Like everyone else, I have so little time to comment. A few scattered thoughts - and please remember that I haven't had time to think things through thoroughly:

Would people still doubt Superman when they had seen him on TV? Sure, I believe that some would, but would there be such almost universal denial of his existence? I was mystified at Agent Randal's attitude, and I still think it is a bit weird that Russia and China would think that Superman was a missile. Don't the leaders of Russia and China know about Superman? Don't they know anything at all about what is on TV in the United STates? I think they do.

I liked Agent White's caution, however, and I found it very reasonable. I really liked the fact that he wouldn't underestimate Lois Lane! I don't like the fact that he locked Lois up, but given the circumstances, I could understand that, too.

I thought Dr. Ledderman was a certified cuckoo when he wanted to, seemingly, keep the rifts open so that he could study primitive biology on an alternative Earth!!! Gaaahhh!!! Somebody stop him, please?

I loved this:

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“How close is the personality you've seen so far like that of Superman?” Agent White asked, staring at her for a long moment.

“He's not like the Chris Reeve version!” Lois said. “Well, not Reeve's Clark Kent anyway.”

At Agent White's stare, Lois flushed. “Pretty close.”
Yeahhh!!! I'm so relieved to hear that Lois knows that this Clark is not like Reeve's Clark Kent! But he is Superman.

And poor Lucy is still kept in the dark about everything, and it is up to Lois to decide what to tell her, and then break it to her! I feel so sorry for both sisters.

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Strapped into her seat, Natasha grimaced as the Soyuz began to shake.
I wish... but I think that Russia (and the Soviet Union) hasn't had a female cosmonaut since the early sixties. The United States is so, so much better at offering people equal opportunities in space! thumbsup

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As the ship shuddered around her, Natasha found herself muttering prayers that her grandmother had taught her. Religion was still frowned on in some circles, but at the moment she didn't care.
No ethnic Russian has to hide his or her religion these days, at least as long as he or she belongs to the nationalist Russian Orthodox Church. Belonging to this church is actually regarded as an act of patriotic loyalty.

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The Kremlin, a magnificent church.

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Nickolai scowled as he gestured with his rifle toward the last of the civilians. The evacuation of Red Square had taken longer than he would have liked. In the old days before Glasnost things would have gone much more quickly. There wouldn't be Russian camera crews waiting just outside the perimeter like vultures waiting for a corpse to fall.
My impression is that Moscow of today is far from what it was in the old days of Communism. Just yesterday, for example, the UEFA Champions League final, a very important match here in soccer-crazy Europe, was played in Moscow, even though both teams in the final were from Great Britain! Two days ago Swedish television reported from Moscow and showed us happy and laughing British football fans and happy and proud Russians, both young and old. You really got the impression that Russia was hosting a lovely international party! That's why I think that relatively few people in Moscow are longing for the old days of Communism, isolation and fear-mongering.

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But it is so great that Clark is rescuing that Russian spacecraft with two Russians and one American on board! It will be so hard to dismiss Superman as a fantasy, or to describe him as a horrible threat, after such a magnificent rescue!

Ann