From: "L-Soft list server at Indiana University (1.8d)" To: "ARTF@MemoryAlpha.nil" File: "LOISCLA-GENERAL-L LOG0109E" ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 09:35:34 +0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Gay Devlin Subject: Are you ashamed to be a FoLC? II In-Reply-To: MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Hi Everyone, I am delighted people have found this topic so interesting and are still so prepared to contribute. And thanks, Gerry, I'll add your views to my 'statistics' - now standing at 29 different people. The more responses I get the more representative of FoLCs my research will be. And I agree with Wendy, I am dead lucky, to be working with such an obliging group. Wendy, I take your point about age, but I am beginning to think that milieu might be a significant factor. Those in tertiary education, both as students and faculty, seem less inclined to discuss FoLCdom with their peers, than those moving in other circles. Now that I can term my interest in L&C 'research' I get only positive vibes. I admit though, unless I know people well, I'm rather vague on exactly what my research focuses on. Anyways, thanks people for continuing to provide your views. I think I have written back to all the people who e-mailed privately now, and if anyone else wants to contribute or anyone wants to discuss this further, rest assured I will be taking note of your comments. As so many people have said before me, FoLCs are great. Gay . ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 04:24:10 -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: Are you ashamed to be a FoLC? II MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Coming very late to this thread... >>>>>>I've been reading a lot of theory about online identity and I am interested to know: *who you discuss your online membership of FoLCdom with - why/why not<<<<< For the most part, with other online FoLCs. Having said that, I am not as active a participant on this list, the message boards or (especially) IRC as other people. (BTW, I don't get involved with LnC fandom beyond the fanfic elements of it. Gossip etc leaves me cold, and I have very little interest in the other activities of the stars.) I have mentioned it to some people in other fandoms =96 mostly to point out that the LC fanfic archive is my idea of what an excellent archive is. :) Discuss may be too strong a term, but I do mention it to *some* friends and family. See below. >>>>> *if your family, friends, acquaintances are aware of your interest - why/why not<<<<< Yes, my family are aware of it. Mum has even read one of my LnC stories, and is asking to read the next one. Dad didn't get a chance to read any of my LnC fic, but he did read some of the other stories that I've written =96 and sat down and critiqued them, then discussed them with me afterwards! That was definitely above and beyond the call of duty! (Incidentally, they are / were both of the opinion that I should try my hand at writing something original.) I think both my brothers know that I write / read fanfic, as do a few non-fan friends, though I tend not to discuss precisely *what* I write / read. I'm fairly careful about who I discuss things with; I'm all to aware that some people do think getting involved in fannish activities is a frivolous activity. For e.g. I went out for a while with someone who, on my saying that I wanted us to split up, actually *said* that he wasn't surprised that the relationship wasn't going anywhere because of my interest in Star Trek and similar things! (I'm a lapsed Trekker and had pretty much lapsed by the time he had the audacity to say that!) The implication was definitely there that my interests weren't as high-brow as his, and therefore intellectually suspect! On the other hand, I have a friend from college days who once surprised me by saying that she wished she had an interest in something that was akin to my, then, interest in Star Trek, because I seemed to meet a whole lot people (some of whom, despite my lapsed status, I still have contact with and consider good friends). Of course, Star Trek wasn't really an 'on line' activity at that point in time, but it was a fannish one and I'm sure that parallels exist. I *don't* these days broadcast my interest in LnC (or any other fandom, for that matter) to new acquaintances / friends; I want to know if they'd be tolerant of it first. And I certainly don't tell work colleagues about it, either! >>>>>*whether your L&C memorabilia are on display or stored - why/why not<<<<< Actually, I have very little memorabilia (other than video tapes, if we are counting those). The tapes are out in full view in my living room (but then, given the size of my flat, there isn't much choice about that!) as are all the other tapes I own. I do have a few photographs, which, actually, I was given by a couple of the Trekker friends I mentioned above, who thought I might like them. They are hidden away in some file somewhere. And that's it. No wallpapers these days, no screen savers... I did have a nice discreet s-shield key chain for a while, but that fell to pieces, so I replaced it with a much more practical pen knife! It might also be worth noting that Superman memorabilia (of which there is a fair amount around) is not the same as Lois and Clark memorabilia, of which there is, as far as I'm aware, practically none. I don't much care for the Superman of the comics world; I love Lois and Clark. They are two very different things. In any case, I'm not a memorabilia person, although I used to be. >>>>>>>>>>Wendy said: First, good luck with your PhD! As some of us on this list know, it's very hard work and extremely time-consuming while you're doing it (and also, a little like discussing FoLCdom with non- FoLCs; it gets you funny looks from people who've asked you about it and then wonder why you're still talking about it five minutes later... ). But it's well worth it in the end! :) Especially when you can wave that 'Dr' title in front of annoying people who insist on asking whether you're Miss or Mrs!<<<<< Yes, exactly! I couldn't have put it better, myself! In fact, in some circles, I'm just as careful about saying what I do / have done in Real Life as I am in real life about talking about FoLCdom. >>>>>Wendy also said: When I was doing the fieldwork for my PhD, I had to struggle to find and contact potential respondents in the first place (homeworkers, if anyone's interested ), and then it was *very* difficult to actually get people to respond to my questionnaire.<<<<< And I got to spend days, weeks and months in dusty basements (with rat poison laid out in the corners) and archives, getting my information! It was all frightfully filthy... but worth it in the end! >>>>>Gay, you said: Wendy, I take your point about age, but I am beginning to think that milieu might be a significant factor. Those in tertiary education, both as students and faculty, seem less inclined to discuss FoLCdom with their peers, than those moving in other circles. Now that I can term my interest in L&C 'research' I get only positive vibes. I admit though, unless I know people well, I'm rather vague on exactly what my research focuses on.<<<<< Gay, I don't think that you should discount age as a consideration. While I'm quite prepared to believe that milieu is an important factor, I'm all too aware that my behaviour with regard to fannish activities has changed as I've got older. (Has LnC been around long enough for you to consider people's changing patterns of behaviour only in that fandom?) When I was doing my undergraduate and Master's degrees, whereas other people spent their money on beer etc, I spent mine on Star Trek posters, books and t-shirts, and I *flaunted* my love of the show. It took me far too long to realise that much of the merchandise was, well, not to put too fine a point on it, complete rubbish, and not worth having. When I fell in love with Due South, I also made no secret of my liking for the show. My fellow PhD students knew all too well that I loved the show. I had wallpaper on my computer. I had a t- shirt and sweat shirt... A couple of them even knew about, and read, a couple of my stories. But I never went so over the top in acquiring stuff. (Mind you, there never was that much stuff to acquire.) More recently (about three years ago) I stumbled upon the fanfic archive, and one thing let to another... LnC: I don't make such a song and dance about it as I did with other fandoms previously. I certainly don't talk about it at work. But is that because I've got older, or is it because I've changed, as you put it, milieu? I've done both, and I don't see how you can separate the two things. My taste in domestic decor has changed over time, too. I don't have posters up in my flat =96 don't even *like* the idea of posters any more. At the moment I don't even have a fannish wallpaper on my desktop, either at home or at work. In the last year I've =96 okay I confess! - written a few stories for another fandom. I don't even use my real name there. So, in terms of fannish activites *generally* I've got far less flambuoyant and far more secretive as time has gone on. I know I've been terribly long-winded here. Sorry... Chris P.S. If you quote me, please just call me Chris. Thank you. ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 10:28:22 +0200 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Kaethel Subject: FoD IV (was Re: Are you ashamed to be a FoLC?) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Yvonne wrote: > LOL, you too! Mind you, Ann - it's not the rodent who brandishes the > shears, you know. She's usually on the receiving end, I believe ;) Uh huh. And Yvonne, even if it's not the rodent who brandishes the shears, they're still directed at you right this minute. So get to your keyboard and write more FoD *immediately* (not that I'm bossing you around or anything, you know me ) Helene-the-Shears :) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kaethel Kaethel@wanadoo.fr "I like being a mess. It's who I am." -- Ally McBeal ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 08:23:28 -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: FFQs: Luthor's minions and contact lenses Posting twice to the list in one day... This has to be some sort of record for me! :) Can anyone help? (Of course you can! You're folcs, and completely wonderful! :) ) So... Luthor's minions: I'm putting together as comprehensive a list of Luthor's known minions as I possibly can. I dare say I won't use them all in the story I'm working on, but I'd like as much choice as possible before I choose who I *do* use. To that end, can anyone remember the names of the jumpers from Neverending Battle? Also the guy who sold Luthor the Kryptonite in BaTP? And, possibly, the agent who sold Luthor the disintegrator weapon? (BTW, has anyone noticed just how many unethical scientists Luthor got involved with?) Contact lenses: Does anyone know whether someone who hasn't got along with contact lenses in the past might find that a different sort of lens suits them better? (I'm guessing that the answer to this is yes, but I'd like some details if possible.) E.g. are newer, disposable, lenses more comfortable to wear? Are certain cleaning solutions more irritating than others? Thanks in advance! Chris ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 15:42:59 +0200 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Kaethel Subject: Vocabulary questions (mostly US English) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hey guys, While putting the finishing touches to my current WIP, I ran across a few vocabulary problems and wanted to know if some of you could help me out. Okay, the first question is, do you think that the inhabitants of Smallville would have a specific name (I mean, like the inhabitants of New York are New Yorkers). Would it be something like Smallvillians? Smallvillers? What do you think? Also, would you know what I'm talking about if I mention Masonite wood? This is a word I looked up in my French/English dictionary and it corresponds to what we call "agglomere" here, namely a very cheap sort of wood. Masonite seems to be a brand, but I want to make sure it's known and people don't go 'huh??' when reading the description where it appears. I know my BRs are going 'huh?' with it, so I really wonder if it actually exists. And would there be any other way to refer to such a kind of wood without making it puzzling for anyone? Another question directed more towards people who are bilingual, maybe (Ann? Mel? Please? :)). In French we have this word to refer to people who're lying all the time: "mythomanes". My French/English dictionary translates it with "mythomaniac", but neither WORD's spellchecker nor my BRs recognise the word. So how would you call a person who's constantly lying to everyone, not just by need but really because they can't help it? Okay, another thing (yes, I have many questions ). Do you think I could refer to something like Smallville County? I'm not familiar with the US states divisions, so I'm really in the dark, here. Oh, and would it seem weird to find a mosquito net in a motel room in Kansas, assuming Smallville is in the very south-east, at the foot of the Flint Hills? Any help would be greatly appreciated! :) Helene :) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kaethel Kaethel@wanadoo.fr I used to think, as birds take wing, They sing through life, so why can't we? We cling to this, and claim the best If this is what you're offering I'll take the rain, I'll take the rain R.E.M. - I'll Take the Rain ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 06:51:18 -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: Are you ashamed to be a FoLC? II MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Well, I don't advertise it to everyone I meet, but my family knows, and my husband was almost as thrilled as I was earlier this year when I won a Kerth for best series. My sister thinks it's a little wierd but only a little. The two of us used to write science fiction together before she remarried and her life got busier. She used to tease me for my writing when we were kids, but once she got a taste of her own medicine from her first husband about her writing, her attitude did an about-face, so she knows better than to tease now. I have a printed-out copy of the Kerth certificate framed on the wall above my desk, and I have copies of all the episodes. As for memorabilia, I only have a few things that I've acquired from two LAFF conventions. I have an autograph from Lane Davies, for one thing. The Lois and Clark theme, icons and music on my computer drive my husband nuts, but I tell him he can put whatever he wants on his own computer and to keep his hands off mine. I also got my daughter interested, and she writes fanfiction when she can squeeze in the time between school and work. It paid off for her last year at LAFF when she got to meet Dean Cain at the premiere of Flight of Fancy. She was thrilled. So am I a closet FoLC? Not really, and no, I'm not ashamed of it at all. I guess you can use my name if you can make sense out of these ramblings. My organizational skills aren't at their best, early on a Saturday morning. Nan Smith Gay Devlin wrote: > Hi Everyone, > > I am delighted people have found this topic so interesting and are still so > prepared to contribute. And thanks, Gerry, I'll add your views to my > 'statistics' - now standing at 29 different people. The more responses I > get the more representative of FoLCs my research will be. And I agree with > Wendy, I am dead lucky, to be working with such an obliging group. > > Wendy, I take your point about age, but I am beginning to think that milieu > might be a significant factor. Those in tertiary education, both as > students and faculty, seem less inclined to discuss FoLCdom with their > peers, than those moving in other circles. Now that I can term my interest > in L&C 'research' I get only positive vibes. I admit though, unless I know > people well, I'm rather vague on exactly what my research focuses on. > > Anyways, thanks people for continuing to provide your views. I think I > have written back to all the people who e-mailed privately now, and if > anyone else wants to contribute or anyone wants to discuss this further, > rest assured I will be taking note of your comments. > > As so many people have said before me, FoLCs are great. > > Gay > . ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 09:02:10 -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: Vocabulary questions (mostly US English) Comments: To: Kaethel 79 Hi Helene On Sat, 29 Sep 2001 15:42:59 +0200, Kaethel wrote: >Okay, the first question is, do you think that the inhabitants of Smallville >would have a specific name (I mean, like the inhabitants of New York are New >Yorkers). Would it be something like Smallvillians? Smallvillers? What do >you think? haven't a clue! > >Also, would you know what I'm talking about if I mention Masonite wood? This >is a word I looked up in my French/English dictionary and it corresponds to >what we call "agglomere" here, namely a very cheap sort of wood. Masonite >seems to be a brand, but I want to make sure it's known and people don't go >'huh??' when reading the description where it appears. I know my BRs are >going 'huh?' with it, so I really wonder if it actually exists. And would >there be any other way to refer to such a kind of wood without making it >puzzling for anyone? > Okay, I looked Masonite up in my English dictionary because I certainly hadn't heard of it. According to that it is an Australian and New Zealand trademark for a kind of dark brown hardboard. Now, hardboard (and chipboard, which I think is pretty much the same thing) I *am* familiar with, and they are generic words. >Another question directed more towards people who are bilingual, maybe (Ann? >Mel? Please? :)). In French we have this word to refer to people who're >lying all the time: "mythomanes". My French/English dictionary translates it >with "mythomaniac", but neither WORD's spellchecker nor my BRs recognise the >word. So how would you call a person who's constantly lying to everyone, not >just by need but really because they can't help it? As you know, I'm not bilingual -- not in French and English, anyway but... mythomania and mythomaniac are in the dictionary, but I'd not heard them before. I would simply refer to the kind of person you are talking about as being a compulsive liar, though. > >Okay, another thing (yes, I have many questions ). Do you think I could >refer to something like Smallville County? I'm not familiar with the US >states divisions, so I'm really in the dark, here. Possibly, but I don't know. > >Oh, and would it seem weird to find a mosquito net in a motel room in >Kansas, assuming Smallville is in the very south-east, at the foot of the >Flint Hills? Don't know. > >Any help would be greatly appreciated! :) > Hope that helps. Chris (who really must go and do something *useful*!) ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 09:53:28 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Kelly Tessena Subject: Re: Vocabulary questions (mostly US English) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed I don't think there's one word for a compuslive liar, but the phrase "pathological liar" works. I've never heard of Masonite wood, though. -Kelly >From: Kaethel >Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" > >To: LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU >Subject: Vocabulary questions (mostly US English) >Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 15:42:59 +0200 > >Hey guys, > >While putting the finishing touches to my current WIP, I ran across a few >vocabulary problems and wanted to know if some of you could help me out. > >Okay, the first question is, do you think that the inhabitants of >Smallville >would have a specific name (I mean, like the inhabitants of New York are >New >Yorkers). Would it be something like Smallvillians? Smallvillers? What do >you think? > >Also, would you know what I'm talking about if I mention Masonite wood? >This >is a word I looked up in my French/English dictionary and it corresponds to >what we call "agglomere" here, namely a very cheap sort of wood. Masonite >seems to be a brand, but I want to make sure it's known and people don't go >'huh??' when reading the description where it appears. I know my BRs are >going 'huh?' with it, so I really wonder if it actually exists. And would >there be any other way to refer to such a kind of wood without making it >puzzling for anyone? > >Another question directed more towards people who are bilingual, maybe >(Ann? >Mel? Please? :)). In French we have this word to refer to people who're >lying all the time: "mythomanes". My French/English dictionary translates >it >with "mythomaniac", but neither WORD's spellchecker nor my BRs recognise >the >word. So how would you call a person who's constantly lying to everyone, >not >just by need but really because they can't help it? > >Okay, another thing (yes, I have many questions ). Do you think I could >refer to something like Smallville County? I'm not familiar with the US >states divisions, so I'm really in the dark, here. > >Oh, and would it seem weird to find a mosquito net in a motel room in >Kansas, assuming Smallville is in the very south-east, at the foot of the >Flint Hills? > >Any help would be greatly appreciated! :) > >Helene :) > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >Kaethel >Kaethel@wanadoo.fr > >I used to think, as birds take wing, >They sing through life, so why can't we? >We cling to this, and claim the best >If this is what you're offering >I'll take the rain, I'll take the rain > R.E.M. - I'll Take the Rain _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 09:30:21 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: LaNita Cornwall Subject: Re: Vocabulary questions (mostly US English) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" I know exactly what you are talking about when you say Masonite. It's a dark brown hardboard that's a pain to use. Sometimes cheap furniture is made using Masonite. Sometimes counties and the county seat (seat of government for the county) have the same name. County seats in Texas are supposed to be near the geographic center of the county. I think most of them are. I don't know what proportion of counties/county seats have the same name, but if you want to call the county Smallville, it would work. Unless someone knows the name of the county Smallville is in?? Some states use parishes instead of divisions, but I'm pretty sure that's a mostly Southern thing. I have heard people who live in Weatherford referred to as "Weatherfordites." It's always sounded strange to me. I don't think all city names really work well when you try to do something like this. Most just sound awkward. I've stayed in lots of motel rooms all over the states and never found a mosquito net in one yet. Now I've camped out and wished I had one. LaNita LaNita Cornwall Library Systems Assistant Weatherford College Library 225 College Park Drive Weatherford, TX 76086 817 594-5471, ext. 456 http://www.wc.edu/library -----Original Message----- From: Chris Carr [mailto:chris@CARR55.FSNET.CO.UK] Sent: Saturday, September 29, 2001 9:02 AM To: LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU Subject: Re: Vocabulary questions (mostly US English) Hi Helene On Sat, 29 Sep 2001 15:42:59 +0200, Kaethel wrote: >Okay, the first question is, do you think that the inhabitants of Smallville >would have a specific name (I mean, like the inhabitants of New York are New >Yorkers). Would it be something like Smallvillians? Smallvillers? What do >you think? haven't a clue! > >Also, would you know what I'm talking about if I mention Masonite wood? This >is a word I looked up in my French/English dictionary and it corresponds to >what we call "agglomere" here, namely a very cheap sort of wood. Masonite >seems to be a brand, but I want to make sure it's known and people don't go >'huh??' when reading the description where it appears. I know my BRs are >going 'huh?' with it, so I really wonder if it actually exists. And would >there be any other way to refer to such a kind of wood without making it >puzzling for anyone? > Okay, I looked Masonite up in my English dictionary because I certainly hadn't heard of it. According to that it is an Australian and New Zealand trademark for a kind of dark brown hardboard. Now, hardboard (and chipboard, which I think is pretty much the same thing) I *am* familiar with, and they are generic words. >Another question directed more towards people who are bilingual, maybe (Ann? >Mel? Please? :)). In French we have this word to refer to people who're >lying all the time: "mythomanes". My French/English dictionary translates it >with "mythomaniac", but neither WORD's spellchecker nor my BRs recognise the >word. So how would you call a person who's constantly lying to everyone, not >just by need but really because they can't help it? As you know, I'm not bilingual -- not in French and English, anyway but... mythomania and mythomaniac are in the dictionary, but I'd not heard them before. I would simply refer to the kind of person you are talking about as being a compulsive liar, though. > >Okay, another thing (yes, I have many questions ). Do you think I could >refer to something like Smallville County? I'm not familiar with the US >states divisions, so I'm really in the dark, here. Possibly, but I don't know. > >Oh, and would it seem weird to find a mosquito net in a motel room in >Kansas, assuming Smallville is in the very south-east, at the foot of the >Flint Hills? Don't know. > >Any help would be greatly appreciated! :) > Hope that helps. Chris (who really must go and do something *useful*!) ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 10:54:59 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Ann E. McBride" Subject: Re: Vocabulary questions (mostly US English) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 9/29/01 9:44:06 AM Eastern Daylight Time, Kaethel@WANADOO.FR writes: > Okay, the first question is, do you think that the inhabitants of Smallville > would have a specific name (I mean, like the inhabitants of New York are New > Yorkers). Would it be something like Smallvillians? Smallvillers? What do > you think? > Probably not. A lot of whether or not there is a specific name for the residents of a town has to do with a) can you make one that flows smoothly off the tongue. (So Smallvillians would be the way to go here) and b) is the place big enough that the people would get talked about in the aggregate. I don't think that there are enough people in Smallville for that. But this is just my opinion. > Also, would you know what I'm talking about if I mention Masonite wood? This > is a word I looked up in my French/English dictionary and it corresponds to > what we call "agglomere" here, namely a very cheap sort of wood. Masonite > seems to be a brand, but I want to make sure it's known and people don't go > 'huh??' when reading the description where it appears. I know my BRs are > going 'huh?' with it, so I really wonder if it actually exists. And would > there be any other way to refer to such a kind of wood without making it > puzzling for anyone? > Masonite is a brand name of pressed-board ( wood shavings held together by glue) and Americans would certainly know the term. It's like Kleenex -- a brand name that gets used for the type of product. You could say "press board" if the UKers don't understand Masonite. > Another question directed more towards people who are bilingual, maybe (Ann? > Mel? Please? :)). In French we have this word to refer to people who're > lying all the time: "mythomanes". My French/English dictionary translates it > with "mythomaniac", but neither WORD's spellchecker nor my BRs recognise the > word. So how would you call a person who's constantly lying to everyone, not > just by need but really because they can't help it? > We usually call people like that a "pathological liar." I suppose that there is some psychological definition for that, but that is what I believe most people use in ordinary conversation. "Sue? Oh, she's a pathological liar. She couldn't tell the truth if it was a snake and bit her." > Okay, another thing (yes, I have many questions ). Do you think I could > refer to something like Smallville County? I'm not familiar with the US > states divisions, so I'm really in the dark, here. > A town is in a County. Counties are divisions of states. (Like a prefecture in France is a division of a department.) A county would not be likely to be named "Smallville" though. They tend to be named after famous residents from the past or famous people from history. Here in Kentucky, for example, Louisville (named for Louis XVI) is in Jefferson County. Paris, is in Bourbon County. Bardstown is in Nelson County. Danville is in Boyle County. So I would pick a name of a famous historical person (every state seems to have a Jefferson, Hamilton, and Franklin county). > Oh, and would it seem weird to find a mosquito net in a motel room in > Kansas, assuming Smallville is in the very south-east, at the foot of the > Yes, it would. I have never seen a mosquito net in the US outside of a sporting goods store. We assume, not always correctly, that the window screens will keep out the bugs. Hope this helps. :-) Ann ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 10:58:02 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Ann E. McBride" Subject: Re: Vocabulary questions (mostly US English) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 9/29/01 9:44:06 AM Eastern Daylight Time, Kaethel@WANADOO.FR writes: > Also, would you know what I'm talking about if I mention Masonite wood? This > is a word I looked up in my French/English dictionary and it corresponds to > Having already replied, I just read everyone else's responses to this. Either it is regional or an age thing. You can always say press-board or chip-board. The difference in press-board and chip-board is: Press-board is shavings and glue; chip-board is chips/chunks and glue. They both smell like glue when you first get them. Ann ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 11:03:10 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Ann E. McBride" Subject: Re: FFQs: Luthor's minions and contact lenses MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 9/29/01 9:23:53 AM Eastern Daylight Time, chris@CARR55.FSNET.CO.UK writes: > Does anyone know whether someone who hasn't got along with contact lenses in > the past might find that a different sort of lens suits them better? (I'm > guessing that the answer to this is yes, but I'd like some details if > possible.) E.g. are newer, disposable, lenses more comfortable to wear? Are > certain cleaning solutions more irritating than others? > I can answer this one, because you are talking about me. In my high school and college years (1966-74), I wore hard contact lenses. I had to give them up because I kept getting scratched corneas from dust getting in my eyes and not washing out with tears. (Apparently I have "dry eyes.") When they came out with soft contacts, I passed on trying them because they were so much trouble to take care of and so expensive. In recent years, however, I have gone back to wearing contact lenses occasionally. The new, soft, disposable lenses are so comfortable that I can wear them. But due to the need for bifocals, I can't see in the middle distance very well with them, which is a problem while teaching. So I just wear them socially. As for different solutions being different -- you better believe it. Some brands irritate my eyes so much that I am tearing out the lenses and sticking my head under running water. Other brands are wonderful. And I think it varies from individual to individual. Hope this helps. Ann ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 10:20:57 -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: VOT: Enterprise Premiere Some members on the boards were talking about the premiere of Enterprise on UPN last Wednesday and how disappointed they were that they could not get it. In the St. Louis broadcasting area it will show on Saturday, Sept 29, from 7pm to 9pm, CST. James ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 10:26:02 -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: VOT: Enterprise Premiere:addendum Some members on the boards were talking about the premiere of Enterprise on UPN last Wednesday and how disappointed they were that they could not get it. In the St. Louis broadcasting area it will show on Saturday, Sept 29, from 7pm to 9pm, CST. On Channel 11 aka The WB. James ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 08:37:35 -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 September 28 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Hi FoLCs! A new story, a few new vignettes, lots of new parts, and some new additions to the archive! Links on the L&C Message Board Index and Links page at http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Meteor/7378/lnc.html New stories this week: GLIMPSES OF TOMORROW COMPLETE VIGNETTE ERIN KLINGLER GOTCHA COMPLETE VIGNETTE BETHY POINT OF NO RETURN: KAETHEL RUMORS COMPLETE VIGNETTE NICOLE WOLKE New part(s) posted: ALL STIRRED UP: MEREDITH KNIGHT HEARTS DIVIDED: PAM JERNIGAN IMBALANCE: PHIL ATCLIFFE AND WENDY RICHARDS IN CAT'S CORNER: IRENE DUTCHAK PURPLE CHAOS II: EMILY HANSON SECOND THOUGHTS: WENDY RICHARDS SHADES OF GREY: CINDY LEUCH SISTER SWITCH: CAROL MONCADO STRANGERS III: MISSY GALLANT UNDERCOVER AT BUREAU 39: SARAHLDY UNFORESEEN CONSEQUENCES: NAN SMITH WOUNDED ANGELS: KESTREL73 Completed stories this week: none New TOC's none Added to the Archive this week: Friendly Little Game of..., A by Carol Moncado Honey, I Spun the Baby by Mr. D8a and Nan Smith Little Help..., A by Crystal Wimmer Transfer, The by Tank Wilson Enjoy! Dawn & the Index Crew __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Listen to your Yahoo! Mail messages from any phone. http://phone.yahoo.com ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 10:52:34 -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: Vocabulary questions (mostly US English) Just to muddy the waters a little... On Sat, 29 Sep 2001 10:58:02 EDT, Ann E. McBride wrote: > >Having already replied, I just read everyone else's responses to this. >Either it is regional or an age thing. You can always say press-board or >chip-board. The difference in press-board and chip-board is: Press-board is >shavings and glue; chip-board is chips/chunks and glue. They both smell like >glue when you first get them. > I think I've found a regional / continental difference here. I've not heard the term press-board before, and it's *not* in my dictionary. Presumably it's a US / North American term. Having said that, I'm sure that I would have been able to guess the meaning of press-board, whereas I'm sure I wouldn't have done with Masonite. Chris ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 10:53:03 -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: FFQs: Luthor's minions and contact lenses On Sat, 29 Sep 2001 08:23:28 -0500, Chris Carr wrote: >Does anyone know whether someone who hasn't got along with contact lenses in >the past might find that a different sort of lens suits them better? (I'm >guessing that the answer to this is yes, but I'd like some details if >possible.) E.g. are newer, disposable, lenses more comfortable to wear? Are >certain cleaning solutions more irritating than others? The newer disposable lenses supposedly contain a higher percentage of water, and thus are said to be more comfortable to wear but less durable. I've seen magazine articles that say that the daily wear lenses and disposable lenses are exactly the same, and customers can save money by getting the cheaper ones. The eye doctors I've asked all disagree, saying that the disposables aren't as durable, and shouldn't be worn for longer than the time specified. So who to believe? Personally, I think wearing time, like comfort, vary so much from person to person that you can only talk in statistics but not sweeping generalizations. Fitting prescriptions with the newest products can take some time, too. For example, at least as of 18 months ago, I couldn't get disposables in my exact Rx; they made one a little stronger or a little weaker, but they didn't have all the options yet. Since I do so well with soft torics (the daily wear soft lenses for people with an astigmatism), my doctor and I agreed we'd just stick with those instead of trying to fiddle with various other lenses to see if one might possibly work. (BTW, I believe they now have bifocal contacts -- like for astigmatism, they are weighted at the bottom to keep the correct orientation.) All that said, I, too, wore gas perms (also called semi-hard) successfully for years, but then late in college, my eyes started to reject them. After struggling for a long time, I finally just gave up and wore glasses. A few years later, a new eye doctor convinced me to try soft lenses (which I had earlier been told I couldn't wear, because of my astigmatism) and the difference was dramatic. I was absolutely amazed at the difference -- even during my best days with the gas perms, I had to be hyper-aware of any wind, blowing dust, etc. But with softs, I almost *never* get anything in my eyes. For a different example, my husband has disposables that he wears only very occasionally (e.g., while downhill skiing or while giving community telescope demonstrations) and he can wear them for hours and not even feel them. This is quite a far cry from the old days when you had to "break in" your eyes by wearing lenses only a few hours at time. His problem, though, is in inserting and removing them -- since he only wears them a few times a year, he's never gotten good at putting them in and he has to allow a lot of extra getting ready time. Kathy ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 10:54:00 -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: FFQs: Luthor's minions and contact lenses Yes, Ann, that helps a lot! Thanks! Chris ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 11:10:28 -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: Vocabulary questions (mostly US English) On Sat, 29 Sep 2001 15:42:59 +0200, Kaethel wrote: >Okay, the first question is, do you think that the inhabitants of Smallville >would have a specific name Probably not. It could be said for humor, but it most likely wouldn't be commonly used around town. What might work is using the high school's mascot -- e.g, "You're in Raider territory now!" or whatever mascot Smallville High uses. (The new Smallville series is using the Crows, but I don't know if that's from the comics or not. This would be like Lois's high school being the "Lions".) Small towns, especially in the midwest, tend to view football as king and people can be very passionate about their home team. >Also, would you know what I'm talking about if I mention Masonite wood? I would use "press-board" or "paper-board"; I hadn't heard of Masonite as a brand of wood before (I thought it might have been stone from the name) until reading other responses. > So how would you call a person who's constantly lying to everyone, not >just by need but really because they can't help it? A compulsive liar or a pathological liar. > Do you think I could >refer to something like Smallville County? Smallville *could* be in Smallville County, but more likely the county would have another name. If you want to make one up, use a name of a famous person -- Washington County, for example. If you want me to go through a map book to list the counties in south-east Kansas, I'd be happy to. Let me know. :) BTW, people that lived outside the Smallville town limits would officially be county residents, but likely would still have a Smallville mailing address. The Kent Farm, for example, would probably not actually be in Smallville itself (which would contain just the town) but they would have a Smallville mailing address. >Oh, and would it seem weird to find a mosquito net in a motel room in >Kansas, assuming Smallville is in the very south-east, at the foot of the >Flint Hills? Very, very weird. :) Kathy ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 11:11:49 -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: Re: Vocabulary questions (mostly US English) On Sat, 29 Sep 2001 10:58:02 EDT, Ann E. McBride wrote: >>>Having already replied, I just read everyone else's responses to this. Either it is regional or an age thing. You can always say press-board or chip-board. The difference in press-board and chip-board is: Press- board is shavings and glue; chip-board is chips/chunks and glue. They both smell like glue when you first get them.<<< In that case, since I've never heard of 'press-board', I'd recommend that Helene go with chipboard, since that seems to be known on both sides of the Atlantic. :) And yes, I'd recommend 'pathological liar' too. Wendy ------ Wendy Richards wendy@lcfanfic.com ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 11:20:41 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: LaNita Cornwall Subject: Re: Vocabulary questions (mostly US English) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Press "wood" is thick pieces of wood created by mashing wood chips and glue together. I call it fake wood. And refuse to buy anymore cheap bookcases or do-it-yourself furniture made out of it. It's usually covered with some type of plastic laminate in fake wood patterns. Masonite is not like press wood or chip board, because it's usually thin, 1/8 or 1/4 inch, slick on one side and rough on the other and a dark brown color. Large pieces are very flexible. What are you using this for? That would determine whether it would even be Masonite or not. LaNita LaNita Cornwall Library Systems Assistant Weatherford College Library 225 College Park Drive Weatherford, TX 76086 817 594-5471, ext. 456 http://www.wc.edu/library -----Original Message----- From: Wendy Richards [mailto:wendy@KINGSMEADOWCR.FREESERVE.CO.UK] Sent: Saturday, September 29, 2001 11:12 AM To: LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU Subject: Re: Vocabulary questions (mostly US English) On Sat, 29 Sep 2001 10:58:02 EDT, Ann E. McBride wrote: >>>Having already replied, I just read everyone else's responses to this. Either it is regional or an age thing. You can always say press-board or chip-board. The difference in press-board and chip-board is: Press- board is shavings and glue; chip-board is chips/chunks and glue. They both smell like glue when you first get them.<<< In that case, since I've never heard of 'press-board', I'd recommend that Helene go with chipboard, since that seems to be known on both sides of the Atlantic. :) And yes, I'd recommend 'pathological liar' too. Wendy ------ Wendy Richards wendy@lcfanfic.com ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 11:22:23 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: LaNita Cornwall Subject: Re: Vocabulary questions (mostly US English) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Okay, let's confuse this even further. Masonite is also called particle board around here. LaNita LaNita Cornwall Library Systems Assistant Weatherford College Library 225 College Park Drive Weatherford, TX 76086 817 594-5471, ext. 456 http://www.wc.edu/library ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 12:33:00 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: Vocabulary questions (mostly US English) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 9/29/01 9:44:06 AM Eastern Daylight Time, Kaethel@WANADOO.FR writes: > not likely. everyone would think they are little bad guys . <> Yes, but I'm not sure it's truly wood as in boards from trees. I think it's more of a manufactured board from saw dust and small stuff--sort of a pressed board. Certainly not as strong as real boards. We just say "Masonite" not "Masonite wood". <> I'd say this was much more likely in Florida or in Maine (for the black flies). But I do not know Kansas at all. --Laurie (figuring there are already a million better answers...) ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 09:37:17 -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: Unforeseen Consequences Part 9/? MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Unforeseen Consequences Part 9/? by Nan Smith CJ braced his body against the rocking of the car and found himself hoping desperately that he hadn't made a mistake. The grey sedan was moving fast, and he could hear the sounds of Jonny and Jimmy sobbing in the rear seat, and the harsh voice of one of the men who had invaded the house when his mom and Aunt Sandi had collapsed. He had been holding the baby and walking him back and forth in the den while his mom and Aunt Sandi talked softly in the living room, when he saw both of them crumple in their places. CJ wasn't exactly an expert, but he'd seen plenty of spy movies. He pulled the door to the den almost closed and rocked baby Perry gently, trying to keep him quiet, wrinkling his nose at the sharp, nasty stink of the gas. It didn't seem to be affecting him, although he'd gotten a good whiff of it before he pulled the door to. After a few seconds, three men had walked into the living room from the kitchen. They checked both women, and then disappeared quietly up the stairs. After a moment or two, CJ heard the screams of his younger brothers, and of Linda. Gritting his teeth, he stayed where he was. He couldn't help them, and if he went running up there right now, he'd only get grabbed, too. He heard Wyatt cry out in pain, and his sister, Marta's yell of fury, followed immediately by a pained bellow, apparently from one of the men. Scared as he was, he had to grin. They hadn't known what they were getting into by making Marta angry. If one of them had hurt Wyatt, he'd bet anything that his sis had made the guy pay. Marta would never have admitted it to anyone, but CJ suspected she liked Wyatt. She was never as tough on him as she was on other boys. Meanwhile, he was thinking fast. The invaders didn't know he was here, so that gave him time to do something to stop them, but if these were those Bureau 39 goons that Mom had told him about--which they probably were--they might just have the Kryptonite around somewhere, which meant he couldn't call his dad for help. On the other hand, he couldn't let them kidnap Linda, or the other kids, either. So, what should he do? If he called 911, the cops might get here in time, or they might not, and he'd almost certainly give himself away to these three creeps. But, he could find out where they were going if he went with them, if he could do it without being caught.... A story his mom had once told him about how she'd followed some car thieves to the chop shop that dismantled them for parts, popped into his mind and he considered it for just a moment. If it had worked for Mom, then it could work for him. He was even smaller than she was, so he should fit better. But he'd need a way to call for help when he got to wherever it was.... Gently, he put the drowsy baby down in his seat and snapped the safety belt over his middle. Satisfied that Perry was safe, at least for now, he ventured to open the door a crack and peek out. There was no one in sight. He wrinkled his nose at the smell, but it didn't seem to be causing him any trouble. Trying to breathe shallowly, he slipped out into the living room and closed the door to the den behind him. An instant later he was across the room and pulling the cellular phone from his mom's purse. He could see that she and Aunt Sandi were breathing all right, and the three guys had only been holding handkerchiefs over their faces, so it must only be some kind of knockout gas. Mom would be okay after she woke up. He only hoped she didn't kill him later, after she found out what he'd done but he wasn't going to let these guys kidnap Linda again--or hurt his family and Wyatt. The room was thick with the nasty-smelling gas, but it still wasn't bothering him at all. That must be one of the benefits of the fact that he wasn't human--or maybe his partial invulnerability was the reason. Still, he didn't dare waste time. He rummaged for another couple of items from the purse and hurried toward the kitchen on tiptoe. There was a nondescript, grey sedan parked in the alley behind the house. Even in the dimness, he could see it pretty clearly. This must be what Dad meant when he'd said that he was going to notice his eyesight getting better and better until he could see in the dark as well as he could by day. It wasn't that good yet, but it was well on its way. Dad had said that it had happened to him that way, but he'd deliberately refused to notice the fact because he'd been afraid of what was happening to him. That was something CJ didn't have to worry about. He let himself quietly out the gate. The trunk of the car was locked, naturally, but CJ wasn't going to let that stop him. He wasn't Lois Lane's son for nothing. His mom had showed him how to pick a lock one day a few months ago, just for the fun of it. In his hand, he clutched the lock pick that she kept in her purse. It couldn't be that hard to pick the lock of a car trunk, could it? Besides, now he could *see* what he was doing if he concentrated hard. Unfortunately, when the trunk opened, it sprang open suddenly and he felt something inside the lock break. Sure enough, the trunk wouldn't fasten when he climbed in and pulled the thing down. He'd planned on closing it and getting out through the rear seat like Mom had when the car stopped, but this changed things a little. He was going to have to hold the trunk lid shut and hope no one noticed. Gripping it with one hand, he thanked his Kryptonian heritage that he was already considerably stronger than an ordinary ten-year-old boy. Gripping the metal, he waited, trying to quiet his nervous breathing and to settle the shakiness that was making his heart do back flips in his chest. He wasn't Superman, but he was going to show these guys that it wasn't just Superman who could cause them trouble. Nobody went after *his* family like this and got away with it. The gate banged, and he trained his x-ray vision in the direction of the sound. The three men were dragging the five, struggling children out, and CJ noted with satisfaction that one of them was walking in a distinctly uncomfortable fashion. It looked like Marta had gotten him where it hurt at least once. Not only that, but now that he was looking for it, even with the blurry image supplied by his x-ray vision he could make out the fact that the same guy's wrist was bleeding heavily enough that blood had soaked his cuff and was dripping onto the ground. CJ could see a double row of cuts and bruises that looked remarkably like human tooth marks on the man's wrist. Involuntarily, he winced--if not in sympathy, at least in understanding, and found himself hoping conversely, that his sister had gotten a major blood vessel or something else useful. That would serve the jerk right. Marta was being held in a hammerlock by one of the other men; apparently, they had concluded rightly that she deserved the full attention of at least one person. CJ grinned slightly at his little sister's language, in spite of the situation. Mom and Dad would be appalled at the phrase she threw at the guy hanging onto her--or at least Dad would, he thought. Mom would probably have just washed her mouth out with soap. The back door of the car opened. CJ watched as the men shoved their captives inside, and shut the door. A second later, he heard the sound of some kind of locking system clicking into place. Someone cursed. "Gimmie something to wrap around my wrist. I'm bleeding to death here." One of the others laughed shortly. "Serves you right for underestimating a kid. Cash said one of 'em's a superkid. My money's on her. Get in the car and stop whining." A short time later, CJ found himself bracing his feet and free hand against the insides of the car trunk as the vehicle rounded a turn in the road. The trunk lid nearly jerked out of his grip and he grabbed at it with the other hand, sweat breaking out on his face. If the thing popped up, it would certainly give him away. Desperately, he straightened his legs somewhat and jammed his shoulders into the trunk side against the swaying of the vehicle. They were going fast; that much he could tell. Every time they hit a bump in the road or went around a corner, he was jerked this way or that and the trunk lid bounced. CJ gritted his teeth, closed his eyes and hung on with everything he had. Time passed with agonizing slowness as they maneuvered through evening traffic. Eventually, he began to hear a difference in the sounds of the city around him. The honk of horns and other normal background noise was becoming more distant, and the nature of the road underneath the car's tires changed. The pavement was no longer smooth, but uneven and rough, as if the surface was in poor repair. Somewhere, he heard the whistle of a train. Something jabbed irritatingly into his back. It didn't hurt exactly, but it wasn't comfortable. He tried to shift position and nearly lost his hold on the trunk lid again. He'd better just put up with the discomfort, he decided. If he did too much squirming around, he could very well make things worse. They rounded another turn and one of the back wheels hit a pothole. The rear of the car bounced violently and he banged his head hard against something metallic and sharp. That one hurt. Probably the jack, he thought, grimly. Mom's story hadn't mentioned all the pieces of junk that accumulated in the trunk of a car over time. Still, if his mother could handle this, he could. He had the advantage of burgeoning super powers to help him, and she hadn't, yet she'd done it and successfully brought down the bad guys. He didn't