Disclaimer: See Part II.
Deus Ex Machina
Chapter 11
The dark tunnels slowly came to life, illuminated with soft blue light as a hovercraft found its way through the deep black world. The harsh buzz from its pads echoed up and down the tunnel, warning of the ship's approach, and remembering it for long minutes after it had passed.
In the cockpit of the Nebuchadnezzar, Morpheus watched the holographic map of the tunnels. "Take that left tunnel, and follow it up," he said.
In the right hand seat, Rei nodded, glancing at the map to see how soon she would turn. The tunnel appeared and Rei slowed the Neb, turning toward the opening.
"Watch that corner!" Morpheus said, earning a quick glare from the girl. The Neb flew into the side tunnel, cutting the corner a little closer than Morpheus liked.
"I've got it under control, father," Rei signed.
"Hands on the controls," Morpheus replied. Rei sighed and gripped the control sticks again, glaring at the gently sloping tunnel ahead. Morpheus smiled and patted her on the leg. "You're going fine. We'll follow this up for about a mile. There's a good broadcast position up there."
Rei nodded, watching her displays and the holograph to make sure she stayed well clear of the walls. The tunnel rose gradually, a connection between the mid and shallow depth tunnels.
Halfway up the incline, Morpheus pointed to a large opening on the right, a gaping cavern at the side of the tunnel. "Back us in there," he said.
Rei nodded, and brought the Neb to a stop next to the tunnel. She slowly turned the ship along its axis, using the flat screen displays and the hologram to point the tail into the cavern. Gripping the controls tightly, she began to back the ship in.
Morpheus pressed several overhead controls. "Pads in, gear down," he said. He looked out the window, seeing that the side walls of the opening were ahead of them. "You're in far enough, go ahead and set down."
Rei nodded sharply, squeezing the control sticks even harder. She reduced the power to the pads, lowering the ship to the ground.
One of the landing pads caught on a steel beam protruding from the wall, jerking the Nebuchadnezzar to the side. The ship slammed down to the ground, one side setting down before the other.
The echo of the impact rumbled through the tunnel. "Well," Morpheus said, once it was quiet again. "You're getting better at landing."
Rei released the breath she was holding and slumped down in her seat. "Sorry," she said with shaking hands.
"It's okay," he replied, standing up. "Let's re-patch the A/C, and then see about jacking in."
Morpheus and Rei climbed down to the main deck, where the rest of the crew was gathered. "Are we connected?" he asked.
Trinity was seated at the operator's console. "The Matrix feed is online and ready for use."
Morpheus nodded. "Good. Maya, when will you be ready?"
"The subject is a college student," Maya Ibuki replied. "It would be best to contact him in the evening. We could wait five or six hours before going in."
"Very well," Morpheus said. "We should decide who will stay here to operate while we're in the Matrix." He looked at the rest of the crew, who glanced at each other.
Morpheus frowned. "Don't volunteer all at once," he grumbled. He hadn't wanted to take an inexperienced operator aboard the ship, and was therefore forced to have his crew take turns as the operator while the rest jacked in.
"Okay, Maya, Rei, Neo and myself will be going in," Morpheus said. "It's between the three of you."
Trinity, Switch, and Apoc looked at each other. "Shall we do this the usual way?" Apoc asked.
The women nodded, and all three extended a hand. "1, 2, 3!" Switch called, then groaned as her paper was cut to ribbons in the game of rock, paper, scissors.
"`Bout time you had to stay," Apoc smirked, his losing streak finally at an end.
"So who's the subject this time?" Trinity asked.
"There are two contacts we'll make," Maya said. "Two college students from Colorado. Information filtered through the Oracle to us indicating that the biocomputing research project had stared up again."
"How did that happen?" Switch asked.
"I guess the machines weren't paying attention," Maya replied.
"Why would they care?" Apoc asked.
"I worked on the same thing before I was freed," Maya explained. "We thought that it was our best chance for creating a real AI."
