on, since they found her and haven't heard anything since they called you, and they're probably getting worried. I know it's still early, but I bet they couldn't sleep after finding her, I know I wouldn't be able to, so we really shouldn't keep them in suspense. Unless your emergency can't wait?" "I'm sure I have time to bring Lois and Clark here. You don't mind if I bring them here, do you?" he teased the scientist. Unfortunately, Dr. Klein didn't catch on. "Oh, no, of course not. I mean, it wouldn't do any good to bring them to StarLabs, now would it? Seeing as how Elsha is here, not there and...I'm sure you know what I mean. I'll, uh, I'll just wait right here, okay?" Nodding his assent, Superman took off and left Dr. Klein, who really had a good heart despite his frazzled demeanor, standing worriedly in the doorway. * * * Under the covers of the comfortable motel bed, Lois resolved to stay awake until Clark returned. She tried to keep her mind busy, but she kept jumping from topic to topic and couldn't focus at all. After unsuccessfully trying every available channel, Lois finally settled on the music videos. Complemented by the softly beating rain that had started only a few minutes after she came in, music videos were at least toler a b l e. Unconscious before she hit the pillow, Lois's last thought was of disappointment that she wasn't going to find out the name of that darn song. After an unknown stretch of time, she became aware of a soft voice calling her name. "Lois? Lois, c'mon honey, you've gotta wake up." "I'm up, I'm up," she grumbled. Suddenly she shot up. "Clark! You're back! Oh, how did it go? Did you find Dr. Klein? Is the girl okay? What time is it? 8 o'clock? Where have you been all this time?" "Fine, yes, yes, you already know and busy with doctor duties." Lois glared at him with narrowed eyes. "You know I hate it when you do that." At his grinning nod, she grudgingly gave up the issue in favor of important information. "So, tell me everything." "Well, all we have time for is the Cliff's Notes version, because I told Dr. Klein I'd be back with Lois and Clark as soon as I could, plus he thinks I have an emergency to go to as soon as I deliver you...us...whatever. Basically, we fixed her up as well as we could and now all we can do is wait and keep her comfortable. Her name is Elsha, she's telepathic, and Dr. Klein was really nervous about being alone with her, so you need to get dressed now." "She's telepathic? Does it work with everybody or are you special because you're a Kryptonian? How does it work?" Lois's eyes widened as Clark gently covered her mouth with his hand. "I don't know any details and I'll answer any questions that I can on our way. Now get dressed." Thoroughly chastened (for the moment, at least) Lois complied. * * * When they arrived, Lois and Clark found the Klein Hacienda in a state of chaos. As soon as they had landed and 'called' their goodbyes 'to Superman,' Klein came rushing out. If he'd had any hair to pull, he would be doing it. Instead, he settled for clasping his hands together, taking out his frustration through that simple method of force. Despite his earlier plans to 'change,' he still had bare feet and his shirt was buttoned lopsidedly. Through the open front door, Clark could hear a soft, steady keening noise. He quickly scanned the house, only to see Elsha curled up in as tight a ball as her injuries would let her, rocking back and forth in the appearance of immense pain. "Oh, good! You're here." Dr. Klein breathed a sigh of relief. "You've got to help me! She woke up at about 8:30 and I don't know what to do!" If he wasn't so worried about Elsha, Clark would have grinned at Dr. Klein's prancing. "What's going on?" Lois asked, realized quickly she was the only one out of the loop. "She's crying, but she's not, and she won't stop rocking, and I think she's in pain, but I don't know where and I can't talk to her and I *don't know what to DO!*" Klein's voice rose as he finished. Taking a breath, he continued. "Superman was able to communicate with her, telepathically he said, but I can't get through. And every time I say anything, she only...cries," he said for lack of a better term, "more." "Why don't we come in and see if either of us can get through to her?" Clark asked, knowing as he did so that he *would* be able to reach Elsha. His only problem was how to prevent her from seeing enough into his mind to realize that he was the same man as the one who brought her here. "Oh. Oh, yes. Of course, come on in." Klein led them into the interior, and Lois got her first clear glimpse of Elsha. "She's beautiful," Lois breathed. Her breath caught and Clark knew that his wife was reacting to the obvious pain Elsha was in. Despite her tough front that she presented to her colleagues and the world, she had a very soft heart for the defenseless, for the 'weak and abused.' He grasped her hand supportively, but