Thank you again, all ye who have reviewed my work so far.
Chapter 3: Trial by fire
It had been fifteen hours since Silas had been un-plugged. It was cold, and the flimsy, hole ridden garments which Morpheus had given him were not doing much to change this situation. Consequently, he found himself unable to sleep.
A red haired woman who was presumably the ships medic had told him to get as much rest as possible. At first the words were metaphorical music to Silas' ears. But after seven hours, a loud thumping noise from a nearby pipe had woken him, and he was too rested and alert to ignore the cold.
Looking around his small, featureless cabin, Silas found himself remembering things and people from life which a pestiferous thought in the back of his mind told him were gone forever.
At first he had thought about family, friends, well wishers, colleagues, everyone who he had left behind. Only the thought that they would one day be re-united (and that until then they would live comfortably enough,) stopped him from breaking down in a flood of tears.
After this, Silas had begun to reminisce about less important things such as work, taxes, food, warmth and so on. None of these things mattered to him any more. What lay before him was war, and with war came hardship, and loss.
Deciding that he was unlikely to get any more sleep then he had done. Silas opened his cabin door and walked forth into the unknown corridor in front of him. It was cold there too.
Silas hadn't a clue where he was going; he could barely see a thing when he was lead to his room. Deciding that the various corners must lead somewhere however, he walked on.
Eventually, the narrow passageway opened onto a catwalk which overlooked a huge chamber. Silas rested his hands on the safety rail in front of him and peered over the edge.
There were several computers, all showing green coding. To the person staring at them, whom Silas identified as Link, it probably made perfect sense, but to him, it was incomprehensible gibberish.
Rubbing a hand over his head once again, Silas sighed as he felt the smooth surface. It had taken him months to grow his hair long. Now he realised he must start again.
The numerous plugs in his skin were also disturbing. In the movie he'd thought that they looked cool. Now that he had some of his own, they looked more disturbing then cool.
"You probably shouldn't be walking about just now."
"And you definitely should avoid places like this which can lead to nasty falls. I thought I told you to sleep."
Silas looked over his shoulder to see three people staring at him, one was Morpheus, and another was the medic he had met shortly after his arrival, the third person, a tall, man with long black hair was unknown to Silas.
"I think I've had as much sleep as I'm going to for now, uh, sorry I can't remember your name."
"That's because I never told it to you." A small grin emerged on the woman's face, "call me Gemini."
Silas shook the hand that Gemini had offered him, shortly after this, Morpheus began to speak.
"If you cannot sleep then perhaps we should take this time to answer some of the questions you may have."
"Thank you that would be helpful."
Morpheus gestured for the others to follow him to a nearby staircase. On the way, Silas again noticed the third, presently anonymous figure.
"I don't think we've been introduced either" he said.
"Call me Necromancer" said the man whose eyes never moved from in front of him.
There were a series of curves in the piping on the ground floor which the four were using as makeshift chairs. Before Silas had even sat down, Morpheus had begun to speak.
"You know that the Matrix is real, what you may be trying to figure out is why it is also a trilogy, correct?"
Silas nodded, he had not had much time to dwell on this subject, however a few possibilities had sprung to mind.
"My guess is that it makes the whole idea of people living in a simulation unbelievable. It's hard to perceive something is true if you believe it's a work of fiction."
"Precisely," said Morpheus, "since the trilogy began, the number of minds we have been able to free has come, almost, to a grinding halt."
Silas nodded again. Needless to say, this would hinder humanities' war effort no end. Without un-plugged people, there would be no one who could enter the Matrix. All the machines had to do was wait for those who were already un-plugged to die off.
"How much of the movie is true?"
Necromancer's lifted his head from the floor and started to speak before Morpheus had a chance to. If this had irritated Morpheus, it didn't show.
"There is a Zion, we're at war with the machines, humanity blocked out the sun, Neo is the one, there is an oracle, but there isn't a prophecy. You'll be pleased to hear that the machines don't yet know where Zion is."
"Who started the war?"
"That we don't know," said Gemini whilst staring at something on the ceiling that had obviously caught her interest.
Before Silas could say anything else however, all heads turned to a flashing red light near the operator. Alarms sounded from all over the ship and Silas instinctively stood up. He was fairly sure he knew what this meant, and he hoped that he was wrong.
"Oh shit!" Shouted Link from the other side of the room.
"What is it Link? Sentinels?" Shouted Morpheus, who had also stood up.
"No sir, it's a Behemoth!"
"A what?" Silas shouted over the noise of the alarms.
