My Weird Little Brother
Lois and Clark – The New Adventures Of Superman
By Thomas Mc
Superman
It had been about a week since the disguise costume had been finished and it had not yet been used. There had been two close calls but both had been resolved before he could get involved.
Susan was telling them the latest gossip about the school bus incident. "Most of those in town think that there must have been some kind of angel involved." She cocked her head. "Personally you seem a bit scruffy for an angel."
Clark just blushed. On the T.V, they were reporting on the tropical storm growing in the North Atlantic. The experts were predicting that it could grow into a category 1 hurricane over the next couple of hours but it was expected to dissipate by sunset tomorrow night.
~ o ~
Off the coast of Ireland a cruise ship had been caught in a sudden storm at sea and had lost power. It was adrift and currently in serious danger of being swamped and sinking in the turbulent water. The same sudden squall made it impossible for any rescue vessels to reach the cruise ship. Clark and his family were watching the TV news as the Anchorman announced the breaking news of the endangered cruise ship.
"Clark?" Jonathon turned to address his son. All he saw was a hint of a blur at the open front door and a perceptible stirring of the air in the room.
The next instant there was a whoosh sound from outside the open door, followed a second later by a faint sonic boom. The rest of the family looked at each other, and they all shrugged.
"Well I guess this will be the introduction of Clark's new alter ego to the world." Commented Susan. "I just hope he can save that ship."
Jonathan went over and closed the door. "I hope that no one in Smallville recognizes him."
"I hope the world accepts him once they've seen him in action." Martha prayed.
~ o ~
Clark examined the stricken ship from about five-hundred feet trying to work out the best way to handle the problem. The strongest spot to push the ship was directly astern and four decks down from the top rear deck.
~ o ~
On board a top secret US Navy ship located just outside the boundary of the storm, three separate young seamen called for the attention of the officer on deck almost simultaneously. The officer responded to the man on the weather radar fist since he had been the first to speak up.
"Report!" The officer barked.
"I know how absurd this sounds but I don't really know what it was that I just saw." He pointed to a spot on the western edge of the storm. "Whatever it was first showed up right here." He moved his finger to a spot just south-east of the center of the storm. "It disappeared from the screen here. It was only on the screen for about a second." He looked up at his commander, "It looked like a super-sonic shockwave of condensed rain. To cover that much distance on this screen that quickly, it had to have been moving at mach 5 or 6. The image was too dense and sharp be a ghost. And it was totally consistent from the moment it appeared until it vanished." The sailor gave shrug. "It doesn't make sense but it was right there on my screen."
The officer pondered for a second-and-a-half , then barked out orders. "Dump a copy of all data, starting at ten minutes before the phenomenon first appeared, to the secure holding folder for later analysis." His face creased in a frown, he turned to the second seaman who was manning the surface radar. "What do you have to report?"
The sailor pointed to a blip on the radar screen. "It's the cruise ship, sir. Up until a couple of seconds ago it was drifting; following the circular pattern of the storm. Now it's moving into the wind towards the outer wall of the storm …" He pointed to a number on the screen next to the blip he had been indicating a moment ago and looked uncertainly at the commanding officer. "Sir, it's moving at approximately sixty knots."
"That's impossible." The officer retorted as he looked closer at the screen. But there was no doubt. The velocity number beside the indicated symbol representing the cruise ship clearly showed sixty-one-point-three knots. He knew that he had to make sure that none of the corroborating evidence was lost if only to prove that these men had not gone off their collective rocker. "Dump all data starting from the same time mark as the weather radar data to the secure holding folder and continue dumping as long as the phenomenon continues."
The weather radar operator called out the appropriate time mark.
The officer in charge turned to the radio man on station six. He had one hand on the side of his head and appeared to be listening to something. "I'm almost afraid to ask what you have to report."
"I've been monitoring communications with the cruise ship. They are reporting that even though they are still without power, other than the emergency generator, the ship has suddenly swung around into the wind, all on its own, and is now driving forward at a speed several times what the ship is capable of." He paused. "They are now reporting that the wind speed on the upper deck corroborates the surface velocity indications." Another pause. "I started dumping as soon as Ensign Greyson called out the time mark."
The officer nodded then called out. "I want all stations to dump all data starting from that same time mark whether you have any anomalies or not … lack of unusual data could be just as important as the a-nominal data." He then reached for the ship's intercom, selected the bridge and requesting the attention of the Captain.
