Lois & Clark Forums Forums Fan Fiction Lois & Clark Fanfic Comments: Veritas 18

Well, what do you think?

Fascinating as always.

Clark's thoughts on how much he should get involved were interesting. Nice to see he flew Cyrus to N. O. . I was actually just posting on my class website about FEMA and Katrina...

Not what I expected from whoever was talking to Lois. Can't wait to see what the website says. At least someone, somewhere is starting to believe the whole alternate universe thing. As implausible as it sounds, it actually may be the most probable explanation [of course, we know it's true, but from their perspective].

More soon please .
Carol

Shayne,

This is a fascinating story. I love all of the little details you throw in there, from the computers to the impact of Hurricane Katrina (having grown up on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, this is a particularly personal issue for me). I also love how you are using the events of our world to help Clark make a decision about becoming Superman in his own world. This is a very clever and thoughtful piece, and I look forward to seeing where you will go next.

Shayne, quite aside from being a great Lois and Clark fanfic, this is a great story in its own right. I have to echo what everyone else said: fascinating!
I knew someone had to actually be doing their job.
Like Javier! I thought there was a reason they wanted his photos from 15 years ago...
That seems to be par for the course these days, doesn't it?
Of course this is the first thing she is going to think of. Poor Lois! I wonder how she and Lucy will handle this when they meet again. The same is true in reverse for Lucy, though I wonder if the passengers are ever going to be told that they've visited a parallel world.

After she's gotten over the initial shock, there are a lot more implications. Like, "Clark Kent" is really named Clark Kent, he's the only one not in custody, he was "hanging" from the plane that had non-functional engines (a piece of information "Deep Throat" didn't pass on, but Lois noticed herself)... and he cleaned her windows from the outside.

I'm afraid I'm going to be critical this time, Shayne.

I found this vaguely sexist. Admittedly, that's a minor quibble.

I was also irritated at Lois's attitude, when she insisted on describing the people from the plane as cultist or as parts of a hoax:

She should know better than that by now. The hoax or cult "theory" doesn't explain anything, and what's more, it doesn't even hold up as a description. But then again, I can see Lois playing the devil's advocate to make her source reveal as much as possible to her about the case, so this, too, is a minor quibble.

This, on the other hand, made me freeze:

Clark is seriously considering removing his world's Saddam Hussein from power if he manages to make it back home?

How would he go about accomplishing that? Would he swoop down from the sky, grab Saddam Hussein from his palace or from his hiding-place, and kill him? Or would he swoop down from the sky, grab Saddam Hussein, and bring him to justice? If so, whose justice? The justice of the United States?

Does Clark think he would save thousands of lives if he turned himself into his own world's American super-weapon, aimed at other nations? Particularly if he launched himself against Saddam Hussein? Never mind that Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9/11? If Clark goes back home and prepares to take out Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden and the rest of Al Qaeda can go on planning 9/11 in peace and quiet to their hearts' content.

Clark hasn't even contemplated the question of why his nation is in its second war with Iraq. He hasn't asked himself if it may have anything at all to do with bad judgement on the part of his own country's administration. So instead of wondering if he ought to try to dissuade his own country from launching a needless attack on Iraq, he is wondering if he should attack Iraq and Saddam Hussein pre-emptively himself. He is, in fact, asking himself if he should do, pre-emptively, what George W. Bush wants to be done anyway. He is prepared to turn himself into a pre-emptively striking super-version of George Bush?

I'm sorry about being so harsh and horrified. I don't think you meant it quite like that, Shayne. But just the other day I read about a survey which found that even today, in 2008, people in western Europe still distrust George Bush more than they distrust Vladimir Putin of Russia. To most Americans, this probably sounds like a crazy way of looking at the world, but there is in fact a reason for it. Vladimir Putin has never started a war. Since the Soviet Union fell and became Russia plus a number of smaller nations, Russia has never started a war. (Okay, yes, they did start one against Chechnya, but that was comparable to the U.S. was against Afghanistan... you know, a war against a nation demonstrably sheltering terrorists.) Compared with that, Bush seems like a loose cannon indeed. Remember that if the Pentagon and CIA and other branches of U.S. intelligence had not stepped in and stopped Bush, he might have started a war against Iran by now.

