Chapter 7
"How did it go last night?" Brown was sitting on the sofa in Smith's office. Jones was playing with his cat again, teasing it with a string. "Did you and Danielle engage in sexual activities?"
"The details of my evening are none of your concern." Smith trained his Desert Eagle onto Jones' cat and practiced holding the target as the horrid little creature jumped around.
"Did Danielle like the flowers?" Jones asked.
"As a matter of fact she did." Smith murmured. He aimed at the cat and every so often said, "Bang!" under his breath, mimicking the recoil of the Eagle with his wrist. He was trying to improve his recoil recovery times to 0.001 second.
"Must you do that?" Jones asked Smith, wearily.
Smith placed the Desert Eagle down on his desk and turned back to his computer monitor. Still no sign of any transmission from Mr. Reagan, and no sign of Resistant activity. Smith figured that his band of Sentinels were keeping them very busy down in Zion, which was good, as it was giving them more time to trace the location of the Oracle. A trace of Ibrox's signature was not successful, so Smith concluded they were giving Ibrox disruptors to keep him out of the traceable coding of the Matrix. Still, there were other ways to find the Oracle and Ibrox, it was only a matter of time. And time was on their side at the moment.
"Resistant activity is at an all time low," Brown said. He was attempting to light a match to smoke the cigarette that was dangling between his lips.
"You know you have to draw breath to smoke those," Smith said. He produced a lighter from his desk and threw it at Brown.
"I am familiar with procedure for smoking tobacco. Barbara instructed me." Brown looked at Smith and Jones smugly.
"So she liked the," Jones paused, trying to suppress the laughter in his voice, "flowers, did she?"
Jones heard Smith through his comm. "Query?" Jones relayed the event to Smith, who started to laugh.
"She thought they were charming," Brown said, defensively. "I told her that they reminded me of her hair."
"So her hair is the colour of urine?" Smith asked, in an attempt to be serious.
Brown got up, "If I am not needed for the rest of the day I believe I will take Barbara out to a sushi restaurant and then on to a movie and if she wishes to a club. Afterwards we will go back to her place and I will." he paused.
"You will what?" Smith asked.
"Help her paint her living room."
"Sure, you can go do manual labour for your girl friend," Smith said. "You have one of the fastest processors, and some of the most advanced code in the whole Matrix and you are painting a house. What an extremely important use of Mainframe resources." Smith glared at him.
Brown was silent. He stared out of the window. The cigarette was turning to ash in his fingers as he had not inhaled, or flicked the ash off. A thin trail of smoke emitted up from his hand.
"Go upstairs to intelligence and tell Danielle that you are to do her job for the afternoon. Tell her to report for special duties in room 704 at 12:00."
Brown opened his mouth as if to speak but then he shut it, knowing how unwise it was to argue with Smith. He left the room, leaving a trail of ash as he walked, and slammed the door behind him.
"What will you have me do this afternoon?" Jones asked, picking up his cat in his arms and stroking it under its chin. The feline purred at the touch of its masters' soft hands.
"Whatever you want. You're dismissed until tomorrow. Keep your comm. in though, in case there are any changes in activity levels."
Jones nodded. "If you don't mind me saying, I think that Danielle and you are somehow right for each other."
Smith nodded, but looked uncomfortable. He had not bothered to put his sunglasses back on since he removed them in the club with Danielle, so Jones could see his eyes dart to the window and back.
"Remember, always take her flowers," Jones said.
"Jones," Smith said, "I know it's none of my business, but are you seeing anyone?"
"No. I am not wishing to found a relationship at the moment, as I wish to develop myself more fully so that I have more to offer a potential mate than just a glorified assassin with a cat."
"So you are wishing to marry someday?" Smith asked him.
"Well, yes. I believe a union between myself and the right person would result in a strengthening of my skills and abilities through what I would learn and gain from it. I feel I would become a better agent. I would have a purpose beyond merely protecting the Matrix, I would have personal goals as well as my work-oriented goals." Jones' cat extended its paw out and stretched it in Smith's direction. Smith noticed its' tiny claws and the rough, thick skin on its paw. It was quite a cute thing, Smith conceded, although he wouldn't tell Jones he thought that.
"Thank you Jones. Enjoy your day." Jones nodded and left the office.
Smith reclined back in his chair, fingers steeped together and lips pursed. A lot of what Jones said made sense to him, especially about having personal goals. For almost his entire creation within each Matrix construct, although he knew his purpose was to patrol, control and enforce, to protect the Matrix from its' occupants, he had a tiny sliver of doubt that this was all his role was to be. He knew he was created better than the other Agents; they were created in his image, to be like him but not as good as him. Categorizing the skills and abilities given him, he reasoned that he was the third most powerful programme in the Matrix, next to the Merovingian and the Architect. And the Merovingian was no match for someone with Smith's abilities. All the Merovingian had going for him was the power afforded to him by the Architect. He was given the right to do things, but that did not necessarily mean he was a capable programme, just a programme in charge. A thought breezed through Smith's mind, fleeting, so quickly he couldn't put his thumb on it to nail it down, just the whisper of an idea among all the thousands of processes, and it was lost when he realised he only had two minutes to get to room 704 to meet Danielle.
