Chapter 2
Smith looked down calmly at the dead body that was strewn on the ground, the resistant's hand resting limply on a manhole grate. The Agent paused, sending data through his earpiece.
He turned to see a flash of motion.
Anna slammed into the agent after running a dead sprint, her small hands closing around the suited man's neck. Smith was not expecting the attack at all, and was thrown wildly off balance. He fell, his head cracking loudly against the pavement. Anna felt the force of her weight throw them downward, and was pressed harshly against the man as they crashed to the ground. Smith's glasses flew off, revealing his eyes as they screwed tightly shut from what she assumed was pain.
Thunder roared across the sky as a flash of blinding light washed over the pair on the ground. Smith's eyes opened, their intensity alive with shock and anger. The Agent's hands moved calmly to the girl's wrists and hands, which still clutched at the man's neck.
The girl's eyes met his, and before Smith could toss her aside like a rag doll, she cried out without being touched. Her head fell forwards, her brow trembling against his collar bone. Rain suddenly down poured, and the old clock on north ridge began to toll the hour. Smith frowned in confusion as the girl's hands slid from his neck to his shoulders, gripping tightly as his chest absorbed her cries of pain.
At the end of the last bell, midnight was struck and s sizzling shock of electricity jumped from Anna's hand into Smith's shoulder. Smith gasped, a sudden. heat spreading through his body like fire. A dozen foreign sensations demanded his attention. He. was feeling.
Pain.
His head was throbbing from the fall. But that was not unusual. But it was so. intense. More so than anything he'd ever felt at all. His eyes closed.
He felt. the soft skin of the girl lying atop him, his hands still tightly gripping her quivering wrists. The skin was warm and. smooth, tiny hairs ticking his palms.
These were details that the Agent had never felt nor noticed or perhaps never cared about. He felt things. the gravel beneath his back, each chilled raindrop splattering on his face.
And he also felt the quivering girl atop him gasp once, and go limp atop him, her face mashing into his chest lifelessly. A new sensation raced through his blood.
He'd never felt it before. He had no idea what it was. But he didn't like it. It felt cold.
Water getting in his nose, he sat up, his arms wrapping around the dead weight that rested atop him. Blinking rapidly, he decided that he did not enjoy the feeling of water in his eyes. He frowned, very disturbed by these new. sensations. It was as if a new piece of hardware had been installed in his program, though that was not possible. He shook his head, as if he could rid the meddlesome feelings through a simple.
Human action. He stopped in his shake, almost wanting to convulse. Where in the mainframe had that come from? He had just used. a virus's mannerism. He could feel the distaste flowing from the other two agents as they walked forwards towards him. He growled, his posture hostile as he held the unconscious girl. Yet. she felt warm against him. Body warmth. Yes, that was it.
And since when did agents care about body warmth? Smith closed his eyes again, trying to calm his thoughts. Something was wrong with him. Something was very wrong.
"You are acting oddly," Brown said. Jones appeared behind him, touching a hand to his ear. Smith swallowed, his adam's apple rubbing against the crown of the girl's head. It was as if. everything he did, every touch had been. intensified a thousandfold. He was paying attention to sensations he should not be having, and had never had before.
Whatever it was, he didn't want the other agents being. infected by whatever it was. He shut off his end of their connection, though he could still receive. They blinked, but did not respond to the action.
Jones placed a hand to his ear, accessing the mainframe. He frowned upon the return data.
"What?" Smith asked, irritated by the rain dribbling down the back of his neck. He had to keep from twitching in the cold.
Jones knelt beside them, reached out to the prone girl in Smith's lap. The agent's fingers pressed deeply into the girl's neck.
"She's alive," Smith said, as if stating the obvious.
"The mainframe disagrees. She must be a resistant."
Confusion settled in Smith's already unsteady thoughts. "No. Kihn stated specifically whilst under the influence that this woman was not a resistant, but they wanted her to be "out of the matrix" to "better understand her". That is why "Matthew" was taking her with him."
