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Joined: Jun 2003
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Features Writer
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OP
Features Writer
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 814 |
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Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 2,823
Pulitzer
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Pulitzer
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 2,823 |
First - Oh no! Lois is trapped! Hope Clark is on the job. Can he rescue her (and Dr. Ledderman) from the Evil Federal Agents? And wait a minute - how did the agents find Lois in Las Vegas anyway? What was Agent White doing there? I thought (as we last saw him) that he was in Metropolis? On a lighter note, the events at the Superman Museum were great. “I never did introduce my friend,” Lois said. “Jim, I’d like you to meet Clark Kent.” What a great moment! Fanboy meets the object of his obsession, and he doesn't know it till Lois and Clark are leaving. I really hope that Jim gets to talk with Clark before the whole thing ends. That would be the thrill of a lifetime, not just for Jim, but for anyone. “I think the museum is going to be a lot more popular in the near future,” Lois called down. Yeah, I think so too. “We’ll take several of those. Give me the ones from the TV show. I always liked those better, and the length will fit better.” This would imply that LnC:TNAOS has been on in this world, despite what certain feedback posters have suggested. But this is our world, right? The system was designed to drain money in any way possible even before the gambler set foot in the casino. Wait, have you been there? (ha ha) Slot machines encircled the table games, but Lois knew that these machines paid more poorly than the rest of the games in the casino. Card game players disliked the noise of a slot machine paying off, yet their spouses often played while waiting with little expectation of winning. Shayne, it's details like this that add to the verisimilitude of your fic and make reading it so rewarding. You've obviously done your research. “Methane could move very easily across a rift, and with enough pressure differential it might move rapidly. The least you could expect was a massive firestorm…if it happened over a populated area the death toll could be massive.”
“So you think something like this could really happen?”
“I think something like that might very well happen. There’s a project in France I’m concerned about…” Ominous foreboding here. Looks like a job for Superman! Finally - more, more, more! Please continue this absorbing and wonderful fic! (And make this fic a long one, because I'm having so much fun reading it.)
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Joined: Dec 2005
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Kerth
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Kerth
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 2,445 |
I think that Agent White is about to believe that a man can fly 
Marcus L. Rowland
Forgotten Futures, The Scientific Romance Role Playing Game
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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 |
Wow. Lois is willing to give an eighty thousand dollar suit to Clark for her father's sake. And Clark is willing to wear it for Lois's sake. Everything has the required gravity for such a momentous item.
(Did you ever watch the special features on the Superman Movie DVD? They'd promised in the trailers that you would "believe a man can fly," but it was getting down to the wire in filming the movie, and the best they'd come up with for flight technology was a bunch of cables and pulleys. Some of the techs tested it out, and their flights looked absolutely horrible. But there wasn't time to come up with anything else, so they resigned themselves, dressed Christopher Reeve up, strapped him in, hauled him up, and...
He flew. Chris was a trained glider pilot.
So yeah, whatever your feelings about the possibly-questionable contents of the movies, you can't deny the suit.)
And now what's going to happen at the casino? Clark could pull Lois out, but they really need to talk to Ledderman.
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Joined: Apr 2003
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Pulitzer
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Pulitzer
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 3,764 |
Wonderful as always. I like the 90s TV show suit better [as I mentioned earlier  ]. Poor whatshisname in Metroplis. More soon please! Carol
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Joined: Dec 2005
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Kerth
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Kerth
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 2,018 |
Lois was grinning at Jim’s expression, and Clark found himself grinning as well....Jim’s expression...that was priceless.  “I’d like to hear all about that, Doctor Ledderman.” ..... “Lois!” Agent White said. “I’m surprised to see you here. The last I heard you were in Georgia.” At last the Federal government has begun to believe some of the passengers! Since White knows Ledderman, he must have come seeking same thing as Lois & Clark, the "expert".
Framework4
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Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 144
Hack from Nowheresville
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Hack from Nowheresville
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 144 |
I don´t know what to say....  “I think the museum is going to be a lot more popular in the near future,” Lois called down. And the Superman movies will be sold out in no time, Brandon Routh finds out that he has a job for life, DC Comics won´t be able to print fast enough, and all the media will go nuts...  Lois had purchased a Superman dufflebag for his clothes and her purse, and so he had to fly slower than he normally would have. He still doesn´t know how to change fast, I think. And where to leave his Clark Kent clothes... They were flying over Canadian airspace as Clark didn’t want to be risked being attacked while he was forced to fly at speeds almost within range of human technology. He was keeping his eye out nonetheless. So you mean he usually is too fast for the radar? But why did they see him (and started the jets) when he went rescuing the fishing boat and returning from there? “Not at all,” he said. “Quantum physics has shown that a single particle of matter doesn’t exist in just one position. It exists in several positions at once. It can exist as a particle and a wave at the same time. Because we’re all made up of those particles, it means that…”
At her expression he stopped and said, “Let’s just say the jury is out, but there are some promising leads. There was a paper back in September describing the possibility that the collision between universes may leave visible marks, things that we can actually look for.”
