The Marquis and its entire crew is made up by me, as well as certain other characters. The rest of it is the property of their respective owners. So here it is.
MATRIX
ACE
CHAPTER 1
FIRST CONTACT
"Is Davidson still mad at you for coming in late last week?" said Sanders, one of Mike's co-workers, from over the wall of Mike's cubicle. Davidson was their "pointy-haired boss," as Sanders put it.
"Oh, he's always grouchy," said Mike.
Sanders chuckled. "You doing all right?"
Mike shrugged. "I dunno, I guess I've been kinda tired and disoriented lately ..."
Sanders' eyes widened in an expression of mock surprise. "What a coincidence! You just described my entire carreer!"
This got a laugh from Mike, who sat back down to log into his computer.
He was not expecting to see, instead of his usual desktop wallpaper, a black box with green words on it.
FOLLOW THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD.
He stared at this for several seconds.
"Klaymoore, couldja deal with a quick website problem?" said Davidson, who suddenly arrived in the cubicle. "Simpson put up the wrong photo image in the staff page for Rhodes. Looked like something from some old movie. Wouldja fix it before you get to work on that database?"
"Huh?" said Mike. The black text had been replaced by the normal wallpaper while he wasn't looking. "Uh, yeah. Sure. I'll get right on it."
When he saw the image on Marla Rhodes' profile page, he almost felt his heart stop.
It was, of course, a picture of the yellow brick road.
He clicked on the photo. It brought up a MSN Instant Messaging window (hey, he hadn't instelled that!) with someone else. Immediately, text appeared.
Fate: Hello, Ace.
Mike blinked, then typed a response.
MKlaymoore: Who are you?
Fate: I'm part of the reason you were late last week.
There was a pause before Mike typed another response.
MKlaymoore: Why did I blank out like that?
Fate: I can't tell you that yet.
MKlaymoore: Why not?
Fate: I'm only here to let you know of things to come. You will find the answer to an important question soon.
MKlaymoore: What do you mean? What question?
Fate: I think you know.
MKlaymoore: ... This is the point where I ask you what the Matrix is, isn't it?
Fate: You'll find out soon enough, Ace. Tenshi will tell you.
MKlaymoore: Who is Tenshi?
Fate: You've met him before. In the park.
Mike wracked his brain, and then remembered: a tall man in a blue trench coat he'd run into at Central Park; he'd called him Ace by name.
MKlaymoore: So that's who he was ...
Fate: You'll meet him again soon enough. Your boss is coming; I fixed the image for you.
(Fate went offline)
Mike clicked off the program just as Davidson walked into the cubicle. "Did you fix that photo?"
"Uh, yeah, I just got it done," said Mike, refreshing the page and loading the right photo.
"Good," said Davidson. "Now get to work on that database."
Mike felt drained as he walked into his apartment at the end of the day. The first thing he did was to change out of his work clothes and into a black shirt and blue jeans; he then sat down at his computer and got online. Now he was Ace.
He was so exhausted that he ignored the phone's ringing and let the answering machine get it.
"... after the tone." BEEP. A familiar and faintly amused voice said, "Ace, pick up the phone."
He did so. "Who is this?"
"Take a wild guess, Ace."
Ace blinked. "Tenshi? I thought you sounded familiar ..."
"So far, the agents of the Matrix haven't found out about our interest in you yet, but that might change, so we'd better make this quick."
"Wait, hang on," said Ace. "All kinds of wierd shit's been going on for weeks ... I mean, What's your interest in me?"
"If you want to find out, meet Fate at the bridge near 43rd Street," said Tenshi, and hung up.
Ace stared at the phone for several moments. Then he got up from his computer.
The weather had sense of narrative convenience, and so the sky was clouded over to give a sense of foreboding. There was also a hint of thunder as a black Porsche drove up to him.
The window rolled down. It was the woman Ace faintly recognized as having barged into his apartment. "Fate," he said.
She nodded. "Get in."
There were two other occupants, both men dressed trenchcoats and wearing dark glasses. "Where are we going?" asked Ace.
"To meet Tenshi," said one of the men. He was slim, and had brown hair specifically designed to look stylish. His trenchcoat was black. "I'm Styx, by the way, and this is Jaxter."
Jaxter was heavyset and bald, and his trenchcoat was white. He abruptly took out a gun and pointed it at Ace's face. "Sorry, but this is just for our protection."
Ace stared. Few things grab your attention as much as the business end of a .44 handgun. "From what?" he asked.
"From you," said Jaxter.
"What the hell ...?"
Styx pulled up a strage, large machine. "You'll find out," he said. "Now take off your shirt."
"Why?" said Ace.
"Cuz we can't get a good scan if it's on, and if we could we couldn't get a bug out through it," said Jaxter, the gun not wavering.
"Uh ... right." Ace pulled up his shirt, reflecting that the tactic of getting cooperation through bewilderment was certainly one that worked.
"Here we go," said Styx, putting an odd protrusion from the machine over Ace's navel. There was a moment of silent tension in the car as Styx operated the machine.
Then ... "Nope, he's clean."
They all visibly relaxed, and Jaxter put away the gun.
They stopped in front of what Ace knew was an abandoned hotel. Ace had the strange sensation of being watched as they walked down the empty hallways.
They eventually stopped at room 606.
"Why this room, again?" murmured Fate.
"Cuz there isn't a room 666," said Jaxter.
Styx snickered. "Okay, here's where ya meet the captain," he said.
Then they entered the room. Standing in front of a window was Tenshi. He turned to face them as they entered, which coincided with a rumble of thunder. "Welcome, Ace," he said, grinning.
"Um ... Hi," said Ace.