"But the machines don't want a new AI created within the Matrix," Morpheus added. "The Oracle has said as much."
"The research has gone on, sporadically, for more than twenty years," Maya continued. "But every project collapses due to inexplicable failures, accidental deaths, or," Maya grinned, "mysterious disappearances."
"Between us and the machines, anyone involved in that project doesn't have long left in the Matrix," Switch mused.
Maya nodded. "These two students are the keys to this particular research group. If we take them out, their project will fail."
"And Project E will have two more valuable assets," Neo quipped. "How do we play this one?"
"We'll contract them, and see if they have an awareness about the Matrix," Morpheus said. "If they do, we make the usual offer. If not, we'll have to do something to make them question their reality.
"Everyone should get some rest," the captain continued. "These two are likely under some sort of observation, so we'll have to be careful not to draw the system's attention. The last thing we need is for Agents to show up.
"We'll go in in six hours."
An old, dusty phone ran loudly in a dusty room. It seemed that there was no one in the dark office to hear it, until a hand picked it up.
"We're here," Morpheus said. He set the phone down and turned to the rest of his team. "Our subjects work in a university lab, and usually stay there late into the evening. Maya and I will make the initial contact. Trinity, Apoc, if it looks like we might free one or both of them, you'll come back here and set up the equipment."
Maya reached into a pocket of her gray jacket and withdrew a stack of photographs. "These are the two we're looking for, they're siblings. Stephen and Rachel Tsujimoto."
The pictures showed a young man in his late teens, and a girl who was no older than Rei. "These are college students?" Apoc asked.
"Graduate students, actually," Maya answered. "They're both considered geniuses."
"Let us hope that they are also open minded," Morpheus said. "Let's go."
As they descended to the building's lower floor, most of the group checked their weapons. All except Neo carried at least one pistol; Neo did not fear such weapons, and felt no need for them.
Outside, the Neb crew's regular car waited, along with a pair of motorcycles. Trinity and Apoc mounted the bikes, while the others climbed into the car, with Neo driving.
"We'll meet outside the lab in twenty minutes," Morpheus said.
Switch glared at the Matrix screens. Trinity and Apoc had taken separate routes, forcing her to devote one screen to each of the vehicles. "Should have loaded a minivan," she grumbled.
She glanced rapidly between the screens, keeping track of the crew, when a strange flicker crossed the screens. She reached for the phone controls, preparing to call Morpheus.
When it didn't happen again, Switch shrugged, taking her hand away from the button. "Must be jitters," she thought, feeling uneasy in the virtual loneliness in the ship.
The Computing Research Center of the Colorado Institute of Technology was the most modern building on campus. The glass and steel building towered over its brick companions. Within its walls some of the most sophisticated software and hardware known to the unfreed population was housed. It also contained one of the most advanced security systems found in an academic institution.
This system proved only a minor delay for Morpheus and Maya, who quickly overrode the numeric keypads that locked the labs. Inside they found a large, dimly lit room, full of computers and bookshelves.
"Hello?" Morpheus called, looking around the room. "We missed them," he said, turning to Maya.
"I don't think so," Maya remarked. She crossed the room to a trio of monitors. Pushing the mouse, the screens flared to life. Maya sat down and pointed to a backpack under the desk. "Somebody must have stepped out for minute."
Morpheus gasped as he looked at the monitors. Green letters and numbers scrolled down the monitors. "The Matrix? No...what is this?"
Maya sat down and leaned forward, squinting at the screen as if that would force it to give up its secrets. "It's a decision tree. Morpheus, this is a prototype for an AI!"
"How?" he asked, leaning over her shoulder.
"It's not self-aware, it's extremely simple, but..."
"It's the most advance program in the world," a voice said.
Morpheus and Maya turned to see a young man standing in the doorway. "Stephen Tsujimoto?" Morpheus asked.
The teen glanced nervously at the two darkly clad intruders. "Who are you?"