intend for these particular bad guys to discover his presence but at the very least, he could find out where they were taking the other kids and call for help. But who was he going to call? He hadn't had time to think about that before, in his hurry. Not his mom. She would come along with Dad, and if these characters whipped out that Kryptonite stuff, it could hurt the babies. He'd heard Dad say there were three of them. He might not be particularly thrilled about more brothers and sisters, but he darned well didn't want anything happening to them! He'd never be able to forgive himself if it did, and it would kill Mom and Dad. So Mom was out and so was Dad for almost the same reason. But he had a few other choices. Uncle Perry was too old, and besides, he'd probably tell Dad. The same objection applied to his Uncle Jim, but.... Then the perfect choice hit him. Mr. Henderson was an ex-cop, Dad trusted him, and best of all, Mom had the number to his cellular phone on speed dial. He'd know what to do, and maybe he could keep Superman away from the place. The faint starlight leaking in through the partially open trunk gave him enough illumination to hit the correct button. He waited until the car encountered a fairly smooth stretch of road, let go of the trunk lid with one hand, punched the button for Henderson's phone, and grabbed the trunk lid again before it got away from him. With his ear against the phone, where it lay on the bottom of the compartment, CJ gritted his teeth and waited while it automatically dialed and then began to ring. There was a faint click. A familiar voice said, "Henderson." "Mr. Henderson," he whispered, fairly certain he wouldn't be heard by the others above the noises inside the car, "this is CJ Kent. I need some help...." ********** Henderson was speaking to a frantic Lois Lane when his cellular phone rang and he answered it crisply. "Henderson." The whisper from the other end was almost drowned out by the sound of an automobile engine, but he was barely able to make it out and what he heard brought him instantly on the alert. "Mr. Henderson, this is CJ Kent. I need some help." He glanced at Lois, but asked, "Where are you?" "In the trunk of a car. There's three guys who've kidnapped Linda and the other kids. They don't know I'm here." Henderson opened his mouth but the whisper went on. "I've got my mom's phone, but I can't talk long--they might hear me." "Listen to me," Henderson said, "leave the phone on. Do you know where you are?" "No. I'll tell you as soon as the car stops." "I'm going to try to have the phone located," Henderson said. "Don't turn it off." "Okay." The boy's whisper was hard to hear, but Henderson caught the next words. "Don't let Superman come. I think they have something that can hurt him." "Don't worry," Henderson said. "I won't. Stay where you are if you can." "Okay." CJ's voice fell silent but Henderson could still hear the sound of the motor. He glanced at Lois. "Do you mind if I use the phone in your den? I have to make a private call and I want to keep this connection open." "Who is that?" Lois asked suspiciously. "Lois, I don't have time to discuss it. I need to make that call right now." He was already striding toward the den. "I'll be right back." ********** Superman cruised above the warehouse, scanning it with his x-ray vision. The building was dark and one look told him that no one was there. The cubicles were deserted and bereft of equipment. Even the drawers of the desks were empty of materials. He reversed course back toward the townhouse. He wouldn't have believed that Superman could actually find himself short of breath from sheer panic, but he felt as if he couldn't get enough air. His mind screamed at him to *do* something, and he'd rarely felt so impotent. His children had been kidnapped and there was literally *nothing* he could do. He whisked through the window of the townhouse to find Perry, Alice, Jimmy, Sandi and Lois standing about in the living room and Henderson speaking forcefully into the phone in the den. He caught only the last few words and in other circumstances would have winced at the Deputy Mayor's last phrase to the hapless subordinate on the other end but at this moment, his sense of humor had deserted him. "Superman, did you find anything?" Sandi asked. She was clutching her baby tightly. He shook his head. "The warehouse is empty," he said. "Somehow, they got word." "But how could they?" Alice whispered. "Unless there's someone in the police department...." "That must be how they knew Linda was here," Sandi said. "That's what I think," Bill Henderson said, entering the room and shutting the door to the den. "What they don't know is I've got an ace up my *own* sleeve as well. I've got someone using the global positioning system to locate a certain cellular phone. And my guy *isn't* in the police department." "What cellular phone?" Lois asked. "Yours. And as soon as I know where it winds up, we'll know where to go to find the kids. And *no*, Lois, you aren't going and that's final. And neither are you, Superman." "Who was that call from?" Lois demanded. "CJ. He's in the trunk of their car with your phone and they don't know it. You've taught that kid of yours better than you thought, Lois. Of course, if he were mine, I'd probably tan his hide after this stunt." "Bill, I *have* to go." Clark felt his usually stoic Superman persona coming dangerously close to cracking. "Yes, and so do I!" Lois asserted. ********** There were times, Henderson thought, that the image of cynicism and the poker face that he'd carefully cultivated over his thirty years on the police force still stood him in good stead. He glanced at Lois and then at Superman, wondering if the Man of Steel had any idea how much his face was giving away at that moment. He was about to refuse, but then a thought made him reconsider. If he had Superman along with him, at least he could maintain a certain amount of control over what he did. He made a face. "Dammit, Superman, I wish I didn't owe you so many favors. All right, you can come if you promise to obey every order I give you. If I tell you to stop, you stop. Do I have your word?" Clark didn't hesitate. "You have it." "How about me?" Lois demanded. "Absolutely not," Henderson said, flatly. "Lois, you're pregnant with three babies. I won't risk them, too." Especially, he thought, knowing now whose kids those were. Oddly enough, his sudden realization wasn't really a surprise. He'd have to think about that after this was all over, but right now, he needed to focus on the job at hand. He had some fanatics to take care of and some kids to rescue. Lois opened her mouth to protest and closed it again, seeming to deflate. "Why do you always have to be so logical? You're right. But I want to know as soon as they're safe." "I promise you will--if only to keep you from doing something stupid," Henderson said, with a sour smile. "Lois, I don't want anything to happen to those kids, either. That oldest boy of yours has more guts than is good for him, but I've got to say he keeps his head. As soon as we have a definite location, we'll go. I've got some guys I trust assembling right now." "Where's Linda's mom?" Sandi asked, in a subdued tone. "Does she know what's happened?" "No." Henderson shook his head sharply. "She's safe with a friend of mine. I decided she'd be better off if no one knew where she was, as soon as you called me. If there's someone on the force who's in contact with these characters, after what Superman overheard I don't want him to be able to find her, and I'd as soon he didn't have any idea that we're onto him." He glanced at Lois's strained face and allowed himself to reveal a trace of human emotion. "Lois, I'm going to get those kids back safely. You've got my word on it." ********** (tbc) ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 11:36:08 -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: Re: Vocabulary questions (mostly US English) >From LaNita's description, it sounds as if Masonite is what's called MDF over here; very cheap fake wood which is widely used in DIY. So it's like chipboard with some sort of varnish, or as LaNita said, laminate, over it. Just to confuse things further! Wendy --------- Wendy Richards wendy@lcfanfic.com ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 09:42:31 -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: FFQs: Luthor's minions and contact lenses MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit My daughter, Tara, wears soft contacts. She wears the same pair daily for six weeks, then discards them and puts in another pair. Maybe this will give you a little info to help. Nan Kathy Brown wrote: > On Sat, 29 Sep 2001 08:23:28 -0500, Chris Carr > wrote: > > >Does anyone know whether someone who hasn't got along with contact lenses in > >the past might find that a different sort of lens suits them better? (I'm > >guessing that the answer to this is yes, but I'd like some details if > >possible.) E.g. are newer, disposable, lenses more comfortable to wear? Are > >certain cleaning solutions more irritating than others? > > The newer disposable lenses supposedly contain a higher percentage of water, > and thus are said to be more comfortable to wear but less durable. I've seen > magazine articles that say that the daily wear lenses and disposable lenses > are exactly the same, and customers can save money by getting the cheaper > ones. The eye doctors I've asked all disagree, saying that the disposables > aren't as durable, and shouldn't be worn for longer than the time specified. > So who to believe? Personally, I think wearing time, like comfort, vary so > much from person to person that you can only talk in statistics but not > sweeping generalizations. > > Fitting prescriptions with the newest products can take some time, too. For > example, at least as of 18 months ago, I couldn't get disposables in my exact > Rx; they made one a little stronger or a little weaker, but they didn't have > all the options yet. Since I do so well with soft torics (the daily wear > soft lenses for people with an astigmatism), my doctor and I agreed we'd just > stick with those instead of trying to fiddle with various other lenses to see > if one might possibly work. (BTW, I believe they now have bifocal contacts > -- like for astigmatism, they are weighted at the bottom to keep the correct > orientation.) > > All that said, I, too, wore gas perms (also called semi-hard) successfully > for years, but then late in college, my eyes started to reject them. After > struggling for a long time, I finally just gave up and wore glasses. A few > years later, a new eye doctor convinced me to try soft lenses (which I had > earlier been told I couldn't wear, because of my astigmatism) and the > difference was dramatic. I was absolutely amazed at the difference -- even > during my best days with the gas perms, I had to be hyper-aware of any wind, > blowing dust, etc. But with softs, I almost *never* get anything in my eyes. > > For a different example, my husband has disposables that he wears only very > occasionally (e.g., while downhill skiing or while giving community telescope > demonstrations) and he can wear them for hours and not even feel them. This > is quite a far cry from the old days when you had to "break in" your eyes by > wearing lenses only a few hours at time. His problem, though, is in > inserting and removing them -- since he only wears them a few times a year, > he's never gotten good at putting them in and he has to allow a lot of extra > getting ready time. > > Kathy ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 11:41:15 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: LaNita Cornwall Subject: Re: Vocabulary questions (mostly US English) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" I think it's called "particle" board, because the material it's made out of is literally very small particles of wood. Sort of ground up looking with occasional sliver sized bits. They put some sort of finish on the front and the back is bumpy and kind of fuzzy. Not smooth at all. It's very hard to nail into. Almost have to drill holes first and use very thin nails. I know what you might have seen it on. Sometimes it's used as the backing on the cheap furniture that is made out of press wood. Like bookshelves. The sides and shelves would be press wood, but the back panel would be particle board because it's thinner and lighter. LaNita LaNita Cornwall Library Systems Assistant Weatherford College Library 225 College Park Drive Weatherford, TX 76086 817 594-5471, ext. 456 http://www.wc.edu/library -----Original Message----- From: Wendy Richards [mailto:wendy@KINGSMEADOWCR.FREESERVE.CO.UK] Sent: Saturday, September 29, 2001 11:36 AM To: LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU Subject: Re: Vocabulary questions (mostly US English) >From LaNita's description, it sounds as if Masonite is what's called MDF over here; very cheap fake wood which is widely used in DIY. So it's like chipboard with some sort of varnish, or as LaNita said, laminate, over it. Just to confuse things further! Wendy --------- Wendy Richards wendy@lcfanfic.com ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 09:45:15 -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: Vocabulary questions (mostly US English) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Another term you might think about is "particle-board". I think it's fairly self-explanatory. Nan Kathy Brown wrote: > On Sat, 29 Sep 2001 15:42:59 +0200, Kaethel wrote: > > >Okay, the first question is, do you think that the inhabitants of Smallville > >would have a specific name > > Probably not. It could be said for humor, but it most likely wouldn't be > commonly used around town. > > What might work is using the high school's mascot -- e.g, "You're in Raider > territory now!" or whatever mascot Smallville High uses. (The new Smallville > series is using the Crows, but I don't know if that's from the comics or not. > This would be like Lois's high school being the "Lions".) Small towns, > especially in the midwest, tend to view football as king and people can be > very passionate about their home team. > > >Also, would you know what I'm talking about if I mention Masonite wood? > > I would use "press-board" or "paper-board"; I hadn't heard of Masonite as a > brand of wood before (I thought it might have been stone from the name) until > reading other responses. > > > So how would you call a person who's constantly lying to everyone, not > >just by need but really because they can't help it? > > A compulsive liar or a pathological liar. > > > Do you think I could > >refer to something like Smallville County? > > Smallville *could* be in Smallville County, but more likely the county would > have another name. If you want to make one up, use a name of a famous person > -- Washington County, for example. If you want me to go through a map book > to list the counties in south-east Kansas, I'd be happy to. Let me know. :) > > BTW, people that lived outside the Smallville town limits would officially be > county residents, but likely would still have a Smallville mailing address. > The Kent Farm, for example, would probably not actually be in Smallville > itself (which would contain just the town) but they would have a Smallville > mailing address. > > >Oh, and would it seem weird to find a mosquito net in a motel room in > >Kansas, assuming Smallville is in the very south-east, at the foot of the > >Flint Hills? > > Very, very weird. :) > > Kathy ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 18:43:57 +0200 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Kaethel Subject: Re: Vocabulary questions (mostly US English) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Wow, lots of *very* helpful replies, thank you so much, guys. :) Okay, for Smallville, I suppose I'll go for "the inhabitants of Smallville", since it seems Smallville would be too small for its inhabitants to have a specific name (didn't know that, as even the smallest of villages gives a name to its inhabitants over here ). Kathy, I can't really refer to them by the name of their football team in this case, because Lois has just landed there and had no idea this town even existed until very recently. For Masonite, I think I'll go for chipboard; as Wendy says, it seems to be the consensus that this word will be broadly recognised, and according to Ann's description, it's exactly what I meant. Lanita, I'm using it for the description of the furniture in a cheap motel. Laurie, your description of Masonite is *exactly* what I'm looking for, but since the word produced more than a couple of puzzled 'huh'? , I'll use a more generic term. :) Thanks for the suggestion to translate 'mythomane', everyone - I'll go for 'pathological liar', as it's a phrase I already knew (but never thought about it until it was mentioned!). Now, don't ask me why my dictionary (which is supposedly the very best and most complete you can find here) only suggested 'mythomaniac'. :P~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As for counties, I seem to have misunderstood the meaning of the word. Ann, you say it's some kind of equivalent of our 'prefectures', but I was looking for something like our 'cantons', namely, a division that is even smaller than city itself, but comprises part of the country around it - like, for example, the north-eastern part of the city, plus a a bit of country in the same direction, that also belongs to the town. Not sure I'm being very clear, here, but let me know if you see what I mean and if there's any word referring to such a thing in the US. Kathy, thanks for the offer to look up the name of counties in southeastern Kansas, appreciated. :) But I guess I'll just go for Washington County or Franklin County it a county turns out to be what I was aiming for, despite my current confusion. :) I'll give up on the mosquito net, as it seems to be the strangest thing ever in a motel room. Chris, Kelly, Lanita, Ann, Kathy, Wendy, and Laurie, thank you very much for your prompt and extremely helpful answers. :) Helene :) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kaethel Kaethel@wanadoo.fr I used to think, as birds take wing, They sing through life, so why can't we? We cling to this, and claim the best If this is what you're offering I'll take the rain, I'll take the rain R.E.M. - I'll Take the Rain ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 18:45:45 +0200 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Kaethel Subject: Re: Vocabulary questions (mostly US English) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Nan sneaked in a reply as I was posting, so thank you, Nan :)) Helene :) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kaethel Kaethel@wanadoo.fr I used to think, as birds take wing, They sing through life, so why can't we? We cling to this, and claim the best If this is what you're offering I'll take the rain, I'll take the rain R.E.M. - I'll Take the Rain ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 11:52:19 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: LaNita Cornwall Subject: Re: Vocabulary questions (mostly US English) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" As for counties, I seem to have misunderstood the meaning of the word. Ann, you say it's some kind of equivalent of our 'prefectures', but I was looking for something like our 'cantons', namely, a division that is even smaller than city itself, but comprises part of the country around it - like, for example, the north-eastern part of the city, plus a a bit of country in the same direction, that also belongs to the town. Not sure I'm being very clear, here, but let me know if you see what I mean and if there's any word referring to such a thing in the US. I think some large cities have boroughs, which are smaller sections of the city. Like Queens in New York, but Smallville would be much too small for anything like that. Sometimes sections of a town will acquire nicknames like "the hill," to indicate a physical feature or type of neighborhood, etc. But they probably wouldn't be anything official, especially in a small town. Chip board or chip wood (we use press wood in Texas more than the other two) is what cheap furniture is made of, with particle board for non-structural elements like drawer bottoms. This is lots more fun than running reports to make labels for books. LaNita LaNita Cornwall Library Systems Assistant Weatherford College Library 225 College Park Drive Weatherford, TX 76086 817 594-5471, ext. 456 http://www.wc.edu/library ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 13:25:43 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Katherine L. Klesch" Subject: Re: Vocabulary questions (mostly US English) In-Reply-To: <010b01c14905$ef70dd60$92ecfac1@oemcomputer> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" >As for counties, I seem to have misunderstood the meaning of the word. Ann, >you say it's some kind of equivalent of our 'prefectures', but I was looking >for something like our 'cantons', namely, a division that is even smaller >than city itself, but comprises part of the country around it - like, >for example, the north-eastern part of the city, plus a a bit of country in >the same direction, that also belongs to the town. Not sure I'm being very >clear, here, but let me know if you see what I mean and if there's any word >referring to such a thing in the US. Counties here tend to be fairly large. In Columbus (Ohio), Franklin County where I live encompasses all of the city and most of the surrounding suburbs-- I would guess you could drive across it in about an hour. Maybe Township would be closer to what you're looking for, as I think there are several smaller townships within a county. Also, in large cities I know the term precinct applies, but I'm not really sure what it means exactly. Maybe someone from a bigger city can help with that one? Kaylle ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 13:39:31 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Ann E. McBride" Subject: Re: FFQs: Luthor's minions and contact lenses MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 9/29/01 11:53:43 AM Eastern Daylight Time, kathybrown91@HOME.COM writes: > (BTW, I believe they now have bifocal contacts > -- like for astigmatism, they are weighted at the bottom to keep the correct > orientation.) > They have bifocal contacts, but I don't know anyone who has successfully used them. The hard ones are weighted, so if you can't wear hard ones, you are out of luck. The soft ones have concentric circles of near and far correction -- everyone I know, including myself, found that they couldn't see clearly at any distance with them. Apparently, they have a way to go on development. Ann ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 10:12:38 -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: Re: Vocabulary questions (mostly US English) In-Reply-To: <008b01c148ec$bb819d00$92ecfac1@oemcomputer> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" At 03:42 PM 29/09/2001 +0200, you wrote: >Hey guys, > >While putting the finishing touches to my current WIP, I ran across a few >vocabulary problems and wanted to know if some of you could help me out. > >Okay, the first question is, do you think that the inhabitants of Smallville >would have a specific name (I mean, like the inhabitants of New York are New >Yorkers). Would it be something like Smallvillians? Smallvillers? What do >you think? Smallvillers, or maybe Smallvillites? >Also, would you know what I'm talking about if I mention Masonite wood? This >is a word I looked up in my French/English dictionary and it corresponds to >what we call "agglomere" here, namely a very cheap sort of wood. Masonite >seems to be a brand, but I want to make sure it's known and people don't go >'huh??' when reading the description where it appears. I know my BRs are >going 'huh?' with it, so I really wonder if it actually exists. And would >there be any other way to refer to such a kind of wood without making it >puzzling for anyone? Sounds like plywood to me... >Another question directed more towards people who are bilingual, maybe (Ann? >Mel? Please? :)). In French we have this word to refer to people who're >lying all the time: "mythomanes". My French/English dictionary translates it >with "mythomaniac", but neither WORD's spellchecker nor my BRs recognise the >word. So how would you call a person who's constantly lying to everyone, not >just by need but really because they can't help it? Compulsive liar, is what I've usually heard. There may be some academic term (which might be this 'mythomaniac' word you came up with), but you aren't writing for academics, now are you? :) >Okay, another thing (yes, I have many questions ). Do you think I could >refer to something like Smallville County? I'm not familiar with the US >states divisions, so I'm really in the dark, here. Yeah, in the States they often have counties, so if Smallville is big enough to be a county seat (the main town of a county), the county could be named after it. When I was going to school in southwest Michigan, one of the local counties was Cass County, the seat of which was Cassopolis. And the town where my school was, Berrien Springs, either was originally or was currently (I'm not sure) the county seat - it has an old court house and stuff like that - although it is not now the largest town in Berrien County... You see what I mean? >Oh, and would it seem weird to find a mosquito net in a motel room in >Kansas, assuming Smallville is in the very south-east, at the foot of the >Flint Hills? I would think it would, unless there are lots of swamps and other mosquito breeding grounds nearby. If I know my North American geography, Kansas is in one of the drier parts of the States, and you need standing water to breed mosquitoes... Hope it helps! Melisma (ducking shyly back under her Rock - she'd have let other FoLCs answer, except you *specifically* mentioned her name :) Visit my rock at http://www.intergate.ca/personal/melisma/index.html ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 14:10:33 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Ann E. McBride" Subject: Re: Vocabulary questions (mostly US English) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable In a message dated 9/29/01 12:44:38 PM Eastern Daylight Time,=20 Kaethel@WANADOO.FR writes: > As for counties, I seem to have misunderstood the meaning of the word. Ann= , > you say it's some kind of equivalent of our 'prefectures', but I was looki= ng > for something like our 'cantons', namely, a division that is even smaller > than city itself, but comprises part of the country around it - like, > for example, the north-eastern part of the city, plus a a bit of country i= n > the same direction, that also belongs to the town. Not sure I'm being very > clear, here, but let me know if you see what I mean and if there's any wor= d >=20 LaNita replied: <> New York is the only city in the US that I'm aware of that has "boroughs." =20= I=20 suppose it is possible that Los Angeles or Chicago might have some sort of=20 official subset like that, but I have never heard of it. As LaNita said,=20 many cities have neighborhoods which have names. I live in an area of=20 Louisville, KY that is called "the Highlands." It is within the city limits= =20 and is not even clearly defined by residents in terms of where it starts and= =20 stops. But those neighborhoods are more for cultural identity than anything= =20 else. They aren't administrative divisions of the city. and Kaylle said: <> Speak for yourself, Kaylle. :-) You say this because you live in Ohio. In= =20 Kentucky, we have more counties than Ohio has, yet the state itself is=20 smaller. =20 <<=A0 In Columbus (Ohio), Franklin County where I live encompasses all of th= e=20 city and most of the surrounding suburbs-- I would guess you could drive=20 across it in about an hour.