Home: Circle of Fate
By Nan Smith
Rated: PG
Submitted: 9/05


Disclaimer: The familiar characters and settings in this story
are not mine. They belong to DC Comics, Warner Bros., December
3rd Productions and whoever else may have any legal right to
claim them, nor am I profiting by their use. Any new characters,
settings, and the story, itself, belong to me.

Introduction: This story is part of the Home series and will
make more sense to anyone who has not read the previous stories
if you read the short story, "Home". Quickly summarized, it is a
Soulmates-type of story, wherein Lori Lyons is the next
incarnation of Lois Lane at the end of the 21st Century.

**********

Home: Circle of Fate
By Nan Smith

"Haven't you had that baby yet?"

Lori gritted her teeth and managed to smile at Penelope Brown
without cracking her face. The refrain of "Haven't you had that
baby yet?" was beginning to grate on her nerves. Normally a
relatively even-tempered woman, the last few weeks of her
pregnancy had seriously frayed her temper as well as her
self-control. Between impatience, hunger and sheer fatigue, her
usual buoyant temperament was in abeyance. Even Clark had been
tip-toeing carefully around her for the last week, as she had
the disturbing habit of breaking into tears upon hearing that
the sky was blue and the grass was green.

"It's not due for another three weeks," she informed Penelope.

"Oh. Are you sure it isn't twins? You look ready to have it any
minute!"

"Quite sure," Lori said, reminding herself that grinding her
teeth was bad for the enamel and made her jaw hurt.

From somewhere she heard a whoosh of air and an instant later
Clark jogged around the corner of the hallway that led to the
news service's morgue. Lori guessed that he had decided to
intervene before his wife was arrested for murder.

"Hi, honey. Hi, Penny. Lori, John would like you to see him in
his office."

"Why didn't he call me on my wrist talker?"

"He did, but you didn't answer. Are you sure you remembered to
turn it on?"

"I guess I forgot," Lori said. "Sorry."

"That's okay," Clark said, quickly. "No rush."

"I'd better go," Lori said. "Bye, Penny."

A moment later, waiting for the elevator, Lori leaned against
her husband's side and rested her head against his shoulder.
"I'm sorry, Clark. I guess I'm pretty hard to live with, aren't
I?"

His arms went around her at once. "I can take it," he said. "It
won't be much longer now."

She fought back tears. "I'm surprised you put up with me. I'm
such a grouch, and you're being so sweet about it."

He kissed the top of her head. "You can grouch at me as much as
you want. You're just tired and uncomfortable. Besides, your
body is getting ready to have our baby and your hormones are
changing around again. That's what's making you cry so much. If
you were able to get more rest, you'd probably feel better,
too."

"Yeah, probably." She looked up at his face with its sympathetic
expression and wiped away a tear. "How come you're so smart?"

He chuckled. "Been there before. If you think you're a grouch,
you should have seen Lois the first time. The only reason I
survived the last month was because of you-know-who."

"Really?"

"You'd better believe it. Next to that, you're Little Merry
Sunshine."

"I'm glad of that," Lori said. "I guess I learned something
along the way, then."

"I guess so." He kissed the tip of her nose. "Besides, you're
the woman I love. That makes all of it worthwhile."

The chime announcing the arrival of the elevator sounded and the
doors slid open. Clark let her enter first and followed.
"Newsroom," he said.

The elevator glided into motion. Clark put an arm around the
place where her waistline had been and Lori felt the baby give
her a sudden sharp kick to one lung. "Ow," she said. "I guess
there's no doubt about it being a superbaby."

"Nope," Clark said. "How's your back?"

"It hurts," Lori said. "But it's been hurting for a couple of
months now, so that's no surprise."

"I think we're going to be sleeping on air tonight," he said
quietly, "and probably every night until this part is over.
You'll be able to sleep better; trust me."

"I guess you did that before, too," she said. "It's a good
idea."

"Well, I don't see why not," Clark said reasonably. "Fun and
games isn't the only thing it's good for. I should have
suggested it before."

In spite of herself, she laughed. "You never change," she said.
"Even when I look about as sexy as a beached whale."

"Trust me," Clark said, turning her to face him, "you're just as
unbelievably sexy as you were when I met you. Maybe even more."


He bent to kiss her, and Lori was barely aware of the doors
opening until she heard John say, "Will you two quit that?
You're on company time!"

Clark slowly straightened up, unruffled as always, and let Lori
exit ahead of him. Greg snorted and shook his head. "At this
rate you're gonna have a dozen kids, Kent. Don't you two ever
quit?"

"Nope," Clark said, cheerfully. "Why should we?"

Lori heard Andrea laugh. "Whatever it is that she's got, I wish
I had it," she remarked.

Lori could feel herself blushing. Clark hadn't removed his arm
from around her waist as they headed down into the newsroom and
she saw that John was grinning faintly. "You wanted to see me,
Boss?" she asked.

"Yeah. Come on into my office."

Lori and Clark followed him into the editor's office and Clark
pushed a chair forward for her. "Want a doughnut?"

Her stomach rumbled on cue. She accepted the doughnut with a
smile of thanks and bit into it. "What's up?" she asked, around
the mouthful.

"I was wondering when I need to schedule you for maternity
leave," John said. "I know you've been holding out until the
last minute, but face it, Lori, you need to be able to get a
little rest and you're not getting it at work. Your baby is due
in barely three weeks."

She sighed. "I know, but I'm going to be bored stiff, stuck at
home."

"Probably," John said, with a certain sympathy, "but this baby
is going to be more and more of a strain on your system until
it's born, you know. You eat almost constantly now, and you're
cross and tired most of the time. Don't think I haven't noticed.
I haven't seen any sign of your usual sunny disposition for
nearly a month."

Clark didn't say anything. Lori scowled at John, knowing he was
right but unwilling to admit it.

"Can I compromise?" she asked finally.

"It depends. What's your suggestion?"

"How about half-days for the next couple of weeks?"

John cocked an eyebrow at Clark. "You were right."

Lori glanced accusingly at her husband, who grinned sheepishly.
"Sorry, honey. John was talking maternity leave, and I told him
you'd never go for it."

"He did say you might suggest half-time, though, and practically
twisted my arm until I said I'd agree if you did," John said, a
little wryly. "All right, it sounds fair but if you have any
more problems, you'll have to take full time off. Deal?"

"I guess so," Lori said. Clark had actually done her a favor,
she realized, by preparing the path for her half-time
suggestion. "Thanks."

"Don't knock yourself out with gratitude," John said. "You go
home at one, starting today. All right?"

"Yeah, yeah." Lori got to her feet. "Can I go, now?"

John waved her away. "Sure. Go out and bring me in a story."

She had the distinct impression that her editor was trying not
to laugh as she left his office.

**********

It was just past two AM when Clark awoke with the suddenness
that usually meant that his super-hearing had picked up an
emergency of some kind. His nerves tingled with alarm, but
around him, the noises of the city were just as they always
were. Here and there were the sounds of various minor crises but
nothing that would call him away from his home at this hour.

He and Lori floated in mid-air, a sheet wrapped loosely around
the pair of them to give her a feeling of security while she
slept, but for the first time in weeks she was sleeping soundly.
This was the obvious solution to the problem, and he kicked
himself for not suggesting this method of sleeping as soon as he
had realized that the size of the growing baby was seriously
hampering her ability to get a good night's rest. He lay
stretched out in mid air, one arm around his wife, trying to
figure out what it was that had awakened him.

He had been dreaming, he realized suddenly, vaguely uneasy
dreams where he had searched for Lori, and where a formless evil
hovered over them, threatening his wife and his world. The
uneasiness had crystallized into the jolt of alarm that had
brought him awake, and even now the feeling lingered.

But it had been just a dream, he reassured himself. Lori was
right here beside him. He could hear her heartbeat, and the
rapid heartbeat of their unborn baby, as she slept soundly in
his arms. There was no reason for this suffocating sense of
dread. No reason for his heart to be racing in his chest, but he
couldn't seem to banish the feeling. It was as if the evil
presence in his dream were here in their house, or somewhere
nearby, watching and waiting to catch him off his guard.

Lori shifted in his arms and he saw a little frown between her
brows, as if what she was dreaming about wasn't particularly
pleasant. He'd better relax, he told himself, or he was going to
awaken her and break into the first good night's sleep she had
had in weeks. It wasn't like him to get so upset over a dream,
anyhow.

The details of the dream were fading now, as was the way of
dreams, but the sense of menace remained. He put his free arm
protectively around her, enclosing her in a circle of security.
It was only a dream, he told himself firmly. Nothing more.

**********

Lori slowly awoke and stretched luxuriously. For the first time
in a couple of months, her back didn't hurt upon awakening, and
the fatigue that had been making her days at work miserable for
the same length of time wasn't evident, either. Clark's warm
body was curled up next to her and she smiled contentedly. Even
asleep, with his hair mussed and a shadow of beard coating his
chin and cheeks, she was certain that there wasn't a more
attractive man on the planet. She glanced automatically at the
wall chronometer and for a moment was puzzled that the face of
the device was level with her eyes, then she realized that she
and Clark were floating five feet from the surface of their bed.
The alarm was due to go off in about four minutes, so there was
no point in trying to go back to sleep. She contented herself
with observing Clark sleeping, watching the flick of expressions
across his face.

A faint frown creased his forehead, and suddenly his eyelids
flew open and they dropped nearly two feet before he stopped
their fall. Lori gave a faint scream.

"Oops. Sorry," he said. "Are you okay?"

Lori giggled. "Sure. If I hadn't already been awake, though, it
would have been a heck of a way to wake up. Did you have a bad
dream?"

"Kind of," he said, lowering them to the surface of the bed. He
surveyed her anxiously. "How are you this morning?"

"Pretty good," she said. "Your sleep therapy worked fine. My
back doesn't even hurt."

"Good. I guess there's nothing like a good night's sleep to make
things look better," he said.

Lori's stomach growled and they both laughed.

"I'll make breakfast while you get a shower," Clark said. "How
about waffles?"

"Add eggs and bacon to that and you've got a deal," Lori said.
"Do we have the ingredients for a chocolate shake?"

"I never run out of chocolate ice cream," Clark said, "even
though I can't quite imagine it the first thing in the morning.
On the other hand, I'm not a pregnant woman, so I guess I'm not
a judge. Go on. I'll have things ready when you get out of the
shower."

"Okay." Lori leaned forward and kissed him squarely on the
mouth. "I don't know why I was so lucky as to meet you, but I'm
not questioning my good luck. Your air mattress really did the
trick."

"I only wish I'd thought of it before," Clark said.

"I'll forgive you if I can do the same every night until the
baby's born," Lori said with mock-seriousness. "The only thing I
can complain about wasn't your fault. I had weird dreams all
night long -- or at least it felt like it."

"What do you mean, 'weird dreams'?" Clark asked, sharply.

"Oh, I don't know. I remember being lost, and hunting for you. I
could hear you calling me, but I couldn't find you. That's
really all," she said. "It didn't make much sense. You know how
dreams are. It was probably because I was tired. I've noticed
that when I pull an all-nighter and then go to sleep, I usually
have very vivid dreams. I'm sure one of Arnie's friends could
explain it -- or maybe Ronnie could."

"Probably," Clark said. "Better go get your shower. You want to
have the time to sit down and eat."

**********

Even the fact that the day was going to be a scorcher didn't
have the power to dampen her mood today, Lori thought, as they
entered the newsroom an hour later. It was amazing how fatigue
could so thoroughly affect your mood. She sank into her desk
chair, kicked her shoulder bag under the desk and ordered her
computer to get itself ready to work. There were several
messages waiting for her and Lori began to read through them.

"You look like you feel better," Andrea said.

Lori nodded. "Clark got me an air mattress. My back doesn't even
hurt this morning. I feel fine."

"You know there's always a burst of energy before you go into
labor, don't you?" Andrea said.

"Oh yes, I know. I don't think that's what this is, though,"
Lori said. "If it is, I won't mind."

"Just don't have the baby in the middle of the newsroom," Andrea
said with a grin. "I think it would probably upset Greg."

Lori giggled. "I wouldn't be too happy about it, either. I don't
think anyone needs to worry."

**********

Clark shifted uneasily in his chair, trying to shake off the
mood that seemed to have claimed him since his uneasy dreams of
the night before. Lori obviously wasn't aware of anything
unusual. She was smiling as she worked at her computer, putting
the finishing touches on the article that she was working on. As
he watched, she made a single correction and leaned forward,
reading what she had written. He saw her nod in a satisfied
manner, and got to his feet to stroll over to her desk.

"How's it going?"

"Fine." She smiled brightly up at him. "Take a look at my
article and see if you think it'll do, would you?"

He read over the piece: a sidebar about the history of
Councilman Clement who had announced the week before that he was
running for the Mayor's position in the approaching elections.
"You seem to have covered all the bases. I'm wondering about his
connections with the President of Burgess Construction, though.
Didn't he vote to approve that redevelopment project for the
South Side? We might want to look into it."

"I was thinking about that," Lori said. She glanced ruefully
down at her middle. "You're going to have to do most of the
legwork for a little while, I'm afraid."

"That's no problem," Clark said. "You do some of your best work
on a computer, anyway."

"Carla's lessons didn't hurt," Lori said. She glanced at the
intern, who was bent over her own computer, her tongue planted
firmly between her teeth as she worked on some research project.
"She tells me that Connor is talking about a six-month contract,
just to see if they're compatible."

Clark grinned. "They're compatible. How does it feel, being the
office matchmaker?"

"Don't be silly," Lori said. "Just because Marcella mistook her
for me doesn't make me a matchmaker. I was just a convenient
prop."

"Well, we've got an invitation to Barry and Deirdre's wedding
two months from now, too," Clark said, showing her the card.
"Life contract. I found it on my desk when I got back from
meeting that source."

"I didn't have anything to do with that either," Lori said. "But
I'm happy for them."

"Maybe not, but I think they decided to follow our example,"
Clark said. He glanced at the wall chronometer. "It's almost
one. Better get that to John. I'm going to go along with you and
then come back. All right?"

"Sure. Any special reason?"

He shrugged. "I just like to be with you?"

She batted her eyelashes at him. "How can I object to that? Not
every woman gets to take such a handsome guy home with her at
lunchtime."

