Artificial Existence
By Christopher Harrison
02: Transmission
Violet awoke from the matrix almost straight after he put the phone to his ear. Steam, the ship's second operator of his ship, the Sanction, leaned over him. Steam was the only other female on the Sanction, and she was also the only member of the crew with brown hair. It was just above shoulder length and swung around her face as she moved. 'Welcome back, captain.' Steam said as Violet pulled himself to sit up in the cold metal chair. 'What's our status?' Violet asked, groggily, still trying to get a grasp of the real world. The matrix does that to you. 'We're at full speed to a safe location near Zion so we can transmit the IP coordinates you gathered, we should be there in a few days. Entry has been scanning for sentinels in the area, so far, nothing.' Steam informed him, while walking back into the command area. 'Good, keep me updated, I'm going to eat.' Violet replied.
Violet sat in the Mess hall of the ship, sipping on something that Binary quite enjoyed making. He wasn't sure what it was. It was grey and goo like, really quite disgusting looking, but the taste was perhaps better than anything the Matrix could offer.
The metal door that was the entrance to the cold room creaked loudly as it opened. Violet raised his head from his 'Binary tea' to look at the door. Server walked through the doorway, a bowl of something that was probably equally as disgusting looking as Violet's meal.
'What's up?' Violet asked, as Server came to sit down at the table with him. 'Not a lot, really. Just thought I'd grab a bite to eat, you know.' Replied Server with noticeable discomfort. 'Well, I'll leave you to it then.' Violet replied, quickly raising from his seat and walking to the door. 'Violet.' Server said quietly 'It doesn't have to be like this.'. Violet turned around and studies server for a second. Her long blonde hair had drifted in front of half her face, hiding one of her eyes, but the other one looked sad, as if longing for comfort. 'Yes, It does.' Violet quietly replied, walking out of the room.
Violet lay in bed, thinking of the words he had said that night. He could remember, back before all this, when Violet and Server were still in the matrix, still unaware of reality. They were only 17 when they were unplugged, and before that, they had been together all the time. They had both been hackers, of course, both been well acquainted, and they had a romantic relationship for a while, but after they were unplugged, a lot changed.
Violet just couldn't figure out why.
The next morning Violet was up at around 4 AM. He had gotten very little sleep, as usual, and decided to go check on the ship's status.
As he entered the room, Entry turned around from the operator seat to face him. 'Good morning captain!' Entry said, somewhat excitedly. As long as Violet had known Entry, he had never seen Entry unhappy. Perhaps one of his best qualities, and yet at the same time, it's quite annoying.
'Morning, Entry.' Violet replied 'Have we transmitted yet?'
'Yeah, it's been sent. So far, no reply though. We should get it soon, though.' Entry replied.
'Good, keep me updated. I presume everyone else is still sleeping?'
'I should think so. Steam's shift isn't for another 3 hours, and Protocol is still in the medbay. Why do you ask?'
'No reason, keep me informed, I'll be in the mess hall.'.
Violet entered the mess hall expecting it to be empty. It was quite a small room. A single table, with chairs on either side was in the center of the room. At the back there was the cooking equipment built into the wall. Violet entered the door and noticed Binary was also in the room, bent over the stove, cooking some new unknown recipe. Binary was the only Asian member of the crew, which was quite rare to find, as most of the Asian culture had been wiped out during the first great machine war. He was quite renowned for doing such things.
'Good morning, Binary.' Violet said. Binary turned and nodded to his captain. Binary was a man of few words, and many talents. Binary wore the usual attire of the crew, which is some poorly put together shirt and pants. The only really noticeable part of Binary's outfit would be his hair, which was shaved to be about a centimetre high from his head, and dyed blue. Binary seemed to have a strange fixation to the colour blue, although nobody was really sure why, and nobody has really asked.
Violet sat at the table without any food. It was somewhat customary that if you entered the mess hall and binary was present, you don't eat anything unless he offered it to you. This isn't really a big problem, being that Binary is quite an excellent chef.
After about three minutes or so, Binary put a small bowl in front of Violet. The bowl was filled with a dark green liquid, seemingly some form of soup. 'What's in it?' Violet asked, quite scared to try the stuff. Binary just shrugged in response and sat down opposite violet, his dark brown eyes staring back at Violet's gaze, waiting for him to try the soup.
