Chapter Four
I was out! I was out!
"Careful, Hunt, hold on... does this hurt?"
Maybell carefully pushed the bloody area on my leg. It sure did hurt, but I didn't care! My body was still flowing with the adrenaline and exultion from the escape. I had killed one Agent - not permanently, of course - and had run from the other, with only a bullet wound to the leg! The leg!
"Hey, Hunter," Daggert said, leaning over my head. "I already told Puma this. Thanks for getting me and James out."
"No problem," I said and winced as Maybell closed my cut and applied sealent on it.
"Walk gingerly," she said and smiled. She was young and fit - we were all fit. Outside of the Matrix, I don't know one human who was overweight - and gorgeous, with dirty red hair that came to his neck and piercing green eyes. Her dark skin was filthy from the sweat and oil of the hovercraft but it didn't matter. She was gorgeous all the same.
"Thanks, Hunter," James said.
"No problem," I replied and got up from the chair. I stepped out, careful not to put much weight on my right leg and limped to the wall. "Where's Puma?"
"He's feeding your pets," Maybell replied and sat back down at her operating chair.
I carefully limped down the hall towards my room.
***
When I had turned fifteen, I was working in the hangar of Zion, carrying boxes as a part time job. I had already been entranced with the tales of the world from before by the men and women who searched for Neo in the Matrix. One day, when I had lifted one box and put it onto another, a man from a hovercraft who had managed to reconstruct a video camera and a television from blueprints taken from the Matrix, had shown his footage. I was terrified by the outer world it had shown. I had been told by my teachers of how both we and our enemies had nearly destroyed the world, but in my mind was always the dirty, yes, filthy, yes but sunny world that AI had constructed for us. From then on, I had been part of the leading enviromental faction to transform at least a chunk of this planet to what it was. In my opinion, and possibly the opinions of most people in the faction, there was no point in freeing humans from the filthy yet sunny world of the Matrix to the dark and scary world of today. Thus, we went to work, working on many secret projects. We had considerable success, with the birth of the Zion Arboretum and other buildings. I had been credited with the creation of the first rose in nearly one thousand years. The rose is on a patch of grass, which is concealed in a case in the Arboretum. We were progressing quickly towards our goal, and some may argue, progressing quickly towards becoming God, but I had taken leave when the second single most important thing happened in my life. The first most was the rose. It had happened when I had turned seventeen and Zion had begun making Matrix warriors - as they were called - out of true humans, by implanting input/output ports in the backs of our heads. We were being given a seminar in highschool about the benefits of this career choice and I had scoffed - I was going to an enviromentalist and that was that - when I had met Morpheus. From there I was hooked and everyday within the exciting yet fake world of the Matrix, I am hooked even more. I was even more hooked when I met Neo, a few years ago, and had even spoken with him. Yet, I had always turned back to the environmentalist idea, I was still welcome there and technically still working towards the goal. I mean, why be a god in an unreal world when you can be one in a real one. I had managed to make small ferns and several small lizards. I had even named them and kept them in the my room.
I entered my room and saw Puma leaning over the small glass case where I kept the plants and lizards. Puma and I, best friends in Zion and best friends now, shared a room and we both took turns feeding them. He finished pouring the food and turned to see me. I gingerly stepped in and sat on the bed.
"Close one, huh?" I asked, smiling.
"Close one?" Puma asked, unbelievingly. "Ten to two minutes ago, I thinking I'd be finished praying for your survival and praying over your corpse by now. Close one? I don't think the English language has words for how close that one was!"
"I'm sure they do," I said and laid down, but that wasn't the point. The point was I had 'killed' one Agent and had outrun the second, alone. That was huge and I hadn't realized it until now.
"Wanna train?" Puma asked.
"Sure,"
***
"So where, exactly, is Kayson?" I asked as I sailed back, over the gap between two huge buildings, a katana in hand and a tennis raquet in the other. Suspened in space on either side of the gap were two backets.
"Don't know, now," Daggert said, hitting the small orange ball with the raquet as he landed on the building, broadsword in his left. Puma attempted to leap in front of the ball, but missed. He flew down into the gap and slammed the sabre he had into the building, stopping his ascent. He began to climb. "But, we have his binary data and can tell where he is anytime on the computer."
