Jones ignored Brown when he re-entered the apartment that morning, moving to stare out of the windows for long moments occasionally running data access codes to facilitate transmissions through his earpiece. Brown sat silently on the couch watching the larger Agent, waiting. There was a level of tension in the air, of anticipation that might well prove fatal to either of them. All it would take would be the acknowledgement of that tension by either of them to start the downwards spiral.
In the end it was Jones who broke the silence, far more irritated than he let on by Brown's continual calm.
"What did you do?" he didn't turn round.
Brown looked faintly surprised at the question. He paused before replying "I do not understand-" breaking off as Jones turned the full force of his glare on him.
"What did you do, this time, Brown?"
"This time?"
"I can calculate the probability of it being your action that has been the cause of this latest communications breakdown."
Brown didn't reply. Of course Jones would be able to tell if something was amiss even if Smith wasn't directly connected to the rest of them via a hardwire. The only problem was that Brown hadn't noticed anything wrong before. He ran a quick check along the various communication channels that linked Agent teams together, only to be greeted with dead space from Smith.
Brown stood up then froze in place, just as Jones had, while they received an incoming order update. The transfer only took the barest part of a second and then both Agents were turning to face each other. Jones smirked. Brown on the other hand barely managed to hide his disconcerted expression.
"Anderson was meant to die… quickly." Brown said finally.
Jones shrugged.
"The longer he is kept alive, the more dangerous this assignment will become."
Again Jones seemed unperturbed.
"And if he discovers Setsuka's real identity…" Brown left the thought unfinished.
"It is nothing that Smith can not deal with." Jones sounded almost too placid.
Brown blinked in surprise "Like last time?" he asked coldly.
"It is not a matter that is in your hands, Brown." Jones pointed out.
"Like last time." Came a cool voice from the bedroom doorway. Both Agents turned to face their superior as she made her way across the room.
"I have requested that my orders be amended… As you now know." She smiled, cat-like.
"But Anderson-" Brown began.
"Will be of more use to us alive… for the moment."
"But…"
"Oh, don't worry, he will die… eventually." She laughed softly, now draping herself against Jones.
Brown stared at them both, he might as well have been staring at an even further distorted version of "Snow Glass Apples" for all that Smith's reassurances affected him. Except, Brown reflected, that this time the Princess was wearing a pair of high-heels and the Prince wasn't actually human to start with.
Not long after that particular revelation Brown was sent off to run further diagnostics on the currently dormant section of Smith's code, not that it couldn't be done from Setsuka's apartment but he'd been dismissed anyway.
Setsuka stared out of the window as Brown left. She was wearing a grey tailored suit, with skirt, standard Agent issue sunglasses and an earpiece. All in all she looked exactly like a female Agent should look, if there was such a thing.
But there weren't.
The system didn't make certain distinctions in the same way that humans did, so the matter of male and female gender assignment had never arisen. Agent Smith was… Agent Smith regardless of appearance in the physical construct. Of course Smith was currently masquerading as a human who called herself Setsuka but that didn't really make that much of a difference to the machines.
Smith frowned down at his female form, clad in her grey suit. He didn't know why he'd chosen to dress like this, this morning. He wondered if it might have something to do with last night's episode with Brown or the fact that Neo was actually quite an interesting… Anderson, Smith corrected himself, the human's name was Anderson, Thomas A, regardless of what he called himself.
Smith was almost startled when he felt a pair of large hands rest on his waist, then he remembered that Jones was still there, most likely with nothing much to do.
"Do you think it unreasonable to want to prolong Anderson's suffering?" Smith asked in a strangely uncertain tone. Jones' arms encircled him now.
"No." came the definite reply.
"Mmm…" Smith leaned back, letting his eyes fall closed. "You never disagree with me, Jones."
"That is incorrect."
A low chuckle was Smith's reply.
"You believe that Agent Brown is a valuable member of this team."
"And you believe?"
"That he is a… prat."
"Your perception is not particularly objective, Jones."