"You make that sound scandalous," Clark said.

"Well, maybe we can follow up on that idea with our 'air
mattress', tonight," she said, raising an eyebrow suggestively
at him. "I plan on napping part of the afternoon, if I can."

"I'd have to be crazy to turn down an offer like that," he said,
but underneath, he was submerging a surge of fear that rose in
his chest. This didn't make any sense, he told himself, and Lori
was bound to think he was hovering if he allowed her to see it.
He didn't understand it, himself. It wasn't as if there was any
basis for it. Just to reassure himself, however, he intended to
be sure the apartment was secure before he left her there
alone.

He waited while she sent the piece to their editor and then shut
off her computer. "Ready?" he asked.

She nodded and slipped her hand into the crook of his elbow. "Do
you suppose we could stop at the Cream Dream on the way?" she
asked.

"Actually, I was going to suggest it, myself," he said. "What
have you got in mind?"

"A double banana split," Lori said, "And maybe a chocolate
shake."

"Your wish is my command, my lady," Clark said, as they headed
for the bank of elevators. "How about a sandwich first?"

"Okay," Lori agreed. "I'll sleep much better if I'm not hungry,
and maybe after I wake up, I can finish the thank you notes for
everyone who came to the baby shower last week. I've been
putting it off, but I really shouldn't wait much longer."

**********

Clark glanced at the wall chronometer for the fourth time in an
hour. Superman had checked three times on Lori since he had left
her at the apartment. She was safe, he told himself, firmly. The
door was locked and the inner bolts were in place. He had
personally checked every nook and cranny of the apartment. There
was no way a mouse could sneak into the place.

It didn't help. The sense of impending danger hovered, and
wouldn't let him go. Finally, he stood up, intending to check a
fourth time. He got off work in half an hour, and he intended to
make a beeline for home as soon as he was free, but a ten-second
jaunt to the apartment wouldn't hurt, and would make him feel
much better.

The door to the editor's office opened as he started toward the
elevators, and John's voice said, "Clark, could I see you for a
minute?"

In mid-step, he managed to halt his forward progress without
tripping, and turned reluctantly toward John's office. John had
returned to his desk and was studying his computer screen and
didn't glance up as Clark entered the office.

"Close the door," he said, glancing up at last.

Clark obeyed, but didn't sit down. John raised an eyebrow.
"Emergency?" he asked. "Don't let me keep you if it is."

"Uh -- not exactly," Clark said. "I was just going to check on
Lori."

"Haven't you already checked on her three times since two
o'clock?" his boss asked.

"Yeah."

"May I ask why?"

Clark shrugged. 

"Come on, Clark, what's going on?"

"I just have this feeling that I should keep an eye on her."

"Why?"

Again Clark shrugged. "I can't explain it, exactly," he said.
"Ever since last night, I've had this *feeling*. That's all I
can call it: a feeling that something is going to happen to her,
and I want to be nearby, just in case."

Oddly enough, John didn't immediately dismiss the very lame
explanation out of hand. "What kind of 'feeling'?"

"I don't *know*! That's the problem. I started dreaming about it
last night, and it hasn't gone away. It's like someone is
watching, just waiting for me to let down my guard. I know it
doesn't make any sense, but I can't help it."

"You know," John said, "there's been some speculation that those
of us with the Kryptonian telepathic talent may have traces of
other gifts -- precognition, for instance. You, yourself, have
said that when someone you care about is in danger you often
know, even if you have no other reason to think there might be
something wrong, so maybe it isn't as far-fetched as you
think."

Clark glanced at his wrist talker, only half his attention on
what John was saying. "I'd like to go check on her, if you don't
mind. It will only take a minute."

John nodded. "All right, go ahead."

Clark started to turn toward the door, when the feeling
crystallized suddenly in an intense burst of panic.

"Lori!" he screamed.

In an instant, he was out the window, leaving his civilian
clothing in shredded rags on the floor of John's office, not
even taking the time to dispose neatly of his outer wear. But
even as Superman split the air of Metropolis, trailing a sonic
boom that literally rocked the city in his wake, he knew that it
was too late.

**********

Superman arrived at the Kent apartment split seconds later, and
almost immediately was joined by Superwoman, Tan-El, Typhoon,
Cyclone and Blue Lightning, all demanding to know what was
wrong. Clark wrenched open the skylight without answering and
dropped into the apartment.

"Lori!" he shouted.

There was no answer. He hadn't expected to hear one. The
indefinable trace that told him that Lori was somewhere around
had vanished. All that he could feel was an aching void in his
mind where her beloved presence had been split seconds before.
Lori was gone. Slowly, he crumpled to his knees and began to
sob.

**********

Lori signed her name carefully to the last of the thank-you
notes and sat back with a feeling of accomplishment. The
protocols were done. She gathered up the little notes, wondering
abstractedly why emails weren't considered acceptable for the
purpose, and stood up, stretching.

The vidscreen muttered in the background. PNN was showing the
ceremony, held earlier in the day in Washington DC, of Superman,
Ultra Woman and Black Raptor receiving an award from the
President to honor the hundredth anniversary of the Superman
Foundation. A hundred years ago, today, the small enterprise
begun by Murray Brown and Superman had been transformed into the
worldwide organization that promoted the principles of Superman,
and begun its campaign to improve the health and welfare of the
people of Earth. She took a moment to admire Clark's muscular
body, outlined in the tight red, blue and yellow uniform. Today
he was serving as a representative of the "original" Superman,
as he stepped forward to accept the certificate and the small
statuette that would subsequently be put on display in the
Museum of the Superman Foundation. Lori smiled, watching him
stride across the podium to accept the award. He shook the
President's hand and turned to the podium to make his acceptance
speech before a crowd of journalists and dignitaries. How were
the people present at the ceremony to know that the Superman who
was accepting the award on behalf of his Foundation was the man
who had been its founder? Very few persons knew the real story
of how all this had come about. She was one of them. 

Lori giggled softly. Clark had told her all about it: how Murray
Brown, the "artist's representative" had been after him to sign
a contract so that Murray could "market" Superman. Clark had
finally accepted, under the proviso that all proceeds of the
organization were to go to charity. That had been in 1993. Six
years later, they had turned it into the Superman Foundation at
the suggestion of Lois Lane and Perry White, who had been
Clark's editor at the Daily Planet. Lois and White had put a lot
of time and effort into helping Murray set it up, and
establishing him as head of the Foundation. The former talent
agent had discovered that running such a prestigious
organization was much more to his taste than his previous job
had been, and in the end had turned out to be best president
that the Superman Foundation could have desired.

Perry White, Clark's editor, must have been a pretty smart guy,
she thought, watching the scene on the vidscreen as the band
struck up and Superman stepped back to allow Black Raptor --
Ryan Kent, Lori's brother-in-law -- to take his place for his
own prepared speech. White had figured out Clark's secret from
many small clues and had apparently known for several years that
his top male reporter was actually Superman, but hadn't let on
until it had been unavoidable. For a great many years after
that, he had been one of Clark's allies and closest friends in
his work as Superman.

Her stomach growled, distracting her from the scene on the
vidscreen. She dropped the little envelopes into the transport
tube that would take them to the Mail Delivery Center and turned
toward the kitchen. There was at least one homemade chocolate
éclair left in the refrigerator from the ones that Clark had
made for her two days ago, and she was pretty sure that she
hadn't eaten all the watermelon. 

She had finished the watermelon and was working on the eclair a
few moments later when she heard a sound behind her.

It wasn't an identifiable sound but it definitely shouldn't be
there. Lori turned, and froze.

It was exactly as if someone had sliced the air, leaving an open
cut taller than her head in the very fabric of the universe. As
she watched, the shimmering cut spread wide, leaving her staring
into a rectangular, shimmering surface, through which she could
see distorted images of whatever was on the other side. Out of
the surface stepped a man.

He wasn't all that alarming in appearance, about forty-five, she
estimated automatically, a little taller than Clark, reasonably
good-looking, with brown eyes, wavy, reddish-brown hair and a
short beard. In one hand he held something, some kind of control
mechanism, she thought, judging by the buttons and small
blinking lights on its face, and in the other he held a stunner.
He smiled cheerfully at her.

"Ms. Lyons, isn't it?" he said, almost courteously. "Mrs.
Superman. I've wanted to meet you for some time. Stand up."

"Who are you?" Lori asked.

"They call me Tempus," the man said calmly. "You may have heard
of me. Don't scream. I'll have to stun you if you do, and it
might not be very good for your baby."

"If you kill me, it wouldn't be very good for the baby either,"
she countered, getting slowly to her feet.

"Oh, I'm not going to kill you," Tempus assured her mockingly.
"But you see, I can't allow you to have that baby in this time
period. It wouldn't be very good for ... my future." He smiled
briefly. "Besides, I love irony. You, Lori Lyons, intrepid
investigative reporter of the 21st and 22nd Centuries, wife and
partner of Superman, and the woman who is destined to help
complete the legacy of Lois Lane and Clark Kent, snatched from
your rightful place and put where you can never utilize the
potential of your talents. It's almost poetic. I love it."

"Why are you telling me this?" Lori asked. Stall, she told
herself. Stall. Maybe Clark will know, with that strange
telepathic talent of his, that something is wrong. Every minute
gained was an asset.

Tempus grinned widely. "Surely he's told you about me, Ms.
Lyons. He wouldn't have kept it from you that he's not merely a
superman, but Superman, the muscle-bound original, pathetically
dependent on a weak human female to accomplish the greatest
advances in history for human civilization. To bore persons like
me out of our skulls. Utopia must not be allowed to come to be,
and it's up to me to stop it. And the best way for me to
accomplish that is to attack its weakest link. That," he added,
as if he were speaking to a two-year-old, "would be you. You are
the weakest link in his chain, as it were. Without you, he lacks
the willpower to do more than exist every day -- so it follows
that you have to be removed. This way." He gestured with the
nose of the stunner.

Lori moved as slowly as she dared. Could she get away with
faking a fainting spell? Anything to slow him up and allow Clark
time to get here. If only she had been wearing the earrings that
Arnie Frazier had made for her, but they were lying on the glass
tray on her dressing table. It hadn't seemed necessary to wear
them in the apartment.

She allowed herself to stagger and start to fall. Tempus moved
instinctively, grabbing for her, and as he did so, she struck
for his stunner hand.

The stunner flew free and skidded across the floor, but Tempus
ignored it, seizing her by the wrist and yanking her forward.
Together they tumbled into the window. Into confusion.

The space around them was light. She could see Tempus beside
her, as she regained her balance, but everything else was
formless. She had lost sight of the weird, mirrorlike window
through which she had been dragged, and twisted around, trying
to locate it. There it was, a short distance away. She made a
frantic lunge for it, and heard Tempus laugh mockingly, gripping
her wrist almost negligently.

"Spunky little thing, aren't you," he remarked casually, the
sarcasm coloring every word. "Superman seems to like spunky
women. I don't. If you don't behave I might have to kill you
after all." He yanked her against his chest, staring into her
eyes, only inches from his. His were a light golden brown, she
noted irrelevantly. "Last chance."

He was doing something with the thing in his hand, the object
that must be the control for the strange time window, but her
kidnaper evidently hadn't allowed for the desperation and
ferocity of a woman fighting not only for herself, but for her
husband and child as well. He definitely hadn't considered that
she might be able to defend herself effectively. Maybe he was
too used to the women of his future time, she thought, or maybe
it was just sheer arrogance. Whatever the reason was, she didn't
really care. Lori raised a foot and stomped as hard as she could
on his instep. With her free hand she clawed for his face,
aiming for his eyes with her fingernails. He jerked back, and
she took full advantage of the automatic reaction to wrench her
wrist free of his loosening grip. She seized the front of his
shiny tunic and yanked him toward her, driving her knee into his
crotch with every ounce of strength that she could bring to
bear. He screamed, doubling forward, and she grabbed for the
control device.

Feebly he hung on, stumbling forward a few steps and clutching
at the injured area. Her own equilibrium was thrown off by the
shift in her center of gravity, caused by the almost full-term
baby, and Lori fought for balance as she yanked at the control.
Tempus resisted as she tugged, and then lurched clumsily after
her. Together they tumbled from the window onto a grassy
hillside. 

She staggered as her feet hit grass and stones, and her hand
encountered the rough bark of a tree trunk. She caught it,
managing to stay on her feet, and pivoted clumsily around to see
Tempus only feet away, still clutching the control device and
grasping weakly for her. Her knee had obviously done some good,
for his movements were weak and uncoordinated, which,
considering her own condition, was a good thing. Taking
advantage of her enemy's apparent lack of any scientific
fighting skills, she slapped him across the bridge of the nose
with the flat of her free hand and followed it up with a kick to
the spot where her knee had already connected once.

Already hurt and off balance, Tempus gave a groan and doubled
forward. The control flew free and hit the rocky ground. She
heard something break as the thing skittered across the rocks,
but she would have to deal with that later. She gave him a
second kick for good measure, but he almost certainly didn't
feel it, for he was unconscious on the ground.

Her head was swimming. Breathing hard, she bent forward, leaning
against the tree and resting her hands on her knees. Keeping one
eye on Tempus's recumbent form, she lowered her head until the
dizziness subsided. The control device lay on the ground a few
feet away, and she went to pick it up.

The little glowing lights on its face had gone dark, and behind
her what must be the time window had disappeared. She stared at
Tempus with hatred, wishing for a moment that she had less
conscience, then stuffed the control device in her pocket and
began to take in the scene around her.

She and Tempus were on a gently sloping hillside, littered with
stones and dotted with small trees and bushes. In the distance,
she could see the grey ribbon of a road and beyond that were the
towers and spires of a city. Well, that meant she was still in
civilized times. Maybe Tempus hadn't managed to move them from
her own time after all. In any case, the first thing to do was
to get away from this character and find help. If she was still
in her own time, she could tell Clark what had happened, and he
and the others could start looking for Tempus. Without his
control for the time window, he was stranded here until he could
figure out how to make himself another time traveling device.
And if she wasn't -- well, she'd deal with that when and if she
had to.

She glanced once more at the time traveler, but he showed no
sign of regaining consciousness. Resisting with difficulty the
base, but very understandable urge to kick him a third time, she
started down the slope, picking her way with care, toward the
road that she could see perhaps half a mile away. Once there,
maybe she could flag down someone who would help her.

