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Features Writer
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Features Writer
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 814 |
Well, I wrote this while attending the Kerth awards, so I may have been a little distracted. Thanks for all your comments guys!
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Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 397 Likes: 1
Beat Reporter
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Beat Reporter
Joined: Mar 2008
Posts: 397 Likes: 1 |
Ooh, so the evidence is out on Youtube, huh? I was wondering if the alternate universe was going to remain a closely-held government cover-up, but I guess it won't. Or maybe it will, but that will still give the conspiracy theorists some excellent fodder. :-)
It's cool that Clark exposed himself to Mavis. He would have felt bad about making Cyrus look crazy regarding something that really was true... plus I think he's just enjoying the ability to use his powers in public, after all those years of being afraid.
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Merriwether
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Merriwether
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,864 |
On YouTube there will be a ton of hits before they're able to pull it down. Unfortunately, not many people will understand the importance.
I especially liked the extra kindness he showed Cyrus in not hiding his abilities at the end. Sweet.
Not bad for a Kerth's night work. Thanks for posting it for us right away.
Elisabeth
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Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 5,797
Nobel Peace Prize Winner
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Nobel Peace Prize Winner
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 5,797 |
Yes! I loved this part!!! I had been looking forward to Lois and Clark getting together, but I didn't mind that it didn't happen here. Lois and Clark both did really good things on their own. Lois grimaced as she looked at herself in the lighted mirror in her sun visor. Her eyes felt swollen and they looked red.
She'd had to pull over to the shoulder of the road when the truth had finally hit her. Lucy was gone and she was never coming back. All that was left was an echo, someone who shared the face of her sister, and some of the same memories, but who was no more her than a twin might have been. You put this so starkly, so overwhelmingly. I felt like crying myself. Crying was something Lois hated. She hadn't been able to do it when her parents died; all she'd felt was numb and hollow. That feeling had only spread as she had tried in vain to fill that void with awards and professional success. Maybe it wasn't such a bad thing that Lois cried here, then, if her not-crying only ever left her feeling numb. To have had this sort of hope and to have it yanked out from under her; it was overwhelming.
Worse, she couldn't give in to her first inclination, which was to wash her hands of the whole situation and take a long vacation. This story was hurting her professionally; it was costing her the trust of the government and it was making her feel old before her time.
Yet this doppelganger, this twin of Lucy…Lois owed her. If the situation had been reversed, and it had been her sister trapped in another universe, she'd have hoped that her counterpart would be able to expand the definition of family to include her.
The other passengers were going to be punished for something they had no control over. Lois had gotten into her profession to make a difference. She'd hoped to make the world a better place, and no matter what the professional cost, she was going to have to continue.
It was the right thing to do. See? Now I've quoted the entire first part of this chapter. But it was so beautifully written, and its impact was so strong. Yes, Lois would want to give up. And no, she wouldn't be able to. Because even though this Lucy wasn't her sister, she still owed her, and she would have wanted this Lucy to help her if she ever ended up in her universe. And you know what, Lois? You just might do that, yet. The porch light came on and the door opened to reveal a tall, slender woman wearing a purple kaftans. Her face was dark and distinguished looking, even though there were already traces of gray in her hair.
“It's been a long time,” she said neutrally, staring at her brother.
Cyrus smiled up at his sister and said, “An angel of the Lord has brought the prodigal son back to the family.”
“You haven't been taking your medicines, have you?” she said.
“He seemed perfectly clear an hour ago,” Clark said.
He hoped that the stress of flying hadn't been too much for the older man. Yes, Cyrus is back with his sister, and oh no, I also really hope that the flying wasn't too much for a person with a fragile mind. “Cyrus knows better than to tell people what he's seeing,” she said. “It's only when it's at its worse that he forgets how things look to the best of the world.”
Clark didn't know what to say. Without revealing what he was, his only other choice was to allow Cyrus to look crazy.
Of course, the man was becoming visibly more withdrawn even as they spoke.