"I disagree. Brown wastes valuable time pursuing various pointless avenues of enquiry."
"Regarding?"
"Everything."
"If you are referring to…" Smith turned his head to the side shooting a sly glance up at Jones' face.
"Yes."
"It is an experiment."
"A pointless experiment."
"Actually, no, especially considering the terms of this assignment."
Jones fell silent; he didn't want to think about that particular facet of the current situation. The fact that Smith had consented to… to engage in Brown's previous 'experiments' angered him beyond words but the thought of the human also… Jones ground his teeth in repressed fury.
"Jones?"
His gaze focused to find Setsuka staring up at him. She had removed her sunglasses.
She would have been pretty by human standards, even if she hadn't been a machine, Jones supposed. But then she would have been simply another dull, uninteresting mammal. There would have been no perfectly calculating intellect, no cold core of strength, no intricacies of code that so beguiled him. Though that would have had the advantage of no Brown to take her away from him.
Jones peered down at her. Not really expecting any sort of reply she had closed her eyes and laid her head back against his chest. She was smiling faintly.
"If only the system was as secure as this." She murmured, barely audible; enjoying the comfort of his arms. "I always feel so safe here… like this…"
Brown purposely took longer than required to complete his task. Somehow he didn't want to go back just yet, which irrational though it was, didn't change the matter. Humans always maintained that sex complicated things, Brown recalled. He hadn't given the human maxim any thought until now. He should have considered it before, he supposed; that many generations who had briefly colonised a planet probably weren't wrong.
It had been supposed to be an experiment, since Agents were capable of the full range of human functions. He didn't think about why he'd suggested it to Smith instead of Jones. An experiment to test out a particular human function, one that the vast majority of the human population seems to find relatively addictive. Sex wasn't supposed to mean anything to a machine. It wasn't necessary for the procreation of their species, didn't have any ritual significance, wasn't something that signified any sort of attachment. Not that many machines formed particular attachments to each other, not in the way that humans did anyway. There were odd instances where two sentient programs might be so closely integrated that they became indistinguishable as two separate entities but it wasn't the same as human 'bonding'. Humans were never so closely joined, they always remained separate.
Perhaps being forced to spend so much time among the humans was contaminating him. Brown was secretly beginning to wonder if Smith had been right in saying that they had somehow become infected by the viral populous of the physical construct. But… wouldn't it be of more use to the system if they understood the humans on some level, to better control them. Yet if that was the case, then why did it feel like he was making excuses?
If it was simply the problem of understanding the humans to control them then why did it disturb him this much? Brown had considered the almost heretical theory that perhaps emotions might not be such a bad thing previously but had reached no definite conclusion… and any conclusion he might reach would be coloured by his perceptions of the current situation.
If only Smith could be persuaded to kill Anderson quickly… That would deal with at least one problem; then Brown only had Jones left to be jealous of.
Brown mentally shook himself as he stopped outside the apartment door. He didn't want to go in. Why? It was foolish, an almost human reaction. Why was he even jealous of Jones? He was a machine and as such didn't need that sort of attachment. Pure logic and programming didn't need diluting by frail emotions… And with that thought Brown stepped back into the apartment, only to wish that he hadn't.
Inside framed by the windows, Setsuka stood with her eyes closed, leaning back into Jones' arms. The larger Agent held her possessively, looking down at her with his normal blank expression.
Brown had to unclench his jaw to announce that he'd completed his report. It had been, as his internal diagnostic specified, a reflex reaction.
Again another section that took too long to finish. This is happening more frequently now… that I write most of the section then end up being interrupted on the last paragraph.
"Snow Glass Apples" is a short story by Neil Gaiman… with a different take on the whole "Snow White" story.
Thank you again to those people who've been kind enough to review. To the Hyper Angel for the award I received for my Matrix fiction: and Cattleya for translating "Mind Games" into Chinese.
Also thanks to Sakura-chan and 'Ruby Moon' for listening to me go on about my convoluted plot, and feeding me cake!
13:51, 31/08/02