Another excellent chapter. Things are really heating up and the action is great.
It did explain one of the questions Lars had always had about the American superhero.
With all his powers and skills, why didn’t he use the door?
It was clear to Lars now. That moment of horrified disbelief as the wall shattered bought him time, time to grab guns and stop bullets and do so with minimal harm to others.
I had to laugh when I read the rhetorical question about not using the door. It's so true. Maybe the answer also is that it looks good on TV or in a comic book? You've got a good rationale too and it's very believable. It's just what Superman would do.
It was the cold of the beginning of the universe, and as he moved the magnet the beam was deflected and it hit the mass of concrete and earth behind him with the power of a bomb.
Good description of the magnitude of the problem they are dealing with.
As speeches went, it was a little clumsy and forced, but Junior suspected that the speechwriters hadn’t been on the plane.
You know, in the old days, the presidents used to write their own speeches and have someone else deliver them. Now it's the other way 'round. It's more important to look good while you speak than to have an actual idea. Can you imagine if Lincoln's Gettysburg Address had been written by some professional ghostwriter?
Cyrus smiled at his grandnephew and said, “Have I told you how proud I am of you?”
Great to see Cyrus back! And glad to hear that he's doing better. Wow, Superman has affected one life positively - a microcosm of his mission.
Setting the telephone receiver down on the desk, he stepped closer to the rubble around the hole in the wall. “SUPERMAN! YOU HAVE A TELEPHONE CALL!”
He’d never felt so stupid.
OMG, this was so funny! ROTFL!
There are some things we ought to talk about,” she said, “When this is all over. Preferably not over a military phone line.”
He nodded quietly, but still didn’t let go of her hand.
I'm really looking forward to that conversation. But, Shayne, you've still got a lot of 'splaining to do (and exposition too!) to finish this story.
Just some more questions: Who were the terrorists? Who was the mole in CERN (or wherever) that let them in?
What about the other universes? Are they suffering from the same rifts and having the same problems? Are they trying to solve the problem? Do they even see it as a problem? How parallel are these universes, anyway? Did the same terrorist attack happen at the parallel CERN?
Since you indicated that one rift connected to a universe where Earth never developed an oxygen atmosphere, that couldn't be one of the almost-parallel universes where the LHC was running at the same time, right? So the rifts must be connecting with some other, totally random universes, right? And what's the significance of that? Is it random connections, or is there some deep underlying pattern that Clark and the scientists can use to solve the problem?
Are the rifts, this time, going to connect to the same universes they did last time? Like the passenger pigeon universe, and the eurypterid universe, and the hydrogen sulfide universe? And why should the rifts be in the same places? What's the science behind that? (Comic book science is ok, you've sold me on it before.)
What about parallel Supermen? I'm not the first to mention this. And what can Clark do about the rifts? Will his role be limited to disaster relief?
Originally quoted by Cornelia:
But it seems they now have gotten it. More and more they start calling him Superman instead of silly things like `the man in the Superman costume´ or something like that.
Yes, this is an excellent point. Clark has become Superman. First Lois believed it, even when Clark didn't. Then Clark started to believe it, and he became what he believed himself to be. Now the whole world believes it. Superman is real.
Oh, Shayne, this story is just so good. Please write more and more chapters. I'm really hoping that there's a lot of story still to go, because it's just such fun to read. Also, there's a whole climax that needs to come, and a whole lot of loose ends that need to be tied up.
I'm still pushing for Clark and Lois to end up happily in his world, where Clark can have the secret identity and live a successful double life, where Lois can have a sister who's alive, and where Lois can be the ace reporter we know and love, not the dried-out, burned-out, saddened husk of a woman that she was becoming before she met Clark. She made him Superman, and he is saving her as well.
Keep on telling all these stories, Shayne.