“Come in,” she said finally. I was getting more and more worried about Cyrus, but somehow it felt as if things were getting better when Mavis invited both of them in. And I loved the fact that Lois was finding important evidence on Youtube! I'm getting more and more impressed myself at everything you can find there. Passenger pigeons, eh? I learnt about their fate reading Superman comics. I think passengers pigeons were found mostly in America, like the buffalo, or maybe it is just the fact that the last of the passenger pigeons is kept as a musem piece at the Smithsonian that has made Americans more interested in these birds than Swedes appear to be, because I can't remember that I've ever read about the passenger pigeons in texts originating from Sweden. But I remember how sad I felt when the fate of the passenger pigeons was explained to me in the Superman comics, when I was about fourteen. And I love the fact that Lois was able to identify those pigeons: After several minutes of increasingly frustrated searching, Lois froze as she stared at a picture identical to the one she had been looking at on You-tube.
She remembered where she had seen the pigeon before.
It had been on the one trip her parents had taken them on to the Smithsonian. Lucy had been bored, even though Lois had been interested in her father's explanations of all the stuffed animals on display. Lois had seen it at the Smithsonian with her parents and Lucy, when she was a kid! Her father had spoken at length at how lucky they were to see this one display, before it was returned to the archives.
It was a bird, of a species that had once covered the world, with single flocks that were so huge that they would take days to pass by overhead. One flock covered eight hundred and fifty square miles and over a hundred and thirty million birds.
They'd been slaughtered by the thousands and by the millions and used as cheap meat by the poor.
She'd stared at the bird for a long time. According to her father, it had been the last of its kind and with its death had come the extinction of its entire species. She'd felt sad at the thought of just how alone that bird must have been, trapped in a cage to the very end of its life.
No being should have to be that alone.
They'd named the bird Martha, and she was the last of the passenger pigeons. She'd died in 1914. Oh wow. That passenger pigeon was the last of its kind when it died, in the same way as Clark may die as the last of his kind. And the bird's name had even been Martha, like Clark's adoptive mother. This is so powerful and symbolic. Tell me, Shayne, I take it that this YouTube video somehow originates from a bit of film that one of the passengers from the other universe brought with them? “We'll have to get him back on his meds as quickly as we can,” she said.
Clark could tell that this was a woman who was used to being in command. Good! Mavis is taking charge, and she is taking care of Cyrus. “I really can't stay,” he said. “There is something important that I have to do.”
The woman glanced at her brother, who was staring in fascination at one of the masks. “You've already done more than most people would have done. Most people see someone like my brother on the streets, and they look the other way.”
Clark shrugged uncomfortably. “He helped me out when he didn't have any reason to. I couldn't just leave him where he was.”
“He knows what it's like to need help,” she said. “It's when times get tough that you know who your friends are.” Beautifully written. “I wish there was more I could do,” Clark said. Cyrus was now settling onto a newish looking leather couch and his breathing was already slowing.
“He's a good man, when he isn't sick,” she said. “We'll get through this, one way or the other. Sometimes you just have to have a little faith.” I love it. Two good people are talking to each other about another good person. The tension on Cyrus's face had drained away and his breathing was deep and even. He was finally home. I love this sentence. I'm so glad that Cyrus is home. The tall woman sniffed and stepped over to the couch. She pulled an afghan from the chair beside it and settled it over him.
It reminded Clark uncomfortably of his own mother, and for a moment he found a lump in his throat.
He hated being reminded just how alone he was in the universe. He'd been isolated, first by what he was, and then by his parents' deaths. Like the passenger pigeon. It was funny how he'd barely thought of Lana since he'd come to this universe. Glad he realizes this. The only time he hadn't felt that had been when he was with Lois Lane. Somehow when he was with her, he didn't have time to think about anything else. Whether she was spraying him with mud or pepper or simply demanding his help, she seemed to eclipse everything else around her.
He'd spent too much time with all of this. He needed to get back to Washington and find Lois. He needed to get his people and sometimes find a way to get them all back home.
