Right, thankings once more to all reviewing persons.
Chapter 8: New lives
I don't know how long I was unconscious, no one ever told me. At the time though I didn't really care.
I woke up in a dark, seemingly empty room. I sat up suddenly after I'd sufficiently recovered my wits. I'd been lying down so long that I wanted nothing more then to move. I was actually very surprised to find out that I could. Other then being slightly disorientated, I felt, for the most part, whole.
I stood up and looked around the room. It was small; there were six beds along two facing walls, and a door on the far side of the room.
I found myself making a few educated guesses about where I was and what had happened. Somehow, I had been un-plugged, dumped in a cess pool, somehow dragged to this place which was presumably the almost mythological Zion, and received medical attention.
Fear and confussion hovered in my mind, mainly because this was not a certainty, and I had no idea what to expect next. At the back of all this however, there were traces of joy. Whatever happened next, I had escaped from the Matrix and the dull, monotonous lifestyle that I despised. If I was going to go insane because of this in the not to distant future, I decided to make the most of what time I had left.
With this thought in my mind, I walked towards the door, placed my hand on the handle, and realised that I was stark bullock naked.
Quickly pulling my hand back, and feeling traces of embarrassment, I searched the room for any clothes that had been left, a quilt or anything to cover myself with before I ventured out into the unknown.
Thankfully, someone had left clothes for me on one of the beds. I quickly donned the garments which seemed to be second hand, and plagued by moths at one time or another during their existence.
After pulling a small woollen hat over as much of my head as I could, I walked back towards the door, pulled it open, and found I had to guard my eyes against the lighting beyond.
Through the small gap in my left hand that doubled up as my current field of vision. I could see that there was at lest another person in the room with me. They seemed to be moving towards me.
"Oh," they said, "we weren't expecting you to be up so soon."
I tried to think of something to say in response, but nothing really seemed appropriate.
"How are you feeling?" Asked another.
"Confused," I said, feeling slightly surprised that I didn't have a sore throat, "but otherwise I'm fine. I'm guessing I have you two to thank for that."
"Those two and me." Said another voice from my right. By this time my eyes had sufficiently adjusted to the light to a point where I could lower my hand and see the three faces around me.
The one on my left was female. She was about my height, long black hair, blue eyes, and a look on her face which, rather surprisingly, looked as if I'd just accused her of stealing.
The second face was male, a black man, slightly shorter then me, half a millimetre thick black hair covering his head. He extended a hand which I shook after noticing a strange wire that was implanted in my arm. On closer inspection, I noticed that my whole body seemed to be covered in small, metallic holes. This was a slightly disorientating experience.
"You can remove that." The third face said, a man who appeared to be from somewhere in Asia. The look on his face looked slightly amused. For a second, I considered ramming my fist into his teeth. I'd had enough of people being amused at my expense. In the end however, I decided against the idea, and instead removed the wire from my arm.
"Listen," said the second face, "I know you probably have hundreds of questions, are confused, disorientated and weary, but we've been ordered to take you to a bastard called Commander Locke, he wants to talk to you about your unexplained un-plugging."
I absorbed this and remembered the conversation, presumably between these three and this Locke guy that I had overheard in my semi-unconscious state.
"Alright." I said blankly, a little frustrated that I had to live in ignorance for a few more hours.
After a few more questions regarding my health and wellbeing, I followed the three to where Commander Locke was waiting.
*******************************************************************
"Remind me again where we're going." I said from the passenger's seat.
Manticore foolishly turned his head to stare at me for a few seconds before snapping his eyes back to the road.
"We're always searching for new members Wanderer, we're going to the closest place with mass numbers of humans, if we're lucky, which we probably won't be, we'll find someone like yourself who we can initiate."
"We're going into town you mean?"
"Yes."
And that we did. Manticore parked the car on the highest level of a multi-storey car park, despite the fact that there were plenty of other spaces on lower levels, and we ended up traipsing through a shopping centre which was annoyingly crowded.
That was the first day I'd worn sunglasses. Given the choice I probably wouldn't have, but a man walking around with jet black eyes might have raised a few eyebrows.
Anyway, that's beside the point. We ended up getting coffee at a nearby café and spent our time staring at the passers-by.
"What do you feel when you look at those people?" Manticore asked me suddenly.
