Chapter 6
---------------------------
"Do you have any ideas of what exactly is inside the Matrix?"
"Battery-powering people…um…I'm not sure what else."
Amethyst and Morpheus weeded their way through a sea of people. Their faces all looked different, but, to the girl, their clothes were all the same: black suits with some white clothing interspersed here and there. Amé found it rather difficult to concentrate while she tried to find spaces through all those who threatened to separate her from her captain. ~That's not gonna happen,~ she resolved and she did her best to keep up with the man who seemed to wade through them so effortlessly.
"While you look around you, you see doctors, architects, pastors, teachers, politicians." He said the last with an obvious air of disdain. "You see men, women, and children. No two people are exactly alike. You will find people who will say they like you or hate you or act as if they like you while they secretively don't. You may think that you can tell an honest person from a liar by the way they sound or look, but there are those who have made a lifestyle out of lying, cheating, stealing, and subverting. Every day you hear about people who have been robbed, beaten, murdered, taken advantage of, or hurt in some way or another."
"Is there no good left in the world?"
Morpheus looked back at her. "Of course there is." He then continued to walk on with his eyes forward. "From time to time a person will be recognized for deeds or achievements. Someone who believes that they make no difference in the world can end up as the savior of another. Strangers help strangers in both direct and indirect ways. However, the world inside of the Matrix has turned into a pessimistic society and people are no longer interested in hearing about the saviors. They find crime and punishment entertaining and ridicule those who try to make the world a better place."
"Why?"
"Because they believe that it can't be done."
Amethyst followed Morpheus with a split mind. One half of her brain she dedicated to listening to him, while the other was busy mulling over an idea that popped in her head. If people didn't want to hear about any sort of savior, how would they get some people to believe that the Matrix was real and realize the truth. She'd been told that certain people wouldn't want to be unplugged, but she hadn't understood what that had meant.
"…There's one basic thing you need to know."
Now she was able to form a basic understanding, but still the logic behind it didn't quite add up.
"Were you listening to what I just said?" Morpheus asked suddenly. Amethyst looked up the sidewalk she had been staring at. "Or were you looking at the man in the silver suit?"
Amé stopped chewing on her fingernails and looked straight at Morpheus. "I was listening to you."
Morpheus looked like he'd been about to smile but that his smile had been cheated out of him. "Just turn around."
Amethyst turned. Right there in front of her was a pale-skinned man in a crisp silver suit and square-shaped sunglasses. In his right ear was what looked like a piece of thin clear tubing. The black end of a gun barrel was pointed no less than six inches away from her face. It looked surprisingly similar to the one that Jake had pointed at her a couple of days before. Startled by the person's sudden appearance, her self image changed and a moment later Morpheus was looking at an exact copy of the person before Amethyst.
Needless to say Morpheus was shocked by the sudden change. "Change back…right now," he ordered.
Amethyst took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and willed herself to calm down. After she was able to think straight, she pictured her true image. When her eyes opened again, she was once again back to normal. "Sorry," she said in a very repentant tone.
"Freeze it," Morpheus said to the sky. Then everything except for the two of them stopped moving all together; even the lone black bird froze in mid take-off.
Amethyst looked around. "Interesting," she said quietly. Then she looked back at the man who was still holding a gun at her. "Who is this?"
"This is a sentient program that resides within the Matrix. We call them Agents, but they are the most dangerous programs we had encountered there until Neo came along. They can move in and out of any computer system still connected to the Matrix. This is the most important lesson you can learn about the Matrix right now: if you are not one of us, you are one of them."
"What do you mean by 'they can move in and out of any computer system'?"
"If a person hasn't been unplugged, they can potentially be turned into an Agent."
"What's so dangerous about them besides that?"
"They are stronger and faster than anyone except for Neo. They can dodge bullets and punch through a concrete wall. If the body they are using is 'killed,' they have the ability to move to another host."
"Is there any way to get rid of them?"
"Neo did once. However, since that happened, the Agents have kept themselves hidden from us. They are still present, but have remained inactive when Neo enters the Matrix."
"So, as long as we're with Neo, we're fairly safe."
"With the work we do, we're not always together in a group. It makes us conspicuous and is often not quite as efficient."
Amethyst thought for a moment. "It also wouldn't be fair to rely on him all the time, would it?"
"That's right," thought Link as he sat in the real world.
"That is correct," Morpheus replied. He paused again for a couple of seconds. "See you back in the real world."
"So the program's over?"
"Yes, it is."
"Okay."
"Interesting reaction to the Agent."
"What was yours?"
"I returned the courtesy of the Agent and pulled out my own gun. I can do that, you know."
