Story 202: "Laws of Motion" by Syntax6

[wendelah1]

Hi! I had spotty internet access the later part of March so amyhit kindly filled in for my last turn. I'm bypassing the queue this time around to suggest a story I've been meaning to reread for at least six months. "Laws of Motion" is a sequel to "Universal Invariants," which we discussed back in November, 2010. If you haven't read her first story, you won't get as much out of the sequel. (But you totally should read UI! It's my favorite of syntax6's stories!)

However, if you don't want to read "Universal Invariants" before tackling "Laws of Motion," here's a brief summary: "Universal Invariants" is an au in which Scully is living with her boyfriend Ethan (who was deleted from the pilot) when she is assigned to the X-Files. The novel spans all of season one and the beginning of season two through "One Breath," and has scenes from many of the episodes artfully woven through it. There is also an original casefile, which is the B plot, with the A plot being their developing partnership, and the effect it has on her personal life, especially her relationship with Ethan. HUGE SPOILER here: Scully gets engaged to Ethan after the X-Files are closed down, then has sex (amazing sex!) with Mulder while they are in Arecibo, Puerto Rico during "Little Green Men." Major awkwardness ensues, Mulder and Scully never discuss it, and she is too ashamed to tell Ethan. Then Scully is kidnapped by Duane Barry. Months later, when she is returned, not only is she missing time from the abduction, she can't remember earlier events, including what happened at Arecibo. Mulder can't bring himself to tell her. She never regains the lost memories, but breaks up with Ethan anyway. The End.

So. "Laws of Motion" picks up at the beginning of season five, just after "Redux 2." Scully is cured of cancer and Mulder has just brought her home from the hospital, when there is a phone call from her ex-boyfriend, Ethan. He's in jail, accused of murdering a colleague, and wants their help. Like "Universal Invariants," "Laws of Motion" is structured around a casefile, the murder Ethan has been accused of committing, but the story's focus is squarely on the secret (from the previous story) Mulder has been keeping from Scully and the consequences of that deception. It's a fun read and I remember loving it almost as much as "Universal Invariants."

"Universal Invariants"

"Laws of Motion"

Send feedback, tell Syntax6 we miss her, and please come back to let us know what you thought.

Comments

[dryadinthegrove]

Gosh, I just read both of those last week - wonderful writing. I miss Syn...

[estella-c.livejournal.com]

Excellent choice. I've wanted to reread it as well.

[(Anonymous)]

I'm just reading Universal Invariants and I first didn't want to because I usually like the later stuff much better. I haven't read a ff that takes place in the early episodes in ages and now I really regret it. How they get to know each other, start to trust each other... it's really interesting and way more exciting than I ever thought it could be. I feel like it characterizes Mulder and Scully very well, which makes me like it even more... gotta go finish the story now and start laws of motion!

see ya
Eve

Also wanted to let you know that I read all the stories here every week and I enjoy this website very much.

[(Anonymous)]

God these were such brilliant reads! I think it's probably the most frustratingly realistic description of "first" sex between Mulder and Scully, too; no one ever portrays their first kiss or sex as anything other than heavenly and it's the type of thing that is so unbearably awkward. I'm sure I'm not the only one who's had a first kiss with a best friend that felt so strange and unfortunate while seeming so necessary. The characters are sooo spot on, and the first collection did a great job of exploring the strain of outside relationships that the show never dared to--a really incredible dynamic, I think. Not to mention the maintaining of FOUR DIFFERENT PLOTLINES--mytharc (and NEW mytharc elements), monsters of the week, arching investigation, and ROMANCE. Ugh, just, like...making a trophy out of my elation.

[wendelah1]

I'm so glad people are enjoying these. After the last story amyhit and I decided we needed a "sure thing," and a Syntax6 story is usually loved by all, or at least most.

She handles sex scenes with unusual sensitivity, realism and brevity. See "Apex" for an example in a different genre, and the sex scene in "Bait and Switch" for yet another genre. All are excellent.

I think the angst/sex scenes in amalnahurriyeh's fic are excellent and the sex is never dull. And onemillionnine's sex scenes are by turns sexy, angsty and transcendent. .

[estella-c.livejournal.com]

It's hard to say anything about Syntax6's work, because it's so superior. We have a number of writers with extraordinary talent, but Syntax is an example of one-stop-shopping. Without stylistic fanfare, she handles all aspects of her stories--plot, characterization, romantic tension, suspense--with aplomb. And she's gotten better for years. I sure hope she comes back to us.

It is amazing how she weaves the personal trauma of Mulder and Scully so skillfully through the various "interruptions" of their canon cases in Laws of Motion. It does not becomes tedious because she knows we know those events and elides them to speed things up. There is one unfortunate side effect here, and it's not her fault. All the incursions of mothmen and giant bugs etc. as counterposed against Scully trying to resolve the sexual tension with Mulder tend to make us laugh at the sheer absurdity of the files, the distance from "normal" life's difficulties. I mean boyfriend trouble is one thing; getting your (maybe) boyfriend out of the bin because he's hallucinating supernatural creatures is a whole other. But that's series tv for you, and science fiction. There's a reason, I suppose, why science fiction has had a problem keeping up with character-based literature. But I digress.

Incidentally, Syntax's handling of Scully during the In Plain Sight case (title?) was more sympathetic than 1013's.

I have one nit with LOM, and although it's absurdly small I can't get it out of my mind. When Scully announces that she has discovered Mulder has impregnated her ("Sex!! Like, when??"), she hands him one of those cheesy plastic-wrapped cigars. This is our Scully? It's obviously an awkward moments of awkward moments, but a plastic cigar? Where do they even sell those things? Surely not in hospital gift shops. Maybe.

[infinitlight.livejournal.com]

I thought this was great. I agree with Anon above about the sex scenes, they're realistic in a way that resonates rather than in a deliberately descriptive way. They're perfect for the characters, too, and I usually don't think any sex scenes work for these characters.

I loved the story and the way the Laws of Motion story worked into canon. I was always pretty fond of the idea of Ethan--I think he was an interesting addition to Scully's life and had the potential to show more of how she changed over the first few seasons. How she gave things away and had other things taken from her. In season one, she goes out on dates, she canonically for a millisecond had a boyfriend, she hangs out with her godson and friends. Some of these things she can't keep up with over time. Some she chooses not to.

The romance even worked for me, because it wasn't overdone or the focus of everything. I can't ever see M&S's lives becoming romance novels, the end of IWTB notwithstanding. If they were going to get together, it was always going to be squeezed into the cracks between meetings and coffee and departure lounges and cheap hotels and murder cases. I love that Laws of Motion "gets them".