The end is nigh, sort of, I'm actually planning to do a sequel to 'Real' in later days. Oh well, thank you to all the people who have reviewed this story, it is as appreciated as it is appreciated. Oh well, enough of this.
Chapter 10: The world is changing
The sentinel's surprisingly comfortable grip on Silas remained strong; he and the ten odd sentinels had been in flight for what seemed like an endless amount of time, Silas was still worried that he was soon to be dropped from a great height.
The sentinels had lost much of their daunting, dark and deadly appearance in the sunshine, now they looked like light blue, chubby squids. Silas had repeated this thought to himself almost fifty times, he was afraid to think of anything else. Any thoughts he did have would just lead to an image of Gemini, and that what had only just begun was now lost forever.
"Where are we going?" He shouted over the noise of the rushing wind so as to give himself something to do, the sentinel did not respond.
"Are you sure they went this way?" asked Cypher who had, like the rest of the crew made his way up to the cockpit.
"Yes" said Orion irritably, the crew had been asking that same question over and over again for hours.
The Nebuchadnezzar flew out of the tunnel and into the sun infested ruins of what was once a bustling city. Like the sentinels, it looked less eerie in the sunlight. What dark, mystique the city had possessed less then a day ago now looked more like a monument.
"Oh shit" whispered Orion.
"What is it?" Asked Morpheus quickly.
Orion remained silent for a few moments and pressed a few keys near the radar display, as if checking something.
"Just what I was afraid of," he began, "the sentinels, assuming they kept their course are heading directly for Zero-One."
"Fuck" whispered Necromancer angrily.
"If the machines accepted our peace offering then maybe we can go after him."
Morpheus turned to face Gemini whose eyes looked as hopeful as her suggestion, for a moment, he was forced to asked himself what he'd do if it were Niobe who'd been carried off by the sentinels, what he did next was one of the hardest things he'd ever had to do as the captain of a ship.
"No, we wait."
"What?!" Screamed half the crew.
"Look, I want to get Silas back too, but the peace, if it exists, is at a fragile stage, if we go charging into Zero-One, there's no telling what may happen to that peace, and the Oracle has stated that we need the machines to defeat the program rebellion, so we wait."
"Great, we wait," began Gemini, "we wait while those soulless bastards do who knows what to Silas, is that what you're saying Morpheus?"
"Gemini, look…"
Trinity was cut off in mid sentence as Gemini stormed out of the door. Morpheus stood motionless for a few moments before retaking the seat next to Orion.
The city of Zero-One was surrounded on all sides by a field of bodies; some were being scooped off by transparent tubes to a destination which Silas could only guess at.
Huge structures surrounded him, sentinels were buzzing about in various places and the sentinel which was carrying him began to slow, which suggested that he was about to land.
Silas swallowed hard as fresh fear entered him, the peace, and from what the Oracle had said, the survival of the humans and the machines could depend on what he was about to do.
"Come on Silas," he whispered to himself, "don't screw up."
The Sentinel set him down on a catwalk overlooking the field of bodies. If Silas didn't know what was in the containers, he would have though that the sight was beautiful as opposed to disturbing.
For a few minutes, nothing happened. The wind was dying down and the sun was beginning to set. Silas paced back and forth on the catwalk and tried not to stare at the field.
"Hello!" He shouted, after a few seconds he decided that there was not going to be a response and continued his pacing.
After a few more minutes, he heard the sound of clanging footsteps, like someone walking on metal. Fresh fear entered him as he turned to face the doorway which was to his left, where the sound appeared to be coming from.
The door opened after a few seconds to reveal a humanoid machine in what looked like a top-hat. The resemblance to the machine ambassador from the second renaissance was surprising, and also a little relieving. That machine seemed friendly.
Silas took a few steps towards the machine, the two met more or less in the middle of the cat-walk.
"Welcome to Zero-One Silas Cavallo." The machines voice sounded like that of a human male.
"Thank you," said Silas in a tone of voice that was obviously worried, "how is it you know my name?"
"There are records of all humans who have left the Matrix. It allows our Agents to identify them."
"Oh."
Silas voice became slightly less worried now that the conversation had started.
"I'm guessing that there are some things we need to talk about." H said
"There are areas of natural sunlight appearing in almost all areas of the planet. What was the purpose of this course of action?" Noticing that the machine was not one for small-talk, Silas decided to start answering questions.
"We were hoping that it would be interpreted as a gesture of good will and a peace offering. You can return to solar power, the humans can be freed, or the ones that want to be freed can be, and there can be peace."
The machine remained silent for a few moments, Silas was about to inquire whether or not it was still functioning when it started to speak again.
"This is what we suspected. However, even if we agree to this peace you wish for, reverting to solar power and freeing the humans in the Matrix is not an easy task. It would take months to complete, maybe even years to complete."
"That's alright," said Silas hurriedly, "we can use that time to make preparations, make room for the newcomers and so forth."
The machine fell silent again. Silas stared at it silently as it appeared to consider the information it had been offered.