"No kidding," Amethyst replied sarcastically as they walked towards their quarters. In a way, she was now starting to like Jake. The runt had a sense of humor and could, to a certain extent, take a joke. She wasn't sure if she wanted to go on any sort of vacation with Jake, but she wouldn't say no if she had to work with the analyst. She wasn't about to let her know that, though. It was more fun to come up with new ways to insult each other.
Amethyst heard Jake take a step away from her. Before much time had passed, though, Jake turned around and aimed a swipe at Amé's head. "Jake!" she heard Binary call out. The warning was not necessary, though. Amé heard the sound of Jake's arm as it ran through the air and her own hand went up automatically to block it.
Amethyst's right hand eventually clasped around Jake's left wrist, and with her left hand, she pulled on Jake's left shoulder to try and push her down. Jake countered by flipping over and kicking Amé's right leg out from under her. Not one to take defeat lightly, Amethyst swept her left leg around and made to kick Jake's feet forward. Jake, however, was able to see what her opponent was doing and jumped out of harms way. "Not too bad for a freak."
"Thanks," Amethyst replied, but she let no emotion show on her face as she accepted the complement. She then entered her bedroom and laid down, ready to sleep after a couple of hours of combat training. As she rested on her bed, she thought with a smile, ~I can kick the crap out of people! That's cool!~
Binary, on the other hand, wasn't sure if she should tell someone what he just witnessed or let it lie. The whole mock-fight was over before he had the chance to try and interfere, but when it did end, he then realized that it had all been just a hoax. At that, he decided that he was too tired to try and find someone to inform and went off to go and sleep.
"That's a long way down, sir."
"Yes it is."
"Great."
Amethyst looked across the open space between the skyscrapers of the jump program as she and Morpheus backed away from the ledge. "And this is supposed to do what?"
"We are all born into a world where we grow accustomed to certain rules, rules like gravity. In the Matrix, some of these rules can be bent, while others can be broken. In the real world, you may only be able to jump five or six feet. This program is designed to free your mind. You have to let go of what you've been taught and have believed." He spoke slower, "Free your mind."
With that he turned and ran towards the edge of the building. ~That's impossible,~ she told herself when she saw Morpheus about to jump. Nonetheless, Morpheus's jump carried him across the expanse and onto the roof of the other building. Amethyst could hear the sound of the brick from the other roof break under his landing. Rather quickly, she reconsidered her definition of impossible. ~Maybe not.~
Once she'd seen it, Amethyst knew that it could be done. She had no reason to doubt what she just saw and so prepared herself to take her first jump. Backing up a good twenty feet away from the ledge, she focused her mind towards the task at hand and began to run. She kept her eyes in Morpheus's direction and trusted on her peripheral vision and instincts to make the jump. Her judgement turned out wrong. As she reached the ledge, she lifted up her leg and was about to push off, but she miscalculated and ended up stepping on open air. ~Crap,~ she thought quickly to herself before her other foot caught on the railing and she began to tumble down towards the street.
Had she not been overwhelmed by a wave of fear she might have found the experience pleasant but such was not the case. With building panic – and a high-pitched scream – she saw the gray street below slowly become larger and a great deal closer. Having fallen so close to the building, she did at one point manage to hit a protruding flag pole on the way down which certainly did not add to her present state. When she was about to hit the street, her eyes closed and she felt the panic recede to be replaced by a feeling of hopelessness.
However, she didn't feel the usual pain of impact. Rather, she felt her descent being rapidly slowed and then reversed. Her eyes opened again and she saw herself coming up out of the street itself and being thrust into the air. This time her instincts actually took hold and she managed to quickly right herself with a few jerky movements so that when gravity kicked in again she was able to land on her feet. The impact caused her fall forward slightly, but then she regained her balance and was able to stand up straight.
~Stupid!~ she chided as her body shook and she thought about the mistake she'd made that could have been avoided had she been thinking sensibly. Then she felt herself being pulled back into the real world and woke up with Code at her side. The woman pulled the needle out of Amé's plug and Amethyst started to sit up. As she did, though, she felt a sharp pain in her stomach muscles. She felt around that area and soon felt the bruise from the flagpole that was already starting to change color rather quickly. "That's going to hurt for a while," she whispered to herself.
"Nice color," Jake said, not actually admiring the wound.
"Want one on your face?" Amé retorted, wincing as she touched the purple patch on her skin. Before more could be said, Trinity started to lead Amethyst back to her room, saying something about trying to find something cold to put on it to help keep the bruise from spreading out too much. After Trinity left Amethyst with a freezing cold cloth plastered to her stomach, Amé laid on her bed and thought again of just how stupid her mistake was. Not in the mood to talk at that point in time, she covered the lower half of her body with her blankets, closed her eyes, and pretended to sleep.