Shortly after that the Captain ordered navigation to plot an intercept course with the fast moving cruise ship.
~ o ~
The cruise ship was now ten minutes past the squall line and safely into much smoother water, Clark continued to push it, at a now significantly reduced speed, toward the nearest sheltered harbor. He had decided to stay with the ship until another vessel came along to tow it the rest of the way. Shortly after passing the squall line Clark had noticed a Navy helicopter following the ship or, more likely, following him. He had heard the incredulous pilot reporting on what he had seen at the stern of the cruise ship. He scanned the horizon and spotted a Navy light cruiser that was far enough away that it was nearly invisible to normal human eyesight. He was reminded of his father's warnings about the government trying to dissect him like a frog. Although, considering his current state of invincibility, he didn't think that would be possible.
His thoughts were interrupted by a voice from above him.
"Um, excuse me, would you mind if I asked you a few questions?"
Clark looked up into the eyes of the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. She was eight feet away, leaning over the railing of the deck directly above him. "Who are you?" He asked.
"I'm just one of the passengers. I'm a journalist and my first question is the same. Who are you?"
He paused, momentarily lost in those beautiful dark eyes. Then he shook off the temporary paralysis to respond. "I'm … a friend."
She took a moment to digest that answer. 'Won't give his name.' She sub-vocalized as she wrote in a note pad that he hadn't noticed before. After a moment of indecision she inquired. "Are you from this planed?" She felt foolish but, considering the situation, it was the most obvious next question.
He was surprised by the unexpected question and thought for a moment before responding. "No."
His straight forward answer surprised her and it took a couple of seconds to formulate the obvious next question. "Where are you from?"
Clark thought about the first time he had touched the globe that his parents had found in his ship. "I'm from a planet called Krypton."
She scribbled in her notebook while digesting the last two answers before asking her next obvious question. "Why are you … ahh … here?"
He had been considering this very question since the day he learned that he was from another planet. He had decided that regardless of why he was sent to Earth, he would make his own destiny and use his abilities only for good. The answer sprang readily to his mind and voice. "I'm here to help."
"Help?" Well it was a lot more positive than many of the other possible answers that had flashed through her mind but what exactly did he mean by 'help'.
He saw the hint of uncertainty in her expression and elaborated. "Like with this ship. Nobody else could reach it inside that storm. But I could, so I did." He finished with a hint of a shrug. "I couldn't just standby and do nothing when I knew that I could help."
The Q&A session had been going on like this for a couple of more minutes when Clark heard a woman's scream and a child's cry. He used his x-ray vision to look through the ship toward the origin of the sounds and spotted a child in the ocean beside the ship. He zipped down to retrieve the child before he could be sucked under the ship and returned him to the very upset woman. The woman hugged the child tightly as she tearfully thanked Clark. He nodded to the woman then returned to his previous position at the stern of the ship and the very inquisitive girl.
"That 'S' shape I glimpsed on your chest just now … What is it, what does it mean?" The girl inquired.
Clark felt a sense of family pride as he explained that it was the family crest and the 'S' shape was the symbol, in his language, for hope.
After another thirty minutes the inquisitive girl thanked him for the interview and ran back into the interior of the ship. Clark followed her with his x-ray vision to the state room that she was apparently sharing with two other girls. She went straight to a portable typewriter and began typing. He turned his attention back to pushing the cruise ship.
At the same time he had begun listening in on the communications of the Navy helicopter and the US Navy light cruiser that had been steadily approaching on an intercept course. They were all speculating about what he was, and what they should do about him. Some of their ideas were very bizarre and a few of them, like quarantining the entire ship, worried him. He heard one officer remark that the incident was too public and any overt action by the U S Navy could cause serious international repercussions. That seemed to quiet the more draconian suggestions.
An hour later a tow boat showed up to take the cruise ship the rest of the way into the harbor. At the same time the light cruiser broke off its intercept course. Once the tow boat had control of the cruise ship, Clark floated up allowing everyone on the cruise ship's deck to get a good look at him while he examined the ship to be sure that there would be no further need for his help. The engineering crew was working hard at getting the ship's engines running with no success, but there was nothing he could do about that. At least they still had emergency power.
