Chapter 11: Rendezvous
Ixias' entire body turned frigid and tense. Foreign hands gripped her by the underarms and pulled her roughly to her feet. She stood up, facing the lake with her back to the intruder, and struggled to release a breath caught in her knotted chest. She slowly turned around to face the newcomer, closing her eyes briefly in terrified anticipation.
"What are you doing here miss? You realize that this is government property. I'm afraid I have to take you in." The forest ranger stood firm and disappointedly irritated in his stance. Ixias let out an obvious whoosh of relief.
"Look, I can explain, sir,. I,." she stammered timidly, a small quiver cascading through her body. She looked deeply into the ranger's face and pleaded that he have mercy on her.
"There is nothing to explain, Ixias," the ranger muttered before a grim and sinister smile spread across his face. His lips peeled back to reveal a hideous sneer.
Ixias backed away, absolutely and utterly petrified. The freakish defiances of nature she had experienced moments earlier were dances through the park compared to the dread and fear she felt now. Her stomach dropped to somewhere below her knees as Max's warning pulsed electrically through her mind. She backed away, pushing her hands out in front of her.
"No. no,. I have to go. I, I,." she sputtered, and she whirled around to flee before an arm shot out and clutched her shoulder, crushing the muscles against the bone. She cried out in pain and pure terror, struggling to flee this monster's grasp. As she turned around to peer at his face - to see what his reaction was - a sudden and shocking metamorphosis occurred.
The ranger's face melted and warped, stretching and shrinking in a most horrifying manner. His face mutated to the face of an unspeakably grim man. Opaque glasses formed upon the bridge of a narrow nose. The brown ranger uniform dissolved to a black suit with a white shirt and a navy blue tie. Black slacks dribbled down over the brown shorts, and where hiking boots once were morphed a pair of shiny black dress shoes. An agent was staring Ixias grimly in the face, his blank expression more gruesome than any emotion he could have displayed. Ixias' mouth was choked for words, her mind had completely shut down, and her train of thought had derailed, crashed into the station and killed all passengers aboard. She had been caught. Snared like a white rabbit in a trap. Max was right - the agents had watched her the entire time, and just when she thought she had fled safely, they snuck up behind her and caught her at a most vulnerable time.
His grip tightened on her shoulders, refusing to let her run.
"Hello, Miss Majicka. What a pleasant surprise that I should find you here." He tilted his head slightly; an expression of mock interest and curiosity formed where a vacant stare once occupied. "What purpose serves your being here, hmm? Is it the prospect of a vacation, so coincidentally located on governmental grounds? An explanation, I believe, is in due order." A sarcastic pout played on his lips.
The look of horror on Ixias' face only multiplied. "*You*! I was warned of you. Let go of me you creep!" She took a swing at him with her free arm, only to have him move inhumanly fast in a nonchalant and casual dodge. He looked from her fist to her face and smiled eerily.
"No need for violence so soon, my dear - we have just met. What is it you seek, Ixias? What promise or prophecy was foretold for you that you could possibly find in this wretched vicinity? I hope you haven't come this far only to be let down. As you can tell, none of this is *real*." His face dropped to a look of grave seriousness.
"Let me go you fucking monster! What the hell are you, what the hell is this place, and what the hell do you want from me?" She wiggled and writhed tumultuously in his grasp. He reluctantly loosened his grip, however still keeping a tight clutch on her arm.
"So many bothersome questions, Miss Majicka. Why come to a place you don't understand? There are no answers for you here - only trouble, and I seem to have found you." His eyes narrowed at her. "Don't try to run. Don't try to hide. You won't get far, and you'll only cause me to grow angry. You don't want to see me angry, Miss Majicka," he purred threateningly. She narrowed her eyes at him, trying to see the emotion behind his glasses. She would have been disappointed.
"You have seen too much, you know too much, and you question too much. Prying minds are not conductive for a submissive society." What was he talking about? His intelligence radiated behind those obscure sunglasses, if only Ixias could see the secrets he stored and the truths he concealed.
"Submissive? You bureaucratic asshole!" She tried to wrench her arm from his grip, so he grabbed her other arm and lifted her off of her feet, dangling her precious inches from the ground. She squirmed helplessly in his powerfully tight grasp.