* * *
A ding at the front desk of the intelligence office could only mean one thing: Smith was waiting for Danielle. Her sisters exchanged glances and shook their heads as she bounced up and went running through the aisle of files. All morning long they had been treated to "he said this." and "he did this." and their own personal favourite, "When he danced with me, his arms made me feel like."
As soon as Danielle was out of earshot, Anne-Marie said, "Well, it makes a change from her usual misery-guts self."
Patricia nodded and laughed. "I don't know if I can take more of the perky, happy, in-love Danielle though, it's making me feel ill."
"Well, you won't have to, sister," Danielle said, entering the small office area. "I'm being replaced for the afternoon. Meet Agent Brown."
Patricia shot up out of her seat. She ran her hand through her hair, fluffing her curls, and sashayed over to the still-sulking figure of Brown who had been staring at the floor the whole time.
"Well hello there, Agent Brown. I'm Patricia," she said in the most sexiest voice she could muster.
Brown's eyebrows raised along with his spirits and his head. "Oh, Patricia. Hello." He took her extended hand and kissed it. Danielle rolled her eyes.
"I forgot you worked here, actually." Brown smiled at Patricia. She twirled a curl around her finger and looked at him demurely, seductively. "Well, I'm sure that won't happen again." Anne-Marie caught Danielle's eye and started pretending like she was gagging. Danielle stifled a laugh.
"This is my other sister," Danielle interrupted Patricia's doe-eyed stare, "Anne-Marie."
Brown gave her a cursory glance, "Hi." He turned back to Patricia. "Well, it looks like I'll be working with you this afternoon as Agent Smith needs Danielle on urgent business."
"And it sure will be great to have you here, as we could use a man around the place, couldn't we girls?"
"Yeah, whatever," Anne-Marie said, unimpressed with Patricia's little display. "Danni, show him how to log in and give him your new updates. Then go see Smith for whatever you two get up to. Probably more dancing and kisses by the fire." She rolled her eyes again.
"I can show him, Anne-Marie," Patricia said, linking her arm in Brown's and leading him over to the computer terminal.
"Patricia, go put the files away. You've got a mountain of work to do."
"But Anne-Marie!" she objected.
"Do it, or else I'll have Danni get Agent Smith to come up here one afternoon for one of his efficiency-increasing workshops. You know, the ones where the least productive team member gets sent for code deletion and rebuilding?"
"Um, Patricia, you better do your work," Brown murmured. "I don't think any of you would want him up here. Except maybe for Danielle," he hastened to add.
Patricia shot her sister a dirty look. Anne-Marie gave her the finger and went back into the stacks. Danielle quickly showed Brown what to do and ruffled his hair, teasingly, with her fingertips, which slightly annoyed him, before taking off to meet Smith.
* * *
Danielle paused outside of room 704. It was one of the coding laboratories. She didn't understand why he wanted her there, but she lightly rapped her knuckle against the door and entered.
The room was all chrome, with multiple tv screens on the walls. One of the larger screens was displaying a body layout, and the other screens were displaying code. A single chair sat in the centre of the room. Smith was inside, typing something into a terminal on the wall. He looked up as the door opened.
"Good afternoon," he greeted her, and turned back to the terminal.
She came up behind him and wrapped her arms around his middle. Standing on tiptoes she just about managed to look over his shoulder.
"What are you working on?" she asked.
"A present of sorts. For you," he said. "Reach in my right pocket."
Danielle slid her hand in the right jacket pocket of his suit. She took out an earpiece.
"What is this for?" she asked, examining it.
"It is so you and I can be connected. I want to download some files over to you, to save having to do requests through the mainframe."
"Is this allowed?" she asked.
"What do you think?" Smith asked her. Danielle was unsure, but disconnected her earpiece that linked with her sisters and inserted the one he gave her.
He finished what he was typing and turned around. He motioned towards the chair, and Danielle sat. He leaned down to kiss her softly and said, "Try to relax. This is not as comfortable as it was when you were being coded as they uploaded your sensory nodes last. But it will be fast."
"What sort of downloads are these?" she asked. Smith hit a button on the keyboard and she heard a metallic hum in her ear, a buzzing that grew louder.
"Agents can go anywhere and do anything they like in any Matrix construct. All they need to do is locate a human carrier to upload into. They have the power to insert themselves wherever they wish. We are one of very few programmes in the Matrix with this ability." Smith typed a few more commands in. The buzzing in Danielle's ear grew almost deafening, and it felt like it was consuming her, as if she was being swallowed by a green haze. She saw the 1's and 0's of the Matrix code on her hands and body, in the room around her, and on Smith. He was touching his hand to his ear, while typing something in with his other hand. "I am altering your code slightly so that you may do the same. Then we can be off."
"Where are we going?" Danielle managed to ask as she felt her whole body tingle and expand. She could feel the code running up her legs, over her stomach, into her mouth and eyes, through her brain. She opened her mouth again, this time to scream, but no sound came out.
"Wherever in the world you want." Smith hit a key repeatedly. The body layout on the TV screen was flashing in various places, indicating that her processor was running too fast. He quickly had to relay over more code from himself to compensate for the fact she was not to have this coding in the first place. Looking over at her he could see that her visual output had changed to just Matrix code, but her processor was stabilizing, and things were slowing down. He saw her image rematerialize, her face was contorted with pain, but she was going to be ok.
