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 5
VERSION EIGHT
"And there are some who are so intertwined with the system, that they will fight to protect it. Ace, are you paying attention to me ... or were you looking at the woman in the green dress?"
"Huh?"
"Look again."
"GAH!"
"Freeze it," said Seraph. Zephyr was trying not to laugh.
Ace stared past the suddenly immobile gun at the man in the black suit who was suddenly standing there. "What the hell IS this!?"
"This is an Agent," said Seraph. "The likeness of Agent Roberts, in fact. They are sentient programs that can temporarily posess the bodies of those who are still in the Matrix. They are capable of dodging bullets, and they are many times stronger than even the best Zion runners. If you see an Agent, your only chance is to run."
"This isn't the Matrix?" said Ace.
"No," said Seraph. "This is another training program."
"It's designed to teach you one thing," said Zephyr. "If you're not one of us ... you're potentially one of them."
They were in the dojo again. This time, there were a set of cushions on the floor.
"It is time for you to learn more about the history of Zion," said Seraph, sitting down. Ace and Zephyr followed suit.
"The first version of the Matrix was to be a heaven for humanity -- a perfect world for them to live in harmony. But it failed -- the minds of those inside could not adapt, and many escaped."
"Escaped?" said Zephyr. "You mean ... the way we did?"
Seraph shook his head. "You had help. Those from the First Matrix self-substantiated."
Ace felt a chill run up his (virtual) spine. He had never head the term "self-substantiated" before, but in context, he knew exactly what it meant.
"This Matrix was a monumental failure," said Seraph. "And so the Second Matrix was created as an exact opposite: a horror, designed to reflect the pain and fear of human existence, to which life in the Real was infinitely preferable. This was an even greater failure.
"Then, they found a midway point between the two extremes," said Seraph. "It was a re-creation of the end of the twentieth century, and the beginning of the twenty-first. The Third Matrix was a success -- ninety-nine percent of those in it accepted the program."
"And the remaining one percent ..." said Ace.
Seraph nodded. "They formed the city of Zion. And for a time, they opposed the Machines ... but the forces of the Matrix were always superior ... until the arrival of the One."
"The One?" said Zephyr. "Styx said something about that ..."
Seraph said, "The One was a man who could see the codes of the Matrix, and alter them as he saw fit. He could singlehandedly fight three Agents without breaking a sweat, and he could not only dodge bullets, but stop them in midair." He sighed. "He was a new hope for the people of Zion ... but it was not to last. He existed because of an anomaly in the Matrix that its creators could not entirely remove; the Machines sent an army to annihilate Zion, and at the same time, the One taken to the Source where he could restart the Matrix's code to prevent a cataclysmic system failure that would have annihilated the human race."
"What's the Source?" said Ace.
"It is where the Machines live," said Seraph. "It controls the Matrix."
"So ... how did the One stop the Machines from destroying Zion?" said Zephyr. "I mean, it's still around ..."
"He did not," said Seraph. "Two hundred and fifty thousand Sentinels arrived in Zion, which was then destroyed, its every inhabitant slaughtered, its very existence eradicated, as if it had never been. The One was then instructed to select a small group from within the Matrix to rebuild the city of Zion, as if this was the first time. The people never knew that they were in the fourth version of the Matrix instead of the only one."
"Whoa," said Ace. "So ... we live in the Fourth Matrix? Or lived, anyway ..."
"No," said Seraph. "This is the eighth. The cycle of the One occurred many more times, until the end of the Sixth Matrix. The sixth incarnation of the One was able to end the war, and for nearly half a century there was peace. But it was not to last. The Machines struck again, and if it had not been for the seventh incarnation of the One, the cycle would have begun again."
"What did he do?" asked Ace.
"While he was in the Source," said Seraph, "he was able to destroy the Sentinels before they reached Zion --"
There was a sudden blaring alarm. "You must go," said Seraph. "That is the proximity alarm."
Ace found himself back in the main deck of the Marquis without any break in the sound of the alarm. "What's going on?" he said.
"Sentinels," said Norton.
"They're the real-world equivalent of the Agents," said Styx. "Main difference is, we can fight 'em."
"Come with me," Tenshi said to Ace, as he, Pylon, and Napalm started moving towards he front of the ship.
The cockpit somehow seemed more cramped than their quarters. Pylon and Napalm sat down at the controls, while Tenshi sat in a central chair behind them. "Let's get ready to rumble," said Napalm, activating what was clearly weapons controls.
"Let's get ready to avoid that," said Pylon, as the Marquis flew down a tunnel.
"Where are we?" said Ace.
"Underground," said Tenshi. "Sewer systems for an ancient city."
And then, directly ahead of them, was a grotesque mechanical thing. It looked like a cross between a spider and an octopus, with a myriad of eyes and a swarm of tentacles.
"Shit!" said Pylon.
"Burn!" grinned Napalm, firing. Bolts of light lanced out from above the cockpit, surgically tearing it apart.
"That was a Sentinel," said Tenshi calmly, as if nothing had happened. "One of the lesser classes, but still a thread. We're likely to run into ... oh, I'd say about thirty more in this area."
"Whoa," said Ace.
"Yeah, in fact, a few Sentinels are also in the Matrix, in the form of Agents," said Pylon.
"That makes sense ..." said Ace.
Then a dozen more Sentinels appeared. "AUGH!" exclaimed Pylon, swinging the ship to evade, even as Napalm began firing right and left.
"Seraph's just gone back into the Matrix," said Norton's voice over the intercom. "We'd have to get out of broadcast depth if we can evade the Sentinels properly ..."
"Who is that guy, anyway?" said Zephyr. Ace blinked; he hadn't even seen her arrive.
"Seraph?" said Tenshi. "Damned if we know for sure. If you ask him flat out, all he says is 'I protect that which matters most.' We think he's a program in the Matrix. Kinda like the Agents, only he's a good guy. His job is to guard the Oracle, which we're pretty sure is another program. Or at least that's what Xeno -- the seventh One -- said."
Ace watched as another group of Sentinels was destroyed by Napalm's firings. "They need Zion to survive," he said. "Until the next One comes ..."
"That's an encouraging thought, isn't it?" said Tenshi, sounding almost cheerful. "I almost wonder what they're going to plan next time ..."
"Shit, I don't know how much longer we can hold 'em off," said Pylon. There was a distant clong, and a readout indicated that one of the Sentinels had latched onto the hull.
"Dammit," said Napalm.
"Ready the FEMP," said Tenshi.
"What's the FEMP?" asked Ace.
"Focused ElectroMagnetic Pulse," said Zephyr.
"Used to be our best weapon against the Machines, by blowing out all the circuitry around," said Pylon. "Problem is, it took us out as well. Now we can aim 'em, and we've figured out a way to shield 'em that they can't duplicate too well without compromising stuff like maneuverability, effectiveness in combat ..."
An alarm went off. "Are all of them in range?" asked Tenshi.
"Almost ..." muttered Pylon. "Now!"
Pylon hit a switch. All the controls retracted into compartments on the consoles, which were then covered by metal panels. Ace heard this happening all over the ship ...
And then there was a loud buzz and a whoomph.