And if, as she feared, she was no longer in her own time, maybe
she could still get some help. Perhaps she could find someone
who could fix the control device and help her get back home.

**********

"Someone's been here," Superwoman said. She held a small stunner
in one hand, protected by a handkerchief. "It was in the
kitchen, and there's half a chocolate éclair sitting on a plate
on the table. I found the fork on the floor. Whatever happened,
it happened without warning."

"The doors and windows are all locked," CJ said. He dropped onto
the sofa beside Clark, who was staring blankly at nothing. The
other superheroes had scattered to scour the city, looking for
Lori, but CJ and Lara had remained with their father. "Dad,
you've got to snap out of this. We'll find her, but you're going
to need to help us."

Clark shook his head numbly. "You don't understand," he
whispered. "The link is gone. The bond. She's not here
anymore."

Lara and her brother looked at each other. "Dad, how can that
be?" CJ asked. "You told us that even after Mom died you could
feel her presence."

"It's not here," Clark repeated, trying to force his numbed
brain into action, to try to understand what could have
happened, but the void where Lori's presence had been made it
hard to think. "She's not here."

"Then where is she? What could possibly have happened? What did
you sense? Did you feel her ... die?"

"No." Clark shook his head, beginning to feel a tiny shred of
hope. "She just ... blinked out. Like a door closing." He
straightened up, realization beginning to dawn. This had
happened once before when Lois had been kidnapped by Tempus and
taken to the alternate universe. "Tempus!"

"What?" Lara said.

"Not what; who. Tempus, the time traveler I told you about years
ago. It's the only explanation."

"The one determined to destroy the future?"

"That's right. He must have decided that if he couldn't destroy
Lois and me, that he would attack Lori. She must be part of what
makes the future what it's supposed to be. "

"One of the critical parts of Wells's Utopia?" Lara asked.

"That's right," Clark said. "It would explain why there's no
sign of any of the doors or windows being forced. If he had a
time machine, he could have gotten in here without needing to go
through one."

"If that's what happened, what do we do?" CJ asked.

Clark shook his head. "I'm not sure."

"You told us that Wells gave you the plans to build a time
machine," Lara said. "Could you still do it?"

"Probably," Clark said. "I remember the blueprints clearly
enough. The problem is, he could have taken her anywhere. The
times -- and places -- to search are literally endless."

"If he took her somewhere in time, wouldn't she find a way to
let us know where she is?" Lara asked, although Clark thought
she was grasping at straws. "Lori's smart, Clark. As smart as
Mom was. She'll figure something out."

"Maybe," he said. "Unless he took her to the future."

"Well, let's hope he didn't," Lara said. "If he did, she'll
still think of something. I know Lori. Tempus won't know what
hit him. In the meantime, let's get busy and build the machine.
Maybe something will turn up that will give us some kind of clue
where to look for her."

"If it doesn't," Clark said grimly, "it won't matter. I'll use
it to search for her until I find her, one way or another."

"In that case," CJ said, "let's get over to STAR Labs. Arnie
ought to be able to help us."

**********

"There it is, Miss," the driver of the antique vehicle told her.
"The Daily Planet. Remember, call the police as soon as you can
get to a phone."

"I will," Lori assured him. She fumbled with the awkward,
unpowered door of the car and slowly stepped out onto the
sidewalk. "Thank you very much. I really appreciate your help."

"Think nothing of it," the driver told her. Lori shut the door
and stood back as the car pulled away from the curb with a roar
of the motor and a burst of foul-smelling exhaust.

Lori looked up at the Daily Planet. It was a lot smaller than
the building where she worked, she thought, only underlining
that she was not in her own time. She hadn't dared to ask the
date of the man driving the car that had picked her up as she
was trudging down the road toward the distant city that, it
turned out, was Metropolis. He would have thought she was crazy.
Instead, she had stuck with the partial truth; that she had been
kidnapped and had managed to escape while her captor was
sleeping. Unconscious was kind of like sleeping, she
rationalized. With luck, Tempus would feel too bad when he woke
up to try to track her down, at least right away, but she had no
doubt at all that he would try. After all, she had the control
for his time window. He was trapped here, just like she was.

A metal stand with a plastic face was placed not too far from
where she stood, and in it were actual newspapers. That put her
back somewhere before 2050, she thought. That was the year that
the news services around the world had gone completely over to
internet publishing. She made her slow way over to the box and
stood reading the headline. "Superman Foundation Vows Fight
Against World Hunger", and there, in the upper right hand corner
was the date. She stared at it in shock. Tempus had deposited
her exactly 100 years in the past -- to the day. She shook her
head, trying to think. That didn't make much sense. He had
wanted to put her back somewhere that she could find no help,
and would be unable to utilize her talents. That certainly
didn't describe this place, she thought. Superman existed in
this day and age. That meant Clark was here, and so was Lois
Lane. They were two people who knew all too well what Tempus was
capable of. If she went to them, she was bound to find allies
against him.

Then it hit her. Somehow, the battle she had waged had sabotaged
his plans. Perhaps he had only managed to partially set the
control, or maybe it had triggered some sort of default setting.
She didn't know, but now was not the time to start questioning
her luck.

But what should she do now? It was getting late, and shortly she
was going to find herself out at night with no place to stay.
She looked again at the Daily Planet. At least it was at the
same address as the one in her time, but how was she supposed to
find Clark in this time period? She could, she supposed, yell
for help. There were no other superheroes right now but Clark,
so if she called for help it would be Clark that answered.

But it wouldn't be *her* Clark. The thought was daunting and
unexpectedly lonely. The Clark of now was married to Lois Lane.
She, Lori Lyons, was an interloper in this time, adrift in a
world that was more foreign than she had at first imagined.
There was just enough of the Metropolis that she knew to give
her a feeling of nightmare familiarity, and yet be completely
strange.

She shook herself mentally and brought her mind back to the
matter at hand. She had a problem to solve and now wasn't the
time to get cold feet.

She glanced at the Daily Planet building again. What did she
know about this time, in specifics? What had Clark told her that
she could use to help her get the time window control fixed and
return to her own time?

The only person she knew in this time was Clark, and he didn't
know her. But, in an odd way, she knew Lois Lane. If what she
had come to believe was true, whatever it was that made her
Clark's soulmate, had come from Lois. They must be somewhat
alike, and maybe, with the things she knew about them, and about
the future and Tempus, they would believe her wild story.

Which brought up again the question of how to find them.

What had Clark told her about his life in this time that she
could use? He and Lois had lived at the townhouse on Hyperion
Avenue where CJ and his wife, Rachel, lived in her own time. It
was a good half an hour's walk from the Daily Planet, but she
ought to be able to find it, even in this strangely familiar and
yet unfamiliar city, if she just followed the street signs.

Without further debate, she set off.

She had reckoned without the fact that in this time, there were
no slidewalks, as well as the fact that she was over eight
months pregnant. She found it necessary to stop and rest
frequently, and her progress became slower as she went. She
passed several bus stops, but the things that they called busses
in this time bore very little resemblance to the similarly named
vehicles in her own, and besides, she had no idea which one to
take, or any money with which to pay for the ride. The only
alternative was to keep plodding along, which she did.

It was nearly two hours later that she arrived at 348 Hyperion
Avenue and trudged wearily up the steps to the door. It was
summertime, so it was still light, but sunset was rapidly
approaching. The tall buildings cast long shadows on the street
and the sunlight was definitely dimmer. She couldn't see the
sun, for the tall buildings -- not as tall as in her time, but
still respectably tall -- blocked her view, but the sky to the
west had developed a faint pinkish hue.

Through the window, she could see that the house was dark, but
she rang the bell anyhow. After several minutes, she rang it
again.

No one was home. Lori sighed. Her feet hurt, and so did her
back, and the prospect of sitting, perhaps for hours, on the
doorstep of the Hyperion Avenue townhouse didn't appeal to her
in the least. Besides, on the off chance that Tempus had managed
to find transportation to the city, one of the first places he
might look for her could easily be the Kent home. Making herself
easy to find probably wasn't the smartest move she could make.

She tried the doorknob and blinked in surprise when she
discovered that the outer door was unlocked. Cautiously, she
pushed it open.

"Hi, Lois!" a cheerful voice said. Lori glanced around as a
woman ascended the steps of the townhouse next to Kents' home
and opened the outer door. "Home early?"

"Uh -- yeah," Lori said. She smiled briefly. "How are you,
today?"

"Oh, same as always," the other woman said, breezily. She pushed
open her door and entered. "See you later."

"Yeah," Lori said. She pushed the door in front of her wider and
entered the small foyer of the Kent townhouse.

She was not surprised to discover that the inner door to the
home was locked tight. That, however, wasn't a problem. The two
long, thin clips that she frequently used to pin her hair back
from her face were sufficient to solve the minor difficulty. A
few moments later, she walked into the living room of the
townhouse and sank down in relief on the nearest chair, resting
her feet on the comfortable ottoman.

The old-fashioned room was beautifully decorated, and she
recognized with a shock of familiarity, Clark's fertility
statue.

There was no one to see her, and she let the silent tears of
strain and loneliness slide down her cheeks. She knew this
house, and yet, she was farther away from her home than she had
ever been. The man she loved was a century away in time, the man
he had been was in love with her counterpart in this time, and
she had no way of knowing if she would ever see him again.

After a time, sheer fatigue claimed her, and she fell asleep.

**********

Arnold Frazier looked more like a fullback than a scientist,
Clark thought, not for the first time. He was big and muscular,
and sported a curly, though neatly trimmed mustache and beard of
a golden blond hue, and his eyes were a bright sky blue in
color. He had actually played football at Cal Tech, as well as
being a member of the wrestling team, and, oddly enough, a
member of the drama club, although he had been accepted into the
school on an academic scholarship. He listened patiently to the
story that Clark told him, his expression hard to read under the
facial hair.

"Time travel?" he said when Clark had finished speaking. "If I
wasn't hearing this from you, Clark, I'd think I was talking to
a lunatic. You're sure --"

Clark interrupted him. "Arnie, I'd love to discuss this with you
more completely, but right now I don't have the time. Take my
word for it, I've not only met a couple of time travelers in my
lifetime, I've actually traveled through time. I met myself as a
baby and helped save my own life from the man who we believe
kidnapped Lori, although Lois actually did most of the work," he
added, as an afterthought.

"All right." The scientist scratched his chin with one finger.
"Do you have the blueprints for this machine?"

"In here." Clark tapped his forehead. "Give me something to draw
on and I'll show you."

Arnie shrugged. "Sure. Just a second." He rose from his desk
chair and went to a storage closet to one side of his office. He
rummaged for several seconds and emerged with a clipboard and
drawing materials. "Will this do?"

"Thanks." Clark took the items and began to draw, dredging from
his memory the details of the time machine's blueprint given to
him by H.G. Wells over a century ago. He was aware of Lara and
CJ looking over his shoulders as the time machine came into
being again, at least on paper. At last, he finished the drawing
and took one last, critical look at his creation before handing
it across the desk to his great, great grandson.

Arnie took it and for several minutes there was complete silence
in the room as he examined the drawing. Clark saw his eyebrows
climbing higher and higher as he took in the details. Finally he
spoke.

"It looks a little expensive to operate," he remarked. "Its fuel
is 24 carat gold?"

Clark nodded. "Of course, this is the prototype model. I think
Wells came up with something else to use, later, but I don't
know what it was."

"Well," Arnie admitted with a slight grin, "I guess Superman
wouldn't have much trouble getting hold of gold. I always
thought you could be rich beyond your wildest dreams if you
chose to take up mining as a profession. If I didn't know you
better, I'd still think you were off your rocker, but this thing
does make some sense. Wells must have been a genuine genius. I'd
never have thought of this particular circuit configuration, but
the field apparently interacts directly with the space-time
continuum -- it seems to literally have a grip on the curvature
of space itself --"

"Arnie --"

"Oh, I know." The scientist chuckled. "It's too bad you chose
journalism. If you'd applied yourself, you could have been one
of the greatest scientists going, but it bores you. It's a
genuine loss to the world, did you know that?"

"No it isn't," Clark said. "You more than make up the
difference. Now, if you don't mind --"

"We'll get on this immediately," Arnie said. "I want to do some
tests on it before you actually take any sort of trip in it,
though. It's been over a hundred years since you saw the actual
blueprint. I want to be sure you haven't forgotten anything
important." He glanced up at Clark's face and Clark saw the
sympathy in his eyes. "It won't help Lori if something happens
to you while you're trying to find her in this thing. Besides,
if it's actually a time machine, a little delay won't matter.
I'll give you a call as soon as we've finished."

"If you'll let me build it, I can be finished in a few minutes,"
Clark said. "Then you can start testing it. Otherwise, it'll
take days or weeks."

Arnie grinned faintly. "You have a point. All right, come on. I
think we can bend the rules around here for Superman. You have
no idea how it enhanced my reputation when my colleagues
discovered that I was a consultant for not only Ultra Woman but
you as well. I'll requisition the materials. I think we can
streamline this thing a bit, though --"

"We'll help," Lara said. "Come on, CJ."

**********

The sound of the door opening awoke Lori. She sat up slowly,
looking around at her unfamiliar surroundings for several
seconds before she remembered where she was.

The door swung open, and a woman entered the townhouse. Lori
hastily smoothed her hair as much as she could, aware that she
was about to meet Lois Lane.

The other woman was juggling two large bags of groceries, and
was occupied with closing the door and shoving a latch into
place all at the same time, and as a result didn't see Lori at
once. She got the latch fastened and turned, starting across the
living room toward the door that led to the townhouse's kitchen,
and stopped suddenly. Their eyes met.

"Hi," Lori said in a small voice, aware of the awkward
circumstances of the meeting.

Lois Lane stared at her, a growing expression of wrath on her
face.

"Who the devil are you and what are you doing in my house?" she
demanded.

Taking in the other woman, Lori saw at once why the neighbor had
mistaken her for Lois. Belatedly, she recalled that CJ's
birthday was the last day of June, which was only a week away.

"Well?" Lois asked. "I'm waiting for an answer!"

"Can I help you with those?" Lori asked timidly, nodding at the
groceries. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have come in without you
here, but I'm in a lot of trouble and you're the only person who
can help me. You and Cl -- Mr. Kent," she added.