~Next time,~ she promised to herself. ~Next time I'll do it.~
---------------------------
"Do you have any ideas of what exactly is inside the Matrix?"
"Battery-powering people…um…I'm not sure what else."
Amethyst and Morpheus weeded their way through a sea of people. Their faces all looked different, but, to the girl, their clothes were all the same: black suits with some white clothing interspersed here and there. Amé found it rather difficult to concentrate while she tried to find spaces through all those who threatened to separate her from her captain. ~That's not gonna happen,~ she resolved and she did her best to keep up with the man who seemed to wade through them so effortlessly.
"While you look around you, you see doctors, architects, pastors, teachers, politicians." He said the last with an obvious air of disdain. "You see men, women, and children. No two people are exactly alike. You will find people who will say they like you or hate you or act as if they like you while they secretively don't. You may think that you can tell an honest person from a liar by the way they sound or look, but there are those who have made a lifestyle out of lying, cheating, stealing, and subverting. Every day you hear about people who have been robbed, beaten, murdered, taken advantage of, or hurt in some way or another."
"Is there no good left in the world?"
Morpheus looked back at her. "Of course there is." He then continued to walk on with his eyes forward. "From time to time a person will be recognized for deeds or achievements. Someone who believes that they make no difference in the world can end up as the savior of another. Strangers help strangers in both direct and indirect ways. However, the world inside of the Matrix has turned into a pessimistic society and people are no longer interested in hearing about the saviors. They find crime and punishment entertaining and ridicule those who try to make the world a better place."
"Why?"
"Because they believe that it can't be done."
Amethyst followed Morpheus with a split mind. One half of her brain she dedicated to listening to him, while the other was busy mulling over an idea that popped in her head. If people didn't want to hear about any sort of savior, how would they get some people to believe that the Matrix was real and realize the truth. She'd been told that certain people wouldn't want to be unplugged, but she hadn't understood what that had meant.
"…There's one basic thing you need to know."
Now she was able to form a basic understanding, but still the logic behind it didn't quite add up.
"Were you listening to what I just said?" Morpheus asked suddenly. Amethyst looked up the sidewalk she had been staring at. "Or were you looking at the man in the silver suit?"
Amé stopped chewing on her fingernails and looked straight at Morpheus. "I was listening to you."
Morpheus looked like he'd been about to smile but that his smile had been cheated out of him. "Just turn around."
Amethyst turned. Right there in front of her was a pale-skinned man in a crisp silver suit and square-shaped sunglasses. In his right ear was what looked like a piece of thin clear tubing. The black end of a gun barrel was pointed no less than six inches away from her face. It looked surprisingly similar to the one that Jake had pointed at her a couple of days before. Startled by the person's sudden appearance, her self image changed and a moment later Morpheus was looking at an exact copy of the person before Amethyst.
Needless to say Morpheus was shocked by the sudden change. "Change back…right now," he ordered.
Amethyst took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and willed herself to calm down. After she was able to think straight, she pictured her true image. When her eyes opened again, she was once again back to normal. "Sorry," she said in a very repentant tone.
"Freeze it," Morpheus said to the sky. Then everything except for the two of them stopped moving all together; even the lone black bird froze in mid take-off.
Amethyst looked around. "Interesting," she said quietly. Then she looked back at the man who was still holding a gun at her. "Who is this?"
"This is a sentient program that resides within the Matrix. We call them Agents, but they are the most dangerous programs we had encountered there until Neo came along. They can move in and out of any computer system still connected to the Matrix. This is the most important lesson you can learn about the Matrix right now: if you are not one of us, you are one of them."
"What do you mean by 'they can move in and out of any computer system'?"
"If a person hasn't been unplugged, they can potentially be turned into an Agent."
"What's so dangerous about them besides that?"
"They are stronger and faster than anyone except for Neo. They can dodge bullets and punch through a concrete wall. If the body they are using is 'killed,' they have the ability to move to another host."
"Is there any way to get rid of them?"
"Neo did once. However, since that happened, the Agents have kept themselves hidden from us. They are still present, but have remained inactive when Neo enters the Matrix."
"So, as long as we're with Neo, we're fairly safe."
"With the work we do, we're not always together in a group. It makes us conspicuous and is often not quite as efficient."
Amethyst thought for a moment. "It also wouldn't be fair to rely on him all the time, would it?"
"That's right," thought Link as he sat in the real world.
"That is correct," Morpheus replied. He paused again for a couple of seconds. "See you back in the real world."
"So the program's over?"
"Yes, it is."
"Okay."
"Interesting reaction to the Agent."
"What was yours?"
"I returned the courtesy of the Agent and pulled out my own gun. I can do that, you know."