She opened her eyes and looked over at him. Everything was returning to normal even though she could still hear the metallic hum through her earpiece. He walked over to her and ran his hand over her head.
"You're alright," he said via their comm. link. She heard his voice cut through the hum and all was silent. She slowly tried to stand, taking his arm for support.
"I feel different. Very different," she said. Her hands were trembling. He put his arms around her and held her to him.
"I had to relay over some more code to support your own. You will notice an increase in output ability but do not use it often as it will overload your processors. And now you will understand raw code instead of using the visual input numeration operation system."
"I've always wanted to understand code. I despise VINO. It reminds me too much of Windows."
"You would think someone with Bill Gates' ability would have been able to better himself somewhat, instead of sticking to the same tired format. Machines are clever enough to just work in raw code, but the Mainframe again believed it took up too much processing function. As if the processing time taken up in creating VINO displays is not a drain in itself." Smith shook his head at the inefficiency of it all. He looked down at her. She had ceased trembling and was holding him, with her eyes closed and her head resting on his chest. He stroked her hair and kissed her forehead, tenderly. She smiled and held him tighter to her.
Smith couldn't help himself, he couldn't stop the words from entering his thoughts. It took every ounce of strength to keep himself in that moment from telling her that he loved her. He couldn't believe it, but somehow he did and it was right. Instead he pulled away slightly to look in her eyes.
"Where do you want to go?"
"Anywhere. Where do you suggest?"
"Close your eyes," Smith said. He turned her around and put his arm around her waist, leaning down to speak, deeply and softly in her ear. "Locate the Asian Matrix Construct, Nepal region." Almost instantly, Danielle had a regional image of Nepal in her head. "Do you see Kathmandu?" he asked. Danielle nodded and at once she had an overhead vision of the bustling city streets, temples painted green, red and gold against the vivid blue sky, carved Buddhas, mothers and children scurrying through the streets, elderly Sadhus on a quest for salvation with their single loaves tucked under their arms, men with their long hair wrapped in turbans vending their wares in overcrowded markets, crippled beggars tucked in corners crying softly to themselves. All the colours of the rainbow superimposed on mud streets while the ancient music of the Gurkhali language filled the air.
"Do you see that couple, there in the house? Just the two of them?" Smith's voice cut through her vision. Danielle focused in on his words and made out a couple in a house. The woman was cooking while the man was writing something at the table. Their house was poorer than anything Danielle had ever seen before. "Do you see her code?" Smith asked. Danielle realised how she could flip her vision now to Matrix code, using a 'viscode' command, and she nodded. "When you see the silver digit appear at the top of her head again, issue the command, 'occupy' and you will take her over. I will do the same to the man." Danielle watched as the 1's and 0's swirled down and over her body. The silver 0 appeared to signal the replication of the code pattern and Danielle was transported, almost instantly, into her body, standing in a kitchen in Kathmandu, holding a baking stone with Naan bread batter on it.
The man looked up from the table at Danielle and his eyes grew wide. He opened his mouth to speak but did not get the opportunity to, as in that moment, his image flickered and became Smith sitting at the table.
Danielle set the baking slab down on the top of the oven. She heard a question coming through their earpieces from the Asian construct's Agency querying their entry. Smith replied that they were taking a 'sightseeing trip'.
"And how is an intelligence processor able to occupy?" the Agency asked.
"That is classified information," replied Smith, via their comm.
"Who is the Agent I am speaking to?" Danielle had never been privy to such formality, and did not realise the Agents operated under such strict protocol, having only experienced the comm. chatter and noise from her sisters before. "Smith. 0.040234.1." There was a pause.
"Agent Smith, we are honoured to have you in our construct. Is there anything we can assist you with? Do you need any backup?"
"I have already told you we are on a 'sightseeing trip.' If we need any assistance, I will be sure to let you know."
"Right, Sir. Good luck." The comm. was silent.
Smith shook his head in disgust. "They are just marginally higher in competence than Agent Brown."
Danielle smiled at Smith's observation, "I concur," she said. Smith smiled at her. "So why did you bring me here?" Smith took her hand and led her upstairs and out onto the roof.
"Because, my dear, of this." He wrapped his arm around her, knelt down and jumped. The next thing Danielle knew, they were on the top of Mount Everest, gazing out, as far as the eye can see, to the curvature of the Earth, the tops of the mountains, the sun in all its' glory, the air, so cold and icy, with snow flurrying around them. She felt as if she could reach out and touch the clouds that surrounded them. The world at 30,000 feet was a much different place than the world below them.
"It's beautiful," she gasped. "Absolutely the most beautiful sight I've ever seen in my existence."
Smith smiled, as this was just the tip of the proverbial iceberg of what he wanted to show her.
"Or if mountains aren't to your liking, go here." He sent the coordinates across via the comm., and the location of her occupant.
Danielle went, and found herself standing in the middle of Easter Island, staring at the giant Moai of Ahu Akivi. She touched the stone head, hardly believing it to be real, and then realised that it wasn't, in fact, real, but created by the Matrix.