Lois eyed her skeptically. "You know Clark?"

Naturally, she had caught the small slip, Lori thought. This was
Lois Lane, a woman who was acknowledged in Lori's time, by all
who had known her, as a very brilliant investigative
journalist.

"Sort of," Lori said. "Look, let me help you carry that stuff
into the kitchen and then I'll explain. Please, I wouldn't have
come, but I'm really desperate." She got to her feet and crossed
the rug to her counterpart, striving to look as harmless as
possible.

Lois eyed her suspiciously for a moment, undoubtedly taking in
her disheveled appearance and, after a pause, she nodded. "All
right, but this better be good."

"It is," Lori said. "I'm not sure anyone can help me, but it
seemed to me that you were the best chance I have." She came
forward and took one of the bags.

Lois was still looking at her a little suspiciously, but Lori
could see a slightly puzzled expression in her eyes. "Do I know
you?" she demanded suddenly. "You look familiar."

"Yes and no," Lori said. "Let's get your frozen stuff put away
and I'll explain. I --" She could smell the aroma wafting from
the bag Lois held. Roast chicken. Her mouth began to water and
brought with it the knowledge that she hadn't eaten in several
hours.

"All right, come on. This way." Lois led the way to the kitchen.
"Just set the bag on the kitchen island," she added, suiting the
action to the word with the bag she carried. Lori obeyed, and
Lois began to remove items from the bags, storing them away in
cupboards. The refrigeration unit looked like the pictures Lori
had seen in old books. She couldn't help staring around in
fascination. There was what must be one of the old microwave
ovens sitting on a cart by one wall. It didn't look much
different in most ways from the ones of her time, but there was
some subtle difference to the design that she couldn't quite pin
down.

Lois stored away the last frozen item and removed the roast
chicken from its insulated foil bag. Lori could feel her mouth
watering and her stomach growled.

"Excuse me," she said.

Lois eyed her sharply. "Are you all right?" she asked suddenly.

Lori nodded. "Yes. Mostly."

"Well, you look like you've been through the mill," Lois said,
frankly. "You're white as a sheet and --"

"May I sit down?" Lori asked suddenly. Perhaps it was hunger, or
perhaps it was just the reality of the situation hitting her,
but her knees had unexpectedly begun to wobble.

A pair of competent hands pushed her onto a kitchen stool and
shoved her head down as far as possible, allowing for the
obstacle in the way. Lori closed her eyes, taking deep breaths.

"Here. Take a drink of this," Lois's voice said. Lori cautiously
raised her head to see her counterpart presenting her with a
glass of liquid that looked like iced tea. She sipped, surprised
to discover that it was apple juice.

"Drink it all," Lois ordered, but the irritation had disappeared
from her voice. Lori obeyed and lowered her face into her hands
for several minutes while the dizziness slowly subsided.

After some time she raised her head to see that Lois was leaning
against the counter, watching her speculatively. "Better now?"
she asked.

"Yeah. Sorry." Lori glanced forlornly around the half-familiar
kitchen. She had been here in the future, and the design was the
same as in her time, but many of the furnishings were different.
"Thanks."

"You're in a lot of trouble, aren't you?" Lois said suddenly,

"You have no idea," Lori said.

Lois eyed her thoughtfully. "Look," she said. "Let's go into the
living room and you can tell me about it. My husband is working
late tonight, so we have some time before he gets here."

Lori nodded. "All right."

"By the way, you know who I am, but you haven't introduced
yourself. What's your name?"

"Lori," Lori said. "Lori Lyons."

"All right, Lori. After you."

In the living room, Lori sank down on the armchair again and put
her feet on the ottoman. Now that she was facing Lois Lane, she
wasn't sure of how to begin. She closed her eyes for a long
moment and took a deep breath to steady her tightly stretched
nerves. So much depended on this. Even with her eyes closed, she
was aware of Lois's sharp eyes watching her curiously, and she
could almost feel the bright, hard mind of the other woman.
Every second she stayed in Lois Lane's presence, the sensation
that somehow the other her was becoming more and more attuned to
her became stronger. By all rights, Lois should have called the
police the instant she had found Lori in her house, but somehow
Lori had known exactly what to do to forestall that. If she
lied, even a little, she had the uncomfortable feeling that Lois
would know and she would lose any chance of gaining her as an
ally.

She bit her lip and opened her eyes to look directly at her
counterpart. The truth. It would have to be the truth, as far as
she dared.

"So, Lori Lyons, who are you?" Lois said, taking a seat on the
sofa.

"That's going to take some explanation," Lori said quietly.
"Have you heard of a man named Tempus?"

Lois's eyes narrowed slightly. "Well, sure. He was the nutcase
that called himself John Doe, two, nearly three years ago --"

"No, I mean Tempus, the time traveler," Lori said baldly. "The
man who conned H.G. Wells into bringing him back in time so that
he could take over Wells's time machine and try to kill
Superman, and thereby destroy the civilization that you and he
founded. *That* Tempus."

Lois seemed struck dumb for a full ten seconds, then she
appeared to gather herself. "What are you talking about?"

Lori sighed. "Ms. Lane, I know you're trying to evade because
you don't know what else to do. You don't need to. I'm not about
to tell anyone else. For one thing, everyone would think I was
either crazy, or trying to make fools of them. For the rest, I
need your help. I'm not from this time; I'm from a hundred years
in your future. Tempus kidnapped me."

For a long moment, Lois didn't answer. She sat regarding Lori
thoughtfully. "Would you care to explain that a little further?"
she said, finally.

"I'm an investigative journalist for the Daily Planet News
Service in the year 2099," Lori said. "This afternoon -- or what
was this afternoon for me -- I was home on --" She gestured
vaguely down at herself, "-- maternity leave. I'm on half time
until my baby is born. Tempus stepped through this weird window
in space directly into my apartment and dragged me into it." She
closed her eyes again. "I'm not explaining this very well, but
he told me that he was going to dump me somewhere that I
wouldn't be able to get help or use my investigative talents."

"Then how did you get here?" Lois asked. "It doesn't seem to me
that this time period exactly fits that description." 

"He didn't intend to drop me here," Lori said. "I guess he
expected me not to make any trouble. I kicked him where it hurt,
and tried to grab the control mechanism away from him. We fell
out of the time window and he dropped it. I kicked him again and
knocked him out, but the control broke when it hit the ground. I
need help. Unless I can find a way to repair it, I'm stranded in
your time forever. Tempus is stranded here too, because I took
his controller. He's going to be after me to try to get it
back." She felt the sting of tears in her eyes and blinked them
back. "Please help me, Ms. Lane. I have a husband back in my own
time. He's going to be frantic, and --" She stopped the flow of
words forcibly. She didn't need to go into babble mode right
now. "I just want to go home to him."

Lois was silent, apparently having followed the involved
explanation without difficulty. After a moment she said, "What
makes you think I can help you?"

Lori took another breath, forcing the desperation she felt back
under control. "Because you're married to Superman, and he knows
people who might have the scientific knowledge to repair this
thing," she said, her voice trembling as she removed the time
window control from her pocket. "It's my only chance to get
home." 

"I'm married to --"

"Clark Kent," Lori said. "I know. I also know Clark is Superman.
I know all about the tricks he used to convince the world that
they're two different people. I even know about the Superman
from the alternate universe who helped you stop John Doe. I'm
not interested in exposing any of the things I've told you. That
would change my future, and I don't want to see it changed. I
have too much there that I don't want to lose. It would make
your lives impossible, and the last thing in the world I want to
do is hurt either one of you. I just want to go back to my own
time, and I can't do it alone. Please, Ms. Lane, help me."

"You really do know all about it," Lois said, a note of
amazement in her voice. "Is all of that common knowledge in the
future?"

Lori went completely still, a tiny bud of hope beginning to
blossom in her chest. "You believe me?" she whispered.

"Well, I don't know how you'd know all of this unless your story
is true," Lois said in an acerbic tone. "We've never told
anyone. Clark must have babbled his head off, though, for
everyone to know all about those things in your time. I'm
surprised they didn't lock him up as a dangerous lunatic!"

Lori gave a half-hysterical giggle. "Oh, no," she said. "He
didn't. In my time, only the Kent family knows Clark is
Superman, and only a few of them know the whole story."

"Then how did *you* find out about it?" Lois asked.

Now came the touchy part. "He told me," Lori said, cautiously.

"Then you're part of the family?" Lois said.

"Yes."

"Then why didn't you say so in the first place?" Lois demanded.
"What are you, my great, great grand-daughter, or something?"

"No. Actually, I'm your sister Lucy's great, great
grand-daughter," Lori said.

"And you say Clark *told* you all of this?"

"That's right."

"A favorite niece, or something? I take it Clark is still alive
in your time," Lois said. "I guess he's probably a pretty old
man." She tilted her head, and Lori could feel the other woman's
mind working. It wasn't an illusion, she thought. It was as if
she knew what Lois Lane was going to say next, and she could
sense the conclusions she was going to draw, almost before she
drew them.

"Uh --"

Lois was looking closely at her. "Isn't he?" she asked.

"Uh -- no, not exactly."

"What does 'not exactly' mean?"



Lori swallowed. "Timewise, I guess he is," she said, almost in a
whisper, "but he looks just the same in my time as he does in
yours. I've seen pictures of you at the Planet. You and he are
one of the most famous reporting teams in its history."

"But nobody knows it except the family?"

"No one," Lori said.

"Then how do you fit into this, Lori Lyons?" Lois was regarding
her steadily, and Lori squirmed. "Why would Clark tell you about
the things that happened in his life before you were born? Who
*are* you, exactly?"

Lois was hovering around the truth, Lori thought. There was no
evading it. She was going to have to tell Lois everything. If
she didn't, Lois was going to figure it out by herself. She
almost had, already.

There was a big, decorative, plate glass mirror against one
wall, reflecting the scene in the living room. Lori got slowly
to her feet and went to stand in front of the mirror. "Look,"
she said.

Lois frowned. "Look at what?"

"Look in the mirror," Lori said. 

Lois gave her an odd glance and came to stand beside her, fully
facing the mirror. Their reflections looked back at them, one a
little younger than the other, one a little taller, but in all
other ways the same.

"Do you remember," Lori said cautiously, "what H.G. Wells told
you and Clark on your honeymoon night, just before you went into
the past to undo Baron Tempos's curse?"

"He told us several things," Lois said, with equal caution.
"Which one are you talking about?"

"He told you that your souls were intertwined, always together,
never one without the other. Soulmates."

Lois was staring at her, and there was comprehension in her
eyes. "You're --"

Lori took a deep breath like a diver ready to plunge from the
cliff into the churning water below. "I'm you."

**********

There was a long silence as the two women looked at the telltale
reflection in the mirror. Lori could feel Lois's mind working
furiously as she took in the reality of what H.G. Wells had told
her. She had been others in the past, and beside her stood her
future self.

"Well," she said finally. "I guess this pretty much forces my
hand, doesn't it?"

"I don't know about that," Lori said, "but it would sure help a
lot."

Lois cast a look at her. "I guess your baby --"

"Is a superbaby," Lori said. She nodded at Lois. "If I remember
correctly, Dr. Klein told you the sex of that one."

"Yes."

"I know him as an adult," Lori said. "You'll be proud of him. He
and the others are excited about this one."

"The others?"

Lori hesitated. "I don't think I should tell you too many
specifics," she said. "I don't know how much of what I say will
affect the future, so let's just say his siblings are excited,
too. Tempus said he couldn't let this baby --" She gestured to
her middle, "-- Be born in my time. He said I helped complete
what you and Clark started."

"He should have known not to underestimate you," Lois said, with
a grim little smile.

"Well, he doesn't know the part about soulmates -- or, I don't
think he does," Lori said. "If he had, he might have been more
careful. You wouldn't believe the stories I've been told about
you. The whole family is incredibly proud of you, you know. It
scared me a lot in the beginning."

"Scared you?" Lois said. "Why should it scare you?"

"I was afraid they wouldn't accept me, after you," she said.
"How could any woman live up to your example? They did,
though."

Her stomach took that moment to growl and Lois's echoed it. Lori
giggled, and Lois laughed. "Come on into the kitchen," she said.
"If you feel anything like I do, you're probably starved. Let's
eat."

"I don't want to eat your dinner," Lori objected.

"The chicken's not dinner," Lois said. "That's my snack. I don't
cook very well -- but I guess you know that."

Lori nodded. "Neither do I," she said. "Clark calls me a
survival cook. I cook to survive. I'm really good at making
frozen dinners, though. And ordering out. I can even scramble
eggs."

Lois snorted and pushed open the kitchen door. "Grab the
chicken," she said. "We can talk while we're eating."

"It sure smells good," Lori said. "I haven't eaten in hours."

"No wonder you nearly passed out," Lois said. "There's milk in
the fridge. I'll get glasses."

**********

They demolished the chicken in record time. At first Lori simply
ate, but after the worst of her hunger had been alleviated, she
slowed her eating somewhat, watching Lois.

"What?" Lois asked.

Lori shrugged. "I can't help thinking," she said, "that you're
taking this awfully well. I mean, I show up out of the blue with
this incredible story, and you don't turn a hair."

"Well," Lois said, "I guess so many strange things have happened
since I met Clark that I kind of have a different perspective
than most people." She studied Lori seriously for a long minute
while she cleaned off the last of the meat on the drumstick in
her hand. "I guess, in a way, seeing you is kind of
comforting."

"How do you mean?"

"Well, one of the things that worried me -- a lot -- was knowing
that Clark was probably going to outlive me, and that after I
was gone, he would be alone. Martha and Jonathan will be gone,
I'll be gone -- He's not the kind of guy who does well by
himself. It's nice to know that I'll be there, kind of, anyhow.
That he's not going to be lonely." She studied Lori
thoughtfully. "I know you can't tell me too much about the
future -- not the specifics, anyhow. But can you tell me what
happened to him -- after I -- well, you know."

"I guess so," Lori said. "A little, anyway." She hesitated,
wondering how much she should say. "You're right. He was lonely.
But he told me that he could feel your presence. He said it gave
him hope. He knew you were there somewhere, that all he had to
do was find you. He searched for you -- or me -- all over the
world."

"How did you meet?"

