Protector of Men Ch 47
"Relax for a second," she told him. "They won't look for us for a long time." She patted him on the leg, and he looked away.
"How do you know it will work?"
"Believe me pal, I know."
"But she didn't complete the transition-""Things will work out, don't worry about it." She paused, and pulled out a cigarette. "She'll think of something."
"But how will she move forward if she hasn't completed the transition?"
"I tried, I tried, but she wouldn't take it." She lit her cigarette and took two quick puffs before continuing. "But she knows what she's doing."
"Do you think she knows too much?"
"It's a toughie - I don't know yet. She's bright, I'll give her that, but I don't know if she'll figure it out. There's a lot she needs to be told."
He nodded, closing his eyes.
"There's no telling how she'll react, but there's nothing we can do."
"We can wait."
"Yep," she finished, taking a big breath from her cigarette. She blew it out slowly, forming a thin stream of smoke that slowly drifted through the room. She sighed.
"Times are a-changing."
A darkened room. A lavish surrounding. A curtained window. Marble floors, gold leaf ceilings. Velvet draperies, silken sheets. A man standing in front of a window, looking out. Alone in mind, but not in his reality. He looks to the side, as if registering the observer, but then looks back through the window as if nothing had happened. The window reveals mountains. The curtains close, and all is dark.
Zandra woke up a few hours later, having forgotten her dream. She was thoroughly awake, having slept over ten hours since she had gotten out of the matrix. Cover had suggested that she take a break, but Zandra had insisted otherwise. It was only when Cover ordered her to go to bed that she obeyed. But once she hit the bed, she was glad that she did. She slept long, and though she had dreams, did not remember them.
Shade was hanging out in the hallway outside her door. He had been there for the past few hours, patiently waiting for her to get up. He wanted to talk with her. To tell her how great she had been, how great she was, is…
Zandra emerged from her cocoon rubbing her eyes sleepily; a habit she still held from her old life.
"Hey," Shade called from across the hall, quickly coming to her once he realized she was awake. Zandra smiled smally.
"Morning," she replied. She yawned, and Shade followed suit.
"Yesterday was crazy," he told her, rubbing his hand across the back of his neck, hoping that she'd open up.
"Yeah," she answered honestly. "I'm glad you came to get me out."
"We came as quick as we could- not saying you needed any help…" Shade mentally smacked himself; He was sounding worse with every passing moment.
"It was getting wild though," she answered. Zandra tried to restrain herself from talking too much.
"Yeah," he answered lamely.
"So," he started again, "You said there was a message?"
Zandra suddenly remembered what she had planned to do that day: Find out what the message had meant. Because somehow, she had a feeling that it had to do with Neo. And for some reason, it didn't sound pleasant.
"Right," she answered a bit loud, and was quiet again. "I need to see if I can access some information on something."
"What on?"
"History, I think."
Shade frowned in thought. History? Zandra suddenly smiled, but it died before it could fully blossom. Instead, she left to find Alias.
Alias was definitely glad to have something to do. Her hope of ever getting to help out with the rebellion again had been waning, but Zandra had fixed that for the moment. Quickly she got to work searching for Zandra's query. It might be a long search, but she didn't care. It was something that Zandra needed help on, and she was glad to be the one to do it.
She rolled into the mess room two hours later. Zandra had been hanging out in there for the past few hours, chatting with Shade until he left. Then she just sat there, letting her thoughts run wild in her brain. It took a second for her to realize that Alias was done.
"What did you find?" she suddenly asked, shaking herself out of her daydream. Alias took a deep breath before answering.
"There's a lot in there," she warned. Zandra nodded a few times.
"Okay," she breathed, sorting all the information out. It was going to be a lot.
"First off: Gaul of the New World Order," she said, "Gaul is French, denoting royalty. The New World Order was during Egypt's reign. There was a big change in world government, and that's when the 'New World Order' came around. With me?"
Zandra nodded. Things were starting to come together.
"Okay next is Spawn of Quinotaur." She paused before continuing. "I saw something saying a Quinotaur is a sea monster of which a French King Merovee was born. It's just a myth, but that's what it says.
"Self-enslaved apostate – I can't find anything specific on that. All I know is an apostate is a renegade. As for a grail," she sighed again, and threw up her hands.
"I don't know what Grail they're talking about. The only thing I could find was where it should be – there's some old story of the Holy Grail being located at some huge place in France. It makes sense, but only because of the next clue, "The Terrible Place, house of god, gateway to heaven…" she trailed off, Zandra nodding the whole time. Both had memorized the riddle by now.
"Which was said to be at a place called 'Rennes-le Chateau', up in the mountains. I don't know why you'd go there, though." Zandra gave her a look of confusion.
"I don't know if I'm going anywhere," she told Alias, who suddenly remembered something.
"Oh, the last part," she said, closing her eyes in thought. "I couldn't find anything about Protector of Men, but I did find what it means."
Zandra gave her another look.
"That's your name," she answered with a look of finality and interest. Zandra rolled her eyes, but Alias did nothing. It was only a little offensive to see her act like that after all she had done to help, but Alias was used to being treated less than human lately.
"So who is the Gaul?" she asked. There was still a piece of the puzzle missing.
"Well, the first one would be Merovee, I guess," she started, "But after that there's a whole line of kings. Merovingians, I think they were called."
"Merovingians?"
"Yeah, I think. I might be pronouncing it wrong though."
"You're not." And then Zandra promptly got up and left Alias alone in the room. She sighed heavily, and then went back to her book. Zandra didn't realize her selfishness, but wouldn't have stopped if she did. She had to find Cover. Right then.
"Hey Zandra," Trim called from behind her. She reluctantly turned around, but managed to put on a smile.
"I just wanted to thank you again for helping me back there," he told her, gratitude in his eyes. "I heard you were figuring out that riddle?"
She closed her eyes in irritation. "Yes, I'm trying to find Cover now," she told him.
"What did it say?"
"Neo's at the Merovingian's," she answered quickly. Trim gave her a strange look.
"I thought you said-"
"There's Cover," she said, and left him mid-sentence. She ran down the hallway, chasing a Cover who was going to go get something to eat from the mess room. Normally she wouldn't bother him, but now it was vital. Cover would want to know where the informant was. Trim sighed and went back to maintenance. It was going to be another long day.