So please, please, Shayne, don't let Clark swoop down from the sky and take out Saddam Hussein, at least not without a massive international backing behind him. Do let him shore up the levees of New Orleans, though, and do let him find out a lot of facts about Al Qaeda so that he can prevent 9/11 from happening to his world.

Ann

Maybe he's thinking of swooping down and removing that world's George Bush?

I agree with Ann's view on the realities behind the Iraq war, but I'm not worried about Clark, nor Shayne's portrayal of his thoughts. Clark has many powers, but omniscience is not one of them: one of the things I like about the LnC version of Clark is that he's human, not a god.

He's been getting what he can from the media while being on the run from the government, and if you just watched TV or hurriedly browsed a few newspapers, you might think Saddam was involved with 9/11 too. Being new to this world and on the run, I think we can cut him a little slack. Being Clark, I'm sure he would think through all the ethical issues before getting involved, and I think that's what Shayne is having him do here.

Presumably, in his own world, Clark would be much better informed on the events leading up to 9/11 and the Iraq war. And I hope he (and the Daily Planet) would do a better job than our media have in conveying accurate information to the public.

I've often thought that it would be very hard for Superman to operate in the real world: there would be clamoring from all sides for him to get involved in political and military things he probably shouldn't. Politicians would be trying to capitalize on him, and might badmouth him if he didn't do what they wanted. Imagine how it could be spun: "Superman refuses to support U.S. troops!" Dangerous territory.

Very good points, Debbie. So I withdraw my criticisms. Only please show us, before this fic has come to an end, that Clark will be looking out for Al Qaeda instead trying to take out Saddam Hussein, Shayne!

Ann

Great chapter, as usual!

This could be agent White personifying Deep Throat... perhaps with the quiet assent of some of his colleagues.

Oh yes... and who could that non-government source be? *whistles innocently*

Headlines? I´m not so sure about my English, but don´t you mean headlights?

It´s so sad to read the whole passage about New Orleans. From over here, we don´t hear much about it. Is it still that bad?

That´s a nice big can of worms you are opening here. What would happen if a real existing Superman chose to go the same way of neutrality as in the comics and the movies and take a strictly humanitarian role? As Clark Kent he can write about politics and voice his opinion, something Superman would never do. But what about borderline situations that involve humanitarian problems and politics? The problem has been tackled in several stories on these boards, I think especially of "The long road home" (I think that´s the name of the story). But I never have seen a real solution for this... I don´t think there is one.

Very slowly he persuades himself of taking on the role. I love it how you manage to develop this because it becomes really credible that way!

Finally!

That´s what I meant when I wrote about paranoid governments... sometimes they simply don´t accept what´s right before their eyes.

Can I please have one of those? PLEEEEASE!

Glad that it wasn't some street thug attacking Lois. It seems like everyone is gunning for her these days.

I also enjoyed Clark's introspective. It is not often that he counts the cost before becoming Superman.


Elisabeth

Nice to see the technological differences becoming apparent.

One thing that bothers me - the informer says that half of the duplicates are fifteen years younger - I presume you meant the ones on the plane, but it read like it meant half the duplicates on the plane, which I assume wasn't the intention.

TOC, I just read your post, and I saw this:

I live in western Europe, and I can tell you: most people in Europe don´t like George W. Bush and think he is an idiot and a very bad fake of Christian ideals. Do you know the song "Dear Mr. President"? It went straight up in the charts here... But distrust him? No, not really. We know he still is a democratically elected president, but he is abusing his powers. And he is too stupid to know what he is doing. That´s what the people I know think of him. And me too. *runs away and hides*

Putin is not democratically elected. He just pretends. He is building a position of power for Russia that is slowly coming near to the old Soviet Union, and he does it by commerce and money. He plays political power games and abuses the FSB to murder journalists who dare to criticize him or his puppet government (Medvedev). No, we don´t trust Putin at all. But we think we know he wouldn´t start a war against Europe or America, because he has nothing to win with that. The problem is: Russia is much nearer to Europe than America. We had it for a long time directly at our eastern borders, during the time of the German Democratic Republic (Eastern Germany) and the Cold War. So we had to build a relationship to Russia, and after the end of the Cold War there were friendly negotiations and even real friendship to people like Gorbatchov. But Putin? We have to accept him, but nobody I know does really trust him. And especially not our politicians. But none of them would ever say that aloud.