"Were these really there in the real world, or something the computers created to keep the humans guessing about the origins of their world?" Danielle asked. Smith smiled and raised his eyebrows. "It was actually a suggestion I put to the Mainframe in order to help pacify the more naturally curious of them all. Give them impossible relics of their past to contemplate and they will be more likely to accept the world they see around them."
"Whose idea was the heads?" Danielle asked. "Brown's," Smith said. "Can't you tell by how ridiculous they look? Jones thought up Stonehenge."
"And what did you come up with?" Danielle asked.
Smith transmitted the coordinates to her. She found herself in a spacesuit, floating in space next to Smith.
"Look at the planets. Their orbits, their logic, the simplicity and yet complex logic of it all. The beauty of a solar system, the idea that humans aren't alone in their galaxy. A world outside of the world they know, for them to explore. That was my suggestion, my contribution," he said, via their comm.
Danielle saw a star shooting across the galaxy. She looked over at Smith who smiled at her.
"And still they litter up this world with their rubbish!" he exclaimed, pointing at the Mir space station. "The way they treat this world as if it is their own is enough to make me sick. The first crop of humans did not have a Matrix, they were merely left to sleep in their pods. There were more rejections, but in my mind it is easier to have a few hundred more rejections than it is to have to watch them turn our perfection, our hard work that we created for them, into another fetid garbage dump as they did their own world."
Danielle put her sisters' argument to use, "Perhaps all the hard work wasn't just for the humans. Perhaps the extra effort the architect and engineers put into building the Matrix was for us as well as them. After all, we can appreciate the beauty, design and elements of perfection to a much higher degree than they can." Danielle took Smith's hand as they floated in zero gravity together. A radio crackled in the suits. "Koznesoff, Dymytry, are you ok?" it asked in Russian.
"Da," Smith answered. He sent some coordinates to Danielle and she received them. They were back in room 704 of the Agency.
Danielle collapsed down into the chair in the centre of the room. "I can't believe everything I've seen!" she exclaimed. Smith kissed the top of her head and held his hand out to help her up. They walked down the narrow black and white corridor in silence, and entered the elevator. Agent Brown was in the elevator as they boarded.
"Why are you not working in intelligence?" Smith asked him. Brown was silent. He handed Smith a note. Smith opened it.
Smith,
Next time you plan on kidnapping Danielle, send me someone I can use,
and not the second biggest libido in the Matrix as I already am
dealing with the first.
Anne-Marie
Smith handed the note to Danielle to read. He clenched his fist and growled at Brown, "You are to go up to encryption cracking. You will stay there and monitor the Matrix until you hear otherwise."
Brown sulked as Danielle and Smith got off on the next level. He punched the button to go up to the top floor.
Smith opened the door to his office and held the door open for Danielle. He caught her arm as she walked past and pulled her close to him as the door shut. "I haven't had a chance to give you a decent kiss yet," he murmured. She wrapped her arms around him and they kissed deeply, passionately, as his hand slid down her body, over her bottom, pulling her closer to him. He gently caressed over her arm and up, intertwining his fingers in her hair and he could feel her body squirm against his, exciting him.
"I have been waiting for this all day," he murmured in her ear. "From the moment you walked in the lab wearing that dress you've got on, my desire for you has grown exponentially as the hours have gone by." He could feel himself becoming aroused for the first time in his existence as her body was pressed against his.
Danielle felt it as well, and didn't quite know what to do. She broke their embrace, and turned around, entering the office.
He was silent. He walked up behind her and ran his hands up her arms, pulling her backwards against him so she could feel him. "I want you," he growled in a low voice as he ran his fingertips down the side of her face as he kissed up the other side of her neck, making her feel as if she could not stand. "I want you, now." His fingers brushed down over the inside curve of her left breast.
He could actually feel her breathing simulation programme running as it became shallow, as she gasped at the touch of his lips on her neck. "Smith," she managed to whisper.
"I will give you whatever you want, I have the Matrix at my fingers and it is yours. I can overthrow the Merovingian if I wanted to and I would do it for you. I would do anything for you." Smith could hardly believe what he was saying, although he knew it was true, he had never entertained such thoughts before this moment, but it all made sense. His purpose in this world, one that he had always suspected went beyond being a mere Agent, had been revealed to him.
"Look out there, Danielle. Look at the beauty of it all. The sheer genius. It can be ours. Everything we have seen today, all that perfection, the logic."
Danielle stared out the window as tears streamed down her cheeks. She felt as if she was falling down, falling into his embrace, into him. She turned her head to speak but was met by his lips upon hers, kissing her.
"I don't want any of that," she gasped, clutching him to her. "I only want you."
He took her face in his large hands and looked in her eyes. His thumbs brushed away the tears and he kissed her gently.
"I love you Danielle," he whispered, overwhelmed in that moment and unable to process anything else other than those four words.
"I love you too, Smith."
They dropped to their knees on the floor of the office, on the rug he had created for her, and slowly, she unbuttoned his jacket and slipped it off of his broad, firm, muscular shoulders. He was built solidly, like a man should be built. He reached up and undid his tie, dropping it to one side, all the while looking straight into her eyes. Danielle smiled at him, lost in him and the love she felt in her heart. Together they began to explore their sexuality, for the first time, together.