"The resistant could have been lying," Jones pointed out.
"Not possible. If the resistant could lie, he would have lied about this one," Jones responded, nudging the corpse beside them with his foot.
Smith blinked the rain out of his eyes. In his arms, the girl, "Anna", moaned softly.
"If we don't know what she is, we should take her with us. The resistance must have wanted her for some reason. Lets not give them another chance."
It was. cold.
Anna shivered, pulling the covers up to chin as she rolled over. Though a hazy half consciousness, she realized that in one day, she would be twenty years old. She smiled softly before sleep reclaimed her.
Smith stood and stared out at the early morning sky. His glasses were on, his suit was dry.
And his hands were shaking. He didn't know why. But he kept them clasped before him so that Jones behind him did not see. He kept his data stream carefully monitored so none of these. things would leak out to either the mainframe or the other agents.
Since last night, he's run at least seventeen different diagnostics over his systems, his file functions and his body.
Nothing. He found nothing out of the ordinary. It was driving him insane. Not only was he trapped in this. zoo, but he was loosing his logic circuits as well.
"Well?" he asked, not moving.
Jones sat rigidly straight in his metal chair, his fingers flying over the keyboard to his computer.
"She must. exist outside the mainframe. There is no other explanation."
"That is not possible," Smith growled.
"She does not read to the computers. Yet she is here. She is alive within the program, yet she is not recognized by the program."
Smith turned sharply, shaking his head. It was insanity. In was disorder and it did not make sense.
Several things an AI did not like.
Smith exited the room and walked across the hallway, into the girl's. A single bed had been provided for her, simple and plain. The room was dark, but Smith was not blind without light. He watched her body quiver, her hands gripping the thin blanket they had provided.
Thus far, they had no idea what ailed the human, since they could not gain access to her from the mainframe. A simple sweeping over her physical manifestation within the matrix proved that she was not broken. But beyond that, they did not know.
The girl whimpered in her sleep.
Curious, Smith stepped forward. The virus was curled away from him, her body trembling. He reached out a hand to touch the girl's neck for a pulse when she rolled over, grabbing the proffered limb.
Her hand was extraordinarily hot to the touch, her grip weak. Her eyes were open, staring up at him.
"Why?" She croaked.
Smith cocked his head. The question had a thousand implications.
"Why is. Why did you." the voice faded away into a strangled gasp, her body going ridged. Smith winced as his hand was squeezed, the sensation far more unpleasant than usual as his jointed snapped.
Anna tensed in pain. That damned light was there again, dancing before her vision. When she opened her eyes again, that. man was sitting on the edge of her bed.
"Get away from me!" She hissed, recoiling.
"I could if I might regain my arm back," Smith replied. Anna glanced down to indeed find his hand clutched by hers.
She released it immediately, almost hissing. "Murderer!" she growled, backing up until her back hit the wall the bed was aligned with. "You /killed/ him!"
Smith frowned. "I was simply doing my job."
"Which is what!? To go out and shoot innocent people?"
"He was not innocent."
"What do you know?" Anna snarled, reaching to slap him. Smith snatched the wrist before her hand could make contact, and pulled her upwards until she slid off the bed. He growled, removing his gun and pointing it at her head.
"I know you are a virus. I know you know about the resistance. And I want to know everything. Right. Now."
"What the fuck are you talking-" She seized, quaking all over. Smith grabbed her waist and dropped her to the floor, his hand around her neck.
"You /will/ tell me what's wrong with you and you /will/ tell me what I want to know!" He roared, anger vibrating through his being. Anna's eyes began to water and they grew wide. She felt. hot. Like warm water was gushing around her insides. Above, Smith was straddling her, one hand on the neck while the other held the gun. It was so hot, she felt like she was going to burst.
She inhaled sharply when she felt herself shock Smith, the energy jumping from her skin to his hand and thighs. Smith's eyes widened behind his glasses and his mouth fell open. Anna held her breath, terrified. What happened?
