Protector of Men Ch 94

Kesia had interesting news to tell Zandra, despite the bad news they had all just received. Trim was still in the cockpit, but Shade, Cover, and Kesia were all on the main deck. Shade looked pale, and stood very close to her. She had an inkling that he felt protective of her considering the recent events, but didn't foster the feeling long.

Kesia urged her to watch the coding of the Matrix. Zandra watched it with half-hearted interest, hoping that Kesia would be quick. Perhaps she might get a moment to mill everything over before going back in for the virus… and what was Trim doing?

"It's become less stable the past few days," Kesia started, talking to the screens, "But I can still distinguish a glitch when I see one. See that?" She asked, pointing to one of the left screens energetically, "That's a glitch."

"Glitches always happen," Zandra said with an irritated sigh. Get to the point, she thought.

"Remember that Veritas girl?" She asked, turning to Zandra. Zandra nodded, still irritated.

"She didn't make a subject-sensitive self-reconstructing construct," she said, gesturing towards the screens again, "She made a shabby attempt at copying this."

Zandra stared at the screens and said nothing. Neo's last moments were seared into her mind, and every few seconds his dramatic downfall would replay with intensity.

"Every time you do something, it reconstructs," Kesia explained with strangely bright eyes, "Of course, it's more advanced – and probably harder – but all she did was copy what she observed."

"So she didn't really create an original construct?" Trim asked from a corner of the room. Zandra looked to him, but he wouldn't return her gaze.

"Get back in the cockpit, Trim," Cover commanded. Trim scowled, but followed orders.

"Basically he's right," Kesia said quietly once Trim had left, "But just think about it… If it's subject sensitive…"

"A lot of help that could have been," Zandra commented even quieter. They were all quiet for a minute or so afterwards. They understood what it meant to lose one of the crew – even if Neo had only been their 'informant'. He was one more loss that they already could not handle.

"Well, you are going to have to go back in…" Kesia started timidly, making a point to look at the ground. Zandra's heart started at the suggestion.

"Eventually," Zandra shot back automatically. Shade gave her a queer look, but she wasn't paying attention.

"But when you do," Kesia started again, more timid than before, "It might be safer."

Again silence diffused through them all, and the room suddenly felt very stuffy. Cover's words seemed to blast through the core as if he were on the loudspeaker.

"We'll get Trim to fix that virus, and then you're going back in," he told them, looking at Zandra for a response. She looked down and said nothing. Soon Cover left.

He didn't like the buzzing sound that he was hearing as he approached the cockpit. He knew what those sounds meant; but refused to believe it before he could see it.

Trim was sitting in the pilot's seat with his feet up on the control panel, staring out into the tunnels in a daze. He didn't notice Cover, and it seemed like he hadn't noticed the warnings that were so obviously going off.

"What the hell," Cover started, assessing the warnings. He roughly shoved Trim's feet off the control panels and scoured the maps. "Goddamnit, Trim! Turn everything off!"

There were sentinels – and though they hadn't seen the Libertas yet, they were already at risk of being detected. Six of them rested just four hundred yards away and they weren't moving. It was if they were waiting.

"Trim," Cover hissed, continuing to shut off various programs in his one-manned attempt to shut down the Libertas successfully, "Get Kesia offline!"
Slowly Trim came out of his daze and got on the loudspeaker. "Kesia, turn everything off," he said slowly, "We're shutting down."

Cover looked at him menacingly and turned off the lights. "You're not doing this again," he whispered, turning down the last power source. The only thing left was their direct line; the most crucial element of the ship to keep intact. One of the sentinels started moving, and Cover flipped open the cover on the EMP. The sentinel turned its red eyes onto the Libertas, and with it even Trim's heart began to pound. One of its octopus-like arms stretched out and unfurled its scanner, beginning to look for them…

"Done," Kesia breathed as she burst into the room. Cover wasted no time, and turned off the master power supply to the ship. Now all they had to do was wait in the dark, and hope.

