I-5
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"You've been hiding away from everyone ever since you returned, you know," said Councillor Hamann. There was a sparkling gleam in his keen eyes, and despite the gravity of the occasion, Aleph found herself grinning rather sheepishly.
"Oh, I'm doing great, thanks for asking. Never better. And yourself?"
"That's good to hear," the councillor commented imperturbably, waving her to a seat across from him. "Because to tell the truth—and I hope you don't mind me saying so—I was starting to get a little worried about you."
"Let me guess." Aleph gave a short laugh. "Theo has been bearing tales."
Hamann merely raised his eyebrows at her. It was too much to expect that he wouldn't notice, thought Aleph; the old man always noticed everything. After all, he was the one who had noticed at the start, seven long years ago, who had kept talking to the brittle, newly freed young woman and refused to take no for an answer. He was the one who had dragged her out of the ever-shrinking circles of her mind, who had forced her to open her eyes and face the desert world. She owed him too much.
"I'm fine, sir." She smiled, returning his look. "Honest. Don't worry."
The old man shook his head in paternal skepticism, half-amused, half-questioning.
"And you didn't leave those musty archive rooms just for a social call on the elderly." His tone was matter-of-fact rather than chiding, and Aleph was grateful to him for letting the subject go, at least for the present.
"Well, actually, there is something. I've grown quite concerned about it. There is reason to fear that the machines have breached the Zion mainframe, sir."
Succinctly, she began to describe her scans on the archives, and the unexpected success—if it could be called that—of one of them. She told him of the strange name, and name only, that had flared so suddenly out of the deeps, and her repeated failure to dredge up the codes that once might have gone with it. She told him of the file fragment that had, through an unknown mechanism, entwined itself with the name, together with all its disturbing anomalies.
"I understand what you say, sir. The archives have been accumulating ever since Zion's founding, and not all the stuff in there are tracked anymore...But this, this was different. On the screen it was only a small thing, less than a minute of code, blurred and deteriorated. But I made it into the record, and I saw—I saw more than there could possibly have been. This thing was bigger on the inside than on the outside."
Without speaking, Hamann leaned forward in his chair and made a gesture for her to go on. Aleph had his complete attention as she spoke of the scene within, from the barren plain with its torched cities to the wide black gorge. From time to time she had to stop to seek the right words, though she kept to an essential summary of what she had seen. Two figures. A battle.
"Of the two opponents on the bridge, the man in white I could not identify at all. And I looked, sir, through the entire history, everything. No match whatsoever. Whether human or program he's not known to Zion. Out of that entire picture, the agent was the only thing that seemed remotely connected to any kind of reality, strange as that sounds..."
Her voice trailed off, and for a heartbeat she caught glimpse once more of the blue sword, burnished as a baleful comet. But she had to stay on rational ground, make a convincing case. Steady now.
"That name," said Hamann quietly.
"HF12-1. Historical file. I've a feeling that it's important, just from the age of it, something to do with our beginnings, maybe. But I couldn't disentangle that fragment—"
"We've been around for a hundred years, Aleph," Hamann broke in, shaking his head. "You're young but I've seen things come and go, build up on top of each other, growing together—the same way all our human lives do, when you come right down to it. Only the machines keep perfect order. The fragment could be anything, someone's work from years ago, a test, a training program perhaps..."
"You don't know what it is, then, the name HF12-1?"
The old man stared at her for a few seconds. He sighed.
"It wasn't anyone's work. I know it." Her words grew quick despite herself. "Not any human's work. It didn't feel right. It wasn't a training program; there was too much...fury in that fight. It was here, deep within Zion, but there was nothing human about that file. I could tell. If you were there you would have seen it too. And later, when I lost the file, I didn't realize it then but the more I considered it the more it appeared as if I was fighting the code itself, as if there was someone—something—out there on the other side, working against me, pulling it away from before my eyes—" She shook her head, gathering her thoughts. "I believe this HF12-1 and the fragment came from the machines, sir. They have tampered with the Zion archives."
"A strange way for them to go about it, if so."
"It's the only possible explanation. I need to find out more. We need to find out more."
"If the machines have compromised our security, why would they merely insert such a pair of inexplicable record into the archives?" asked Hamann reasonably. "Remember that they would stop at nothing, and their goal is our total destruction. Why haven't they caused more damage?"
"I don't know. Perhaps it was only a first attempt, a test run. They may do more. The agent must be key to this whole puzzle—"
The councillor did not speak, and for a while there was silence. As if lost in troubled thought he turned his face away from her, brows furrowed deep.
"Have you spoken of this to anyone else?"
"None." Aleph was glad to see that he was finally being swayed. "I thought I'd come to you first."
"You did well, Aleph." Hamann nodded, giving her a quick reassuring smile. "Now, the fragment you described. Have you recalled everything you saw? Was there nothing else?"
Despite herself, Aleph tensed, abruptly going very still. The laughter of Lucy's voice echoed through the back of her brain, whispering nonsensically of starlight, doors, and keys. The terrifying desperation of the agent's stare flashed before her, a flame-lit vision that had remained unexorcised with her these last days, like the blast of pain that had engraved itself upon the inside of her skin or the inside of her mind or both—she could no longer tell. She lifted her gaze, and saw the old man watching her gravely. There was concern in his eyes, and steadfast human warmth. She had forgotten how familiar they were. A flood of relief rushed through her veins.
"Well, actually," she began.
No. Nothing else.
"No. Nothing else," Aleph repeated the suddenly urgent words without thinking. An instant later she already rationalized it: she would certainly not be allowed to carry out the plan if the councillor so much as suspected that she was going off the deep end again...
"Good." Hamann seemed to accept it at that, which sent a brief twinge of guilt through her. "In the mean time, Aleph, I must impress upon you the importance, the absolute importance, of keeping this to yourself. I needn't tell you that it is a serious and potentially sensitive matter. Tell no one of what you've seen, not without running it by me first."
"I understand, sir."
"In the meanwhile, we must increase the safety of our system."
"I have already created several new security measures. More remains to be done, but the most important thing is to learn where it came from. I have an idea, but I'll need to go back up for it." Aleph's lips curled a trace without her own noticing, and she went on quickly, before he could speak. "I will find the agent—Smith, and attempt to obtain the information from it. Under a suitable cover, of course."
Hamann's eyes narrowed. He had understood her immediately, she saw.
"No," he said.
"I've weighed all the possibilities and that agent is our only opening. It was the one that appeared and had to be involved—"
"You propose to waltz up to the machines—to an agent program—and to simply ask? What kind of plan is that? How do you imagine you'll gain anything by this madness?"
"I know it's a long shot and I'll have to wing it, but I think it can be done. As for the risks...I've known the risks for a long time now." Aleph attempted a grin. "They won't figure out what I'm really after precisely because it's such...well, madness."
Another long moment of silence, and suddenly the old man let out a quiet, ironic laugh.
"What you mean is that for all their power and ruthlessness, the machines still can't touch us humans for lies and connivance," he said.
"Well. Yes."
"There are some other things that set us apart from them, Aleph." Hamann rose and paced across the cramped room. His voice was still soft, and curiously gentle. "What you propose will almost certainly get you killed, frankly. Say I'm going soft in my dotage if you want, but I don't like it."
"It's all right, sir," said Aleph, moved. "But—"
"They have so much power. They have everything," he went on as if not having heard her. "But it is our loyalty that has kept us surviving for so long. Loyalty to each other. Loyalty to us, Zion, humanity—whatever else you choose to call it. Do you see that, Aleph? We haven't many other advantages but it's something they'll never have, or even understand..."
"But I need to do this. I need to learn more. What I mean is—" The words came tumbling out, and she paused to reorganize them. "You agree that this is a major peril to Zion, don't you? What other chance do we have?" Her voice, too, grew quiet. "I wish I am wrong about this. But we can't afford for me to be right."
Hamann stopped in the midst of his strides. Slowly, he let out a sigh, then came and sat down before her again.
"So...You'll inform the Council?" Aleph asked tentatively.
"The Operations Committee will suffice." Once he made the decision, Hamann was all business. "We'll have to find a ship for you."
"The Nebuchadnezzar is operating in Agent Smith's sector..."
"Too many conflicting agendas." The councillor cut her off with a wave of the hand. "Morpheus is interested in one thing and one thing only nowadays. No. I will request to have the Hyperion reassigned."
Aleph raised her eyes sharply.
"I know about you and Theo," he replied calmly, though she had not asked. "I also know you are both consummate professionals."
"Oh." For a second she felt like a foolish teenage girl.
"Sometimes things don't go the way our hearts wish, despite our best intentions. But that's human, too, isn't it?" There was a touch of something she couldn't quite pinpoint in his voice now, almost sadness. "Theo—Theo is one whom you can trust to do what is needed. Forgive an old man's words, Aleph, but even with your sister—"
"I never blamed Theo for that." The tightness in her throat was faint, but she heard it. He didn't have to bring this up now. "I'll get to the bottom of this. We, I mean Theo and I, will. We've worked well together no matter what."
The old man's piercing gaze remained on her face for a long moment.
"I know you will," he said softly.
For the next hour, they discussed the details of Aleph's plan. Although her precise tactics for dealing with the agent remained fluid, at least several contingencies had to be worked out, and issues of communication and secrecy. The Hyperion would be reassigned through Councillor Hamann's request, ostensibly to assist the Nebuchadnezzar in its day-to-day operations, but the true nature of her mission would be known to as few as possible. Finally, they both rose to their feet, and Hamann held out a hand.
"We will keep in touch. Good luck. And be careful."
She nodded, and shook his hand. More words seemed unnecessary, and she turned to leave.
"Wait, Aleph."
She turned and stood next to the door facing him.
"This is so dangerous as to be outright suicidal, you know."
She snorted.
"What else is new?"
"If you ever feel that you want to back out of it, at any time, for any reason or no reason whatsoever..."
"Thank you, sir. But I don't think—"
"Reconsider it, please. Promise me."
Strangely, Aleph found herself at a loss as to how to answer. What was she really seeing in his eyes?
"Okay," she said.
But her mind was set, and she did not reconsider it. Four days later, Aleph was aboard the Hyperion, officially one of its crew again, rising through the dark labyrinthine tunnels toward the Matrix and Agent Smith.
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Note: This chapter is necessary, alas. But there will definitely be Smith from the next chapter on, I promise.
