Thank you again for all of the assorted reviews, (Well actually there was only one new one the last time I checked but that might have changed by now. Actually, now that I think about it there may have been two. Oh well, who cares? Thank you Sxith-mon and Angel of Lightness and whoever else may have reviewed my work at such a time that I wouldn't notice.)
Real Chapter 4: Eye of the Storm
Silas sat in the mess hall cradling his head in his hands in an unsuccessful attempt to hold back the pain.
"I told you that having too much data shoved in your cranium at once could lead to headaches." Gemini Said with traces of humour in her voice.
"This is not a headache," groaned Silas as he lifted his head up fractionally so that he could make out the lower half of Gemini's face, "this is like I've been beaten senseless with a knife, blunt end and sharp."
Gemini laughed as she stared absently at her food falling from her spoon back into the rectangular dish below.
"So, I take it you haven't tried any of your new fighting abilities yet." Part of Gemini's mind was telling her that she could have thought of something better then that to say, this was confirmed a moment later by Silas'
"What do you think?" The words came out harsher then Silas had intended. Pushing the pain back as far as he could he raised his head so that he could see all of Gemini's face, he began to speak again.
"Sorry, fucking hell, don't we have any painkillers on board or anything?"
"We did, but we ran out when Necromancer got shot in the leg last week."
"Necromancer got shot?"
"Yeah, didn't you notice his…"
Gemini stopped speaking and turned her head as the door to her right creaked open. The sudden loud noise resulted in another sharp sensation in Silas' skull.
Turning his head, he saw that Link, Trinity and Neo had entered the room.
"Evening", he muttered, his head still buried in his hands.
"Evening?" Said Trinity "Try morning."
"Morning? How long have I been here?"
"About fifteen minutes" replied Gemini "you spent about eight hours in that chair."
Trinity and Link took seats on Gemini's side of the table. Silas dropped his head once again so that he was staring directly at the table.
"Ah the post-download headache for over-achievers" chortled Link "you know most people ride this out in the construct."
"Most people do what now?"
"Come with me" Link sighed.
Silas tried to ignore the pain as he, Link and Gemini who was for some reason following him walked through assorted corridors which lead to the room with the pain causing 'operator's station' and the dubious looking seats. On the far side of the room he found Cypher staring at some wiring on the floor. The look on his face was one of exasperation. As if he had been trying to teach it algebra and was frustrated by his lack of success.
As Silas took one of the seats, regardless of the fact it was here he received his migraine in the first place. The corner of his eye made out Link taking his seat in the operator's chair and fiddle with a few indistinguishable keys at a ludicrously fast speed.
"When you're in the construct, or the matrix you don't feel pain which you feel in the real world. Ergo, you can stay in there whilst your head recovers."
"Sounds good" Silas muttered through fresh pain caused by a large spike entering the plug in the back of his head.
For a few moments, nothing happened, and then all of a sudden, the room went completely white.
Looking down at himself, Silas found that he was dressed in a long black leather coat that was an exact replica of his old one. Underneath it was a black jumper, trousers and shoes.
Running a hand across his head, he noticed that his hair was back, and that there were no plugs in his skin. For a brief moment Silas thought about what Morpheus had said during the first film about "Residual Self Image". This thought was quickly replaced by the fact that for whatever reason, his headache was suddenly gone.
"Impressive isn't it?" Silas looked over his shoulder to see that Gemini, Cypher and Necromancer had joined him.
"That it is" said Silas whilst taking his fingers out of his hair. Looking around him, he could see that wherever he was had no walls, no ceiling and no floor. The experience was almost disorienting.
"Link," said Necromancer loudly, "give us the list of training programs."
For a few moments, nothing happened. Then Silas heard a noise behind him that sounded like a train at full speed. Turning his head, he saw a blurry grey mass charge straight at him.
Instinctively, Silas raised his hands to his chest to defend himself against the charging object before him. The object stopped roughly a meter away from him however, and he lowered his hands as he heard the sniggers of the others.
