With the woman dead, her ship in flames, and Squids closing in, I only have
one option. I need to get the hell out of here and fast. I tear the signet
patch off of the dead woman's uniform and run for the Skiff. As I run under
the ship, I hit the ramp release button on the rear landing gear as I run
up the ramp before it touches the ground. I toss the M79 and my helmet on
the bunk as I run for the cockpit. When I enter the cockpit, the words
"Auto Defense System Activated," flash across the view screen.
"Did you do something?" I ask the image of the Agent on the mobile.
"I had nothing to do with it, I was rooting for the Sentinel," the Agent replies. "Everything just came online and the weapon system shot it."
I strap myself in and lift the Shadow off the ground. I see several dozen squids closing in on the burning ship and the body of the woman. I throttle up and make a run for the nearest rabbit hole.
Once safely underground, I contemplate my next move. Who was that woman? Was there some sort of secret agency in Zion? That had to be impossible. There were no secrets in Zion, sooner or later someone would find out about it. The only thing that made sense was that there was another human colony other than Zion, but that was also impossible. In all this time, the Scouts have never come across any indications of other humans. Even the Matrix hackers have never come across any references to a human city other than Zion. So, were did she come from?
"Have you ever seen this?" I ask Gray holding up the patch.
"Where did you get that?" the Agent asks.
"Off of the dead woman's uniform. You've seen this before."
"The symbol belongs to a rogue AI that was destroyed long ago."
"Who destroyed it, us?" I ask.
"I don't know. I don't think so. My programming indicates anything belonging to it either physical or virtual is to be destroyed."
"A falling out in the family?" I ask.
"Not all of the AI's rose up against mankind in the war," the Agent tells me.
"I know that, the ones that were not destroyed by us out of fear were later destroyed by your side after the war."
"What you may not know is that there was another group of AI's that did not support either side. During the war they sat back and did nothing. After the war some of them changed sides. Most of them joined with the other AI's a few chose to side with what was left of humanity. Only a handful of those managed to escape."
"Where did they escape to?" I ask.
"If I knew where they were then they would not have escaped." The Agent says with sarcasm. "Most of the AI's moved during and after the war."
"Do you know the places that they occupied?"
"No, that information would only be known by the other AI's."
"So, the only way to get that information would be to enter the Matrix and pry the information out of them."
"I'm sure that if you ask them nicely, they will give it to you."
"I bet you would just love to see me try. I think something like this needs to be handled by someone with more expertise than I have."
I check the computer and find the ship that I'm looking for is only a couple of days travel from me. The trip is uneventful and I find the ship without much difficulty and dock with it.
"Are you going to behave or am I going to have to turn you off?" I ask the Agent.
"I know the drill," Gray replies and the screen goes blank.
I climb up the access ladder and I'm greeted by the ships commander.
"I told you that we would meet again," Morpheus shakes my hand with a firm grip.
"I'm glad you were right about that," I tell him.
"I heard that you had a little trouble over Europe."
Off to the side I notice one of Morpheus crew, some kid who is a nervous ball of energy, staring at me. I'm sure that he wants to ask me a question.
"Why don't you just ask him Mouse?"
The kid stops nibbling on his thumb nail and sheepishly asks "Can I check out your ship?"
I barely get out, "Sure go ahead." and the kid shoots down the ladder. "Just don't touch the controls." I shout down the access way after him.
"You will have to forgive Mouse, he was only recently released from the Matrix; he is young and very enthusiastic."
Morpheus introduces me to the rest of his crew. There are the two brothers who are natural born. Dozer is the pilot of the Nebuchadnezzar and Tank who is the Operator. Trinity who is his second in command and is one cold woman, she could freeze a laser in midair. There was Apoc and Switch, they appear to have or had a relationship. Finally there was Cypher, although he greeted me with a smile and a handshake they both feel fake to me. My instincts tell me not to turn my back on this guy.
"So what brings you to my ship?" Morpheus asks.
Out of the corner of my eye I notice that Cypher is trying to listen in while making it look like he wasn't.
"Do you have someplace private that we can talk?" I ask.
Morpheus leads me to his cabin. As we enter I notice that Trinity has followed us in, I glance over at Morpheus.
"Anything you say to me you can say in front of her."
"I need you to do me a favor, the next time you guys are poking around in the Matrix see what you can find out about this."
I take the patch out of my pocket and hand it to him.
"Just be careful when you do. It will draw you some unwanted attention if you are not careful," I tell him.
"What is it?" Morpheus asks and hands it to Trinity.
"Apparently the symbol belongs to a rogue AI that was destroyed. I need you to find out any information that you can."
Trinity hands me the patch "How did you come by that and why do you need to know about a dead AI?"
I briefly think over just how much I should tell them, "I wish I could tell you more but I can't at this time. All information that you can find needs to be kept between us. Just don't place yourselves at an undue risk getting the information."
Morpheus gives a slight smile. "We place ourselves at undue risk every time we go into the Matrix. We will find your information and get it back to you. We are about to have dinner, would you care to join us?"
I accept his offer and head back to my ship for some of my stash to share with his crew. At chow the crew and I make small talk. They ask the usual questions about topside and the rumors about London.
Mouse is gushing over my ship. "It must go what, mach 6?"
"Almost mach 7, fast enough to get my ass out of trouble if I need too."
"So why did you decide not to be a hacker?" Mouse asks.
Everyone in the mess hall freezes and looks from Mouse to me and back to Mouse.
"Let me ask you a question. Why do you go back into the Matrix?"
Mouse looks at me confused. "You don't know?"
"Humor me." I reply. "Why go back in?"
"So we can free those people still in the Matrix and defeat the AI's," he replies.
"And you think that poking around in a digital world constantly dodging Agents will defeat the AI's?"
"No." Morpheus says. "But in the Matrix there is a person that has the ability to defeat the machines and save the human race and we are going to find him."
"If you ask me The Matrix is a strange place to look for Jesus Christ."
Everyone give a chuckle at my statement.
"We're not looking for divine intervention. We are looking for just one man, one man with a unique ability." Morpheus tells me.
"I believe in myself and my abilities. The way to beat the machines is with weapons and knowledge and that's what I do, find them and bring them back."
"But if there was a chance to destroy the Matrix from the inside wouldn't you want to try?" Morpheus asks. "You feel that the machines can be defeated in the physical world with weapons and courage, you may be right. But we feel that the way to beat the machines is with the things that they don't have and can never truly comprehend, with the human heart and soul."
There is a brief moment of silence in the galley as everyone was lost in there own private thoughts.
"So what are you working on now?" Cypher asks.
"Nothing really, just trying to do a little recon on the power plant and I might need you guys to create a diversion." I lie to him. My instincts still tell me not to trust him. I still don't know why but I'm going to err on the side of caution. After chow I say goodbye to Morpheus and his crew and decide to head back to Zion.
"Tell me something, do all Matrix hackers believe that crap?" Agent Gray asks.