"Silas, sit there", Morpheus was pointing to a chair near to Link, "Link, give him a crash course in gunnery, Behemoths and the ship's layout. When you're done Silas, join us in gunnery control. Everybody else, move!"
Whilst Morpheus was speaking, Link grabbed Silas' arm, dragged him to one of the chairs and inserted a long spike into the plug in the back of Silas' head after he had sat down.
"Get ready", he said.
Link tapped some keys and a flood of information shot through the wires beneath the floor and straight into Silas' brain. It was a weird sensation, like a cross between a headache and joy.
And then it was gone. Silas now knew the layout of the ship, how to use the onboard cannons, and what a Behemoth was.
After Link pulled the spike out of Silas' head, Silas instantly charged out of the room and down one of the corridors which the others had run through only seconds before.
Silas soon found himself in a small room filled with chairs and most of the crew, both of which were arranged in an outward facing circle. Finding an empty chair, he instantly moved towards it, sat down and attached the harness.
Staring at the HUD. He saw what was following the Nebuchadnezzar, or whatever the ship was called.
The Behemoth looked almost ten feet long. It looked was like a huge tube of tendrils and claws. It had the same 'eyes' as a sentinel, and it was also much faster then the ship he was in.
"Two minutes till impact."
As Silas opened fire, a thought surfaced in his head. If the Behemoth caught up to them. It would smash straight through the ship as if it were a wet piece of paper.
The crew's fire ricocheted off of one of the Behemoth's 'eyes'. The machine seemed unphased by all of this. Silas couldn't find anything in his new found knowledge about whether or not a crew had survived an attack by a Behemoth, or how to kill them.
The ship turned a corner, followed shortly by the Behemoth. The machine smashed through the obstacles in its path as if they weren't there. The ease with which it did so made the mechanical creature seem unstoppable.
Silas kept firing; it was all he could do. The creature still seemed un-damaged by the ships gunfire, and it still came closer to the ship. As he fired, a sense of calm and clarity seemed to emerge inside of Silas, which lead him to believe that these were the final moments before his death.
But as he thought this, something changed. The eye which the crew has been firing at smashed into a shower of tiny splinters. The gunshots then wreaked havoc with the machine's innards.
The Behemoth slowed, sparks fizzed from the damaged eye and the creature fell to the floor with a thud that made the deck of the ship shake.
A huge cheer went up inside of the gunnery control room. Silas again found himself collapsing into his chair. As he removed the harness, he felt someone clap his on the shoulder.
"Not bad for your first day." Silas looked up to see Neo grinning at him.
"Thanks, by the way, why didn't you just stick your hand out and torch that thing?"
"I can't do that, not here." Neo replied, his voice dropping slightly.
"What about an E.M.P? We've got one of those right?"
"Yeah, but firing an E.M.P takes out every system on board, and sentinels are usually never far from a Behemoth, they could easily waltz in and kill us all."
"Ah."
Silas found himself receiving the congratulations of all those present. He found it hard not to feel like the hero of the hour, despite the fact it was a team effort. To combat the risk of appearing pompous, he was generous in his praise of the others as well.
Later that day, Silas once again found himself wandering, the ship, which he had learned was actually called the Nebuchadnezzar, was most likely heading for Zion so as to drop him off. If Zion was anything like the one in the movies. Silas was certain that he would not be bored for a while, or cold with any luck.
He ran into Morpheus in the mess hall. Sitting with him was a male who looked no older then 17.
"Silas," Morpheus said, "allow me to introduce the final member of my crew; this is my son, Orion."
"Nice to meet you." Said Orion with a blank expression on his face.
"Likewise"
"Whilst you're here Silas there is something we need to discuss, please take a seat."
Morpheus nodded to Orion who took his cue and left. Silas took his place shortly afterwards.
"Today you showed us that you are calm under pressure and a competent soldier."
"Thank you," Stuttered Silas, who was unprepared for this spontaneous complement, "I think I'm starting to get used to it."
"For the last month we have been one crewman short, I've been reading through potential crew member résumés, but as you know, there are getting to be fewer and fewer un-plugged humans left, and none of the candidates I've seen have any experience on board a ship except for an uneventful trip to Zion. Due mainly to your actions today, I am offering the position to you."
Silas said nothing for a few moments, an involuntary look of surprise crept onto his face. Like with the two pills however, he soon knew exactly what he was going to do.
"Thank you sir, you won't be disappointed."
"I hope not. Now get some rest Silas, your training starts tomorrow."
"Yes sir."
With excitement and anticipation brewing within him, Silas stood up and walked out of the door.