He'd gambled a lot on the idea that Lois was going to be all right, he could only hope that he was able to find her again.
The one thing he wasn't going to think about was why being around her felt like being home. Lovely! Cyrus had called the man an angel. Knowing her brother, he meant it literally. It was at least a refreshing change from the devils which were his more usual hallucinations. Perhaps this time he'd do better at staying on the medications. Her son had mentioned some possible new medicines that might work better.
She opened the door and switched on her lights, ready to call out to the man who had helped her brother. When Cyrus was better, he'd want to know the man's name. Stepping onto the front porch, she peered out into the darkness.
The man was now standing on her sidewalk looking up at down the darkened street. His eyes met hers, and he smiled.
A moment later he was rising into the air.
As Mavis stared, he disappeared into the heavens.
Slowly she stepped back into her house and closed the door. Yes!! Clark showed Mavis that he could really fly, and that his brother hadn't been hallucinating! Wonderful chapter, Shayne! Ann
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Top Banana
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Top Banana
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 1,441 Likes: 1 |
Lois' reconciliation with the truth about Lucy, her thinking about the extended family was very poignant.  Ofcourse, Clark is *thinking* about Lois, yay! I have no clue as to the significance of the discovery of an extinct pigeon-breed, except maybe the plane wasn't the only thing that dimension-hopped. I might have misunderstood but this pigeon flock was spotted miles away from where the plane suddenly appeared, right? So that means other parts of the world might have something or the other from the other dimension.... Mind boggling or maybe I'm confused and totally misunderstood. Nevertheless, looking forward to more more 
If she had to move heaven and Earth, perhaps come back to haunt Perry and explain the story after they'd killed her, she would do it.
Waking a Miracle by Aria
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Pulitzer
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Pulitzer
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 2,979 Likes: 11 |
Shayne, I'm loving this!  More please! 
~•~
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Kerth
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Kerth
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 2,018 |
Delightful. 
Framework4
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Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 8,948 Likes: 28
Boards Chief Administrator Nobel Peace Prize Winner
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Boards Chief Administrator Nobel Peace Prize Winner
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 8,948 Likes: 28 |
Nice. So what's up with the pigeons, except them being a clue for Lois to use.
Great to see Clark showing Cyrus' sister that he indeed is an angel.
Looking forward to part 20.
Michael
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Posts: 3,145 Likes: 3
Pulitzer
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Pulitzer
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 3,145 Likes: 3 |
I'm surprised about the continued existence of passenger pigeons in Clark's world. Here, they were notable for being extremely prolific and very stupid when it came to dodging human threats. In the late nineteenth century, it was considered "sport" to flush a flock of them past a stand of hunters, who would shoot pigeons out of the sky until they piled up around the hunters' feet and their shotguns got too hot to handle. Then they'd swap that gun for a fresh one and shoot some more.
Meanwhile, the flock of pigeons flying past them (which literally numbered in the millions) would not change direction or seem to be alarmed in any way. Their instinctive reaction to fly away from perceived danger worked as long as they weren't flying into a battery of hunters with shotguns, but they were unable to adapt to such tactics. And the population density threshold required for reproduction was far higher than anyone could believe at the time, so by the turn of the twentieth century when their numbers began dipping, they couldn't reproduce fast enough to keep up with the death rate.
It's a sad chapter of human history.
And the fact that Clark's world still has them means that more is different than just his existence. Maybe they still have those giant flightless birds in New Zealand, the ones which were hunted out of existence around the year 1000 A.D. And maybe they even still have dodoes.
I still don't know if Clark is willing to stay in this world or if Lois will want to go back with him, but I'm starting to lean to the latter. She could have her family back - sort of. I'm certain Lucy and Sam would embrace her, although I'm less sure about Ellen. But we still don't know what mechanism or phenomena (again, I'm now leaning towards the latter) dumped Clark and the plane in Lois's world. And, like another poster, I'm now wondering who else and/or what else has been transferred. And I'm also wondering if this switch was a one-way door, or if matter from Lois's world was exchanged into Clark's world.
