Chapter 3
The needle slipped into her skin and its' contents injected into her. She groaned, and relaxed, her eyes closed.
"Is she ok?" a voice asked. A voice from long ago. A voice she had not heard in years.
"She will be. I think she just had a bit too much to drink," said another voice. Definitely Amme's voice, that time.
He walked over to her and paused at her shoulder. Kneeling down in front of her, he touched her face gently. Her eyes remained closed.
He reached in his pocket and took out an earpiece. Amme watched as he inserted it into her ear. Aaron's eyes shot open as she felt a flood of information and new critical updates link to her, the hum of code back in front of her eyes and ears, and as it cleared in her mind she found herself with him in a white room.
They looked at each other for a long moment, forgotten friends and colleagues. It had been many hundreds of human years since they last looked upon each other.
Agent Brown was the first to break the silence. "Are you quite well?" he asked.
She looked around herself, "Since when does the link-up come with a visual processor?"
"Upgrades. Smith liked the idea of all of us meeting in person even when we were not in front of each other, so he created a visual processor to govern our mental interactions. Similar to a construct, only for Agents."
She looked around the room. "An excellent idea."
"When did you abandon black?" he asked, referring to her clothes.
"He dressed me in a white gown when he brought me here, and I have worn white ever since."
There was a silence as they regarded each other further. Brown looked as he did the last time she saw him. She was unsure if her appearance had been altered, as she never looked in a mirror.
"May I embrace you?"
"Yes." Brown walked to her and took her in his arms, formally, stiffly. Aaron felt her arms embrace him back, and not want to let go as she yielded to him, his familiarity. Their hug became more intimate as he felt her relax.
"I have missed you," she whispered.
"We have missed you as well," he whispered back.
"Am I to assume that you being here means that it is time to return to the Source?" she said, breaking their embrace. He was slightly startled to see that her eyes were moist. "I am most relieved that the anomaly has surfaced and it is time to end this version. I look forward to my recompilation and rest, and I am sure Smith does as well. I hope he has worked on some sort of upgrade plan to prevent this sort of thing from happening to others. I can only hope the Mainframe does not realise that I meant to fight the first anomaly, and was not destroyed by accident. Where is Smith, anyway? Why has he not come? Why has he sent you?"
He broke eye contact with her. Removing his sunglasses he said nothing. A chair appeared and he sat down.
"I am here to ask the head of the Inter-construct Agency for her permission to take over in her stead. The one who was placed in charge has now been disconnected."
"Oh no," she said. "Oh no. He didn't fight. Oh no," she said, taking a few steps backwards.
"I am afraid he did."
"Did he want to end up like me?" she asked, with a scream both in their mental construct and in the Matrix. Amme rushed to her side. Brown was still kneeling before her as he had been doing since he inserted the earpiece and they had been communicating in their heads.
The construct walls turned from white to black and Brown saw a door opening. He stood up to try to reach her.
"Aaron," he said, walking slowly towards her, "Aaron, it's ok... Calm down, Aaron..."
She backed away from him, hands out in front of her, panicking, "No... no, I can't deal with this, I can't... no..."
Aaron ran towards it, slamming it behind her and his eyes opened in the Matrix, their link severed by her. Her head twitched, with the onset of a cognitive failure. She was gone, retreated somewhere beyond any of their reach. Amme went to fetch another injection for her.
Brown removed the earpiece and whispered in her ear, "You must listen. He wrote some sort of upgrade programme for himself so that his processes would not corrupt like yours did. I do not know if it worked or not but he gave me instructions to tell you to find him. He said you would know where he was now, and what to do for him. I cannot find him, I do not hear him anymore. He is disconnected from me. It is time for you both to go.
For many days, they observed Aaron in silence. She did not move, did not take meals, and did not speak. Reinserting the earpiece, Brown found the construct still in darkness, her link severed, her cognitive functions disabled. The maintenance he tried to run on her either failed, or produced no tangible result. She had withdrawn.
* * *
"Is there anything you can do for her?" Amme asked.
"There is only one thing I can do. I can force-return her to the Source. That will cause her to reset herself. But unless she goes through the door this time, it will only happen again."
"Perhaps you should. She has suffered long enough. Too long. For too many years." Amme wiped her forehead with a cool washcloth. Aaron sat, staring straight ahead, not moving, not speaking. Her joints had stiffened up, and she appeared to be on the verge of a complete neural shutdown. If she didn't snap out of it, or receive recompilation soon, she would face all-out deletion because her code would be too corrupt. They both knew it.
Brown nodded at Amme and knelt beside Aaron. "Good luck. See you in the next version."
Inserting the earpiece in her ear, Brown sought out the mainframe link.
[Brown: 002.01.2 Request Emergency Logon Script]
[Emergency Logon Active.]
[Request Force Return]
[Force Return Active. Subject?]
[002.01.1]
[002.01.1 wanted for recompilation. Force Return executed.]
Brown saw her form shimmer and disappear. An elderly lady appeared in the chair, almost near death, where Aaron was sitting.
[Force Return Complete.]
Amme nodded at Brown. Their jobs were done.
* * *
She knew what was going to happen to her when she felt him stick the earpiece in her ear that last time, and she laid there, paralysed, in a repetitive loop of terror, unable to break out of it on her own. So it was of no great surprise to her to find herself in her old Agents' suit, standing outside a greyish-green door in an all white hallway. She had been returned to the Source for recompilation. The reset broke the loop she had been stuck in, thankfully, and she was able to move enough to adjust her jacket and collar, as she looked around herself.
And given the turn of events that she had been made aware of, it was of no great surprise to see him sitting there, on the floor, arms wrapped around his legs, with his chin resting on them, naked, staring straight ahead into space, stuck in a repetitive loop.
