Chapter Four
Crystal gazed intently out of her balcony in Zion, observing the countless machines that kept them alive. "How can something so useful and important to us be immediately transformed into something so evil? How can we war against the successors of the very machines that keep us alive?" Crystal received no answer from the looming darkness in front of her and was left staring at nothing at all.
Then her thoughts turned back, once again, to the reason she was helping the crew of the Nebacanezour: to make Peter human. During her weeks at tapping the agents' phones, ear gear, computers, and any other means of communication, Crystal's heart sank when she only found a piece of the puzzle of making a program a human. The one piece she had found was that programs could somehow be reversed with a certain cheat code. Crystal was exasperated when she frantically listened to all the agents' communication with not even a hint at what this cheat code might be. Crystal sank into a chair, buried her head in her hands, and forced her mind to concentrate on how she could obtain the cheat code that she would give almost anything for.
Crystal wallowed in her self-pity, becoming a true pessimist and her mind turned to the dark side, contemplating all the nagging questions she was too afraid to answer. What if the human Peter doesn't love me either? What if I try to discover the key to making Peter human but destroy him instead? What if the agents kill me before I have a chance to even try my chance at making Peter human? Am I too selfish, only thinking about my own needs instead of Zion and the human race? Shouldn't I help end this war against the machines? Crystals mind was full of many more questions that made her feel miserable.
However, her thoughts were interrupted when a sentinel's red eyes loomed upon her. Crystal was too terrified to shriek, she merely froze in amazement that a sentinel could find her in Zion. Worried, she thrust a wrench at the sentinel, but it seemed to laugh at her as it grabbed the wrench with the tentacles and the last thing she remembered before complete blackness was the wrench hurling at her, at a speed she thought impossible.
Crystal lay unconscious for several hours before she awoke, furious that she had been such an idiot to assume that Zion was safe. She was safe nowhere, in the Matrix or out. Crystal had let her mind drift, she had lost her alertness, but worst of all, she was incredibly selfish to be thinking that the world revolved around her. Crystal vowed that from that day forth, defeating the machines that kept so many people prisoners would be her first priority (of course turning Peter into a human would be her second, she couldn't forget her ardor and love so quickly). Her priority would be to save the human race from a fate worse than death: imprisonment and lack of freedom. With her new declaration, Crystal merrily hurried to Neo, anxious to tell him the news that the sentinels had found a way to penetrate Zion
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"How? How? How could this happen?" The general frantically paced back and forth. "We have ultimate security against the sentinels, we have guards, it's too soon for them to find us, too soon...we aren't prepared."
"We have The One, therefore we are prepared," replied Morpheus peacefully.
"Just "The One" won't be enough to stop all those darn sentinels from attacking all of Zion, destroying the only human city left! We need a strategy, we need a plan, we need more time," the general retaliated.
Neo lightly stepped in from the shadows. Cooley, he said, "Don't worry. I'll find how those sentinels got in here, even if I have to risk my life."
Crystal's eyes widened in shock. When she had known Tom Andersen in the office, he had been more cowardly than most and refused to read to go on any bungee-jumping trips with her, claiming that his life was too precious to risk. Back then, Crystal would've been the only one who cared whether Tom Andersen lived or died, therefore his life wasn't that precious, in that certain perspective. But now Neo was the idol of the thousands of people in Zion, now Neo was their believed savior, many would gladly give their lives for him. Yet, now he was brave enough to risk it, to defend freedom and give humans a chance of survival against the machines. Crystal's eyes sparkled in tears, touched at how much he would sacrifice for the greater good. Crystal realized she had to do the same. She held her head high and glided to the front of the counsel, clearing her throat.
"Wait! There is another way! Tapping the agents' phone for a few weeks has given me some insight on how the sentinels found Zion. Apparently, they have found a certain cheat code that makes programs humans, yet those humans still succumb to the agents' orders. Therefore, the only way the sentinels would have found this fortress would be if there's a traitor among us, a program turned into a human, one who could easily give the agents the code to the gates of Zion. Unfortunately, there is only one-way to find if one of these "traitors" is a former program or not. They must be in contact with another human that falls in love with them. If the subject is immune to that human's feelings, then that subject is a former program, following the agents' orders. If the subject somehow feels that human's pain and is sorry that they can't love the human, the subject is then, in fact, a human."
The counsels murmured amongst themselves until the general spoke.
"Interesting theory, but we can't do that in time to stop the sentinels!"
Crystal mischievously grinned and replied, "Of course we can! We just have to test the people in Zion who have access to Zion's code. We'll start with one of my main suspects: you, sir."
"M-me?"
