Congrats to Ank.K.S. who, I believe on September 1st, was the first one to figure out the paradox problem. Honorable mention to Kathy who I think is the only other person who identified a possible time loop issue. (If I missed someone, please speak up and let me know so I can give you props too).

ML

Oh no! Oh no! Lois's memories of Clark erased? Oh no! Evil evil evil author!

/wipes brow/

Sorry, I just had a moment there.

/wipes brow again/

OK. Lois had to do it. Except maybe HGW is wrong? At the last minute, Lois did have a thought about that, and I'm sure if she were allowed to think about it more, she would have come up with some way out of this horrible spot you've put her into.

PS: Sorry for calling you evil. I didn't really mean it.

/mutters about authors and clone arghs.../
1st I call dibbs on Lois being preggers. hope she's will keep mini-clark.
2nd why didn't the stupid man not just jump Lois forward at the airport. that way she's still gone in 1993 etc.
fix. it.

now!
michael

Hmm... I don't foresee a ratty t-shirt being enough to send Lois on a fact-finding mission to Kansas, but you never know....

It could have interesting consequences...

If Lois finds out she's pregnant, the t-shirt will be the start point of her investigation. She and Molly don't remember Clark (boo Wells! ) but what about other people? Linda will remember Clark and will probably ask what happened to Charlie. She must make some snarky comment about Lois doesn't being able to keep a hunky like Charlie for long. Cat, Henderson, Joe, Mayson and all the football players will remember him, too. With a description and a place to start Lois will connect the dots sooner or later.

Of course, she'll probably think he put the GHB in her drink and got her pregnant. It would be the logical explanation for her lack of memory.

Is it a coincidence that this description fits the "Bummer-Be-Gone" device so well? Of course, this would be an anti-Bummer-Be-Gone.

LOL! I wrote my above response before I read this far into the part. (I intersperse my reading with my commenting, rather than reading an entire part and then responding.)

Wouldn't the paradox actually be simpler than that? I would think that the paradox would be that because Lois didn't go to the Congo, she didn't die. Because she didn't die, Clark would have no need to go back in time to rescue her. And if he didn't go back in time, then she would have gone to the Congo and around and around in a sort of Moebius strip.

Why? Why would how much time elapsed in Lois' present before she forgot change what would happen in Clark's present? They are two different presents, so to speak.

Why would that be a problem? We saw earlier in the story (before she had any such memories) that she ignored Clark's warning and boarded the plane anyway. Why would she do anything different this time around?



I wonder whether Lois is pregnant, and whether her discovery of said fact will jog her memory and she'll recall Clark after all?

LOL! I wonder what Wells would have done had they actually expressed interest in a cleaning appliance?

Unlike flying aliens, time travel and alternate universes.

Ack! Don't leave us hanging like this for two whole days. Be merciful and post the next part tonight. Please?

This was a phenomenal part. You really put us on an emotional roller coaster with this one. Well done!

Joy,
Lynn

Hmm, Wells is really an idiot. I didn't like him in the series and I like him less now.

I think the time loop is still in play.

H!!! G!!! Wells!!!!

I'm just saying...

Was it Tank who wrote a story where Wells was a villain and in collaboration with Tempus? Boy, that fic sure was easy to believe!!!

H.G.Wells s***s!

Ann

Oh, my ... my head is spinning! I'm proud of my honorable mention, but I also wish it wasn't so! Poor Lois and Clark!

Though I'm pretty sure this isn't the last twist you're going to throw at us ...

I laughed out loud at Lois and Molly's reaction to Wells first telling them to sit still so he could erase their memories. I literally shook my head and said "Uh uh, no way" and then they said the same thing.

And poor Lois, having to write that letter (and like everyone else, I'm wondering if her last thought is foreshadowing for anything ... ahem, significant ... coming up in her life now that he's gone) and poor Clark for having to read it soon.

In response to Andreia's comment about 87Clark feeling Lois's wrath, it's a good point that others will probably remember the guy Lois was hanging out with that week, but doesn't everyone else just know him as Charlie? As talented as Lois is, I don't think even she'd be able to connect "Charlie who left a University of Kansas t-shirt" to Clark Kent of Smallville ... though she might well try. It also makes me wonder if Lois still remembers her guardian angel from age 9 ... all that still happened right? Or did Wells erase every memory of Clark from her mind? OK, now my head is spinning again!

Waahh, come back and give us part 6! I need to know how they get out of this mess!