"You are a *disposable*, *replaceable*, and *expendable* being. You don't add up to much more in this world than a blip on a computer monitor, Miss Majicka. You as an inferior and quite frankly *disgusting* organism are superbly efficient at poisoning and self-destructing yourselves as well as your surroundings in a most casual manner - you care nothing for the fluidity and order of your natural environment, but only for the self- righteously trite and transient ideologies of happiness and control over the now. Your futures are without significance or reason, and your pasts are mistakes inevitably doomed to be repeated. You will *never* learn from the err of your primitive and self-absorbed ways, nor will you cooperate with what you cannot see or understand - which is why I am here." He promptly hurled her to the ground, adding injury to a startlingly well- put insult. She hit the dirt and sent up a cloud of dust as jolts of pain spiraled through her back. Twinges of restriction pulsed painfully where the agent's deadly grip had once been.
Ixias knew she had to get out of there before this man killed her with his bare albeit mighty hands. He had already inflicted some deflation on her ego with his verbal barrage of observations and truths. This viciously intimidating agent - both physically and mentally - was standing directly in front of the path she came in on. She could only pray that her speed and agility could take her far from the graces of this monster and out of here to somewhere safe. She utterly regretted ever leaving the comfort and solace of her home and her baby kitten.
She slowly rose before the towering agent, showing no sign of wishing to flee, and dusted herself off.
"And just what the hell are you? A wolf in human's clothing? Knock knock, you jackass. You're just as human as I am." She started at him through the dim light of the Miracle Glitch, her eyes trailing over his body and across the areas of bare flesh - his hands, his grimly attractive face. Yes. He definitely appeared to be human, inside and out. Although there was something about him, something that knocked her off. She couldn't pinpoint it.
"Appearances can be deceiving, Miss Majicka. I am not who you think I am, nor will I ever be. *Ever.*" He leaned closer, his face briefly illuminated by the glowing blue radiance of a magnificent comet. "Your species disgusts me, and nothing would bring me more pleasure than to personally wipe out every single individual of your pathetically inferior and irrelevant kind."
Ixias grew so flustered and emotionally enraged at the agent's articulate insults that she acted once again without thinking - she leaned back, a deep rumble in her throat, and hocked a particularly large loogie onto the dark shades of the agent.
"Fuck you and fuck whatever you are! How dare you insult my kind. What gives you the right to consider yourself so much better than we? You,.." She trailed off, her mouth dropping open with realization. The agent's mouth twitched in what appeared to be stifled rage, and he calmly reached for the glasses on his face.
Take the red pill, Ixias. The day of the dream came back to her, and for a moment she no longer saw the Agent or the Miracle Glitch. The only thing in front of her eyes was the computer monitor, brief clips from her dream, and select verses from the book she read. The agent standing in front of her wasn't human.
He was a computer program.
Max was right. The book was right. The Miracle Glitch had partially confirmed her worst fears. She still didn't understand what the Matrix was, but somehow a computer program had manifested itself into the real world - into her world - or whatever this world they were encased in was. He stood before her, solid and true, tangible and alive, but somehow too articulate - too programmed - to be real. Were all of the phenomenons she witnessed that morning computer programs as well, programs gone awry with some. *glitch*? Was she herself real?
*Shit*. Shit ass bitch bastard hell damn and most importantly *fuck*. She hadn't the time to worry about questions now. All she needed to do was to get out of this nightmare, and the answers could come later.
The agent wiped his glasses nonchalantly on the tails of his suit and then replaced them on his face. She got a brief glimpse of his intensely piercing eyes of blue. My god, was there a fire in them! Such rage, and such purpose. She was almost frozen in her place at the looks of them.
An evil smirk trembled at the corner of his lips, almost too quickly to notice, before he grimly craned his neck to a disturbing crack and frowned deeply. "Miss Majicka," he murmured firmly, "you have fooled with something much too far beyond your limited comprehension. Do you know where you are? Do you know who I am? Do you know," he leaned closer, his steaming breath only inches from her face, "exactly what it is you are looking for? Is it pain, or trouble, or the *end*, because my dear, you have found all three."