his mind turned to the problem of what was plaguing Elsha as they walked together towards the couch. He quickly eliminated her earlier injuries -- she had never made a sound before, even when they set her broken bones. If she could withstand that kind of pain with so little reaction, he doubted she would exhibit such a display now. But if it wasn't her previous injuries, what could have changed in the short time he was gone to fetch Lois? Dr. Klein hadn't moved her, so that couldn't be it. The lights were still low, and he hadn't turned anything else on. No new mechanical fields, no new noises... Noises. Something jiggled in the back of his brain and suddenly it clicked. Noises! Not auditory, though, but mental! From the time he found her, Elsha had only been in situations where there were very few human minds conscious -- first at the motel, where almost everyone was asleep in their respective rooms, then at Dr. Klein's, where all the neighbors were likewise dead to the world. Now, however, people all around her were beginning to get up and prepare for their daily activities. All the mental activity must be deafening for Elsha, and in her weakened state there was very little probability that she would be able to block them out. Clark could sympathize with her plight. When his powers first started developing, he had a very difficult time trying to block out unwanted sounds and images. In the middle of ordinary activities, such as milking the cows or taking a test at school, he would hear something quite unexpected. Girls gossiping in the bathroom, or teachers discussing some student's behaviour, or his neighbors preparing breakfast -- two miles away. When in public, he couldn't react to these sounds, for how would explain *that* to his friends? So he learned to hide his reactions and, later, to block out unwanted sounds when he chose to. To help Elsha, Clark thought back to when he first started hearing things. How had he learned to block them out? At first he simply lived with it, afraid to tell his parents about yet another anomaly, afraid of burdening them with another example of his strangeness. But one night at dinner he could hide it no longer. He heard Mr. Irig telling his wife that he was going to give Clark that new foal as soon as it was old enough. He'd seen how much Clark enjoyed talking care of it, helping it live despite the loss of its mother, and wanted to reward the boy for all his past help on the Irig farm. When Clark heard that, he couldn't hide his delight and Martha wanted to know what was going on. After finding out, she made it her responsibility to help him develop this new power to the point where he could choose what he heard, as she had helped him learn to control all the powers he had gained to that point. Oh, how he had missed her aid after the Kents died. He had had nobody except Lana to help him deal with his powers, and Lana's only help was to beg him to ignore them, to suppress them and act as if they didn't exist. Unfortunately, control was usually the only route to suppression, and once he learned control, he enjoyed them enough not to *want* to suppress them. The first order of business, Martha decided upon finding out about superhearing, had been to help him block noises. She achieved this goal by having Jonathan create a ruckus in the barn and then commanding Clark to focus on her voice. At first he was distracted by all the conflicting noise, but as time went on, he remained focused enough on Martha to completely tune out all other sounds. It was only a matter of time from there to the ability to selectively choose what to hear and what to tune out. Perhaps this technique would work in a similar manner with Elsha. Taking care to put walls around all his thoughts of both Superman and his earlier time with Elsha, Clark knelt beside her and reached out into her mind. {Elsha. Elsha, can you hear me?} There was no response in his mind, but he noticed a slight pause in her keening. {Elsha, listen to me. Focus on my voice. I know you are being assaulted be a lot of sounds right now, but you need to listen to me. Follow my voice and it will help you ignore the other sounds. Follow my voice, Elsha.} A blast of thought staggered Clark. {Noise! Oh, the noise it won't go away make it go away. PLEASE!!! Oh, make it go away...go away...it won't stop there's too much I can't shut it out I can't leave it won't stop...Where is it coming from? I can't tell. So many voices, so much noise. It won't go away. Oh, please, make it go away.} {ELSHA!} He didn't want to yell, but he couldn't think of any other way to break into her thoughts. She started and the tirade halted momentarily. {Elsha, listen to me.} She looked at him, her body still rocking with pain. {Help me.} To Clark, it felt like a whimpered plea from someone who had almost given up hope. {Elsha, follow my voice. If you listen to me, I can help you make the other noises go away. Just listen to me, okay?