>> That depends. Have they finished the construction on 315 yet? OT, but=20 where exactly do you live? I grew up in Upper Arlington, and my parents=20 still live there. <<=A0 Maybe Township would be closer to what you're looking for, as I think=20 there are several smaller townships within a county.=A0>> Townships primarily exist in the states that were part of the Northwest=20 Ordinance. Kansas was not part of that territory, but might have the same=20 setup. They might have them in New England, too. A township is part of a=20 county -- sort of an unincorporated town. Smallville could be a township=20 itself. But it always looked to me like it might be the county seat, so it=20 would be an incorporated city, rather than a township. For those of you who= =20 care, a city would have a fire department, a police department and a public=20 school system. A township might rely on the county to provide those=20 services, due to its small size. << Also, in large cities I know, the term precinct applies, but I'm not=20 really sure what it means exactly. Maybe someone from a bigger city can hel= p=20 with that >> Precincts, or wards, as they call them here, have to do with voting district= s=20 in cities. For example, a large city would be divided into precincts or=20 wards which would then elect representatives to the city legislative body --= =20 Board of Alderman, City Council, or whatever. Precincts or wards don't=20 really have much to do with administration, though, the way Helene is=20 thinking. And of course, there are police precincts, which are the=20 geographical divisions of the police force. I honestly have never heard of any division that included part of a city and= =20 part of a county. If an area is incorporated into a city, it ceases to be=20 governed much by the county. There is a significant division between the=20 two. For example, the county in Ohio that Kaylle is talking about, Franklin= =20 County, comprises the capital of Ohio, Columbus, along with quite a few othe= r=20 cities and towns. The town I grew up in, Upper Arlington, has about 35,000=20 people, a professional fire department, a police department, a school system= =20 providing k-12 education, and a complete city government. That is typical o= f=20 the other small cities in Franklin Co. -- Worthington, Bexley, Grove City,=20 Reynoldsburg, etc. Franklin Co. itself, has very little effect on any of=20 those towns. (And when it tries to, the people complain. ) =20 Hope this helps, Helene. =20 Ann ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 14:13:50 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Ann E. McBride" Subject: Re: Vocabulary questions (mostly US English) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 9/29/01 1:42:14 PM Eastern Daylight Time, melisma@INTERGATE.CA writes: > . When I was going to school in southwest Michigan, one of > the local counties was Cass County, the seat of which was Cassopolis. And > the town where my school was, Berrien Springs, either was originally or was > currently (I'm not sure) the county seat - it has an old court house and > stuff like that - although it is not now the largest town in Berrien > Oh my goodness! It is a small world. Melisma, I have been to all those places. My ex-husband is from Kalamazoo, and his parents have a cottage on a lake near Lawton, which is near Paw Paw. Don't you love these names? If the county and the town had similar names, it still wouldn't be Smallville County. It would be "Small County" or something similar. I think I'd go with a dead patriot name, myself. Ann ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 15:22:39 -0400 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Katherine L. Klesch" Subject: Re: Vocabulary questions (mostly US English) In-Reply-To: <154.1c5d126.28e76899@aol.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ><< In Columbus (Ohio), Franklin County where I live encompasses all of the >city and most of the surrounding suburbs-- I would guess you could drive >across it in about an hour.>> > >That depends. Have they finished the construction on 315 yet? OT, but >where exactly do you live? I grew up in Upper Arlington, and my parents >still live there. I hate to show how traffically-uninformed I am, but I have no idea if they've finished construction. I probably couldn't get to 315 to save my life ;-p. I don't drive much, so I don't know how to get anywhere. I used to have nightmares about falling asleep while driving and waking up someplace weird and not knowing how to get back! I'm at college in Boston now, but "home" is still in the Hilliard/West Jefferson area, just off W. Broad Street. (We also lived further east, in Westerville, when I was in grade school. I can't understand how a town called Westerville ended up an eastern suburb.) I think officially I don't live in a city at all (we're just a township), but we go to Hilliard schools. And for comparison's sake, both Hilliard and Prairie Township have fire departments, but I don't think Prairie has a police force or anything else. The town I grew up in, Upper Arlington, has about 35,000 >people, a professional fire department, a police department, a school system >providing k-12 education, and a complete city government. That is typical of >the other small cities in Franklin Co. -- Worthington, Bexley, Grove City, >Reynoldsburg, etc. Franklin Co. itself, has very little effect on any of >those towns. (And when it tries to, the people complain. ) This is silly, but it's so nice to hear someone talk about places I know! When I lived in Ohio I thought it was fairly normal and/or boring, but now I don't live there anymore I miss it! I need to go home for a visit sometime soon. ;-) Kaylle ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 19:36:55 +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: Re: FFQs: Luthor's minions and contact lenses Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed Don't know about Luthor's minions, but I do know something about contacts. I got contacts three (four?) years ago, and had to use a Toric lens for my right eye (for astigmatism). That stupid thing drove me batty! I hated wearing it, it irritated and dried out my eye too quickly (absolutely *no* problems with the regular lens in the left eye, though), and was a general pain in the...eye. This past spring I got contacts again (discovered I couldn't see well enough in dance without my glasses and broke down and got 'em again) and my astigmatism had shrunk (don't ask me how, though!) and so I got regular lenses for both eyes, which have been *way* easier to deal with. I have no experience with hard lenses and have only used the one brand of my 'regular' soft lenses. Bethy >Contact lenses: > >Does anyone know whether someone who hasn't got along with contact lenses >in >the past might find that a different sort of lens suits them better? (I'm >guessing that the answer to this is yes, but I'd like some details if >possible.) E.g. are newer, disposable, lenses more comfortable to wear? >Are >certain cleaning solutions more irritating than others? > >Thanks in advance! > >Chris _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 19:39:25 +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: Re: Vocabulary questions (mostly US English) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed Hélène, >Okay, the first question is, do you think that the inhabitants of >Smallville would have a specific name (I mean, like the inhabitants of New >York are New Yorkers). Would it be something like Smallvillians? >Smallvillers? What do you think? Well, I'm from Michigan and am thus a Michigander, but I'm also from the Shelby Township and thus "from Shelby Township." I doubt that Smallvillians/ers/etc would have a special name. They'd probably just say "I'm from Smallville." >Also, would you know what I'm talking about if I mention Masonite wood? Nope. Sorry. But things like that sometimes pop up in stories and I understand from the context. >In French we have this word to refer to people who're lying all the time: >"mythomanes". My French/English dictionary translates it with >"mythomaniac", but neither WORD's spellchecker nor my BRs recognise the >word. So how would you call a person who's constantly lying to everyone, >not just by need but really because they can't help it? A pathological liar. >Okay, another thing (yes, I have many questions ). Do you think I could >refer to something like Smallville County? I'm not familiar with the US >states divisions, so I'm really in the dark, here. I'm not 100% sure, but I don't think Smallville would be the county. "-ville" implies town/village (maybe from the French word 'ville'?) and although I've seen towns with the same name as the county (I live in Macomb County, and East of us is "Macomb"), but somehow I doubt Smallville would be the county name. >Oh, and would it seem weird to find a mosquito net in a motel room in >Kansas, assuming Smallville is in the very south-east, at the foot of the >Flint Hills? I don't know where the Flint Hills are, but didn't they mention something on the show (or is it only in fanfics?) that Smallville was outside Wichita? And I've *never* seen a mosquito net in a motel room anywhere in the country that I've been to a motel (~30 states and counting ) Bethy _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 20:50:45 +0100 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Meredith Knight Subject: Re: FFQs: Luthor's minions and contact lenses In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Chris Carr writes >So... Luthor's minions: > >I'm putting together as comprehensive a list of Luthor's known minions as I >possibly can. I dare say I won't use them all in the story I'm working on, >but I'd like as much choice as possible before I choose who I *do* use. To >that end, can anyone remember the names of the jumpers from Neverending >Battle? The script has the names as Jules Johnson and Monique Kahn. It also has the third minion as "Albert", but I seem to recall it was actually Nigel (same actor, I mean) >Also the guy who sold Luthor the Kryptonite in BaTP? Devane. Of course, he didn't survive the experience. The bean-counter that Lex put in as Perry's boss at the Planet was Chip Peterson, fwiw. >(BTW, has anyone noticed just how many unethical scientists Luthor got >involved with?) Scary, isn't it? >Does anyone know whether someone who hasn't got along with contact lenses in >the past might find that a different sort of lens suits them better? (I'm >guessing that the answer to this is yes, but I'd like some details if >possible.) E.g. are newer, disposable, lenses more comfortable to wear? Are >certain cleaning solutions more irritating than others? Definitely. I've never had muchble with soft lenses, but I'm now wearing the new 24-hour lenses (wear 'em for a month, take 'em out & throw them away) and they're a dream. Nobody else has mentioned chemicals, either. Early lens chemicals used thiomersal as a preservative, and it was horrible stuff. I think I was allergic; every time I used the protein remover on my lenses it would be six hours before my eyes stopped burning. None of the new chemicals have thiomersal, and many have no preservative at all. Hope this helps, Meredith -- Meredith Knight "All the pebbles had fat smiling faces, and the anemones had mad bright eyes above their frills." ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 16:15:41 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Ann E. McBride" Subject: Re: Vocabulary questions (mostly US English) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 9/29/01 3:25:24 PM Eastern Daylight Time, klesch@MIT.EDU writes: > This is silly, but it's so nice to hear someone talk about places I know! > When I lived in Ohio I thought it was fairly normal and/or boring, but now > I don't live there anymore I miss it! I need to go home for a visit > sometime soon. > Not silly at all. :-) I agree -- Central Ohio is so normal and boring that it is unbelievable. It is nice though, isn't it? We used to ride our bikes out in the country when I was in high school and college -- we'd ride to Hilliard. I worked at the Big Bear in Golden Bear Shopping Center in high school (you can tell how old I am from that) and lots of the kids who worked there were from Hilliard. To me, Central Ohio is sort of like geographical comfort-food. For all those who care, think "Smallville Corn Festival." Even around a large city like Columbus, all the little suburban towns have summer festivals and fairs, usually in conjunction with the Fourth of July. People go to parades and picnics, all star baseball games and fireworks at night. Yeah, we need to go home for a visit, Kaylle. Ann ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 13:23:44 -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: Vocabulary questions MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I think most of these have been resolved except for the smaller entity within a city. Ann wrote: >I honestly have never heard of any division that included part >of a city and >part of a county. -----The medium sized city adjacent to our small city is encompassed by a school district which has the same name but which also includes our entire town plus at least 2 other incorporated areas plus part of the county plus part a another medium-sized next-door city. The school district is a separate governmental jurisdiction and is not governed by the other entities. The first mentioned city has a few areas which are called communities and have names. They also, by grandfathered law, have community councils which have the legal right to veto some decisions by the city council that impact their area. Community could be a good reference if you attach a name, such as Lake Hills Community or Eastgate Community. In Arkansas where I grew up, the county had communities all over the place. They all had names and everyone knew where they were, but they had no legal standing. Our local small town newspaper ran 'items' once a week from these communities and headlined them with the community name: Bono, Acklin Gap, Rowlett, Bee Branch, Pickles Gap, Greenbrier etc... My parents never missed reading them because they knew people who lived there there. Looks like you have a whole smorgasbord of ideas to choose from, Helene. Even if community doesn't work for you, thanks for giving me an opportunity to recall those great community names from my childhood. :)Jude ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 16:46:43 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: Vocabulary questions (mostly US English) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 9/29/01 12:44:38 PM Eastern Daylight Time, Kaethel@WANADOO.FR writes: > I'm using it for the > description of the furniture in a cheap motel. Laurie, your description of > Masonite is *exactly* what I'm looking for, but since the word produced more > than a couple of puzzled 'huh'? then particle board woudl be more accurate. Other than maybe the back of a piece of furniture, they don't generally use the dark brown masonite for making furniture. would be darn hard to paint! <> nope, no such word. Though some regions seem to use an unofficial term to describe not only a whole large city but the surrounding areas outside the city. In NYC, they use "NY Metropolitan area" and I was amused to hear a weather forecaster in Chicago talk about "Chicagoland." Otherwise, you might just want to stick to county. SOme of our counties -- and even townships-- in New York might just be familiar place names to those in the UK... Hey, people named their new homes after their old ones. -Laurie ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 16:50:56 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: Vocabulary questions (mostly US English) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 9/29/01 1:28:12 PM Eastern Daylight Time, klesch@MIT.EDU writes: > Also, in large cities I know > the term precinct applies, but I'm not really sure what it means exactly. > I only know the term from either police precincts--the area under the watch of that particular police station--or meaning election district--the area that is designated to vote at one particular location. These are not any sort of "official" division of the city for any other matters. Only NYC has boroughs that I know of. And those were originally counties that later joined together to become one city. --Laurie (whose county did not get to be a part of NYC and felt its needs were ignored so later broke off from Queens County to be a separate county) ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 22:00:33 +0100 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Meredith Knight Subject: Re: FFQs: Luthor's minions and contact lenses In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Meredith Knight writes >Definitely. I've never had muchble with soft lenses, but I'm now Muchble??? Read: much trouble. -- Meredith Knight "All the pebbles had fat smiling faces, and the anemones had mad bright eyes above their frills." ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 17:03:45 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: Vocabulary questions (mostly US English) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 9/29/01 2:11:08 PM Eastern Daylight Time, Aerm1@AOL.COM writes: > Townships primarily exist in the states that were part of the Northwest > Ordinance. Kansas was not part of that territory, but might have the same > setup. They might have them in New England, too. A township is part of a > county -- sort of an unincorporated town. Smallville could be a township > itself. But it always looked to me like it might be the county seat, so it > would be an incorporated city, rather than a township. For those of you > who > care, a city would have a fire department, a police department and a public > school system. A township might rely on the county to provide those > services, due to its small size. > Northwest? TOwnships are a big deal in New Jersey. We have them in New York... However, our school systems are even smaller than that! they basically encompass a community or there abouts (generally not even an incorporated area). My county has 3 townships (though we call them Towns here). Suffolk County, the easternmost one on Long Island, has 10 townships (and yes, I can name them all!). Neither of our counties has a county seat with the same name as the county but many (but not all) of our Townships have a town seat with the same name. --Laurie ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2001 07:10:25 +1000 Reply-To: jenerators@optushome.com.au Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Jen Stosser Subject: Re: Vocabulary questions (mostly US English) In-Reply-To: <008b01c148ec$bb819d00$92ecfac1@oemcomputer> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Responding before reading all the other responses: 1. I've never heard of Smallville locals being called anything in particular, but maybe Smallvillagers would do? I dunno... 2. Masonite is sometimes referred to here as Plywood, or is something similar. It's the type of wood that might be used as the back of a cupboard, so just a thin layer of wood. 3. There may well be a word to describe someone who lies compulsively, but the only phrase I can come up with at 7am on a Sunday is "compulsive liar" 4 & 5. I have no idea. Jen jenerators@optushome.com.au -*- This message is umop ap!sdn -*- -*- Jenerator or Some1Else on IRC) -*- JenerEight on AIM -*- Photos of David (9) and Megan (6) on the Stosser Family HomePage: http://www.geocities.com/j_stosser -*-Please sign our guestbook! -----Original Message----- From: Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic [mailto:LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU] On Behalf Of Kaethel Sent: Saturday, September 29, 2001 11:43 PM To: LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU Subject: Vocabulary questions (mostly US English) Hey guys, While putting the finishing touches to my current WIP, I ran across a few vocabulary problems and wanted to know if some of you could help me out. Okay, the first question is, do you think that the inhabitants of Smallville would have a specific name (I mean, like the inhabitants of New York are New Yorkers). Would it be something like Smallvillians? Smallvillers? What do you think? Also, would you know what I'm talking about if I mention Masonite wood? This is a word I looked up in my French/English dictionary and it corresponds to what we call "agglomere" here, namely a very cheap sort of wood. Masonite seems to be a brand, but I want to make sure it's known and people don't go 'huh??' when reading the description where it appears. I know my BRs are going 'huh?' with it, so I really wonder if it actually exists. And would there be any other way to refer to such a kind of wood without making it puzzling for anyone? Another question directed more towards people who are bilingual, maybe (Ann? Mel? Please? :)). In French we have this word to refer to people who're lying all the time: "mythomanes". My French/English dictionary translates it with "mythomaniac", but neither WORD's spellchecker nor my BRs recognise the word. So how would you call a person who's constantly lying to everyone, not just by need but really because they can't help it? Okay, another thing (yes, I have many questions ). Do you think I could refer to something like Smallville County? I'm not familiar with the US states divisions, so I'm really in the dark, here. Oh, and would it seem weird to find a mosquito net in a motel room in Kansas, assuming Smallville is in the very south-east, at the foot of the Flint Hills? Any help would be greatly appreciated! :) Helene :) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kaethel Kaethel@wanadoo.fr I used to think, as birds take wing, They sing through life, so why can't we? We cling to this, and claim the best If this is what you're offering I'll take the rain, I'll take the rain R.E.M. - I'll Take the Rain ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2001 07:52:54 +1000 Reply-To: jenerators@optushome.com.au Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Jen Stosser Subject: Re: FFQs: contact lenses In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Has anyone here ever heard of an eye condition called Keratoconus? (I may have spelled it wrong...) I was diagnosed with this in my left eye about 8 months ago, but while I keep seeing references to astigmatism, no-one seems to have mentioned this condition yet. I can't remember exactly how to define it, but what it means for me is that I need to get a new prescription every 6 months or so (gets very expensive!) for my glasses; laser surgery is NOT an option, because the bit of the eye that is cut away in laser surgery is already too thin on my eye, so contacts may be an option later on, and eventually, IF it gets worse, I MAY need to look at a (retinal? I forget!) transplant. I THINK (although the optometrist can't confirm this) that it was started when Megan was a baby, and she scratched my eyeball by mistake. At any rate, I don't want to use contact lenses unless they're the only option; the idea of putting something so close to my eye gives me the willies! However, it's been quite fascinating reading all about the different contact lens experiences of various FoLCs! Jen jenerators@optushome.com.au -*- This message is umop ap!sdn -*- -*- Jenerator or Some1Else on IRC) -*- JenerEight on AIM -*- Photos of David (9) and Megan (6) on the Stosser Family HomePage: http://www.geocities.com/j_stosser -*-Please sign our guestbook! ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 17:22:17 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Sarah Murray Subject: Re: Vocabulary questions (mostly US English) In-Reply-To: <154.1c5d126.28e76899@aol.