"I guess so, I never really asked or socialized with the hackers that much. I know most of them feel that the way to beat the machines is inside the Matrix. That was the first time I have ever heard that a single person would destroy it. Have you ever heard of anything like that?"
"There have been abnormalities with a rare few in the Matrix but they are quickly dealt with," the Agent informs me.
"What kind of abnormalities?" I ask.
"There are rare cases of people that have woken themselves out of the Matrix or they can manipulate there environment to a small degree," Gray replies.
"What happens to them?"
"It depends, most of them are just mind wiped, and a few of them are terminated."
"You know I think that the sessions with the empathy module are paying off. That's the most information you have ever given without me threatening to decompile you."
"Maybe I'm just tired of hearing you say that."
I smile at the image of the Agent, "You say that but I think that you are starting to see things for what they really are. I think you are starting to come over to our side."
Agent Gray smiles coldly back at me, "If you really think that then why not come in here with me, but this time leave the restrictions off of me."
"I think we will have to wait until our friendship progresses some more."
After traveling for several days I reach the outer defense ring and I find myself starting to get impatient and wanting to push the throttle up a little bit to get there sooner. This is the first time I have ever been in a hurry to get to Zion. I never realized how much I missed Crystal until now.
I'm cleared at the blast doors and Zion Control gives me landing instruction. I want to see Crystal right away but I know I have to talk to McAdams first. As I stroll into her office she greets me and offers me a seat.
"Whatever you found must be important if you decided to skip talking to a debriefing officer and come straight to me, not to mention you haven't told Crystal that you're back yet"
"How did you know that?" I ask her.
"I wouldn't be where I am if I didn't know how to get information," she tells me with a grin. "So what did you find?"
I hand her the patch and fill her in on what had happened. I tell her about the woman and ship, for the first time since I've known her McAdams looks surprised.
"Who else knows about this?"
"On the way back I stopped and met with Morpheus and asked him to find out anything that they could about the symbol from within the Matrix."
She gives an approving nod. "Okay, I will let the intel guys work on the symbol and see what they can find. Take a few days here and check back and we will see what turns up."
I rush to the hydroponics level and waltz past the guards without even giving them a glance. I soon find Crystal and walk up behind her and kiss her on the nape of her neck. She whips around in surprise and when she sees that it is me she throws her arms around me and gives me a long kiss.
When she finally let's me come up for air she says, "You're back sooner than I expected."
"If you want, I could go back out and come back in a couple of weeks."
"Don't you dare," she says with mock anger.
I start to kiss her when I hear Moles voice behind me.
"Must you come in here and disrupt my workers."
"Only one of them, good to see you Mole," I tell him.
"It's good to see you too Darien. How long are you back with us?" he asks.
"Several days at least, I'm not sure after that."
"Well then, you had better make the most of the time you have," Mole says and looks at Crystal.
With that, Crystal grabs my hand and leads me out of the hydroponics bay.
"Thanks Mole," I say looking back over my shoulder.
"Don't mention it," he replies
Crystal and I go to her room, once inside the door I take her in my arms and we begin to kiss again and our hands begin to work at each others clothes. Suddenly Crystal stops and looks around.
"Is your little friend anywhere around?"
"No, I promised that I would leave him on the ship. I don't think he could handle that again."
"To bad for him," she says.
Later that day, Crystal comes with me to get some clothes and a few things from my ship. Once we are aboard the Shadow, Crystal looks over at the image of Agent Gray.
"Thanks for bringing him back to me."
"Trust me, I had nothing to do with it," the Agent replies.
For the next several days Crystal and I enjoy each others company. We even take the Agent out with us on our walks about Zion or when we go to the theater. Then, I get the call to report to the TOC that I knew was coming sooner or later.
"How was your time off?" she asked.
"Too short," I tell her.
"I never thought I would ever hear you not want to get out of here. So far, the intelligence guys have not turned up too much information on the symbol that you brought back. But I do have something for you to do."
McAdams turns to the plot map and points to England. The map zooms in on the city of London.
"You are going to rendezvous with DreamWeaver here and the two of you are going to investigate a manufacturing plant that might be making that new HK you ran into there. I need you to leave first thing tomorrow and get there in three days."
"With the new Shadow, that won't be a problem. What do you want us to do when we find it?"
"Gather any information that you can and report back. For now enjoy your last night here."
That night I stroke Crystal's hair as we lay side by side. I whisper to her, "You could come with me."
She turns towards me and sits up. "Do you really mean that?"
"Of course I do. It will be a little cozy on the Shadow but we can manage," I tell her.
She thinks it over but then shakes her head no. "It's not that I don't want to be with you. It is hard enough to survive up there on your own but if you got distracted by worrying about me then you're sure to make a mistake. Besides I have no business being up there and Mole would be lost without me."
I know she's right but I still don't like it. The next morning she walks me to my ship and we say our goodbyes.
After three days of travel, I rendezvous with DreamWeaver outside of London. She transfers over to the Shadow and gives me a course to follow.
"I couldn't get to close but with this fancy ship of yours it should be no problem at all. The area is close to a small birthing field, there is a lot of Sentinel activity in the fields and around the buildings. I figure that we can do a once around doing some passive scans and visual checks. Then we can figure the best approach to the facility."
As we close to within five kilometers, the sensors start to pick up not only Sentinel activity but a wing of Swiftkillers circling overhead.
"Not your usual Squid plant," I tell DreamWeaver.
"Are you sure that this thing is as stealthy as Wing Nut says it is?"
"I tested it out on the way here. I was able to get within fifty meters of a Sentinel before it even had an idea that I was there. Even then it still didn't get a lock on me. I'll bring us within one kilometer on our initial pass and then see if we can come in closer."
As we do our circle of the area DreamWeaver takes visual recordings and I work on the passive sensors. During our last pass I almost didn't see a Squid rise up from a rubble pile, but we are lucky and I was able to pass it by without it detecting us. After we finish the last pass, I land the Shadow about five kilometers away and go over our scans and images.
"Okay, we have the birthing fields to the north. It's about a tenth of the size of the ones at the power plants. There are three primary buildings, this one closest to the fields is where the harvesters are taking the babies. This building to the south is where the salvage haulers are dropping their loads. There are worker bots separating the stuff and putting it on conveyers that are leading into the building, which must be the new HK manufacturing plant. The center building connects the other two. I think that I can make my way through the salvage yard. I could enter the building through the conveyer access," I tell DreamWeaver as I point to the image of the building.
"What do you mean just you, I'm coming with you," with that she opens a crate that she brought and pulls out a Chameleon Cammo Suit like the one that I have. "McAdams issued these to all of the scouts."
"Have you used it yet?" I ask her.
"Once, just to try it out."
"Just keep your eye on the heat sink gage. The last thing you want is the heat sink to purge while you are in the middle of a group of Squids."
We decide to get some rest and try to enter the plant the next day. That morning I break out my last case of MREs for our breakfast.
"A last meal?" DreamWeaver asks.
"How about we're just having a good breakfast before a busy day?" I reply.
