I've decided to stop being lazy and reply to assorted reviews, unfortunately, I can only reply to one seeing as I have already replied to the others in some form or another.
Soren, cheers for reviewing, as for the agent suggestion you'll have to wait and see.
Enough of my feeble banter.
Chapter 3: The end is not nigh
A loud knock on the door woke Silas and Gemini. The knocking became louder and more frequent as the two wearily lifted themselves out of bed and donned their scattered clothing.
"Alright!" Yelled Gemini over the continuous din, "just wait a minute would you."
The room fell silent. Silas shoved his arm through his mangled jumper and, deciding that he was sufficiently dressed, walked over to the door, closely followed by Gemini.
On the other side of the door was a ludicrously tall man, the door frame was blocking out the top half of his face and consequently, Silas could only make out his mouth and chin. Silas and Gemini waited for a few moments for the giant to speak, but they were replied with nothing but silence.
"Can we help you?" Asked Gemini irritably.
"Commander Locke has called a meeting of the Nebuchadnezzar's crew, please report to the council chamber as quickly as possible."
With that, the man turned around and walked on to the next door to bother Neo and Trinity with the same message. Silas closed the door and proceeded to search the floor for his left shoe that had mysteriously vanished.
"What do you suppose this is about?" He asked Gemini, who had vanished into the small cupboard that was officially a bathroom.
"I don't know," came the weary reply, "they probably just want another ship to keep an eye on the Matrix whilst the peace talks are hammered out, either that or they need to ship more diplomats to Zero-one."
"Oh joy," yawned a sarcastic Silas.
It was annoyingly bright and disturbingly crowded in Zion, much like it was every morning. It was hard for Gemini and Silas not to loose each other in the sea of pedestrians.
"I never actually asked you," shouted Gemini over an elderly passer by's head, "what was it like at Zero-one?"
"Sunny." Replied Silas, which earned him a mock-contemptuous stare from Gemini which brought out a small amount of laughter from them both.
"Nah seriously, it was, I don't know. I didn't see all that much of it. The only thing I can really remember is the huge field of Matrix-dwellers that surrounded the city. A disturbing sight to say the least."
As the two came to the lift, they found that Link and Cypher were already contained within. Cypher wads leaning against the wall of the lift and looked half asleep. Link was standing with his arms crossed and looked more irritated then tired.
"Morning" said Gemini, Silas simply nodded to the two.
"Hi" mumbled Cypher and Link wearily and in unison.
The lift's doors soon closed and the four ascended up several levels at an annoyingly slow pace.
"Any ideas what this is about?" Asked Silas.
"Your guess is as good as mine pal." Groaned Cypher as he pushed himself away from the wall.
"Well," said Gemini as the lift came to a halt, "I guess we're about to find out."
The doors opened to a surprisingly empty corridor. In Zion, this was a rare occurrence except for in the ridiculously early hours of the morning.
"This is weird" said Link. After a few seconds of staring at the emptiness, the four continued on their path down the corridor to the council chamber.
The council chamber for some reason did not look as immaculate when there weren't crowds of people in it. The rest of the crew were already present. Commander Locke and a few other people were standing in the central area where the council, (who were not there), usually sat.
"I think that's everyone," Locke began, "let's get started."
The four took their seats by the rest of the crew and watched as the holographic display that Locke had used to outline operation 'Olive branch', came to life.
To everyone's puzzlement, the image it displayed was one of a Zion built hovercraft that was clearly different from the Nebuchadnezzar. If this was indeed just a routine mission, which everyone was rapidly beginning to doubt, this image should not be accompanying it.
"Ladies and Gentlemen" Locke began again, "this is the hovercraft 'Hope'. Lat week it was deployed on a routine Matrix surveillance mission. It was due back two days ago. For some unexplained reason, the ship has vanished."
Concerned and confused murmurs were cast back and forth between the crew, and there was a sinking feeling in Silas' gut as ideas entered his head about what caused the ship to go missing.
"It's begun" he whispered to himself.
"We suspect that the ship may have suffered a disabling malfunction, or may have crashed, whatever has happened, the Nebuchadnezzar is the only ship we have that isn't scheduled for diplomatic transportation, hence you will launch in one hour, follow the Hope's last known course and try to find out what happened to her and offer any assistance if needed. Are there any questions?"
Silence was his response.
"Very well, dismissed, and good luck."
Silas couldn't help but feel a strange feeling of relief as his mind accepted the more realistic possibilities that Locke had offered. This was soon replaced by a sense of concern for the crew of the Hope, as well as curiosity as to what exactly had happened.
"Morpheus," Silas' mind was pulled back to reality at the sound of Necromancer's voice, "if we're heading out of Zion this might be a good time to ask the Oracle about the program rebellion or whatever the hell it was she warned us about."
"The Oracle said that she would inform us when the situation required our attention Necromancer," began Morpheus, "and the 'Hope' requires our full attention at present."
"Yes sir."
Silas stared at Necromancer for a second and couldn't help but feel sympathy for him. Necromancer had over the last three weeks expressed his hatred for waiting for the Oracle to tell them when to act. He wanted to nip this problem in the proverbial bud now, before it got out of hand, so did Silas, Orion, Gemini, Morpheus, Trinity, Neo and virtually everyone who had heard of the new threat. The truth was however that there was nothing they could do.
Not yet anyway.
To be continued. Now that I got that pesky exam out of the way, I should be able to write and update more often. Having said that I'll probably get a shit load of work dumped on me.