"He saved me from being mugged and raped, and probably killed,"
Lori said. "I was a student, a journalism major, and he showed
up in the nick of time. He told me later that when he saw me, he
knew."

"Just like the first time," Lois murmured. "Did you?"

Lori shook her head. "I liked him a lot," she said. "Superman
saved my life, after all. Then I met him as Clark. He stepped in
and saved my reputation, and I liked Clark, too. When I went to
work at the Planet I got to know him even better and fell in
love with him." She smiled a little. "Clark is very easy to
love, as I'm sure you know. We were married two months later."

"I guess he decided not to waste time," Lois said. "He does
learn if you hit him over the head often enough. Did he tell you
about me right away -- about having my soul?"

Lori shook her head. "No. I guessed. I kept remembering things
that I shouldn't. Things that happened to you, not me. I
recognized a picture of Martha and Jonathan Kent and I
remembered key points in your life with Clark. I figured it out
and when I asked him, he told me the truth."

Lois nodded, her eyes fixed on Lori's face. "That makes me feel
better," she said. "That was the thing about this difference in
our rates of aging that bothered me the most. I don't mind
growing older. It happens to all of us, even Clark -- but I
didn't want him to be alone. Seeing you, I know that I'll be
there for him."

"You will," Lori said. "He needs you -- me -- us." She laughed
softly. "Or however you want to say it. He loved you until the
end, you know. He still loves you. He told me while we were
getting to know each other that to him you were always as
beautiful as you were the first day he saw you. I thought that
was incredible."

Lois dabbed at her eyes with her napkin. "That's Clark all
over," she said. She shook herself slightly. "Well, enough of
that. We need to concentrate on getting the time control fixed
and you back to your own time and your own Clark. I think the
person to help us is Bernie Klein."

"Bernard Klein?" Lori couldn't help the touch of awe in her
voice. "*The* Bernard Klein, of STAR Labs?"

Lois's eyebrows went up. "Do you know about him?"

Lori nodded. "He's in all the history books: one of the greatest
scientists of the Twenty-first Century. Clark said he was a
character."

"That's an understatement," Lois said, "but if anyone can figure
that thing out, it's Dr. Klein."

"I hope so," Lori said. "We've got to swear him to secrecy,
though. The less that people find out about the future, the
better off we are." She hesitated. "Probably you shouldn't tell
Clark too many details of what I've told you, either. If he
knows too much about what will happen, and about me, it might
change things."

"I was thinking about that," Lois said. "You're right. Do you
want to tell him who you are?"

"I'll do whatever you decide, but do you really think that's a
good idea?"

Lois shook her head. "I don't. I want what you told me about to
happen. I don't want to risk changing it. I think we should tell
him part of the truth."

"Clark is good at that," Lori said. "I'm open to suggestions."

"You're a distant relative of mine," Lois said, "staying with us
to hide from a stalker until he's caught. That is, if Clark
makes it back today or tomorrow. He was at the ceremonies of the
Superman Foundation today, and as of an hour ago, he took off to
Okinawa -- there's a huge typhoon threatening the whole area."

"Not that I wish any bad luck to Okinawa," Lori said, "but it's
convenient."

"Yes, it is," Lois said. "Let me give Dr. Klein a call. We might
have to tell him a little about what's happening, but just keep
quiet and let me do the talking and if he asks questions, back
me up, okay?"

"You got it," Lori said. She watched as Lois wiped grease from
her fingers and reached for the antique telephone. Maybe, she
thought hopefully, things were looking up.

**********

As Lois reached for the phone, the doorbell rang. She paused and
grimaced. "Nice timing," she said. "I wonder who that is."

"It could be Tempus," Lori said. "He might figure that I'd go to
you for help in this time period."

"Tempus is more devious than that," Lois said, heaving herself
to her feet. "He'll be after you, but he's more likely to be
sneaky about it. I've got an idea about how to make it harder
for him, though."

The doorbell rang again and Lois pushed the kitchen door open.
"Just a minute!" she called, making her way slowly toward the
door. Lori followed.

The bell rang a third time as Lois reached the door.

"Hold on, I'm here!" Lois called. She leaned forward to peek
through the spy hole to identify her caller, and then hastened
to open the door. "Perry! What are you doing here? I thought you
were still in talks with the Board of the Superman Foundation!"

"Finished them an hour ago." Lori stood quietly in the
background as a man entered the Kent townhouse. She had seen his
picture at the Superman Museum. This was Perry White, the editor
of the Daily Planet, who, together with Superman, Murray Brown
and Lois Lane, had been instrumental in the founding of the
organization. The editor was probably in his mid-fifties, with
thinning grey hair and a wide smile. He looked Lois up and down
and grinned.

"I guess it won't be much longer," he commented.

"Well, the due date is two days from now," Lois said, "but our
childbirth instructor told us not to be surprised if things go
on longer. She said first babies are often late."

"Yeah," Perry said. "Our first was a week and a half overdue.
Alice's obstetrician was going to induce her if she'd gone
another two days." He turned his head and Lori thought he looked
surprised. "I didn't realize you had a visitor."

Lois closed the door. "This is ... my second cousin, Lori," she
said. "She just arrived a little while ago. Lori, this is my
editor, Perry White."

"I know," Lori said. "I mean, I've seen your picture, sir."

"My picture?" Perry asked.

"Um -- the one where someone was interviewing you about the
Superman Foundation."

"Oh," Perry said. "I'm surprised you noticed, with Superman
standing there."

"Well," Lori said, "I knew my cousin Lois worked for you, so I
remembered. They should put something about you in their museum,
or something. After all, if it hadn't been for you and Lois, it
would still be just a little charity organization making
Superman dolls and comics and stuff and donating the money to
underprivileged kids. It has the potential to be so much more
now, and to do a lot of good for the whole world."

Perry raised an eyebrow. "Your cousin seems pretty well-informed
about the Foundation."

"I follow the news," Lori said.

"I can tell. It's nice to meet you," Perry said. He had moved
forward and now took her hand. "I'd know you were a Lane, even
if Lois hadn't told me. You sure look like her."

"Thank you," Lori said. "It's nice to meet you too, Mr. White."

"Call me Perry," he told her.

"All right Mr. ... Perry."

"So, how long are you here for?" Perry asked. Lori had the
feeling that Perry White hadn't missed a thing about her.

"We aren't sure," Lois said. "Do you remember Tempus, Perry?"

"That nutcase, John Doe?"

"That's the one. He escaped from prison a few months ago,
remember?"

"Sure, I remember him. Don't tell me he's shown up again."

"He tried to kidnap Lori," Lois said. "We don't know why. He may
have mistaken her for me. Anyway, since her husband's on a
business trip, she's going to stay with Clark and me until he's
under wraps again."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Perry asked. "Sure as Elvis
wore blue suede shoes, the first place he's gonna look for your
cousin is here -- besides, if he was after you, he'll be
sniffin' around here, anyway."

"We have our reasons," Lois said. "Besides, we'll be watching
for him. Lori and I owe him a few things after all the trouble
he's caused."

"All right," Perry said. "I hope you know what you're doin'. As
for what I'm doing here, I was in the neighborhood, so I thought
I'd drop by to see if there was anything you needed, since Clark
had to take off for that assignment." He glanced from one woman
to the other and grinned. "I feel like I'm seein' double."

Lois glanced at Lori. "Do you think we look that much alike?"

"Honey, if I didn't know better, I'd almost think she was you.
She looks exactly like you did when I interviewed you for a job
at the Planet ten years ago."

"There's a strong family resemblance in the Lane family," Lois
said. "Perry, you could do something for me, at that. Could you
dig out an old photo of Tempus and put it in the paper? Maybe if
the readership is reminded of what he looks like, and there's a
report that he's been seen in the area, someone will spot him. A
few tips from the public would probably help the police find
him."

"That's a thought," Perry said. "If you want to write up
somethin' about it, I'll do just that." He glanced at his watch.
"If there's nothin' else, I'll take off. Alice is expecting me
on time for once. If you need anything, you give me a buzz, and
if something happens, or that baby decides to make an early
appearance, be sure you call me. If Clark hasn't got back yet,
I'll get you to the hospital. You got it?"

"Got it, Boss," Lois said.

"Good." He turned back to Lori. "It was nice meeting you,
Lori."

"It was nice to meet *you*, Mr. White," Lori said.

When he had gone, Lori looked through the window at the editor's
jaunty figure striding down the stationary walk outside the
townhouse. "I never thought I'd get to actually meet Perry
White. It was really thrilling to hear him say that stuff about
Elvis. Clark's told me about him."

"Don't tell me you're an Elvis fan," Lois said.

"We ... ll," Lori said, "only a little. I have some of the
copies of his songs. Unfortunately, a lot of Elvis's songs were
lost during the ..." She broke off.

"During what?" Lois asked. "War?"

"No," Lori said. "A period of social unrest, but not war. Not
exactly, anyhow."

"That's reassuring."

"I really can't tell you much about it," Lori said. "I wish I
could, but if I did, it might change things, and they mustn't
change. Anyway, lots of recordings from the Twentieth Century
were lost -- not just music. It was the same period of social
chaos that let Clark hide his origins and kept people from
realizing that the original Superman was still alive."


"Somehow, Tempus found out, though," Lois said.

"Tempus has resources that most people don't have," Lori pointed
out. "Besides, he's a certified nut. Who's going to believe
him?"

"There's that," Lois said. She studied Lori thoughtfully. "This
is really weird, you know?" she said finally.

"I know," Lori said.

"No, I mean, *really* weird. By all rights, I should hate you. I
mean, you're married to my husband in the future. I shouldn't
actually *like* you, but I do."

"I was afraid you would," Lori said. "Hate me, I mean. I didn't
know if I'd like you, either. You're married to Clark, and he
hasn't even met me. But -- I don't quite understand why, but I
don't dislike you either. I mean, you're his first wife. By all
rights, I should be jealous of you, because you were his first
choice. But I'm not. I like you, too."

"I hadn't thought of it that way," Lois said. "You shouldn't be
jealous, you know. You're his soulmate in your time, just like I
am in mine." She shrugged. "Logic doesn't have a lot to do with
relationships, but it's hard to hate yourself. I know you aren't
exactly me, but in a funny way, you are. It's like I know what
you're going to do and say next. It's not exactly mind-reading,
the way Clark did with the New Kryptonians, but it's like our
brains are on the same wavelength or something."

"Yeah," Lori said. "I noticed it when we were talking before."

"So did I."

"Clark can talk to the others," Lori said, "but we aren't
'talking', exactly. It's as if I'm feeling the way your mind is
working. Like we have mirror image brains or something. I know
*how* you're thinking and feeling -- and I guess you know how I
am."

"Exactly." Lois stopped. "The 'others'? The New Kryptonians
didn't come back, did they?"

"No. Your descendents. There are lots of them, and I can't tell
you any more. You'll see when you meet some of them in your
future."

"That brings me to something I meant to ask. You've met CJ as a
grown man." She rested a hand on her middle.

"Yes, I have."

"So he's like Clark."

"In more ways than one," Lori said.

"So he's a superman, too. Dr. Klein thought Clark's descendents
would have super powers, but he wasn't sure."

"They will," Lori said. "I've flown with CJ. He's awfully
nice."

"That's reassuring," Lois said. "I guess Clark and I must have
done a good job with him."

"You will," Lori said.

"You're uncomfortable telling me this stuff, aren't you?" Lois
asked. "I guess I shouldn't ask, but it's hard to have a source
of information like you around and not quiz you about things. I
can't help it. I'm a reporter."

"Yeah," Lori said. "I am, too. I guess whatever it is about you
that makes you a good journalist carried through to me. I get in
trouble a lot by sticking my nose in where people don't want
it."

"So do I," Lois said.

"Clark told me you regularly gave him heart failure after you
became partners," Lori said. "I guess I do, too."

The two women met each other's eyes, and suddenly both of them
began to laugh.

"Poor Clark," Lois sputtered. "I guess he's doomed, isn't he?"

"I'm afraid so," Lori said, grinning. "It's all right, though.
I'm reliably informed that he needs a woman who will keep him on
his toes, so I guess we qualify."

"I guess so." Lois was still grinning. "Come on, I still need to
call Dr. Klein."

**********

STAR Labs was dark, except for the lobby, when Lois pulled the
Jeep Cherokee into the parking lot and cut the engine. Lori
looked at the building, comparing it to the one she knew in her
time.

"I've seen pictures of this building in history books," she
said.

"Is STAR Labs still around in your time?" Lois asked.

"Yes. They've replaced it with a larger building, though." Lori
fumbled with the door and finally got it open. "How do I lock
this?"

"I'll do it with my remote," Lois said. "I guess cars are
different in the future, too."

"Yeah. Clark and I own a Jeep Predator," Lori said. "I wanted an
aircar, but Clark didn't like the idea because aircars aren't as
tough. He wanted something that was armored like a tank, in case
I needed the protection. I guess he was probably right -- but
I'd still like an aircar. I love to fly."

"So do I," Lois said.

Again they looked at each other and laughed.

"Dr. Klein said just to ring the bell," Lois said, as they
crossed the stretch of grass toward the front doors of STAR
Labs. "He notified Security that we'd be coming."

Lori glanced around cautiously. The grounds were lighted, which
was a good thing, but the shadows were still too thick for her
liking.

Lois glanced at her. "You're nervous, aren't you? It's all
right. We'll see anybody coming long before he can get to us."

"I'm sorry," Lori said. "I got mugged on the NTSU campus, the
night I met Clark. I've been a little gun-shy about walking
through places like that in the dark ever since."

"I don't blame you," Lois said. "To tell you the truth, I don't
much like it, myself. I've got my tear gas, though."

"I wasn't able to bring anything," Lori said. "I wasn't
expecting to be kidnapped right out of my kitchen."

"Better get used to weird stuff like that, now that you're
married to Clark," Lois said. "How long have the two of you been
married, anyway?"

"It'll be two years in August," Lori said. "We flew off to Las
Vegas one night and got married."

"Wow," Lois said. "Clark really *didn't* waste any time, did
he?"

"Actually, it was my idea," Lori said, a little sheepishly. "My
mom was bugging me to come back and live at home, and I knew
she'd be upset if she knew I wanted to marry Clark. She'd just
called to check up on my whereabouts, and was really annoyed
that I was at his apartment, working on a story with him. She
said she wanted to talk to me in private -- and she'd already
been looking into employment openings with the Herald for me."