“So it might be possible to go from one universe to another,” Lois said.
“If the barriers between worlds were to collide, there would be material ejected into both sides, a transfer. Whether it would be survivable by a human being, I can’t say.” There we have to whole "different universes theory". I renember Steven Hawking talking something like that, I didn´t understand much of it , but survivable? Of course, with the help of Superman! “But you’re talking about gas from the ocean, or the ice or something. What does that have to do with alternate worlds?”
“Methane could move very easily across a rift, and with enough pressure differential it might move rapidly. The least you could expect was a massive firestorm…if it happened over a populated area the death toll could be massive.” Sounds like a job for Superman!  “I’d like to hear all about that, Doctor Ledderman.”
Lois felt herself stiffen at the sound of the familiar voice. Slowly she turned to stare at the man sitting beside her.
Agent White was sitting calmly in the seat beside her, and behind him she could see at least six other men in black suits. Agent White! Yes, this makes sense. He already was into it, especially if he was "Deep Throat"! But how did he get the trace to Las Vegas so quickly? I hope you tell more about the way he found out! Of course he doesn´t know yet about Lois´ very special companion... The agents were unobtrusively surrounding them, and Lois could see more coming from the rows of slot machines.
From what she could see they had every exit blocked and there was no way to escape. No way to escape? What does Lois Lane usually do in such a situation? Come on, Lois, it´s just two words: "Help, Superman!" What an evil, evil cliffhanger! Come back here, right now, and post the next chapter! 
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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 |
“I can't wear this,” he said. “It's too valuable.”
The thought of destroying something like this through accident or misuse made his chest tight.
“This is what my father would have wanted,” Lois said. She stared at him, and for the first time he realized that there was something brittle in her expression.
Coming here, seeing all this must be difficult for her. It would have reminded her of just what she'd lost with her father. In giving this, her father's prize possession, she was making herself vulnerable to him.
She was afraid he would reject this, and in a way reject her.
Clark had felt that way about flying. When he'd discovered that Lana would never share his enjoyment, that flying frightened her and made her think of him as less than human…he'd wanted to crawl into a hole and die.
“Ok,” he said.
The gratitude in her eyes was worth the humiliation of wearing the suit. I just love this, how Lois showed Clark her need, and Clark showed Lois his acceptance of her, by her offering and him accepting the suit. “I know,” she said. “Made by Bermans and Nathans costumiers of London out of special fabric that nobody makes anymore.”
“Made off a single loom in Germany that doesn't even exist any more. Every one of these is a one of a kind, and you're giving it to your boyfriend to wear?” Wow. I just love the uniqueness you are giving the suit. As if the suit was Superman himself. But I think it was IolantheAlias who pointed out that the suit has a power of its own. He stepped out and Lois had to smother a laugh. The Superman costume had four parts. The cape, the leotard, the leggings and the belt.
The leotard included the red underwear, and it fit magnificently. Lois could remember her father talking about how the suit had been built small, to accentuate Chris Reeve's muscles.
Unfortunately, the leggings bagged at the bottom.
“Christopher Reeve was six four,” Jim said smugly. “Your man here is maybe a little over six foot.” I love that the leotard fit him so beautifully, but that the leggings didn't! Well, Christopher Reeve was really tall, but Dean Cain isn't, there's no denying it. Jim looked horrified. Before he could say anything Lois interrupted him. “We'll take several of those. Give me the ones from the TV show. I always liked those better, and the length will fit better.” The TV shows? So Lois did watch LnC? If he stayed, Lois had no doubt that designers all over the world would be falling all over themselves to make him new costumes. As much as costumes worn by Chris Reeve were worth, a costume worn by Chris Reeve and the real Superman would be priceless.
In truth, the money didn't matter. This was something her father would have wanted, and that was enough. I love this. Some things are just worth more than money. “I never did introduce my friend,” Lois said. “Jim, I'd like you to meet Clark Kent.”
With that she stepped toward Clark and he took her by the arms. A moment later they began to rise into the air.
Lois was grinning at Jim's expression, and Clark found himself grinning as well. The man had spent the majority of his life devoted to Superman.