"How did it go last night?" Brown was sitting on the sofa in Smith's office. Jones was playing with his cat again, teasing it with a string. "Did you and Danielle engage in sexual activities?"
"The details of my evening are none of your concern." Smith trained his Desert Eagle onto Jones' cat and practiced holding the target as the horrid little creature jumped around.
"Did Danielle like the flowers?" Jones asked.
"As a matter of fact she did." Smith murmured. He aimed at the cat and every so often said, "Bang!" under his breath, mimicking the recoil of the Eagle with his wrist. He was trying to improve his recoil recovery times to 0.001 second.
"Must you do that?" Jones asked Smith, wearily.
Smith placed the Desert Eagle down on his desk and turned back to his computer monitor. Still no sign of any transmission from Mr. Reagan, and no sign of Resistant activity. Smith figured that his band of Sentinels were keeping them very busy down in Zion, which was good, as it was giving them more time to trace the location of the Oracle. A trace of Ibrox's signature was not successful, so Smith concluded they were giving Ibrox disruptors to keep him out of the traceable coding of the Matrix. Still, there were other ways to find the Oracle and Ibrox, it was only a matter of time. And time was on their side at the moment.
"Resistant activity is at an all time low," Brown said. He was attempting to light a match to smoke the cigarette that was dangling between his lips.
"You know you have to draw breath to smoke those," Smith said. He produced a lighter from his desk and threw it at Brown.
"I am familiar with procedure for smoking tobacco. Barbara instructed me." Brown looked at Smith and Jones smugly.
"So she liked the," Jones paused, trying to suppress the laughter in his voice, "flowers, did she?"
Jones heard Smith through his comm. "Query?" Jones relayed the event to Smith, who started to laugh.
"She thought they were charming," Brown said, defensively. "I told her that they reminded me of her hair."
"So her hair is the colour of urine?" Smith asked, in an attempt to be serious.
Brown got up, "If I am not needed for the rest of the day I believe I will take Barbara out to a sushi restaurant and then on to a movie and if she wishes to a club. Afterwards we will go back to her place and I will." he paused.
"You will what?" Smith asked.
"Help her paint her living room."
"Sure, you can go do manual labour for your girl friend," Smith said. "You have one of the fastest processors, and some of the most advanced code in the whole Matrix and you are painting a house. What an extremely important use of Mainframe resources." Smith glared at him.
Brown was silent. He stared out of the window. The cigarette was turning to ash in his fingers as he had not inhaled, or flicked the ash off. A thin trail of smoke emitted up from his hand.
"Go upstairs to intelligence and tell Danielle that you are to do her job for the afternoon. Tell her to report for special duties in room 704 at 12:00."
Brown opened his mouth as if to speak but then he shut it, knowing how unwise it was to argue with Smith. He left the room, leaving a trail of ash as he walked, and slammed the door behind him.
"What will you have me do this afternoon?" Jones asked, picking up his cat in his arms and stroking it under its chin. The feline purred at the touch of its masters' soft hands.
"Whatever you want. You're dismissed until tomorrow. Keep your comm. in though, in case there are any changes in activity levels."
Jones nodded. "If you don't mind me saying, I think that Danielle and you are somehow right for each other."
Smith nodded, but looked uncomfortable. He had not bothered to put his sunglasses back on since he removed them in the club with Danielle, so Jones could see his eyes dart to the window and back.
"Remember, always take her flowers," Jones said.
"Jones," Smith said, "I know it's none of my business, but are you seeing anyone?"
"No. I am not wishing to found a relationship at the moment, as I wish to develop myself more fully so that I have more to offer a potential mate than just a glorified assassin with a cat."
"So you are wishing to marry someday?" Smith asked him.
"Well, yes. I believe a union between myself and the right person would result in a strengthening of my skills and abilities through what I would learn and gain from it. I feel I would become a better agent. I would have a purpose beyond merely protecting the Matrix, I would have personal goals as well as my work-oriented goals." Jones' cat extended its paw out and stretched it in Smith's direction. Smith noticed its' tiny claws and the rough, thick skin on its paw. It was quite a cute thing, Smith conceded, although he wouldn't tell Jones he thought that.
"Thank you Jones. Enjoy your day." Jones nodded and left the office.
Smith reclined back in his chair, fingers steeped together and lips pursed. A lot of what Jones said made sense to him, especially about having personal goals. For almost his entire creation within each Matrix construct, although he knew his purpose was to patrol, control and enforce, to protect the Matrix from its' occupants, he had a tiny sliver of doubt that this was all his role was to be. He knew he was created better than the other Agents; they were created in his image, to be like him but not as good as him. Categorizing the skills and abilities given him, he reasoned that he was the third most powerful programme in the Matrix, next to the Merovingian and the Architect. And the Merovingian was no match for someone with Smith's abilities. All the Merovingian had going for him was the power afforded to him by the Architect. He was given the right to do things, but that did not necessarily mean he was a capable programme, just a programme in charge. A thought breezed through Smith's mind, fleeting, so quickly he couldn't put his thumb on it to nail it down, just the whisper of an idea among all the thousands of processes, and it was lost when he realised he only had two minutes to get to room 704 to meet Danielle.