"We mean you know harm," Maya said. She turned back to the desk, looking at the code. "This is an impressive program. When did you finish it?"
Tsujimoto stepped into the room and let the door close behind him, but didn't answer. He stared at a space on the wall for a long moment.
Morpheus stepped deeper into the room's shadows, looking through his reflective glasses at the papers scattered on another desk.
"My sister finished it a few days ago," the young man finally said.
"Where is she?" Maya asked. "We'd like to speak with both of you."
Stephen's eyes flared. He marched across the room and reached over Maya, pressing several buttons on the keyboard. The scroll of code stopped, revealing blank blue desktops. "Rachel is dead," he said.
Maya's eyes widened, as she noticed his tired, disheveled appearance and bloodshot eyes. "I'm...I'm sorry, Stephen. How did it happen?"
"She was hit by a car," he said sadly. "Just...stepped off the sidewalk at the wrong moment." He snorted, somewhere between amusement and disgust. "We were talking about it a week ago. How people who work on these projects never seem to survive. We thought we would do it, though. Thought we were different."
"Fate seems to be against this project," Morpheus remarked, pulling out his cell phone. "Switch, I need you to search for information on the death of Rachel Tsujimoto. Police statements, coroner's reports, everything you can find. Yes, call me if you find anything."
Stephen sat down heavily in a chair next to Maya. "Leave. I've got work to do. I have to finish her work."
"Do you think you'll really be able to finish it?" Morpheus asked. "Do you think you can accomplish what others have been prevented from doing?"
"Prevented? What, there's a conspiracy against this type of research?" Tsujimoto asked, glared at the Morpheus. "Don't be ridiculous."
Morpheus smiled slightly. His glasses flashed, two spots of reflected light in the shadows.
Trinity and Apoc were perched on their bikes, parked at a small park near the edge of the campus.
"Do you think they've found those kids yet?" Apoc asked.
"Probably," Trinity answered. "I hope they're ready to be freed."
They watched as the black sedan parked next to them. Neo and Rei emerged from the car, Rei pulling the hood of her jacket over her head to conceal her blue hair.
"How long will this mission last?" Trinity asked Rei.
"Not long," she answered, projecting her soft voice to the others. "There are a few more possible recruits to contact, and then Maya and I must return to Zion."
"Shouldn't you have stayed at the Project?" Apoc asked.
"My Unit was damaged, and will take time to repair. The commander agreed to let me accompany Maya on this recruiting mission."
Trinity glanced over at Neo. "What's wrong?" she asked, noticing that he was tense.
"I'm not sure," he said, looking around. "There's something strange in the code, but I can't tell what, or where."
"Agents?" Apoc asked.
Neo shook his head. "No, not that. I've never seen anything like this."
"Should we call Morpheus?" Trinity asked again.
Neo frowned. "Not yet. It's probably nothing."
Morpheus looked at Tsujimoto. "A conspiracy? You could say that there is. Every AI development project has failed, collapsed when their key members were lost. Some died, others disappeared."
Morpheus turned and handed a sheet of paper to Maya. She glanced at the paper, and smiled. "'Intuitive Decision Making Architecture' by Maya Ibuki. I didn't know that was published."
"That was one of the things that directed our project," Stephen said.
"I'm flattered."
"You're not...You couldn't be."
Maya smiled. "I wrote this, shortly before my...departure."
"Where did you go? Why?" Stephen asked.
"We could show you, if you were ready."
Morpheus's phone rang, and he stepped away from the other two and answered it.
"Captain, I finished the search," Switch said into her headset.
"And?" Morpheus asked.
"Rachel Tsujimoto was struck by a car and killed. The autopsy report and most of the other stuff looks proper, but the statement from the driver that hit her is unusual."
"How so?"
She pulled up the report on one of the side screens. "He told the police that he was rounding a corner at night when the girl was hit. But he says it wasn't a girl that stepped into the street. He clearly saw a man in a dark suit and sunglasses. There was a flash of light after the impact, and the girl's body appeared out of that."