I don´t know where that survey came from, but it doesn´t sound to me as if the interviewers had asked the questions that way they get the real opinion behind a "Yes" or "No".

Don't worry, Ann. I know exactly what kind of horrible mess getting involved in political situations would be for Clark. There's no better way to make enemies of people in power than to remove someone from power; it makes the other heads of state uneasy as they ask themselves "Am I next?"

In a way, Clark is in the same situation as the United States itself. Do you wield power and risk making enemies of the rest of the world, or do you sit by and let things happen, and still recieve criticism.

But having the kind of power Clark does means that he's going to be faced with some ugly decisions. If the leader of a nation is ordering genocide, for example, can Clark in good conscience sit by and allow it to go on WITHOUT doing something?

Yet the moment he becomes involved in politics, he can no longer maintain the ideals he wants to represent. He risks becoming an enemy of entire regions, entire peoples as they resent his interference in their lives.

So for Clark to be asking himself the questions...well, it's something he has to do. He's going to have to know where he stands when everything is said and done. We live in a complex world, and the person with the giant hammer had better be careful unless he risks breaking something he doesn't want to break.

That doesn't mean he's going o set himself up as a dictator, of course. After all, even if he's only Alt-Clark, he IS the one we know and love.

It might be helpful if he had some knowledgable advice as to the pitfalls of power, someone who had been through the aftermath of war and terrorism and knew where the minefields were.

Of course, where would he ever find someone like that?

I can just see the scene at Mavis's front door:

As Mavis answers the door, she is nearly blown away to see Cyrus, whom she hasn't heard from since about the time of Katrina, alive and apparently well. He tells her he hitched a ride with the guy next to him, who is an angel. The "angel" wishes him well, and begins to rise into the air, as Mavis gasps and sags against the doorframe.

Just in time, Cyrus remembers to ask the angel's name. The angel gives a what-the-heck shrug, and says, "Clark. Clark Kent." As he flies quickly out of sight, Cyrus's eyes suddenly get large and round as the light dawns...

Shayne, the power of this story is that it moves well-known fictional characters into the real world, to mingle with real ones. The case-lot of worm cans which this opens (as indicated by the various postings above) is unavoidable, but welcome, as real-world issues are addressed.

Keep it coming!

Snave

Great part! Keep it coming.

Whew. Glad that the would-be attack was just a ruse to stay an anonymous source. Although, it does delay my Lois-Clark reunion.

I'm glad that Lois is getting some more dirt on the situation and I can't wait to see what she finds out. I get the impression that the wheels in her brain are turning as she starts to wonder a little bit more about Clark. I can't wait for the "Wait... your name really *is* Clark Kent?!"

And Clark- interesting that Cyrus has seen, spoken to, touched, and flown with an angel. Clark is getting the hang of covert supes-stuff and is warming up to the idea of a costume. I like it.

As for the politics of it all, I think that what really sticks out to me is once again the contrast between how differently we saw the world pre 9/11. I often wonder what kind of superhero would be created by minds today. Definitely grittier and less optimistic - but would a hero like that be able to sustain 70+ years? Interesting.

Anyway, enjoyed the update, and can't wait until we get some more!

~s

Clark definitely shouldn't sit by while genocide was being committed. Which is why I absolutely would have wanted him to intervene in Rwanda in 1994 or in Haditha in the Kurdish part of Iraq in 1988. It was Saddam who committed genocide in Haditha, so intervening in 1988 to have him removed from power would have been totally justified. It would have been okay to press for him to be put on trial for his crimes against humanity many years later, too. Just as long as you accuse him of the things that he is actually guilty of, not remove him from power because of the crimes he may commit in the future.

Ann

Great part. Lois finally realized that the people from the plane are not her people. But will she accept the Alt-U or is she going to go with conspiracy?

Michael

Don't know if you intended this or not, but I like the reference to a sewer access, like Beauty and the Beast.

James

(loved the source's comment on Lois being observant)...

It's good that Clark is pondering on how much he should get involved. He has double the pressure because in addition to having super-powers, he is also being armed with fore-knowledge about what might take place in his world. Very heady! But as we saw.. (I think it was your story.. "Dear Lois"), imho Clark's superpowers should reamin well away from politics.

going to read Part 19