The Julia Set

I was looking into a dark place, familiar
He had a glow, like black paint, a shine
I could see his figure, not the detail
For the light, the one in my eyes, the one that burns
He was twisted like a very twisted thing
You wouldn’t have noticed the ray gun either, I know
It’s dangerous and hurts like a hard slap hurts
When it’s on stun like that
I must have cried, by the look on your pretty face, anguished
I think I must have, either by the spark or by the soft hum
30 Hz, almost a sine wave, 25 dB
You knew I was damaged
There is no other betrayal of my soul/algorithm
Somewhere in my pocket
Under the parking debits and the key
You’ll find that part
Er, something or other array, fix me
And my last cigarette, I’ll be needing that
Did you see him?
The spine, the arm, the gun
Was there vengeance still in his plasma eye
Will you love him
Tell me now, once the relay clicks open, I’ll forget like I always do
Like I hate to, like you expect, my great malfunction
Take two of these and tell me
You’ll be so gone soon, you won’t know the truth
Light speed pills to dampen the shock of time travel
So fucking fast
I was looking into a very dark place
Pain boost makes the field swarm with tiny clots
find, recognize, a databank of shapes to match
And he was there, like obsidian, pointing that thing at me
I know it, twenty-threes and I know they can take me down
Faster than a fusion blast but I stared and faltered
.234 seconds too late, see the singe marks
The readout was in yellow, I knew I didn’t risk deactivation or death
And I knew he would leave me when it was over
And I was distracted by the thoughts of
How you would feel if you heard I was a new
Useless pile of burned out flesh and silicon
How would you feel
He met my auto failsafe destructor
Whatever it is, with the dignity
Reserved for creatures of metal and glass
Like he, like a machine
A mocking sort of decay
I’m watching the replay now
Not in my regular memory, I was down you know
At least I can tell you I won
At least I can tell you anything at all
That is my greatest prize to tell you the truth
Do you still know what that is?
I’ll be okay soon
Are you there?
We’re nearing light speed
Are you still with me?
We’ll reach then soon and I’ll be no more
I foremember that you will come back next year, to save me again
Like you always do
I’ll see you then
I’ll see you