Jade woke for the first time in days of her own accord. She slowly allowed her eyes to adjust to the brightness of the room and pulled the down comforter close as she nestled into the soft fabric. The clock read 11:34. There was no sleep behind the eyes which read the time. She was awake and already felt better than she had in days. She had gone to bed at five thirty the previous night, and she had slept straight through. It felt good to serve no schedule. She could lay surrounded by sheets and down-feathers all day and that was all right. It wasn't how she preferred to spend a day off, but the idea was that she could if she wanted to. She sat up in bed, eager to get out of her apartment and do something. Not work, but something she could enjoy. Tossing her covers aside, she got out of bed and found the kitchen. It was too late for breakfast…then again, who really cared? She grabbed the box of Cap'n Crunch and flopped on the couch. What could she do today…? Surely a city that never sleeps would provide daytime entertainment. She would also have to call Smith at one point or another. Why? To repetitively thank him? Dear God, she was pretty desperate for company. She had resorted to an Agent. Neo would be shell-shocked. All of Zion would probably follow suit.
'Well, good.' She thought, a smirk on her face, 'they deserve it.'
"We are certainly supreme over humans… are we not, Brown?"
"Absolutely." His colleague resolved.
"Why should you question our authority?" Jones asked.
"I had no intention of questioning our authority, Jones. I simply wanted to again stress the futility of their rebellion." Smith replied, making a smooth cover for his previous stupidity.
Jones smiled and nodded, "they stand no chance."
"Especially now." Brown added.
"Why now?" Smith questioned, raising an eyebrow.
"We have found the human they have been searching for. She holds a deep aversion to them and respect for us. Whatever importance this creature possesses, she will not come easily."
"They do seem determined." Jones mused. "They have already risked several crews in attempting her abduction."
"She will not allow herself to be taken." Smith replied, matter-of-factly.
"How can you be certain?" Brown asked. "She is still-"
"Only human." Jones finished.
"They do have a way of turning when their lives are endangered. Perhaps you will recall Mr. Harrison. You cannot know what her course of action will be." Brown persisted.
"Jade- er… Miss Turner has already defied one rebel who nearly succeeded in taking her life. From what I have learned, she holds more than an aversion; I believe it has to do with pride. I believe that she would first die before complying with their wishes."
"She knows nothing of the real world. They may entice her." Jones reminded.
Smith laughed to himself, a smirk gracing his face for seconds before he replied. "I do not believe we will encounter a problem with her."
At once, all three Agents pressed their earpieces. Three rebels, headed for a small café not far from their building. They exchanged a glance and nodded in agreement. A black Audi sped out of the Agency's parking lot.
Jade was enjoying a solitary lunch, or at least pretending to enjoy it. She was really starting to hate being alone. It had never really bothered her before, but she had never really known otherwise. You can't miss something you've never known. Her waitress arrived at the lonely table and took her order. Something behind her waitress seemed to catch her eye. Three people, two women and a man similarly clothed in black approached the maitre de. Jade lifted her menu in an effort to conceal her face. At least she was in a public place and the rebels, if that was what they were, would not cause a scene. Well, that was what logic told her anyway. What she really wanted to do was hide under the table or run. Quickly, she stole a glance at the black-clad trio. They seemed frustrated. Then, they turned and left.
Jade put down her menu and sighed in relief. What did they want from her? There were billions of people just waiting to be unplugged and join the rebel army. So why her? If her stay in Zion and the Real had proved anything, it was how useless she was. Not a soul in Zion, save Neo and the Neb had been fond of her. She wasn't even sure if the Neb cared at all. Maybe it was Neo's moral conscience kicking in. After all, he had said that he lacked the understanding of her decision, like everyone else, but he respected it. That was what made the Neb different. They at least respected her.
The waitress interrupted her thoughts as she placed Jade's order in front of her. Suddenly, she realized that she wasn't hungry. She played with the food, taking a few bites, which increased her nausea. Her appetite was gone. What a way to start a vacation. They had left her alone six years, why on earth did they give a damn? Maybe Quest had made a mistake. 'He knew your name, Jade.' Her mind responded. She asked for the check and set out to find something that would lighten her spirits.
It was warm outside, with enough breeze to make the day enjoyable. There was not a computer-generated cloud in the computer-generated sky. The sunlight helped to revive her state of mind. She ran a hand through her hair and nearly had a heart attack as the three leather-clad individuals from the café appeared surrounding her.
"…uh… hi?" She tried pathetically.