Kathy

I also need to know how they get out of the mess and I do think that Lois' last thought before Wells swiped her memory does foreshadow something significant - Clearly Well didn't think everything through when he suggested and planned on eliminating those specific memories!



This was so funny and so in character for Lois' sarcasm!

Anyhow, I agree with everyone who suggest for part 6 to be posted this evening as waiting to two days for the next part is not a great idea.

It must have been really sad for Lois to write that letter, but also to choose a fate knowing she is going to die ... however, with the little bun in the oven, there must be more possibilities. Also, what will Lois think when she sees her wedding ring on the wedding ring finger?????

/ponders what to add while having a real keyboard available/

So, loved the dialogue. And there has been a certain comedic quality to their interactions. But the idea of Lois having to sacrifice herself.

/keeps muttering about not knowing who's to blame, M.L. of H.G./

@DW: Lois doesn't have a wedding ring.
ML is truly evil. Even if she tries to hide it by posting early

Michael

PS: I should have expected it after the way you set us up with part 5a and 5b. There just had to be a really really really mean twist. And I know you're not putting together your ideas so straight forward that the most obvious solution would actually be what's needed, but just *why* did H.G. not just take Lois forward in time in 1993.

PPS: The others are right. It is inhumane to let us dangle like that. And did I already mention clone arghs?

Once again, I'm enjoying the speculation. Once again, I'm not going to comment.

But since Lois would be able to tell Clark in 1997 that he has to go back in time, that wouldn't cause the loop. The problem is that he can't go back in time because he wouldn't have the blue prints for the time machine. And why wouldn't he have the blue prints... Because Tempus would never have brought HG Wells to this dimension if there had been a Lois Lane and a Superman here.

Okay... my headache is starting now.

As for other questions that were asked but that I haven't answered, my only comment is... keep reading.

ML

Originally posted by MLT:
Mine, too. I guess I'll limit my time travel to a rate of 60 mph -- that is "60 minutes per hour."

I notice that in your post you never mentioned when the next part will drop. Would some more grovelling encourage you to post again tonight?



Joy,
Lynn

I'll join in Lynn's grovelling for the next part to be posted ASAP!

I've been avoiding answering the question about whether I'd be posting tonight because I have been waiting to see if I could have the next part ready for posting tonight.

Unfortunately, I don't think it's going to be possible. Sorry, everyone.

ML

Ah well, if I had to choose between speed and quality, I would definitely go with quality. So, much as I hate to have to wait, you made the right decision.

Any chance of a compromise -- if the next part is ready before midnight tomorrow, would you consider an earlier drop? (Ya can't blame a gal for trying! )

Joy,
Lynn

And *that's* how you make Gir's head explode....

I like this version more. It's a much more visual discription.

Now I just need to know what happens next!!!

ML!!!!




ML!!!!



ML!!!!

We need our fix!!! Come back here!!!

Ann

Thanks for the mention... hehe (I might have guessed the paradox, but I hadn't expected H G Wells to be so.... Wells )

He is almost callous (very much in character but evil nevertheless). For all his ingenuity (the man invented a time machine after all), he has been known to be set in his ways. Okay so maybe he's worrying about the big picture (one life Vs the whole world), but don't Lois and Clark deserve an opportunity to decide for themselves instead of this underhanded way. And I don't think he thinks too much about the emotional consequences of his actions. Does he really think Clark won't eventually guess what he's done?

Sorry but I needed to vent my frustrations on HG Wells. His heart might be in the right place but his methods are not entirely well, above board.

Did I mention this is a superb and fantastic story and I am thoroughy enjoying it?

It seems to me that Lois is putting herself through a lot of heartache, not to mention, danger just to avoid a little haircut.

Tank (who would imagine that Lois thinks by agreeing to Wells' request she has condemned herself to a soon to come death)

That doesn't necessarily mean that the concept of paradoxes would have been introduced in them. FWIW, I was a comp. sci. major in the 1980s. The closest we got to an explicit mention of paradoxes in my logic class was a discussion of Godel's theorem. (Stripping away all of the mathematical finery, my recollection -- a quarter of a century later (boy does that make me feel old!) -- is that Godel's theorem stated, "This theorem can not be proven." Any mathematical system sufficiently complex enough to be able to state Godel's theorem must either leave some true theorems unprovable or else must "prove" false theorems.) IIRC, even in the context of discussing Godel's theorem, the actual word "paradox" was never used.

When I was in public school, I used to love paradoxes so much that I decided that in my own mind for my own use, my own personal plural of the word "paradox" would be "paradise."


Joy,
Lynn

Lynn, that's beautiful, wondrous

carol