"Thank you, Switch. Good work."
Switch turned back to the main console and blinked. A single blue symbol was running down the Matrix screen, a shape she had never seen before.
She rubbed her eyes, but the blue stain continued its crawl down the monitor. A second spot of blue appeared on another screen, slowly making its way down the cascade of green code.
Switch's hand hovered over the phone control, waiting to see what would happen on the Matrix feed.
Morpheus closed the phone and turned back to the others. "Mr. Tsujimoto...Stephen. Your sister was murdered."
Stephen stared at him for a long moment. "Murdered?" he finally whispered.
"I'm sorry, but I believe she was. Because of that," he said, nodding toward the computers. "Have you heard of the Matrix?"
Stephen was puzzled by the sudden change in conversation. "Yeah, hackers talk about it on the internet. It's supposed to be some kind of Orwellian computer system that runs the world. It's just some urban legend on the net."
"The Matrix is real," Morpheus said. "We are surrounded by it right now. And it will not allow another AI."
"I don't understand," Stephen said.
Morpheus nodded. "I know. But it cannot be explained; you must see it for yourself."
Stephen stood, shaking his head. "This is crazy. I don't know what you people want, but I don't want any part of it."
"Trust us, please," Maya said. "We only want to offer you the truth."
Rei shivered, despite the warm weather. She pulled her jacket tighter around her body.
"Neo?" Trinity whispered. She was growing concerned; he had been standing, trancelike, for several minutes. "What is it?"
Neo's only response was a signal for silence, as he strained his eyes and ears to try to find the disturbance.
"You feel it, don't you?" a voice asked.
The group turned to see a man walking toward them. He was bald, mustached, and smirked as he approached. "You feel the intruder, don't you Neo?"
"How do you know me?" Neo asked.
"The Oracle sent me," he replied. "I am the Cypher."
"You're a program?" Neo asked.
"Right. I do favors for Her from time to time. She asked me to make sure that you were here." Cypher turned and looked at Rei. "She said something was about to happen."
"What?"
"That, I guess," Cypher replied, pointing past the group.
"Yes?" Morpheus answered.
"Sir, there's something strange going on," Switch said.
"What is it?"
Blue symbols were flowing down her display screens, thoroughly mixed with the green code. "Just look to the northeast, sir, you can't miss it."
Morpheus glanced around the room. The windows were covered with dark blinds that blocked the fading afternoon sunlight. Morpheus pulled them aside and looked for what Switch was concerned about.
Maya and Stephen joined him at the window. "What is that," the young man asked.
"A tornado?" Apoc asked. "That's not possible, not here."
"It's not from the Matrix," Neo said. "That code is unlike anything I've ever seen."
"This may be a simulated world," Cypher said, "But the weather programs do know that a tornado doesn't appear in a clear sky. Somebody's head is going to roll for this."
"Then what is it?" Trinity asked.
"It has a core," Rei said. Her voice dropped to a whisper. "It's an Angel."
"That's impossible!" Trinity objected.
"I can see the core," Rei replied. "It has to be."
"Neo?" Trinity asked.
"I can't tell what it is," Neo said. "It's a code I can't read."
He turned to Cypher, who shrugged at him. "I don't know what it is either. But it's not from the Matrix or the machines."
Trinity turned to the blue haired girl. "Rei, do you think we can destroy it?"
Rei pulled a pistol out from her coat and chambered a round. She turned to Neo. "Take me to it."
Neo looked at her, surprised. He glanced at Trinity, who nodded. "You're sure about this?" Neo asked Rei.
Rei nodded. "I believe we can destroy it. We must destroy it."
Neo bent forward, wrapping his arms around Rei. She reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Hold on," Neo said. He crouched slightly, and the ground rippled outward as he launched into the air.
