Aurora Borealis – The Complete Story 11/11
By Ken Janney
This story is rated PG-13.
Comments are always welcomed at ken.janney@kjanney.com
Disclaimers: The characters in this story are property of DC, December 3rd productions and Warner Bros. No Copyright infringement is intended. I have just borrowed the characters for a short time.
This story originated with a single scene that I had written as a suggested plot device for another author. It was rejected in favor of another one. I still liked the idea so I wrote a story around it. This is only loosely related to my Matchmaker series.
I wish to thank Artemis and Morgana for the beta on this.
< > denotes thoughts
* * denotes emphasis
Previously
Their kisses deepened and their hands roamed all over each other stroking, squeezing and tweaking as was appropriate. This started a period of marital intimacy. Suddenly Clark was startled into immobility. Even though his body was telling him to move, he couldn’t. He couldn’t believe what was happening. They had slowly started to float
First just a couple of inches and eventually they were near the ceiling. Lois opened her eyes and said, “Oh, I didn’t realize you had floated us up here. It’s just like old times.”
With a look of consternation he said, “Lois, I didn’t float us up here.”
“You didn’t??? Then how did we get here?”
“Well, if it wasn’t me, who does that leave?”
Shocked she blurted out, “What!?!?!?!? Are you saying that I’m doing this?”
“That is the *only* other possibility.”
“But, how can that be? I lost my Ultra Woman powers a long time ago.”
“It has to have something to do with the life force transfer. Dr. Branson told me that my super batteries were over charged. Between that, the Chrono-energy and the way Doodsen’s machine acted, anything’s possible.”
He asked, "Can I look forward to this every time we make love?"
There was a giggle in her reply as she threw his words back at him, "I don't know. Maybe only when I'm this happy."
They floated back down to the bed and in the afterglow of their lovemaking they lay together arms and legs entwined they discussed the possibilities of the return of Ultra Woman. After a while they got up and she dug out her old uniform and tried it on for size. Since it was spandex, there was no question of it fitting and she modeled it for him. He spun into his Suit and asked, “Who’s up for dinner in Paris?”
With a smile she said, “I just might be.”
Smiling he said, “Wait just a minute.” He sent out a mental summons, /Kids!/
He got back a smattering of replies, and then he sent, /The procedure worked, better than expected. Let’s meet in Paris at the base of the Eifel Tower in half an hour. Make sure you are all in uniform. You’re not going to believe this./
Clark Junior replied for the rest of the kids and their families, /Sure thing Pop! We’ll all be there. We should be able to make it a late night if you want. I don’t think any of us have early classes tomorrow./
/That’s good! This calls for a celebration./
Lois gave him a look. He had excluded her from the call so she had not heard it, but knew he was up to something. She said, “Okay, what gives?”
“Oh, nothing. Let’s make sure the house is locked up and the oven is off before we leave.”
After his little delaying tactic they took off for Paris. Midway across the Atlantic he said, “Let’s stop at the Eifel Tower before we find a café.”
Now she knew something was up, but she decided to humor him. As they approached Paris she used her telescopic vision and zoomed in on the Eifel Tower. What she saw warmed her heart and brought a tear to her eye. All eight of the kids were there cheering, welcoming her.
That was when Ultra Woman made her return debut.
The next day they had gone to STAR Labs and they had confirmed her powers and assured her that they were permanent.
And Now
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Epilogue
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In the far distant future of this universe, Tempus appeared to pop out of thin air as he stepped through the time window. It was only seconds since he had left and turning around he resumed his seat on the bench. He looked around expectantly. He didn’t know just how the changes would occur he just knew that there should be some changes. At the very least there should be some litter. He had kidnapped Lois Lane and moved her ninety years into her future when there would be no possibility of Clark Kent being able to father any super offspring, but there were no discernible changes. In fact, if anything, the area was perhaps a little more neat and clean than it had been before he had taken his trip.
There were still families picnicking. Wait, didn’t that family have six children a minute ago? He counted noses and came up with a different number, seven??? There were still children playing and couples strolling, hand in hand. It was positively bucolic and nauseating.
Suddenly a young girl on a hoverboard zoomed past at a high rate of speed. That in itself was not too surprising, however a boy on skates was chasing her and he was moving faster than a child should be able to on skates. As he watched, fascinated, the boy put on an extra burst of speed, moving almost faster than the eye could follow, zipping past the girl who jumped off the board and took off after him on foot at superspeed.
<How can that be?!?!? This is going to require some research,> he thought. Hastily he pulled out a data-link and performed a historical search for Lois Lane and Clark Kent. He sent the data to the heads-up display on the right lens of his glasses.
He was surprised at the amount of data that was in the data banks as evidenced by the time it took to collect it all.
As fast as he could he started reading and as he did he simply got madder and madder. It turned out that somehow Superman had been rejuvenated and had reunited with Lois. One result of their later union was that there had been eight children instead of the five they had had before his interference. The difference was three sets of twins. Instead of preventing Utopia he had only delayed their having children for ninety years but then they had had more than made up for the delay and that fact had actually hastened the creation of Utopia. Something else caught his eye. What was that entry? He scrolled back up to it. As he read he thought, <There was another Superhero? Ultra Woman? Who was that? Is there a picture?>
As he hit some additional keys trying to find a picture. Finally he found one and didn’t recognize her, because she was wearing a mask, he thought to himself, <Now, there’s irony.>
If, instead of going for the irony and returning her to him when he supposedly couldn’t father any children, had he simply dropped her off in another universe, this wouldn’t have happened.
As he looked past his research he saw a couple of TTEMPO field agents approaching. They were always so easy to identify. They thought that they blended in, but they really stuck out like a sore thumb. They were almost as bad as Herb, who always dressed in that old fashioned suit and bowler hat. <God, what a fashion statement.> If he was going to have another chance at preventing Utopia he would have to leave, quickly.
He pulled out his time window device and keyed in a random number. But before hitting the execute button he noticed a couple strolling towards him hand in hand and at sight of them he became instantly fearful.
The man was wearing a Superman uniform. A closer perusal disclosed the fact that it was in very fact Clark Kent and the woman at his side was also wearing a super uniform and he recognized her as Ultra Woman.
He was actually not too surprised to see that it *was* Lois Lane! <She was the female superhero!!! How did it happen?????>
Then he saw them look over at the picnicking family who were all waving. That wasn’t outside the realm of possibility that they would be recognized but then he heard, “Mom! Dad! Come on over and join us!”
It was then that he realized just how wrong his plan had turned out and muttered to himself, “Oh well, better luck next time,” then he stepped through the time window and disappeared from this universe just ahead of the TTEMPO agents.
As he stepped through he thought, < I’m not too surprised to see that she doesn’t bother to wear the mask anymore. After all, now there are thousands of super offspring!>
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