Violet looked back down to the bowl and picked up his spoon. He dipped it into the green liquid, and pulled it to his mouth. He smelled the liquid shortly before putting it in his mouth. It didn't seem to have an odour, and that definitely did not help his wishes to drink it. He pulled the spoon to his lips and sipped a small amount from the spoon. At first, Violet could not recall where he had tasted such a thing. It had a unique taste, which he could not identify, but the aftertaste was like that of what the matrix had emulated as chicken soup. It was quite sweet, but was perhaps one of the best real world food's he had ever tasted.
'This is really good,' Violet exclaimed 'What did you say was in this?' Binary replied quietly 'If I told you, you never would have tried it. Enjoy your meal.' With that, Binary left the room in a hurry.
Violet stayed and continued eating his soup in silence. Just as he was about to finish the soup, Entry rushed into the door. 'Captain,' Entry said, hurriedly 'We've received the transmission from Zion'. 'Good,' Violet replied 'Maybe they might tell us why the hell we risked our lived for that IP adress now.'
Violet walked into the command room, and sat down at a seat next to the operator console. Entry sat at the console, and began the transmission.
Message sender: Zion command.
Message receiver: Resistance hovercraft Sanction.
Channel: Zion direct uplink. (Secure, encoded.)
Captain Violet,
Firtly, Zion command would like to thank you for risking the lives of you and your crew without any explanation, we are sorry we could not properly brief you on your mission, but we were not aware of the seriousness until now. If you had been informed before hand, the information could have leaked. As such, we are still incapable of properly briefing you on what the cause of receiving the IP address we requested.
Your new orders are to meet your informant at the coordinates below. He will properly brief you on your next task. You may need extra assistance on this task, as such, we have ordered the Valiant to move to your current location, at which time they will be under your temporary command.
Zion command out.
[Attached: IP Address: 186.990.65.22:01}]
'Entry, prepare for a broadcast, I need an entry point as close to those coordinates as you can get me. Also, your going to need to wake the rest of the crew. Myself and Binary are going to go to those coordinates, I don't intend on starting the mission until Protocol is healed.' Violet ordered, walking out of the room. 'Yes captain, we should be at broadcast capability in a few minutes.' Entry replied, turning back to his console.
No more than 10 minutes later, Entry and Steam sat at the operator seats of the command room, with Violet, Binary, and Server preparing for entry. When they were seating, Steam walked over preparing to plug them in. 'Okay, you guys know what to do. Steam, plug us in'. Steam pushed the cable end into the back of the chair, and Violet entered the matrix once again.
By Christopher Harrison
02: Transmission
Violet awoke from the matrix almost straight after he put the phone to his ear. Steam, the ship's second operator of his ship, the Sanction, leaned over him. Steam was the only other female on the Sanction, and she was also the only member of the crew with brown hair. It was just above shoulder length and swung around her face as she moved. 'Welcome back, captain.' Steam said as Violet pulled himself to sit up in the cold metal chair. 'What's our status?' Violet asked, groggily, still trying to get a grasp of the real world. The matrix does that to you. 'We're at full speed to a safe location near Zion so we can transmit the IP coordinates you gathered, we should be there in a few days. Entry has been scanning for sentinels in the area, so far, nothing.' Steam informed him, while walking back into the command area. 'Good, keep me updated, I'm going to eat.' Violet replied.
Violet sat in the Mess hall of the ship, sipping on something that Binary quite enjoyed making. He wasn't sure what it was. It was grey and goo like, really quite disgusting looking, but the taste was perhaps better than anything the Matrix could offer.
The metal door that was the entrance to the cold room creaked loudly as it opened. Violet raised his head from his 'Binary tea' to look at the door. Server walked through the doorway, a bowl of something that was probably equally as disgusting looking as Violet's meal.
'What's up?' Violet asked, as Server came to sit down at the table with him. 'Not a lot, really. Just thought I'd grab a bite to eat, you know.' Replied Server with noticeable discomfort. 'Well, I'll leave you to it then.' Violet replied, quickly raising from his seat and walking to the door. 'Violet.' Server said quietly 'It doesn't have to be like this.'. Violet turned around and studies server for a second. Her long blonde hair had drifted in front of half her face, hiding one of her eyes, but the other one looked sad, as if longing for comfort. 'Yes, It does.' Violet quietly replied, walking out of the room.
Violet lay in bed, thinking of the words he had said that night. He could remember, back before all this, when Violet and Server were still in the matrix, still unaware of reality. They were only 17 when they were unplugged, and before that, they had been together all the time. They had both been hackers, of course, both been well acquainted, and they had a romantic relationship for a while, but after they were unplugged, a lot changed.
Violet just couldn't figure out why.
The next morning Violet was up at around 4 AM. He had gotten very little sleep, as usual, and decided to go check on the ship's status.