"No kidding," Amethyst replied sarcastically as they walked towards their quarters. In a way, she was now starting to like Jake. The runt had a sense of humor and could, to a certain extent, take a joke. She wasn't sure if she wanted to go on any sort of vacation with Jake, but she wouldn't say no if she had to work with the analyst. She wasn't about to let her know that, though. It was more fun to come up with new ways to insult each other.
Amethyst heard Jake take a step away from her. Before much time had passed, though, Jake turned around and aimed a swipe at Amé's head. "Jake!" she heard Binary call out. The warning was not necessary, though. Amé heard the sound of Jake's arm as it ran through the air and her own hand went up automatically to block it.
Amethyst's right hand eventually clasped around Jake's left wrist, and with her left hand, she pulled on Jake's left shoulder to try and push her down. Jake countered by flipping over and kicking Amé's right leg out from under her. Not one to take defeat lightly, Amethyst swept her left leg around and made to kick Jake's feet forward. Jake, however, was able to see what her opponent was doing and jumped out of harms way. "Not too bad for a freak."
"Thanks," Amethyst replied, but she let no emotion show on her face as she accepted the complement. She then entered her bedroom and laid down, ready to sleep after a couple of hours of combat training. As she rested on her bed, she thought with a smile, ~I can kick the crap out of people! That's cool!~
Binary, on the other hand, wasn't sure if she should tell someone what he just witnessed or let it lie. The whole mock-fight was over before he had the chance to try and interfere, but when it did end, he then realized that it had all been just a hoax. At that, he decided that he was too tired to try and find someone to inform and went off to go and sleep.
"That's a long way down, sir."
"Yes it is."
"Great."
Amethyst looked across the open space between the skyscrapers of the jump program as she and Morpheus backed away from the ledge. "And this is supposed to do what?"
"We are all born into a world where we grow accustomed to certain rules, rules like gravity. In the Matrix, some of these rules can be bent, while others can be broken. In the real world, you may only be able to jump five or six feet. This program is designed to free your mind. You have to let go of what you've been taught and have believed." He spoke slower, "Free your mind."
With that he turned and ran towards the edge of the building. ~That's impossible,~ she told herself when she saw Morpheus about to jump. Nonetheless, Morpheus's jump carried him across the expanse and onto the roof of the other building. Amethyst could hear the sound of the brick from the other roof break under his landing. Rather quickly, she reconsidered her definition of impossible. ~Maybe not.~
Once she'd seen it, Amethyst knew that it could be done. She had no reason to doubt what she just saw and so prepared herself to take her first jump. Backing up a good twenty feet away from the ledge, she focused her mind towards the task at hand and began to run. She kept her eyes in Morpheus's direction and trusted on her peripheral vision and instincts to make the jump. Her judgement turned out wrong. As she reached the ledge, she lifted up her leg and was about to push off, but she miscalculated and ended up stepping on open air. ~Crap,~ she thought quickly to herself before her other foot caught on the railing and she began to tumble down towards the street.
Had she not been overwhelmed by a wave of fear she might have found the experience pleasant but such was not the case. With building panic – and a high-pitched scream – she saw the gray street below slowly become larger and a great deal closer. Having fallen so close to the building, she did at one point manage to hit a protruding flag pole on the way down which certainly did not add to her present state. When she was about to hit the street, her eyes closed and she felt the panic recede to be replaced by a feeling of hopelessness.
However, she didn't feel the usual pain of impact. Rather, she felt her descent being rapidly slowed and then reversed. Her eyes opened again and she saw herself coming up out of the street itself and being thrust into the air. This time her instincts actually took hold and she managed to quickly right herself with a few jerky movements so that when gravity kicked in again she was able to land on her feet. The impact caused her fall forward slightly, but then she regained her balance and was able to stand up straight.
~Stupid!~ she chided as her body shook and she thought about the mistake she'd made that could have been avoided had she been thinking sensibly. Then she felt herself being pulled back into the real world and woke up with Code at her side. The woman pulled the needle out of Amé's plug and Amethyst started to sit up. As she did, though, she felt a sharp pain in her stomach muscles. She felt around that area and soon felt the bruise from the flagpole that was already starting to change color rather quickly. "That's going to hurt for a while," she whispered to herself.
"Nice color," Jake said, not actually admiring the wound.
"Want one on your face?" Amé retorted, wincing as she touched the purple patch on her skin. Before more could be said, Trinity started to lead Amethyst back to her room, saying something about trying to find something cold to put on it to help keep the bruise from spreading out too much. After Trinity left Amethyst with a freezing cold cloth plastered to her stomach, Amé laid on her bed and thought again of just how stupid her mistake was. Not in the mood to talk at that point in time, she covered the lower half of her body with her blankets, closed her eyes, and pretended to sleep.
~Next time,~ she promised to herself. ~Next time I'll do it.~