} Her body shook with sobs, but her eyes remained dry. She focused on Clark's face, barely even appearing to note the dark glasses. Probably human apparel was so alien to her that she saw no difference in normality. Clark continued to 'speak,' softly and steadily, helping bring her back to relative peace. Eventually she had calmed enough to maintain her fragile defenses and she fell into a fitful sleep. Mentally exhausted, Clark sat back, only to realize both Dr. Klein and Lois were staring at him in awed silence. "Clark? Are...are you okay?" Lois hesitantly broke the silence. Wanly smiling up in her direction, Clark assured her of his well-being. "She was being assaulted by the mental 'noise' that came with everybody waking up around here. I was able to have her focus on my voice enough for her to erect some defenses, but they are still too delicate for her to completely relax." He sat back on his heels and let go of Elsha's hand, which he hadn't even realized he had taken hold of, as he tried to think of what to do next. "What if we take her out of the city?" Lois's voice interjected itself into his thoughts. "That's a great idea!" Dr. Klein exclaimed, and Clark wasn't sure if it was because he truly thought so, or if he was just glad of an option that allowed him to be relieved of his charge. "It is a good idea, honey. But how are we going to transport her? And where would we go?" The obvious choice for travel seemed to be Superman, but Clark was hesitant to reveal their close relationship at this point. While the connection between Lois and Superman was less than it was in the other world, and the connection to Clark was almost non-existent, he was still quite worried about the exposure of his secret, and he wasn't *absolutely* sure that he could trust Dr. Klein. Not yet. "We could go by public transportation, but that would force her to be surrounded by people the entire way. Plus her injuries present an entire host of other problems." Lois looked apologetically at Clark, knowing his reluctance to be connected to Superman, and took the plunge. "We could call for Superman and ask if he would mind flying her. I'm sure he'd be willing to help." Clark nodded slowly and then, since they were already involving Superman, said, "And I know he kept the farmhouse in Smallville, even though Clark Kent has essentially died. Maybe he would let us stay there, with Elsha, for a while?" "It's worth a try," Lois replied. Logically, the best method of doing this would be to have Clark stay with Elsha, to calm her if she woke again, and to have Lois go out and search for Superman. But, as both Lois and Clark knew, that wouldn't work. How were they going to explain Clark going to look for Superman, though? Clark frantically came up with, and subsequently discarded, idea after idea, rejecting them as implausible. Though usually easily distracted, Klein was a very smart man; it wouldn't take much for his inquiring mind to make a connection between Clark and the superhero. The doctor in question interrupted Clark's thoughts. "Um...I hate to desert you guys, especially as this is *my* house, but I really have to get to the lab. I've got a presentation at a conference next week, and I have so much work to finish before then that I'm not even sure where to start." Apology written on his face, he obviously regretted having to leave them. Clark, however, took this development as a blessing from God -- now he didn't need an excuse to leave and 'find' Superman. "It's okay, Dr. Klein. We understand. Thank-you for all your help, we, and Superman, really appreciate it." Clark stood and, with a conscious effort, extended his hand into mid-air in the general direction of Dr. Klein. Dr. Klein shook it, and then instructed Lois as to where he stored his extra key, which they could use to lock up after themselves. As soon as they left, Clark 'went to the bathroom' (he decided that, for now at least, he would continue the pretense with Elsha. He could discuss it later with Lois and come up with a final decision later) and Superman arrived. Since Elsha was still asleep, and he didn't know if the flight would wake her, he took Lois to Smallville first. She was fully capable of being on her own there for a few minutes. If Elsha woke up on the journey, though, Clark didn't want to risk leaving her, alone and awake. Soon, all were reunited in Smallville, and the Lane couple set about preparing Clark's old bedroom for Elsha. * * * TBC... PS. According to that Mary Sue litmus test, if your original character is named after yourself, your internet nicknames, or the name you dream of giving to your children, it is a Mary Sue Red Alert. :blush I just thought I’d let you know, her name was Elsha before my nick was. (For those of you who didn’t know that I go on IRC as ElshaDye when Bethy is taken, and that my AIM nick is ElshaDye, just forget it, okay? ;)) I