Yee-hah! Another chapter! I've been on tenterhooks waiting for it and it's finally here! Thanks so much. You made my day.
The can of worms that is Superman in our universe continues to open and the worms are writhing.
They probably thought that with her fired and with no camera she’d be less of a journalistic threat. They were wrong, of course. Lois had always been more dangerous with a keyboard than a television camera.
And doesn't
that tell you a lot about Lois? Good insight into her character. I know that Lois, the TV reporter, would write her own copy and not just read someone else's words. "The pen is mightier than the sword" - very true in the case of Lois Lane.
At first it had been isolated stories popping up, treated by the news anchors as a joke or a publicity stunt. There had been a stir over the initial video, with open speculation about the release of the next movie and how the movie company had pulled it all off.
As the tornado stories began to pour in, however, with footage, Lois had seen the first uncertainty in the eyes of the people behind the news desks. This wasn’t something they were prepared for, and most of them had been exceedingly cautious. None of them had wanted to be the first one to fall for the biggest hoax in history on air, to become the laughingstocks of the nation.
Even now, with an ever growing pile of footage and with story after story of footage, they were careful in how they described him. There was a sort of slyness to their presentation, as though they were sharing a joke with the rest of the world.
I really enjoyed how you described this. It's very real. Who among the talking heads (or any of us in that position) would want to be the first to commit to something so fantastic? And yet it's true. It's crazy but it's true.
It had taken actually getting yanked into the air and flying to make her believe what she’d subconsciously known all along. How could she fault people for having the same disbelief she’d had, with far less evidence?
There it is.
The problem was that Lois didn’t know how long he had before the government tried to use him in some way, whether it was by holding the passengers hostage or using some other means to get control of him.
They wouldn’t stop until they found a way.
The nature of power demands this. A power threat must be destroyed, co-opted, controlled, or treatied with. The other option is to submit - politically impossible for any president or ruler. Clark is smart and he'll put forth some sort of palatable option - probably he'll be portrayed to the media as working for or with the government, or at least under government aegis. Heck, we know he wants to obey the laws and be a good citizen. Hopefully our government won't put him in a position where he feels he has to break the law to do what's right.
“So you are telling me you have no interest in him?”
“He’s the biggest story in the world,” Lois said. “Of course I’m interested in him.”
“You know what I mean.”
The romance blossoms! Clark + Lois = Destiny! It's in seventy years of comic books, movies, novels, newspaper cartoons, radio and TV shows. To quote from "The Ten Commandments" - a favorite scene of mine is where Pharaoh is giving orders - "So it has been written, so it shall be done."
“So he stays,” Susan said. “Are you going to share him with the rest of the world? It’ll be worse than being married to a police officer; they at least get some time off. He’ll miss dinner dates, anniversaries, holidays. You’d be a widow throughout half your relationship.”
Lois was silent for a long moment. “It’d be worth it.”
Right here, right now, Lois has made her decision.
When's Clark going to make his decision? Does he have to break up with Lana first? That implies that he has to get back to his own world. And since he's not leaving without the plane passengers....
You know, Shayne, I'm still wondering about this technology. Will Clark be able to help the scientists tame it and control it? I just can't see the genie getting put back into the bottle. Access to parallel universes is just so smokin' cool! And now that the world knows it can be done, there will be an outcry for it. Why not visit a parallel Earth without humans and drill for its oil? No messy environmental laws there. And in fact, the whole environmental movement is based on the fact that this is the only planet we've got. Suddenly, that's not true anymore.
And the fact that Superman is in public makes it pretty clear that parallel worlds/universes
do exist. If technology exists, it will be used. Technology is a tool. The best we can do is hope to control it. I don't know if you'll be able to address that in your story or not but I hope so.
He still had faith that people were good and worth saving. It was something that Lois had lost somewhere along the way, and being near him made her feel like there was still hope that there was something more than just the corruption, death and despair she saw in her work on a daily basis.
Shayne, so well put. The mood in America right now is just like Lois felt, pre-Superman. As you said in an earlier chapter, we are all damaged.
“What matters is the work.” Jacob (said).
I am a firm believer in this as well. Faith without works is dead. Superman is the ultimate expression of good works.
Now, on the other hand, don't forget the motto: No good deed goes unpunished. And the reward for a job well done - is another job. (Do you detect my cynicism here?) Oh well, maybe it'll be good for the story.
“People need to see you,” Lois said. “Right now they only half believe in you, but there’s going to come a point where it sinks in that you aren’t just real, you are dangerous.”
That's very true, Shayne. So it's all about the proper spin. I hope that all the spin doctors aren't tied up on the current Presidential campaigns! Oh, wait - Lois is in the media business, and so is Clark. I'm sure they'll know how to put the proper emphasis on things.
Lois said. “People believe the version of you they see on TV. If they see a warm, caring person, it’ll help when the government starts labeling you as a terrorist.”
Yay! Sunshine is the best disinfectant. How true that it'll be
when the government labels Clark as a terrorist. That seems to be their favorite ploy. But if Clark and Lois get their side of the story out, now the President
has to meet with Superman - can you imagine what a press conference that would be? Every reporter in the world would sell their firstborn to be there.
And half the battle is won for Clark already - he's got seventy years of Superman folklore and pop culture backing him up. Everyone in our world knows that Superman is a good guy. It's just now that he's walked off the pages into real life, that's all. (Man, I'd love to know how the comic book shops are doing! Their business must be booming. And the Superman Museum in Metropolis?)
Shayne, this is off topic, but have you ever read those sprawling Victorian novels? And, for example, in a Charles Dickens novel, in the last chapter or so, he tells what happens to all the characters - not just the protagonists, but the minor characters as well. I hope you're able to do this - I'd love to follow up on Jacob the cancer kid, and the Burmese kid wearing the Superman T-shirt, and the Russian cosmonauts and Jim the curator at the Superman Museum. You've already shown us Jacob the charity worker and I appreciate seeing him again. And let's not forget Susan, and Agent Randal, and Agent White, and Lucy, and everyone!
If Lois and Clark do get to meet the President and other Powers That Be in Washington, I can just see the Secret Service having kittens. They haven't even allowed
Lois in the same city as the President or VP, much less Clark. And now the Secret Service has to protect the President against
Superman? And their only "weapon" is that Clark says he doesn't mean any harm? It'll be agonizing for the professional security people. It's totally against their training. Do you think Clark will offer to have some sort of Secret Service interview first?
I hope that Agent White can be a liaison. Of course, if he is, will this taint him, and ruin his future career?
“Not if we tell the whole story before they can stop us,” Lois said “Once it’s out on the networks, it’ll be on You Tube and out on the net. They won’t be able to stop it.”
“And then they’ll have to make a decision in the light of day,” Clark said. “With the whole American populace watching.”
“With the whole world watching,” Lois said.
Thank God for the First Amendment. (For non-American readers, it's the one about freedom of the press, among other things).
Of course in our current world, the all-too-true joke is: If the Iraqis need a constitution, why don't we give them ours? It's worked for over two hundred years, it was written by a lot of really smart guys, and we aren't using it anymore. (Bitter laugh).
Shayne, your story has pointed out the erosion of our civil liberties. A true example of fiction as a mirror of our current society.
