Rac said:
After all the black suit, perfumed cream, and bed sharing descriptions, I'm not sure if my mind is in the gutter, or if Lois's is, so good work on that one.
You are teasing us, Corinna. Hmmm. You have said that there will be no nfic scenes. I agree with Rac, it's almost impossible not to think of... well... when you end the chapter like that, and yet it won't happen. It would of course be possible to squeeze in the nfic scenes "between chapters", so to speak, so that when Kal and Lois wake up in the morning, Lois will have taught Kal what the birds and the bees are about. But I don't think that will happen, not now and not like that. If Lois
really had such bold plans, she would be more nervous about it.
Otherwise, this chapter made me think of something I read in my local newspaper a few weeks ago. A scientist claimed that the human race, Homo Sapiens, is a suicidal species. The scientist claimed that individual human beings are very good at doing what is good for themselves and their immediate family, but it is much harder for them to do what is good for the larger group they belong to, their society. And it is even harder, almost impossible, for them - for us - to do what is good for our species as a whole, and for our long-term survival.
Now consider the New Kryptonians. If I have understood things correctly, they are a relatively small bunch, a small people. They are a species made up of few individuals. Okay. So if there are few of you, what do you need to do to survive as a species? Well, lesson 1 A would be that you don't kill each other needlessly. And, really and seriously,
you don't kill girl children and fertile women. Because after all, if you kill girl children and fertile women, who are going to bear the new children that your species so desperately needs?
“The parents of the murdered boy – they killed my two soldiers, then they went through the home of the murderer and slaughtered his wife and his daughter and his sister.
On this world, where so few children seem to be born, where you have to be so careful not to destroy any possibility to have more children, what did these murderers do? They killed one girl and two adult women, both of whom might still have been fertile. I would say that what those murderers did, under the circumstances, was a crime against Kryptonians as a species.
Ah, but I forgot. Kryptonians aren't
Kryptonians, as such. They aren't a species, or at least they don't think of themselves that way. They are North or they are South. Silly me. And that means, of course, that they can go on killing each other, and that way, they can kill themselves. Yeah, well, I know what the New Kryptonians should be called as a species.
Kryptonian Suicidales. But... no. There is still hope for them. There is Kal, and there is Lois supporting him, and there are New Kryptonians who are willing to save themselves by refraining from killing each other:
“Today, as your Supreme Ruler, I am ordering you to make a choice. If you are willing to turn from the past, if you are willing to live in peace with all your fellow Kryptonians, if you want to join the fight against our difficulties ... I want you to walk out of here now. I want you to walk out of these gates and return to your homes, deeply committed to building a future for all of us.”
...
Then, a woman near the back of the crowd turned and walked out.
She was followed by two other people.
Then three more.
Then a group of about ten.
Then a steady trickle.
Then a stream.
And we learn who is behind the suicidal behaviour of the New Kryptonians. As if we couldn't guess.
From the balcony, standing the obligatory step behind Kal-El, Lord Nor observed the Kryptonian people turn and walk away.
...
In less than two weeks, there would be a new Supreme Ruler.
And then, the South would reign.
And those racketeers from the North would be subject to Southern Rule.
And unity would be a thing of the past.
The scientist who claimed that human beings are a suicidal species would nod his agreement at Lord Nor. "Yes," he would say, "that is exactly what I meant by the kind of behaviour that threatens the survival of the entire species!"
But Kal is on the case. And Lois. And Kal loves his people, as Lois has already pointed out to herself, and now he loves her, too. And he can only gain strength from his love of Lois.
You are making me love Tek, too. You make me see how Tek reads Lois's book to his children, and how his children ask for another book, another story. And you make me see how the children's enthusiasm makes Tek's wife happy, and how she tells Tek to give her scented salve to Lois in return for bringing joy to her children. If I didn't know better, I'd think that Tek and his wife are trying to bring Lois and Kal together -
really together, if you know what I mean. Tek has already given Kal some cologne, hasn't he? So if Kal puts on his cologne and Lois puts on her scented salve, it could be that a nfic scene becomes unavoidable after all - even if it takes place "between chapters"!
Ann