“I think the museum is going to be a lot more popular in the near future,” Lois called down. Oh, what a mental image! The parts of the costume that hadn't fit had cost a couple of hundred dollars. Jim's expression, though, that was priceless. Priceless, indeed. “Ridiculous,” he said. When he saw her face fall a bit he grinned. “It's the most expensive thing I've ever worn and I feel like I'm naked.” Just the other day The New York Times had an article about how superhero suits have influenced fashion. One thing that was said in that article was that the greatest thing about the superhero suits was that they showed off the human body - "naked, perfect and free". “I'm more of a theorist,” he said, grimacing as the dealer gathered his chips. “I get to play around with ideas about other worlds and other dimensions.” Not that it matters much at all, but I'd like to point out that in science, other "worlds" and other "dimensions" are not the same thing at all. To scientists, a dimension is a simple thing like length, width or height. A dimension in itself is never a world. However, string theory itself requires that our universe actually has ten or eleven dimensions (I can never remember which it is). We can't see those other dimensions because they are "rolled up". Imagine a length of rope, or a power line, for example. From a distance, it may look like a one-dimensional thing, having length, but not width or height. But as you get closer, you realize that those other dimensions are there as well, only they are "rolled up": ![[Linked Image]](http://images.iop.org/objects/physicsweb/world/13/11/9/pw1311091.gif) Anyway, string theory certainly talks about other dimensions, but usually not about other universes. The "multiverse", the idea about multiple universes, is, however, a scientific idea, though not necessarily a widely accepted one: The multiverse “The greatest mass extinction in history occurred two hundred fifty million years ago. There is a theory that a series of methane gas explosions caused firestorms and global warming that destroyed ninety five percent of marine species and seventy percent of land species.” Wow. I've missed the mass extinction of two hundred and fifty million years ago. “Why are you worried about methane?” Lois asked.
“Because there are four hundred billion tons of methane frozen in the arctic tundra. It would only take a global temperature change of about ten degrees to release it and start a chain reaction to destroy everything.”
“But you're talking about gas from the ocean, or the ice or something. What does that have to do with alternate worlds?”
“Methane could move very easily across a rift, and with enough pressure differential it might move rapidly. The least you could expect was a massive firestorm…if it happened over a populated area the death toll could be massive.” Methane is a dangerous gas, which can cause firestorms. And it is a very powerful greenhouse gas, too. “So you think something like this could really happen?”
“I think something like that might very well happen. There's a project in France I'm concerned about…” Yes! Start talking! The agents were unobtrusively surrounding them, and Lois could see more coming from the rows of slot machines.
From what she could see they had every exit blocked and there was no way to escape. No way to escape? Have you asked Superman? Yay! Great part! Now we need to see more of Clark as Superman! Ann
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Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 76
Freelance Reporter
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Freelance Reporter
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 76 |
Cornelia said: They were flying over Canadian airspace as Clark didn’t want to be risked being attacked while he was forced to fly at speeds almost within range of human technology. He was keeping his eye out nonetheless. So you mean he usually is too fast for the radar? But why did they see him (and started the jets) when he went rescuing the fishing boat and returning from there? I think he was referring to the speed of missiles and jets, not to the speed of light at which radar operates. Snave
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Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 144
Hack from Nowheresville
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Hack from Nowheresville
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 144 |
Oh... seems not to be my day... :rolleyes:
Thank you, Snave!
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Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 2,994
Pulitzer
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Pulitzer
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 2,994 |
too short!
Loved the exchange between Jim, Lois and Clark.
James
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Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 391
Beat Reporter
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Beat Reporter
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 391 |
The parts of the costume that hadn’t fit had cost a couple of hundred dollars. Jim’s expression, though, that was priceless. It's a MasterCard commercial! Chris Reeve's suit: $80,000 Various other suit pieces: $200 Jim's expression: priceless This part was great! I hope that Lois's encounter with the Feds doesn't derail their plan to "go public." I'm really looking forward to that. It would be total craziness, in a good way.  I have this sneaking suspicion that Agent White might wind up actually trying to help, especially after Agent Randal's comment that he was "too close to the case." As someone else pointed out, his being on the track of Dr. Ledderman means he's working on the rifts, too. And another plot twist and cliffhanger! Please post again soon. 
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Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,864
Merriwether
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Merriwether
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 1,864 |
I must confess that I was extremely nervous about their trip to Vegas. Too many camaras. Butterflies erupted when I realized the rule *today* was that nobody entered without I.D.s. But you never promised a bumpless ride.
Excellent, as always, Shayne.
Elisabeth
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