Chapter 2: Realities and Realizations
Smith had been designed to be an enforcement program. And enforce is what he had done. He followed his strict programming along its instructed parameters. He was nothing less than an efficient killing machine.
Each agent had been produced from a default model. However, since they were sentient artificial intelligence, they had the ability to adapt, learn, and develop a personality. As an agent, Smith had grown beyond that. He acquired hate, rage, and contempt. Out of that, spite…and even a malevolent sense of humor.
But to his surprise, he had also developed the ability to love. He loved to torture rebels. He loved defeating agents that opposed him. He loved the look of surprise when he had revealed himself to Anderson, showing that he existed again, in a better, more advanced form. And he loved the stricken look on Anderson's face when hundreds of other Smiths came flooding to greet him…to destroy and obliterate him.
Smith admitted he gained a certain satisfaction from another being's pain and torment. He wasn't entirely sure why, but he knew it had something to do with the way he was originally programmed. However, his destruction by that damned human had created a drastic change in him. He needed to find out why.
He needed to.
His existence within the Matrix still bothered the hell out of him. He felt trapped, suffocated by it. He was safe here, however. As long as he didn't try to pass through the firewalls into the mainframe's operating system, he would remain almost undetectable. He would run across other agents, certainly, but he was confident that they would not be an issue.
He couldn't afford to pass into another reality. He had to remain in this one, no matter how he detested it. He was no longer integrated to the system. It was as though he were a tiny grain of sand on a beach…the mainframe was aware of his presence, but did not seem to notice. He went undetected except for during agent encounters, and it seemed that it wasn't a large priority of the mainframe's to have him removed. Then again, there were bigger fish to fry. Like Thomas Anderson.
It was on one of his random link-ups to the network that Smith had discovered a piece of information. A very interesting piece of information indeed. He "overheard" what seemed to be a frantic transmission from a sentinel that was being distributed to all interested parties. The encrypted transmission repeated itself over and over again.
Thomas A. Anderson has been disabled. Thomas A. Anderson has been disabled. Thomas A. Anderson has been disabled.
A suppressed excitement washed over Smith. His mouth twitched and gradually pulled back into a malicious grin.
Thomas A. Anderson has been disabled.