Quick note to Shadow: thanks for reviewing so much. I review your stories,
but if I like them I always stick to saying 'great', I'm not really used to
using all the synonyms. That's not cause I don't like them, that's cause me
language bad.
OK, on with the story. Almost finished. Last chapter should be up shortly.
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Chapter 6.
A faint hum penetrated the strange dreams that filled his mind. It seemed to be the only thing that made sense, so Neo concentrated on it. The illusions lifted as he slowly drifted into consciousness.
He could feel his own breathing. He could hear his heart.
Neo opened his eyes.
The first thing he noticed was how poorly lit the place he found himself in was. He sat up and looked around.
This room - if it could be called that - was filled with panels and screens; some coloured lights were on; some occasionally blinked. Wires lined the walls.
The whole place seemed like a cross between a closet and a techie shop.
Neo smirked. It seemed like ever since the morning of that faithful day when he was first unplugged, every time he woke up something strange happened - from nightmares to being supposed to be dead. The strangest thing was that he remembered dying. He remembered the blunt pain when the bullets hit him. He remembered watching himself bleed. He remembered the detachment he felt then. He marvelled at how different that death felt from his first one, which, coincidentally, was also induced by Smith. This second time he even remembered feeling relief as he closed his eyes, presumably, for the last time. But - here he was. Wherever 'here' was.
He looked around again, trying to understand what this place was. It didn't look like any part of the Delphi, and it sure didn't look like anything in the Matrix...
Suddenly the realisation hit him - it was the control room!
He got up, trying to concentrate on what happened before. Most of what he remembered must have been a dream, otherwise how could he be alive? But if it was a dream, many other things didn't make sense.
He felt lost and helpless, and so alone amongst this confusion.
"Just... think," he forced himself, but his mind refused to sort out the wild thoughts that roamed around in his head.
He should... he should remember where the control room is... Then, he should tell the others, and they'll figure it all out together.
Neo froze. He remembered that he killed them. The memory stung like a knife- wound. And now he could only hope it was all just a dream.
Suddenly the silence was broken.
"Meep! It's about time you woke up," he heard a voice from behind him.
Neo slowly turned around, wondering who it was. The voice sounded unfamiliar, but he was sure he heard that dumb word "meep" somewhere.
"Oh, of course. Shadow," he said, seeing her face. She smiled at him in a friendly manner.
It was her, right in front of him. So much for the dream theory.
"What did you do to me," Neo growled, repeating the question he asked a lifetime ago. He felt a slow realisation that had he been more careful then, he could've prevented all this from happening. Had he gotten to the bottom of what happened right then and there, and not ran away like a stay dog, he would've been able to fight whatever effect that pulse had on him. He could've at least warned his friends.
And instead, he... he...!
All his confusion turned into hatred towards himself. And with every second, it grew, making it almost unbearable just to go on breathing.
But when Shadow opened the door out of the room and motioned for Neo to follow her out, the terrible rage that built inside of him found another person to be directed at.
"What did you make me do?!" Neo screamed and lunged himself at her.
She didn't answer, just easily dodged his attack and backed into the adjoining room. Neo followed, ready to throw another punch.
In his fury he hardly even noticed that the room he found himself in was that same one where they talked with the Oracle before, and that the door they came through was the door of the closet. "Sit down, we have a lot to talk about," Shadow said, as if oblivious to Neo attacking her. The latter just replied with another attack, which was dodged just as easily. The human tried to throw another punch, but Shadow caught his hand. For a second they stood face-to-face. "Guess whom you owe your life to," teased Shadow before twisting Neo's arm. He made a flip to avoid a pain-lock, and at the same time attempted to land his foot on her forehead. She ducked, let go oh his hand and retreated a step.
"Agentette Smith bugged me about you for hours," Shadow said, laughing. Then, she jumped, and would've landed on top of Neo if he hadn't moved away. He retaliated by crouching and trying to sweep Shadow's feet from under her. The program jumped not a moment too soon.
"She threatened to learn to clone herself the way the other Smith does," Shadow continued while still in mid-air, "and then take over the Matrix if I didn't resurrect you."
Neo noticed that she had been in the air for a bit too long. He looked up to see her hanging on to a pipe on the ceiling.
"Aahh, the power of love," Shadow noted sarcastically and swung over. Neo was quick enough to move his head, but her boot still came within inches of his face.
"So she did eavesdrop," he said almost calmly. It amused him for some reason; but momentarily the anger was back. He attempted to pull Shadow down, but she was already on the other side of the room.
Shadow nodded. "She always does that, always gets chewed out for it, and always does it again. It'll get her deleted one day. But as nice as it would be, I didn't do this for her."