"You're kidding!" Lois said. "And I thought my mother was
controlling!"

"Yeah," Lori said. "I didn't want to quit the Daily Planet, and
didn't intend to, but I knew she wasn't going to give up or
accept my engagement to Clark, unless there was a really good
reason to. I suggested to Clark that we go get married right
then, and he didn't argue very hard."

"What happened?" Lois asked curiously.

"Well, Mother was pretty upset with me for a while. She got over
it, finally, though. She even likes Clark, now."

"That's some story," Lois said. "My mother didn't trust Clark at
first, either, but she changed her mind after she got to know
him."

"He said my mother reminded him of yours," Lori said.

"I guess that would figure," Lois said. They had reached the
doors of STAR Labs, and she rang the bell. After a moment, a
uniformed figure appeared and looked through the glass at them.
Lois fished out her press pass and held it up for him to see.

The man unlocked the door and opened it. "Dr. Klein said you'd
be here," he said. "Come in, but stay with me."

Lois entered, beckoning Lori after her, and they waited while
the guard re-locked the door. The man looked them over in the
illumination of the lobby's lights and raised his eyebrows.
"What's going on?" he asked humorously. "Is the Mad Doctor doing
secret cloning experiments or something?"

"Dr. Klein is eccentric, not mad," Lois said. "And this is my
cousin."

The man chuckled. "Come on," he said. "Bernie and me, we get
along okay. I kid him all the time about the weird stuff he
does."

"Does he know you call him the Mad Doctor?" Lori asked.

"Sure. He said I should. He says he likes the image."

"That I believe," Lois said to Lori, as they followed the guard
into the nearest hallway. "Bernie has a strange sense of humor.
He says it comes from being a scientist. Come to think of it, my
father's is pretty weird, too."

"Here we are." The guard knocked sharply on a door. After a
moment it opened and a man looked out.

"Are they here?"

"Right here, Dr. Klein," Lois said.

"Oh, great. Come on in. Thanks, Herschel. I'll call you when
they leave."

"Don't mention it, Doc." The guard grinned and ambled back down
the hallway at a leisurely pace.

Lori followed Lois through the door into Bernard Klein's office
and they waited while he shut the door and locked it, and turned
to them.

Lori, of course, had seen pictures of Bernard Klein. As she had
told Lois, he was in all the history books: the scientist who
had developed the anti-gravity field and done the preliminary
work on the prototype of the space drive that, in her time, was
carrying the starship commanded by her brother across 4.3 light
years to the star system of Alpha Centauri. Klein had dozens of
other scientific developments to his credit, including the
stasis field that was utilized in every kitchen in the world to
prevent the spoilage of food far better than the old
refrigerators ever had. In her era, refrigeration units were
utilized for the chilling of wine and freezing things like ice
cream, not the preservation of food.

The scientist was taller than she had envisioned. He was
actually an inch or so taller than Clark, balding, and obviously
battling a case of middle-aged spread, not too successfully. He
didn't at all resemble Rhonda Klein, his granddaughter, but
there was something in his eyes that reminded Lori strongly of
her, all the same.

Lois nudged her sharply, and Lori realized that she had been
staring at the scientist in open-mouthed awe. "Lori, I'd like to
introduce you to Dr. Bernard Klein. Bernie, this is Lori. She --
and I -- need your help pretty badly."

Dr. Klein looked Lori over, and his eyebrows went up. "This
isn't another clone, is it, Lois? I thought --"

Lois shook her head. "No. Lori's as human as I am, but we've got
a pretty fantastic story to tell you -- and we're going to have
to swear you to secrecy. You can't even tell Clark. You'll
understand when we explain."

If it were possible, Dr. Klein's eyebrows rose even higher. "Are
you sure, Lois?"

"Absolutely. Can we sit down?" she added. "Standing for very
long right now hurts my back."

"Uh -- sure. Come on into the conference room," Klein said. "Now
what's so secret that you can't even tell Clark?"

"This," Lori said. She removed the control for the time window
from her pocket. "You're probably the only person on Earth that
may be able to repair it."

Dr. Klein took the object, examining it as the two women took
seats. "What is it?"

"That's what we're going to explain," Lois said. "And it
requires a little background. Do you remember John Doe?"

**********

As Lois talked, Lori watched Bernard Klein's face. The
scientist's eyes got wider and wider, but he didn't say a word.
Finally, his gaze fell on the time-window controller, and he
began to examine it closely. When Lois finished, he was silent
for nearly a full minute. Finally, he scratched his right
eyebrow with a forefinger and looked up from the control
mechanism. "Are you sure of this?" he asked. "I mean -- time
travel? It sounds loony."

"I know," Lois said. "If I hadn't done it, myself, I wouldn't
believe it -- but I have."

"When did *you* travel in time?" Klein asked, looking startled.

"It was before Clark and I were married. Before I knew. Tempus
went back in time to May 17th, 1966 to Shuster's Field. That was
where Clark's ship landed. He tried to kill Clark as a baby,
when he wasn't invulnerable, and Clark and I went back to stop
him."

Dr. Klein stared at her and then at Lori. "Where do you fit into
this? Why would John Doe kidnap you from your time?"

Lori and Lois exchanged a glance, and then Lois spoke. "Dr.
Klein, this mustn't go any farther. If Clark finds out anything
about this, the future could completely change, and Tempus will
win. Do you understand?"

Dr. Klein was silent for several seconds while he processed
that. "All right."

"It's very important that he not find out who Lori really is,"
Lois said, fixing her eyes on his. "Lori is supposed to help
complete what Clark and I started in the formation of Utopia.
Somehow, her baby is important, too."

"All right, I get it."

Lois turned to Lori. "Go ahead."

Lori swallowed. "In 2099, I'm Clark's wife," she said.

Bernard Klein's jaw dropped. He pulled it shut with an effort,
staring at Lori and then Lois, and back at Lori again. He opened
his mouth once and closed it again. He looked at her expanded
middle. "His *wife*?" he finally squeaked.

"Uh huh." Lori glanced at Lois. "Somehow, I'm important to
Utopia, too. Something I will do -- and I don't even know what
it is -- helps finish what Lois and Clark started. Tempus
grabbed me to derail the future civilization. I guess I was an
easier target than Lois is."

"Which is why we need to get that thing fixed," Lois said,
bringing the subject back to the present. "We have to get Lori
home before her baby is born."

In spite of the drama of the situation, Lori had to work to keep
her face straight at the scientist's expression. Mixed now with
her respect and awe of one of the most phenomenal men of this
era, was both amusement and genuine liking. Bernie Klein was not
only brilliant, she thought; he was, as Clark had said, a
character, and it was obvious to her that he trusted Lois, and
was completely loyal to both her and Clark.

He was also, she acknowledged, an unprejudiced thinker. Any
other man would have dismissed what they had told him as
nonsense. Bernie Klein took them seriously, because a person he
trusted -- Lois -- had sworn to him that it was true. It was
obvious to Lori now why he had achieved what he had. The man was
astounding.

"What?" Dr. Klein said, and Lori realized he was looking
straight at her.

"Sorry," Lori said. "I read about you in my history class and
Clark told me about you. It was all true, I guess, but you're
much more interesting in person."

"Me?" Klein said. "I'm just a lab geek."

Lori shook her head, trying hard not to grin. She knew it wasn't
respectful, but it was difficult to remember that Bernard Klein
was one of the great geniuses of his time when he opened his
eyes wide that way, and stumbled over his words. "No, you're
not," she said. "If anyone in the world can figure out how to
fix the time window control, it'll be you." She hesitated, as a
thought occurred to her, and the desire to giggle disappeared.
"You'll be careful, won't you? If Tempus realizes we brought the
time control to you, or who you are, he might come after you,
too."

"At least," Lois said, "he doesn't have his usual technological
toys. Right now, he's about as dangerous as your ordinary street
thug -- but be careful anyway. We don't want anything to happen
to you."

Dr. Klein looked a little startled. "Naturally I'll be careful,"
he said. "We work with a lot of secret stuff here. That's why we
have security guards."

"Just be sure you take precautions," Lois said. "Lori says
you're important to the future, too, and Tempus isn't very picky
about his methods, as long as they work."

"Important?" Dr. Klein said, apparently finding the idea hard to
grasp. "Me?"

"You have no idea," Lori said.

"Oh," Dr. Klein said. He blinked thoughtfully. "All right, I'll
do my best. I'll call your cell phone when I have some results,
Lois." He looked at Lori. "Has anyone told you that you look a
lot like Lois?"

"That's not surprising," Lori said. "I'm her sister's great,
great granddaughter."

"I'm kinda surprised to have my theory of Superman's aging
process validated this way," he said, with apparent irrelevance.
"I knew he'd age more slowly than ordinary humans, but after the
age drain, I wasn't sure what would happen."

"According to what he's told me, the family doctor says that it
cost him maybe a couple of months," Lori said. "All that energy
was only a tiny fraction of what he produces. She said it was
even possible that with enough rest and exposure to sunlight,
his body could have erased the loss completely. He was retired
for something like fifty years or so, so maybe it did."

"That's possible," Dr. Klein said. "I hadn't considered it, but
it just might work. But just for my own satisfaction, do you
think you could tell me how old he appears in your time? I don't
see that the information is likely to affect the future."

"He looks like he's in his late twenties," Lori said. "The same
as he looks right now."


"Really!" Klein's eyebrows flew up. "Amazing!"

"How about CJ?" Lois asked. "He's going to be only
half-Kryptonian."

"The same," Lori said.

"Then the Kryptonian genes are dominant," Dr. Klein said. "I
suspected they might be, but it's nice to know, even if I can't
tell anyone about it." He glanced at Lori's expanded waistline.
"When's your baby due?"

"Two weeks," Lori said.

"So we have a little time," Dr. Klein murmured, "but not much.
All right, I'll get to work on this right away."

"Then we'll leave you alone," Lois said. "Clark's going to be
back from Okinawa as soon as the typhoon quiets down. He isn't
likely to guess that Lori's his wife from the future, but the
less he sees of her, the better."

"I understand." Dr. Klein paused for an instant, looking at
them, and shook his head sharply. "I get the strangest feeling,
looking at the two of you," he said. "Never mind. I'll call
Herschel to escort you out."

"Is his name *really* Herschel?" Lois asked curiously. "He calls
you the 'Mad Doctor', you know."

"Yeah, I know." Dr. Klein grinned. "He started calling me the
Mad Doctor a while back. I thought the image was cool -- but he
didn't like Igor. He said it sounded too cliché, so I started
calling him Herschel. His real name's Ed Brown. He likes
Herschel better."

"Naturally," Lois said. "Why am I not surprised?"

**********

Arnold Frazier watched as H.G. Wells's time machine seemed to
grow magically before his eyes. Clark, Lara and CJ were moving
so fast that their bodies were almost invisible to the naked
eye, but before him an oddly clumsy and primitive machine, that
Clark Kent claimed possessed such futuristic abilities, was
coming into existence. Occasionally one of his super powered
relatives appeared out of nothing to study the blueprint, and
then vanished again into a blur of speed.

"I've never seen any of them this close up before," Gregory
Carson said. His just-out-of-college lab assistant was new to
the lab and had never had the opportunity to meet any of the
supermen before, Arnie thought, with mild amusement. He glanced
over his shoulder and noted that three other lab assistants and
two of the top researchers of STAR Labs were peering through the
glass windows at the spectacle in the electronics lab. 

"They come here occasionally," he said with studied casualness.
"We have a reciprocal agreement with them."

"Do you *know* any of them?" Gregory asked, wide-eyed.

"Oh, sure," Arnie said. "Hang around and I'll introduce you when
they're finished." As if anybody would be able to pry Gregory
out of the room with an iron bar, he reflected, but he didn't
say so.

"What's that supposed to be?" Gregory asked, nodding at the
half-finished machine.

"From what I understand, it's a time machine," Arnie said,
keeping his face straight with an effort. "I've seen the
blueprint. It may actually work."

"A *time* machine?" Gregory turned to stare once more at the now
nearly finished vehicle. "But that's impossible!"

"According to Superman, it isn't," Arnie said. "He's apparently
traveled in something like it before. We're going to run some
tests on it before anyone tries it, though. It's been a long
time since he actually saw the original blueprints." 

"Where did it come from?" Gregory asked, clearly awed. "Did it
come from the Kryptonian civilization?"

"I'm afraid Superman doesn't tell me everything," Arnie said,
truthfully. "Looks like they're done," he added as the three
blurs of color solidified into Superman, Tan-El and Superwoman.
He hurried forward to examine the device. "Is this it?"

"It should be," his great-grandfather said. "It matches the
blueprint Wells gave me."

"Well, we're still going to test it before you try it," Arnie
said sternly. "We can't afford to lose you if something were to
go wrong."

"I'm not indispensable," Clark said. "There are plenty of
others."

Arnie didn't answer. Pointedly. Instead he beckoned to Gregory.
"Superman, this is my newest lab assistant. He joined the staff
last week. Greg, these are Superman, Superwoman and Tan-El. They
come here for technical assistance now and then, and we do our
best to help them."

Clark extended a hand. "Pleased to meet you, Greg. Any friend of
Arnie's is a friend of mine."

Gregory's eyes grew wider, and he stammered an incoherent reply.
Tan-El shook his hand as well, followed by Lara. The tiny
superwoman smiled charmingly at the lab assistant. "Nice to meet
you, Greg," she said and Arnie was careful not to smile at the
stunned expression on his subordinate's face. Lara really needed
to tone down the feminine charm, he thought. She had no idea
what it did to hapless human males.

"Well," he said, briskly. "We'll get to work testing this thing
right away. I'll call you when we're done, Superman. If it
really is a time machine, the delay shouldn't matter."

"It's a time machine," Clark said. Arnie restrained himself from
biting his lip. The agonized expression in Clark's eyes was
enough to wipe away his amusement. 

"Superman, we'll have it available as fast as humanly possible,"
he said quietly. "Trust me."

"I do, Arnie," Clark said. "But anything could have happened to
her in the meantime."