The needle slipped into her skin and its' contents injected into her. She groaned, and relaxed, her eyes closed.
"Is she ok?" a voice asked. A voice from long ago. A voice she had not heard in years.
"She will be. I think she just had a bit too much to drink," said another voice. Definitely Amme's voice, that time.
He walked over to her and paused at her shoulder. Kneeling down in front of her, he touched her face gently. Her eyes remained closed.
He reached in his pocket and took out an earpiece. Amme watched as he inserted it into her ear. Aaron's eyes shot open as she felt a flood of information and new critical updates link to her, the hum of code back in front of her eyes and ears, and as it cleared in her mind she found herself with him in a white room.
They looked at each other for a long moment, forgotten friends and colleagues. It had been many hundreds of human years since they last looked upon each other.
Agent Brown was the first to break the silence. "Are you quite well?" he asked.
She looked around herself, "Since when does the link-up come with a visual processor?"
"Upgrades. Smith liked the idea of all of us meeting in person even when we were not in front of each other, so he created a visual processor to govern our mental interactions. Similar to a construct, only for Agents."
She looked around the room. "An excellent idea."
"When did you abandon black?" he asked, referring to her clothes.
"He dressed me in a white gown when he brought me here, and I have worn white ever since."
There was a silence as they regarded each other further. Brown looked as he did the last time she saw him. She was unsure if her appearance had been altered, as she never looked in a mirror.
"May I embrace you?"
"Yes." Brown walked to her and took her in his arms, formally, stiffly. Aaron felt her arms embrace him back, and not want to let go as she yielded to him, his familiarity. Their hug became more intimate as he felt her relax.
"I have missed you," she whispered.
"We have missed you as well," he whispered back.
"Am I to assume that you being here means that it is time to return to the Source?" she said, breaking their embrace. He was slightly startled to see that her eyes were moist. "I am most relieved that the anomaly has surfaced and it is time to end this version. I look forward to my recompilation and rest, and I am sure Smith does as well. I hope he has worked on some sort of upgrade plan to prevent this sort of thing from happening to others. I can only hope the Mainframe does not realise that I meant to fight the first anomaly, and was not destroyed by accident. Where is Smith, anyway? Why has he not come? Why has he sent you?"
He broke eye contact with her. Removing his sunglasses he said nothing. A chair appeared and he sat down.
"I am here to ask the head of the Inter-construct Agency for her permission to take over in her stead. The one who was placed in charge has now been disconnected."
"Oh no," she said. "Oh no. He didn't fight. Oh no," she said, taking a few steps backwards.
"I am afraid he did."
"Did he want to end up like me?" she asked, with a scream both in their mental construct and in the Matrix. Amme rushed to her side. Brown was still kneeling before her as he had been doing since he inserted the earpiece and they had been communicating in their heads.
The construct walls turned from white to black and Brown saw a door opening. He stood up to try to reach her.
"Aaron," he said, walking slowly towards her, "Aaron, it's ok... Calm down, Aaron..."
She backed away from him, hands out in front of her, panicking, "No... no, I can't deal with this, I can't... no..."
Aaron ran towards it, slamming it behind her and his eyes opened in the Matrix, their link severed by her. Her head twitched, with the onset of a cognitive failure. She was gone, retreated somewhere beyond any of their reach. Amme went to fetch another injection for her.
Brown removed the earpiece and whispered in her ear, "You must listen. He wrote some sort of upgrade programme for himself so that his processes would not corrupt like yours did. I do not know if it worked or not but he gave me instructions to tell you to find him. He said you would know where he was now, and what to do for him. I cannot find him, I do not hear him anymore. He is disconnected from me. It is time for you both to go.
For many days, they observed Aaron in silence. She did not move, did not take meals, and did not speak. Reinserting the earpiece, Brown found the construct still in darkness, her link severed, her cognitive functions disabled. The maintenance he tried to run on her either failed, or produced no tangible result. She had withdrawn.
* * *
"Is there anything you can do for her?" Amme asked.
"There is only one thing I can do. I can force-return her to the Source. That will cause her to reset herself. But unless she goes through the door this time, it will only happen again."
"Perhaps you should. She has suffered long enough. Too long. For too many years." Amme wiped her forehead with a cool washcloth. Aaron sat, staring straight ahead, not moving, not speaking. Her joints had stiffened up, and she appeared to be on the verge of a complete neural shutdown. If she didn't snap out of it, or receive recompilation soon, she would face all-out deletion because her code would be too corrupt. They both knew it.
Brown nodded at Amme and knelt beside Aaron. "Good luck. See you in the next version."
Inserting the earpiece in her ear, Brown sought out the mainframe link.
[Brown: 002.01.2 Request Emergency Logon Script]
[Emergency Logon Active.]
[Request Force Return]
[Force Return Active. Subject?]
[002.01.1]
[002.01.1 wanted for recompilation. Force Return executed.]
Brown saw her form shimmer and disappear. An elderly lady appeared in the chair, almost near death, where Aaron was sitting.
[Force Return Complete.]
Amme nodded at Brown. Their jobs were done.
* * *
She knew what was going to happen to her when she felt him stick the earpiece in her ear that last time, and she laid there, paralysed, in a repetitive loop of terror, unable to break out of it on her own. So it was of no great surprise to her to find herself in her old Agents' suit, standing outside a greyish-green door in an all white hallway. She had been returned to the Source for recompilation. The reset broke the loop she had been stuck in, thankfully, and she was able to move enough to adjust her jacket and collar, as she looked around herself.
And given the turn of events that she had been made aware of, it was of no great surprise to see him sitting there, on the floor, arms wrapped around his legs, with his chin resting on them, naked, staring straight ahead into space, stuck in a repetitive loop.