The blond woman almost laughed.
"Excuse us," A familiar voice began, "what business do you have with Miss Turner?"
Four heads turned to face three. One of them was relieved. The other three paled considerably and bolted down the street. Smith's colleagues turned their heads to him. He nodded. Brown and Jones darted after the escaping rebels.
"It seems that trouble has a way of finding you."
"No kidding." She replied. "Who were those guys?" She asked.
"Those were my co-workers, Brown and Jones."
"You seem to be the one in charge." She observed.
"They are not extremely effective at decision-making."
"But they're effective otherwise?"
"They would be long since deleted if they were not."
"That seems a bit extreme." She replied.
"What?"
"Deletion. Couldn't they just be better trained or reprogrammed?"
"Deletion makes way for more efficient upgrades which complete instantly the tasks the deleted program had failed."
"Survival of the fittest." She mused.
"That's a way of looking at it." He paused and pressed on his earpiece, collecting the message from his co-workers.
"What was that?" She asked.
"My colleagues and I stay in contact through these. It is also the method by which I am issued commands by the mainframe."
"What'd they say?"
"The rebels have been taken care of."
"That's a relief." She said, "Do they have access to everything through the earpiece."
"If you are curious as to whether or not I have disclosed the events of our meeting the other night or any of our conversations, you will be satisfied to know that it is between you and I."
She smiled. "So they can't read your thoughts or anything?"
"No. Agents are wired very similar to h-…" he stopped himself, "computers. My personal thoughts and et cetera are password protected and fire walled. Hacking them would be virtually impossible."
"What happens when you take it out?"
"I am no longer in contact with the Agents or the mainframe. I cannot issue commands or receive them."
'Just like a human.' She thought. "Interesting."
"I suppose so."
Pause.
"How much do I owe you for what I ate the other night?" She asked, rummaging through her purse.
"Nothing." He replied.
"No, come on, let me at least pay my end."
"It is what your kind would call 'etiquette'."
"And what I call responsibility."
"I have no use for your currency. My financial needs are adequately supplied."
She closed her purse and sighed in defeat. "At least let me make it up to you."
"There is nothing to compensate for on your part."
"Please? I want to."
He sighed. "If you insist."
"I insist." She affirmed.
"How do you plan on reciprocating?" He asked.
"I don't know."
"That's helpful."
"The only true wisdom consists in knowing that you know nothing." She replied.
"Socrates." Smith replied.
"Nah. Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure." She smiled.
He offered a confused glance.
"I'm kidding!" She laughed. "Wanna take a walk?"
"To where?"
She sighed and began an amble stride. Confused, Smith quickened his pace and strolled beside her. "Where are we going?"
"I don't know." She answered with a smile.
"What is the purpose of walking without a destination?"
"To take time and smell the proverbial flowers."
"I do not understand the motivation behind the act of aimless behavior." He replied.
"Does everything need a reason?" She asked, turning her head.
"Everything needs a purpose."
"I didn't say that. I said 'reason', you said 'purpose'."
"The only nuance of difference in meaning is the degree."
"Reason is the motive behind something. Purpose is something that one strives to achieve. You can have a reason to achieve purpose."
He paused a moment, defining both words in his mind.
rea·son: 1. The basis or motive for an action, decision, or conviction
pur·pose: 2. The object toward which one strives or for which something exists; an aim or a goal.
"Still," he said, "this action lacks both."
"So? Newton discovered gravity lying under a tree."
His eyes narrowed in confusion. "I do not understand what a force of motion has to do with the reason why we are walking without a purpose." He paused. "Or reason."
She smiled at the augment to his sentence. "Newton wasn't looking for gravity. He was wasting his time, aimlessly sitting under a tree and: bam. He found out his reason for lying under the tree was to fulfill his new purpose: discovering gravity. I don't know where we're walking, or why. I'll understand the reason later." She explained. "Plus, standing still is boring."
"You know, the latter explanation would have saved much confusion." He replied, though he could not deny that he was very interested in her other line of reasoning.
"You don't need a reason for everything. Sometimes, things just… are."
"I do not suppose there is a way to explain something that just 'is'?"
She smiled again, "Thinking complicates everything."
"You deny that logic is useful?"
She sensed a tinge of disapproval in his tone. "Not at all."
"You contradict yourself." He said.
She nodded. "I do that a lot. Call me a hypocrite, what I think today might be different than yesterday, or tomorrow."
"You have no convictions?"
"Of course I do."