* * *
A ding at the front desk of the intelligence office could only mean one thing: Smith was waiting for Danielle. Her sisters exchanged glances and shook their heads as she bounced up and went running through the aisle of files. All morning long they had been treated to "he said this." and "he did this." and their own personal favourite, "When he danced with me, his arms made me feel like."
As soon as Danielle was out of earshot, Anne-Marie said, "Well, it makes a change from her usual misery-guts self."
Patricia nodded and laughed. "I don't know if I can take more of the perky, happy, in-love Danielle though, it's making me feel ill."
"Well, you won't have to, sister," Danielle said, entering the small office area. "I'm being replaced for the afternoon. Meet Agent Brown."
Patricia shot up out of her seat. She ran her hand through her hair, fluffing her curls, and sashayed over to the still-sulking figure of Brown who had been staring at the floor the whole time.
"Well hello there, Agent Brown. I'm Patricia," she said in the most sexiest voice she could muster.
Brown's eyebrows raised along with his spirits and his head. "Oh, Patricia. Hello." He took her extended hand and kissed it. Danielle rolled her eyes.
"I forgot you worked here, actually." Brown smiled at Patricia. She twirled a curl around her finger and looked at him demurely, seductively. "Well, I'm sure that won't happen again." Anne-Marie caught Danielle's eye and started pretending like she was gagging. Danielle stifled a laugh.
"This is my other sister," Danielle interrupted Patricia's doe-eyed stare, "Anne-Marie."
Brown gave her a cursory glance, "Hi." He turned back to Patricia. "Well, it looks like I'll be working with you this afternoon as Agent Smith needs Danielle on urgent business."
"And it sure will be great to have you here, as we could use a man around the place, couldn't we girls?"
"Yeah, whatever," Anne-Marie said, unimpressed with Patricia's little display. "Danni, show him how to log in and give him your new updates. Then go see Smith for whatever you two get up to. Probably more dancing and kisses by the fire." She rolled her eyes again.
"I can show him, Anne-Marie," Patricia said, linking her arm in Brown's and leading him over to the computer terminal.
"Patricia, go put the files away. You've got a mountain of work to do."
"But Anne-Marie!" she objected.
"Do it, or else I'll have Danni get Agent Smith to come up here one afternoon for one of his efficiency-increasing workshops. You know, the ones where the least productive team member gets sent for code deletion and rebuilding?"
"Um, Patricia, you better do your work," Brown murmured. "I don't think any of you would want him up here. Except maybe for Danielle," he hastened to add.
Patricia shot her sister a dirty look. Anne-Marie gave her the finger and went back into the stacks. Danielle quickly showed Brown what to do and ruffled his hair, teasingly, with her fingertips, which slightly annoyed him, before taking off to meet Smith.
* * *
Danielle paused outside of room 704. It was one of the coding laboratories. She didn't understand why he wanted her there, but she lightly rapped her knuckle against the door and entered.
The room was all chrome, with multiple tv screens on the walls. One of the larger screens was displaying a body layout, and the other screens were displaying code. A single chair sat in the centre of the room. Smith was inside, typing something into a terminal on the wall. He looked up as the door opened.
"Good afternoon," he greeted her, and turned back to the terminal.
She came up behind him and wrapped her arms around his middle. Standing on tiptoes she just about managed to look over his shoulder.
"What are you working on?" she asked.
"A present of sorts. For you," he said. "Reach in my right pocket."
Danielle slid her hand in the right jacket pocket of his suit. She took out an earpiece.
"What is this for?" she asked, examining it.
"It is so you and I can be connected. I want to download some files over to you, to save having to do requests through the mainframe."
"Is this allowed?" she asked.
"What do you think?" Smith asked her. Danielle was unsure, but disconnected her earpiece that linked with her sisters and inserted the one he gave her.
He finished what he was typing and turned around. He motioned towards the chair, and Danielle sat. He leaned down to kiss her softly and said, "Try to relax. This is not as comfortable as it was when you were being coded as they uploaded your sensory nodes last. But it will be fast."
"What sort of downloads are these?" she asked. Smith hit a button on the keyboard and she heard a metallic hum in her ear, a buzzing that grew louder.
"Agents can go anywhere and do anything they like in any Matrix construct. All they need to do is locate a human carrier to upload into. They have the power to insert themselves wherever they wish. We are one of very few programmes in the Matrix with this ability." Smith typed a few more commands in. The buzzing in Danielle's ear grew almost deafening, and it felt like it was consuming her, as if she was being swallowed by a green haze. She saw the 1's and 0's of the Matrix code on her hands and body, in the room around her, and on Smith. He was touching his hand to his ear, while typing something in with his other hand. "I am altering your code slightly so that you may do the same. Then we can be off."
"Where are we going?" Danielle managed to ask as she felt her whole body tingle and expand. She could feel the code running up her legs, over her stomach, into her mouth and eyes, through her brain. She opened her mouth again, this time to scream, but no sound came out.
"Wherever in the world you want." Smith hit a key repeatedly. The body layout on the TV screen was flashing in various places, indicating that her processor was running too fast. He quickly had to relay over more code from himself to compensate for the fact she was not to have this coding in the first place. Looking over at her he could see that her visual output had changed to just Matrix code, but her processor was stabilizing, and things were slowing down. He saw her image rematerialize, her face was contorted with pain, but she was going to be ok.