James hit the ball towards the basket and I leapt nimbly towards the flying missile. In the Matrix, my leg wound was gone and flying and jumping and climbing were my specialties. I hit the ball away from the basket and landed on the other side of the building.
"Puma! Get James!" I yelled, as Daggert ran to the side to recieve the ball. He knocked it towards James and I clashed into him, my katana slicing into his broadsword. He swung and I leapt over it, despite the slash being at my head level. We called the game Swordball, with good reason.
"Brian!" Puma shouted and I noticed the orange ball flying towards us out of the corner of my eye. I slashed downwards and Daggert parried it, leaving his torso open, which I kicked. As he flew back, I whirled, hitting the ball towards our basket. James ran, trying to intercept it, and was tackled by Puma. The ball flew, flying, and missed, barely.
"No!!" I yelled. "Damn!"
"End program," Daggert said, smiling, and as quickly as we went in, we were out.
***
"We have a problem," Maybell said. She was at the operating chair, looking at the Matrix's code.
"Squiddies?" Daggert asked, leaping out of his chair. With Kayson gone, Daggert was second in command and with him gone, I was in command, though at those times, Maybell sure acted as if she thought she was. Puma, James and I slowly got out of the chair. We were sore from the game, me with my bad leg especially.
"No," Maybell replied. "Agents. They're moving towards Kayson's house."
"How many?" Daggert asked, moving towards the chairs again.
"Three of them," Maybell replied. Daggert stopped and swore.
"Wait a minute..." Maybell spoke, looking at the computer scene. "Damn! There's a glitch. I'll bet they've made Kayson's house impregnable."
"No," I said, sitting back into the chair. Three Agents... damn... "They wouldn't be expecting us. They've probably just made it so that Kayson can't get out of his... what is Kayson living in?"
"An apartment building. Ten stories," our resident female replied.
"Move us up so we can broadcast," Daggert said and leapt into his chair. James and Puma looked at me, who was already seated, and reluctantly moved to their own chairs. We were going back in.
I was out! I was out!
"Careful, Hunt, hold on... does this hurt?"
Maybell carefully pushed the bloody area on my leg. It sure did hurt, but I didn't care! My body was still flowing with the adrenaline and exultion from the escape. I had killed one Agent - not permanently, of course - and had run from the other, with only a bullet wound to the leg! The leg!
"Hey, Hunter," Daggert said, leaning over my head. "I already told Puma this. Thanks for getting me and James out."
"No problem," I said and winced as Maybell closed my cut and applied sealent on it.
"Walk gingerly," she said and smiled. She was young and fit - we were all fit. Outside of the Matrix, I don't know one human who was overweight - and gorgeous, with dirty red hair that came to his neck and piercing green eyes. Her dark skin was filthy from the sweat and oil of the hovercraft but it didn't matter. She was gorgeous all the same.
"Thanks, Hunter," James said.
"No problem," I replied and got up from the chair. I stepped out, careful not to put much weight on my right leg and limped to the wall. "Where's Puma?"
"He's feeding your pets," Maybell replied and sat back down at her operating chair.
I carefully limped down the hall towards my room.
***
When I had turned fifteen, I was working in the hangar of Zion, carrying boxes as a part time job. I had already been entranced with the tales of the world from before by the men and women who searched for Neo in the Matrix. One day, when I had lifted one box and put it onto another, a man from a hovercraft who had managed to reconstruct a video camera and a television from blueprints taken from the Matrix, had shown his footage. I was terrified by the outer world it had shown. I had been told by my teachers of how both we and our enemies had nearly destroyed the world, but in my mind was always the dirty, yes, filthy, yes but sunny world that AI had constructed for us. From then on, I had been part of the leading enviromental faction to transform at least a chunk of this planet to what it was. In my opinion, and possibly the opinions of most people in the faction, there was no point in freeing humans from the filthy yet sunny world of the Matrix to the dark and scary world of today. Thus, we went to work, working on many secret projects. We had considerable success, with the birth of the Zion Arboretum and other buildings. I had been credited with the creation of the first rose in nearly one thousand years. The rose is on a patch of grass, which is concealed in a case in the Arboretum. We were progressing quickly towards our goal, and some may argue, progressing quickly towards becoming God, but I had taken leave when the second single most important thing happened in my life. The first most was the rose. It had happened when I had turned seventeen and Zion had begun making Matrix warriors - as they were called - out of true humans, by implanting input/output ports in the backs of our heads. We were being given a seminar in highschool about the benefits of this career choice and I had scoffed - I was going to an enviromentalist and that was that - when I had met Morpheus. From there I was hooked and everyday within the exciting yet fake world of the Matrix, I am hooked even more. I was even more hooked when I met Neo, a few years ago, and had even spoken with him. Yet, I had always turned back to the environmentalist idea, I was still welcome there and technically still working towards the goal. I mean, why be a god in an unreal world when you can be one in a real one. I had managed to make small ferns and several small lizards. I had even named them and kept them in the my room.