went ahead with the rest of the test, and I don’t think she’s a Mary Sue, but please, let me know if she gets too Mary Sue-ish. That’s the last thing I want! Thanks, Bethy _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2001 13:43:43 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Nancy Smith Subject: Charade: part 10 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Charade: Part 10 by Nan Smith The office was dark, except for a tiny night light glowing softly from one of the wall sockets. Clark, of course, needed no light, but Lois brought out a tiny penlight and shielded it with one hand as she cautiously flashed it around. She didn't know what she expected, but the office was quite ordinary in appearance. There was a wide desk with the newest of computers sitting on it, and in a back corner, a large, utilitarian file cabinet. Curtained windows opened on the side lawn of the mansion with a view of the promontory and a narrow section of the sea, dim under the starlight. To the far right, she could see where the wooded land began, mostly more of the tall, dark pine trees. Clark quietly pulled the heavy curtains and reached out to snap on a lamp. "Where first?" Lois asked. "You take the file cabinet and I'll take the computer," Clark said. "Gotcha." Lois pulled a long hairpin out of her hair and attacked the lock on the cabinet. She hadn't brought her regular lock pick with her, but the innocuous hairpin, which she had specially selected for its length and tensile strength, did the job almost as well. Within a couple of minutes she had undone the lock and was pulling open the top drawer. "Ah!" Clark's whispered exclamation caught her attention. "Look at this!" Lois turned. "What is it?" "A list of companies apparently under their control, probably through dummy companies, or something. I'll be willing to bet that none of them are officially listed as a subsidiary of Caribbean Imports." He indicated several. "Look at these. Some of them seem familiar. Wasn't Global Air one of Luthor's companies?" "Yeah. It was LexAir before his death." Lois stared at the list with an eerie feeling of déjà vu. "Industry, communications, utilities--Clark, it's LexCorp all over again. I was right. He's rebuilding his empire." She turned back to the file cabinet. "See if you can find anything on the company officers. We can try to match them up against LexCorp employees." "I'll do my best." Lois barely heard him. She was ruffling through the files, looking for anything to connect LexCorp with Caribbean Imports. When she found the file labeled "Project Doppelganger", she froze. "Clark!" "Shh! What?" "Look at this! Remember Project Doppelganger?" Clark took the sheaf of paper and before her eyes, shifted into high speed. Half a second later he looked up, stricken. "Oh, boy." He glanced at the door of the office and his expression became distant for an instant, then he looked back at her. "Make photos of this, quick. I have the feeling our time is getting short." He turned back to the computer. "I'm going to copy this whole folder. We can sort it out later." He slipped a disk into the zip drive and ordered the computer to copy the information. Lois was busy, snapping pictures with her tiny camera. The file was thick, but she worked as fast as she could. As she put the last sheet back into the file and slipped it into place in the cabinet, she heard Jimmy speaking. "Good morning, Alex. I hope you don't mind my taking advantage of your night chef." "Not at all. Couldn't you sleep?" Lois caught her breath at the familiar sound of their host's voice. Jimmy answered, sounding calm. "No. I came down for a snack. I've found reading in a quiet room helps me relax." Lex's voice had a smile in it that raised the short hairs on Lois's neck. "Isn't your room quiet enough for you?" "Kellie snores," Jimmy explained, blandly. Softly, Lois closed the drawer of the cabinet and switched off the lamp, noting that Clark had removed the disk from its slot and was quickly shutting down the computer. In the sitting room, Lex said, "I see. Fortunately, my wife doesn't have the same problem. Still, the lady is very attractive, otherwise. I must commend you on your taste." "Thanks," Jimmy said. "Kellie's an interesting person." "How did you meet her?" Lex asked. Lois stiffened, expecting Jimmy to fumble, but he surprised her. He laughed. "I think you better ask Kellie that. We seem to remember it a little differently." Lex's amusement sounded genuine, this time. "So speaks a man who knows women." There was a scraping sound. "Well," Lex's voice said, "I'll leave you to your book. Sorry to interrupt your reading." "I'll be heading up to bed shortly," Jimmy said. "I've been thinking about what you said this afternoon. I'll try to have a decision for you in a day or two." "I'll be looking forward to it," Lex said, and Lois shuddered at the memory of him speaking that exact phrase to her in another time and place. How could she have been so completely blind back then? She had never quite forgotten the hurt in Clark's eyes when she had rejected his love, and the anger she didn't understand on Superman's face when she had declared her love for him. And she had agreed to marry a man she didn't love, and didn't even really know. Later, when she learned the truth, she had realized the enormity of what she had done, but Clark never brought it up again. It wasn't in him to rub it in, and she knew he blamed himself far more for what had almost happened, but Lois had never allowed herself to forget it. It had nearly been the costliest mistake of her life. "You're up a little late, yourself," Jimmy observed, casually. "I hope I didn't disturb you." "Not at all. I haven't been to bed, yet," Lex's voice said. "I've been dealing with a small business problem since dinner. Nothing vital, but I'm somewhat obsessive about my company. If there's trouble, I want to take care of it while it's still minor." "That sounds like the motto of a good executive," Jimmy said. "I like to think so. Excuse me." "Sure." Jimmy fell silent and a second later, Lois could hear the faint beeping sound as Lex punched in the combination to the office door. Quickly, she dropped to her hands and knees and scooted tightly beneath the desk. Clark shoved the desk chair into place in front of her, and a second later she heard the door open. The overhead light blazed on. Lex's footsteps crossed the room toward her. She could see his expensive shoes, and the exquisitely tailored slacks he wore as he stopped in front of the file cabinet and unlocked it. He pulled open the top drawer and she could hear him ruffling through the files. Once he exclaimed softly, a note of pain in his voice. "Are you all right?" Jimmy's voice said from the doorway. "Can I help?" "No, thanks. It's only a paper cut," Lex said. He removed something from the drawer. "There, I've found what I need." Lois heard the drawer close and saw his feet turn toward her and pass directly in front of the desk. After a few seconds, the light went off and the door clicked shut. She waited for a slow count of fifty before she pushed the chair away from the desk and crawled out. Clark was just touching down on the carpet. He held a finger to his lips, his head clocked in a listening pose for a long minute while Lois waited, tensely. At last, he relaxed. "They're on their way up the stairs. Let's get out of here." ********** Lois had left the window of her room open. They made it there before Jimmy arrived and she pulled off her dark clothing, threw it in the closet, pulled on her negligee and scrambled into bed. Clark stepped behind the door. Within two minutes, she heard the door to Jimmy's room open and called out, "Is that you, honey?" "Yeah," Jimmy's voice said. Another male voice--probably Lex's--spoke unintelligibly in the background and she heard Jimmy's door close. In an instant, she was out of her bed and reaching for her robe. After a moment, Jimmy appeared through the connecting door. "When did you get back here?" he asked. "About two minutes ago," Lois said. "Clark and I came up by the back stairs. You did a great job, Jimmy. I don't think he suspected a thing." "Where were you hiding?" Jimmy asked. "I was sure he was going to catch you. I was ready to slug him if I had to, but--" Lois laughed a little breathlessly. "I hid under the desk and all I could see was his feet, but I heard everything. We found some interesting information, though, so the risk was worth it. Now all we have to do is get Superman to take it to the Planet for us." "Anything I should know?" Jimmy asked. Lois nodded soberly. "They have a file on 'Project Doppelganger'." "Project--You mean the *clone* project?" "That's the one," Clark said. "I have a bad feeling about this." Lois glanced at his face. There was a grim set to his lips, and he looked much more like Superman than Clark Kent, even allowing for the mustache and goatee. Something in that file had upset him, that was for sure. She opened her closet door, retrieved the camera and gave it to him. "You better get this to Superman as soon as you can, Clark. We need to know what's in the file." He nodded and slipped it into his pocket. "I'll get it to him." He withdrew the zip disk from a back pocket. "I got this off Arianna's computer, Jim. We'll need to check it out." "Right," Jimmy said. "I'll take care of it." Lois yawned suddenly. A glance at her traveling alarm told her that it was nearly four in the morning. "I'm tired. Scram, Jimmy; I'm going to bed." Jimmy yawned, as well. "Man, I'm tired, too. G'night, guys." He departed via the connecting door. Clark closed it behind him and turned to her. "I better drop the film off at the Planet. I'll be back in a few minutes, honey." He gave her a peck on the cheek and vanished. Slowly, Lois crawled into bed. It had been an exciting night and she was filled with a sense of accomplishment, but it was marred by a feeling of dread that wouldn't go away. Whatever was going on here on the island, it was more than even they had guessed, and she shivered slightly under the warmth of the thick comforter that covered the bed. She hoped Clark would hurry. For some reason, she needed the feeling of reassurance his presence gave her, tonight. A few years ago it would have appalled her to think that Lois Lane needed any man for any reason, but she'd learned a lot since then. Clark was as necessary to her comfort and happiness as food to eat and oxygen to breathe, and she gave a faint sigh of relief as he stepped through the window again, five minutes later. "Superman gave it to Pete," Clark said. He began to pull off his outer clothing. "He told me he'd have it ready by morning." He slid into the bed with her a moment later and Lois snuggled into his arms. "This is a lot bigger than anyone could have imagined." "What did you see in the file?" Lois asked. "A lot. For one thing, the Luthor who kidnapped you and found out about me was a clone," Clark said. "A Type 'B' clone. He wouldn't have lived any longer than the Lois-clone, from the data I saw, but he thought he was the real one." "And this Lex?" Lois asked, after a short silence. "Is he a clone, too?" "There were only two Luthor-clones made," Clark said, quietly, "the one who kidnapped you, and the one in prison on Stryker's Island." He paused and drew a deep breath. "This one--Alejandro de Los Rios--has to be the original--the real Lex Luthor." ********** tbc ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2001 06:52:48 -0600 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Debby Subject: Re: Help! I need a name for Lois In-Reply-To: <004301c0f37d$2b686f60$b5ba883e@91bb00j> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 09:20 PM 06/12/2001 +0100, you wrote: >I knew I could rely on you wonderful people to come up with some good >suggestions. Several of you suggested 'L' or 'Elle', and that's what I'm >going with. It matches up nicely with 'CK', and even sounds a bit like >Ellen, which sparked off a useful exchange between Lois and Lois . > >Yvonne >(yvonne@yconnell.fsnet.co.uk) The major female character on the clever Men In Black cartoon series is named "Elle", which is appropriate as the major male characters are J and K :) Debby dls@thuntek.net ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2001 21:06:41 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Carol L Moncado Subject: The Case of the Disappearing Clark, 14/? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Well, here's the next part. It's not very long, but it's something to keep it going and fresh (well, at least not stale) in the minds of gentle readers. I have lots of work to do on papers and hopefully this will be a pleasant diversion from a lit review on instructional strategies in colleges. AHHH! 3 1/2 weeks and I'm done! It hasn't been BRd, though Missy did make a couple of comments on the first little bit. Here you go - this picks up right after Lois finishes reading the journal. >From part 13 By now, tears were running down Lois' cheeks. It was obvious the older Clark had cried some too. Again there were blurry spots on the page. She had always thought that Clark really loved her, but now she knew. She knew how torn up he was about his feelings for her. About wanting to be honest with her, but not really knowing how. And now she understood Clark a little bit better. And she loved him all the more. Finally, she laid down, ready at last to sleep. ***** Part 14 Or so she had thought. Lois had thought that she would be able to sleep after reading Clark's journal, but found that she was absolutely unable to sleep. All the thoughts and feelings that had come to the surface while reading what were very personal entries in a very private diary churned inside her mind refusing to allow her to retreat to the netherworld of sleep. Finally, she stood. She slowly and carefully made her way downstairs, not wanting to wake Clark's parents. She reached the couch and felt carefully at both ends for Clark. She didn't feel a thing, except couch material and pillows. Lois sat on the floor and sighed. Where could he be? She rested her head on the couch and contemplated her next move. She would go find Clark, but she had no idea where he could be. Lois brushed at a spider web near her face, idly wondering where it had come from. She was annoyed when it came back several more times. She finally looked up to see how she could get rid of the offending item. What she saw made her scream. Her scream set off a series of events that were difficult to recall later. The first, she later thought, was Clark, falling on top of her. He had been floating in his sleep and her scream scared him into losing altitude, so he fell. Right on top of her. That's how his parents found them, sprawled on the floor between the couch and the coffee table. Jonathan was in front of Martha on the stairs, having stopped to grab a metal baseball bat from Clark's room on his way. In retrospect, he wasn't quite sure what he planned on using it for - Superman was in his living room after all - but he had grabbed it anyway. As Martha clicked on the lights, she tried desperately not to laugh as she saw her son and the love of his life squirm. They were trying to disentangle themselves, but they only managed to look like a kind of weird spider with arms and legs flying everywhere. Jonathan was also quick to assess the situation and began to chortle himself. He had been filled in by his wife on the events of the evening before, including his son kissing Lois near the ceiling. Finally, Lois and Clark were able to right themselves and both sat on the floor trying to compose themselves. The startling event was still a blur to both of them. Martha was unable to resist commenting on the awkward situation. "You know, I offered you two Clark's room. You really don't need to sneak around." Lois' mouth dropped open and Clark muttered an embarrassed, "Mom!" as he quickly moved as far away from Lois as he could without knocking the coffee and end tables over. Martha could hold back the laughter no longer. "I'm just kidding. You two need to lighten up." Jonathan broke out into a full-fledged chuckle. "Why don't we get some milk and figure out what happened?" She and Jonathan walked towards the kitchen leaving the other two still trying to decide what to do. "Well? Aren't you coming?" Clark quickly managed to get to his feet without destroying the living room and then turned to help Lois up. Her face was bright red as she refused his help and stood on her own. With a flip of her dark brown hair, she held her chin high and walked into the kitchen where the older Kents were waiting. ========================================================================= Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2001 18:43:08 -0600 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Debby Subject: Re: Exodus II In-Reply-To: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 10:13 PM 06/12/2001 -0500, you wrote: >well I'm just writing this e-mail because no one has been commenting on my fic, Exodus II: Earthbound here and I'm wondering if I should stop posting it here, since everyone who wnats to read it is reading it on zoom's boards. I know there's less feedback here but I normally see some for the other fics posted here so I feel I'm just spamming people with my fic. I don't want to add to peoples mail volume for no reason so just let me know. I never feel I can comment (as in review) on an unfinished story except to say keep posting til it's finished and readers have the whole thing to review... ...though I admit I'm not much interested in Krypton stories... Debby dls@thuntek.net ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 14 Jun 2001 14:17:36 +0100 Reply-To: LabRat Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: LabRat Organization: LabRat Subject: Re: Exodus II MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > > well I'm just writing this e-mail because no one has been commenting > > on my fic, Exodus II: Earthbound here and I'm wondering if I should > > stop posting it here, since everyone who wnats to read it is reading > > it on zoom's boards. I know there's less feedback here but I > > normally see some for the other fics posted here so I feel I'm just > > spamming people with my fic. I don't want to add to peoples mail > > volume for no reason so just let me know. I must confess that I'm terribly guilty of deleting story posts unread when they appear on the list, simply because I prefer to pick them up on the Archive as completed stories and I've usually already dl the segments to disk from the mbs for those few which are never submitted to the Archive. I would say that the most compelling reason for posting to the list these days would probably be to reach all possible readers - the ones who like to get their stories in their mailbox and who don't frequent the mbs. Specifically on Exodus II, well you already know it's on my list, Adam. And I may be getting to it sooner than you think. :) LabRat (whose new regime of sectioning her day into organised segments is working very well so far and who is now off to do her 3 hours of fanfic reading....) ========================================================================= Date: Thu, 14 Jun 2001 17:41:50 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Kathy Brown Subject: Re: OT: Listmom, need help... Thanks to Erin and Wendy for answering the question ... what do you need with a listmom when FoLCs are so wonderfully knowledgeable? BTW, if anyone else ever forgets my email address, there is a very simple way to get it -- go to the Archive and get it off one of my stories. :) Kathy