To be continued
Chapter 3: Trial by fire
It had been fifteen hours since Silas had been un-plugged. It was cold, and the flimsy, hole ridden garments which Morpheus had given him were not doing much to change this situation. Consequently, he found himself unable to sleep.
A red haired woman who was presumably the ships medic had told him to get as much rest as possible. At first the words were metaphorical music to Silas' ears. But after seven hours, a loud thumping noise from a nearby pipe had woken him, and he was too rested and alert to ignore the cold.
Looking around his small, featureless cabin, Silas found himself remembering things and people from life which a pestiferous thought in the back of his mind told him were gone forever.
At first he had thought about family, friends, well wishers, colleagues, everyone who he had left behind. Only the thought that they would one day be re-united (and that until then they would live comfortably enough,) stopped him from breaking down in a flood of tears.
After this, Silas had begun to reminisce about less important things such as work, taxes, food, warmth and so on. None of these things mattered to him any more. What lay before him was war, and with war came hardship, and loss.
Deciding that he was unlikely to get any more sleep then he had done. Silas opened his cabin door and walked forth into the unknown corridor in front of him. It was cold there too.
Silas hadn't a clue where he was going; he could barely see a thing when he was lead to his room. Deciding that the various corners must lead somewhere however, he walked on.
Eventually, the narrow passageway opened onto a catwalk which overlooked a huge chamber. Silas rested his hands on the safety rail in front of him and peered over the edge.
There were several computers, all showing green coding. To the person staring at them, whom Silas identified as Link, it probably made perfect sense, but to him, it was incomprehensible gibberish.
Rubbing a hand over his head once again, Silas sighed as he felt the smooth surface. It had taken him months to grow his hair long. Now he realised he must start again.
The numerous plugs in his skin were also disturbing. In the movie he'd thought that they looked cool. Now that he had some of his own, they looked more disturbing then cool.
"You probably shouldn't be walking about just now."
"And you definitely should avoid places like this which can lead to nasty falls. I thought I told you to sleep."
Silas looked over his shoulder to see three people staring at him, one was Morpheus, and another was the medic he had met shortly after his arrival, the third person, a tall, man with long black hair was unknown to Silas.
"I think I've had as much sleep as I'm going to for now, uh, sorry I can't remember your name."
"That's because I never told it to you." A small grin emerged on the woman's face, "call me Gemini."
Silas shook the hand that Gemini had offered him, shortly after this, Morpheus began to speak.
"If you cannot sleep then perhaps we should take this time to answer some of the questions you may have."
"Thank you that would be helpful."
Morpheus gestured for the others to follow him to a nearby staircase. On the way, Silas again noticed the third, presently anonymous figure.
"I don't think we've been introduced either" he said.
"Call me Necromancer" said the man whose eyes never moved from in front of him.
There were a series of curves in the piping on the ground floor which the four were using as makeshift chairs. Before Silas had even sat down, Morpheus had begun to speak.
"You know that the Matrix is real, what you may be trying to figure out is why it is also a trilogy, correct?"
Silas nodded, he had not had much time to dwell on this subject, however a few possibilities had sprung to mind.
"My guess is that it makes the whole idea of people living in a simulation unbelievable. It's hard to perceive something is true if you believe it's a work of fiction."
"Precisely," said Morpheus, "since the trilogy began, the number of minds we have been able to free has come, almost, to a grinding halt."
Silas nodded again. Needless to say, this would hinder humanities' war effort no end. Without un-plugged people, there would be no one who could enter the Matrix. All the machines had to do was wait for those who were already un-plugged to die off.
"How much of the movie is true?"
Necromancer's lifted his head from the floor and started to speak before Morpheus had a chance to. If this had irritated Morpheus, it didn't show.
"There is a Zion, we're at war with the machines, humanity blocked out the sun, Neo is the one, there is an oracle, but there isn't a prophecy. You'll be pleased to hear that the machines don't yet know where Zion is."
"Who started the war?"
"That we don't know," said Gemini whilst staring at something on the ceiling that had obviously caught her interest.
Before Silas could say anything else however, all heads turned to a flashing red light near the operator. Alarms sounded from all over the ship and Silas instinctively stood up. He was fairly sure he knew what this meant, and he hoped that he was wrong.
"Oh shit!" Shouted Link from the other side of the room.
"What is it Link? Sentinels?" Shouted Morpheus, who had also stood up.
"No sir, it's a Behemoth!"
"A what?" Silas shouted over the noise of the alarms.