"I do not understand how this is possible." She was confusing. Extremely.
"Neither do I." She agreed.
He offered a confused glance. "How is it possible that you do not understand your beliefs?"
She shrugged. "If I knew, would I be confused in the first place?"
Smith sighed, putting a hand to his head.
"That's where thinking too much gets you in trouble. If you take everything logically, things get so confusing that nothing makes sense. And it gives you a headache."
"And thinking too little?"
"Makes you ignorant or overly-idealistic."
They traveled past a homeless man, holding his worn and tattered hat out and pleading for bystanders to give him change. An older man walked past this scene and shouted, "get a job, you bum!" Jade's expression softened as she dug a 20 out of her wallet and dropped it in the man's hat as they passed him.
The man starred in disbelief at her offer and called out, "Thank you! Thank you! God bless your soul! God bless you!"
She turned her head and shouted back, "God bless you, too."
Smith eyed her curiously.
"What?" She asked. She was smiling again.
"I thought you hated humans."
"Only the ignorant and the intolerant." She reminded.
"How can you be sure that man will not use your money to purchase alcohol, or illegal substances?"
"How can you be sure he won't spend it on food?" She countered.
He tried to reply, but found that he had no argument. For someone who hated her species, she tended with charity toward the most expendable.
"I do not understand you."
"That makes two of us." She agreed.
He decided that pursuing the topic would lead to a headache and probably frustration, so he remained silent. They walked in silence for a while. It was not awkward or frustrating, but comfortable. Occasionally, they talked.
"If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?" She asked, feeling the evening breeze on her face, taking control of her hair and blowing it where it willed.
"I can be content in any scenario."
"That's not what I asked." She rebutted. "It's a simple question. Where, on this computer-generated world would you go, if you could?"
Such a stupid, human question. He hated this world and every place on it. Then again, he imagined it without the pollution of the humans and found that it might present some pleasant scenery. After all, it was created by machines, so it couldn't be all bad. So, where would he go, if there were no humans left in the world of the Matrix? "I… I am not sure." He answered, he had downloaded enough information on Italy, England, France, Germany, Ireland, Switzerland, Canada and the rest of the world, but found that he had no idea where he would choose, if given the opportunity.
"That's okay." She said.
He looked at her. "That response was 'okay' but the one before that was not sufficient?"
She nodded.
"Why?"
"You thought about it the second time."
"What about you? Where would you most like to travel, if given the chance?" He asked.
"The beach." She answered, almost immediately.
"What beach?"
"Doesn't matter. If it's got an ocean, it's fine with me. "
"Interesting." He replied.
More comfortable silence. The streets were nearly empty, so Jade took the opportunity to balance on the curb. Smith eyed her questioningly.
"What?" She asked, before falling off balance, which earned a brief smile from her companion. "Well we all can't keep our balance like Mr. I-Naturally-Establish-Equilibrium-Because-I'm-An-Agent." She replied smartingly.
"True."
She watched him place a hand to his ear, and knew that he was receiving something from the mainframe, or other Agents.
"If you'll excuse me, it seems the Agency has run into an unexpected complication."
"Duty first. After all, I'd probably be dead if you had ignored orders." She replied.
He nodded and removed his sunglasses from his pocket, then placed them over his eyes. He set off, for wherever they had ordered him. Jade stood behind for a moment, before turning back and heading home. She was bound to have something edible in her apartment that would suffice as dinner.
Agent Smith angrily paced the floor or his office. His two colleagues were there with him, but did not understand the motivation for his action.
"You have been assigned to observe the human woman, Turner?" Brown questioned.
Smith glared at his partner. "Yes."
"It does not seem like a difficult position." Jones replied.
"They don't want me to simply observe, they have ordered me to ensure her safety. To protect her." He cringed at the word 'protect'.
"We do not know the value of this woman." Brown reminded.
"She could play a key figure in the war." Jones added.
Smith knew that he did not have a problem being assigned to Jade at all, and that made him furious. He should hate her, loathe her, regard her with the highest degree of contempt. She was human. Humans were viruses, not assistants to the cure. Yet that was the look of the scenario.
"You will still be active in the pursuit of rebel forces." Brown said.
"Perhaps this human will learn to trust you." Jones offered. "Perhaps you will trust her."
Smith froze at his colleague's last statement. He pulled his gun out and shot Jones in the stomach. A glow of green sparks illuminated the corner and a police officer fell to the floor. Moments later, the door to Smith's office opened and in walked Agent Jones.
"Please stop doing that."