The four walked up the object that resembled a slightly futuristic computer. Cypher stood in front of the device and pressed a few seemingly random buttons.
"Take your pick"
Silas walked to the place where Cypher had been standing and stared at the screen before him. There was a seemingly endless supply of training programs for him to choose from. After a few minutes, and some impatient mutterings from Cypher, he chose one entitled "cityscape".
The endless white around him vanished and was replaced by the image of a busy city centre in the time it took to blink. There was no one around except for those in the cars that were speeding by in front of him. Cypher, Necromancer and Gemini had also vanished.
Checking himself, Silas noticed that he was now equipped with a gun of some description, as well as a phone.
Silas' mind clicked in sudden understanding of the situation, he drew his gun from its holster and began to edge out of the alley he was in.
No sooner had he poked his head around the corner of a wall then he found Necromancer on the far side of the street. On noticing Silas, he instantly raised his gun and fired.
Silas shot forward, firing blindly in Necromancers direction but hitting nothing except for a shop window and a road sign.
Behind him, Silas found that Gemini was also taking pot shots at him. Taking cover behind a parked car, Silas returned fire.
Again he hit nothing, however the bullets were enough to get Gemini moving. Turning to his right, Silas started firing at Necromancer who had been trying to get to a good position.
Necromancer took cover behind another parked car. Silas watched the space for a few moments whilst considering his options. Before he could do anything else however, he saw Necromancer take off into the sky with an almighty leap and disappear from view.
"Neat."
Gemini had disappeared to some unknown place, and Silas came to the conclusion that hiding wasn't going to get him anywhere. Lifting himself off of the floor, he began to move down the street whilst standing close to the walls on his left.
After another few minutes, Silas learned, via more gunshots, that Trinity had decided to join in the game. Silas had nowhere to hide this time however, and instantly began shooting at Trinity, again with limited success.
He was taken out of the game by a shot from Trinity, which split his digital head in two. After a few moments, Silas found himself flying down a dark tunnel with a bright light at the end.
"Very original" shouted Silas over the programmed music from what he could only assume was a harp.
When he hit the light, Silas found himself in what looked like a disturbingly small waiting room. There were no windows, only seats, seated in one was Cypher.
"You too huh?"
"So it would seem", Silas replied looking around him.
"Yeah, Necromancer shot me in the first ten seconds the lucky bastard."
Silas nodded and took one of the empty seats.
"So," he began, "whose idea was the light at the end of the tunnel thing?"
"Link's"
"Oh," Silas paused and stared down at the floor for a few moments, "listen I, I never really thanked you for all that back in the Matrix."
"Don't mention it" Cypher made a dismissive hand gesture that looked more like he was waving at the wall.
"Also, I should probably apologize, I didn't think I could trust you at first, what with everything that happened in the first movie."
Cypher sat up straighter and turned his head towards Silas.
"You know, it's the same thing every time. Everyone instantly thinks that I'm this traitorous piece of shit who wants to sell humanity out the machines."
"Sorry" Silas uttered quietly.
"It's O.K, it's just that, I don't know. Even though it's only a movie, it's not easy to see yourself do those things. It's even harder to have people emerging from the matrix and instantly judging me based on a fucking movie."
Silas nodded, considering this for a few moments. His thought processes were interrupted though when the walls around him vanished. Leaving only the endless white.
"This doesn't look good." Said Cypher.
Silas instantly found himself back in the chair onboard the Nebuchadnezzar. Looking around him, he found that the whole crew with the exception of himself, and Cypher, who was removing the spike from his head, were gathered around Morpheus and Neo.
Silas walked over to the others, the pain returning n his cranium and received a few presence-acknowledging nods.
"What's going on?" He asked.
"We've been recalled to Zion," said Neo "they didn't say why."
Looks of fear were creeping onto the faces of those around Silas.