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit ><< Maybe Township would be closer to what you're looking for, as I think >there are several smaller townships within a county. >> > >Townships primarily exist in the states that were part of the Northwest >Ordinance. Kansas was not part of that territory, but might have the same >setup. They might have them in New England, too. A township is part of a >county -- sort of an unincorporated town. Smallville could be a township >itself. But it always looked to me like it might be the county seat, so it >would be an incorporated city, rather than a township. For those of you who >care, a city would have a fire department, a police department and a public >school system. A township might rely on the county to provide those >services, due to its small size. It's my understanding that townships are pretty universal, having come out of the method of surveying in the old Northwest Territory. I'm pretty sure that Kansas would have them, as most of the rest of the Midwest does. My impression of Smallville is that it's probably around 5,000-10,000 people, which would probably make it a village with a village president. It would have its own police department, but outside of town would be the county sheriff's jurisdiction. It would most likely have a volunteer fire department and EMS. Its school district would probably encompass the village and some of the surrounding areas, including several townships. Townships, I believe, are all pretty much outside of a village. The Kent Farm would most likely be in a township, with a town board, but their address would still be Smallville. There are lots of overlapping jurisdictions. For example, my parents' address is Mt. Horeb, but their house is in the Town of Springdale and they have a Cross Plains phone number. I think the Dane County sheriff and the Mt. Horeb fire & emergency crews have jurisdiction. And then again, maybe none of this applies in Kansas Sarah scmurra1@students.wisc.edu CatG on IRC ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2001 08:32:16 +1000 Reply-To: jenerators@optushome.com.au Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Jen Stosser Subject: FW: FFQs: contact lenses MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit As has been pointed out to me (below) I meant a CORNEAL transplant, not a RETINAL one. It IS early on Sunday morning! Jen jenerators@optushome.com.au -*- This message is umop ap!sdn -*- -*- Jenerator or Some1Else on IRC) -*- JenerEight on AIM -*- Photos of David (9) and Megan (6) on the Stosser Family HomePage: http://www.geocities.com/j_stosser -*-Please sign our guestbook! -----Original Message----- From: Nancy Smith [mailto:deimos1@earthlink.net] Sent: Sunday, September 30, 2001 8:02 AM To: jenerators@optushome.com.au Subject: Re: FFQs: contact lenses I think you mean a corneal transplant, Jen. You can't transplant a retina, but you can transplant a cornea, and very successfully, too. It would make sense that it started from a scratch on the cornea of the eye (that's the part on the outside that the baby could reach). Nan Jen Stosser wrote: > Has anyone here ever heard of an eye condition called Keratoconus? (I > may have spelled it wrong...) I was diagnosed with this in my left eye > about 8 months ago, but while I keep seeing references to astigmatism, > no-one seems to have mentioned this condition yet. I can't remember > exactly how to define it, but what it means for me is that I need to get > a new prescription every 6 months or so (gets very expensive!) for my > glasses; laser surgery is NOT an option, because the bit of the eye that > is cut away in laser surgery is already too thin on my eye, so contacts > may be an option later on, and eventually, IF it gets worse, I MAY need > to look at a (retinal? I forget!) transplant. I THINK (although the > optometrist can't confirm this) that it was started when Megan was a > baby, and she scratched my eyeball by mistake. At any rate, I don't > want to use contact lenses unless they're the only option; the idea of > putting something so close to my eye gives me the willies! However, > it's been quite fascinating reading all about the different contact lens > experiences of various FoLCs! > > Jen > jenerators@optushome.com.au > -*- This message is umop ap!sdn -*- > -*- Jenerator or Some1Else on IRC) -*- JenerEight on AIM -*- > Photos of David (9) and Megan (6) on the Stosser Family HomePage: > http://www.geocities.com/j_stosser -*-Please sign our guestbook! ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 18:23:35 -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: FFQs: Luthor's minions and contact lenses In-Reply-To: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Ann said: >They have bifocal contacts, but I don't know anyone who has successfully used >them. I do! I've worn soft bifocal contacts for about a year and a half. They =aren't= perfect - I had to give up a tiny bit of clarity both at distance and near, but it's such a small difference as to be almost negligible, and I can still wear my contacts (I'm nearsighted without correction, but I was getting so that with my old contacts in, my arms weren't long enough to read anything!) and don't have to have glasses. It did take about a month to get totally used to them - as Ann explained, there are concentric circles of the near and far corrections, and it takes a while to train your brain about what to ignore. But I'm pretty good with them now. Becky rbain@qwest.net "Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty." - President John F. Kennedy ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 20:18:57 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Jeanne Pare Subject: Re: Are you ashamed to be a FoLC? II MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 I suppose I am mostly a closet fan, as well. While the show was running I was quite active on the AOl boards, and I drove my husband crazy telling him= all about the fun we were having on-line. At that time I told only a few friends about my obsession, but I quickly learned to tone down my enthusiasm= because other people had no frame of reference at that time for internet related things, and Superman was just a kids=92 show in most peoples=92 opin= ion. My husband and grown children all make fun of my preoccupation with fanfic. I am not a frequent contributor to the message boards anymore, and I rarely go on irc. Nowadays, I rarely mention the internet or L&C outside the home. Most of my colleagues and friends are now on the internet, so the experience= is no longer a novelty and people are no longer inquisitive as to what I do on-line. If it should come up, I usually say I edit for an on-line writing group that has an on-line archive. My husband likes to chastise me, sometimes publicly to my embarrassment, for correcting other people=92s writings for free ... sort of a busman=92s holiday since I am a teacher, and= he thinks it=92s perverse that I would enjoy such an activity. I have never been fascinated by the actors, but my interest in the romance and philosophy of Lois and Clark goes back almost half a century. I have very few memorabilia. I have all the videos, of course. I taped it from th= e first episode. I have a few articles, posters, calendars, but the only one = I display is one poster on the refrigerator in the basement of Dean Cain and the Superman tattoo. That=92s more of an in-your-face joke on my family. I know most people would have trouble accepting my interest in L&C if they realized the intensity of my obsession. Most people would assume it is belo= w my intellect, not realizing the true nature of the thing. My husband has asked me not to talk about it anymore; he is saturated. Perhaps once I retire from teaching I may even try my hand at writing a fanfic. If I did, however, I would probably only let my husband read it (besides my FoLC family). I think he would be more supportive of my writing fanfic than he i= s of my editing. I sometimes feel guilty while I sit here reading fanfic and my husband sits reading the classics. But it=92s my hobby, and I love it! Gay, it's fine to use my name if you find anything useful in what I have written. The last name is not actually my real name anyway. Jeanne Pare ========================================================================= Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 22:22:10 -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: Townships Re: Vocabulary questions (mostly US English) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Just to chip in my two cents... I grew up in Pennsylvania, in Dauphin county (pronounced like dolphin, only without the l), and Lower Paxton Township (there were also Middle and Upper Paxton townships, along with *tons* of others) -- townships were fairly small and were *not* really towns -- we were all just one big suburb. My school district was Central Dauphin, so I think there were probably Upper and Lower Dauphin school districts, too -- how they corresponded to townships I'm not sure, but the school districts were much bigger (only 3 per county). And although we were far outside the city limits of Harrisburg, we (and everyone else) had Harrisburg mailing addresses. Now I live in North Carolina, in Wake County, in the Town of Cary -- there don't appear to be any townships in this state, but there are lots and lots of towns, and they all have their own post offices. I'm closer to Raleigh now than I was to Harrisburg then, but our mailing address is Cary. I have no idea why the two are so different, or which if either system Kansas might use. So this probably isn't helpful at all, but I thought I'd throw it out there. :) PJ "But then of course so many people are silly about a man who doesn't do any fighting in a war. So stupid of them, because it's so much more sensible not to, don't you think? If we all just didn't, I mean, well where would people like Hitler have been?" "In Buckingham Palace and the White House, I imagine," grunted her husband. "Don't be silly, dear. How could he have been in two places at once?" --from Death in Kashmir, by M. M. Kaye ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sarah Murray" To: Sent: Saturday, September 29, 2001 6:22 PM Subject: Re: Vocabulary questions (mostly US English) > ><< Maybe Township would be closer to what you're looking for, as I think > >there are several smaller townships within a county. >> > > > >Townships primarily exist in the states that were part of the Northwest > >Ordinance. Kansas was not part of that territory, but might have the same > >setup. They might have them in New England, too. A township is part of a > >county -- sort of an unincorporated town. Smallville could be a township > >itself. But it always looked to me like it might be the county seat, so it > >would be an incorporated city, rather than a township. For those of you who > >care, a city would have a fire department, a police department and a public > >school system. A township might rely on the county to provide those > >services, due to its small size. > > It's my understanding that townships are pretty universal, having come out > of the method of surveying in the old Northwest Territory. I'm pretty sure > that Kansas would have them, as most of the rest of the Midwest does. My > impression of Smallville is that it's probably around 5,000-10,000 people, > which would probably make it a village with a village president. It would > have its own police department, but outside of town would be the county > sheriff's jurisdiction. It would most likely have a volunteer fire > department and EMS. Its school district would probably encompass the > village and some of the surrounding areas, including several townships. > Townships, I believe, are all pretty much outside of a village. The Kent > Farm would most likely be in a township, with a town board, but their > address would still be Smallville. There are lots of overlapping > jurisdictions. For example, my parents' address is Mt. Horeb, but their > house is in the Town of Springdale and they have a Cross Plains phone > number. I think the Dane County sheriff and the Mt. Horeb fire & emergency > crews have jurisdiction. > > And then again, maybe none of this applies in Kansas > > Sarah > scmurra1@students.wisc.edu > CatG on IRC > ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2001 00:17:23 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Ann E. McBride" Subject: Re: FFQs: Luthor's minions and contact lenses MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 9/29/01 8:21:10 PM Eastern Daylight Time, rbain@USWEST.NET writes: > I do! I've worn soft bifocal contacts for about a year and a half. They > =aren't= perfect - I had to give up a tiny bit of clarity both at distance > Becky, I think you should contact Dean and get on Ripleys. I know about a dozen people who have tried and rejected them. Ann ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2001 03:50:17 -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/Part46 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 cont'd from part 45 = came the whispered thought. Lois! He might have known that she wouldn't be still. Lois had crept from the dust encrusted room and down the stairs, bringing her baby with her. She had no thought of leavi= ng the child behind to suffocate in the thick smog of the bedroom. = Realistically, it was the most he could hope from Lois. After all, = if the situations were reversed, he couldn't watch her die without attemptin= g to save her. Still... = But it was already too late to keep out of Nor's sight! "Is that the lovely First Lady skulking around on the stairs? Do co= me in, Lady Lois and renew our acquaintance." Rad swaggered across to the doorway to offer a helping hand, which Lois ignored with pointed disdain.= = Cradling her child closer to her body and throwing Kal a desperate look o= f apology, she marched into the room. Lois received a comforting smile fro= m her husband but was rudely brought back to the present by Nor's hand on h= er shoulder and his voice cooing with what passed for him as seduction. "I= was always so very disappointed that we couldn't spend as much time as I would've liked in getting to know each other. A sad omission that I'm looking forward to rectifying in the very near future." Kal strode tenaciously forward, intent on removing Lois from Nor's close vicinity, however, his wife's voice pre-empted him. "I'd rather ma= ke the acquaintance of an anaconda!" Even in this hazardous situation, the Lord of El couldn't hide his admiring grin as Lois wrenched herself from the slimy man's grip. Lois would never submit easily. "Quite the little firebrand, isn't she?" Nor directed his insolent remarks at Kal-El. "Just the sort of woman I enjoy taming -- unlike you= r timorous sister. I'd find more spirit in a mouse than in my sorry excuse= for a spouse! Lois and I will have lots of fun and frolics when I've finished with you!" = "No!" = Kal's shout reverberated around the farmyard. At the nightmarish thoughts of what Nor had planned for Lois, Kal's control snapped. = Forgotten was the plan to placate Nor until backup could arrive, as the age-old instinct for the male of the species to protect its mate and offspring took over completely. = He lunged at his enemy but, before Kal ever reached his target, a blast of laser-vision of such intensity hit him full in the chest. The impetus hurled him through the air to hit the wall behind him with such force that an imprint of his body was left in the plaster.. Searing pain burnt through Kal's prone form as he slid like a rag-doll to the floor, while twin sudden and tormented female screams assaulted his eardrums. F= or a few short seconds he turned in on himself as he fought the thundering waves of giddiness and agony. Why did everything hurt so much? But, at least pain meant that he was still in the land of the living. Momentarily, Lois and Keira could only stare in horror, but, while Keira remained helpless with shock, Lois was galvanised into action. Totally forgetting about Kal's earlier advice, Lois steadied her hold on the baby and rushed to sink to her knees by his side. Her dearest love w= as in trouble and her first instinct was to be near him; to offer him the comfort only her presence could bring. But their torturer wasn't far behind. Rad-Nor stood assured and celebratory above the man he had envied and loathed for all of his cognizant life. Now the tables were turned; he Lord of Nor was in the ascendancy and he would take a moment to savour his triumph. Through the red mist that threatened to seal Kal's vision, he could just make out Lois' worried face leaning over him. "Lois, go back!" His= urgent plea was gasped out between wracking breaths. "I can't!" = It was the sensible... the right thing to do. Nor loomed menacingly= behind them, and she had a child to protect... but she couldn't tear herself away. With a sob, Lois stretched out a tentative hand towards he= r husband. The black uniform had simply disintegrated and amidst the charr= ed remnants the reddened skin of his chest lay exposed, the surface blisteri= ng before her eyes. Lois' hand hovered above the injured flesh; she was no doctor but from her long- ago first-aid courses of college, she vaguely recalled that infection was one of the prime worry of burns cases and being touched by her grime covered hands would not be a good thing. = Frenziedly she tried to review her scant information as she studied her husband's injuries; this was certainly a great deal more than a severe sunburn but she believed and hoped that these weren't third degree burns.= = Somehow, Kal had been protected. Or was it more likely that Rad-Nor had just been playing with his victim and hadn't used his full capability? I= t seemed that both her conjectures might be true, as Nor's oily, malevolent= presence floated over them like a dreaded miasma. "Ah, I see you've had the benefit of more powerful body armour; shielding too no doubt. Don't tell me... the genius of Major Klei at wor= k, or perhaps even your father? He's an old man but Jor-El did have his use= s at one time. Will it interest you to know that after you've gone they wi= ll now work for me." = "Never! They'd rather die first!" Kal affirmed through gritted teeth. "Oh, that will be their only option, never fear. What do you think,= Kal-El? Will your family rather die than support me? You know, I'm rath= er hoping that they'll take the first alternative. I don't relish looking over my shoulder for a knife planted firmly in my back, for the rest of m= y life. And did I forget to mention that I do so enjoy killing?" "You bloody monster!" Dragging all his receding strength into one last daring effort, Kal grabbed for his enemy's foot and yanked for all h= e was worth. Taken completely by surprise during his gloating rant, Nor landed with a solid bump upon the floor. Yet faster than the eye could see, in a burst of super-speed he was once more hovering inches above the= fallen couple. = "Enough!" The feral sneer pared back the thin lips from Nor's teeth= in an evil caricature of a grin. "The games are over and it is your time= to die! How does it feel, dying with the knowledge that Earth and Krypto= n will fall beneath my rule? I will be First Lord of Krypton, as is my right, and believe me, I intend to make a few changes." "You'll never be First Lord!" Lois couldn't repress her indignation= and revulsion. "The Council will never yield to you and the people of Earth aren't beaten yet!" "Lois!" Kal's voice was little more than a whisper, his last effort= having robbed him of his remaining strength. "Don't! He'll kill you!" Nor's thin eyebrows raised. "But I wouldn't dream of exterminating such a desirable women... at least, not yet!" A wicked laugh accompanie= d his words. "Poor Kal-El! Nor will you have the comforting images of a happy wife and child to take with you into the afterlife. I will make th= e Lady of El my concubine... until she bores me enough to send her to join you. And your daughter will become my plaything...." Again came the two petrified shrieks, but this time the source of th= e second cry came barrelling across the floor to launch herself at the abominable figure of her husband. Keira threw herself onto the man who h= ad tortured and tormented her both mentally and physically for far too long.= = Locking her arms in a deathly grip around his neck, she swore to herself that she would not allow him to kill the one remaining decent part of her= life... her family. In her driving desire to make him pay for all the injuries he had perpetrated on her and others, Keira too forgot about the= super-powers. She would hold on for as long as she could or die in the attempt. = Surprisingly, Keira not only found that she had the upper-hand in th= e struggle but that the man whose back she clung to was falling to the floo= r. Old, never-forgotten hurts gave strength to the Lady of Nor and her arm-lock tightened reflexively, causing Nor to writhe in agony. Keira wa= s too lost in the desperation of the moment to wonder why this was possible= ; this was not so with Kal and Lois who watched in perplexed amazement... o= r, indeed, with Major Ching and his troopers who were now peering stealthily= round the doorjamb. = Ching had circumvented Nor's troopers, creeping round the yard and i= n through the back door. And if the Major was somewhat puzzled at the incompetence of the soldiers that had allowed him to do so, he wasn't abo= ut to look a gift-horse in the mouth. Of course, Ching didn't know of Nor's= stricture that his men should wait outside until he had dealt with the upstart Kal-El, and the good Major certainly had no way of comprehending Nor's treatment of a soldier who disobeyed orders. The sight of his friend and First Lord lying injured on the ground distracted all Ching's thoughts as he moved swiftly across the floor to join Lois by Kal's side, his subordinates taking station by the door. = Sending Lois an encouraging glance, Ching laid a gentle hand on Kal'= s shoulder. "Kal, what hit you? Was it a laser bolt?" The attempt to shake his head sent needles drilling into Kal's head and neck, yet the ability to speak was beyond him. Lois answered for him= . "In a manner of speaking, but it wasn't a gun... he used his eyes." = Lois had witnessed a few of the super-powers when Kal had come for her, b= ut she had never seen this. "It was terrible!" "I remember! It was a huge shock when we discovered we could burn things with just a look!" But Ching quickly turned to the business of getting help for his leader. "He's going to be all right, Major Ching, isn't he?" A stunned voic= e asked from behind the little group on the ground, reminding them of the presence of their unexpected saviour. "I believe so, Lady Keira, thanks to your brave actions. How did yo= u do it?" All eyes in the room turned toward the fallen Rad-Nor; there no long= er seemed anything super-human in the supine figure. Keira stood mesmerised by the sight of her all-powerful husband, wh= o now lay humbled at her feet. "I have no idea," came the thready, quiveri= ng reply. Actually, that thought too was busily coursing through Nor's brain. = What had happened to him? Beneath his closed eyelids his eyes flickered = in consternation and pain. This couldn't be happening -- he was invulnerabl= e! Nor sought desperately for a burst of super strength but found no response. It was as if his powers had drained away, leaving him weak and= dizzy -- his body a mass of screaming nerve-ends. His slyness, however, remained. = Nor watched with deadly interest as, at a groaning attempt from Kal-= El to sit up, his audience ceased to survey him and turned back to their injured Lord. Even the troopers by the door were distracted as a medic hurried into the room to tend to the First Lord. They would have done better to heed him. Like a wounded animal, the Lord of Nor was just as dangerous in his peril. = Even = in thought, Nor snarled. To accuse the Lieutenant of ineptitude had been a great disservice t= o the soldier. Gaylen had been closely keeping an eye on his fellow Kryptonians as they'd surrounded the farmyard. He was even aware of the three Earthlings hiding in the barn and dismissed them imperiously -- the= y could easily be taken care of later. He'd noted the troop commander's encircling movement and the covert entry into the farmhouse. At that poi= nt he'd even considered joining his master, but Gaylen had learned from experience that using his own initiative was not necessarily appreciated = by Nor. Besides, being outnumbered wouldn't be a problem for a superman. S= o, Gaylen ignored the happenings inside the house and continued to obey his instructions, to keep account of the actions of the other soldiers. = According to Rad-Nor, these Kryptonians hadn't spent enough time on Earth to develop super-powers, but what if that assumption was wrong? If= they were facing a foe of equal strength then they were definitely in trouble. But then, that was the whole reason for the presence of the children -- to use as pawns. The Lieutenant studied the infants. He didn't much care for babies; they were noisy, messy little creatures and they made him uncomfortable. Yet, he wasn't totally sure that he could harm them without compunction, and even he felt it somehow immoral that Rad-Nor could use his own flesh-an-blood so. If they had to be killed, he'd leave it up to Nor or the two mindless squaddies in whose arms the babies were held. Gaylen had reached this point in his deliberation when Nor's growlin= g thoughts penetrated his head, and he immediately and instinctively sprang= into action... but wait! He'd almost super-sped into the room when the last, worrying detail clarified in his brain, halting him in his tracks. = Rad-Nor was hurt; he had said so. But that was impossible. All of them had been impervious to injuries almost since they'd arrived here, which must mean that either the enemy had weapons that could destroy their invincibility, or Nor had been wrong about the other side's lack of super-powers. Whatever the reason, the situation called for caution. = Ordering the two men to keep an eye on the opposing forces, the Lieutenan= t levitated a few inches above the floor and glided inside. = Rad-Nor seethed! Where the hell was his backup?! That question tormented him almost as much as the wracking pains, and he needed the hostages to get himself out of here in one piece. El and his followers were so mawkish they'd do almost anything to save the lives of the children, and he could certainly rely on his hysterical wife to up-the-ante. With Keira weeping all over the place, they'd be glad to gi= ve into his demands. He'd been tempted to kill her any number of times in t= he past just to shut her up. Unfortunately, that wasn't an option for him a= t this time, but if she ever fell beneath his influence again, he'd finish her off without a second thought. Nor didn't understand why he'd lost hi= s powers, but he habitually lay the blame for all his troubles on his silly= wife and this time was certainly no different. He twisted slightly on the floor to ease his throbbing limbs, then quickly stilled, not wishing to draw attention back to himself. His enemies were still intent on their fallen idol and that suited his purpos= e. If he could only manage to summon one burst of super-speed, he might escape out of the window to where his dolts of soldiers should be waiting= . = Ah! What the hell was that?! Something small and oddly shaped dug into Nor's shoulder and, stifling a groan, he moved his head to study the= object. It was El's laser-weapon! The blockhead must have dropped it in= the attack. That was very convenient of El, to supply me with his own g= un to finish what I started, Nor surmised, grinning like a jackal despite hi= s agony. Gaylen's thought was whispered, as if = he was afraid that even his telepathic question would be overheard. = Nor kept his instructions curt; he had no wish to give away his plan of action. With a burst of adrenaline triggered by his fanatical enmity, Nor almost achieved super- strength. He reeled to his knees and held the gun= outstretched towards the man whose very existence he abhorred. = "Gaylen! Now!" Nor screamed as he depressed the trigger and a bolt= of lightening shot to its target. But the proficient Ching hadn't been totally oblivious to the danger= and, freeing his weapon as he swung round, he too fired. Both laser-shaf= ts hit home, but only one fulfilled its desired mission. On the floor a black-clad figure lay hunched and lifeless as thin tendrils of white smok= e arose from around the motionless body. = After a second or two of stunned stillness, Lois raised her head and= shakily took stock of the situation. When she'd sensed the movement in t= he centre of the room, without thinking, she'd thrown herself over Kal. Now= , beneath her sheltering body lay the two people she loved with all of her heart and strength... what would she do if they left her? But that wasn'= t going to happen, at least, not this time. The baby was beginning to sti= r and protest the extreme treatment that had buried her between two larger