"Silas, sit there", Morpheus was pointing to a chair near to Link, "Link, give him a crash course in gunnery, Behemoths and the ship's layout. When you're done Silas, join us in gunnery control. Everybody else, move!"
Whilst Morpheus was speaking, Link grabbed Silas' arm, dragged him to one of the chairs and inserted a long spike into the plug in the back of Silas' head after he had sat down.
"Get ready", he said.
Link tapped some keys and a flood of information shot through the wires beneath the floor and straight into Silas' brain. It was a weird sensation, like a cross between a headache and joy.
And then it was gone. Silas now knew the layout of the ship, how to use the onboard cannons, and what a Behemoth was.
After Link pulled the spike out of Silas' head, Silas instantly charged out of the room and down one of the corridors which the others had run through only seconds before.
Silas soon found himself in a small room filled with chairs and most of the crew, both of which were arranged in an outward facing circle. Finding an empty chair, he instantly moved towards it, sat down and attached the harness.
Staring at the HUD. He saw what was following the Nebuchadnezzar, or whatever the ship was called.
The Behemoth looked almost ten feet long. It looked was like a huge tube of tendrils and claws. It had the same 'eyes' as a sentinel, and it was also much faster then the ship he was in.
"Two minutes till impact."
As Silas opened fire, a thought surfaced in his head. If the Behemoth caught up to them. It would smash straight through the ship as if it were a wet piece of paper.
The crew's fire ricocheted off of one of the Behemoth's 'eyes'. The machine seemed unphased by all of this. Silas couldn't find anything in his new found knowledge about whether or not a crew had survived an attack by a Behemoth, or how to kill them.
The ship turned a corner, followed shortly by the Behemoth. The machine smashed through the obstacles in its path as if they weren't there. The ease with which it did so made the mechanical creature seem unstoppable.
Silas kept firing; it was all he could do. The creature still seemed un-damaged by the ships gunfire, and it still came closer to the ship. As he fired, a sense of calm and clarity seemed to emerge inside of Silas, which lead him to believe that these were the final moments before his death.
But as he thought this, something changed. The eye which the crew has been firing at smashed into a shower of tiny splinters. The gunshots then wreaked havoc with the machine's innards.
The Behemoth slowed, sparks fizzed from the damaged eye and the creature fell to the floor with a thud that made the deck of the ship shake.
A huge cheer went up inside of the gunnery control room. Silas again found himself collapsing into his chair. As he removed the harness, he felt someone clap his on the shoulder.
"Not bad for your first day." Silas looked up to see Neo grinning at him.
"Thanks, by the way, why didn't you just stick your hand out and torch that thing?"
"I can't do that, not here." Neo replied, his voice dropping slightly.
"What about an E.M.P? We've got one of those right?"
"Yeah, but firing an E.M.P takes out every system on board, and sentinels are usually never far from a Behemoth, they could easily waltz in and kill us all."
"Ah."
Silas found himself receiving the congratulations of all those present. He found it hard not to feel like the hero of the hour, despite the fact it was a team effort. To combat the risk of appearing pompous, he was generous in his praise of the others as well.
Later that day, Silas once again found himself wandering, the ship, which he had learned was actually called the Nebuchadnezzar, was most likely heading for Zion so as to drop him off. If Zion was anything like the one in the movies. Silas was certain that he would not be bored for a while, or cold with any luck.
He ran into Morpheus in the mess hall. Sitting with him was a male who looked no older then 17.
"Silas," Morpheus said, "allow me to introduce the final member of my crew; this is my son, Orion."
"Nice to meet you." Said Orion with a blank expression on his face.
"Likewise"
"Whilst you're here Silas there is something we need to discuss, please take a seat."
Morpheus nodded to Orion who took his cue and left. Silas took his place shortly afterwards.
"Today you showed us that you are calm under pressure and a competent soldier."
"Thank you," Stuttered Silas, who was unprepared for this spontaneous complement, "I think I'm starting to get used to it."
"For the last month we have been one crewman short, I've been reading through potential crew member résumés, but as you know, there are getting to be fewer and fewer un-plugged humans left, and none of the candidates I've seen have any experience on board a ship except for an uneventful trip to Zion. Due mainly to your actions today, I am offering the position to you."
Silas said nothing for a few moments, an involuntary look of surprise crept onto his face. Like with the two pills however, he soon knew exactly what he was going to do.
"Thank you sir, you won't be disappointed."
"I hope not. Now get some rest Silas, your training starts tomorrow."
"Yes sir."
With excitement and anticipation brewing within him, Silas stood up and walked out of the door.
To be continued