I entered my room and saw Puma leaning over the small glass case where I kept the plants and lizards. Puma and I, best friends in Zion and best friends now, shared a room and we both took turns feeding them. He finished pouring the food and turned to see me. I gingerly stepped in and sat on the bed.
"Close one, huh?" I asked, smiling.
"Close one?" Puma asked, unbelievingly. "Ten to two minutes ago, I thinking I'd be finished praying for your survival and praying over your corpse by now. Close one? I don't think the English language has words for how close that one was!"
"I'm sure they do," I said and laid down, but that wasn't the point. The point was I had 'killed' one Agent and had outrun the second, alone. That was huge and I hadn't realized it until now.
"Wanna train?" Puma asked.
"Sure,"
***
"So where, exactly, is Kayson?" I asked as I sailed back, over the gap between two huge buildings, a katana in hand and a tennis raquet in the other. Suspened in space on either side of the gap were two backets.
"Don't know, now," Daggert said, hitting the small orange ball with the raquet as he landed on the building, broadsword in his left. Puma attempted to leap in front of the ball, but missed. He flew down into the gap and slammed the sabre he had into the building, stopping his ascent. He began to climb. "But, we have his binary data and can tell where he is anytime on the computer."
James hit the ball towards the basket and I leapt nimbly towards the flying missile. In the Matrix, my leg wound was gone and flying and jumping and climbing were my specialties. I hit the ball away from the basket and landed on the other side of the building.
"Puma! Get James!" I yelled, as Daggert ran to the side to recieve the ball. He knocked it towards James and I clashed into him, my katana slicing into his broadsword. He swung and I leapt over it, despite the slash being at my head level. We called the game Swordball, with good reason.
"Brian!" Puma shouted and I noticed the orange ball flying towards us out of the corner of my eye. I slashed downwards and Daggert parried it, leaving his torso open, which I kicked. As he flew back, I whirled, hitting the ball towards our basket. James ran, trying to intercept it, and was tackled by Puma. The ball flew, flying, and missed, barely.
"No!!" I yelled. "Damn!"
"End program," Daggert said, smiling, and as quickly as we went in, we were out.
***
"We have a problem," Maybell said. She was at the operating chair, looking at the Matrix's code.
"Squiddies?" Daggert asked, leaping out of his chair. With Kayson gone, Daggert was second in command and with him gone, I was in command, though at those times, Maybell sure acted as if she thought she was. Puma, James and I slowly got out of the chair. We were sore from the game, me with my bad leg especially.
"No," Maybell replied. "Agents. They're moving towards Kayson's house."
"How many?" Daggert asked, moving towards the chairs again.
"Three of them," Maybell replied. Daggert stopped and swore.
"Wait a minute..." Maybell spoke, looking at the computer scene. "Damn! There's a glitch. I'll bet they've made Kayson's house impregnable."
"No," I said, sitting back into the chair. Three Agents... damn... "They wouldn't be expecting us. They've probably just made it so that Kayson can't get out of his... what is Kayson living in?"
"An apartment building. Ten stories," our resident female replied.
"Move us up so we can broadcast," Daggert said and leapt into his chair. James and Puma looked at me, who was already seated, and reluctantly moved to their own chairs. We were going back in.