bodies, and, though Kal had passed out, he was still breathing. = Into this charged atmosphere flew the large, blonde-haired avenger, bypassing the two guards at the doorway. They too had fired on the would= be assassin and were ready to do battle with any intruders, yet all they saw was a blur and all they felt was the wind of his passing. Gaylen halted in the air above his master, stupefied by the boneless, pitiful heap. Just the other day, the man had bounced bullets of his chest and sent buses into orbit, but there could be no doubting the evidence of his= eyes... Rad-Nor was dead. Amidst the shock, Gaylen's brain struggled to assimilate the consequences of what had happened here. What did this mean for him and t= he rest of Nor's small, super-powered army? They could continue to subdue this world; the advantages of super-powers would guarantee their authorit= y, and there were still their allies the Taureans. But to rule here, they would have to take on and defeat their fellow Kryptonians. And warring with his bullish thoughts came the uneasy realisation that, if Nor had lo= st his powers so suddenly and incomprehensibly, then it was highly probable that the same could happen to them all. Perhaps the powers were only temporary? = As if the very thought had summoned up his worst conclusion, Gaylen dropped to the floor with a heavy thump. His head hurt. He felt nauseou= s. With an effort, the fair head turned to discover what might have caused this sharp discomfort, but all he could see was his Lady, the Lady of Nor= , surveying, unemotionally, what remained of her husband. That was it! = Gaylen might feel ill, but he had reached a decision and that steadied hi= m; the age old traditions of Krypton had come to comfort him. His master wa= s dead -- his allegiance must now fall to his Lady and the heir to the hous= e of Nor. No wait, that wasn't right! There was a new Lord of Nor! = Rey-Nor, that tiny baby who waited with its guards outside, was the maste= r of the House of Nor, and it was Lieutenant Gaylen's duty to protect the child and its guardian. Only, for the moment he wasn't quite sure how to= do that. As Lady Keira shifted to stand by his side, his body fought wit= h unbearable pain and giving up the battle, Gaylen fainted clean away. In the corner, Lois sat hushing her baby and watching closely as the= medic sought to bring the First Lord back to consciousness. An injection-gun had been used to apply a healing and resuscitating drug to Kal-El, while a soothing-ray had continued to be focussed on the injured skin of his chest. Soon the medic would cover the wounds with an antiseptic-dressing, and allow the First Lord to be transported back to t= he waiting ship for further treatment. = Two confusing problems gnawed at the edges of Lois' mind. The first= was easily explained with a little reflection. Lois was happy that her exploits to shield both Kal and the baby had been successful, but that in= itself wouldn't have saved them -- at worst, she herself should've been killed. The large hole in the wall and floor by her side, where she and Kal had been positioned earlier, attested to that. Something else had intervened, and a quick review of the action recalled a booted-foot plant= ed hard and fast on Lois' lower back, which had sent herself, Kal and the ba= by out of harm's way. = Major Ching, while confronting Nor had not forgotten his principal duty, the protection of his Lord and family, albeit his blunt action had bordered on lese-majesty. Kicking the First Lady's derriere would not be= considered ethical behaviour, though it had been most effective. The Major's melted boot and ripped pant's leg was evidence that Klei's new laser-gun was powerful enough to penetrate both shield and armour and disintegrate a large patch of Martha's best room. Thankfully, though, th= ey had protected Ching and only a large bruise could be discerned between th= e edges of his torn uniform. Lois smiled tremulously on the Major, expressing her heartfelt gratitude, then quickly returned to the second a= nd more baffling question. = Lois hated mysteries, and something very weird had happened here. = Both Nor and his acolyte had been super-powered; there could be no doubt = of that -- Nor had drilled through the roof and upper floor of the house, an= d a small tornado had heralded the bulky Lieutenant's entrance. Yet, someh= ow both men had lost all their abilities... and more... both had become quit= e ill and helpless when in this room. Maybe something about this room was different from any other place they'd been... there could actually be oth= er places around the world that had the same effect, who knew? Or, maybe, t= he powers just faded away after a time. Then again, that hadn't been the ca= se with Kal and company when they'd visited Earth before. She remembered hi= m saying that the levels of their power seemed to increase the longer they were on Earth, so a natural evanescence didn't seem a likely scenario. = So, if both men were still super' when they arrived, what was it abo= ut this particular spot that had caused the sudden degeneration? Lois' investigative skills were in full flight... there was something just drifting on the edges of her comprehension... something she should have noticed. = Another groan from Kal instantly dragged her concentration back to th= e issue of her husband's state of health. With an immense feeling of relie= f she saw his eyelids flutter open and after a few worrying moments the glazed haze faded from his sherry brown eyes. "Lois?" = That one huskily uttered word lifted her spirits. "I'm right here, sweetheart." Lois slipped her hand into Kal's own as it lay loosely on t= he ground beside her, and the world seemed so much brighter as he squeezed weakly. "Lois, the baby?! Is she safe?!" Lois was warmed that this should = be Kal's first concern. How could she ever have doubted his feelings for hi= s daughter? The anxious question directed Lois' care to the tiny infant cuddling= in the crook of her arm, a tender smile spreading across her face as she noticed that her soothing rocking had had the desired effect and the baby= was soundly sleeping. "She's fine, Kal. I think she was frightened at first, but now you can see she's sleeping." Lois lifted her arm gently s= o that Kal could look into his daughter's face, but mindful not to wake her= . A matching but weary smile dawned on Kal's drawn countenance as he gazed on the finely etched brows and the puckered rosebud lips, barely quivering in tune with the infant's breathing. "Poor little sweetheart, she's had a very hard day." His voice almost died on the last word. "And so has her Daddy!" Lois' anxiety levels were rising again at t= he evidence of Kal's weakness. "You should try to get some sleep too." "Don't fuss, Lois! I'll be fine!" = But he didn't seem averse to taking her advice. The pain-medication= was kicking in, freeing him of discomfort and his eyes closed once more a= s the medic switched off the ray- lamp and proceeded to dress the injuries.= = tbc in part 47 ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2001 03:49:58 -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/Part45 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 = Title: Universal Union Book3/Part 45 Author: Jenni Debbage Rating: PG-13 Comments: Firstly, I'd like to thank my readers for their patience. I know this has taken me much longer to write than I'd antcipated. That wa= s partly due to personal problems and partly due to the terrible tradegy of= Sept 11th, after which it took me some time to feel able to concentrate o= n writing. = These last posts are the conclusion to UU3 and I do hope you enjoy them. = Please let me know your comments and it will be up to you whether there will be a UU4. If there is enough interest in the continuing story then someday I will get back to writing this saga of Lois and Kal and their extended family. ***** = When Kal eventually tore himself from the side of his wife and daughter and descended the stairs, the lower house was deserted. Ching h= ad left to check on the guard as soon as he'd been assured by Martha that everything had gone well and mother, baby and father were doing fine. = Martha, herself, had made a large pitcher of iced-tea and taken a fe= w pieces of her renowned apple-pie out to her husband and his temporary farmhand. The redoubtable lady was used to working on all-nighters' ... babies just didn't have any consideration for others when it came time to= make their appearance in the world. But this last night had been so strange that Martha almost felt like pinching herself; was the President really out in her barn helping Jonathan with the morning chores? Were these other visitors really aliens from a far- distant planet? They seem= ed so much like humans. Well, of course they were humans. She'd just broug= ht a hybrid baby into the world and it had all the correct amount of fingers= and toes, all the parts of any other baby she'd ever delivered, and all were put together in such a lovely little package. Also, Martha knew a thing or two about breeding and she was very nearly sure that if Earthlin= gs and Krytonians had been different species, that little girl upstairs woul= d very likely not have been conceived. So, with energy still bubbling through her body, with a hundred questions mulling around in her brain an= d worry for what was about to happen in the near future, Martha, bearing a tray of comfort food, had gone to find the support and strength of her husband. = A noise from the front room alerted Kal to the fact that the house wasn't as empty as he had first supposed. Following the sound he walked cautiously into the dimly lit room. His eyes took in the blinds, still shielding the room from the brightness of the morning sun, and strayed slowly round the room, seeking the source of the muffled sounds of distress. There, huddled in a chair by the large fireplace, sat his sister. "Keira, what are you doing here?" And when no answer was forthcomin= g, Kal crossed to her side, crouching down to look into her averted face. = "What's wrong? Are you in pain? Martha said something about you having broken ribs." The silence in the room grew deeper. "Please, Keira, talk= to me. Should I call for a physician?" The offer startled Keira into speech. "No! I'm fine... really! M= rs Kent gave me something for the pain. She wasn't sure it would work on Kryptonians, but it seems to. At least, now I just have a dull ache in m= y side." She unfolded her self from the chair and sat up as straight as sh= e could, allowing Kal to glimpse the damp trace of tears on her cheek. Those tears and the abject loss of hope which coloured her whole being, touched her younger brother's heart. "Oh Keira, what have we done= to you?" Kal's hand reached out to brush away the tears. The wretched lady flinched, and his hand dropped. "Is it your children? You must be = so worried about them...." "Why should you care - - you never have before?" This was said in a= monotone with just the echo of an accusation, as if all Keira's emotions were held frozen in an icy-grip. "No, Keira, that's not true. I... we have always cared... Mother an= d Father, Zara and Lois! We all want to help you!" "It's too late... much too late." Her posture drooped despondently.= "No, it isn't! Don't say that! Your marriage will be dissolved. = Even the council wouldn't expect you to remain married to a such a monstrous traitor, and I'd overrule them if they did." At this latter statement, Keira's head shot up and she threw her brother a long, probing look. "And what if I don't want my marriage annulled?" Kal gulped visibly, the shock of the question causing him to rock ba= ck on his heels. He'd never considered that possibility. After a few secon= ds of painful deliberation he answered steadily. "Then your marriage would stand," pronounced the First Lord of Krypton, but the caring, sensitive m= an behind the title broke through. "But you can't mean that Keira.... You don't love him, do you?" The shutters tried to remain closed but those earnest eyes reminded her too much of a happier time when brother and sister had been firm friends. "No, I don't love him." The voice was so soft, Kal had to concentrate to hear. "I doubt anyone could love Rad-Nor but himself. He= 's not entirely sane, you know." "I know... I know!" Kal's hands stilled the long, feminine fingers that pleated and re- pleated the tattered material of her dress and this time Keira didn't shrink away. Kal kept his voice low, unwilling to brea= k the fragile accord. "Keira, I can't begin to understand what you've had = to go through these past years, but, please believe me, it isn't too late." "He has my children." Keira's forlorn voice cried out with all the crushing fear of one who fully understood the terrible danger that beset her infants. = "But surely, Keira, he wouldn't hurt his own children!" Having just= become a father and been completely overwhelmed by the need to protect hi= s tiny offspring at all costs, Kal found this concept very difficult to accept. The bleakness that had receded for a few short seconds, once more claimed Keira and she shivered involuntary. "Who knows?! I'm sure my so= n is probably safe but I wouldn't trust him with my daughter. Besides, wha= t sort of a life will they have being brought up by that fiend?!" "That's not going to happen, Keira. We're going to defeat Nor and rescue your children and then we're all going to go home. Home to Krypto= n, Keira, to Ro-Ellion." The eager note in Kal's tone wasn't lost on his sister but it was hardly shared by her. "Oh, joy!" The barely veiled sarcasm hit Kal like a slap in the face. "Don't y= ou want to go home, Keira? You have my word that Nor will never trouble you= again. Mother and Father... everyone will be so happy to have you back with us. Doesn't the thought of Elvar make you happy, Keira?" = "Elvar's no longer my home." She pulled her hands from the beckonin= g yet treacherous comfort of Kal-El's clasp. "It's just a stop-gap. = Somewhere to hide, until you and your council need to make another political alliance and I'm part of the bargain." "Keira, no! You won't ever be a bargaining piece again. On my oath= , you'll never be forced into another marriage against your choice. If you= ever decide to marry again, it will be to someone you..." Kal was tempte= d to mention love but he had a fairly clear notion that Keira would view th= at emotion with a great deal of scepticism, "someone you want to marry," he ended lamely. "The council won't be very pleased about that." The sneer that twisted her lips broke Kal's heart. "And have you forgotten your own daughter? The minute your Lords hear the news, they'll be busy seeking o= ut a birth-husband for her, unless, of course, you've already done so." "No!" The ferocity of that barked word surprised both occupants of the room. The First Lord calmed himself and began again. "No! = Birth-marriages are an ancient tradition that should've been dispensed wi= th long since! Lois and I are determined that our daughter, and every other= girl nobly born on Krypton, will no longer be sacrificed on the alter of political expediency. It's a foolish custom, fraught with danger and it ends now! Look what happened to you! We hope the council will understan= d, but we will prevail." = Keira stared at her brother in stunned amazement. Gone forever was the carefree, likeable youth of her childhood, replaced by this determine= d, stalwart leader. She couldn't doubt his sincerity or his resolve, and sh= e couldn't ignore the fact that he'd spoken of Lois -- used the term we' --= as if he regarded Lois as his equal. It was what Lois-El had tried to explain on the journey and what she had refused to contemplate. = Nevertheless, Keira's hard-learned cynicism forced the wounding retort that sprang to her lips. "A girl! You must have been pretty disappointe= d that your dear wife didn't give you the son everyone was hoping for." "Keira, Lois and I have a beautiful baby girl, who you helped to bri= ng into the world, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for that. I= can't tell you how much I feel about her -- I haven't the words, but I ma= ke this promise to you now, I will love her and protect her for all of her life, and neither she nor you will ever be handed over to a husband like Nor, not while I have breath in my body." "But that might not be for so very much longer!" An amused and dead= ly voice entered the room, heralding the arrival of the Lord of Nor in a welter of wood and plaster as he burst through the ceiling. A startled Kal flailed at the dust and debris that peppered the air = in the confined space, clouding his vision and threatening to choke him. Cursing inwardly at his folly in allowing himself to be taken unawares, K= al played for time... time to assemble a plan in his head and to call for backup. "Don't you use the door anymore?!" His words ended in a rackin= g cough as his lungs attempted to rid themselves of the floating grime. = Drifting to the floor with consummate ease, the intruder regarded th= e two dust covered figures condescendingly. "On occasion, but don't you think the roof makes for a much more dramatic entrance?" "You could have killed someone!" Kal's immediate concern was for Lois, though, gratefully, he found her thoughts linked with his own; she might be frightened and demanding an explanation but she was unharmed. = Sending her a heartfelt plea to keep out of the way and take care of the baby, Kal faced down his nemesis. "Yes I could," chortled Rad-Nor. "But please tell me, you're not still operating under the mistaken apprehension that I could care less about that." = "I think you've made your contempt for any other life but your own abundantly clear." Concluding that his uniform was as grit-free as he could make it, Kal ceased brushing at his clothes and hair and squared hi= s shoulders. He was aware that the formal statement he was about to make w= as completely pointless, but proper procedure was necessary, nonetheless. = "Rad-Nor, as First Lord of Krypton I charge you, in the name of my people and the High Council of Krypton, of high treason; of the crime of murdering Lady Rochelle and the noble family of Fre, of conspiring to kidnap the First Lady, not once but twice, and turning her over to the enemy, of collusion with the Taureans in piracy and mass homicide in spac= e, of declaring war on an innocent planet and committing genocide on the people of Earth. I and my men are here to return you to Krypton where yo= u will be called to answer for all of your crimes." A slow handclap was Nor's first response. "Oh, very good, Lord Kal-El! You didn't make one mistake in that long list! I especially lik= ed your stern visage! Did you practise that speech before a mirror? But surely, even you can't expect me to comply with your silly demand to retu= rn to Krypton. I am master here!" The nonchalant pose was discarded as Nor= sent a beam of heat vision into the floor by Kal's feet, inducing Kal to scramble backwards, away from the smoking black-edged hole that appeared = in the wooden flooring. Only The First Lord's athletic prowess kept him from ending in an undignified heap at the feet of his antagonist. This was promising to be= a catastrophic encounter, which didn't truly surprise Kal, yet he felt a pa= ng of guilty distress at the destruction that had already been done to the homey farmhouse. = "I see you're bent on violence, Nor, but it's me you want, and I'm prepared to meet you in single combat." Kal kept his face as blank as he= could while inside his emotions churned. Like all the troops in this little squadron, he was wearing Major Klei's latest inventions in a toughened, light-weight bodysuit and high-density force-shield, but would= either contraption withstand the assault by super-powers. It seemed he w= as about to find out. Kal continued in a confident air. "So why don't we take this outside where we'll have more space for the contest." "We might! Later!" snapped Nor, "but it'll be at my instigation! = Meanwhile, I'm about to become reacquainted with my wife." As Nor turned menacingly towards the terrified Keira, she cowered behind the reclining chair, where she had taken refuge at Nor's first arrival. No sound came from her but an aura of pitiable alarm pervaded h= er whole being. "Stay away from her!" Kal's command cracked like the rapport of a rifle. "She has done you no wrong!" Strangely, Nor stopped his advance. Dear Zor! He hated to invoke that name, but did he despise that mewling woman so much that her close proximity physically turned his stomach? Immediately he complied with Kal's request and moved away he felt, incredibly, so much better -- the bitch really did sicken him -- but he'd be damned if he'd show his cringi= ng wife and her sanctimonious brother his moment of weakness. "Did I say she had or that I would harm her!" Nor turned away from the large chair which sheltered Keira, his assumed casualness heightening= the charged atmosphere in the room. "I merely wished to join in the cosy= family reunion. Such a nice little chat between brother and sister, but one which, I fear, was a trifle premature and unlawful to boot. To inci= te a wife to leave her husband, not to mention discussing said wife's furthe= r marriage while her first is still on the statute books, is not exactly go= od form. What would the High Council have to say about that?!" "The council would back the annulment of any marriage if one of the parties was found guilty of treason, and well you know that! But, if you= were eavesdropping, then you'll also know that Keira was not going along with my suggestions." = Kal was desperately trying to keep the attention of his foe while hi= s mind covertly reached out to Ching with the information that Rad-Nor and his cohorts had arrived. Nor's men must be outside, because Kal was fair= ly certain that, even super-powered as Nor was, the man would not have riske= d coming alone. = A feeling of security and budding confidenc= e infused Kal at Ching's swift response to his warning. = This last instruction was contrary to all Ching's duties or code of honour, but he accepted that his Lord and friend meant every word, and he= had no intention of letting Kal down at this crucial moment. As always, in circumstances fraught with danger, the gulf of rank between the two slipped away. Like a well oiled machine, at Ching's command the Kryptonian platoon= closed in around the farmyard, while their Earth partners followed suit. = Slowly and stealthily they formed a cordon of steel around the yard, thou= gh only Ching could truly understand that no form of stealth tactics would b= e sufficient against their opponents' super-hearing. The Major was fairly certain that every move his troops made was charted by the enemy. = The strange part of the equation was that only three black-clad soldiers lounged outside on the stoop and two of these were carrying smal= l children. Did this mean that Nor and his forces were over-confident, believing that their high-powered abilities would more than make up for being outnumbered? Over-confidence was something that he could use to go= od effect but the latter fact was not a premise that Ching chose to dwell on= . = Once, he'd attained these powers and, though Kal, Poli and he had never fully experimented with them, he hadn't forgotten how invincible he'd fel= t. Now, Ching was praying that these enhanced soldiers weren't completely a= u fait with the powers also. = But it seemed that some of his men had already found out the nature = of a super-charged enemy. In the dirt by the stairs lay the four guards he= had left at the house, and at this distance Ching couldn't be sure wheth= er they were alive or dead; they surely weren't responding to his thought-messages. Studying the scene, Ching recognised the blond officer= as one of Nor's chief aides. He thought his name was Gaylen and that they'd attended the military academy at the same time, though Gaylen had been a number of years ahead of himself and the man had returned to Nor's= service before Ching had had many dealings with him. However, Ching remembered him as a competent though reclusive student... but had Gaylen had the propensity for villainy even then, just waiting for his evil liege-lord to hone him into a cold-hearted killing machine? The unwelcom= e notion that they were about to discover the answer to this question, insinuated itself in Major Ching's mind. = Alerted by the first ear-splitting, crashing sounds, the three occupants of the barn had rushed to investigate the source of the commotion, but both Owen West and Jonathan Kent had fought in past wars a= nd their experience in a hard school brought them up short before showing themselves in the open. Martha had found herself grabbed on both sides a= nd pulled into the shadow of the great barn doors by her escorts, while Jon'= s large work-worn hands signalled for silence. Three pairs of eyes scanned the surrounding area through the crack o= f the door, spying, at once, the intruders by the house. Martha's tender heart rose into her mouth at the infants held carelessly in the grip of their unsuitable minders. Who were these children and why would anyone want to bring them into a danger zone? Her escorts also were swamped with impotent anger and dismay but the= cause was more the sight of the already incapacitated guards. Both men turned their attention outwards over the fields and orchards. There were= almost imperceptible but definite signs of movement amongst the trees and= grasses, meaning that their protectors had been alerted to the opposition= 's appearance. Owen was thankful he'd decreed a radio silence over his own troops, preferring to rely on the Kryptonian thought process and visual instructions to their allies. The President was just as aware as Ching that the enemies' advanced hearing would make it difficult, if not impossible, for them to be taken by surprise, but he'd be damned if he ma= de things any easier for these morons! = Within the ruins of the Kents' once comfortable parlour, the hostile= emotions were palpable. Rad-Nor was like a loaded gun and the only thing= Kal could do was to make sure that he was the one in the psychopath's sights. The young First Lord didn't want to die, but he would give his life without a second thought to protect his family. = For the first time, Kal partially regretted his decision to forgo th= e acquisition of super- powers -- at least, he would be meeting his rival o= n an even playing field. Yet, Kal couldn't rid himself of the notion that this would somehow be wrong. He wanted to prove to Nor's followers, and perhaps his own, that power alone wouldn't win the day -- that truth and justice would always triumph over brute strength. It was the only way he= could appeal to Nor's cyborg' soldiers to surrender, once Nor was defeate= d; to convince them, and any others who were tempted, that being super' woul= d not put them above the law. = If only he didn't feel so small and puny when pitted against this maniac. A picture of the old Earth story of David facing Goliath sprang = to his mind, while the voice of his Uncle Jor reading to a youthful, enthralled boy from a book that Earthlings called the Bible echoed in his= head. He had loved that story and back then he'd wished to be David... somehow the reality didn't seem so appealing. What he needed was a sling= and stone and at the moment he didn't have a clue where to find them. = tbc in part 46 ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2001 03:50:45 -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/Part47 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 cont'd from part 46 = Meanwhile, Ching was tele-communicating with the support ship, calli= ng up a transporter to beam Lord Kal-El and his family to the safety of the medi-unit. Provided, of course, that the proficient medic would approve= of the re-integration method of transport for his patient. The use of th= e orbships might prove more problematic. This skirmish wasn't over; there was the detail of Nor's troopers on the stoop outside, who might still be= super-powered, and who might have had the sense to call for reinforcement= s. And, unfortunately, Lady Keira's twins were still in the hands of the enemy. = Ching leaned forward to query the medic on the predicament. The man= blanched, somewhat over-awed to be asked to make a judgement which might have important repercussions, but he wouldn't shirk his duty. His first responsibility was the health of the First Lord. "I'm sorry, Major Ching, but I couldn't recommend the First Lord's travelling by the metal-cocoons. Dematerializing his molecules in his present situation would not be good for his injuries. Lord Kal-El, is in= fact, very fortunate to have come off so lightly, having been hit point blank by Nor's laser-bolt. I wouldn't like to worsen the situation. And= besides, the little Lady is far too young for such a shock to her system.