Soren, cheers for reviewing, as for the agent suggestion you'll have to wait and see.
Enough of my feeble banter.
Chapter 3: The end is not nigh
A loud knock on the door woke Silas and Gemini. The knocking became louder and more frequent as the two wearily lifted themselves out of bed and donned their scattered clothing.
"Alright!" Yelled Gemini over the continuous din, "just wait a minute would you."
The room fell silent. Silas shoved his arm through his mangled jumper and, deciding that he was sufficiently dressed, walked over to the door, closely followed by Gemini.
On the other side of the door was a ludicrously tall man, the door frame was blocking out the top half of his face and consequently, Silas could only make out his mouth and chin. Silas and Gemini waited for a few moments for the giant to speak, but they were replied with nothing but silence.
"Can we help you?" Asked Gemini irritably.
"Commander Locke has called a meeting of the Nebuchadnezzar's crew, please report to the council chamber as quickly as possible."
With that, the man turned around and walked on to the next door to bother Neo and Trinity with the same message. Silas closed the door and proceeded to search the floor for his left shoe that had mysteriously vanished.
"What do you suppose this is about?" He asked Gemini, who had vanished into the small cupboard that was officially a bathroom.
"I don't know," came the weary reply, "they probably just want another ship to keep an eye on the Matrix whilst the peace talks are hammered out, either that or they need to ship more diplomats to Zero-one."
"Oh joy," yawned a sarcastic Silas.
It was annoyingly bright and disturbingly crowded in Zion, much like it was every morning. It was hard for Gemini and Silas not to loose each other in the sea of pedestrians.
"I never actually asked you," shouted Gemini over an elderly passer by's head, "what was it like at Zero-one?"
"Sunny." Replied Silas, which earned him a mock-contemptuous stare from Gemini which brought out a small amount of laughter from them both.
"Nah seriously, it was, I don't know. I didn't see all that much of it. The only thing I can really remember is the huge field of Matrix-dwellers that surrounded the city. A disturbing sight to say the least."
As the two came to the lift, they found that Link and Cypher were already contained within. Cypher wads leaning against the wall of the lift and looked half asleep. Link was standing with his arms crossed and looked more irritated then tired.
"Morning" said Gemini, Silas simply nodded to the two.
"Hi" mumbled Cypher and Link wearily and in unison.
The lift's doors soon closed and the four ascended up several levels at an annoyingly slow pace.
"Any ideas what this is about?" Asked Silas.
"Your guess is as good as mine pal." Groaned Cypher as he pushed himself away from the wall.
"Well," said Gemini as the lift came to a halt, "I guess we're about to find out."
The doors opened to a surprisingly empty corridor. In Zion, this was a rare occurrence except for in the ridiculously early hours of the morning.
"This is weird" said Link. After a few seconds of staring at the emptiness, the four continued on their path down the corridor to the council chamber.
The council chamber for some reason did not look as immaculate when there weren't crowds of people in it. The rest of the crew were already present. Commander Locke and a few other people were standing in the central area where the council, (who were not there), usually sat.
"I think that's everyone," Locke began, "let's get started."
The four took their seats by the rest of the crew and watched as the holographic display that Locke had used to outline operation 'Olive branch', came to life.
To everyone's puzzlement, the image it displayed was one of a Zion built hovercraft that was clearly different from the Nebuchadnezzar. If this was indeed just a routine mission, which everyone was rapidly beginning to doubt, this image should not be accompanying it.
"Ladies and Gentlemen" Locke began again, "this is the hovercraft 'Hope'. Lat week it was deployed on a routine Matrix surveillance mission. It was due back two days ago. For some unexplained reason, the ship has vanished."
Concerned and confused murmurs were cast back and forth between the crew, and there was a sinking feeling in Silas' gut as ideas entered his head about what caused the ship to go missing.
"It's begun" he whispered to himself.
"We suspect that the ship may have suffered a disabling malfunction, or may have crashed, whatever has happened, the Nebuchadnezzar is the only ship we have that isn't scheduled for diplomatic transportation, hence you will launch in one hour, follow the Hope's last known course and try to find out what happened to her and offer any assistance if needed. Are there any questions?"
Silence was his response.
"Very well, dismissed, and good luck."
Silas couldn't help but feel a strange feeling of relief as his mind accepted the more realistic possibilities that Locke had offered. This was soon replaced by a sense of concern for the crew of the Hope, as well as curiosity as to what exactly had happened.
"Morpheus," Silas' mind was pulled back to reality at the sound of Necromancer's voice, "if we're heading out of Zion this might be a good time to ask the Oracle about the program rebellion or whatever the hell it was she warned us about."
"The Oracle said that she would inform us when the situation required our attention Necromancer," began Morpheus, "and the 'Hope' requires our full attention at present."
"Yes sir."
Silas stared at Necromancer for a second and couldn't help but feel sympathy for him. Necromancer had over the last three weeks expressed his hatred for waiting for the Oracle to tell them when to act. He wanted to nip this problem in the proverbial bud now, before it got out of hand, so did Silas, Orion, Gemini, Morpheus, Trinity, Neo and virtually everyone who had heard of the new threat. The truth was however that there was nothing they could do.
Not yet anyway.
To be continued. Now that I got that pesky exam out of the way, I should be able to write and update more often. Having said that I'll probably get a shit load of work dumped on me.