The sentinel scanned, moving a few yards closer as it did. Cover's hand hovered above the EMP's switch, ready to punch if the moment arrived. Its eyes roved the area, but found nothing. Slowly it backed off, leading the rest of its group back and away from them. They were still silent in Libertas.

An hour later they were setting up the ship back again for their final jack. Cover had moved them almost a mile away from their original spot just in case the sentinels decided to go back and check once more. They all knew what a mistake it would be to jack in when there were sentinels about. There was no room for mistake anymore. Cover had assembled them all in the cockpit, just for good measure.

"We're going back in," he said slowly, as if it might be a shock to any of them. "This has to end now."

"Can I have a little bit to fix that virus?" Trim asked, "I think there's one more thing that needs adjustment…"

"No," Cover exclaimed loudly, "You've been given too much already. You said it was done before, so it's done. We don't have time to fool around anymore."

Trim sighed, but said nothing. He seemed resolute, and Zandra guessed that he had been given a 'talking-to' when the rest of them had been told to stay in the mess-room. Trim's eyes were dark, and he seemed tired. They all seemed tired. It seemed like Cover recognized his own agitated harshness, because he then adopted a different tone with Trim.

"Trim, we all need you to come through with this," he said, almost soothingly. Trim continued to look at the ground. "This might be what saves us, so you need to know what we need to do." Trim said nothing, but made a weak attempt at a smile and nodded. Cover continued his orders.

"Shade, I need you to stay out here this time. You have to watch for sentinel activity." Shade nodded blankly. It was obvious he didn't understand Cover's motivations… but then again, none of them knew.

"Zandra – you, I, and Trim are going in to deploy that… virus… and then we're getting out. This has to be quick, and I want to make sure it goes right. I think I can help with this one."

Zandra nodded and looked to Trim. He seemed to be growing pink at the ears, but again said nothing. Zandra figured that Cover had finally broken his spirit. Cover soon led Kesia, Zandra, and Trim out of the cockpit, making sure that Shade stayed to watch the maps. He kept eye contact with Zandra as she walked away, both knowing that this was the silence before the storm, and perhaps the last time it would be so deadly silent without casualty. He stood in the doorway of the cockpit with a stoic countenance, but Zandra knew that there was turmoil in each of them. A flicker of uncertainty entered Zandra's mind… and snippets of a past conversation replayed…

"Shade would have been better stuck here than me. I've been here longer than he has."

"No… you would know more about the ship than him."

"That's true…He's never been really trained for the ship maintenance."

But Shade had disappeared from her line of vision before she could think about it further. Soon she had been swept into the main deck and into a chair along with Cover and Trim. Trim handed Kesia the vector with nervous hands and retreated back into the chair.

"Cover," Kesia finally said with a sigh, "It isn't stable in there. If things go haywire, it could crash."

Cover simply nodded. "This has to be done," he said with an off-handed shrug, "I expected it to be somewhat off… because of what's happened…"

Kesia nodded, cutting him short (and doing him a favor). She precariously got out of her chair and inserted the needles in all of them, smiling graciously once she got to Zandra.

"Good luck," she mouthed before hitting execute. Then everything went white.

Alocin – well, I think Smith won because Neo was tired of fighting. So I guess you can say you won… :)

Vez – ahh, thanks. Neo's hypothetical OOC-ness was really giving me anxiety, but I figured that it would make sense. And see, Veritas did have a little more of a debut, and I guess she kind of did make it up…

Kal Torak – three days? Oh, my gosh that's fast.

Disclaimer: choirgrlalex is not responsible for any injuries or lack of other things done in regards to reading her excruciatingly long matrix fanfic in a very short time. All said damages are the responsibility of the reader.

Phew, that makes me feel better :) I'm glad you liked it – and I'm glad, actually, that you just started recently! I always like new fans!

Oh my gosh… I had the worst dream I've had in a LONG time, but it had an amazing storyline. I think I'm going to turn it into an original story, and I'll give you the link once I get it up. It involves a dad in the CIA, and a kid who unknowingly works for them (I know it sounds like Alias but if you knew my dad, you'd understand… he has a mysterious job) but it was really sad. :(