Hey, where is Tank? Shouldn't he be around to praise Corinna for shaving some of Lois's hair off?
Like KathyB, I was wondering about the fact that Kal said that he had heard of planet Earth, but that it was uncharted. Actually, I was surprised that he said that he had heard of it at all. A possibility might be that these people are originally Earthlings who left their home world many generations ago, to settle on New Krypton. (Why, though, would they call it "New" Krypton? Unless they had settled on "Old" Krypton first?)
If Kal's people are originally from Earth, that would explain not only why they had heard of the Earth, but also why they themselves look fully human. It might also explain why they can barely survive on this planet in spite of their advanced technology. (If the Earth had been this harsh during the Stone Age, I don't see how humanity could have survived.) But New Krypton might have been more hospitable when Kal's people first came there, but now they may be in the process of using up the water.
Anyway, this is a fascinating fic! I was wondering about Kal and his wife - you said they saw each other only once a year, but I didn't get the impression that the annual visit was necessarily an intimate one. Or maybe it
was intimate, but it took place in total darkness, so that Kal and his wife frankly didn't see each other at all? (It reminds me of the Biblical story of Jacob, Rachel and Leah - Jacob has labored for seven years to be able to marry Rachel, and now he is finally allowed to go into Rachel's tent to spend the night with her - and it is only in the morning that he realizes that he has been with Leah instead!
But really, the "wife" question and the "concubine" question are interesting and important. Kal seems quite innocent in a way. Is he a virgin????
Surely that isn't possible? As a ruler, he would definitely be expected to produce an heir, and given that he is twenty-six years old, and the average NKer is expected to live to the age of forty, Kal may be in a hurry. Isn't he supposed to live long enough to give his offspring some parental guidance? Then again, maybe not. Kal doesn't remember his own parents at all.
Well, in any case, Lois and Kal are definitely highly intrigued by one another, just as we expect them to be!
Fascinating, Corinna!
Ann