Interesting idea. What no haircut? This reminds me of something I can't place right now. Star Man maybe? Laura

What a twist!

For a second there I thought you were going to make Lois evil or something. Phew! Thank goodness, not.

So Clark still fell in love with 'Lois' despite not technically being 'soul mates'? Or was part of Lois's soul pulled into this fake Lois?

I loved how she tricked her supervisors in letting her keep her cushy gig with her wonderful husband. Very Romeo and Juliet with aliens. Only with a happily ever after.

Oh my. I do appreciate the happy ending. And still there's the urge to ask Tank...What did they put in your coffee? Definitely the workings of a different mind.

Cute little twist... Surprised you didn't make the swap when Lois got the haircut but I'll buy it! Nice little vignette.

Interesting twist to the Lois-Clark relationship. I was worried there for a while that it was going to be something else altogether... but I guess that would require some more explaining than would fit in just a one shot... Anyways, very good! Loved it!

So, they are both space people I thoroughly enjoyed it!

Thanks, Tanks!

Way too funny! I thought it was going to morph into a Charlie's Angels sort of thing. But I enjoyed the twist very much!

Thanks to those who sampled my modest effort. I still like to throw a little something out there on occasion just to let everyone know that I'm still alive.

First off, for those who worried about it. This is married Lois, she already has short hair so there was no need for a haircut.

I wanted the 'switch' to take place before the time of the pilot episode because I wanted this 'Lois' to be 'our' Lois. She is the only Lois that Clark ever knew and she is the Lois that we all followed through their years together building their relationship.

For those not in the comic know, Thanagar is the original home of the Katar Hol Hawkman. At various times it has been represented as a rigid military run planet. A few years ago DC ran a series called the Thanagar-Rann war. Rann was the planet that Adam Strange was the hero of.

If I remember correctly Thanagar, Rann, and Krypton were all part of the same Lantern Corp space sector (the one patroled by the late Tomar Re). Anyway, I figured that if Thanagar was relatively close to Krypton they could have had a history of conflict.

I just assumed that an advanced scientific culture (Thanagar does have anti-gravity) would be able to use some sort of super cosmetic surgery to allow their agent to imitate Lois Lane.

Thanks for the kind comments

Tank (who appreciates that some other gentle writers have embraced the Lois 'haircut' as a viable plot device)

Very creative, Tank!

Virginia, since this is "our" Lois, this is also Clark's soulmate. After all, if a formerly human soul can be born on Krypton, then why not on any other planet?

So, this means that 'Lois' knew the secret all along. What an actress!

Thanks for the one-shot, Tank. That's just my speed these days.

Happy

Tank, I will never understand the haircut situation, but this is one of the funniest stories on the MB's

Thanks for the chuckle!

This was a neat story, but to be honest I found it to be incredibly sad.

Clark thinks he is on love with (and married to) Lois Lane. Lisan An may love Clark but Clark doesn't love her. In fact, he doesn't even know this Lisan An person. He fell in love with a false front. The person that Clark loves is nothing more than Lisan An's interpretation of a Lois Lane character.

This also means that almost every aspect of their personal relationship is a lie. Lisan An didn't even think enough of Clark to tell him the truth before they got married.

To me this is a sad reversal of Lois falling in love with Superman. Clark doesn't know Lisan An any better than the standard Lois knew Superman right at the beginning. The difference is that Lisan An let the lie continue even after they were supposedly a life couple.

So there you go. I hope this doesn't offend too many people. The story is neat and very imaginative. I like the story, but the situation strikes me as tragic.

Bob

Oooh, another very unique Tank story

The reasoning was sound. And yet, it felt off, somehow. Lois wouldn't be able to get through an entire book, unless she's a speed reader, and there was never an indication of that before. And it didn't sound as if she regularly took timeouts from her husband. /wonders what's going to happen/

Ooooh, is she getting her seven veils costume out?

I wondered if you were describing this little device here:

And, in consequence, do a Warehouse 13 crossover.



Oh, so she does like it here, after all. When did she replace Lois, though? And did she kill her?



So, with the explanation of Hawkman, I now no longer wonder if Lisan An has been 8 feet tall, green, and slimy. It also explains why she is so fixated on flying. If the wings where a part of her, she had to give them up. If they were just a fun gimmick, she can no longer wear them. Either way, she probably loved flying on her own.

It does raise a few questions, though. Why did she fall for Lex? Or Call-Me-Daniel? Or why did she get mad over his secret? After all she knew. #1 and #2 could be explained as a ploy to get Clark's attention. But then, she already knew he was Superman and that he was interested in her. Why not take the easy road. Or was she really a bit flighty? The revelation, though, I'm guessing she extrapolated from how an Earth woman should have behaved?

Michael

PS: Yes, you *are* now expected to have Hawkgirl show up.

PPS: And what happens should Lisan An actually get pregnant and the little one be born with wings.

The thought that popped into my mind was that Lois was reporting to the Big Giant Head from the TV show 3rd Rock from the Sun. I envisioned the disembodied head to be that of William Shatner. Maybe you could - go back to - the story - and insert - several - pauses - and - special emphasis in the dialogue - to bring out the Big Giant Head's - character.

Go here - to see the Big Giant Head - in - action! Hot diggity!

Over all, I thought it was an interesting and original take on the relationship. But, like Bob, I'm a little concerned about the duplicity. If Clark's refusal to reveal his hidden life to Lois before he proposed was a bad thing, how can Lois' refusal to reveal her hidden life to Clark after their marriage be a good thing? I understand that she has transferred her allegiance and priority to Clark and their life together (or she would have taken advantage of that interstellar taxi), but she's still lying to him. Maybe you could write a coda to this story where she does a tearful reveal to him and he tells her that he knows already - or, that it's a total shock to him but he loves her for who she is so it doesn't matter.

As you've left things, it feels kinda creepy to me. I'd hate to think that the Lois who busted Clark so badly for not telling her about Superman is just an intergalactic con artist.

Perhaps we might hear from some who have battered and bashed Clark for hiding his identity for so long? What do you FOLCs think about this alternate take?

All in all, I enjoyed the story, Tank. You still have the inventive mind that helped draw me into this community. Thank you for this tale.

As to the points that Bob and Terry bring up, I will go along as far as the analogy to Clark keeping his Superman identity from Lois.

I don't think that Lois was being particularly disingenuous, nor do I think she was 'playing' the part of Lois Lane, and as such Clark doesn't really know her.

Lisan became Lois Lane after taking over her life after her unfortunate demise in the Congo. Clark only knew this Lois and grew to love that person. A person no less genuine than Clark was before he revealed himself.

She embraced the world and the profession which had started out as an undercover assignment. She was no less herself than Clark was even if he didn't tell 'all'.

Perhaps given her last report, she might well decide that it is time to come clean with Clark, but that sounds like an angst frought episode and I'm not sure I'd be up to that.

Thanks again for the kind comments.

Tank (who finds it amusing that the gentle readers have invested more effort in analysing this little effort than he did in writing it)