Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic FDK: Life and Death - 11/13

Here's a bit of a twist. And you'll have to read the chapter to find out what it is. As to whether it's a WHAM or not - RAFO!

Note: Almost all of the German in this chapter was drawn from Google Translate at this location. I've checked, and you can reverse-translate it if you wish.

I'm told by someone at another German slang website (which I no longer have) that "Alter Schwede!" means "Old Swede" and is an expression of surprise, something like the American "Holy cow!." Any German-speaking readers are free to enlighten me if that is incorrect.

Now we're really getting somewhere! Clark shouldn't be surprised to find out what Lois has really been doing with her time - the pieces should have clicked rather easily.

OMG I really didn't imagine Lois would actually harm Lucy! Really brave of you as a writer to go there, to take this alternate universe character someplace radically different from the Lois we know.

Wait...why am I crying over a cold-blooded killer? Gosh, I just feel so badly for her!

Drama! Cliffhanger! I'm glad your intro warnings at the beginning of the story didn't dissuade me from reading it...I'm all in!

The term "Alter Schwede" is quite common and used correctly. Though I'm not sure I have heard many females use the term. But since the officer is quite boyish in her behavior, it might just fit.

The German parts are mostly correct, though a few words are missing. What's strange is that the titles of the policemen are also translated. It would be more likely that they use the term "Kommisar" or "Hauptkommisar".

Hm, I just reread the prologue and realized that it didn't actually specify which sister was which. One reading seems much more plausible than the other, but it's not directly spelled out.

I will leave it there while waiting for the rest of the story to unfold.

Groobie, one of the things I always liked about this Clark/Superman was his transparency. Because of that, he expects everyone else to behave in the same fashion. They don't, of course, so sometimes he's a little slow on the uptake.

And thank you for admitting that you care about Lois despite her less-than-exemplary line of work. It means I haven't driven off all the readers with this characterization of Lois.

Bakasi, thanks for chiming in about the German speech. I was not informed that it wasn't something many women used in polite company. As for missing words, I can't know what they might be because my German might as well be non-existent, unlike your excellent command of English. And I never thought about not translating the titles into English. Next time I'll be more diligent.

AmyPrime, the ambiguity in the prologue was deliberate. I tried to be just as ambiguous in the epilogue, but because of all the loose ends I needed to tie up I couldn't. It will become evident how it turns out very soon.

Next part up in moments!

I wouldn't say that women don't use it in polite company - after all it's not an expletive by any means. I just feel that it's odd for a woman to use - maybe a bit like the term "Oopsie daysies" Hugh Grant uses in the movie "Notting Hill". Sorry, can't think of a better way to compare it.


Well, actually, I was surprised what a good job Google did - and I did not expect you to be fluent in German. I have been studying English for the past twenty years now and I still make lots of mistakes. If you like, I can read your text again and make the corrections. There really are only a few.

@Bakasi - Please let me know where Google translate let me down. I'd much prefer to have the correct German phrasing in the archive version. And thank you for your kind offer.

@Bakasi, thanks again for the corrected German. I do want to mention here that Horst spoke English to Frau Blaschke to let Clark know how much time he could give his friend and to make sure Clark knew that Horst wasn't setting up a bail-out call.

See what a treasure trove of knowledge we writers can delve into?

Oh that's your decision to make. I just added the German translations while I was already at it.

By the way, the BKA is not located in Hamburg. Sorry, but it did not occur to me until this morning that something about that was odd. There are three locations. The main building is in Wiesbaden, then there is one in Berlin and another one in Meckenheim, which is close to our former capital Bonn.

Bakasi is right. According to the BKA home website (found here), it began in Hamburg.



I did not, however, check for current locations, which are available on that page with one click. Bad on me!

I'm going with the explanation that this is an alternate world where Hamburg kept an active BKA office and Horst Müller is Hauptkomissar there. (It's easier than correcting my text, kind of like a computer programmer fixing the data after the program has run instead of fixing the program. And if you think that doesn't happen, you're mistaken. I've seen it.)