He then glanced up at the four helicopters currently following the ship. Two of them were news 'copters excitingly reporting on the flying man and the rescue of the cruise ship with no casualties. The original Navy 'copter had been joined by a British military 'copter. Their reports were more business like observations. One more, quick, scan of the ship, then he rose rapidly up to about a thousand feet. The next instant he shot off to the southwest at just over twice the speed of sound and accelerating, leaving only a sonic shockwave and several very curious people behind.
On the navy ship, the weather radar had been set to maximum range. They followed the shockwave's progress until it passed beyond the moisture laden storm and disappeared.
~ o ~
The young inquisitive girl aboard the stricken cruise ship stared at the blank sheet of paper with two lines written at the top.
Super Powered Man Saves Cruise Ship From Sinking
By Lois Lane
She studied the first line for a moment. Something about it just didn't feel right. Shaking her head, she ripped the page out and stared at it while running several ideas through her mind. An idea struck her and she inserted a new sheet of paper. With a gleeful look in her eye she began typing a new title and byline.
Superman Saves Over A Thousand Cruise Ship Passengers From A Watery Grave
By Lois Lane
Lois grinned to herself. If he wouldn't give her his name then she would chose one for him..
~ o ~
It was the middle of the afternoon and Perry White stared at the preposterous story that had just come off the fax machine. It obviously involved that stranded cruise ship in the North Atlantic. The By-Line was somehow familiar. "Lois Lane … Now where have I seen that name?" After a few seconds he snapped his fingers. He riffled through the stack of summer internship applications. There it was, one of the more impressive ones he had received. He shook his head and ruminated sub-vocally as he looked at the faxed pages she had just sent. "With screwy stories like this, she's never going to work for any reputable news organization."
His thoughts were interrupted by one of his reporters barging into his office. "Chief, you've got to see what's happening on the monitors."
The news anchorman was speaking. "… following footage was taken one and a half hours ago."
The image on the screen shifted to a slightly lower resolution video and Perry's mouth fell open. The screen showed an overhead view of a cruise ship then zoomed in on the rear of the vessel. There was what appeared to be a man in blue tights, red boots and a red cape, stretched out horizontally with his hands pressed against the stern of the ship. It looked like he was floating well above the ocean's surface and pushing the ship. Standing at the rear and leaning over the railing was a female figure. She looked up momentarily toward the camera and he recognized the face. It was the same one he had been looking at moments earlier on Lois Lane's application. The colorful man suddenly backed off from the ship and 'flew' down to the ocean's surface. The camera had followed him and captured him retrieving what appeared to be a young child from the water then deposited the child next to a wildly gesticulating woman. Then he returned to his previous position at the stern of the ship.
"Great shades of Elvis!" He exclaimed. He glanced down at the faxed pages in his hand and called out. "Copy, hold page one and, I don't care how but get me a picture of that flying Superman."
~ o ~
Clark landed by the back door and entered the house. He changed out of the costume in a blur of changing colors as he made his way toward the front parlor. Back in his normal jeans and t-shirt, he joined his family in front of the T.V. Soon he was as engrossed in the reporting of his exploit as everyone else. Although the cruise ship incident was apparently on everyone's mind, no one connected it with a simple farming family in Smallville, Kansas.
Jonathan turned toward his son. "Well the cat is out of the bag and there is no turning back now. From now on your life will be very unusual. You will have to be very careful what you say and do … especially in front of reporters. By the way, who was that girl you were talking to?"
Clark shrugged. "She said she was a journalist … I didn't catch her name."
Susan remarked with a grin. "I bet by this time tomorrow, the whole world will know her name."
Martha spoke next. "I hope you were careful about what you told her."
Clark responded. "I didn't tell her anything that could possibly lead her back to me. I also left her with the impression that I have not been on Earth for very long."
Susan jumped in at this point. "You liked her didn't you?" There was a sparkle of teasing in her eyes and voice.
Clark merely blushed in response. "Someday …" He thought quietly to himself.
The End
Disclaimer: This story is based on the television series "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman." The recognizable characters and settings in this story are the property of D.C. Comics, Warner Bros., December 3rd Productions, and anyone else with a legal right to them, and I have no claim on them whatsoever, nor am I profiting by their use. The story, however, is a product of my own imagination. No infringement on copyrights is intended. This story is presented merely for the enjoyment of fans.