"If something did, you can go back and fix it," Arnie said, with
his great grandmother Lois's pragmatism. "Anything Tempus does
isn't part of the normal time frame, so it'll be safe to change
it. I just don't want to risk something happening to you when we
don't have to."

Clark nodded. "You're right. All right, call me as soon as
you're done."

"I will," Arnie said.

The three supermen said goodbye and in an instant had
disappeared.

Gregory looked after them, wide-eyed, and then back at Arnie.

"They called you by your first name!" he said in an awed voice.

"Well, sure. I've known Superman for years," Arnie said calmly.
"He's a pretty good friend. Now," he added, "I promised we'd
have this ready for him as fast as we can, so let's get busy."

**********

Safely inside the Cherokee, Lori watched the tall figure of the
security guard as he sauntered across the lot back toward STAR
Labs. Lois was belting herself into the seat, and after a moment
Lori did as well. The safety belts of today's vehicles weren't
nearly as comfortable or, she was sure, foolproof as the ones in
her time, but the Cherokee seemed like a fairly tough vehicle.

"I think we're going to go by the Precinct and talk to Inspector
Henderson," Lois said, as she started the engine. "I imagine
Tempus is in Metropolis by now, and I think Henderson would be
interested. It can't hurt to have the cops on the alert for
him."

"I hadn't thought of that," Lori said. "They're not going to try
to check on my background, are they?"

Lois shook her head. "We won't file a police report or anything.
It's sort of more in the nature of a tip."

Lori nodded. "He's wanted in this time, isn't he?"

"That's for sure. He was in the facility for the criminally
insane after he tried to get himself elected president, and then
to start a nuclear war. There's been a manhunt on for him for
months. Naturally, they didn't find any trace of him because he
wasn't in our time, but now he is, and he can't leave. If the
police are looking for him, it will make it that much harder for
him to try his dirty tricks."

"You know," Lori said, "he isn't thinking very straight. He's
either really crazy, or maybe just plain stupid."

"What makes you say that?" Lois asked.

"Well, he was born in the second half of the 22nd Century,
right?"

"Probably."

"Well, Clark said that he tried to destroy the Earth by
launching attacks on all the other countries. The idea was that
he was going to go into the parallel Earth and live there, but
that wouldn't have worked. If he killed all his ancestors, they
wouldn't be around to produce him, so he'd have wiped himself
out, too."

Lois pulled out of the parking lot onto the street. "I hadn't
actually thought it through, but you're right. If he destroyed
the world now, it wouldn't be around for him to be born into
then. He'd have killed himself." She cast Lori a perplexed look.
"But then he wouldn't have been around to start the war, so it
wouldn't have destroyed the world, and he would have been around
to start the war ..." She broke off. "I think I'm getting a
headache."

"Yeah," Lori said. "Who knows what would have happened. I guess
there's probably some kind of fail-safe built into Time to
handle things like paradoxes, since time travel is possible, and
you can change things in the future, but I don't have any idea
what it would be. Maybe your friend, Mr. Wells, would be able to
tell us."

"Maybe," Lois said, somewhat doubtfully. "I'm not sure anyone
could figure out what would happen with that kind of scenario,
and I'm not going to try. It makes me dizzy. Let's just go talk
to Henderson."

"Okay," Lori said.

"He's going to ask you questions. I want you to stick to the
truth -- appropriately edited, of course. Remember, he's known
here as a dangerous lunatic, so anything he says is going to be
taken that way."

"He should be known anywhere as a dangerous lunatic," Lori said.
"All right."

**********

William Henderson was a slender, dark-haired man in his early
forties, with a cynical air and a bored expression, but even he
blinked and sat up straight when Lois and Lori walked into his
office.

"So, what's going on, Lois?" he asked. "Don't tell me someone
else has been making clones again."

"That's what Dr. Klein said," Lois said. "Lori is my second
cousin, but that's not why we came by. I wanted to give you a
tip."

"And what would that be?" Henderson asked.

"You remember Tempus -- John Doe?"

"Sure."

"He made an attempt to kidnap Lori this afternoon. He may have
thought she was me."

"Oh? What happened?"

"He tried to grab her. She kicked him in a delicate place and
got away, but unless he's had an unusual attack of common sense,
he's probably in Metropolis right now. We thought you should
know."

Henderson nodded. "Thanks for the tip," he said. "Where did this
happen?"

"Just a few miles west of Metropolis," Lori said.

"And how did you recognize him? Have you ever seen him in person
before?"

"Only in pictures," Lori said. "But that was enough. Besides, he
mentioned his name and was blathering on about Clark Kent being
Superman and a Superman from a parallel world. Not to mention
something about changing the future by getting rid of me. It was
crazy."

Henderson raised an eyebrow. "Sounds like that last press
conference, all right. Do you want to file a complaint?"

Lori shrugged. "What would be the point? He's already wanted for
a lot of worse things than kidnapping. Lois just thought you
should know he's in the area."

"Good point," Henderson said. "You realize, Lois, that he may
come after you again."

"I know," Lois said. "I'm being careful."

Henderson didn't answer for a moment, and when he did, Lori
could have sworn she saw a faint twitch to the corners of his
mouth. "Right. Careful. I know that Kent is out of town on
assignment, so if you have no objection, I'm going to have the
prowl car that covers your neighborhood make a few extra
drive-bys of your house for a while."

"Actually, I'd appreciate that," Lois said. "I'm not quite up to
my usual fighting form."

Henderson raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you're feeling
okay?"

"Very funny," Lois said.

The police inspector regarded her with a deadpan expression.
"Personally, I think if Tempus goes after the two of you, he's
going to be lucky to escape with his life. The thought of two
Lois Lanes running around town is enough to strike fear to the
hardiest crook. And me," he added, thoughtfully. "Still, I'd
miss it if you weren't around to insult me now and then, so do
me the favor of being careful; all right?"

"We will," Lois said. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it." Henderson reached for the phone. "I think an
APB would be in order."

"If you catch him, I get the exclusive," Lois said.

Henderson's lips twitched again. "Why doesn't this surprise me?
I'll let you know when and if we find him."

**********

"I'm hungry," Lois announced. She inserted the key into the
ignition and started the Cherokee's engine. "Clark promised to
call me if he was going to make it home at any decent hour, and
he hasn't, so I think we're on our own tonight. What would you
like?"

"I don't know," Lori said. "Maybe we could get some take-out,
but I'm afraid I don't have any money with me."

"I figured that," Lois said. "It'll be my treat. What do you
like?"

"Well, Mexican is good," Lori said. "Or Italian. Actually, I'm
dying for a triple hot fudge sundae."

"You too?" Lois said. They looked at each other and grinned. "I
know just the place," she continued. "There's this great Italian
restaurant that Clark and I go to a lot. The food is out of this
world, and they make the most decadent chocolate desserts I've
ever tasted."

"That sounds like my kind of place," Lori said. "Let's go."

Fifteen minutes later, Lois pulled the Cherokee into a well-lit
parking lot beside a quaint little restaurant with a sign above
the door that announced that this was "Sergio's Italian
Ristorante". Lois locked the car and together the two of them
followed a chattering party of two adults and three children to
the entrance of Sergio's.

The minute they entered, Lori recognized the Twentieth Century
décor that so many restaurants of her time tried to copy, and
somehow never quite seemed to achieve. She could hear the voices
of many patrons chattering as they enjoyed their meals. From
hidden speakers, a male voice was crooning "Return to Sorrento",
and the aromas of garlic and marinara sauce floated in the air.
Lori's mouth started to water.

Lois stepped up to the desk and informed the smiling woman that
they were two for dinner. The woman nodded. "Would that be for
Clark Kent, party of two?" she inquired. 

Lois shook her head. "No, Clark is out of town on assignment,
tonight," she said. "My cousin is visiting Metropolis, and she
loves Italian food, so tonight it's Lois, party of two."

The woman glanced at Lori, who stood a couple of feet behind
Lois. "All right; it will be about ten minutes," she said.

Lois and Lori retreated to the bench that ran along one wall and
settled down to wait.

"They seem to know you here," Lori said.

"You could say that," Lois agreed. "We're practically on a first
name basis with the whole staff. Clark loves Italian food -- but
I guess you know that."

Lori nodded. "I do too, though," she said. "Clark's a really
good cook."

"I guess he does most of the cooking, huh?" Lois asked.

"I'm afraid so. I can cook but not very well, and I hate it. The
only things I'm really good at are scrambled eggs, brownies and
fudge. And I can make a pretty good peanut butter sandwich."

Lois surprised her by laughing out loud. "Some things never
change. If Clark and I had had to depend on my cooking, we'd
have both starved to death."

"Well," Lori said, giving the subject due consideration, "if I
were the one doing the cooking, we might not starve, but I can
say positively that dinner wouldn't be the highlight of our day.
My mother tried to teach me to cook, but there were so many
other things that I was interested in that I never seemed to
have the time."

"I know," Lois said. "My mother didn't do much cooking,
especially after my dad left us. Lucy and I grew up mostly on
things that didn't have to be cooked. Anybody can make a tuna
sandwich, or dry cereal."

"I guess so," Lori said. "Clark said my mother reminded him of
yours."

"Oh?" Lois asked. "Don't tell me she has a drinking problem."

"It's a long story," Lori said. "My mother is very controlling.
She disliked Clark from the time she met him because she could
tell I was interested in him. She didn't want Marcy or me to get
married. We only recently got a lot of that straightened out.
Now she's one of his biggest supporters."

"I'm glad of that," Lois said. "My mother finally got into rehab
and it looks like she and my dad may get back together. I hope
they do." She glanced at her watch. "I'm starving. I hope we
don't have to wait too long."

"Me too," Lori said. She glanced at her wrist talker. "It's only
been about five minutes, but it seems longer." She looked around
at the bustling restaurant. There were women in evening dresses,
and other women in blue jeans, men in suits, and men in jeans
and T-shirts. One couple caught her attention as they were
escorted into the main restaurant and she watched them
disappear, somewhat bemused. The woman was wearing an outfit
reminiscent of a warrior maid, and her escort was dressed as
Robin Hood.

Lois followed her gaze. "They're probably with the theater group
that's performing in Centennial Park," she remarked.

"Oh," Lori said. "I was wondering."

"You never know, though," Lois said. "Maybe they just dressed
that way for the heck of it. Metropolis attracts all kinds."

"I guess it hasn't changed that much in my time, either," Lori
said. She leaned back against the wall, still looking around in
fascination at the living people of the century into which Clark
had been born. "You know, Clark has told me a lot about this
era," she said, keeping her voice low. The chatter and the
background music made it highly unlikely that anyone would
overhear. "It's a lot different than the history books portray
it, but I think that's because the people who write the books
have a kind of romantic idea about the 'good old days'."

Lois snorted. "People have the same ideas about the 'good old
days' for us, too. Only, of course, our 'good old days' were in
the Nineteenth Century. I don't know what was so good about
them. No air conditioning on hot days, no computers, not even
any decent electric lighting. People went to bed at sundown
because otherwise they had to walk around by candlelight, or use
kerosene lamps."

Lori giggled. "I know exactly what you mean," she said. "People
don't think about the things that the people of the past didn't
have and the inconveniences that they put up with. In my time,
the whole city of Metropolis is interconnected with
slidewalks."

"'Slidewalks?'" Lois repeated. "You mean moving sidewalks?"

"Uh huh. And we have aircars as well as groundcars."

"You mentioned them," Lois said, a little enviously. "I'd love
to have a flying car."

Lori hid a smile. "You will," she said. "I just can't tell you
when. I just wish I could talk Clark into getting one for us."

"Well," Lois said, "if you're determined enough, you can
probably convince him. I have one question, though."

"Okay," Lori said cautiously, "I'll answer it if I can."

"How did you find the townhouse? You couldn't have called a
taxi. You don't have any money."

"I got dropped off at the Planet," Lori said, "and I walked to
your place. It's still there in my time. Clark and I live in a
security apartment a few blocks from the Planet, but one of your
descendents and his family lives at the townhouse."

"That was why you were looking around the kitchen like you'd
seen a ghost, this afternoon," Lois said. "Is it that
different?"

Lori shrugged. "Some. The kitchen appliances are different. The
fertility statue from Borneo is in our apartment. It was a bit
of a shock seeing it at the townhouse, even though logically I
knew it would be there. It's kind of strange, though."

"What is?"

"Your house was half-way familiar, like I'd seen it before, the
way it is now. I guess I did in a way -- the same way I sort of
remembered Martha and Jonathan Kent, when I saw their picture. I
thought I was going crazy for a while, before I figured it
out."

Lois regarded her steadily for a long moment. "Is this as weird
for you as it is for me?" she asked finally.

"Probably," Lori said. "It's weird, all right. I always wondered
if I could live up to the example you set, you know. You're kind
of a legend in the family."

"Me?" Lois said. "I'm nothing unusual."

"Yes you are," Lori contradicted. "Clark told me that without
you, he could never have succeeded as Superman. I don't know if
that's exactly true, but I think it would have been a lot harder
for him if he hadn't had you to support him. You set an example
for all the others to follow, and you gave them a standard to
live up to. You're as important to the legend of Superman as the
man, himself."

"But you do that for him in your time," Lois said. "It seems to
me that you have to be pretty remarkable, too."

"I don't know about that," Lori said. "Ronnie's told me that I'm
carrying on the family tradition, but I wonder sometimes if
she's just being nice."

"Ronnie?"

"Uh -- one of your descendents," Lori said. "Ultra Woman. You
remind me a little of her."

"I guess that doesn't surprise me," Lois said. "You know -- in a
funny way, I think I do know you. I'll *be* you, someday, even
if I won't remember much about being Lois Lane. Do you really
think I'll be that different from who I am now?"

Lori hesitated. "I don't know. I hope not. I wonder sometimes if
Clark would want you in my place if he could have you there. He
says he loves me as I am -- in *this* lifetime, but I know that
he misses you sometimes. I know he'll never forget you -- not
that I'd want him to."

"Of course he won't," Lois said. "But Lori, I'm his soul mate in
*this* time -- 1999. In your time, 2099, it's you. I belong with
him here and now. When your time comes around, it will be your
place, and he'll love you then as much as *my* Clark loves me
now. I know Clark as well as anyone can, and when he loves, he
loves whole-heartedly. You don't forget someone you love, even
when that person is gone, but the beauty of it is, he and I will
still be together, even if it's as Lori Lyons. I don't think you
have anything to worry about."