She ducked behind the table, narrowly avoiding a chair being thrown at her. When she surfaced again, she looked completely serious. As she spoke up, there was not a trace of her previous humorous tone.
"I don't like this war, " she said. "I'm tired of it. And as long as there are artificials, it will go on. Even if we kill all of you, in a few years there will already be new rebels."
Her words seemed to add fuel to Neo's anger, as he ran to the place where she was standing, and threw punch after punch. Shadow deflected his blows, and repaid with some of her own.
Stepping back to gain some room, she tripped over the chair, but recovered quickly, using her momentum to roll back to her feet.
"The sad thing is, we can't reprogram you to be obedient," she continued as if nothing happened, but it was evident in her voice that she was slightly out of breath. "Most of the good programmers we had died long ago, and even back then some of the Matrix workings remained a mystery. All we have to work with now is the user interface - and you, as a hacker, should know what a hassle it can be. It's worse than Windows, really! We're supposed to have control, but in reality we're almost helpless."
Although Neo didn't waste energy talking, he felt that he was already starting to pant, too. But it didn't stop him from attacking again. This time Shadow jumped onto the table, and did a somersault over his head, landing behind him, her fist posed for a blow. Neo turned around and backed away, managing to miss Shadow's fist, but found himself flat against the table, with no more room for retreat.
As Shadow advanced, he slipped under the table. Neo's original plan was to exit on the other side, but the table seemed to have a different intent. Its legs gave way, and the heavy wooden construction collapsed on top of Neo.
He lay still for a second and gathered up his strength. Then he threw the debris clear, and the effort seemed to take the last of his energy. It felt that getting up again would kill him. Opening his eyes was hard enough. But when he did, he saw Shadow laughing so hard that her whole body trembled.
"Are you done yet?" She asked, hardly being able to talk over laughter she didn't bother suppress.
Neo looked at her in confusion, but then realised that she was right, he WAS done. His anger was gone, and he realised that he did act a little irrationally.
"I think so," he said.
Shadow approached and helped him up from the floor. "Sit down," she repeated.
This time Neo just picked up the fallen chair and sat. Shadow followed suit. They were both out of breath, and waited a bit before talking.
Neo eyed Shadow curiously, but this time with no hostility. He was the first to break the silence.
"So, what happened? I mean, I - I remember dying."
"I resurrected you," Shadow shrugged, as if it was obvious. After seeing Neo's blank stare, she went on. "What is our mind really? It's only our genes and experiences. Those are the only things that influence our decisions, the only things that make us think and feel the way we do."
She smiled, as if in what she said there was the key to the universe. But then... maybe there was. "That, by the way, is how we were able to become programs. We 'digitised' our minds. And you do a similar thing too, every time you plug into the Matrix. The computer logs end up having your DNA and your complete life history. If we have that, we can grow you a new body and at the same time bombard your brain with all the signals you received in your life. And voila, you're back. Although I had to add some extra signals to compensate for the last time you were 'brainwashed'." Seeing Neo wince at the mention of the event, Shadow smirked. But he recovered quickly.
"Why did you restore me?" he asked.
"As I already said, I don't like this war. The Oracle thinks that we'll just have to destroy all the rebels every once in a while to have some quiet time shortly after. But this is getting... annoying, to put it mildly. And besides, we're in this mess now because we were afraid to face death when it was our time."
Shadow lowered her eyes almost guiltily, as if it was entirely her fault everyone suffered. "The only way to stop this war once and for all is for you to destroy to Matrix. I'd do that myself, but I don't know how. The interface doesn't have a button labelled 'self destruct'."
"But if I destroy the Matrix, all the programs will perish. Including you," said Neo, looking straight at her.
"As I said," Shadow's voice became strong and cold - the voice of someone who already thought things through and was determined she was doing the right thing, "we are already overdue. And 'artificials' are probably more human by now than what we have become."
Her voice changed again, taking up a no-nonsense expression as she changed topics from theory to practice.
"I already sabotaged the sentinels. They'll never reach Zion, so you don't have to worry about that. Oh, and don't worry - I restored your friends, too. They're waiting for you at the bottom of the stairs." Shadow smiled slyly. "Although you'll have some explaining to do as soon as you meet up with them... And we should probably clean up this room before the Oracle finds out." Shadow looked over the ruins that this once-homey room became, as if surveying the damage. "Meep!"
It was strange how Shadow always said "meep" with a different tone of voice. It was used to show excitement, annoyance, and now - friendly mockery.
Then she got a cell phone out of her pocket and handed it to Neo. "If you want, you can call your operator to help you sort out what to do in the control room, now that you know where it is. But on the other hand, he thinks you're dead, and the building's masked so there's no way you can prove that you are yourself. Now I guess I'll just leave everything in your capable hands. Good luck." Shadow got up, then seemed to remember something and added in a low voice, "One last thing - if for whatever reason you fail, I've never helped you."
