What a splendidly written chapter, Janet! So unbelievably tense. Like here, for example:
<Where? Where are you? You *can’t* come in here, Clark! Wherever you are, stop! Even if you come in at super speed, he’ll have time to open the box.> She shut her eyes, bending her head. <*Please*, Clark.> She could feel tears pricking behind her eyes.
Lois is in danger, and everyone who is held hostage with her is in deadly danger, but above all, Clark will be in the most unspeakable danger if he bursts in on the scene to pull off one of his patented Superman rescues. That mustn't happen! Lois hasn't been crying, hasn't broken down, but the thought of Clark playing hero and getting himself killed for her sake threatens to break through her self-control.
Again, she felt the warmth of his love settle over her.
Janet, you write Clark's love for Lois so absolutely beautifully. I didn't praise you enough for "Any Time At All", I think.
“Where is it?” Trask shouted again. “Why hasn’t it shown up yet?”
And this is so horrible. When I first read it, I momentarily didn't understand what "it" was. Then I understood that the "it" was Superman. Talk about "A Boy Called It" - but just as in Dave Pelzer's book, it's the person calling another sentient being "it" who is the horrible one, not the person who is the target for this verbal dehumanization.
Maybe… <Clark, how easily does lead melt? What if… What if I sealed the box closed with my heat vision… or melted the lead around the green rock. Could I do that?>
Lois, who has kept herself in the background so far, will have to use her powers this time and be the hero that she has it in herself to become. It is indeed time for Lois to slay the dragons... or, at the very least, to stable them.
<…Yes…> She felt a burst of something wash over her like sunshine after rain – not joy, exactly – more a mix of relief and happiness and admiration, seasoned with love. She closed her eyes as it enveloped her. If one of Clark’s special smiles could be felt physically, this must be what it would feel like.
Again, there is a wonderful, beautiful description of Clark's love for Lois. That line about
feeling what Clark's smile felt like was absolutely poetic.
And then Lois starts trying to melt the lid of the box enough to fuse it shut. It's agonizingly slow, and the way Lois is interrupted several times, and the way you make us wonder if she will be discovered before she has managed to complete her task, is nerve-wrackingly well written. I loved finding out that Perry knew about Lois's powers, too, and that he was there for her and helped her:
She looked at her editor inquiringly.
He looked her in the eye, then looked toward the dais. He squeezed her hand once - and shifted slowly to one side, not releasing her hand.
Startled, she looked at him.
Without taking his eyes off the dais, he gave a barely perceptible nod.
He tries to tell her that he knows. And later there can be no doubt:
She stole another look at Perry, but he was gazing at the dais, not looking at her. But he hadn’t let go of her hand, and as she looked at him, he squeezed it again, gently this time - two squeezes with a pause between them. Some sort of signal?
Definitely a signal: Go ahead.
After a lot more creepy tension, Lois manages to melt the box. After that, Trask is really defeated. Your description of him at the end is more than scary:
Within moments Trask was secured tightly, cuffed hand and foot with the plastic ties the SWAT teams carried. He lay ignored on the floor of the dais, almost frothing at the mouth in incoherent rage and hatred.
Either Trask is an "it" himself, or (more likely) he suffers from psychotic paranoia.
I completey agree with what you say about Superman's ability to melt lead. Of course he can melt it - why shouldn't he? Melting lead is just a matter of applying heat to it. As a space buff, I have to mention that the surface of planet Venus is hot enough to melt lead - the temperature, if I remember it correctly, is more than 400 degrees Celsius, and I believe it's close to 800 degrees Fahrenheit. And if Superman can melt steel, he most certainly would be able to melt lead, just like you point out here.
Wow, what a tense and pulse-quickening chapter this was, Janet. Extremely well written, too.
Ann
