The Socrates lay at rest in one of the service tunnels near Zion. Most systems were powered down, but Blaze, the operator, was watching the Matrix. He blinked a little, yawning. It hadn't been a particularly exciting day, and there were a number of sentinels patrolling the shafts ahead that led to Zion. Most of the others were getting some rest until the tunnels cleared.
Suddenly, Blaze rubbed his eyes and stared at the screens in front of him, sitting up straighter. He frowned, then his eyes widened and he leapt from his seat, whirling around to reach the ladder that led to the sleeping quarters. He climbed partway down, and then leapt the remainder, rushing to reach the captain's room.
"Machete! Machete, you gotta see this!"
***
Machete, captain of the Socrates and one of the few female pilots in Zion, woke to the sound of hammering on her door. She got up, fully dressed, stretched, and opened the door, yawning.
"What, Blaze?"
The operator was plainly excited, hurriedly replying, "There's a girl, 'Chete, she's waking up!"
Machete suddenly felt wide awake herself. " A self-awakening? Show me!"
Woken by the commotion, some of the crew began to gather as Machete followed Blaze back to the control room, waking the others.
***
Back at the screens, Blaze paused for a moment before finding the right code. He quickly started getting the camera online, and Machete let out a low whistle as the rest of the crew gathered around. One of them shook her head.
"It can't be a self-awakening. That's impossible!"
Machete flashed a grin at her. "Haven't you learnt by now, Lace? Nothing's impossible in the Matrix."
Lace grinned back as a picture of the girl appeared on the camera's monitor. She was staring at a book she held in her hands. The book was bending, flowing in circles without any visible signs of control from her.
"Jay-sus! She'll have Agents after her any minute," declared Slate, Machete's co-pilot.
The captain nodded. "Too right. Does she have a computer, Blaze?"
Blaze nodded, and sat in front of the main keyboard, typing fast. "Out the window to the roof, 'Chete?"
Machete grinned behind him. "That's what I'm thinking. Speak to her!"
***
Cara, who should have been in bed hours ago, but was not inclined to sleep tonight, jumped slightly at a faint beep from her computer. The book in her hand was back to normal, suddenly, and she put it aside. The computer was on the other side of her room, and as she headed over to it she drifted halfway up the wall before she caught herself and went to see what had happened. The message on the screen was flashing. Confused, she dropped into her chair and stared at it.
The Matrix is losing you, Songbird.
She frowned. The computer wasn't logged on to the Internet, so how could anyone send her a message – especially someone who knew her username? The message vanished before she could come up with a solution, and she had begun to turn away with a shrug when the computer beeped again. A new sentence was appearing, letter by letter, on the suddenly otherwise blank screen.
They will come after you soon.
Quickly, determined not to lose the message this time, she typed back.
Who will? How do you know?
The answer to her first question came at the same time as the sound of the doorbell downstairs.
Agents.
Cara froze for a moment at the sound of voices downstairs. Then she typed like lightning.
what do i do
She fled to her door, barrelled out and onto the landing, lunging to the banister rail and hanging half over it, staring downstairs. There were three men there, dressed in black and all wearing dark glasses. She had seen them before – seen them arrest someone who hadn't done anything wrong. He'd never been seen again, as far as she knew. They were speaking to her mother, who was in her nightgown and rubbing at tired eyes. Terrified, she raced back to her bedroom, locking the door, and read the message on the screen.
Go out of your window, onto the roof. Head towards the cinema. There is a phone box outside. The phone will ring. Answer it. Trust us, and you'll be fine.
She was halfway through typing back, "How will that help me?" when the message changed again.
Go, now!
She heard footsteps on the stairs, and fled to the window. She was out of it in a moment, and ran straight up the wall onto the roof. Looking around, she caught sight of the cinema's neon sign, and raced towards it.
There was silence behind her for a long moment, and she glanced back. There were two of them behind her, and they were catching up. In terror, she sped up, jumping the gaps between houses and knocking tiles flying off roofs. Then, all of a sudden, there was a much larger gap ahead of her – all the way across a road to the flat roof of a hotel. Another glance behind told her that the Agents were catching up, and she knew she was running too fast to have a hope of stopping in time. She sped up instead, remembering the feeling of walking up a wall, making books flow like water, and jumped.
***
Silence fell over the crew of the Socrates, and then Blaze swore.
"Holy shit, she made it!"
Machete stared at the screen as the girl fell heavily and rolled, struggling upright as the first of the Agents reached the gap. She ran desperately, leaping ever-increasing gaps as she headed towards the centre of the city. The captain shook her head, and then moved decisively.
"I don't care if she made the first jump, she's still going to be killed without help. Slate, get us to the fields and find her, now! Lace, Truth, Bullet, we're going in. Blaze, we'll need plenty of guns."
Slate and Falcon vanished to the cockpit of the Socrates, and there was a slight judder throughout the ship as it took off. Breeze plugged in the four who were going to help Songbird, as Blaze readied the armoury. With the speed of people used to such a routine, Lace and Bullet pulled guns from the racks and tossed them to the other two. In less than a minute, they were ready, and Machete tossed her head back to call to Blaze.