Ixias' entire body turned frigid and tense. Foreign hands gripped her by the underarms and pulled her roughly to her feet. She stood up, facing the lake with her back to the intruder, and struggled to release a breath caught in her knotted chest. She slowly turned around to face the newcomer, closing her eyes briefly in terrified anticipation.
"What are you doing here miss? You realize that this is government property. I'm afraid I have to take you in." The forest ranger stood firm and disappointedly irritated in his stance. Ixias let out an obvious whoosh of relief.
"Look, I can explain, sir,. I,." she stammered timidly, a small quiver cascading through her body. She looked deeply into the ranger's face and pleaded that he have mercy on her.
"There is nothing to explain, Ixias," the ranger muttered before a grim and sinister smile spread across his face. His lips peeled back to reveal a hideous sneer.
Ixias backed away, absolutely and utterly petrified. The freakish defiances of nature she had experienced moments earlier were dances through the park compared to the dread and fear she felt now. Her stomach dropped to somewhere below her knees as Max's warning pulsed electrically through her mind. She backed away, pushing her hands out in front of her.
"No. no,. I have to go. I, I,." she sputtered, and she whirled around to flee before an arm shot out and clutched her shoulder, crushing the muscles against the bone. She cried out in pain and pure terror, struggling to flee this monster's grasp. As she turned around to peer at his face - to see what his reaction was - a sudden and shocking metamorphosis occurred.
The ranger's face melted and warped, stretching and shrinking in a most horrifying manner. His face mutated to the face of an unspeakably grim man. Opaque glasses formed upon the bridge of a narrow nose. The brown ranger uniform dissolved to a black suit with a white shirt and a navy blue tie. Black slacks dribbled down over the brown shorts, and where hiking boots once were morphed a pair of shiny black dress shoes. An agent was staring Ixias grimly in the face, his blank expression more gruesome than any emotion he could have displayed. Ixias' mouth was choked for words, her mind had completely shut down, and her train of thought had derailed, crashed into the station and killed all passengers aboard. She had been caught. Snared like a white rabbit in a trap. Max was right - the agents had watched her the entire time, and just when she thought she had fled safely, they snuck up behind her and caught her at a most vulnerable time.
His grip tightened on her shoulders, refusing to let her run.
"Hello, Miss Majicka. What a pleasant surprise that I should find you here." He tilted his head slightly; an expression of mock interest and curiosity formed where a vacant stare once occupied. "What purpose serves your being here, hmm? Is it the prospect of a vacation, so coincidentally located on governmental grounds? An explanation, I believe, is in due order." A sarcastic pout played on his lips.
The look of horror on Ixias' face only multiplied. "*You*! I was warned of you. Let go of me you creep!" She took a swing at him with her free arm, only to have him move inhumanly fast in a nonchalant and casual dodge. He looked from her fist to her face and smiled eerily.
"No need for violence so soon, my dear - we have just met. What is it you seek, Ixias? What promise or prophecy was foretold for you that you could possibly find in this wretched vicinity? I hope you haven't come this far only to be let down. As you can tell, none of this is *real*." His face dropped to a look of grave seriousness.
"Let me go you fucking monster! What the hell are you, what the hell is this place, and what the hell do you want from me?" She wiggled and writhed tumultuously in his grasp. He reluctantly loosened his grip, however still keeping a tight clutch on her arm.
"So many bothersome questions, Miss Majicka. Why come to a place you don't understand? There are no answers for you here - only trouble, and I seem to have found you." His eyes narrowed at her. "Don't try to run. Don't try to hide. You won't get far, and you'll only cause me to grow angry. You don't want to see me angry, Miss Majicka," he purred threateningly. She narrowed her eyes at him, trying to see the emotion behind his glasses. She would have been disappointed.
"You have seen too much, you know too much, and you question too much. Prying minds are not conductive for a submissive society." What was he talking about? His intelligence radiated behind those obscure sunglasses, if only Ixias could see the secrets he stored and the truths he concealed.
"Submissive? You bureaucratic asshole!" She tried to wrench her arm from his grip, so he grabbed her other arm and lifted her off of her feet, dangling her precious inches from the ground. She squirmed helplessly in his powerfully tight grasp.