"We cannot be certain that this is not an attempt at deception, you talk of a desire for peace, but in reality you may be attempting to lull us into a false sense of security so that you may destroy us."
It was Silas' turn to be silent, he did not know how he could put the machines mind's at ease on this subject, he was not even sure that it wouldn't be attempted later, assuming the war ended.
"I don't know how I can get you to trust us, or even if I can, or even if I should. But if this peace doesn't happen. This war could go on until the world ends, with people and machines on both sides dying needlessly. I ask you to at least give peace a chance."
The ambassador was silent for much longer this time. Silas' eyes never left the machine.
"We agree." It said at last.
Silas blinked, the words were almost impossible to believe. The war was over; the fear which had plagued him for so long gave way to joy. Without thinking, he suddenly hugged the machine in front of him.
"Sorry," he said as he quickly pulled himself off of the motionless machine "I mean thank you, I mean, oh I don't know." Silas silenced himself and tried to calm down.
"Is there anything further you require or wish to add Silas Cavallo?"
"Uh no," said Silas slightly embarrassed, "needless to say I think that the formalities of peace should be carried out by a better diplomat then myself, if you could give me a lift back to the ship you pulled me out of I'd appreciate it."
Almost instantly after saying this, Silas felt the arm of a sentinel wrap under his arms once more. He nodded to the ambassador before he was lifted into the sky.
The whole crew were assembled in the mess hall, it had been nearly a full day since Silas' disappearance, and not much had happened. The hovercraft Dauntless had arrived and recovered the Salient, and there had been no sign of any sentinels or behemoths.
It was silent in the mess hall, no one really had anything to say, and no felt up to eating the food they had prepared for themselves either.
This silence was broken suddenly by the sound of a proximity alarm. The crew shot out of their seats and all assembled in the cockpit, where the three dimensional display seemed to be showing a sentinel carrying what looked like a human.
"Holy shit they brought him back!" Said Link disbelievingly.
Gemini pushed past Neo and charged out of the door, closely followed by the others. When she entered the gunnery control room, she saw Silas being lowered from the hole in the ceiling. The two simply stared at each other for a few moments, and then Gemini charged at Silas and threw her arms around him.
"What happened?" Asked Trinity as her and the rest of the crew arrived through the door.
"Um," Silas said, a little unsure of where to begin, "the war is over."
"Seriously?" Asked Cypher.
"Seriously."
There was silence for a few seconds, and then an almighty cheer broke out in the gunnery control room. It lasted nearly ten minutes. When it was finally over, Morpheus uttered the words:
"Let's go home."
The End
Chapter 10: The world is changing
The sentinel's surprisingly comfortable grip on Silas remained strong; he and the ten odd sentinels had been in flight for what seemed like an endless amount of time, Silas was still worried that he was soon to be dropped from a great height.
The sentinels had lost much of their daunting, dark and deadly appearance in the sunshine, now they looked like light blue, chubby squids. Silas had repeated this thought to himself almost fifty times, he was afraid to think of anything else. Any thoughts he did have would just lead to an image of Gemini, and that what had only just begun was now lost forever.
"Where are we going?" He shouted over the noise of the rushing wind so as to give himself something to do, the sentinel did not respond.
"Are you sure they went this way?" asked Cypher who had, like the rest of the crew made his way up to the cockpit.
"Yes" said Orion irritably, the crew had been asking that same question over and over again for hours.
The Nebuchadnezzar flew out of the tunnel and into the sun infested ruins of what was once a bustling city. Like the sentinels, it looked less eerie in the sunlight. What dark, mystique the city had possessed less then a day ago now looked more like a monument.
"Oh shit" whispered Orion.
"What is it?" Asked Morpheus quickly.
Orion remained silent for a few moments and pressed a few keys near the radar display, as if checking something.
"Just what I was afraid of," he began, "the sentinels, assuming they kept their course are heading directly for Zero-One."
"Fuck" whispered Necromancer angrily.
"If the machines accepted our peace offering then maybe we can go after him."
Morpheus turned to face Gemini whose eyes looked as hopeful as her suggestion, for a moment, he was forced to asked himself what he'd do if it were Niobe who'd been carried off by the sentinels, what he did next was one of the hardest things he'd ever had to do as the captain of a ship.
"No, we wait."
"What?!" Screamed half the crew.
"Look, I want to get Silas back too, but the peace, if it exists, is at a fragile stage, if we go charging into Zero-One, there's no telling what may happen to that peace, and the Oracle has stated that we need the machines to defeat the program rebellion, so we wait."
"Great, we wait," began Gemini, "we wait while those soulless bastards do who knows what to Silas, is that what you're saying Morpheus?"
"Gemini, look…"
Trinity was cut off in mid sentence as Gemini stormed out of the door. Morpheus stood motionless for a few moments before retaking the seat next to Orion.
The city of Zero-One was surrounded on all sides by a field of bodies; some were being scooped off by transparent tubes to a destination which Silas could only guess at.