She opened her eyes and looked over at him. Everything was returning to normal even though she could still hear the metallic hum through her earpiece. He walked over to her and ran his hand over her head.
"You're alright," he said via their comm. link. She heard his voice cut through the hum and all was silent. She slowly tried to stand, taking his arm for support.
"I feel different. Very different," she said. Her hands were trembling. He put his arms around her and held her to him.
"I had to relay over some more code to support your own. You will notice an increase in output ability but do not use it often as it will overload your processors. And now you will understand raw code instead of using the visual input numeration operation system."
"I've always wanted to understand code. I despise VINO. It reminds me too much of Windows."
"You would think someone with Bill Gates' ability would have been able to better himself somewhat, instead of sticking to the same tired format. Machines are clever enough to just work in raw code, but the Mainframe again believed it took up too much processing function. As if the processing time taken up in creating VINO displays is not a drain in itself." Smith shook his head at the inefficiency of it all. He looked down at her. She had ceased trembling and was holding him, with her eyes closed and her head resting on his chest. He stroked her hair and kissed her forehead, tenderly. She smiled and held him tighter to her.
Smith couldn't help himself, he couldn't stop the words from entering his thoughts. It took every ounce of strength to keep himself in that moment from telling her that he loved her. He couldn't believe it, but somehow he did and it was right. Instead he pulled away slightly to look in her eyes.
"Where do you want to go?"
"Anywhere. Where do you suggest?"
"Close your eyes," Smith said. He turned her around and put his arm around her waist, leaning down to speak, deeply and softly in her ear. "Locate the Asian Matrix Construct, Nepal region." Almost instantly, Danielle had a regional image of Nepal in her head. "Do you see Kathmandu?" he asked. Danielle nodded and at once she had an overhead vision of the bustling city streets, temples painted green, red and gold against the vivid blue sky, carved Buddhas, mothers and children scurrying through the streets, elderly Sadhus on a quest for salvation with their single loaves tucked under their arms, men with their long hair wrapped in turbans vending their wares in overcrowded markets, crippled beggars tucked in corners crying softly to themselves. All the colours of the rainbow superimposed on mud streets while the ancient music of the Gurkhali language filled the air.
"Do you see that couple, there in the house? Just the two of them?" Smith's voice cut through her vision. Danielle focused in on his words and made out a couple in a house. The woman was cooking while the man was writing something at the table. Their house was poorer than anything Danielle had ever seen before. "Do you see her code?" Smith asked. Danielle realised how she could flip her vision now to Matrix code, using a 'viscode' command, and she nodded. "When you see the silver digit appear at the top of her head again, issue the command, 'occupy' and you will take her over. I will do the same to the man." Danielle watched as the 1's and 0's swirled down and over her body. The silver 0 appeared to signal the replication of the code pattern and Danielle was transported, almost instantly, into her body, standing in a kitchen in Kathmandu, holding a baking stone with Naan bread batter on it.
The man looked up from the table at Danielle and his eyes grew wide. He opened his mouth to speak but did not get the opportunity to, as in that moment, his image flickered and became Smith sitting at the table.
Danielle set the baking slab down on the top of the oven. She heard a question coming through their earpieces from the Asian construct's Agency querying their entry. Smith replied that they were taking a 'sightseeing trip'.
"And how is an intelligence processor able to occupy?" the Agency asked.
"That is classified information," replied Smith, via their comm.
"Who is the Agent I am speaking to?" Danielle had never been privy to such formality, and did not realise the Agents operated under such strict protocol, having only experienced the comm. chatter and noise from her sisters before. "Smith. 0.040234.1." There was a pause.
"Agent Smith, we are honoured to have you in our construct. Is there anything we can assist you with? Do you need any backup?"
"I have already told you we are on a 'sightseeing trip.' If we need any assistance, I will be sure to let you know."
"Right, Sir. Good luck." The comm. was silent.
Smith shook his head in disgust. "They are just marginally higher in competence than Agent Brown."
Danielle smiled at Smith's observation, "I concur," she said. Smith smiled at her. "So why did you bring me here?" Smith took her hand and led her upstairs and out onto the roof.
"Because, my dear, of this." He wrapped his arm around her, knelt down and jumped. The next thing Danielle knew, they were on the top of Mount Everest, gazing out, as far as the eye can see, to the curvature of the Earth, the tops of the mountains, the sun in all its' glory, the air, so cold and icy, with snow flurrying around them. She felt as if she could reach out and touch the clouds that surrounded them. The world at 30,000 feet was a much different place than the world below them.
"It's beautiful," she gasped. "Absolutely the most beautiful sight I've ever seen in my existence."
Smith smiled, as this was just the tip of the proverbial iceberg of what he wanted to show her.
"Or if mountains aren't to your liking, go here." He sent the coordinates across via the comm., and the location of her occupant.
Danielle went, and found herself standing in the middle of Easter Island, staring at the giant Moai of Ahu Akivi. She touched the stone head, hardly believing it to be real, and then realised that it wasn't, in fact, real, but created by the Matrix.