"Wow," Cypher said, watching them rocket into the sky.
The wind whistled in Rei's ears as they flew toward the tornado. It was carving a path through several city blocks, slowly tearing through buildings.
Neo stopped, hovering several hundred yards from the weather phenomena. All he could see was a cyclone of strange blue symbols. "Where is it?" he asked Rei.
She twisted around and examined the Angel. She could sense its core, hidden within the tornado. "There," she pointed. "One-third of the way up."
Neo squeezed Rei tighter. "Okay."
They flew toward the tornado. As they grew closer the wind increased, pulling them into the storm. They were swept into the cylinder of dust and debris, tossed and spun at sickening speed.
Rei squeezed her eyes shut as Neo tried to bring himself under control. "Where is it?" he shouted, all but drowned out by the howling wind.
Rei cracked her eyes and squinted against the dust. "There, above us," she said, projecting her voice strongly enough for Neo to hear.
Neo flew up, holding fiercely as Rei was nearly torn from his grasp by the vicious winds. "Do it!" he shouted.
Rei looked up, seeing a bright red sphere hovering a dozen feet above. Gathering her courage, she released her right arm from Neo's neck, pointing the pistol at the core. She fired three quick shots, missing each time.
Rei fired again, emptying most of the clip. "The wind is deflecting the bullets," Neo shouted. "You have to compensate."
"How?" Rei asked desperately.
"Focus Rei," Neo answered.
"I only have two rounds left."
"That will be enough," he assured her. His voice was calm, overcoming the roaring winds. "Just focus on your target."
Rei raised the pistol again, squinting down the sights. As she concentrated, the wind slowed, individual particles of dust becoming visible. She followed a speck that passed in front of her pistol, watching as it spiraled up toward the core, passing it. She moved the pistol to the side, no longer aiming directly at the target. Another miniscule speck passed in front of the barrel, and she watched it crash against the smooth surface of the core.
Rei fired, watching the bullet rise. It arched gracefully through the air, impacting the core. The bullet pierced the sphere with the sound of breaking glass. Cracks spread along the surface of the core.
Rei fired again, and the cracks grew, encompassing the sphere. It continued to glow as the wind grew stronger. The pistol was ripped from Rei's hand and she grabbed onto Neo's neck as tightly as she could. She buried her head in his shoulder and screamed.
Neo held onto her desperately, trying to stay aloft as the tornado seemed to be maliciously pushing them down. He looked up when he heard another sound like breaking glass. The core was shaking in the wind, the cracks growing longer and deeper.
The core shattered, torn apart by its own fury. The pieces dissolved immediately as their code ceased to exist. All the dirt and debris that the tornado had picked up fell straight down to the ground.
Neo dove, trying to avoid being hit by the larger objects that were in the air. He angled outward, and finally pulled level and landed in an alley. He kneeled down, and pried Rei's arms from around his neck. Her eyes were wide with fear and shocked relief.
Neo smiled. "You did it."
"It's gone?" she squeaked.
Neo nodded. He stood up and looked around. "We better get back to the others, and try to..."
Neo watched several papers blow by, then disappear, only to blow by again. He turned and looked at the building behind him. The tornado had knocked a wall off, and broken open filing cabinets within the office it contained. Papers were scattered throughout the alley.
Inside the office was a broken section of an airplane's wing. More aircraft debris had appeared in the alley.
"Neo!" Rei screamed.
He spun around to see an arm around Rei's neck and a pistol pressed to her temple. Agent Smith smiled from behind his hostage.
"Mr. Anderson. I'm getting tired of chasing you."
END OF PART II
Author's Notes:
Well, here's the finished version of the chapter. What's this, a bit of a cliffhanger?
I got my story organizational issues sorted out. I had had the idea of making a sort of extra long "OAV" chapter. However, I think it will work better to split the material between two (or even three) chapters, as it would have been fairly long and not entirely cohesive as one huge piece.
Part III begins next Tuesday.