Huge structures surrounded him, sentinels were buzzing about in various places and the sentinel which was carrying him began to slow, which suggested that he was about to land.
Silas swallowed hard as fresh fear entered him, the peace, and from what the Oracle had said, the survival of the humans and the machines could depend on what he was about to do.
"Come on Silas," he whispered to himself, "don't screw up."
The Sentinel set him down on a catwalk overlooking the field of bodies. If Silas didn't know what was in the containers, he would have though that the sight was beautiful as opposed to disturbing.
For a few minutes, nothing happened. The wind was dying down and the sun was beginning to set. Silas paced back and forth on the catwalk and tried not to stare at the field.
"Hello!" He shouted, after a few seconds he decided that there was not going to be a response and continued his pacing.
After a few more minutes, he heard the sound of clanging footsteps, like someone walking on metal. Fresh fear entered him as he turned to face the doorway which was to his left, where the sound appeared to be coming from.
The door opened after a few seconds to reveal a humanoid machine in what looked like a top-hat. The resemblance to the machine ambassador from the second renaissance was surprising, and also a little relieving. That machine seemed friendly.
Silas took a few steps towards the machine, the two met more or less in the middle of the cat-walk.
"Welcome to Zero-One Silas Cavallo." The machines voice sounded like that of a human male.
"Thank you," said Silas in a tone of voice that was obviously worried, "how is it you know my name?"
"There are records of all humans who have left the Matrix. It allows our Agents to identify them."
"Oh."
Silas voice became slightly less worried now that the conversation had started.
"I'm guessing that there are some things we need to talk about." H said
"There are areas of natural sunlight appearing in almost all areas of the planet. What was the purpose of this course of action?" Noticing that the machine was not one for small-talk, Silas decided to start answering questions.
"We were hoping that it would be interpreted as a gesture of good will and a peace offering. You can return to solar power, the humans can be freed, or the ones that want to be freed can be, and there can be peace."
The machine remained silent for a few moments, Silas was about to inquire whether or not it was still functioning when it started to speak again.
"This is what we suspected. However, even if we agree to this peace you wish for, reverting to solar power and freeing the humans in the Matrix is not an easy task. It would take months to complete, maybe even years to complete."
"That's alright," said Silas hurriedly, "we can use that time to make preparations, make room for the newcomers and so forth."
The machine fell silent again. Silas stared at it silently as it appeared to consider the information it had been offered.
"We cannot be certain that this is not an attempt at deception, you talk of a desire for peace, but in reality you may be attempting to lull us into a false sense of security so that you may destroy us."
It was Silas' turn to be silent, he did not know how he could put the machines mind's at ease on this subject, he was not even sure that it wouldn't be attempted later, assuming the war ended.
"I don't know how I can get you to trust us, or even if I can, or even if I should. But if this peace doesn't happen. This war could go on until the world ends, with people and machines on both sides dying needlessly. I ask you to at least give peace a chance."
The ambassador was silent for much longer this time. Silas' eyes never left the machine.
"We agree." It said at last.
Silas blinked, the words were almost impossible to believe. The war was over; the fear which had plagued him for so long gave way to joy. Without thinking, he suddenly hugged the machine in front of him.
"Sorry," he said as he quickly pulled himself off of the motionless machine "I mean thank you, I mean, oh I don't know." Silas silenced himself and tried to calm down.
"Is there anything further you require or wish to add Silas Cavallo?"
"Uh no," said Silas slightly embarrassed, "needless to say I think that the formalities of peace should be carried out by a better diplomat then myself, if you could give me a lift back to the ship you pulled me out of I'd appreciate it."
Almost instantly after saying this, Silas felt the arm of a sentinel wrap under his arms once more. He nodded to the ambassador before he was lifted into the sky.
The whole crew were assembled in the mess hall, it had been nearly a full day since Silas' disappearance, and not much had happened. The hovercraft Dauntless had arrived and recovered the Salient, and there had been no sign of any sentinels or behemoths.
It was silent in the mess hall, no one really had anything to say, and no felt up to eating the food they had prepared for themselves either.
This silence was broken suddenly by the sound of a proximity alarm. The crew shot out of their seats and all assembled in the cockpit, where the three dimensional display seemed to be showing a sentinel carrying what looked like a human.
"Holy shit they brought him back!" Said Link disbelievingly.
Gemini pushed past Neo and charged out of the door, closely followed by the others. When she entered the gunnery control room, she saw Silas being lowered from the hole in the ceiling. The two simply stared at each other for a few moments, and then Gemini charged at Silas and threw her arms around him.
"What happened?" Asked Trinity as her and the rest of the crew arrived through the door.
"Um," Silas said, a little unsure of where to begin, "the war is over."
"Seriously?" Asked Cypher.
"Seriously."
There was silence for a few seconds, and then an almighty cheer broke out in the gunnery control room. It lasted nearly ten minutes. When it was finally over, Morpheus uttered the words:
"Let's go home."
The End