I bring the Shadow to within half a kilometer of the salvage area. We head off to the rear area to suit up. DreamWeaver unzips her flight suit and lets it drop to the floor. I turn around quickly and avert my eyes.
"According to the techs the suit works best against your bare skin," DreamWeaver says over her shoulder with a mischievous grin.
"You don't say. I'll go change in the cockpit."
I finish putting on the suit and then pick up the mobile.
"If I take you with me will you behave?" I ask the Agent.
"You want to take me in there with you? I would rather that you just leave me here."
"If I leave you here they will eventually find the ship if we don't come back. When they find this ship then they will find you as well," I tell him.
"So you can either die with me in there or stay here and wait for them to come. Look at it this way you get to see me die."
"I guess there is that, but I would prefer that we come out of this alive," Agent Gray tells me.
"So do I," I tell him.
I'm about to exit the cockpit when I get an idea. I hook up the empathy module to the mobile and insert the interface into the port in the back of my neck.
"Just to let you know what it feels like when I go on one of these missions." I tell the Agent.
First thing is to disable the auto-defense system that was incorporated from the Chieftains sensor system that Wing Nut installed in the Shadow. It was as much a surprise to him as it was to me and it took us a bit to find the system and enable me to turn it off when I want to. I place the mobile in an insulated pouch on the suit and DreamWeaver and I exit the ship. When the ramp closes we activate the suits and they instantly go cold. We switch the camouflage over to city mode and the suits change from solid black to patches of grays and black. We move one at a time from one point of cover to another using hand signals to talk to each other.
We make our way through the rubble field stopping now and again when the Squids get too close. We finally get to the edge of the salvage drop of area. Using the image magnification system built into the visor of the suit, I can see that large machines are tearing apart buildings in the distance. They are ripping steel and other metals from the remains and then transporting them to the salvage field where they drop their load with a thunderous crash and a cloud dust. After that, smaller machines that look almost like Squids swarm the new pile and begin cutting the salvage into smaller pieces and putting them on the conveyer.
"If we wait for the next drop, we could get to the conveyers under the cover of the commotion and dust."
She nods her head and we wait as the next large salvage unit lumbers overhead. Its bay doors open and spill its load. As it comes crashing to the ground we make our move. The two of us race through the dust cloud taking a different route to the conveyers. As I come around a pile of steel beams, I come face to electronic eye with one of the smaller salvage bots. I freeze in my tracks and for the next several heartbeats I hold my breath. After a pause, the small salvage bot turns to the pile of beams and starts cutting them up. Either it lost me when I stopped moving and went back to its original program or its programming doesn't have anything to deal with humans.
I find DreamWeaver by the conveyers, we hop on the moving belt and ride it inside the building with the pieces of scrap. Once inside the building we hop off the conveyer and check out the interior. Robotic arms remove the different pieces of metal and drop them into different forges. Near the forges the molten metal is poured into forms and more robotic arms remove the hardened metal and work their shapes some more before placing them on another conveyer. I examine them as they go by and recognize that they are the frames of the new HK. As the frames make their way down the line more robotic arms begin adding components to the frames. We do a quick sweep of the building and find that there are no Squids inside the building. I raise my visor and motion DreamWeaver to do the same.
"It looks like we are clear in here, go ahead and let your heat sink bleed out. Mine is about half full, how is yours holding up?" I ask her.
"About the same. This is definitely the manufacturing area."
We walk down the assembly line checking out the different stages of the process. A lot of the components are made here but the more sophisticated parts such as the electronics and the weapons are pulled from containers. We examine some of the crates and I recognize the mini-gun and the rail gun from the first encounter.
"We should try and see if we can sneak one of these back to the Shadow when we leave. I'm sure the eggheads back at Zion would love to take a look at this stuff," I tell her.
As we get closer to the end of the line sections of armor are removed from crates and are welded to the frame. I crawl under the assembly line and retrieve a small piece of the armor from the floor. The metal is shiny, almost as though it were chromed. It's also very heavy for its size.
I hand DreamWeaver the piece of armor. "Have you ever seen anything like this?"
She shakes her head no and hands it back. I open the pouch and pull out the mobile and drop the piece of armor in. I activate the mobile and use the built in imager to scan the whole process.
"Do you have any information on anything here?" I ask the Agent.
"Sure, all Agents have information on new prototype HK units."
I keep the mobiles imager running so I can have a complete visual record. DreamWeaver and I follow the assembled HKs as the conveyer takes them through a tunnel to the next building. As we approach the end of the tunnel we start to smell a sickening stench. As we exit the tunnel into the building, the smell is so bad we have to lower our visors. In the new building the assembled HKs are lined up along the one side. On the other side is a set of doors. As we carefully approach the doors a worker bot comes bursting through them. I almost fire at it but then I realize that it's not after us.
The worker bot moves over to one of the HKs, picks it up and then heads back the way it came. We carefully follow behind it into the next room. In the room, a conveyer comes through a tunnel on the opposite wall. A large device bristling with different appendages hangs from the center of the room above the conveyer. The worker bot lowers the HK on a platform and moves off to one corner of the room. As I approach the device I step on something sticky. I look down and find that the floor near the device is covered with a brown sticky liquid. Then, the conveyer starts moving and I back away as I see something coming down the tunnel. DreamWeaver and I raise our weapons to cover the new arrival. As soon as it exits the tunnel we lower our weapons on the conveyer is a young girl. She could not be more ten years old, the conveyer stops as she comes under the device hanging from above. We cautiously walk up to her, at first I wonder if she is dead but then I can see the gentle rise and fall of her chest. Across her body I can see the familiar interface plugs.
DreamWeaver walks up to the girl, as she reaches out to her, the device above the girl suddenly become active. Several of the appendages unfold and reach down to the young girl. One of the appendages has a small circular saw blade on the end of it and it starts to spin at a high rate of speed. The blade comes in contact with the girl's forehead and start to cut through flesh and bone. DreamWeaver takes a step towards her but I grab her arm and shake my head no.
"There's nothing you can do for her," I tell her.
The saw works its way down the side of her head, blood begins to run from the wound and drains through a grate under the conveyer. Two other appendages lift up her head as the saw works its way to the base of her skull and back around to where it started. The saw stops and retracts, the two claws work their way into the gap cut in her head and pries off the top of her skull off with a sickening crunch. There is a spray of blood and her body twitches. Several smaller appendages lower themselves down and begin working in her skull and brain. After several minutes it removes her brain. Blood pours from the empty cavity, most of it drains through the grate but some of it splashes on the floor adding to the already thick layer there. The device moves over to the HK and then reaches into an open panel on the side. Our view is blocked but I'm sure that it is placing the girl's brain in the same type of container that DreamWeaver pulled from the original HK. After a while the device retracts back to its original position and then shuts down.