And that's actually a scary thought. If a band of terrorists, for example, was flipped from Lois's world to Clark's world, they'd probably go nuts trying to figure out what happened, and when terrorists go nuts people tend to die. Clark's going to have to go public when he does get home, and that will mean the end of his relationship with Lana. And that just breaks my heart.
Great story, Shayne. I'm really enjoying this ride, even though it's a rough one. And I also believe that Clark's going to go public with his powers. He'll almost have to now, won't he? And, of course, the military will probably shoot at him again, and he'll have to demonstrate that he's not a threat. Of course, it's almost impossible to prove a negative ("Honest, Officer, I've never jaywalked before in my life!"), so he's in for a tough time.
So, he's flying back to Lois's place, right? And he's going to take out the bugs again, right? And she's going to believe him when he starts floating in her living room and heating up her coffee, right?
Doesn't matter. It'll be good. Post soon!
Life isn't a support system for writing. It's the other way around.
- Stephen King, from On Writing
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Kerth
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Kerth
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 2,445 |
I'm not so sure the passenger pigeons come from Clark's world - I think that there's another rift, one to a world much further in the past, say the 19th century. This possibly means that the problem is getting worse, more gaps between the dimensions.
Sounds like a job for Torchwood...
Marcus L. Rowland
Forgotten Futures, The Scientific Romance Role Playing Game
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Beat Reporter
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Beat Reporter
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Posts: 391 |
I loved the part with the passenger pigeons! I wasn't expecting that at all. It's not clear whether it's from a tape one of the passengers had (recorded in Clark's world and leaked onto Youtube by frustrated intelligence analysts), or whether the rift that brought Clark and the plane to this world is still open (handy for them, but how to close it?), or whether there are other rifts opening at random (an even bigger problem). I hope all will be revealed at some point.  Originally posted by Marcus Rowland:
Sounds like a job for Torchwood... Or the Subtle Knife. This part reminded me of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials. I just hope this story doesn't end the same way... 
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Hack from Nowheresville
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Hack from Nowheresville
Joined: Feb 2006
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The second new chapter in two days!  But most people won´t realize what this video really means. It was a flock of birds, one so massive that it seemed to stretch for miles, and it was descending toward the ship.
The sailors took one look at the descending horde and immediately headed for the safety of the enclosed deck cabin. The view of the camera changed, pitched back and forth as it too headed for the cabin.
The view changed as the door was slammed behind the cameraman, and the camera whirled around.
The flock descended in its hundreds of thousands, and as more and more birds landed on the deck, the cameraman zoomed in on one of them. I had a Hitchcock feeling when I was reading this! But in the video it seems to be around Norway. Is there more than one connection between the universes? Has the connection stayed open all the time or is it a new one? What is happening there? She’d stared at the bird for a long time. According to her father, it had been the last of its kind and with its death had come the extinction of its entire species. She’d felt sad at the thought of just how alone that bird must have been, trapped in a cage to the very end of its life.
No being should have to be that alone.
They’d named the bird Martha, and she was the last of the passenger pigeons. She’d died in 1914. I didn´t know about passenger pigeons before, but it´s so sad. Just one of so many extinct species in the world and it´s always the same reason: Humans! Sometimes it makes me so angry at my own species...  He hated being reminded just how alone he was in the universe. He’d been isolated, first by what he was, and then by his parents’ deaths. He’d been forced to hide himself from everyone, which had left him even more alone. So alone... like Martha the passenger pigeon. The last of his kind... like the pigeon. And kept locked up like the pigeon... by Lana. Break the cage, Clark! Simply wonderfully written, Shayne!  How will he find her? Is he already tuned in to her heartbeat or to her voice, perhaps calling "Help"? Of course she will not call him personally, but will he be able to hear her? What do you have in stock to get these two back together? She opened the door and switched on her lights, ready to call out to the man who had helped her brother. When Cyrus was better, he’d want to know the man’s name. Stepping onto the front porch, she peered out into the darkness.