= " = The medic's head nodded in the direction of the sleeping baby. "Zor's teeth! I was hoping you weren't going to say that!" Ching's= expletive displayed the extent of his chagrin. "If we have to use the orbships then that means we have to get past those soldiers out there and= they've likely called in reinforcements. I was hoping to get Lord Kal an= d the women out of here before a battle started." At those words Keira seemed to rouse from the trance she'd been in, ever since the sudden demise of her husband. "But you can't fight them! = They have my children! I have to find my children!" And with an angry backwards glance, she hurried towards the door. "Lady Keira, wait!" Ching commanded, hoping to stop her from rushin= g outside to confront the men. "You're children are outside! The troopers= have them. I believe Nor had them brought here as hostages!" Keira stopped abruptly; she needed time to think. Then she squared her shoulders and faced the Major. "All the more reason for me to talk t= o them. My husband is dead, which makes my son the head of his house, and,= until the High Council appoints a guardian, that means they answer to me!= " From his position on the floor, Kal smiled in satisfaction as his clever sister from long ago emerged from the remote, lethargic dispositio= n of the Lady of Nor. "That might just work," Ching conceded reluctantly. "But these men have a lot to answer for; they might not give in willingly." "What's it to be, Major? I don't have much time here, if you're rig= ht about their sending for backup." Keira's hand worried impatiently at her= wedding-bracelet, as Lois' eyes focussed on the habitual action. = "All right! But if we have to parley, then it should be in here." = Ching flicked his head at the two bodies lying intertwined on the floor. = "Superpowers don't seem so super in here. We should try to lure them inside." Keira was halted mid-stride once more, but this time by Lois. "It isn't the room!" The medic's phrase -- hit point blank' -- had been running and rerunning through Lois' mind. Nor had used super-powers to disable Kal; he'd even been in the room a period of time when he'd done s= o, and Gaylen had stayed aloft until.... "It's Keira!" "What?!" The lady by the door cried somewhat hysterically. "That's crazy! How could anyone have that effect on others?!" = "I don't know, Ching, but I'd listen to Lois if I were you. Her lea= ps of logic are usually right!" The pain-induced fog was clearing from Kal'= s brain as he eased himself back into the proceedings. He gestured towards= his fussy attendant. "Please, can you help me sit up here?" The man sen= t him a reproachful look but, nevertheless, slid an arm under the First Lord's shoulders and eased him into a sitting position. "What makes you say that, sweetheart?" "I'm not exactly sure," she admitted, "but I do have a theory, and I= think I can prove it." As Kal opened his hands in an encouraging movemen= t, Lois cleared her throat and continued. "Take a look at Gaylen; he's been= recovering ever since Keira left his side." Indeed, the large Lieutenant= 's body was stirring and faint groans could be heard from his recumbent fram= e. "And Nor didn't loose his super-powers until Keira jumped on this back...." "Then he went down easily...." "Exactly, Kal!" "Which means that he lost his powers at the moment Keira touched him= !" Lois reluctantly handed over her baby to the care of the surprised medic; he might not have many dealings with babies but he was a medical man, and her daughter should be safe in his care. She stood up rather stiffly (she had just given birth, after all), the better to purport her theory. "Keria, could you come back to stand next to Gaylen?" The sulle= n look was back on Lady Nor's face. "Please, Keira, just go with me on this." A disgruntled frown drew the Lady's brows downward; she had more important things to do, but with a loud sigh, she stomped back to the centre of the room. Immediately, Gaylen's body tensed, his groans grew louder and within seconds of being in Keira's close proximity he relapsed= into a stupor. "Good Zor! Who would've believed that!" Ching's amazement was shar= ed with everyone in the room, including Lois. She'd had faith in her supposition, but it was still an astonishing thing to see. "It's not possible!" Keira protested as she backed away from the tw= o unmoving shapes on the floor, and at once the Lieutenant could be seen to= move... only a small movement, but a movement nonetheless. She unwitting= ly backed into the guards who were still stationed at the door and jumped in= fright. Keira hated the close attention she was receiving, feeling like some frog about to be dissected. "What is it about Lady Keira that could have that effect?" The Majo= r had passed on to the next obvious question. "Lois?!" Kal regarded his wife questioningly. He knew his Lois and= he sensed her excitement... she had the answer. "Well, I'm fairly confident I do," she answered his unspoken thought= , "but, mind you, it's only circumstantial. I'm not a scientist and I have= no idea why... but I think I know how." "Lois, you're babbling!" "Okay, here goes! I've been studying everyone in this room since th= is idea came into my head, and the only thing I can see that's different fro= m Keira... apart from the obvious fact that she's a woman, and I am too and= I made no difference, so that rules that one out...." Kal's eyebrows were raised and he was having difficulty in suppressing his mirth; for a time there he'd feared never to see Lois in full investigative ramble again, and, regardless of the seriousness of their situation, he couldn't help b= ut be glad. "No, the only clear difference is the wedding bracelet she's wearing. It's kryptonite, isn't it?!" All eyes became rivetted on the obtrusive piece of traditional jewellery. It certainly glowed a more sickly green than it ever had back= on Krypton. "Yes it's kryptonite," Kal confirmed. "But why should a piece of ro= ck from home cause such an adverse reaction?" "I don't know," protested Lois, feeling just a little aggrieved. = Hadn't she done her bit by homing in on the bangle? "You'll have to ask Klei or your father that question." "It can't be that! Ching announced with decision, his gaze still glued to the green circle, until, tired of the scrutiny, Keira pulled her= hand behind her back. "All of our spacecraft are powered by green kryptonite, so surely that would've caused havoc amongst Nor's men long before this." "Not necessarily, Ching!" Kal's teeth worried at his bottom lip as they often did when he concentrated, then he shook his head slowly. He felt better, but was trying to keep his movements minimal. "As far as we= can tell, no Kryptonian motherships have entered Earth's atmosphere -- on= ly shuttle craft, and they aren't fuelled by kryptonite. Besides, the hyper= - drives are shielded to hold in the radiation." But one other matter did occur to Kal. "Is anyone else here feeling ill, or is it just super-charged Kryptonians who are affected?" Everyone was quick to affirm that they felt fine. "Good, so if it is the bracelet, then we can assume that it will onl= y disable the bad guys!" Lois couldn't help but crow... just a tiny bit. "We might as well put your theory to the test, Lois! Ching, take th= e bracelet and one of the guards and go outside, but be careful. We can't = be sure about this and I don't want to lose either of you." The First Lady's head snapped up. There was something wrong about that statement... something she'd learned long ago. "Wait a minute! Tha= t won't work! You told me that these wedding things could only be removed = by the person who put them there.... I remember because it made me feel lik= e I'd been branded or something," Lois accused indignantly, fingering her o= wn band. She'd become accustomed to wearing it and would, if she were hones= t, miss its presence if it were to suddenly disappear. Despite that fact, she'd never been able to completely rid herself of the knowledge that is was a symbol of a woman's possession by her husband. "And that's true, Lois, as long as the marriage stands. But Nor is dead and the physical bond is broken; anyone can break the seal now... ev= en Keira!" "Amazing!" Lois shrugged, but it was evident that she was still unhappy about the whole symbolic issue and Kal felt that sometime in the near future his wife would re-open the touchy subject. He just hoped tha= t she'd let it lie until he felt more able to deal with her arguments. However, the truth of his statement was soon proved as Keira removed= the showy object and, handling it with some revulsion, placed it on Ching= 's open palm. A feeling of well- being overtook her as, with that one gesture, she shed her long years of oppression. She was finally in contr= ol of her own destiny, at least until they found another husband to shackle her to. Keira couldn't quite believe her brother's assertion that she wouldn't be coerced into another marriage. So for the time being, she would take responsibility for her own actions, and Keira knew exactly whe= re her responsibilities lay. Determinedly, she swung about and, before anyo= ne could stop her, hurried outside. "Keira!" Kal's plaintive cry followed swiftly on her heels, as did the Major. ***** Outside, the two soldiers were beginning to be alarmed. They had be= en ordered to watch the enemy who encircled the yard and to take anyone out who approached them. But that hadn't happened. The opposing soldiers we= re showing a great deal of caution, or, maybe, they were awaiting orders too= . = And then there were these pesky children... the troopers had deposited th= e infants on the wicker swing, almost as soon as Gaylen had left; they were= fighting men not nannies! Now, despite the sleeping draughts the childre= n had been given, they were growing restive. What were soldiers meant to d= o with two weepy kids? Some time ago, Lord Rad-Nor had disappeared inside the house and the= n Lieutenant Gaylen, and nothing had been heard from them since. Neither o= f the troopers were rocket- scientists, but even they were able to deduce that something might be wrong. Just what that might be eluded them, afte= r all; they were super-beings -- surely nothing could harm them. The question was, what did they do now? After some moments of terse deliberation they'd agreed to contact Gaylen for instructions. The Lieutenant might chew them out for breaking the rules but he wouldn't har= m them physically, unlike the Master. You didn't want to go against him, i= f you knew what was good for you. Having come to a decision, the more superior of the two men-at-arms had tried to make the connection with his officer... only Gaylen wasn't responding. The problem was worsening. Did they dare make contact with Lord Rad-Nor? Or should they call on another officer back at the Whitehouse? They were busily debating the options when a figure appeared= in the doorway. "Lady Nor!" Keira stepped out onto the porch and surveyed the two men who seemed= to be having some form of animated discussion. "I've come for my children!" the lady demanded imperiously. They clearly weren't expecting= to see her, and realising she'd rattled the soldiers, she pushed home her= slight advantage. "Please, give them to me!" "I'm sorry, Milady," said the elder soldier, taking charge of the situation and moving to bar the lady's way to the children. "But we can'= t do that! We were ordered, by the Master, that is, that we weren't to han= d over these here children to no-one but himself... or the Lieutenant," he added as a helpful afterthought. "But Nor is dead and Lieutenant Gaylen is indisposed!" "Oh no, Ma'am, that can't be so!" stated the soldier again, with emphasis. "We've got super-powers, you see, and that means we can't be killed!" "Then use these super-powers to see that I'm speaking the truth." = Keira signalled with her eyes as she employed the tone of voice that a teacher might use to a backward pupil, while in the shadowy hallway behin= d her, she could sense Ching vigilantly waiting. = The Major's first thought had been to drag Lady Keira back inside an= d out of harm's way, until he could deal with these men, but he grudgingly admitted that she was handling the situation quite competently. And he w= as ready with the kryptonite, to step in if the situation turned nasty. One= fact seemed to be emerging, Lady Lois had been correct in her assumption that it wasn't Keira herself who'd robbed Nor and Gaylen of their abilities. Kal had spoken truly... Lois' powers of deduction were awesom= e. The soldiers concentrated, they hadn't become so adept at using all = of these skills as some of the officers, yet slowly the wooden walls of the farmhouse peeled away, and the wallpaper and curtains.... Oh, Zor's teet= h! Lady Nor was right! Gaylen was lying over the top of the Master! Gayle= n, mind you, was still breathing but the Master wasn't! He was as dead as y= ou could get! "He's dead!" the second trooper exclaimed. "Yes, he is!" agreed their Lady. "Gaylen too is out of commission, which means, with no other able-bodied officer present, I'm now in charge= !" "Begging your pardon, Ma'am, but you don't know anything about soldiering and maybe, it'd be best if we just called for reinforcements. = We've still got the enemy out there to deal with." = The Lady of Nor shook her head disapprovingly. "Oh, bad choice, troopers! Ching, I believe your services are required!" And she stepped= adroitly aside to allow the Major to confront the troopers. The following action would have been somewhat comical had the stakes= not been so high. Two desperate gazes tried to change mode from x-ray to= laser-vision but, by the time they'd achieved the desired effect, the kryptonite that Ching brandished had begun to do its work. The men shook= their heads to rid themselves of the buzzing, sickly feelings that threatened to steal away their senses. But to give them their due, they weren't about to give up easily. Once more, they tried to hit the advancing enemy officer with a deadly bolt of fire from their eyes. = Yesterday they'd been congratulating themselves that they'd hit most of their targets in the practice-range -- the tall pillars that had held up the portico of the Capitol building -- but now they couldn't find enough fire to light a candle. The more inventive trooper attempted to switch t= o freezing breath, as that had proved very effective in the past, but he could only manage a weak puff, and his breath seemed to be failing him. = Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his mate go down and, in a last ditc= h effort, he clawed at his side for his weapon... but his hands found only = an empty space. Who needed a gun when they had super-powers? Foolish idea,= he thought, as all thought flickered into nothingness. Ching heaved a relieved sigh, as he tossed the newest weapon' casual= ly in the air then deposited it in his pocket. Best to keep that handy as i= t would very probably be needed again. Meanwhile, Keira had rushed to her twins and was depositing delirious kisses over their sleepy faces. The Major watched with more indulgence than he'd believed he possessed. It seemed, now that his marriage to Zara was becoming a more likely prospect= , that he wasn't as disinterested in the topic of children as he'd been previously. Besides, these infants were very nearly his niece and nephew= . Kal's anxious thoughts interrupted. Ching's smile was transmitted with his thoughts. Kal chuckled along with his aid= e, then returned to business. Kal smoothly changed to voice mode as his Major stuck his head around the parlour door. "We have to transport the prisoners... and the dead back t= o the battlecruiser. I need to know what's going on with the battle. I ha= ve to contact Dax-Ver...." "No my Lord, you don't!" Lois butted in. "You don't have to do anything but get back to the sickbay and rest!" "Don't get carried away with your own brilliance, my dear." Yet Kal= 's smile robbed the sting from his stricture. "Besides, isn't that the pot calling the kettle black'? You could do with some rest yourself." = Pushing himself feebly from the floor, Kal was grateful for both Loi= s' and the medic's support as they grabbed hold of his arms and aided him to= stand. He only managed it halfway and stood like a half-shut knife while= every nerve and muscle in his chest and stomach protested the action, whi= le his legs reacted like some bendy-rubber toy. "See, you're not fit for anything! You need to lie down." Lois' protest, however, sounded more anxious than cross. "Lois...." "Hmm!" The medic cleared his throat apologetically. "I'd have to second Lady El's recommendation, Sire. It's only the influence of the medication that's keeping you upright and pretty soon that's going to wea= r off and you'll probably crash." "I know! I know! And I'm not being a stubborn fool here. I'll do= exactly what you tell me... only, first I have to talk to Dax. I have to= find out what the status is with the Taureans and I'd be interested to kn= ow if he can spare us any kryptonite; the ships carry crystals for refuellin= g in case the hyper-drive system fails. We don't know where all these super-charged soldiers are and I'd rather have more than one piece when w= e confront them." = "But isn't that dangerous? You mentioned something about the drives= being shielded because of radiation?" Lois' brow furrowed. She wasn't especially keen on science and technology but she hated to be out of the loop on anything. "Well, this time I'm going to plead ignorance, Lois. Don't ask me t= o explain the technology behind it, but I do know that to make the thing wo= rk they bombard the kryptonite pellets with some kind of lasers and it becom= es radio-active. Until then it's perfectly safe... unless you're super that= is." = Kal's chin pointed in the direction of the fallen foe and it was onl= y then he discovered that Lieutenant Gaylen had recovered some of his sense= s and was regarding him with a subdued, yet slightly calculating look. = Clearly there was something on the man's mind, and as he caught Kal-El's eye, Gaylen decided to speak up. "Perhaps I could help with the location of my troops," Gaylen offere= d with pragmatic submission. There wasn't much he could do without the super-powers and it seemed that for some strange reason they'd completely= deserted him. Even if they returned, El's supporters too would acquire the same strengths and his army was totally outnumbered; they could never= win in a contest of equals. Also, the malevolent driving force was dead.= = Gaylen had followed his master because that was the way it always wa= s. His family had been in military service with the House of Nor for centuries and had never once wavered in their loyalty. His ancestors had= fought at the side of a Lord Nor in the civil-war of long ago and had bee= n proud to do so -- they'd believed that they served the legitimate royal house of Krypton. They had shared in the humiliating defeat and the long= years of exile and had been happy when, finally, the House of Nor had bee= n invited back into the fold and its Lord had retaken his rightful place in= the High Council It wasn't the place of a soldier to question the motives or actions = of his liege lord, only to carry out his commands and, while Gaylen hadn't taken part in the wildest atrocities, he had obeyed orders. He'd allowed= his conscience to become rather elastic in the heady enjoyment of his gre= at powers, and now he realised he had a price to pay for his blind allegianc= e to an insane master. For Rad-Nor had been insane.... Gaylen had known that all along, even if he'd chosen not to recognise the fact. = "I could talk to my soldiers... maybe even get them to surrender without a fight." Again Gaylen placed himself at this First Lord's disposal. Kal-El was the victor and mayhap he was the true and rightful ruler. Grudgingly, the Lieutenant admitted that he did seem more fitted for the role. Kal's eyes narrowed in concentration. Could he trust this man who h= ad so wilfully followed an evil entity? Even though Kal had once told Lois that no-one was a slave on Krypton, he understood that his world's histor= ic traditions yielded little scope for someone to break out of his respectiv= e position in life. There was much that needed reforming on Krypton, but f= or now he'd settle for sorting out the problems that his people had brought = to Earth. And he could keep close watch on Gaylen; be prepared to curtail h= is activities if he broke his word. Leaning more heavily on his wife and attendant than he would like, Kal tried to straighten his spine to walk t= he few feet to confront the Lieutenant. "You do know that I couldn't give you immunity from prosecution... b= ut I can promise that you won't end up as floating molecules in a containme= nt chamber. But for taking part in the unprovoked invasion; for the crimes you perpetrated on the people of Earth, you will stand trial... here, on this world, and you will be subject to whatever penalty they decree. = However, if you help us end this conflict, I will ask their leaders to sh= ow you some consideration." And as Gaylen remained silent, Kal spoke again.= = "That's my final offer, the rest is up to you." The Lieutenant's massive shoulders sunk even lower and his head dropped forward, but his voice was clear. "I will do your bidding, First= Lord!" = "Good! Then perhaps we can end this without the all-out war I feared!" Kal felt his energy and his focus begin to slip. The crash' th= at his medic had predicted was very near. "Ching, take charge here -- liais= e with Bert Johnstone as to the deployment of the Earth troops." Kal couldn't repress a grimace; he really was beginning to hurt again. "You know what needs to be done, Ching, and you have my full authority." In a= n aside to Lois, Kal admitted with a penitent smile. "You were right, of course -- I doubt I can keep upright for very much longer. Let's go fetc= h the President and Martha and Jonathan and get back to the ship. They mus= t be wondering what's been happening in here." Actually, that wasn't quite true. The three occupants of the barn h= ad crept nervously into the yard after witnessing the collapse of the two enemy troopers and had been sharing in the joy of Keira's reuniting with her twins. Between hugging and kissing her babies, Keira had managed to relate most of the important details. The soldiers, too, were beginning = to venture from their positions in increasing numbers as Ching's thought commands reached them. There was still a chance that some more of Nor's army might show up to discover their commander's fate but, hopefully, the= y would have no reason to doubt Nor's supremacy and would simply await his return. However, it didn't pay to be incautious and these crack troops, = a coalition of Earth and Krypton's finest, went about their subsequent duti= es with a watchful eye on the horizon. Within good time, a shuttle landed in the yard = to carry the First Lord, his family and friends back to the safety of his= spacecraft. Once there, they were informed that the Taurean fleet had suffered severe casualties and the remnants were fleeing into deep space.= = A small squadron of Kryptonian fighter-craft had been sent after them to make sure they didn't return. This craven rout had left much of the Taurean forces stranded on Ear= th without a support system and, although it was ingrained in their foot-soldiers' psyche to fight to the bitter end, it was felt that before= too long the allied army would prevail. = A special task force with Major Ching at its head and with Johnstone= to advise, escorted Gaylen, who'd been tagged with a sliver of kryptonite= , = to seek out and negotiate a surrender with all the remaining supermen'. = Hopefully, in this too, the coalition of Earth and Krypton would be successful. And if all else failed, they held the trump-card -- the gree= n, green glow of home. ***** to be concluded in part 48 ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2001 03:50:57 -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/Part48 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 cont'd from part 47 = That night, while Lois sat watching over her sleeping husband and chil= d, she deliberated over all that had happened to her since she'd left this world. She'd been an over-eager and impetuous green-girl, thinking she w= as embarking on an exciting and crusading adventure to change an ancient civilisation. Only now she realised that it takes time to change a world= , perhaps even a lifetime... or more. But it had been an adventure. One th= at had brought her as much sadness and soul-searching as it had brought her happiness. Yet looking on the dear face of Kal, as he slept in his revitalising= cocoon, and on the ever precious baby in the crib by his bed, she realise= d that wasn't exactly true -- the good far outweighed the bad. She had bee= n blessed by a great love and, regardless of what the future would bring to= them, she would never regret the decision that had carried her to the oth= er side of the galaxy and back again. She looked forward to renewing the acquaintances of old and new friends. Even more, she happily anticipated the chance to rebuild the relationship with her family... something Lois would never have believed = a few years ago. Well, her mother would certainly be pleased; her eldest daughter had married into royalty... that was something to crow about at the bridge club, provided, of course, she could overlook the fact that he= r son-in-law was an alien. = Lois smiled into the darkness. The room was lit softly so as not to= disturb the patient -- her dearest, dearest alien! Lois' hand reached to= stroke the glass face of the healing- chamber, but instead it encounter t= he warm flesh of an outstretched hand. The surface had vanished at the firs= t signs of Kal's waking. "Hi, sweetheart," came Kal's soft salute. "Hi, yourself!" "How's the baby?" "She's lovely!" Lois found herself grinning uncontrollably, while tears gathered in the corner of her eyes. "She's been fed, burped and diapered and is fast asleep. She's such a considerate little soul, allowing her mommy and daddy to share some quality time together." Kal twisted his head to see his daughter. "She is beautiful... a lo= t like her mother," he whispered, but whether this was due to not wanting t= o disturb the baby or because he was still weak, Lois couldn't really tell.