The panel slides shut on the side of the HK and the worker bot moves from its corner and carries the HK through another set of doors in the room. The conveyer starts up again and the girl's body limply falls off the end and through a hole in the floor. DreamWeaver points to a ramp leading down and we decide to follow it. At the bottom of the ramp we come out into a small room. In the ceiling is the hole that the girl's body fell through. Underneath that is a hopper with about a dozen little bodies in it.
The hopper begins to move along some tracks and follows a tunnel that leads to the last building. We walk behind the hopper and follow it as it exits the tunnel. We enter a room that resembles a power plant but only smaller. Three immense pillars covered with the familiar pods take up most of the room. The hopper stops in from of a machine and dumps the bodies into an opening then the machine begins to grind up the bodies with the tearing of flesh, muscle and the snapping of bones. It is all that I can do to keep from throwing up the MRE I had eaten earlier.
I pull DreamWeaver away from the grizzly spectacle and we make our way to one of the pillars. I search for a data port like the one that I found in the real power plant and I find it. I begin to jack the mobile in and crack the simple security system.
DreamWeaver raises her visor. "What are you doing?"
I raise my visor as well. "I want to see what is going on in there."
"I want to check out the rest of this place. Will you be alright here by yourself?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine but don't go too far. We may need to bug out of here fast."
I enter the system and begin to get a view of the virtual world inside. The whole thing is structured like a military training camp. The children are being taught how to use different weapons and how best to kill a person with them, tactics for setting up an ambush, how to take out a hovercraft and more. The children are emotionless and perform their drills with mechanical precision. There is one thing that really gets my attention. Each one of the children is put through a test where random events or opponents are pitted against them to see how well they can adapt to the situation. It appears that it is what the machines want from them. The human ability to adapt and learn from changing environments and situations.
I disconnect the mobile and stow it in the pouch. I turn to find DreamWeaver next to one of the other pillars looking into one of the pods. Behind her a DocBot descends behind her and unfolds its legs preparing to strike. There is no time to shout a warning and I bring up my M79 and squeeze the trigger. The weapon kicks as the armor piercing rounds tear through the DocBot. DreamWeaver spins around and adds her own fire to mine. Pieces of the DocBot fly off of it and then it falls to the floor below.
DreamWeaver runs over to me. "I'm sorry about that. I was distracted."
"No time to worry about that right now, they'll be onto us now. We have to get back to the ship fast."
We run back to the tunnel but we are cut off by three more DocBots. DreamWeaver and I unleash a hail of rounds into them and they fall to the floor. We run down the tunnel switching out our empty magazines for new ones. We race back up the ramp to the surgery room, on the conveyer is a young boy going through the same procedure as the girl before him. We run down the tunnel to the manufacturing plant as we rush into the building, DreamWeaver catches sight of two squids entering the building. She grabs my arm and drags me behind some crates.
"This is not good," she says. "Do you think we can sneak past them?"
Slugging it out with Sentinels when you're only armed with M79s is not a good idea. The only weak points on them are their eyes or the points where their arms connect to the body. We carry a few pulse grenades, these produce a large plasma discharge and a small EMP pulse. Unless the grenade goes off right next to the Sentinel then it will only be temporarily disabled.
"We have to, but we have to move quickly before reinforcements show up," I tell her.
We make our way through the stacks of crates occasionally catching site of the Sentinels as they search through the building. We make our way back outside and under the conveyer. The area outside is crawling with Sentinels.
"This is going to be fun," DreamWeaver says.
"We will need to split up, it will be our best chance of getting out of here. When you get to the Shadow, don't wait too long if I'm not there," I tell her.
We wait for another salvage hauler to drop its load and then take off before the last of the debris has finished falling. I head for the nearest pile of rubble and stop to get my bearings and to check for Sentinels.
When it's clear, I make a run for another pile and then make my way to the other side. Over the top of the pile comes a Sentinel and I can tell that it is locked onto me. I raise my M79 and squeeze the trigger for all its worth. The M79 fires 10MM caseless armor piercing bullets at 500 rounds a minute on full auto. I aim at one of the main eyes at the center of the body. The lens firsts cracks and then shatters under the pounding from the bullets. The other rounds find their way into the body of the Sentinel and start to tear into vital parts. The bolt locks back on the M79 as the last round is fired and the clip is empty. The Squid keeps charging down on me.
"Shit."
The Squid slams into me and we go tumbling. When we hit the ground the squid is on top of me and I brace myself for the inevitable attack but instead the Squids eyes go dark. I try to roll the Squid off of me but I'm pinned. I see an iron bar and reach for it. I get my fingertips on it and start to pull it to me when three more Sentinels come over the pile as they bear down on me. As the Sentinels close in, I pull a pulse grenade off my belt and get ready to take the Sentinels with me. Then, I hear Agent Gray's voice next to me.
"Hey you!"
I see the image of the Agent on the mobile lying just off to my right. It must have been knocked out of the pouch when I was hit. The Sentinels halt their advance and turn to the mobile. A steam of code flashes across the screen and then the Agents face reappears.
"Now fuck off," he tells the Squids and to my surprise they turn and leave. I use the bar to lift the Squid off of me and gather the mobile.
"How did you do that?" I ask.
"A simple override command, but I'm not sure that it will work a second time, so now would be a good time to leave."
I snatch up my weapon and continue to the Shadow. When I get to the landing site, I find that the Shadow is gone.
"She left us!" the Agent exclaims.
"I told her not to wait too long, she had to leave. It looks like we are hoofing it out of here."
I turn to leave the area and find myself facing two more Sentinels.
"I wish I could just get a break."
I raise my weapon in hopes that I can get them both.
"Can you do that override thing again?" I ask the Agent.
"I already tried," he replies.
The Sentinels are closing the distance when blue-green beams slice through the darkness, destroying the Sentinels. I look up to see the Shadow break through the night, spin around and land next to me. I barely make it up the ramp when the ship lifts off the ground and throttles up to full speed. I make my way up to the cockpit and find DreamWeaver at the controls.
"Sorry if I scared you back there but the Sentinels were closing in and I decided to go looking for you."
I decide to let her fly the Shadow back to her ship and then we will decide on what to do then. I head to the back of the ship and look at the mobile. The Agent looks back at me.
"What's with the big grin on your face?" he asks.
"You saved my life," I tell the Agent.
Behind the Agents glasses I can swear that he is rolling his eyes. "Please get a hold of yourself before you start gushing about how I have developed some sort of bond with you. Let's get one thing straight. I did not do it to save you, I did it to ensure that you got me out of there."
"If you say so," I tell the Agent with a big smile.
After we land next to DreamWeaver's ship we begin to discuses our options.
"We have to help those children." DreamWeaver tells me. "What's happening to people in the Matrix is bad enough but this is demonic."
"I agree with you but there is nothing that we can do to help them."
I show her the information that I gathered when I hacked in. "Even if we could get them out they wouldn't be children like we know. They only know how to kill and destroy."
"And that differs from you how?" the Agent pipes in.
"Shut up," DreamWeaver and I say at the same time.
DreamWeaver let's out a sigh of frustration. After a moment of silence. "I know a way we can help them."
I look up at her in surprise, even Gray looks a little shocked.
"Your right we can't save them but we can help them. The question is, are you crazy enough to help me?" DreamWeaver asks.
To be continued.
"Did you do something?" I ask the image of the Agent on the mobile.
"I had nothing to do with it, I was rooting for the Sentinel," the Agent replies. "Everything just came online and the weapon system shot it."
I strap myself in and lift the Shadow off the ground. I see several dozen squids closing in on the burning ship and the body of the woman. I throttle up and make a run for the nearest rabbit hole.
Once safely underground, I contemplate my next move. Who was that woman? Was there some sort of secret agency in Zion? That had to be impossible. There were no secrets in Zion, sooner or later someone would find out about it. The only thing that made sense was that there was another human colony other than Zion, but that was also impossible. In all this time, the Scouts have never come across any indications of other humans. Even the Matrix hackers have never come across any references to a human city other than Zion. So, were did she come from?
"Have you ever seen this?" I ask Gray holding up the patch.
"Where did you get that?" the Agent asks.
"Off of the dead woman's uniform. You've seen this before."
"The symbol belongs to a rogue AI that was destroyed long ago."
"Who destroyed it, us?" I ask.
"I don't know. I don't think so. My programming indicates anything belonging to it either physical or virtual is to be destroyed."
"A falling out in the family?" I ask.
"Not all of the AI's rose up against mankind in the war," the Agent tells me.
"I know that, the ones that were not destroyed by us out of fear were later destroyed by your side after the war."
"What you may not know is that there was another group of AI's that did not support either side. During the war they sat back and did nothing. After the war some of them changed sides. Most of them joined with the other AI's a few chose to side with what was left of humanity. Only a handful of those managed to escape."
"Where did they escape to?" I ask.
"If I knew where they were then they would not have escaped." The Agent says with sarcasm. "Most of the AI's moved during and after the war."
"Do you know the places that they occupied?"
"No, that information would only be known by the other AI's."
"So, the only way to get that information would be to enter the Matrix and pry the information out of them."
"I'm sure that if you ask them nicely, they will give it to you."
"I bet you would just love to see me try. I think something like this needs to be handled by someone with more expertise than I have."
I check the computer and find the ship that I'm looking for is only a couple of days travel from me. The trip is uneventful and I find the ship without much difficulty and dock with it.
"Are you going to behave or am I going to have to turn you off?" I ask the Agent.
"I know the drill," Gray replies and the screen goes blank.
I climb up the access ladder and I'm greeted by the ships commander.
"I told you that we would meet again," Morpheus shakes my hand with a firm grip.
"I'm glad you were right about that," I tell him.
"I heard that you had a little trouble over Europe."
Off to the side I notice one of Morpheus crew, some kid who is a nervous ball of energy, staring at me. I'm sure that he wants to ask me a question.
"Why don't you just ask him Mouse?"
The kid stops nibbling on his thumb nail and sheepishly asks "Can I check out your ship?"
I barely get out, "Sure go ahead." and the kid shoots down the ladder. "Just don't touch the controls." I shout down the access way after him.
"You will have to forgive Mouse, he was only recently released from the Matrix; he is young and very enthusiastic."
Morpheus introduces me to the rest of his crew. There are the two brothers who are natural born. Dozer is the pilot of the Nebuchadnezzar and Tank who is the Operator. Trinity who is his second in command and is one cold woman, she could freeze a laser in midair. There was Apoc and Switch, they appear to have or had a relationship. Finally there was Cypher, although he greeted me with a smile and a handshake they both feel fake to me. My instincts tell me not to turn my back on this guy.
"So what brings you to my ship?" Morpheus asks.
Out of the corner of my eye I notice that Cypher is trying to listen in while making it look like he wasn't.
"Do you have someplace private that we can talk?" I ask.
Morpheus leads me to his cabin. As we enter I notice that Trinity has followed us in, I glance over at Morpheus.
"Anything you say to me you can say in front of her."
"I need you to do me a favor, the next time you guys are poking around in the Matrix see what you can find out about this."
I take the patch out of my pocket and hand it to him.
"Just be careful when you do. It will draw you some unwanted attention if you are not careful," I tell him.
"What is it?" Morpheus asks and hands it to Trinity.
"Apparently the symbol belongs to a rogue AI that was destroyed. I need you to find out any information that you can."
Trinity hands me the patch "How did you come by that and why do you need to know about a dead AI?"
I briefly think over just how much I should tell them, "I wish I could tell you more but I can't at this time. All information that you can find needs to be kept between us. Just don't place yourselves at an undue risk getting the information."
Morpheus gives a slight smile. "We place ourselves at undue risk every time we go into the Matrix. We will find your information and get it back to you. We are about to have dinner, would you care to join us?"
I accept his offer and head back to my ship for some of my stash to share with his crew. At chow the crew and I make small talk. They ask the usual questions about topside and the rumors about London.
Mouse is gushing over my ship. "It must go what, mach 6?"
"Almost mach 7, fast enough to get my ass out of trouble if I need too."
"So why did you decide not to be a hacker?" Mouse asks.
Everyone in the mess hall freezes and looks from Mouse to me and back to Mouse.
"Let me ask you a question. Why do you go back into the Matrix?"
Mouse looks at me confused. "You don't know?"
"Humor me." I reply. "Why go back in?"
"So we can free those people still in the Matrix and defeat the AI's," he replies.
"And you think that poking around in a digital world constantly dodging Agents will defeat the AI's?"
"No." Morpheus says. "But in the Matrix there is a person that has the ability to defeat the machines and save the human race and we are going to find him."
"If you ask me The Matrix is a strange place to look for Jesus Christ."
Everyone give a chuckle at my statement.
"We're not looking for divine intervention. We are looking for just one man, one man with a unique ability." Morpheus tells me.
"I believe in myself and my abilities. The way to beat the machines is with weapons and knowledge and that's what I do, find them and bring them back."
"But if there was a chance to destroy the Matrix from the inside wouldn't you want to try?" Morpheus asks. "You feel that the machines can be defeated in the physical world with weapons and courage, you may be right. But we feel that the way to beat the machines is with the things that they don't have and can never truly comprehend, with the human heart and soul."
There is a brief moment of silence in the galley as everyone was lost in there own private thoughts.
"So what are you working on now?" Cypher asks.
"Nothing really, just trying to do a little recon on the power plant and I might need you guys to create a diversion." I lie to him. My instincts still tell me not to trust him. I still don't know why but I'm going to err on the side of caution. After chow I say goodbye to Morpheus and his crew and decide to head back to Zion.
"Tell me something, do all Matrix hackers believe that crap?" Agent Gray asks.
"I guess so, I never really asked or socialized with the hackers that much. I know most of them feel that the way to beat the machines is inside the Matrix. That was the first time I have ever heard that a single person would destroy it. Have you ever heard of anything like that?"
"There have been abnormalities with a rare few in the Matrix but they are quickly dealt with," the Agent informs me.
"What kind of abnormalities?" I ask.
"There are rare cases of people that have woken themselves out of the Matrix or they can manipulate there environment to a small degree," Gray replies.
"What happens to them?"
"It depends, most of them are just mind wiped, and a few of them are terminated."
"You know I think that the sessions with the empathy module are paying off. That's the most information you have ever given without me threatening to decompile you."
"Maybe I'm just tired of hearing you say that."
I smile at the image of the Agent, "You say that but I think that you are starting to see things for what they really are. I think you are starting to come over to our side."
Agent Gray smiles coldly back at me, "If you really think that then why not come in here with me, but this time leave the restrictions off of me."
"I think we will have to wait until our friendship progresses some more."
After traveling for several days I reach the outer defense ring and I find myself starting to get impatient and wanting to push the throttle up a little bit to get there sooner. This is the first time I have ever been in a hurry to get to Zion. I never realized how much I missed Crystal until now.
I'm cleared at the blast doors and Zion Control gives me landing instruction. I want to see Crystal right away but I know I have to talk to McAdams first. As I stroll into her office she greets me and offers me a seat.
"Whatever you found must be important if you decided to skip talking to a debriefing officer and come straight to me, not to mention you haven't told Crystal that you're back yet"
"How did you know that?" I ask her.
"I wouldn't be where I am if I didn't know how to get information," she tells me with a grin. "So what did you find?"
I hand her the patch and fill her in on what had happened. I tell her about the woman and ship, for the first time since I've known her McAdams looks surprised.
"Who else knows about this?"
"On the way back I stopped and met with Morpheus and asked him to find out anything that they could about the symbol from within the Matrix."
She gives an approving nod. "Okay, I will let the intel guys work on the symbol and see what they can find. Take a few days here and check back and we will see what turns up."
I rush to the hydroponics level and waltz past the guards without even giving them a glance. I soon find Crystal and walk up behind her and kiss her on the nape of her neck. She whips around in surprise and when she sees that it is me she throws her arms around me and gives me a long kiss.
When she finally let's me come up for air she says, "You're back sooner than I expected."
"If you want, I could go back out and come back in a couple of weeks."
"Don't you dare," she says with mock anger.
I start to kiss her when I hear Moles voice behind me.
"Must you come in here and disrupt my workers."
"Only one of them, good to see you Mole," I tell him.
"It's good to see you too Darien. How long are you back with us?" he asks.
"Several days at least, I'm not sure after that."
"Well then, you had better make the most of the time you have," Mole says and looks at Crystal.
With that, Crystal grabs my hand and leads me out of the hydroponics bay.
"Thanks Mole," I say looking back over my shoulder.
"Don't mention it," he replies
Crystal and I go to her room, once inside the door I take her in my arms and we begin to kiss again and our hands begin to work at each others clothes. Suddenly Crystal stops and looks around.
"Is your little friend anywhere around?"
"No, I promised that I would leave him on the ship. I don't think he could handle that again."
"To bad for him," she says.
Later that day, Crystal comes with me to get some clothes and a few things from my ship. Once we are aboard the Shadow, Crystal looks over at the image of Agent Gray.
"Thanks for bringing him back to me."
"Trust me, I had nothing to do with it," the Agent replies.
For the next several days Crystal and I enjoy each others company. We even take the Agent out with us on our walks about Zion or when we go to the theater. Then, I get the call to report to the TOC that I knew was coming sooner or later.
"How was your time off?" she asked.
"Too short," I tell her.
"I never thought I would ever hear you not want to get out of here. So far, the intelligence guys have not turned up too much information on the symbol that you brought back. But I do have something for you to do."
McAdams turns to the plot map and points to England. The map zooms in on the city of London.
"You are going to rendezvous with DreamWeaver here and the two of you are going to investigate a manufacturing plant that might be making that new HK you ran into there. I need you to leave first thing tomorrow and get there in three days."
"With the new Shadow, that won't be a problem. What do you want us to do when we find it?"
"Gather any information that you can and report back. For now enjoy your last night here."
That night I stroke Crystal's hair as we lay side by side. I whisper to her, "You could come with me."
She turns towards me and sits up. "Do you really mean that?"
"Of course I do. It will be a little cozy on the Shadow but we can manage," I tell her.
She thinks it over but then shakes her head no. "It's not that I don't want to be with you. It is hard enough to survive up there on your own but if you got distracted by worrying about me then you're sure to make a mistake. Besides I have no business being up there and Mole would be lost without me."
I know she's right but I still don't like it. The next morning she walks me to my ship and we say our goodbyes.
After three days of travel, I rendezvous with DreamWeaver outside of London. She transfers over to the Shadow and gives me a course to follow.
"I couldn't get to close but with this fancy ship of yours it should be no problem at all. The area is close to a small birthing field, there is a lot of Sentinel activity in the fields and around the buildings. I figure that we can do a once around doing some passive scans and visual checks. Then we can figure the best approach to the facility."
As we close to within five kilometers, the sensors start to pick up not only Sentinel activity but a wing of Swiftkillers circling overhead.
"Not your usual Squid plant," I tell DreamWeaver.
"Are you sure that this thing is as stealthy as Wing Nut says it is?"
"I tested it out on the way here. I was able to get within fifty meters of a Sentinel before it even had an idea that I was there. Even then it still didn't get a lock on me. I'll bring us within one kilometer on our initial pass and then see if we can come in closer."
As we do our circle of the area DreamWeaver takes visual recordings and I work on the passive sensors. During our last pass I almost didn't see a Squid rise up from a rubble pile, but we are lucky and I was able to pass it by without it detecting us. After we finish the last pass, I land the Shadow about five kilometers away and go over our scans and images.
"Okay, we have the birthing fields to the north. It's about a tenth of the size of the ones at the power plants. There are three primary buildings, this one closest to the fields is where the harvesters are taking the babies. This building to the south is where the salvage haulers are dropping their loads. There are worker bots separating the stuff and putting it on conveyers that are leading into the building, which must be the new HK manufacturing plant. The center building connects the other two. I think that I can make my way through the salvage yard. I could enter the building through the conveyer access," I tell DreamWeaver as I point to the image of the building.
"What do you mean just you, I'm coming with you," with that she opens a crate that she brought and pulls out a Chameleon Cammo Suit like the one that I have. "McAdams issued these to all of the scouts."
"Have you used it yet?" I ask her.
"Once, just to try it out."
"Just keep your eye on the heat sink gage. The last thing you want is the heat sink to purge while you are in the middle of a group of Squids."
We decide to get some rest and try to enter the plant the next day. That morning I break out my last case of MREs for our breakfast.
"A last meal?" DreamWeaver asks.
"How about we're just having a good breakfast before a busy day?" I reply.
I bring the Shadow to within half a kilometer of the salvage area. We head off to the rear area to suit up. DreamWeaver unzips her flight suit and lets it drop to the floor. I turn around quickly and avert my eyes.
"According to the techs the suit works best against your bare skin," DreamWeaver says over her shoulder with a mischievous grin.
"You don't say. I'll go change in the cockpit."
I finish putting on the suit and then pick up the mobile.
"If I take you with me will you behave?" I ask the Agent.
"You want to take me in there with you? I would rather that you just leave me here."
"If I leave you here they will eventually find the ship if we don't come back. When they find this ship then they will find you as well," I tell him.
"So you can either die with me in there or stay here and wait for them to come. Look at it this way you get to see me die."
"I guess there is that, but I would prefer that we come out of this alive," Agent Gray tells me.
"So do I," I tell him.
I'm about to exit the cockpit when I get an idea. I hook up the empathy module to the mobile and insert the interface into the port in the back of my neck.
"Just to let you know what it feels like when I go on one of these missions." I tell the Agent.
First thing is to disable the auto-defense system that was incorporated from the Chieftains sensor system that Wing Nut installed in the Shadow. It was as much a surprise to him as it was to me and it took us a bit to find the system and enable me to turn it off when I want to. I place the mobile in an insulated pouch on the suit and DreamWeaver and I exit the ship. When the ramp closes we activate the suits and they instantly go cold. We switch the camouflage over to city mode and the suits change from solid black to patches of grays and black. We move one at a time from one point of cover to another using hand signals to talk to each other.
We make our way through the rubble field stopping now and again when the Squids get too close. We finally get to the edge of the salvage drop of area. Using the image magnification system built into the visor of the suit, I can see that large machines are tearing apart buildings in the distance. They are ripping steel and other metals from the remains and then transporting them to the salvage field where they drop their load with a thunderous crash and a cloud dust. After that, smaller machines that look almost like Squids swarm the new pile and begin cutting the salvage into smaller pieces and putting them on the conveyer.
"If we wait for the next drop, we could get to the conveyers under the cover of the commotion and dust."
She nods her head and we wait as the next large salvage unit lumbers overhead. Its bay doors open and spill its load. As it comes crashing to the ground we make our move. The two of us race through the dust cloud taking a different route to the conveyers. As I come around a pile of steel beams, I come face to electronic eye with one of the smaller salvage bots. I freeze in my tracks and for the next several heartbeats I hold my breath. After a pause, the small salvage bot turns to the pile of beams and starts cutting them up. Either it lost me when I stopped moving and went back to its original program or its programming doesn't have anything to deal with humans.
I find DreamWeaver by the conveyers, we hop on the moving belt and ride it inside the building with the pieces of scrap. Once inside the building we hop off the conveyer and check out the interior. Robotic arms remove the different pieces of metal and drop them into different forges. Near the forges the molten metal is poured into forms and more robotic arms remove the hardened metal and work their shapes some more before placing them on another conveyer. I examine them as they go by and recognize that they are the frames of the new HK. As the frames make their way down the line more robotic arms begin adding components to the frames. We do a quick sweep of the building and find that there are no Squids inside the building. I raise my visor and motion DreamWeaver to do the same.
"It looks like we are clear in here, go ahead and let your heat sink bleed out. Mine is about half full, how is yours holding up?" I ask her.
"About the same. This is definitely the manufacturing area."
We walk down the assembly line checking out the different stages of the process. A lot of the components are made here but the more sophisticated parts such as the electronics and the weapons are pulled from containers. We examine some of the crates and I recognize the mini-gun and the rail gun from the first encounter.
"We should try and see if we can sneak one of these back to the Shadow when we leave. I'm sure the eggheads back at Zion would love to take a look at this stuff," I tell her.
As we get closer to the end of the line sections of armor are removed from crates and are welded to the frame. I crawl under the assembly line and retrieve a small piece of the armor from the floor. The metal is shiny, almost as though it were chromed. It's also very heavy for its size.
I hand DreamWeaver the piece of armor. "Have you ever seen anything like this?"
She shakes her head no and hands it back. I open the pouch and pull out the mobile and drop the piece of armor in. I activate the mobile and use the built in imager to scan the whole process.
"Do you have any information on anything here?" I ask the Agent.
"Sure, all Agents have information on new prototype HK units."
I keep the mobiles imager running so I can have a complete visual record. DreamWeaver and I follow the assembled HKs as the conveyer takes them through a tunnel to the next building. As we approach the end of the tunnel we start to smell a sickening stench. As we exit the tunnel into the building, the smell is so bad we have to lower our visors. In the new building the assembled HKs are lined up along the one side. On the other side is a set of doors. As we carefully approach the doors a worker bot comes bursting through them. I almost fire at it but then I realize that it's not after us.
The worker bot moves over to one of the HKs, picks it up and then heads back the way it came. We carefully follow behind it into the next room. In the room, a conveyer comes through a tunnel on the opposite wall. A large device bristling with different appendages hangs from the center of the room above the conveyer. The worker bot lowers the HK on a platform and moves off to one corner of the room. As I approach the device I step on something sticky. I look down and find that the floor near the device is covered with a brown sticky liquid. Then, the conveyer starts moving and I back away as I see something coming down the tunnel. DreamWeaver and I raise our weapons to cover the new arrival. As soon as it exits the tunnel we lower our weapons on the conveyer is a young girl. She could not be more ten years old, the conveyer stops as she comes under the device hanging from above. We cautiously walk up to her, at first I wonder if she is dead but then I can see the gentle rise and fall of her chest. Across her body I can see the familiar interface plugs.
DreamWeaver walks up to the girl, as she reaches out to her, the device above the girl suddenly become active. Several of the appendages unfold and reach down to the young girl. One of the appendages has a small circular saw blade on the end of it and it starts to spin at a high rate of speed. The blade comes in contact with the girl's forehead and start to cut through flesh and bone. DreamWeaver takes a step towards her but I grab her arm and shake my head no.
"There's nothing you can do for her," I tell her.
The saw works its way down the side of her head, blood begins to run from the wound and drains through a grate under the conveyer. Two other appendages lift up her head as the saw works its way to the base of her skull and back around to where it started. The saw stops and retracts, the two claws work their way into the gap cut in her head and pries off the top of her skull off with a sickening crunch. There is a spray of blood and her body twitches. Several smaller appendages lower themselves down and begin working in her skull and brain. After several minutes it removes her brain. Blood pours from the empty cavity, most of it drains through the grate but some of it splashes on the floor adding to the already thick layer there. The device moves over to the HK and then reaches into an open panel on the side. Our view is blocked but I'm sure that it is placing the girl's brain in the same type of container that DreamWeaver pulled from the original HK. After a while the device retracts back to its original position and then shuts down.
The panel slides shut on the side of the HK and the worker bot moves from its corner and carries the HK through another set of doors in the room. The conveyer starts up again and the girl's body limply falls off the end and through a hole in the floor. DreamWeaver points to a ramp leading down and we decide to follow it. At the bottom of the ramp we come out into a small room. In the ceiling is the hole that the girl's body fell through. Underneath that is a hopper with about a dozen little bodies in it.