Crystal gazed intently out of her balcony in Zion, observing the countless machines that kept them alive. "How can something so useful and important to us be immediately transformed into something so evil? How can we war against the successors of the very machines that keep us alive?" Crystal received no answer from the looming darkness in front of her and was left staring at nothing at all.
Then her thoughts turned back, once again, to the reason she was helping the crew of the Nebacanezour: to make Peter human. During her weeks at tapping the agents' phones, ear gear, computers, and any other means of communication, Crystal's heart sank when she only found a piece of the puzzle of making a program a human. The one piece she had found was that programs could somehow be reversed with a certain cheat code. Crystal was exasperated when she frantically listened to all the agents' communication with not even a hint at what this cheat code might be. Crystal sank into a chair, buried her head in her hands, and forced her mind to concentrate on how she could obtain the cheat code that she would give almost anything for.
Crystal wallowed in her self-pity, becoming a true pessimist and her mind turned to the dark side, contemplating all the nagging questions she was too afraid to answer. What if the human Peter doesn't love me either? What if I try to discover the key to making Peter human but destroy him instead? What if the agents kill me before I have a chance to even try my chance at making Peter human? Am I too selfish, only thinking about my own needs instead of Zion and the human race? Shouldn't I help end this war against the machines? Crystals mind was full of many more questions that made her feel miserable.
However, her thoughts were interrupted when a sentinel's red eyes loomed upon her. Crystal was too terrified to shriek, she merely froze in amazement that a sentinel could find her in Zion. Worried, she thrust a wrench at the sentinel, but it seemed to laugh at her as it grabbed the wrench with the tentacles and the last thing she remembered before complete blackness was the wrench hurling at her, at a speed she thought impossible.
Crystal lay unconscious for several hours before she awoke, furious that she had been such an idiot to assume that Zion was safe. She was safe nowhere, in the Matrix or out. Crystal had let her mind drift, she had lost her alertness, but worst of all, she was incredibly selfish to be thinking that the world revolved around her. Crystal vowed that from that day forth, defeating the machines that kept so many people prisoners would be her first priority (of course turning Peter into a human would be her second, she couldn't forget her ardor and love so quickly). Her priority would be to save the human race from a fate worse than death: imprisonment and lack of freedom. With her new declaration, Crystal merrily hurried to Neo, anxious to tell him the news that the sentinels had found a way to penetrate Zion
####################
"How? How? How could this happen?" The general frantically paced back and forth. "We have ultimate security against the sentinels, we have guards, it's too soon for them to find us, too soon...we aren't prepared."
"We have The One, therefore we are prepared," replied Morpheus peacefully.
"Just "The One" won't be enough to stop all those darn sentinels from attacking all of Zion, destroying the only human city left! We need a strategy, we need a plan, we need more time," the general retaliated.
Neo lightly stepped in from the shadows. Cooley, he said, "Don't worry. I'll find how those sentinels got in here, even if I have to risk my life."
Crystal's eyes widened in shock. When she had known Tom Andersen in the office, he had been more cowardly than most and refused to read to go on any bungee-jumping trips with her, claiming that his life was too precious to risk. Back then, Crystal would've been the only one who cared whether Tom Andersen lived or died, therefore his life wasn't that precious, in that certain perspective. But now Neo was the idol of the thousands of people in Zion, now Neo was their believed savior, many would gladly give their lives for him. Yet, now he was brave enough to risk it, to defend freedom and give humans a chance of survival against the machines. Crystal's eyes sparkled in tears, touched at how much he would sacrifice for the greater good. Crystal realized she had to do the same. She held her head high and glided to the front of the counsel, clearing her throat.
"Wait! There is another way! Tapping the agents' phone for a few weeks has given me some insight on how the sentinels found Zion. Apparently, they have found a certain cheat code that makes programs humans, yet those humans still succumb to the agents' orders. Therefore, the only way the sentinels would have found this fortress would be if there's a traitor among us, a program turned into a human, one who could easily give the agents the code to the gates of Zion. Unfortunately, there is only one-way to find if one of these "traitors" is a former program or not. They must be in contact with another human that falls in love with them. If the subject is immune to that human's feelings, then that subject is a former program, following the agents' orders. If the subject somehow feels that human's pain and is sorry that they can't love the human, the subject is then, in fact, a human."
The counsels murmured amongst themselves until the general spoke.
"Interesting theory, but we can't do that in time to stop the sentinels!"
Crystal mischievously grinned and replied, "Of course we can! We just have to test the people in Zion who have access to Zion's code. We'll start with one of my main suspects: you, sir."
"M-me?"