= = Thankfully she'd had Physician Tamar's reassurance that Kal was well on t= he way to recovery. "You know, she still doesn't have a name," he said with= some remorse. "I know, but I have a name in mind. I was just waiting to see if yo= u approved." Lois straightened in her seat and regarded him with eyes wide= open. "I'd like to call her Marta, after Martha who helped to bring her into the world." "Lois that's perfect. Marta-El... I like that!" For long moments both parents stared at their child with silly, sentimental smiles on both= their faces. The tiny child, as if aware of their scrutiny, stretched ou= t its arms and legs, but feeling loved and secure, Marta soon settled back into sleep. Satisfied that his daughter was well, Kal allowed his attention to stray to other matters. "By the way, how are our visitors doing?" This too made Lois smile. "I think they might be feeling a little over-awed... well, Jonathan anyway. Martha seems to be the indomitable type; she's taking the idea of space travel well in stride. And Presiden= t West is already talking about an alliance with Krypton." "It seems we've a busy time ahead of us here on Earth, rebuilding al= l that was destroyed and trying to make amends to the people... to convince= them that we're not all evil aliens out to gain world domination." "Yes...." Lois' smile turned misty. "What's wrong, sweetheart?" Kal's hand reached to cup Lois' cheek i= n his familiar way. = "Nothing.... It's just that I miss home." "Lois, this is your home!" A little forlornly, Lois shook her head. "No, not any more. Oh, I'= m not saying I won't enjoy visiting... and I'm looking forward to seeing my= family and friends again. But my place is on Krypton... with you." Lois= leaned closer and took both his hands into her own. "Right now, I thin= k I'd like for us to take Marta and be in Schie-Ellion." When had the metamorphosis occurred; when had the slick, city-loving= girl given way to the woman who found contentment in a mountain stronghol= d? Lois understood that the feeling wouldn't last, that very soon she'd fee= l the almost compulsive desire to return to the fast pace and intrigue of Krypton's political cauldron. But for now she just wanted to enjoy some tender loving care in the company of those she loved. "It'll be winter in the mountains...." = Kal's voice tailed off as his thoughts carried him to a land far awa= y -- a land of sparkling, snow filled passages and ice covered lakes, of ta= ll fir trees straining towards a clear sky, their branches touching the grou= nd under their mantle of white. And soon Lois' thoughts joined him on the journey. Together their minds traversed the vast vista of space to visit the mountainous land whi= ch had become their refuge... the place where they'd discovered the beauty o= f physical love; where they'd forged an unexpected friendship with a young Kryptonian woman, only to have it snatched cruelly away, later, on a different mountainside and where Lois had encountered her first unicorn. = It had been on that mystical day when they'd gone to meet Kal's gypsy grandmother, and had promised never to be parted, a promise which had bee= n forgotten. = Yet, they had found each other again, and their love had grown stronger through its passage of fire. Lois laid her head next to Kal's o= n the pillow and both drifted into sleep. In dreams they returned to Krypton, a world of great strengths and even greater weaknesses. A world= waiting to be reshaped by the dedication and aspirations of these two you= ng people; where one day in the far future, the lives of this First Lord and= his Lady would be told in legend. ***** Epilogue The great hall in the castle at Elvar was filled to capacity. Every= lord and lady and personage of rank had gathered to witness the ceremoni= al welcome of the delegation from Earth. A year had passed since Kal and hi= s troops had delivered Earth from the evil yoke of Rad-Nor and the Taureans= . = A year in which to start repairing the physical and structural damage do= ne to Earth, and to build political and social bridges. There had been a very public, but very necessary trial of the super'= warriors who'd terrorised the people of Earth -- at least, the ones who'd= allowed themselves to be persuaded by Gaylen to surrender. Some had chos= en to fight, preferring not to believe in the Lieutenant's warning that they= could be robbed of their invulnerability and most of these had died. But= perhaps that had been their true choice, preferring death to long term imprisonment. = Gaylen and his cohorts were now locked up on a penal planet, the Earthlings being quite happy to leave the responsibility for these terrorists' continued incarceration to the friendly' Kryptonians. In truth, the Earthlings weren't too comfortable to allow any Kryptonians to= remain on their planet. Clearly, they were fearful that beings with super-powers were too hard to control and they were extremely sceptical o= f the idea that a superman' might wish only to do good. Neither Kal nor Lo= is could blame them, given the examples to which they'd been subjected. Very slowly, the people of Earth had come to accept that, in some cases, the use of such powers was highly advantageous when rebuilding the= superstructure of their world. The fact that Kal had voluntarily handed over kryptonite, the one thing that could combat the powers, to President= West and the United Nations had gone a long way to reassuring the populou= s that they had nothing to fear from the remaining Kryptonians. Indeed, there were many avenues of life on Earth that would benefit from interaction with these technological wizards. The Federation of Planets, encouraged by its founder-member, had als= o offered closer ties with this young planet -- not yet a fully equal membership, but a definite affiliation. Thus it was, on this momentous day, that the royal couple with their= family and High Council waited on the dias for the ambassador and his delegation to enter. The spacecraft had actually arrived late the night before and Lois and Kal had already met up with the Lanes, who'd been invited to visit. Kal had insisted that Lois should have the opportunity= to show her family her new home, and to introduce Marta to her maternal grandparents. There had been an especially warm welcome for Martha and Jonathan Kent. It had delighted Lois and Kal when Martha had agreed to their request to come and take charge of Lady Marta-El. Both parents were anxious that the little girl be brought up under the influence of both sides of her genetic heritage and they could think of no better example than this kind and loving couple. Of course, it was understood that the Kents might one day wish to return to their home, but the baby's informative years would be spent in the tender care of Martha and Jonatha= n. The royal household had made some other adjustments over the past year, besides establishing a nursery. Lara and Jor had been over the moo= n to welcome their oldest daughter back into the shelter of their family an= d they were thrilled that they now had three grandchildren to love and spoi= l. Sadly, though, Keira's reunion hadn't been totally without difficulty. = Her family had tried very hard to understand her dark moods and bitter thoughts, and to make allowances, but Keira had remained unapproachable a= nd often accusatory. Finally, at Keira's request, a small residence had bee= n procured for her and she had taken her children and moved out of Ro-Ellio= n. Since then, a truce had developed between parents and daughter, allowing= a warmer relationship to develop, if somewhat slowly. Lois, surprisingly, found that a reluctant friendship was growing between herself and Keira, forged perhaps during their traumatic crashlanding on Earth. The tragedy was that the young dowager Lady of No= r was not prepared to allow Kal into the small circle of those she was beginning to trust. It seemed that Keira was extremely suspicious of authority and those feelings suffused all her dealings with her brother. = Yet, Kal refused to give up. In his estimation, Keira had been wounded beyond measure, but with patience and undemanding care, Kal hoped to restore the close companionship they had once shared. But if Kal's relationship with his elder sister was troubled, this w= as certainly not the case with his younger one. Zara held Kal in high estee= m. In fact, Zara was regarding the whole world through rose-coloured spectacles. Her hero had come home to her. And Ching was indeed a hero.= = Major Ching had saved the life of the First Lord and Lady and had killed the traitor Nor -- with some assistance from Keira, but that information wasn't widely known. It was what Keira herself had wanted. Later, Ching= had taken charge of rounding up and disabling Nor's supercharged troops, and the High Council had recognised his bravery and proficiency by awardi= ng the Major their highest honour -- raising him to the peerage. The populo= us had been thrilled at the elevation of one of their own. Since then, Krypton's newest Lord had been courting the youngest daughter of the Hous= e of El and everyone was confident that soon a betrothal would be announced= . = And, if anyone suspected that the liaison was of longer-standing, they di= d not cavil -- such was Lord Ching's popularity with both the nobility and the common man. = Certainly, Ching and Zara stood as a couple on the crowded platform behind the First Lord and Lady, waiting to welcome the respected guests. = Even Keira had chosen to attend the ceremony. She'd spent only a short time on Earth but she'd been intrigued by what she'd learnt of the role o= f women on that far planet. Clearly, the one Earth woman she knew well considered herself the equal of any man, and Keira was interested to stud= y more examples of a race who seemed to believe in equality of the sexes. = = The heat and noise in the crowded hall built apace with its occupant= s' curiosity. But, at last, the moment arrived when the great doors at the end of the hall were thrown open and the Earthlings strode into the room.= = The official visitors were very conscious that they were the centre of everyone's conjecture, but they'd been warned that they were coming to a very ceremonial and stylised civilisation and were prepared for surprises= . = The ambassador himself had been at the Court of St James -- the official title of the royal court of Great Britain - - and didn't feel in anyway overawed. It seemed that royalty was very similar no matter which world = it hailed from. He and his delegation marched with immaculate pomp and circumstance between the serried ranks of the courtiers until they reached the dias, bowing, as was the custom, to their royal hosts. Greetings were exchange= d and the formal introductions began, each member of the delegation being welcomed personally by the First Couple, then being escorted aside by a Lord of the Council who would be their particular guide and sponsor on th= is alien world. = The ambassador was congratulating himself on the success of the ceremony and was looking forward to the less formal luncheon which was to= follow, when he noticed an almost imperceptible change in the demeanour o= f the couple seated on the thrones. Surreptitiously, he looked behind him = to see if he could discover the cause. The man waiting in line was the Consul for Trade. There had been a slight problem with the appointment o= f that particular delegate, but surely that couldn't be the cause of the cooling of the atmosphere. The ambassador bowed a little lower than normal and began his speech= . = "Lord and Lady El, may I introduce the Consul for Trade, Mr Lex Luthor. = I'm afraid his name doesn't appear on our earlier list, but the appointed= delegate was sadly and very suddenly taken ill just before we embarked on= our journey." The elderly statesman was watching closely to see how his words were being received. It appeared that the First Lady had pulled herself a little under control, though she was still a trifle pale, but t= he First Lord was looking decidedly frosty and a muscle jerked in his jaw. = Whatever could have caused such a reaction? Surely, there could be no objection to Mr Luthor? However, it was his job to smooth over any diplomatic cracks that might appear and to that end he continued. "We we= re very fortunate to have the eminent Mr Luthor step into the breach. Mr Luthor is a well-respected, competent and honourable entrepreneur on Eart= h and will, I'm sure, be a great asset to any future business dealings between our two worlds." The greetings droned on around the little tableau and only the very attentive noticed the intrusion of tension. Lex Luthor, the man who woul= d have raped Lois had it not been for Kal's timely intervention, was standi= ng before them, smiling expansively. Lois felt Kal's hand grip her own tightly and took comfort from his touch. Only they knew that Lex Luthor was not honourable, though he was well-respected and certainly competent.= = And he was here on Krypton and, no doubt, ready to make whatever mischief= he chose. The man was a consummate rogue and an accomplished actor to boot. Lex bowed with a charming flourish and, rising, he didn't wait to = be addressed as protocol demanded -- such things were for lesser mortals. = Instead, he pitched his voice just loud enough for those nearest him on t= he dias to hear. "Mr Ambassador, I thank you for your glowing testimonial and let me assure the government of Krypton that I hope my presence here will be to both our worlds' advantage. But the introductions were quite unnecessary= . = Lady Lois and I are old friends, and I've even met the First Lord... very= briefly; he didn't have time to talk. Dear, Lady Lois, so nice to meet y= ou again... and you my Lord," he added almost as an afterthought, though he never removed his eyes from the Lady. "May I say you're looking exceedingly fine, my Lady, and I'm so looking forward to renewing our acquaintance... with both of you, of course." ***** = = The End... or to be continued in book 4 = = ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2001 20:24:52 +0930 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: LizO Subject: Re: Its Show time! MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Vicki I have tried to email several times to your email and it keeps bouncing so sorry to send this to the general list. I have a bag for you. Please give me a private email and I will arrange to get it to you. Liz ----- Original Message ----- From: "Vicki Krell" To: Sent: Wednesday, September 05, 2001 12:18 AM Subject: Re: Its Show time! > That sounds great! Add me to the list and let me know the details re: > payment, etc. Thanks! :) > > Vicki > > -----Original Message----- > From: Christiana Hug [mailto:christianahug@HOTMAIL.COM] > Sent: Tuesday, September 04, 2001 1:49 AM > To: LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU > Subject: Re: Its Show time! > > Coming out of lurkdom ... > > I'd like one, too. I live across the pond, but I'd pay for the shipping, of > course. > > Chris > > _________________________________________________________________ > Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp > ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2001 08:04:34 -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: Universal Union Book3/Part48 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Nice ending, Jenni! s p o i l e r s p a c e It's sad that Kiera wasn't more reconciled to her family, but I can understand that she wouldn't be very open or trusting any more. Very exciting confrontation in the farmhouse, and everyone had a chance to be a hero, although I was surprised that Lois was even able to walk I think you should do a Book 4, after all, it'd be very short "Guards! Escort that man back to the ship! We're sorry, Ambassador, but my wife has had previous unpleasant dealings with Mr. Luthor -- in fact, we think he's scum, but he's your problem. He won't be allowed to stay on our planet." The End :) PJ (always happy to help ) "But then of course so many people are silly about a man who doesn't do any fighting in a war. So stupid of them, because it's so much more sensible not to, don't you think? If we all just didn't, I mean, well where would people like Hitler have been?" "In Buckingham Palace and the White House, I imagine," grunted her husband. "Don't be silly, dear. How could he have been in two places at once?" --from Death in Kashmir, by M. M. Kaye ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2001 06:10:59 -0700 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Karen Subject: Re: LOISCLA-GENERAL-L Digest - 28 Sep 2001 to 29 Sep 2001 (#2001-275) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Ann! My mother wears the bifocal's, mainly because she's too stubborn to wear actual glasses after so many years with contacts. She thinks they're wonderful... :P There /is/ another weird type of contact lens called Monovision I believe that she tried before that, one lens was for distance, one was for close, and she despised those. She had been told that her brain would adjust to the different lenses and such and she'd be able to see fine. He. It didn't work that way and she ended up wandering around with one eye open and one shut most of the time... :P Anyway, if anybody's particularly interested I wear the soft 30-day disposables. :) I think they're wonderful, but it's the only thing I've ever worn, I stuck to glasses much longer than most people. It was a fight to get them off of me. Hehe...The only thing I find is that it can be a struggle to get them to last their full 30 days and I use the separate cleaner and saline and such rather than that new 'combination' stuff. I also know a guy that just wears his contacts for occassional purposes. Maybe 2 or 3 times a year...It's kind of funny to watch him try to get them in, takes forever, but I do understand why... :P ~~ Karen The Quiet Quoting: Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2001 00:17:23 EDT From: "Ann E. McBride" Subject: Re: FFQs: Luthor's minions and contact lenses In a message dated 9/29/01 8:21:10 PM Eastern Daylight Time, rbain@USWEST.NET writes: > I do! I've worn soft bifocal contacts for about a year and a half. They > =aren't= perfect - I had to give up a tiny bit of clarity both at distance > Becky, I think you should contact Dean and get on Ripleys. I know about a dozen people who have tried and rejected them. Ann ===== ~ Men are from Earth, women are from Earth. Deal with it. ~ If you try to fail, and succeed, which have you done? ~ Can vegetarians eat animal crackers? ~ If someone with multiple personalities threatens to kill himself, is it considered a hostage situation? ~ "He's dead, Jim. You grab his wallet, I'll grab his tricorder." -- Anonymous __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Listen to your Yahoo! Mail messages from any phone. http://phone.yahoo.com ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2001 13:02:32 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Crystal Wimmer Subject: OT: Dean Alert... MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hey there... I'm watching the lead-in to the race, and they just announced a special celebrity edition of The Weakest Link, tonight at 8pm. In the clips, Dean's one of the featured celebritites. This is to benefit the NY/DC fund, so it sounds like something he'd do. I hate Weakest Link, but I'll watch Dean ;) -Crys- ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2001 20:55:33 +0200 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Kaethel Subject: Re: Vocabulary questions (mostly US English) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I'd like to thank everyone who replied to my questions - your responses have all been extremely helpful to me, and I've learned new things about the US in the process. :) As for my problem with the state's divisions, I think I'll go for county (Franklin County, as it happens ), and clarify which part of the county when needed. Thank you very much again for your help, everyone! Helene :) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kaethel Kaethel@wanadoo.fr I used to think, as birds take wing, They sing through life, so why can't we? We cling to this, and claim the best If this is what you're offering I'll take the rain, I'll take the rain R.E.M. - I'll Take the Rain ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2001 15:16:30 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Crystal Wimmer Subject: The Author's Mind... updated :) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hello everyone... Yes, for a change she's on time . The Author's Mind has been updated with yet another amazing author... our very-own Labrat! I know many of you have been eagerly awaiting this day, and are more than ready to read about the conception of Caped Fear. Come by the Author's Mind today, and read all about it! -Crys- Manager, The Author's Mind... Come take a look into the Author's Mind at: www.geocities.com/authorsmind/main.html ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2001 14:19:31 -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: FFQs: Luthor's minions and contact lenses Thank you to everyone who answered my questions! The contact lens discussion in particular has been incredibly helpful. Hopefully, in the not too distant future, you'll find out just why... One unexpected side effect of the discussion: as a lapsed contact lens wearer, I'm now wondering whether or not to give them a second go! Anyway, thanks again. Chris ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2001 18:38:30 EDT Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: "Ann E. McBride" Subject: Re: FFQs: Luthor's minions and contact lenses MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit In a message dated 9/30/01 3:19:55 PM Eastern Daylight Time, chris@CARR55.FSNET.CO.UK writes: > One unexpected side effect of the discussion: as a lapsed contact lens > Go for it, Chris! Ann ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2001 20:58:50 -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: Dean Alert... On Sun, 30 Sep 2001 13:02:32 EDT, Crystal Wimmer wrote: >Hey there... > >I'm watching the lead-in to the race, and they just announced a special >celebrity edition of The Weakest Link, tonight at 8pm. In the clips, Dean's >one of the featured celebritites. This is to benefit the NY/DC fund, so it >sounds like something he'd do. > >I hate Weakest Link, but I'll watch Dean ;) He was *wonderful*. He made it to the final round -- he and Teri Garr. (And yes, gotta love the irony of it being Dean and Teri up there. ) Teri ended up winning, but I think Dean may have done better overall in the game. He didn't get anything wrong until near the end. He was the strongest link the vast majority of the time. He was also very diplomatic and serious about the show ... others were goofing around, but he was very respectful and sweet. They won $45,000 for WTC relief effort, and the show kicked in another $100,000. All in all, Dean was extremely impressive. We can all be very proud of our boy! :) Kathy ========================================================================= Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2001 21:03:14 -0500 Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" Sender: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" From: Marilyn Puett Subject: Re: OT: Premature Baby Resources? Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed My hubby had a rash in a delicate area (and that's all I'll say ) and was treated for a fungus for ever so long with several different creams and ointments. Finally the doc asked what he bathed with. He goes to the gym each morning before work and used the soap they had on the wall in a dispenser. Seems it's a fairly strong antibacterial soap and it was killing off the good flora on his skin in addition to the bad. Doc said to STOP using antibacterial soap. Voila! The rash went away. I guess my mom had the right idea when she differentiated between "home" germs and "strange" germs! Marilyn AKA Supermom >From: Nancy Smith >Reply-To: "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman Fanfic" > >To: LOISCLA-GENERAL-L@LISTSERV.INDIANA.EDU >Subject: Re: OT: Premature Baby Resources? >Date: Fri, 28 Sep 2001 18:10:35 -0700 > >Lol! Well, probably moderation in all things isn't too bad an idea, but >you >should see what I go through to avoid buying those new antibacterial >products. >If I want to clean something, soap and water, detergent, and sometimes >bleach, >are good enough for me. > >Nan > >Pam Jernigan wrote: > > > >>That's something to think about when you're buying cleaning products >for > > your > > home. Breeding super-germs isn't something you want to do. Where do >you > > think > > the flesh-eating bacteria came from? > > > > So you mean that my long-standing policy of only cleaning the stuff that > > shows (every once in a while) is actually *healthy*?? Wow! > > > > And to think I cleaned my toilets today! Drat! I won't make that >mistake > > again ;) > > > > PJ > > > > "But then of course so many people are silly about a man who doesn't do >any > > fighting in a war. So stupid of them, because it's so much more >sensible > > not to, don't you think? If we all just didn't, I mean, well where >would > > people like Hitler have been?" > > "In Buckingham Palace and the White House, I imagine," grunted her >husband. > > "Don't be silly, dear. How could he have been in two places at once?" > > --from Death in Kashmir, by M. M. Kaye _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp