Assorted thank yous and so forth to those who have reviewed my work.
P.S. In response to your question Naz, I believe that your Big foot sighting was nothing more then a hallucination caused by prolonged exposure to the colour green. If indeed he was in Wales, he is probably trying to use the hills to make himself look taller. Your kite has probably gone to Broadway, having been released and everything. What else, ah yes, if your mother is trying to get you killed, she could do so without the need for assassins, expensive things are they, more likely she'll just spike your breakfast cereal with cranberry juice whilst you weren't looking. Yuech, I hate cranberries. Anyway, I should probably end here before, uh, before something bad happens, enjoy.
Chapter five
Insanity
The dock was huge, far larger then the movies had made it seem. Despite the pain which was still rattling around Silas' head, he couldn't help but feel a sense of awe as he gazed around the massive structure.
Overhead, he saw another hovercraft, fly straight over him to a nearby landing pad. This was just one of the things which Silas felt he could happily stare at for hours. There was no time for that however.
"Hey Silas, pull your head out of your arse, we've gotta get going!"
The sentence had come from Necromancer who was shouting over the noise of yet another hovercraft.
"Is it usual to have so many ships here?"
"No," said Orion, appearing on Silas' left, "but the message from the council clearly stated that Zion isn't facing attack."
"Good to hear."
The crew of the Nebuchadnezzar soon found themselves as a single group in the annoyingly crowded corridor. They were being followed by a nightmarishly huge gathering of Neo-worshipers. Silas and most of the others had almost been enveloped by this huge crowd when they rushed towards the ship upon landing. "Is this normal?" Silas said quietly to Neo, who just groaned with only slightly forced despair.
Realising that this was going to be as good an answer as he was going to get, Silas shrugged and reduced his pace so that he found himself next to Gemini.
"I'll take that as a yes then." He said, equally quietly.
"You should have seen it last time," Gemini began, "they almost ended up storming the Neb."
"You're joking."
"No, I'm serious, before Neo showed up; there was never a need for a security team at a landing bay."
Silas shook his head in disbelief, and instantly regretted doing so as fresh pain seared the edges of his cranium. A brief distraction was provided however by the presence of a lift which Morpheus, Neo and Trinity stepped into, closely followed by the others.
Silas breathed a sigh of relief as the Neo-zealots vanished behind the lift doors.
After a few minutes, the lift deposited the crew into another corridor which was indistinguishable from the first one. Morpheus took the lead once again with the others following.
"This is gonna be something big." Orion whispered to himself.
Eventually, the crew arrived at a pair of unreasonably large doors which Silas guessed was the entrance to the council chamber. A bored looking woman in a tattered black suit lifted her head at the sound of approaching footsteps. On seeing Morpheus, she stood up and walked towards the crew.
"Captain Morpheus, welcome back."
"Thank you Valerie" said Morpheus shaking the offered hand.
"The meeting is about to start, just walk straight in."
Another collection of bored looking people pushed some keys on a nearby terminal and the doors opened annoyingly slowly. When they had formed a crack large enough to allow the crew through, they entered the chamber.
The council chamber was slightly different from the one in the movie. Instead of looking like a converted lecture hall, it looked more like the temple. The walls were solid stone, as were the chairs which were arranged in a large circle around a set of larger chairs in which sat the council members. There were no familiar faces from the movies on the council.
"Hey!" Came a shout from somewhere behind Silas, turning his head he saw what looked like Niobe. It was fairly hard to tell amongst the crowds of people getting in his way as well as the sizable difference between them.
In the corner of one eye, he saw Orion and Morpheus move back through the crowd towards the woman. Concluding that the remark was not directed at him, Silas sat down on one of the cold, hard seats.
When everyone had sat down, one of the council members, an elderly looking male, stood up.
"Thank you all for coming. No doubt you are curious as to why the fleet has been recalled to Zion." There was a unanimous murmur of agreement from the seated crews, "well, to answer that question I will say only this, if all goes well, the war will soon be over."
Several people gasped, many more shook their heads incredulously.
"Commander Locke will now explain the situation."
The councilman sat back down and the same commander Locke from Reloaded and Revolutions stood up from a seat in the central circle.
"Thank you councilman. Ladies and Gentleman, for over a century we have been fighting the machines and have achieved virtually nothing. Today we shall try a new approach, peace."
Someone sitting fairly close to Silas hissed through her teeth, several others shouted angry, incomprehensible words.
"Please," shouted Locke over the noise of the crowd, "please, I know what you're thinking. I'm not entirely convinced that this will work myself, but if it does, we will no longer have to live in fear of being murdered by soulless killing machines, we will no longer have to hide in the shadows, and we will be able to rebuild our civilisation, and free those trapped in the Matrix."
The crowd fell silent, despite the unbelievable nature of the situation; it was hard not to want to believe in anything which had the slightest possibility of bringing about the things Locke was speaking of.
"Let me now introduce to you, operation olive branch." Resumed Locke, who took a few steps back.
The lights faded for a few moments, and then the space where Locke had been standing was filled with a bright blue holographic interpretation of Earth. The images moved as Locke resumed speaking.
"In one week, all of the ships in our fleet will fly to the surface in various positions around the globe. At which point ladies and gentlemen, we shall bring back the sun."
The hologram had now changed from an image of the Earth surrounded by dark clouds to an image of the Earth as Silas remembered it, before leaving the Matrix.
"How do you expect us to do that sir?" The question came from one of the captains on a far side of the room.
"Our scientists have developed what they believe to be a substance which will expand on the 'black sky' clouds and dissolve them. Your ships will be responsible for the deployment of this substance, and one the sun is back, the machines will hopefully interoperate our actions as a sign of peace, and return to using solar power."
"And if they don't?" Asked the same captain.
"Then captain," Locke said with traces of exasperation in his voice which suggested that he was as temperamental as the Lock in the movies, "turn your ship around and run like hell."
For a few moments, there was silence. This was a lot for most of the assembled people to take in. Silas could see the logic in carrying out this course of action. He could also see the huge potential for disaster if they failed however, the complete destruction of the fleet via sentinels and behemoths for example."
"Specific mission information will be uploaded into your ship's computers. Are there any questions?"
More silence was Locke's reply.
"Very well then. This week is yours, to do with as you see fit. Go home, visit your families and so forth."
Chairs shuffled as the crews got up to leave.
"Oh, one last thing. Until the sun comes back, we are still at war, never forget that. This mission is crucial, and we can't afford to loose a single ship. Defend yourselves by any means necessary so long as the machines are attacking you."
With that lovely thought in mind, the crews resumed their march towards the door.
"What do you think?" Asked Gemini.
"I think he's a freaking loon" said Silas a little too loudly, causing several heads to turn in his direction, "But, I don't know, if it works, joy to the re en-sunned world. If it doesn't, we'll probably loose most if not all of our un-plugged soldiers, not to mention the whole fleet. I don't know, it just seems like too big a risk to me."
To his left he could see that Necromancer was nodding in agreement.
"Oh well," said Silas with a forced renewed energy in his voice, "a week's shore leave. Sounds like fun."
A few answering grins met this statement. Silas then tried to push his fear, and headache as far back as he could as he walked out of the door and into Zion.
To be continued.
P.S. In response to your question Naz, I believe that your Big foot sighting was nothing more then a hallucination caused by prolonged exposure to the colour green. If indeed he was in Wales, he is probably trying to use the hills to make himself look taller. Your kite has probably gone to Broadway, having been released and everything. What else, ah yes, if your mother is trying to get you killed, she could do so without the need for assassins, expensive things are they, more likely she'll just spike your breakfast cereal with cranberry juice whilst you weren't looking. Yuech, I hate cranberries. Anyway, I should probably end here before, uh, before something bad happens, enjoy.
Chapter five
Insanity
The dock was huge, far larger then the movies had made it seem. Despite the pain which was still rattling around Silas' head, he couldn't help but feel a sense of awe as he gazed around the massive structure.
Overhead, he saw another hovercraft, fly straight over him to a nearby landing pad. This was just one of the things which Silas felt he could happily stare at for hours. There was no time for that however.
"Hey Silas, pull your head out of your arse, we've gotta get going!"
The sentence had come from Necromancer who was shouting over the noise of yet another hovercraft.
"Is it usual to have so many ships here?"
"No," said Orion, appearing on Silas' left, "but the message from the council clearly stated that Zion isn't facing attack."
"Good to hear."
The crew of the Nebuchadnezzar soon found themselves as a single group in the annoyingly crowded corridor. They were being followed by a nightmarishly huge gathering of Neo-worshipers. Silas and most of the others had almost been enveloped by this huge crowd when they rushed towards the ship upon landing. "Is this normal?" Silas said quietly to Neo, who just groaned with only slightly forced despair.
Realising that this was going to be as good an answer as he was going to get, Silas shrugged and reduced his pace so that he found himself next to Gemini.
"I'll take that as a yes then." He said, equally quietly.
"You should have seen it last time," Gemini began, "they almost ended up storming the Neb."
"You're joking."
"No, I'm serious, before Neo showed up; there was never a need for a security team at a landing bay."
Silas shook his head in disbelief, and instantly regretted doing so as fresh pain seared the edges of his cranium. A brief distraction was provided however by the presence of a lift which Morpheus, Neo and Trinity stepped into, closely followed by the others.
Silas breathed a sigh of relief as the Neo-zealots vanished behind the lift doors.
After a few minutes, the lift deposited the crew into another corridor which was indistinguishable from the first one. Morpheus took the lead once again with the others following.
"This is gonna be something big." Orion whispered to himself.
Eventually, the crew arrived at a pair of unreasonably large doors which Silas guessed was the entrance to the council chamber. A bored looking woman in a tattered black suit lifted her head at the sound of approaching footsteps. On seeing Morpheus, she stood up and walked towards the crew.
"Captain Morpheus, welcome back."
"Thank you Valerie" said Morpheus shaking the offered hand.
"The meeting is about to start, just walk straight in."
Another collection of bored looking people pushed some keys on a nearby terminal and the doors opened annoyingly slowly. When they had formed a crack large enough to allow the crew through, they entered the chamber.
The council chamber was slightly different from the one in the movie. Instead of looking like a converted lecture hall, it looked more like the temple. The walls were solid stone, as were the chairs which were arranged in a large circle around a set of larger chairs in which sat the council members. There were no familiar faces from the movies on the council.
"Hey!" Came a shout from somewhere behind Silas, turning his head he saw what looked like Niobe. It was fairly hard to tell amongst the crowds of people getting in his way as well as the sizable difference between them.
In the corner of one eye, he saw Orion and Morpheus move back through the crowd towards the woman. Concluding that the remark was not directed at him, Silas sat down on one of the cold, hard seats.
When everyone had sat down, one of the council members, an elderly looking male, stood up.
"Thank you all for coming. No doubt you are curious as to why the fleet has been recalled to Zion." There was a unanimous murmur of agreement from the seated crews, "well, to answer that question I will say only this, if all goes well, the war will soon be over."
Several people gasped, many more shook their heads incredulously.
"Commander Locke will now explain the situation."
The councilman sat back down and the same commander Locke from Reloaded and Revolutions stood up from a seat in the central circle.
"Thank you councilman. Ladies and Gentleman, for over a century we have been fighting the machines and have achieved virtually nothing. Today we shall try a new approach, peace."
Someone sitting fairly close to Silas hissed through her teeth, several others shouted angry, incomprehensible words.
"Please," shouted Locke over the noise of the crowd, "please, I know what you're thinking. I'm not entirely convinced that this will work myself, but if it does, we will no longer have to live in fear of being murdered by soulless killing machines, we will no longer have to hide in the shadows, and we will be able to rebuild our civilisation, and free those trapped in the Matrix."
The crowd fell silent, despite the unbelievable nature of the situation; it was hard not to want to believe in anything which had the slightest possibility of bringing about the things Locke was speaking of.
"Let me now introduce to you, operation olive branch." Resumed Locke, who took a few steps back.
The lights faded for a few moments, and then the space where Locke had been standing was filled with a bright blue holographic interpretation of Earth. The images moved as Locke resumed speaking.
"In one week, all of the ships in our fleet will fly to the surface in various positions around the globe. At which point ladies and gentlemen, we shall bring back the sun."
The hologram had now changed from an image of the Earth surrounded by dark clouds to an image of the Earth as Silas remembered it, before leaving the Matrix.
"How do you expect us to do that sir?" The question came from one of the captains on a far side of the room.
"Our scientists have developed what they believe to be a substance which will expand on the 'black sky' clouds and dissolve them. Your ships will be responsible for the deployment of this substance, and one the sun is back, the machines will hopefully interoperate our actions as a sign of peace, and return to using solar power."
"And if they don't?" Asked the same captain.
"Then captain," Locke said with traces of exasperation in his voice which suggested that he was as temperamental as the Lock in the movies, "turn your ship around and run like hell."
For a few moments, there was silence. This was a lot for most of the assembled people to take in. Silas could see the logic in carrying out this course of action. He could also see the huge potential for disaster if they failed however, the complete destruction of the fleet via sentinels and behemoths for example."
"Specific mission information will be uploaded into your ship's computers. Are there any questions?"
More silence was Locke's reply.
"Very well then. This week is yours, to do with as you see fit. Go home, visit your families and so forth."
Chairs shuffled as the crews got up to leave.
"Oh, one last thing. Until the sun comes back, we are still at war, never forget that. This mission is crucial, and we can't afford to loose a single ship. Defend yourselves by any means necessary so long as the machines are attacking you."
With that lovely thought in mind, the crews resumed their march towards the door.
"What do you think?" Asked Gemini.
"I think he's a freaking loon" said Silas a little too loudly, causing several heads to turn in his direction, "But, I don't know, if it works, joy to the re en-sunned world. If it doesn't, we'll probably loose most if not all of our un-plugged soldiers, not to mention the whole fleet. I don't know, it just seems like too big a risk to me."
To his left he could see that Necromancer was nodding in agreement.
"Oh well," said Silas with a forced renewed energy in his voice, "a week's shore leave. Sounds like fun."
A few answering grins met this statement. Silas then tried to push his fear, and headache as far back as he could as he walked out of the door and into Zion.
To be continued.