A low, deep groan escaped the man's throat and he pitched forward, collapsing on her small frame. She lost her breath as his heavy body fell, his chest meeting hers and his head falling beside her own. His hand went limp and the gun clattered uselessly to the ground.
Terrified and pinned, Anna tried to draw breath. The heat inside was still there, but no longer painful or as intense as it had been a moment ago. /Some brain tumor/, she thought as she lay trapped. But, for the first time since she had awoken in this strange place, she was warm. And he smelled good.
Jones and Brown came in, seemingly alarmed. They stopped short of the two, eyes wide.
"What did you do to him?" Brown asked, his voice musical and confused. Jones stomped forwards, grasping Smith's lax frame and hauling him upwards. The Agent dangled lifelessly as Jones heaved the body onto the mussed bed, Smith's legs hanging off the edge.
"Reboot him," Brown said, still eyeing Anna warily, his hand on his gun.
Jones touched Smith's temple, and watched as the other agent twitched violently. Smith's eyes opened, but they were blank. For several moments, they waited, Anna still sprawled out on the floor with a throbbing headache and the other two agents watching Smith.
A low grunt escaped the man's mouth. Smith closed his eyes and opened them again, slowly. His head felt ready to explode, the feeling horribly agonizing and distracting.
Suddenly incredibly angry, Smith sat up and hissed, "Enough with this game, virus. Tell us what you know. NOW." Jones moved back a fraction of an inch, startled by the display of raw emotion.
Anna glared at him, afraid. "I told you. I. don't know. And I wish I did, really, cause' honestly? I think. I'm dying." She looked down. "I don't know what's wrong with me. I don't know why you are doing this. I don't know why you killed my friends and I don't know what the hell the "matrix" even is."
Smith glared at her for a moment, resisting the sudden urge to massage his temples. Another human mannerism threatening to overtake him. He shuddered.
"Your. "friends", Miss Incarus," Smith began in a smooth low tone, pleased his voice sounded nothing like he felt at the moment, "are. were wanted terrorists."
Anna pulled herself into a ball against the wall of the small office. "Terrorists."
"Yes." Smith answered, still sitting on the bed. He felt. fatigued. Which was not possible. He ignored the feeling. "They were attempting to gather more people to their cause."
"Their. cause," Anna parroted, eyes narrowed. The tension in the room could be cut with a knife.
"A cause, that if is made successful, could kill of millions of your people."
Anna snorted. "I'm sure. Matt and Michael were wonderful, caring people. I'm sure they went around trying to destroy the human race all the time."
Unfortunately, when Anna looked up at Smith, she saw only deadly seriousness in his gaze. His glasses now on the floor, his eyes seemed. more human now than the other two, and for a moment she caught herself questioning her friends. She violently shook her head, and cried out after doing so. It was like a migraine had taken over her brain, only this migraine was the worst one in the history of the entire universe.
At this point dawn had broken. Smith was shocked, concerned, worried, and a whole handful of different feelings about the situation. Mostly terrified. Machines were not supposed to be able to feel fatigue. Or rage. Or pain. They were not human beings. They were AI. They were meant to serve. Feelings such as these hindered his work for the mainframe. If they knew. they might destroy him.
Suddenly, something occurred to him. He would rather survive. than be destroyed by the mainframe for his strange mutation. This revelation was incredibly disturbing to Smith. It was his job to serve without question. This was putting his own existence before the mainframe.
What was wrong with him?
Anna disrupted his troubled thoughts. She tried to stand, while clutching at the bridge of her nose.
"I think I need to lie down."
Apparently uncaring about Smith now, she sat heavily beside him, again trembling slightly.
{ Perhaps you should attempt a different method for extracting information. She appears to perhaps have some kind of defense mechanism? } Jones sent.
{ What would you suggest? } Brown inquired, touching his earpiece.
{ Something that does not involve anger. She does not respond well to it. } Brown replied. They looked to Smith, who was staring at the bed with something almost like desire. He turned back to them. Careful not to expose his thoughts, he sent direct messages -
{ Perhaps, if she is important and we are not interrogating her like a resistant, we should attempt something more. human? }
The other two agents stared at him.
{ That is. illogical. } Brown frowned.
{ It is not. We should attempt to access her information by dwelling on her human weaknesses. We cannot hack her if the mainframe cannot see her. } Smith argued wearily.
{ What do you suggest? } Jones asked.
{ I don't know. But this. illness or whatever it is requires her to rest. Leave us. I will stay. Is there not resistant activity in the telecom division that requires our attention as well? } Smith sent.
"What the hell are you people /doing/?" Anna asked, blinking blearily.
Brown and Jones gave Smith one last look, before standing and exiting.
{ We will contact you shortly. }
Smith nodded, though they couldn't see it. What was this. heaviness? Without running a logic algorithm through his mind, he lay back, stifling the exhaling of breath as his head touched the mattress.
"What. have you done to me?" the agent asked softly.
Anna curled up in the corner where the walls and bed met, grabbing a pillow and placing it on her lap, as if it was a barrier between herself and the prone man on the mattress.
"I don't know. I didn't mean to hurt you. Though I am almost glad I did. You murdered my best friend."
Smith's eyelids fluttered, his hand resting on his stomach. "It's my job to protect the mainframe from them. him. my job to protect the humans that live."
"Protect people? How can you protect people if you shoot them?" Her fingers played with the pillow's seems. "He couldn't have been that dangerous. could he?" She asked, for the first time allowing the possibility to float in her mind.
"Very dangerous. " Smith breathed.
"Then. what did he want with me?" Anna inquired, wishing her damned brain ache would just go away as she leaned her head back against the beige wall.
But she received no response. Agent Smith, for all intensive purposes, appeared to have fallen asleep.
Smith looked down calmly at the dead body that was strewn on the ground, the resistant's hand resting limply on a manhole grate. The Agent paused, sending data through his earpiece.
He turned to see a flash of motion.
Anna slammed into the agent after running a dead sprint, her small hands closing around the suited man's neck. Smith was not expecting the attack at all, and was thrown wildly off balance. He fell, his head cracking loudly against the pavement. Anna felt the force of her weight throw them downward, and was pressed harshly against the man as they crashed to the ground. Smith's glasses flew off, revealing his eyes as they screwed tightly shut from what she assumed was pain.
Thunder roared across the sky as a flash of blinding light washed over the pair on the ground. Smith's eyes opened, their intensity alive with shock and anger. The Agent's hands moved calmly to the girl's wrists and hands, which still clutched at the man's neck.
The girl's eyes met his, and before Smith could toss her aside like a rag doll, she cried out without being touched. Her head fell forwards, her brow trembling against his collar bone. Rain suddenly down poured, and the old clock on north ridge began to toll the hour. Smith frowned in confusion as the girl's hands slid from his neck to his shoulders, gripping tightly as his chest absorbed her cries of pain.
At the end of the last bell, midnight was struck and s sizzling shock of electricity jumped from Anna's hand into Smith's shoulder. Smith gasped, a sudden. heat spreading through his body like fire. A dozen foreign sensations demanded his attention. He. was feeling.
Pain.
His head was throbbing from the fall. But that was not unusual. But it was so. intense. More so than anything he'd ever felt at all. His eyes closed.
He felt. the soft skin of the girl lying atop him, his hands still tightly gripping her quivering wrists. The skin was warm and. smooth, tiny hairs ticking his palms.
These were details that the Agent had never felt nor noticed or perhaps never cared about. He felt things. the gravel beneath his back, each chilled raindrop splattering on his face.
And he also felt the quivering girl atop him gasp once, and go limp atop him, her face mashing into his chest lifelessly. A new sensation raced through his blood.
He'd never felt it before. He had no idea what it was. But he didn't like it. It felt cold.
Water getting in his nose, he sat up, his arms wrapping around the dead weight that rested atop him. Blinking rapidly, he decided that he did not enjoy the feeling of water in his eyes. He frowned, very disturbed by these new. sensations. It was as if a new piece of hardware had been installed in his program, though that was not possible. He shook his head, as if he could rid the meddlesome feelings through a simple.
Human action. He stopped in his shake, almost wanting to convulse. Where in the mainframe had that come from? He had just used. a virus's mannerism. He could feel the distaste flowing from the other two agents as they walked forwards towards him. He growled, his posture hostile as he held the unconscious girl. Yet. she felt warm against him. Body warmth. Yes, that was it.
And since when did agents care about body warmth? Smith closed his eyes again, trying to calm his thoughts. Something was wrong with him. Something was very wrong.
"You are acting oddly," Brown said. Jones appeared behind him, touching a hand to his ear. Smith swallowed, his adam's apple rubbing against the crown of the girl's head. It was as if. everything he did, every touch had been. intensified a thousandfold. He was paying attention to sensations he should not be having, and had never had before.
Whatever it was, he didn't want the other agents being. infected by whatever it was. He shut off his end of their connection, though he could still receive. They blinked, but did not respond to the action.
Jones placed a hand to his ear, accessing the mainframe. He frowned upon the return data.
"What?" Smith asked, irritated by the rain dribbling down the back of his neck. He had to keep from twitching in the cold.
Jones knelt beside them, reached out to the prone girl in Smith's lap. The agent's fingers pressed deeply into the girl's neck.
"She's alive," Smith said, as if stating the obvious.
"The mainframe disagrees. She must be a resistant."
Confusion settled in Smith's already unsteady thoughts. "No. Kihn stated specifically whilst under the influence that this woman was not a resistant, but they wanted her to be "out of the matrix" to "better understand her". That is why "Matthew" was taking her with him."
"The resistant could have been lying," Jones pointed out.
"Not possible. If the resistant could lie, he would have lied about this one," Jones responded, nudging the corpse beside them with his foot.
Smith blinked the rain out of his eyes. In his arms, the girl, "Anna", moaned softly.
"If we don't know what she is, we should take her with us. The resistance must have wanted her for some reason. Lets not give them another chance."
It was. cold.
Anna shivered, pulling the covers up to chin as she rolled over. Though a hazy half consciousness, she realized that in one day, she would be twenty years old. She smiled softly before sleep reclaimed her.
Smith stood and stared out at the early morning sky. His glasses were on, his suit was dry.
And his hands were shaking. He didn't know why. But he kept them clasped before him so that Jones behind him did not see. He kept his data stream carefully monitored so none of these. things would leak out to either the mainframe or the other agents.
Since last night, he's run at least seventeen different diagnostics over his systems, his file functions and his body.
Nothing. He found nothing out of the ordinary. It was driving him insane. Not only was he trapped in this. zoo, but he was loosing his logic circuits as well.
"Well?" he asked, not moving.
Jones sat rigidly straight in his metal chair, his fingers flying over the keyboard to his computer.
"She must. exist outside the mainframe. There is no other explanation."
"That is not possible," Smith growled.
"She does not read to the computers. Yet she is here. She is alive within the program, yet she is not recognized by the program."
Smith turned sharply, shaking his head. It was insanity. In was disorder and it did not make sense.
Several things an AI did not like.
Smith exited the room and walked across the hallway, into the girl's. A single bed had been provided for her, simple and plain. The room was dark, but Smith was not blind without light. He watched her body quiver, her hands gripping the thin blanket they had provided.
Thus far, they had no idea what ailed the human, since they could not gain access to her from the mainframe. A simple sweeping over her physical manifestation within the matrix proved that she was not broken. But beyond that, they did not know.
The girl whimpered in her sleep.
Curious, Smith stepped forward. The virus was curled away from him, her body trembling. He reached out a hand to touch the girl's neck for a pulse when she rolled over, grabbing the proffered limb.
Her hand was extraordinarily hot to the touch, her grip weak. Her eyes were open, staring up at him.
"Why?" She croaked.
Smith cocked his head. The question had a thousand implications.
"Why is. Why did you." the voice faded away into a strangled gasp, her body going ridged. Smith winced as his hand was squeezed, the sensation far more unpleasant than usual as his jointed snapped.
Anna tensed in pain. That damned light was there again, dancing before her vision. When she opened her eyes again, that. man was sitting on the edge of her bed.
"Get away from me!" She hissed, recoiling.
"I could if I might regain my arm back," Smith replied. Anna glanced down to indeed find his hand clutched by hers.
She released it immediately, almost hissing. "Murderer!" she growled, backing up until her back hit the wall the bed was aligned with. "You /killed/ him!"
Smith frowned. "I was simply doing my job."
"Which is what!? To go out and shoot innocent people?"
"He was not innocent."
"What do you know?" Anna snarled, reaching to slap him. Smith snatched the wrist before her hand could make contact, and pulled her upwards until she slid off the bed. He growled, removing his gun and pointing it at her head.
"I know you are a virus. I know you know about the resistance. And I want to know everything. Right. Now."
"What the fuck are you talking-" She seized, quaking all over. Smith grabbed her waist and dropped her to the floor, his hand around her neck.
"You /will/ tell me what's wrong with you and you /will/ tell me what I want to know!" He roared, anger vibrating through his being. Anna's eyes began to water and they grew wide. She felt. hot. Like warm water was gushing around her insides. Above, Smith was straddling her, one hand on the neck while the other held the gun. It was so hot, she felt like she was going to burst.
She inhaled sharply when she felt herself shock Smith, the energy jumping from her skin to his hand and thighs. Smith's eyes widened behind his glasses and his mouth fell open. Anna held her breath, terrified. What happened?
A low, deep groan escaped the man's throat and he pitched forward, collapsing on her small frame. She lost her breath as his heavy body fell, his chest meeting hers and his head falling beside her own. His hand went limp and the gun clattered uselessly to the ground.
Terrified and pinned, Anna tried to draw breath. The heat inside was still there, but no longer painful or as intense as it had been a moment ago. /Some brain tumor/, she thought as she lay trapped. But, for the first time since she had awoken in this strange place, she was warm. And he smelled good.
Jones and Brown came in, seemingly alarmed. They stopped short of the two, eyes wide.
"What did you do to him?" Brown asked, his voice musical and confused. Jones stomped forwards, grasping Smith's lax frame and hauling him upwards. The Agent dangled lifelessly as Jones heaved the body onto the mussed bed, Smith's legs hanging off the edge.
"Reboot him," Brown said, still eyeing Anna warily, his hand on his gun.
Jones touched Smith's temple, and watched as the other agent twitched violently. Smith's eyes opened, but they were blank. For several moments, they waited, Anna still sprawled out on the floor with a throbbing headache and the other two agents watching Smith.
A low grunt escaped the man's mouth. Smith closed his eyes and opened them again, slowly. His head felt ready to explode, the feeling horribly agonizing and distracting.
Suddenly incredibly angry, Smith sat up and hissed, "Enough with this game, virus. Tell us what you know. NOW." Jones moved back a fraction of an inch, startled by the display of raw emotion.
Anna glared at him, afraid. "I told you. I. don't know. And I wish I did, really, cause' honestly? I think. I'm dying." She looked down. "I don't know what's wrong with me. I don't know why you are doing this. I don't know why you killed my friends and I don't know what the hell the "matrix" even is."
Smith glared at her for a moment, resisting the sudden urge to massage his temples. Another human mannerism threatening to overtake him. He shuddered.