The loudspeaker paged "Lois, party of two", and Lois heaved
herself to her feet. "At last!" 

Lori also got up, and the two women followed the hostess to a
small table in a corner booth. The woman indicated the spot and
then surveyed both of them with a look of mild consternation.

"I didn't realize both of you were ... is there enough room for
you? If not, I can get you another table."

Lori squeezed into one seat. Her middle came to within an inch
of the table edge. "Only if we don't have to wait any longer. If
we do, I'll vote for staying here. I'm hungry enough to eat the
Coliseum."

"This will do," Lois informed her. "And can we get some
breadsticks or something? She's not the only one that's
starving."

The hostess eyed them in a nervous way that made Lori want to
grin. "Your server will be right here."

Lois squeezed into the other place as the woman retreated. The
fit was snug, but adequate. Barely.

"I guess you have the same incredible appetite as me," she
said.

"Yeah," Lori said. "I eat all the time. It's embarrassing."

"That's for sure," Lois said. "I can't say I'll be unhappy to
have this over with. Only then, of course, CJ will be here and
I'll be learning a completely new job."

"Yeah," Lori said. "Me too. I hope I don't put the diaper on
backwards or something. I've diapered my sister's baby, but this
is different."

Lois grinned suddenly. "I guess I'm not the only one that's
worried," she said. "At least you had somebody else's baby to
practice on. The only 'baby' I've ever practiced on was a
doll."

Lori giggled. "But you'll have your mom, and Clark's mom to help
you," she said.

"My mom lives in Jersey City," Lois said. "I can't just drop in
whenever the baby needs to be changed. And Martha and Jonathan
are in Smallville."

"I'm no better off," Lori said. "My mother is in Los Angeles and
my sister is a high fashion model in New York. My editor's wife
coached me a lot, but she's a senior engineer at Genie
Electronics. I can't call her up for help any time I feel like
it, either."

"I guess we're both going to have to learn on the job," Lois
said. "Clark said he'd help me, but he's a guy. I mean, how much
does a guy know about babies?"

"Well, he said he used to baby-sit when he was in his teens to
earn extra money," Lori said. "He's taken care of babies before.
He probably knows more than both of us put together."

"That figures," Lois said. "I think he mentioned the
baby-sitting once, but I wasn't paying much attention. I was
still in my panic phase about this whole thing."

Lori heaved a small sigh of relief. "You make me feel better,"
she said. "I went into a panic too. Clark thought it was
funny."

"He would," Lois said. "I guess to him it's no big deal."

"Not anymore, anyway," Lori said.

"I suppose not," Lois said. "Are there a lot of super people
around in your time?"

Lori hesitated. "Uh ... yeah, kind of."

"So all Clark's descendents have his powers," Lois said.

Lori shook her head. "Not all of them. *Your* children do, but
after that, not all of them got the powers. Some of them are
ordinary people."

Lois frowned. "Why is that?"

"Well, Dr. Klein could probably explain it better. He's probably
already figured it out," Lori said.

"I'll ask him, but why don't you just tell me?" Lois suggested.
"It isn't as if it will make any difference."

Lori hesitated. Lois scowled. "Look, if Dr. Klein can figure it
out, it isn't something that's going to change the future."

"I guess not," Lori said. "Did you take any biology in school?"

"Yeah, in high school. My school required 3 years of science
classes."

"Then you've seen the charts about how brown-eyed parents can
have a blue-eyed child," Lori said. "It's pretty similar. Some
of your grandkids didn't get the super gene from their
super-powered parent. That's all."

"Yeah, I can see how that could happen," Lois said. "But I guess
a lot of them did."

"Yeah," Lori admitted. "A lot of them did."

"Wow," Lois said.

They fell silent as a young woman approached the table and made
quick work of setting out silverware, glasses of water, two
menus and a plate of breadsticks. Lois and Lori both took one
and began to munch.

"I'm Sara," she said. "I'll be your server this evening. Would
you like a few minutes to look over the menu?"

Lois took another bite and nodded. Sara disappeared, and Lori
stuffed the remainder of her breadstick into her mouth, took
another and opened the menu.

"Everything looks good," Lois mumbled with a full mouth. She
reached for a second breadstick.

"Yeah," Lori agreed, chewing valiantly on her own. "What do you
recommend?"

Lois swallowed her mouthful. "The Chicken Parmesan is pretty
good. In fact, everything I've eaten here is pretty good. Why
don't we get the bruschetta for an appetizer? Or maybe some
stuffed mushrooms. Or both."

"Sounds good to me," Lori said. "I could probably eat half the
stuff on the menu without trying."

"So could I," Lois said. "The Italian herbed chicken with a side
of pasta in marinara sauce sounds pretty good."

"So does the -- I can't pronounce it, but the fettuccine with
shellfish and clam sauce," Lori said. "That's the trouble with
coming into a place like this when you're really hungry. You
want everything." She selected another breadstick and bit off a
healthy chunk.

"Well, let's go for that," Lois said. "They serve it family
style here, so it'll come on a big platter and we'll help
ourselves. We get some side dishes with the entrée. I'm going
to order the herbed chicken, too, and then we can go for one of
the big chocolate desserts." She snagged the final breadstick.
"You don't know how nice it is to see someone else doing the
same thing I am. Is it like this for all --" She dropped her
voice, "Superbabies?"

"Pretty much," Lori said. "If the mother is non-super. Sometimes
you get surprised, like happened to my sister, Marcy, but most
of the time it's like this."

"Your sister is married to one of my descendents?"

"Yeah," Lori said. "They had a little boy, and the family doctor
told her just the other day that he's going to have his dad's
powers."

"Wow," Lois said, a second time. 

**********

Lois unlocked the outer door of the Kent townhouse and pulled it
open. Lori held the Styrofoam boxes containing the leftovers of
their meal. They weren't large, but it would make a good
midnight snack, Lois had pointed out, since neither saw anything
amiss with the idea of seafood pasta and Death by Chocolate cake
in the middle of the night, at least while they were both so
hungry all the time. Besides, as Lois had said reasonably, Clark
wasn't here to make a midnight trip to some eatery for their
benefit.

"I wonder if Dr. Klein has made any progress," Lori said, as
Lois locked the door behind them.

"He probably would have called," Lois said, turning to open the
inner door. "Still, with Bernie you never know. He's probably
absorbed in studying the technology of the thing. You know, it
occurred to me to wonder if letting him see future technology
will do anything to the future."

"The principle comes from the eighteen hundreds, though," Lori
said. "The people of the future didn't discover time travel --
H.G. Wells did. All they did was refine it a little. Dr. Klein
could have done that, himself, if he'd seen the plans for the
time machine."

"I hadn't thought of that," Lois said. "You're probably right.
What I'd like to know is how Tempus got hold of the thing. He
was able to build a time machine like Wells's, but I doubt he
has the technical knowledge to build something like the time
window control."

"Maybe he stole it," Lori suggested.

"It wouldn't surprise me a bit," Lois said. "Andrus had a time
window, so I suspect it's Time Cop technology. If he stole it
from a time cop, they're going to be after him."

"If they have any way to track him," Lori said.

They entered the townhouse and Lois shut the inner door behind
them. Lori glanced at the antique mantle clock -- which wasn't
as much of an antique in this time -- noting that it was past
eleven. "I wonder where Tempus is right now," she said.

"So do I," Lois said. "I'm just glad he hasn't got any of his
futuristic gadgets to work with. He'd have an easy time getting
in here if he did, but without them he's just as likely to
trigger the alarm as any burglar." She glanced at the containers
of food that Lori held. "Let's go warm that up," she said. "I
think there's some chocolate ice cream left in the freezer, and
a quart of milk in the fridge."

"Sounds good," Lori said.

Lois set the food in the microwave while Lori got out the dishes
and the ice cream. Within a few minutes, they were sitting at
the kitchen table, splitting up the pasta.

"You know," Lois said, a fork full of pasta halfway to her
mouth, "Clark knows how to build a time machine."

Lori nearly dropped her glass of milk. "He *does*?"

"Well, sure. When Tempus stole Wells's time machine and
kidnapped him, Wells dropped the plans for his machine and Clark
used them to build another one so we could follow."

"And Clark's memory is photographic!" Lori finished. "I hadn't
thought of that!"

"So," Lois finished triumphantly, "if we can find some way to
tell Clark where you are, he could come back and get you!"

**********

It was a ringing noise that woke Lori the next morning. She
opened her eyes to find herself in a strange room with a décor
that was oddly old-fashioned, and after a puzzled moment, she
recalled where she was. She was a hundred years in her world's
past, staying in the guestroom of the Kent house on Hyperion
Avenue.

The ringing had stopped, and she glanced at her wrist talker,
which she had reset to local time the evening before. It was
nearly nine-thirty in the morning. Normally, on her days off,
she woke around seven, but she and Lois Lane had stayed up past
midnight, talking, trying to come up with some idea for sending
Clark a message in 2099 to let him know where she was. It had to
be done in a way that wouldn't disrupt the normal progression of
the future timeline, and, of course, that made the job more
difficult than it might otherwise have been. Neither of them had
any idea what would happen if they inadvertently created a
paradox, and neither wanted to find out. At last Lois had
suggested that they get some sleep. They would, she had pointed
out with a note of practicality that Lori found familiar, be
able to think better, after they had both had some rest.

Slowly, she crawled out of bed, wincing at the low back pain
that had been her constant companion for the last few weeks, and
reached for the robe that Lois had loaned her. It was, Lois had
said, a gift from Lucy for her last birthday. It would have
fallen to Lois's ankles; Lori had to hitch it up slightly to
avoid tripping over the hem. Clark had mentioned, when he had
told her about his adventures in ancient England and the Old
West, that he and Lois had closely resembled their previous
incarnations, but there were obviously some slight differences,
which wasn't surprising. She and Lois were very similar in their
characters and personalities, but the likeness wasn't exact, for
which she was glad.

She found the clothing she had been wearing the previous night,
shook the wrinkles and dirt briskly out of it and headed for the
upstairs bathroom. Lois had shown her how to adjust the shower
water to a comfortable temperature the night before, and she
figured that she could handle it, even if there was no computer
to adjust it automatically. She would never have dreamed of
insulting Lois with any comment on the primitive conditions that
the people of the Twentieth Century had to put up with, but it
only illustrated in fact what they had been talking about the
day before. 

Half an hour later, she was descending the staircase of the Kent
home. There was noise downstairs, and when she reached the main
floor, she could see Lois sitting on the sofa, watching the
television, the device that had preceded the advent of the
multi-purposed vidscreen. She was eating a bowl of cereal, and
Lori could hear the voice of a weather forecaster.

"Hi," Lois said as she reached the bottom of the steps.
"Breakfast is cold cereal this morning."

"Okay," Lori said.

"Clark called a little while ago," Lois added.

"How's he doing?" Lori asked.

"He's fine. He wanted to know how I was doing. I told him one of
my cousins had come by and was staying with me until he gets
back. He was relieved, because he says he's going to be there at
least another day."

"I hope we've found a solution to this mess before then," she
said. "I don't even have a birth certificate in this time. How
on Earth am I going to support myself if I can't get home?"

"We're going to find a way to get you home," Lois said. "We have
to."

"I sure hope so," Lori said. She rubbed her back. "My back is
killing me," she added, irrelevantly.

"Mine, too," Lois said. "Clark came up with a great way to help
me. I've been sleeping on air for the last week, until
yesterday. I'd almost forgotten how sleeping in a normal bed
felt until last night."

"Yeah," Lori said. "Clark did that for me night before last. It
was wonderful."

Lois raised an eyebrow at her. "If I could, I'd have a few words
to say to him about that. He should have remembered to suggest
it earlier."

Lori shook her head. "It's been the better part of a century
since he was a dad last," she said. "Even Superman sometimes has
things slip his mind."

"Maybe," Lois said, "but if I were you, I'd kick his gorgeous
butt."

Lori giggled. "I'd hurt my foot. Besides, if I get back all
right, I'll be too glad to see him to kick him."

Lois grinned. "Yeah, I know the feeling. How do you feel about
running down to the mall with me? We can get you a change of
clothing so you won't stand out so much. I want to check in with
Dr. Klein, too, to see how he's doing."

"That's fine with me," Lori said, " You know, there's something
I'd like to do, if we have the time."

"What?" Lois asked.

"I've always wanted to meet Jim Olsen," Lori said. "Clark has
told me about him, and --"

"Jimmy?" Lois said. "Sure, I guess so. Did Clark tell you he's a
junior photographer at the Planet?"

"Oh yes," Lori said. "Clark said that when he met him, he was
the office gofer, but that he was also the office computer
expert. He also said that he was a lot smarter than anyone gave
him credit for. Besides, I know his great grandson pretty well,
and his great, great granddaughter is one of my best friends."

"You mean he finally settled down?" Lois said. "Jimmy's the guy
with a new girlfriend every week, you know. Who did he marry?"

Lori shrugged. "Her name was Erica -- I don't know her last
name. They had two kids, but his grandson --"

"What about him?" Lois asked. "Nothing bad, I hope."

"Oh, no, not at all. One of his grandsons will marry one of your
granddaughters."

"You're kidding! So, some of his descendents will have super
powers?"

"Some of them," Lori said. "My editor is one of his descendents
who doesn't have the powers. His name is John Olsen. He took a
chance on me when I applied for a position at the Planet, and
kind of treats me as his protegee."

"He does, huh?"

"Yeah," Lori said. "He's a pretty good friend -- and he teases
Clark sometimes by calling him Gramps. Clark doesn't like it.
Anyway, Clark said Jim Olsen was a good friend of his, and a
pretty remarkable person. I've heard a lot about him. I'd like
to meet him, if we have the time."

"I guess that wouldn't be a problem," Lois said. "I never
thought of Jimmy as being remarkable. He's a nice guy, and
pretty good with a computer, but you just kind of don't notice
him a lot of the time."

"I know," Lori said. "Clark said the same thing. He found out he
could take advantage of that, and a few years from now, he'll
--" She broke off. "No, I shouldn't tell you, or things might
change. Anyway, he did something pretty terrific. He'll be a
great journalist someday."

"Well, I think we can find the time for you to meet him," Lois
said. "Why don't we go over