The hopper begins to move along some tracks and follows a tunnel that leads to the last building. We walk behind the hopper and follow it as it exits the tunnel. We enter a room that resembles a power plant but only smaller. Three immense pillars covered with the familiar pods take up most of the room. The hopper stops in from of a machine and dumps the bodies into an opening then the machine begins to grind up the bodies with the tearing of flesh, muscle and the snapping of bones. It is all that I can do to keep from throwing up the MRE I had eaten earlier.
I pull DreamWeaver away from the grizzly spectacle and we make our way to one of the pillars. I search for a data port like the one that I found in the real power plant and I find it. I begin to jack the mobile in and crack the simple security system.
DreamWeaver raises her visor. "What are you doing?"
I raise my visor as well. "I want to see what is going on in there."
"I want to check out the rest of this place. Will you be alright here by yourself?"
"Yeah, I'll be fine but don't go too far. We may need to bug out of here fast."
I enter the system and begin to get a view of the virtual world inside. The whole thing is structured like a military training camp. The children are being taught how to use different weapons and how best to kill a person with them, tactics for setting up an ambush, how to take out a hovercraft and more. The children are emotionless and perform their drills with mechanical precision. There is one thing that really gets my attention. Each one of the children is put through a test where random events or opponents are pitted against them to see how well they can adapt to the situation. It appears that it is what the machines want from them. The human ability to adapt and learn from changing environments and situations.
I disconnect the mobile and stow it in the pouch. I turn to find DreamWeaver next to one of the other pillars looking into one of the pods. Behind her a DocBot descends behind her and unfolds its legs preparing to strike. There is no time to shout a warning and I bring up my M79 and squeeze the trigger. The weapon kicks as the armor piercing rounds tear through the DocBot. DreamWeaver spins around and adds her own fire to mine. Pieces of the DocBot fly off of it and then it falls to the floor below.
DreamWeaver runs over to me. "I'm sorry about that. I was distracted."
"No time to worry about that right now, they'll be onto us now. We have to get back to the ship fast."
We run back to the tunnel but we are cut off by three more DocBots. DreamWeaver and I unleash a hail of rounds into them and they fall to the floor. We run down the tunnel switching out our empty magazines for new ones. We race back up the ramp to the surgery room, on the conveyer is a young boy going through the same procedure as the girl before him. We run down the tunnel to the manufacturing plant as we rush into the building, DreamWeaver catches sight of two squids entering the building. She grabs my arm and drags me behind some crates.
"This is not good," she says. "Do you think we can sneak past them?"
Slugging it out with Sentinels when you're only armed with M79s is not a good idea. The only weak points on them are their eyes or the points where their arms connect to the body. We carry a few pulse grenades, these produce a large plasma discharge and a small EMP pulse. Unless the grenade goes off right next to the Sentinel then it will only be temporarily disabled.
"We have to, but we have to move quickly before reinforcements show up," I tell her.
We make our way through the stacks of crates occasionally catching site of the Sentinels as they search through the building. We make our way back outside and under the conveyer. The area outside is crawling with Sentinels.
"This is going to be fun," DreamWeaver says.
"We will need to split up, it will be our best chance of getting out of here. When you get to the Shadow, don't wait too long if I'm not there," I tell her.
We wait for another salvage hauler to drop its load and then take off before the last of the debris has finished falling. I head for the nearest pile of rubble and stop to get my bearings and to check for Sentinels.
When it's clear, I make a run for another pile and then make my way to the other side. Over the top of the pile comes a Sentinel and I can tell that it is locked onto me. I raise my M79 and squeeze the trigger for all its worth. The M79 fires 10MM caseless armor piercing bullets at 500 rounds a minute on full auto. I aim at one of the main eyes at the center of the body. The lens firsts cracks and then shatters under the pounding from the bullets. The other rounds find their way into the body of the Sentinel and start to tear into vital parts. The bolt locks back on the M79 as the last round is fired and the clip is empty. The Squid keeps charging down on me.
"Shit."
The Squid slams into me and we go tumbling. When we hit the ground the squid is on top of me and I brace myself for the inevitable attack but instead the Squids eyes go dark. I try to roll the Squid off of me but I'm pinned. I see an iron bar and reach for it. I get my fingertips on it and start to pull it to me when three more Sentinels come over the pile as they bear down on me. As the Sentinels close in, I pull a pulse grenade off my belt and get ready to take the Sentinels with me. Then, I hear Agent Gray's voice next to me.
"Hey you!"
I see the image of the Agent on the mobile lying just off to my right. It must have been knocked out of the pouch when I was hit. The Sentinels halt their advance and turn to the mobile. A steam of code flashes across the screen and then the Agents face reappears.
"Now fuck off," he tells the Squids and to my surprise they turn and leave. I use the bar to lift the Squid off of me and gather the mobile.
"How did you do that?" I ask.
"A simple override command, but I'm not sure that it will work a second time, so now would be a good time to leave."
I snatch up my weapon and continue to the Shadow. When I get to the landing site, I find that the Shadow is gone.
"She left us!" the Agent exclaims.
"I told her not to wait too long, she had to leave. It looks like we are hoofing it out of here."
I turn to leave the area and find myself facing two more Sentinels.
"I wish I could just get a break."
I raise my weapon in hopes that I can get them both.
"Can you do that override thing again?" I ask the Agent.
"I already tried," he replies.
The Sentinels are closing the distance when blue-green beams slice through the darkness, destroying the Sentinels. I look up to see the Shadow break through the night, spin around and land next to me. I barely make it up the ramp when the ship lifts off the ground and throttles up to full speed. I make my way up to the cockpit and find DreamWeaver at the controls.
"Sorry if I scared you back there but the Sentinels were closing in and I decided to go looking for you."
I decide to let her fly the Shadow back to her ship and then we will decide on what to do then. I head to the back of the ship and look at the mobile. The Agent looks back at me.
"What's with the big grin on your face?" he asks.
"You saved my life," I tell the Agent.
Behind the Agents glasses I can swear that he is rolling his eyes. "Please get a hold of yourself before you start gushing about how I have developed some sort of bond with you. Let's get one thing straight. I did not do it to save you, I did it to ensure that you got me out of there."
"If you say so," I tell the Agent with a big smile.
After we land next to DreamWeaver's ship we begin to discuses our options.
"We have to help those children." DreamWeaver tells me. "What's happening to people in the Matrix is bad enough but this is demonic."
"I agree with you but there is nothing that we can do to help them."
I show her the information that I gathered when I hacked in. "Even if we could get them out they wouldn't be children like we know. They only know how to kill and destroy."
"And that differs from you how?" the Agent pipes in.
"Shut up," DreamWeaver and I say at the same time.
DreamWeaver let's out a sigh of frustration. After a moment of silence. "I know a way we can help them."
I look up at her in surprise, even Gray looks a little shocked.
"Your right we can't save them but we can help them. The question is, are you crazy enough to help me?" DreamWeaver asks.
To be continued.