The man was now standing on her sidewalk looking up at down the darkened street. His eyes met hers, and he smiled.
A moment later he was rising into the air.
As Mavis stared, he disappeared into the heavens.
Slowly she stepped back into her house and closed the door. An angel for Mavis... now she will believe her brother´s fairytale story! But I´m a little bit disappointed because you don´t show her reaction to this. On the other hand Clark now shows his abilities for the third time to strangers without much hesitation. In the beginning of this chapter he still didn´t want to reveal himself to Mavis. A big leap for Clark, it seems he has stopped keeping his power hidden! A good sign! Next chapter, please, soon!
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Freelance Reporter
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Freelance Reporter
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 76 |
DebbieG said:
I loved the part with the passenger pigeons! I wasn't expecting that at all. It's not clear whether it's from a tape one of the passengers had (recorded in Clark's world and leaked onto Youtube by frustrated intelligence analysts), or whether the rift that brought Clark and the plane to this world is still open (handy for them, but how to close it?), or whether there are other rifts opening at random (an even bigger problem). From Veritas 18:
She felt something shoved into the crook of her arm.
“Check the web address you’ll see written in on page three. It’s been verified as being true.”
The stranger had shoved a newspaper into her arm. Lois grimaced. From what her informant said, whatever was found on the website has already been verified to be factual in this universe. Besides, it's not really conceivable that there's an internet link which is operational between universes. That would seem to mean that we now have hundreds of thousands of formerly-extinct passenger pigeons now present in our reality. From Veritas 19:
Lois hadn’t even bothered to look at the paper in the darkness of her vehicle. Now her main interest was in finding the site that was on the third page. With her luck, the government would shut the site down before she had a chance to see it.
It was a You-tube address, which surprised Lois. She wasn’t aware that You-tube had any dealings with the government. There's really been no reports in other FoLCfic of passenger pigeons, so the rift that brought them here was probably from an earlier time-period than the one which brought Clark and the plane, one where they were not yet extinct. That doesn't sound like simply reversing whatever that process was will easily get them back to the correct time and place they came from. Maybe 196 people and myriad extinct pigeons are permanently stranded here, hmm? Also, from the above quote, it doesn't look like Lois has yet noticed the masthead of the paper containing the penciled-in web address. What if it's a copy of the Daily Planet? And what if she gets caught with it? (bites fingernails) Hurry back! Snave
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Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 5,797
Nobel Peace Prize Winner
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Nobel Peace Prize Winner
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 5,797 |
Hmmm. When I posted, I wasn't thinking of the possibility that a huge flock of passenger pigeons may actually have made it from Clark's universe to our own. Now I'm thinking about the weird fact that the pigeons were seen off the coast of Norway. I don't associate passenger pigeons with Scandinavia at all. But I seem to remember that way back when, when I read the stories of Jules Verne, Verne said something about a huge underwater vortex off the coast of Norway. I think that this vortex swallows up and kills Verne's ambiguous hero, Captain Nemo. Maybe there really is such a vortex off of Norway, and maybe it can't just swallow up and suck down stuff, but maybe it can disgorge it and spit it out, too? Captain Nemo\'s world The vortex off of Norway? The link to another world? Ann
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Merriwether
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Merriwether
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,864 |
I had assumed the pigeons were caught up in the same time-storm (was that Dandello's word?) that the plane was. Now I don't know what to think.
Marcus, you always impress me with your ability to be paranoid in the most literary and sane manner. Now you've got me swallowing your end of the world theory. Say it isn't so, Shayne!
Elisabeth
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Pulitzer
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Pulitzer
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 2,531 Likes: 6 |
When is part 20 coming? I'm looking for Lois & Clark meeting, now that she's more inclined to believe him.  Please, next part! Andreia
"My wife's love is what unites Krypton and Earth in my heart. Without it, without her, I truly would be in hell."
~ Superman: Man of Tomorrow #15
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