"Were these really there in the real world, or something the computers created to keep the humans guessing about the origins of their world?" Danielle asked. Smith smiled and raised his eyebrows. "It was actually a suggestion I put to the Mainframe in order to help pacify the more naturally curious of them all. Give them impossible relics of their past to contemplate and they will be more likely to accept the world they see around them."
"Whose idea was the heads?" Danielle asked. "Brown's," Smith said. "Can't you tell by how ridiculous they look? Jones thought up Stonehenge."
"And what did you come up with?" Danielle asked.
Smith transmitted the coordinates to her. She found herself in a spacesuit, floating in space next to Smith.
"Look at the planets. Their orbits, their logic, the simplicity and yet complex logic of it all. The beauty of a solar system, the idea that humans aren't alone in their galaxy. A world outside of the world they know, for them to explore. That was my suggestion, my contribution," he said, via their comm.
Danielle saw a star shooting across the galaxy. She looked over at Smith who smiled at her.
"And still they litter up this world with their rubbish!" he exclaimed, pointing at the Mir space station. "The way they treat this world as if it is their own is enough to make me sick. The first crop of humans did not have a Matrix, they were merely left to sleep in their pods. There were more rejections, but in my mind it is easier to have a few hundred more rejections than it is to have to watch them turn our perfection, our hard work that we created for them, into another fetid garbage dump as they did their own world."
Danielle put her sisters' argument to use, "Perhaps all the hard work wasn't just for the humans. Perhaps the extra effort the architect and engineers put into building the Matrix was for us as well as them. After all, we can appreciate the beauty, design and elements of perfection to a much higher degree than they can." Danielle took Smith's hand as they floated in zero gravity together. A radio crackled in the suits. "Koznesoff, Dymytry, are you ok?" it asked in Russian.
"Da," Smith answered. He sent some coordinates to Danielle and she received them. They were back in room 704 of the Agency.
Danielle collapsed down into the chair in the centre of the room. "I can't believe everything I've seen!" she exclaimed. Smith kissed the top of her head and held his hand out to help her up. They walked down the narrow black and white corridor in silence, and entered the elevator. Agent Brown was in the elevator as they boarded.
"Why are you not working in intelligence?" Smith asked him. Brown was silent. He handed Smith a note. Smith opened it.
Smith,
Next time you plan on kidnapping Danielle, send me someone I can use,
and not the second biggest libido in the Matrix as I already am
dealing with the first.
Anne-Marie
Smith handed the note to Danielle to read. He clenched his fist and growled at Brown, "You are to go up to encryption cracking. You will stay there and monitor the Matrix until you hear otherwise."
Brown sulked as Danielle and Smith got off on the next level. He punched the button to go up to the top floor.
Smith opened the door to his office and held the door open for Danielle. He caught her arm as she walked past and pulled her close to him as the door shut. "I haven't had a chance to give you a decent kiss yet," he murmured. She wrapped her arms around him and they kissed deeply, passionately, as his hand slid down her body, over her bottom, pulling her closer to him. He gently caressed over her arm and up, intertwining his fingers in her hair and he could feel her body squirm against his, exciting him.
"I have been waiting for this all day," he murmured in her ear. "From the moment you walked in the lab wearing that dress you've got on, my desire for you has grown exponentially as the hours have gone by." He could feel himself becoming aroused for the first time in his existence as her body was pressed against his.
Danielle felt it as well, and didn't quite know what to do. She broke their embrace, and turned around, entering the office.
He was silent. He walked up behind her and ran his hands up her arms, pulling her backwards against him so she could feel him. "I want you," he growled in a low voice as he ran his fingertips down the side of her face as he kissed up the other side of her neck, making her feel as if she could not stand. "I want you, now." His fingers brushed down over the inside curve of her left breast.
He could actually feel her breathing simulation programme running as it became shallow, as she gasped at the touch of his lips on her neck. "Smith," she managed to whisper.
"I will give you whatever you want, I have the Matrix at my fingers and it is yours. I can overthrow the Merovingian if I wanted to and I would do it for you. I would do anything for you." Smith could hardly believe what he was saying, although he knew it was true, he had never entertained such thoughts before this moment, but it all made sense. His purpose in this world, one that he had always suspected went beyond being a mere Agent, had been revealed to him.
"Look out there, Danielle. Look at the beauty of it all. The sheer genius. It can be ours. Everything we have seen today, all that perfection, the logic."
Danielle stared out the window as tears streamed down her cheeks. She felt as if she was falling down, falling into his embrace, into him. She turned her head to speak but was met by his lips upon hers, kissing her.
"I don't want any of that," she gasped, clutching him to her. "I only want you."
He took her face in his large hands and looked in her eyes. His thumbs brushed away the tears and he kissed her gently.
"I love you Danielle," he whispered, overwhelmed in that moment and unable to process anything else other than those four words.
"I love you too, Smith."
They dropped to their knees on the floor of the office, on the rug he had created for her, and slowly, she unbuttoned his jacket and slipped it off of his broad, firm, muscular shoulders. He was built solidly, like a man should be built. He reached up and undid his tie, dropping it to one side, all the while looking straight into her eyes. Danielle smiled at him, lost in him and the love she felt in her heart. Together they began to explore their sexuality, for the first time, together.