As he entered the room, Entry turned around from the operator seat to face him. 'Good morning captain!' Entry said, somewhat excitedly. As long as Violet had known Entry, he had never seen Entry unhappy. Perhaps one of his best qualities, and yet at the same time, it's quite annoying.
'Morning, Entry.' Violet replied 'Have we transmitted yet?'
'Yeah, it's been sent. So far, no reply though. We should get it soon, though.' Entry replied.
'Good, keep me updated. I presume everyone else is still sleeping?'
'I should think so. Steam's shift isn't for another 3 hours, and Protocol is still in the medbay. Why do you ask?'
'No reason, keep me informed, I'll be in the mess hall.'.
Violet entered the mess hall expecting it to be empty. It was quite a small room. A single table, with chairs on either side was in the center of the room. At the back there was the cooking equipment built into the wall. Violet entered the door and noticed Binary was also in the room, bent over the stove, cooking some new unknown recipe. Binary was the only Asian member of the crew, which was quite rare to find, as most of the Asian culture had been wiped out during the first great machine war. He was quite renowned for doing such things.
'Good morning, Binary.' Violet said. Binary turned and nodded to his captain. Binary was a man of few words, and many talents. Binary wore the usual attire of the crew, which is some poorly put together shirt and pants. The only really noticeable part of Binary's outfit would be his hair, which was shaved to be about a centimetre high from his head, and dyed blue. Binary seemed to have a strange fixation to the colour blue, although nobody was really sure why, and nobody has really asked.
Violet sat at the table without any food. It was somewhat customary that if you entered the mess hall and binary was present, you don't eat anything unless he offered it to you. This isn't really a big problem, being that Binary is quite an excellent chef.
After about three minutes or so, Binary put a small bowl in front of Violet. The bowl was filled with a dark green liquid, seemingly some form of soup. 'What's in it?' Violet asked, quite scared to try the stuff. Binary just shrugged in response and sat down opposite violet, his dark brown eyes staring back at Violet's gaze, waiting for him to try the soup.
Violet looked back down to the bowl and picked up his spoon. He dipped it into the green liquid, and pulled it to his mouth. He smelled the liquid shortly before putting it in his mouth. It didn't seem to have an odour, and that definitely did not help his wishes to drink it. He pulled the spoon to his lips and sipped a small amount from the spoon. At first, Violet could not recall where he had tasted such a thing. It had a unique taste, which he could not identify, but the aftertaste was like that of what the matrix had emulated as chicken soup. It was quite sweet, but was perhaps one of the best real world food's he had ever tasted.
'This is really good,' Violet exclaimed 'What did you say was in this?' Binary replied quietly 'If I told you, you never would have tried it. Enjoy your meal.' With that, Binary left the room in a hurry.
Violet stayed and continued eating his soup in silence. Just as he was about to finish the soup, Entry rushed into the door. 'Captain,' Entry said, hurriedly 'We've received the transmission from Zion'. 'Good,' Violet replied 'Maybe they might tell us why the hell we risked our lived for that IP adress now.'
Violet walked into the command room, and sat down at a seat next to the operator console. Entry sat at the console, and began the transmission.
Message sender: Zion command.
Message receiver: Resistance hovercraft Sanction.
Channel: Zion direct uplink. (Secure, encoded.)
Captain Violet,
Firtly, Zion command would like to thank you for risking the lives of you and your crew without any explanation, we are sorry we could not properly brief you on your mission, but we were not aware of the seriousness until now. If you had been informed before hand, the information could have leaked. As such, we are still incapable of properly briefing you on what the cause of receiving the IP address we requested.
Your new orders are to meet your informant at the coordinates below. He will properly brief you on your next task. You may need extra assistance on this task, as such, we have ordered the Valiant to move to your current location, at which time they will be under your temporary command.
Zion command out.
[Attached: IP Address: 186.990.65.22:01}]
'Entry, prepare for a broadcast, I need an entry point as close to those coordinates as you can get me. Also, your going to need to wake the rest of the crew. Myself and Binary are going to go to those coordinates, I don't intend on starting the mission until Protocol is healed.' Violet ordered, walking out of the room. 'Yes captain, we should be at broadcast capability in a few minutes.' Entry replied, turning back to his console.
No more than 10 minutes later, Entry and Steam sat at the operator seats of the command room, with Violet, Binary, and Server preparing for entry. When they were seating, Steam walked over preparing to plug them in. 'Okay, you guys know what to do. Steam, plug us in'. Steam pushed the cable end into the back of the chair, and Violet entered the matrix once again.