"You are a *disposable*, *replaceable*, and *expendable* being. You don't add up to much more in this world than a blip on a computer monitor, Miss Majicka. You as an inferior and quite frankly *disgusting* organism are superbly efficient at poisoning and self-destructing yourselves as well as your surroundings in a most casual manner - you care nothing for the fluidity and order of your natural environment, but only for the self- righteously trite and transient ideologies of happiness and control over the now. Your futures are without significance or reason, and your pasts are mistakes inevitably doomed to be repeated. You will *never* learn from the err of your primitive and self-absorbed ways, nor will you cooperate with what you cannot see or understand - which is why I am here." He promptly hurled her to the ground, adding injury to a startlingly well- put insult. She hit the dirt and sent up a cloud of dust as jolts of pain spiraled through her back. Twinges of restriction pulsed painfully where the agent's deadly grip had once been.
Ixias knew she had to get out of there before this man killed her with his bare albeit mighty hands. He had already inflicted some deflation on her ego with his verbal barrage of observations and truths. This viciously intimidating agent - both physically and mentally - was standing directly in front of the path she came in on. She could only pray that her speed and agility could take her far from the graces of this monster and out of here to somewhere safe. She utterly regretted ever leaving the comfort and solace of her home and her baby kitten.
She slowly rose before the towering agent, showing no sign of wishing to flee, and dusted herself off.
"And just what the hell are you? A wolf in human's clothing? Knock knock, you jackass. You're just as human as I am." She started at him through the dim light of the Miracle Glitch, her eyes trailing over his body and across the areas of bare flesh - his hands, his grimly attractive face. Yes. He definitely appeared to be human, inside and out. Although there was something about him, something that knocked her off. She couldn't pinpoint it.
"Appearances can be deceiving, Miss Majicka. I am not who you think I am, nor will I ever be. *Ever.*" He leaned closer, his face briefly illuminated by the glowing blue radiance of a magnificent comet. "Your species disgusts me, and nothing would bring me more pleasure than to personally wipe out every single individual of your pathetically inferior and irrelevant kind."
Ixias grew so flustered and emotionally enraged at the agent's articulate insults that she acted once again without thinking - she leaned back, a deep rumble in her throat, and hocked a particularly large loogie onto the dark shades of the agent.
"Fuck you and fuck whatever you are! How dare you insult my kind. What gives you the right to consider yourself so much better than we? You,.." She trailed off, her mouth dropping open with realization. The agent's mouth twitched in what appeared to be stifled rage, and he calmly reached for the glasses on his face.
Take the red pill, Ixias. The day of the dream came back to her, and for a moment she no longer saw the Agent or the Miracle Glitch. The only thing in front of her eyes was the computer monitor, brief clips from her dream, and select verses from the book she read. The agent standing in front of her wasn't human.
He was a computer program.
Max was right. The book was right. The Miracle Glitch had partially confirmed her worst fears. She still didn't understand what the Matrix was, but somehow a computer program had manifested itself into the real world - into her world - or whatever this world they were encased in was. He stood before her, solid and true, tangible and alive, but somehow too articulate - too programmed - to be real. Were all of the phenomenons she witnessed that morning computer programs as well, programs gone awry with some. *glitch*? Was she herself real?
*Shit*. Shit ass bitch bastard hell damn and most importantly *fuck*. She hadn't the time to worry about questions now. All she needed to do was to get out of this nightmare, and the answers could come later.
The agent wiped his glasses nonchalantly on the tails of his suit and then replaced them on his face. She got a brief glimpse of his intensely piercing eyes of blue. My god, was there a fire in them! Such rage, and such purpose. She was almost frozen in her place at the looks of them.
An evil smirk trembled at the corner of his lips, almost too quickly to notice, before he grimly craned his neck to a disturbing crack and frowned deeply. "Miss Majicka," he murmured firmly, "you have fooled with something much too far beyond your limited comprehension. Do you know where you are? Do you know who I am? Do you know," he leaned closer, his steaming breath only inches from her face, "exactly what it is you are looking for? Is it pain, or trouble, or the *end*, because my dear, you have found all three."