"Take us in as close to her as you can – and keep an exit open."
***
A tabby cat was rooting through a split rubbish bag down a back alley. Its tail twitched, and it looked up, crouching down lower instinctively. Both ears flicked back, and it was away and slipping out of the alley even as the apartment block's back door opened. Machete was first out, and flipped her mobile phone open.
"We're in. Where is she?"
Blaze followed the codes, and winced. "Still on the roof, 'Chete. Out o' the alley, turn left and go down the first side-street. There's a fire escape, she'll pass by it on the roof any minute. Ya, left there, 'Chete," he added as the captain led the others, following his instructions. "The Agents're closing in on her. She'll be needing any backup or diversions you can give her."
Machete leapt onto the fire escape, and the four reached the roof in a few moments, where they spread out a little and readied their guns. They took up positions behind chimneystacks for cover as Machete slapped the phone to her ear again.
"Blaze, do you have a way out for her?"
On board the Socrates, the operator was biting his hand in anxiety. He clenched his other fist.
"Slate hasn't got her yet!"
Machete steadied her rifle, switching it to her left hand and the phone to her right. "It doesn't matter. Get her out or she'll die in here. Once she's free she's got a chance. I'll give her my phone."
Blaze nodded to himself, holding tight to the screens as Slate swung the ship around in a manoeuvre that made the entire craft shake, pelting towards the fields at top speed.
"Ya, 'Chete, I hear you. Here she comes!"
***
Cara leapt another gap, beginning to flag as she ran, unable to see any way out of her predicament. The Agents seemed tireless, grimly catching up every minute. As she neared a group of chimneystacks on the flat roof, Machete stood, yelling, "Songbird!"
Cara's head snapped around at the cry, and one hand shot out to snatch the spinning phone from the air. It started ringing, and she heard Machete's shout of, "It's for you!" fade under a sudden hail of gunfire behind her. She flipped the phone open, and clapped it to her ear. Instantly, Blaze spoke up.
"Dodge right, now!"
She obeyed, glad of any help, and a bullet whistled past her, embedding deep into the bricks to her left.
"Good. The Agents're busy, kiddo. Turn left now, and jump that gap. Quickly! Can you cartwheel, Songbird?"
Landing in a run, Cara nodded, before remembering that her unknown helper would not be able to see her. However, Blaze caught the movement on the monitors, and was already replying.
"Great. Cartwheel to your left, now!"
Pausing only to clench the phone between her teeth, Songbird threw her hands down and whirled over. Her unquestioning obedience sent her straight over the low wall around the roof, and she fell, feet first, for three storeys before landing, more or less unhurt. Blaze rattled off a series of instructions the moment the phone was back to her ear, ending with a, "Keep running, kiddo. You're almost a free little songbird."
She obeyed, gasping in breath and clutching the phone tight in one hand as she fled around the corner of the alleyway, into the street. Following Blaze's directions, she tore down the roadway, drawing closer to the phone outside the cinema every second.
***
Truth and Bullet ducked down behind the chimneys, tossing aside empty rifles in favour of loaded guns. Bullet swiftly jumped out again, joining Machete and Lace as they kept the Agents pinned down across the roof. Truth pulled out her phone.
"Blaze? We've only got two Agents here. Where's the third?"
She waited a moment for the answer, ignoring the shards of brick that flew from the chimney she was hiding behind.
"Damnation," Blaze muttered quietly, before giving Truth the answer she had been hoping would not come.
"He's coming after our Songbird."
***
Songbird dashed across a crossroads between the night traffic, skidding into an alleyway. She flashed through it, turning right at the end. The cinema was down the street from there, and the phone box was right in front of it. The phone started ringing.
***
Slate's yell echoed through the ship to Blaze.
"We got her!"
Blaze literally leapt out of his chair as Songbird raised the phone to her ear.
"Answer the phone!" he howled at her, "Answer the phone!"
She threw aside the mobile, and sprinted towards the phone box.
There was a sudden agony in her leg, and she stumbled, momentum carrying her forward. A similar pain ripped into her back, and she fell to the ground as the sound of the gunshots echoed down the empty street. She crawled forwards slowly; eyes fixed on the ringing phone not a metre in front of her. There were more rolls of thunder, and she at last lay still.
Across the street, the third Agent tossed aside the empty gun. He strode over to the still form, and calmly confirmed that there was no pulse. As he looked up, the phone stopped ringing.
***
On board the Socrates, Blaze dropped back into his chair listlessly.
"Oh, little bird…"
Falcon appeared behind him. "Slate says he lost her signal."
Blaze sighed, nodding silently.
"So she's dead, huh?" Falcon continued. "Get Machete and the others out, then." With that, he turned, and left to tell Slate.
Blaze nodded again, staring sadly at the screens in front of him.
"Ya, I hear you."
He began to tap at the keyboards, finding another way out for the four in the Matrix, who had managed to make their escape from the Agents.
"Ya, I hear you, kiddo. You're free now, so go, fly, my little bird."