"Ships never get recalled without a damn good reason" Gemini whispered, "what's going on?"
"How should I know?" Silas whispered back, "I'm guessing it's not good though."
Real Chapter 4: Eye of the Storm
Silas sat in the mess hall cradling his head in his hands in an unsuccessful attempt to hold back the pain.
"I told you that having too much data shoved in your cranium at once could lead to headaches." Gemini Said with traces of humour in her voice.
"This is not a headache," groaned Silas as he lifted his head up fractionally so that he could make out the lower half of Gemini's face, "this is like I've been beaten senseless with a knife, blunt end and sharp."
Gemini laughed as she stared absently at her food falling from her spoon back into the rectangular dish below.
"So, I take it you haven't tried any of your new fighting abilities yet." Part of Gemini's mind was telling her that she could have thought of something better then that to say, this was confirmed a moment later by Silas'
"What do you think?" The words came out harsher then Silas had intended. Pushing the pain back as far as he could he raised his head so that he could see all of Gemini's face, he began to speak again.
"Sorry, fucking hell, don't we have any painkillers on board or anything?"
"We did, but we ran out when Necromancer got shot in the leg last week."
"Necromancer got shot?"
"Yeah, didn't you notice his…"
Gemini stopped speaking and turned her head as the door to her right creaked open. The sudden loud noise resulted in another sharp sensation in Silas' skull.
Turning his head, he saw that Link, Trinity and Neo had entered the room.
"Evening", he muttered, his head still buried in his hands.
"Evening?" Said Trinity "Try morning."
"Morning? How long have I been here?"
"About fifteen minutes" replied Gemini "you spent about eight hours in that chair."
Trinity and Link took seats on Gemini's side of the table. Silas dropped his head once again so that he was staring directly at the table.
"Ah the post-download headache for over-achievers" chortled Link "you know most people ride this out in the construct."
"Most people do what now?"
"Come with me" Link sighed.
Silas tried to ignore the pain as he, Link and Gemini who was for some reason following him walked through assorted corridors which lead to the room with the pain causing 'operator's station' and the dubious looking seats. On the far side of the room he found Cypher staring at some wiring on the floor. The look on his face was one of exasperation. As if he had been trying to teach it algebra and was frustrated by his lack of success.
As Silas took one of the seats, regardless of the fact it was here he received his migraine in the first place. The corner of his eye made out Link taking his seat in the operator's chair and fiddle with a few indistinguishable keys at a ludicrously fast speed.
"When you're in the construct, or the matrix you don't feel pain which you feel in the real world. Ergo, you can stay in there whilst your head recovers."
"Sounds good" Silas muttered through fresh pain caused by a large spike entering the plug in the back of his head.
For a few moments, nothing happened, and then all of a sudden, the room went completely white.
Looking down at himself, Silas found that he was dressed in a long black leather coat that was an exact replica of his old one. Underneath it was a black jumper, trousers and shoes.
Running a hand across his head, he noticed that his hair was back, and that there were no plugs in his skin. For a brief moment Silas thought about what Morpheus had said during the first film about "Residual Self Image". This thought was quickly replaced by the fact that for whatever reason, his headache was suddenly gone.
"Impressive isn't it?" Silas looked over his shoulder to see that Gemini, Cypher and Necromancer had joined him.
"That it is" said Silas whilst taking his fingers out of his hair. Looking around him, he could see that wherever he was had no walls, no ceiling and no floor. The experience was almost disorienting.
"Link," said Necromancer loudly, "give us the list of training programs."
For a few moments, nothing happened. Then Silas heard a noise behind him that sounded like a train at full speed. Turning his head, he saw a blurry grey mass charge straight at him.
Instinctively, Silas raised his hands to his chest to defend himself against the charging object before him. The object stopped roughly a meter away from him however, and he lowered his hands as he heard the sniggers of the others.
The four walked up the object that resembled a slightly futuristic computer. Cypher stood in front of the device and pressed a few seemingly random buttons.
"Take your pick"
Silas walked to the place where Cypher had been standing and stared at the screen before him. There was a seemingly endless supply of training programs for him to choose from. After a few minutes, and some impatient mutterings from Cypher, he chose one entitled "cityscape".
The endless white around him vanished and was replaced by the image of a busy city centre in the time it took to blink. There was no one around except for those in the cars that were speeding by in front of him. Cypher, Necromancer and Gemini had also vanished.
Checking himself, Silas noticed that he was now equipped with a gun of some description, as well as a phone.
Silas' mind clicked in sudden understanding of the situation, he drew his gun from its holster and began to edge out of the alley he was in.
No sooner had he poked his head around the corner of a wall then he found Necromancer on the far side of the street. On noticing Silas, he instantly raised his gun and fired.
Silas shot forward, firing blindly in Necromancers direction but hitting nothing except for a shop window and a road sign.
Behind him, Silas found that Gemini was also taking pot shots at him. Taking cover behind a parked car, Silas returned fire.
Again he hit nothing, however the bullets were enough to get Gemini moving. Turning to his right, Silas started firing at Necromancer who had been trying to get to a good position.
Necromancer took cover behind another parked car. Silas watched the space for a few moments whilst considering his options. Before he could do anything else however, he saw Necromancer take off into the sky with an almighty leap and disappear from view.
"Neat."
Gemini had disappeared to some unknown place, and Silas came to the conclusion that hiding wasn't going to get him anywhere. Lifting himself off of the floor, he began to move down the street whilst standing close to the walls on his left.
After another few minutes, Silas learned, via more gunshots, that Trinity had decided to join in the game. Silas had nowhere to hide this time however, and instantly began shooting at Trinity, again with limited success.
He was taken out of the game by a shot from Trinity, which split his digital head in two. After a few moments, Silas found himself flying down a dark tunnel with a bright light at the end.
"Very original" shouted Silas over the programmed music from what he could only assume was a harp.
When he hit the light, Silas found himself in what looked like a disturbingly small waiting room. There were no windows, only seats, seated in one was Cypher.
"You too huh?"
"So it would seem", Silas replied looking around him.
"Yeah, Necromancer shot me in the first ten seconds the lucky bastard."
Silas nodded and took one of the empty seats.
"So," he began, "whose idea was the light at the end of the tunnel thing?"
"Link's"
"Oh," Silas paused and stared down at the floor for a few moments, "listen I, I never really thanked you for all that back in the Matrix."
"Don't mention it" Cypher made a dismissive hand gesture that looked more like he was waving at the wall.
"Also, I should probably apologize, I didn't think I could trust you at first, what with everything that happened in the first movie."
Cypher sat up straighter and turned his head towards Silas.
"You know, it's the same thing every time. Everyone instantly thinks that I'm this traitorous piece of shit who wants to sell humanity out the machines."
"Sorry" Silas uttered quietly.
"It's O.K, it's just that, I don't know. Even though it's only a movie, it's not easy to see yourself do those things. It's even harder to have people emerging from the matrix and instantly judging me based on a fucking movie."
Silas nodded, considering this for a few moments. His thought processes were interrupted though when the walls around him vanished. Leaving only the endless white.
"This doesn't look good." Said Cypher.
Silas instantly found himself back in the chair onboard the Nebuchadnezzar. Looking around him, he found that the whole crew with the exception of himself, and Cypher, who was removing the spike from his head, were gathered around Morpheus and Neo.
Silas walked over to the others, the pain returning n his cranium and received a few presence-acknowledging nods.
"What's going on?" He asked.
"We've been recalled to Zion," said Neo "they didn't say why."
Looks of fear were creeping onto the faces of those around Silas.
"Ships never get recalled without a damn good reason" Gemini whispered, "what's going on?"
"How should I know?" Silas whispered back, "I'm guessing it's not good though."