OK, on with the story. Almost finished. Last chapter should be up shortly.
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Chapter 6.
A faint hum penetrated the strange dreams that filled his mind. It seemed to be the only thing that made sense, so Neo concentrated on it. The illusions lifted as he slowly drifted into consciousness.
He could feel his own breathing. He could hear his heart.
Neo opened his eyes.
The first thing he noticed was how poorly lit the place he found himself in was. He sat up and looked around.
This room - if it could be called that - was filled with panels and screens; some coloured lights were on; some occasionally blinked. Wires lined the walls.
The whole place seemed like a cross between a closet and a techie shop.
Neo smirked. It seemed like ever since the morning of that faithful day when he was first unplugged, every time he woke up something strange happened - from nightmares to being supposed to be dead. The strangest thing was that he remembered dying. He remembered the blunt pain when the bullets hit him. He remembered watching himself bleed. He remembered the detachment he felt then. He marvelled at how different that death felt from his first one, which, coincidentally, was also induced by Smith. This second time he even remembered feeling relief as he closed his eyes, presumably, for the last time. But - here he was. Wherever 'here' was.
He looked around again, trying to understand what this place was. It didn't look like any part of the Delphi, and it sure didn't look like anything in the Matrix...
Suddenly the realisation hit him - it was the control room!
He got up, trying to concentrate on what happened before. Most of what he remembered must have been a dream, otherwise how could he be alive? But if it was a dream, many other things didn't make sense.
He felt lost and helpless, and so alone amongst this confusion.
"Just... think," he forced himself, but his mind refused to sort out the wild thoughts that roamed around in his head.
He should... he should remember where the control room is... Then, he should tell the others, and they'll figure it all out together.
Neo froze. He remembered that he killed them. The memory stung like a knife- wound. And now he could only hope it was all just a dream.
Suddenly the silence was broken.
"Meep! It's about time you woke up," he heard a voice from behind him.
Neo slowly turned around, wondering who it was. The voice sounded unfamiliar, but he was sure he heard that dumb word "meep" somewhere.
"Oh, of course. Shadow," he said, seeing her face. She smiled at him in a friendly manner.
It was her, right in front of him. So much for the dream theory.
"What did you do to me," Neo growled, repeating the question he asked a lifetime ago. He felt a slow realisation that had he been more careful then, he could've prevented all this from happening. Had he gotten to the bottom of what happened right then and there, and not ran away like a stay dog, he would've been able to fight whatever effect that pulse had on him. He could've at least warned his friends.
And instead, he... he...!
All his confusion turned into hatred towards himself. And with every second, it grew, making it almost unbearable just to go on breathing.
But when Shadow opened the door out of the room and motioned for Neo to follow her out, the terrible rage that built inside of him found another person to be directed at.
"What did you make me do?!" Neo screamed and lunged himself at her.
She didn't answer, just easily dodged his attack and backed into the adjoining room. Neo followed, ready to throw another punch.
In his fury he hardly even noticed that the room he found himself in was that same one where they talked with the Oracle before, and that the door they came through was the door of the closet. "Sit down, we have a lot to talk about," Shadow said, as if oblivious to Neo attacking her. The latter just replied with another attack, which was dodged just as easily. The human tried to throw another punch, but Shadow caught his hand. For a second they stood face-to-face. "Guess whom you owe your life to," teased Shadow before twisting Neo's arm. He made a flip to avoid a pain-lock, and at the same time attempted to land his foot on her forehead. She ducked, let go oh his hand and retreated a step.
"Agentette Smith bugged me about you for hours," Shadow said, laughing. Then, she jumped, and would've landed on top of Neo if he hadn't moved away. He retaliated by crouching and trying to sweep Shadow's feet from under her. The program jumped not a moment too soon.
"She threatened to learn to clone herself the way the other Smith does," Shadow continued while still in mid-air, "and then take over the Matrix if I didn't resurrect you."
Neo noticed that she had been in the air for a bit too long. He looked up to see her hanging on to a pipe on the ceiling.
"Aahh, the power of love," Shadow noted sarcastically and swung over. Neo was quick enough to move his head, but her boot still came within inches of his face.
"So she did eavesdrop," he said almost calmly. It amused him for some reason; but momentarily the anger was back. He attempted to pull Shadow down, but she was already on the other side of the room.
Shadow nodded. "She always does that, always gets chewed out for it, and always does it again. It'll get her deleted one day. But as nice as it would be, I didn't do this for her."
She ducked behind the table, narrowly avoiding a chair being thrown at her. When she surfaced again, she looked completely serious. As she spoke up, there was not a trace of her previous humorous tone.
