primeideal

I've been writing for the Schrodinger's Heroes verse again! This time around, with poems, following

ysabetwordsmith 's lead.

First off, here are five I wrote for the

poetree Serial Poetry challenge, mostly crossovers.

The Tentacle Monster Chronicles (Animorphs), Taxicab Geometry (Numb3rs), The Shirt Off Her Back (Revolution), All Politics Is Local (@MayorEmanuel), and Who Let The Dogs Out?

Next up, a couple poems for the

bloodyvalentine Halloween Guro fest. I know, it's not my usual, but I've always had sort of a thing for snuff fic. Embarrassing, but there you have it.

Oh, and there might be a long fic...much later, so don't hold your breath.

1.

The teferact is still working
When Ash and Alex fall in love.
Somewhere, they believe,
Alex and Bailey have fallen
Asleep together, somewhere else
Alex and Kay stay up all night,
Somewhere else they're all cats.
What's one more dimension, among friends?

For a while they hug, hold hands,
Go out to dinner
So neither has to cook.
Slowly, Ash comes to understand;
Before, it was always the team first.
Then, science! Then getting things right.
(Too many vectors, too many of them;
They can't save everyone.) But now her heart
Strikes the root of a chord.
Alex at the base. Alex first.
Everything else can rise up from that.

"If something goes wrong," says Alex,
"I've had--all of us, and the two of us.
We have to keep exploring. Don't turn back."

"Shut up," says Ash. They keep their clothing on
But she sings lullabies in Wichita
And Alex goes to sleep, eyes turned away
As if ashamed to hear the childish song.

2.

After the teferact breaks down
Nobody can slip in or out.
No human body, neither tentacles
Nor cats. They camp out at the Ring a week,
But the world has let itself be measured
The whole way round, and nothing's breaking through.
Ash gets an offer from a tech startup
Seeking her security. Alex wishes
Her luck, having taken the break in stride.
One universe at a time should suffice.

They miss it, miss each other, miss the cats.
Until the day the team from TASE shows up.
"How did you even get here?" Bailey asks
A dozen times, a hundredfold. They claim
He doesn't need the math, they'll get back out
If they can only fix the teferact.
"We tried," said Ash, "a week, with little sleep."
"Just let us rig up our tachyon gun,
And you'll have your ring back, as good as new."

3.

When she goes to ask Alex, they embrace,
Catch up on codes, and circle round the point.
She doesn't trust them. Bailey never did.
"He sent me," Ash explains. "He's coming back--
The heroes once again, we'll all be here.
The ring unbroken, universes free."

"And what if this was how it's meant to be?
TASE doesn't get it, doesn't know the fear.
Maybe things all along were out of whack
Until something restored order and rid
The world of chaos. Matrix and adjoint.
We're hermits, everything within its place.

Listen. You know I've never bought the guess
That rareness brings value, the chance of death
Is what makes life worth living. But if all
We do can be undone by other wes,
Already has been maybe--then who wins?
Futility through multiplicity.
Besides, you can't believe the TASErs' claim?
Some tachyon gun. Bet you they can't aim."

"The teferact's broken! It can't get worse.
They give science the rigor it deserves.
They've tested it with z-scores and bell curves."

"Oh? Did they test it in this universe?"

"Alex, come back. You shouldn't be alone."

"And leave my compound?"
"There's nothing to own
Except the wreckage, and the broken ring.
Come back and we can fix it, change something."

"Don't be afraid. This isn't about you.
But there's new research that I have to do.
I'm still dreaming, still reach for the starstuff
But can't you see one cosmos is enough?"

They are crazed eyes, but still those of her lover.
"What about you? Don't you know that one heart
Is not enough? It will be like the start,
All of us working for more to discover."

"It won't be just our team. There still is TASE.
You can't think that they'll just leave us behind?"

"They want to help us and leave, they won't mind."

"For now, my fire, let's go our separate ways."

4.

"I don't know what's gone wrong with her," says Ash.
"She cares still--for her research and for me--
But won't be stirred."

The TASE agent cuts in.
"But how can you miss her this much? I thought
You weren't--that close, that way..."

"You didn't think,"
Says Bailey. "When Ash wants words in her mouth
She has a dozen languages to choose."

"Thank you," says Ash, that night. "Please, talk to her.
It's you she needs to keep from going mad."
"Make her see reason."

"Reason? Our Alex?
She cannot but see reason!
Maybe someone needs to make her see sense.
Reason--I couldn't stop that if I tried."

5.

The compound's Alex's; she has willed it
To the team, on paper. A formality.
The TASErs squabble, tap their tachyon guns.
"Alex," says Bailey, "used to work with Tim."

"And me," says Kay.

"Don't finish that sentence."
The point is that you don't know what she fears
And what she doesn't. This is our battle."

"Battle?"

"That's what it's coming to. She knew
You were the best guard. But the others still
Are under her control, not yours. We can't
Get in."

"But if it's coming to a fight
The TASErs and I can handle the guards--
I mean, long enough for you to get through.
Have Ash backdoor a way in, get access."

"Handle them? I guess that fight would be fair
But grueling on both sides. You'd both be hurt."

"Alex--the real Alex--for all we know
This is the evil alter," stammers Ash.

"How's she the evil one? The teferact
Is broken, just in case it slipped your mind!
There is no way an evil ander could
Swap with our Alex!" Kay snaps.

"That's enough,"
Pat cuts in. "if Ash thinks so, that's all right."

Ash shakes her head. "No. It's still her. I think.
I didn't want her to have changed this much.
But maybe it's what she meant all along--
We have enough within us, good and ill
To change, without needing to be defined
Another way."

And Pat nods. "If you're sure.
You were saying something, before? Alex?"

"She wouldn't want things to have gone that far,
A real fight. There's enough evil to fight
Without us turning on each other too.
Alex couldn't shoulder the guilt alone."

"Which leaves us where we started," says a TASE
Member. "All we need is to reach the machine
And we'll be fine and you'll be back to work."

"I know. Yeah. I know what I have to do."

6.

"You brought the others." Alex's voice is flat.

"They're outside," says Ash, "they won't bother you."

"You're never a bother. You know that, right?"

"Of course." She turns away. "I brought you tea."

"Will wonders never cease. Ash learns to cook."

"Wonders," she says pointedly, "will not cease,
There are wonders beyond wonders beyond
The world as you know it, or as you don't."

"We're not having this argument again."

"No. Of course not. I--I'm so sorry."

"Ssh, Ash." One sip, another. "It's all right."

"C'mere." She gathers her into a hug.
Alex's body is short and pale
And trembles under her, a butterfly's wings
Beating the way to change the world.

"Just...lost my train of thought there. Hard to think."

"You're just fine. You must be tired, though.
Close your eyes, I'm right here."

"I know. Thank you."
"Ssh."
"It's just not the same."

Eyes closed, a tremor, Alex breathes again.

Ash holds her still, waiting in the space
Between the wing flap and the hurricane.

"Take as long as you need," Pat had said.
"We're in no hurry."

So she waits, arms tensing, until she hears
The first of Alex's echoes cut back,
The voice that has just begun chasing her.
I wouldn't stand around when there's
Science to do. But Alex is standing
Since she can't help herself.
Ash lays her down, hands unready
For moving over anyone's body
Then lets her friends inside. The stars await.