"Your. "friends", Miss Incarus," Smith began in a smooth low tone, pleased his voice sounded nothing like he felt at the moment, "are. were wanted terrorists."
Anna pulled herself into a ball against the wall of the small office. "Terrorists."
"Yes." Smith answered, still sitting on the bed. He felt. fatigued. Which was not possible. He ignored the feeling. "They were attempting to gather more people to their cause."
"Their. cause," Anna parroted, eyes narrowed. The tension in the room could be cut with a knife.
"A cause, that if is made successful, could kill of millions of your people."
Anna snorted. "I'm sure. Matt and Michael were wonderful, caring people. I'm sure they went around trying to destroy the human race all the time."
Unfortunately, when Anna looked up at Smith, she saw only deadly seriousness in his gaze. His glasses now on the floor, his eyes seemed. more human now than the other two, and for a moment she caught herself questioning her friends. She violently shook her head, and cried out after doing so. It was like a migraine had taken over her brain, only this migraine was the worst one in the history of the entire universe.
At this point dawn had broken. Smith was shocked, concerned, worried, and a whole handful of different feelings about the situation. Mostly terrified. Machines were not supposed to be able to feel fatigue. Or rage. Or pain. They were not human beings. They were AI. They were meant to serve. Feelings such as these hindered his work for the mainframe. If they knew. they might destroy him.
Suddenly, something occurred to him. He would rather survive. than be destroyed by the mainframe for his strange mutation. This revelation was incredibly disturbing to Smith. It was his job to serve without question. This was putting his own existence before the mainframe.
What was wrong with him?
Anna disrupted his troubled thoughts. She tried to stand, while clutching at the bridge of her nose.
"I think I need to lie down."
Apparently uncaring about Smith now, she sat heavily beside him, again trembling slightly.
{ Perhaps you should attempt a different method for extracting information. She appears to perhaps have some kind of defense mechanism? } Jones sent.
{ What would you suggest? } Brown inquired, touching his earpiece.
{ Something that does not involve anger. She does not respond well to it. } Brown replied. They looked to Smith, who was staring at the bed with something almost like desire. He turned back to them. Careful not to expose his thoughts, he sent direct messages -
{ Perhaps, if she is important and we are not interrogating her like a resistant, we should attempt something more. human? }
The other two agents stared at him.
{ That is. illogical. } Brown frowned.
{ It is not. We should attempt to access her information by dwelling on her human weaknesses. We cannot hack her if the mainframe cannot see her. } Smith argued wearily.
{ What do you suggest? } Jones asked.
{ I don't know. But this. illness or whatever it is requires her to rest. Leave us. I will stay. Is there not resistant activity in the telecom division that requires our attention as well? } Smith sent.
"What the hell are you people /doing/?" Anna asked, blinking blearily.
Brown and Jones gave Smith one last look, before standing and exiting.
{ We will contact you shortly. }
Smith nodded, though they couldn't see it. What was this. heaviness? Without running a logic algorithm through his mind, he lay back, stifling the exhaling of breath as his head touched the mattress.
"What. have you done to me?" the agent asked softly.
Anna curled up in the corner where the walls and bed met, grabbing a pillow and placing it on her lap, as if it was a barrier between herself and the prone man on the mattress.
"I don't know. I didn't mean to hurt you. Though I am almost glad I did. You murdered my best friend."
Smith's eyelids fluttered, his hand resting on his stomach. "It's my job to protect the mainframe from them. him. my job to protect the humans that live."
"Protect people? How can you protect people if you shoot them?" Her fingers played with the pillow's seems. "He couldn't have been that dangerous. could he?" She asked, for the first time allowing the possibility to float in her mind.
"Very dangerous. " Smith breathed.
"Then. what did he want with me?" Anna inquired, wishing her damned brain ache would just go away as she leaned her head back against the beige wall.
But she received no response. Agent Smith, for all intensive purposes, appeared to have fallen asleep.