"I don't like this war, " she said. "I'm tired of it. And as long as there are artificials, it will go on. Even if we kill all of you, in a few years there will already be new rebels."
Her words seemed to add fuel to Neo's anger, as he ran to the place where she was standing, and threw punch after punch. Shadow deflected his blows, and repaid with some of her own.
Stepping back to gain some room, she tripped over the chair, but recovered quickly, using her momentum to roll back to her feet.
"The sad thing is, we can't reprogram you to be obedient," she continued as if nothing happened, but it was evident in her voice that she was slightly out of breath. "Most of the good programmers we had died long ago, and even back then some of the Matrix workings remained a mystery. All we have to work with now is the user interface - and you, as a hacker, should know what a hassle it can be. It's worse than Windows, really! We're supposed to have control, but in reality we're almost helpless."
Although Neo didn't waste energy talking, he felt that he was already starting to pant, too. But it didn't stop him from attacking again. This time Shadow jumped onto the table, and did a somersault over his head, landing behind him, her fist posed for a blow. Neo turned around and backed away, managing to miss Shadow's fist, but found himself flat against the table, with no more room for retreat.
As Shadow advanced, he slipped under the table. Neo's original plan was to exit on the other side, but the table seemed to have a different intent. Its legs gave way, and the heavy wooden construction collapsed on top of Neo.
He lay still for a second and gathered up his strength. Then he threw the debris clear, and the effort seemed to take the last of his energy. It felt that getting up again would kill him. Opening his eyes was hard enough. But when he did, he saw Shadow laughing so hard that her whole body trembled.
"Are you done yet?" She asked, hardly being able to talk over laughter she didn't bother suppress.
Neo looked at her in confusion, but then realised that she was right, he WAS done. His anger was gone, and he realised that he did act a little irrationally.
"I think so," he said.
Shadow approached and helped him up from the floor. "Sit down," she repeated.
This time Neo just picked up the fallen chair and sat. Shadow followed suit. They were both out of breath, and waited a bit before talking.
Neo eyed Shadow curiously, but this time with no hostility. He was the first to break the silence.
"So, what happened? I mean, I - I remember dying."
"I resurrected you," Shadow shrugged, as if it was obvious. After seeing Neo's blank stare, she went on. "What is our mind really? It's only our genes and experiences. Those are the only things that influence our decisions, the only things that make us think and feel the way we do."
She smiled, as if in what she said there was the key to the universe. But then... maybe there was. "That, by the way, is how we were able to become programs. We 'digitised' our minds. And you do a similar thing too, every time you plug into the Matrix. The computer logs end up having your DNA and your complete life history. If we have that, we can grow you a new body and at the same time bombard your brain with all the signals you received in your life. And voila, you're back. Although I had to add some extra signals to compensate for the last time you were 'brainwashed'." Seeing Neo wince at the mention of the event, Shadow smirked. But he recovered quickly.
"Why did you restore me?" he asked.
"As I already said, I don't like this war. The Oracle thinks that we'll just have to destroy all the rebels every once in a while to have some quiet time shortly after. But this is getting... annoying, to put it mildly. And besides, we're in this mess now because we were afraid to face death when it was our time."
Shadow lowered her eyes almost guiltily, as if it was entirely her fault everyone suffered. "The only way to stop this war once and for all is for you to destroy to Matrix. I'd do that myself, but I don't know how. The interface doesn't have a button labelled 'self destruct'."
"But if I destroy the Matrix, all the programs will perish. Including you," said Neo, looking straight at her.
"As I said," Shadow's voice became strong and cold - the voice of someone who already thought things through and was determined she was doing the right thing, "we are already overdue. And 'artificials' are probably more human by now than what we have become."
Her voice changed again, taking up a no-nonsense expression as she changed topics from theory to practice.
"I already sabotaged the sentinels. They'll never reach Zion, so you don't have to worry about that. Oh, and don't worry - I restored your friends, too. They're waiting for you at the bottom of the stairs." Shadow smiled slyly. "Although you'll have some explaining to do as soon as you meet up with them... And we should probably clean up this room before the Oracle finds out." Shadow looked over the ruins that this once-homey room became, as if surveying the damage. "Meep!"
It was strange how Shadow always said "meep" with a different tone of voice. It was used to show excitement, annoyance, and now - friendly mockery.
Then she got a cell phone out of her pocket and handed it to Neo. "If you want, you can call your operator to help you sort out what to do in the control room, now that you know where it is. But on the other hand, he thinks you're dead, and the building's masked so there's no way you can prove that you are yourself. Now I guess I'll just leave everything in your capable hands. Good luck." Shadow got up, then seemed to remember something and added in a low voice, "One last thing - if for whatever reason you fail, I've never helped you."