"A little confused about how you can tell who is ascension worthy." I responded. This brought out a grin from him.
"You know what I mean." He said.
"Honestly, I feel a lot like I've left school, had to go back for presentation assembly, only to find that the place has burned down."
"I see." The word 'see' was emphasised to the point where it sounded ridiculous.
"Well alright, in English that means I do feel a bit superior to what I was, which is them. I just don't really like admitting it."
"Because it makes you sound pompous."
"Precisely."
"Wanderer," his tone sounded both sympathetic and wearisome, "contrary to what you may believe, you can be ascended without being an arsehole. Tell me, do you feel any pity for those people?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because they're happy enough with their lives, I'm happy enough with mine."
"Precisely, ascension isn't for everyone, we are superior to them, but that doesn't necessarily make us better, if you know what I mean."
"I do, but getting back to my original question, how can you tell if someone is right for ascension?"
"People who can successfully ascend usually live similar lives to the one you did. They wander about the world looking for traces of their former life but never quite finding anything. When we see someone like that, we follow them, investigate their life, and if they're fit for ascension, we give them the choice."
"I see," something suddenly occurred to me, "so you were watching me eh?"
"It's a necessity."
"For how long?"
"Almost two months, we first…"
Manticore's voice came to an abrupt halt when we heard the sounds of gunshots and screaming.
To be continued
Replies:
Agent Josie: The purpose of all snowmen is to end. I haven't seen any snow demons around these parts, I haven't seen any snowmen either. Maybe they've all been thrown into ponds like thine, (is thine right?). In any case, thanks for reviewing.
Tai Wilson: It won't be confusing for much longer with any luck. Anyway, i'm glad to see you're enjoying it. A few days you say? That's hard to believe. Oh well, thanks for reviewing.
Chapter 8: New lives
I don't know how long I was unconscious, no one ever told me. At the time though I didn't really care.
I woke up in a dark, seemingly empty room. I sat up suddenly after I'd sufficiently recovered my wits. I'd been lying down so long that I wanted nothing more then to move. I was actually very surprised to find out that I could. Other then being slightly disorientated, I felt, for the most part, whole.
I stood up and looked around the room. It was small; there were six beds along two facing walls, and a door on the far side of the room.
I found myself making a few educated guesses about where I was and what had happened. Somehow, I had been un-plugged, dumped in a cess pool, somehow dragged to this place which was presumably the almost mythological Zion, and received medical attention.
Fear and confussion hovered in my mind, mainly because this was not a certainty, and I had no idea what to expect next. At the back of all this however, there were traces of joy. Whatever happened next, I had escaped from the Matrix and the dull, monotonous lifestyle that I despised. If I was going to go insane because of this in the not to distant future, I decided to make the most of what time I had left.
With this thought in my mind, I walked towards the door, placed my hand on the handle, and realised that I was stark bullock naked.
Quickly pulling my hand back, and feeling traces of embarrassment, I searched the room for any clothes that had been left, a quilt or anything to cover myself with before I ventured out into the unknown.
Thankfully, someone had left clothes for me on one of the beds. I quickly donned the garments which seemed to be second hand, and plagued by moths at one time or another during their existence.
After pulling a small woollen hat over as much of my head as I could, I walked back towards the door, pulled it open, and found I had to guard my eyes against the lighting beyond.
Through the small gap in my left hand that doubled up as my current field of vision. I could see that there was at lest another person in the room with me. They seemed to be moving towards me.
"Oh," they said, "we weren't expecting you to be up so soon."
I tried to think of something to say in response, but nothing really seemed appropriate.
"How are you feeling?" Asked another.
"Confused," I said, feeling slightly surprised that I didn't have a sore throat, "but otherwise I'm fine. I'm guessing I have you two to thank for that."
"Those two and me." Said another voice from my right. By this time my eyes had sufficiently adjusted to the light to a point where I could lower my hand and see the three faces around me.
The one on my left was female. She was about my height, long black hair, blue eyes, and a look on her face which, rather surprisingly, looked as if I'd just accused her of stealing.
The second face was male, a black man, slightly shorter then me, half a millimetre thick black hair covering his head. He extended a hand which I shook after noticing a strange wire that was implanted in my arm. On closer inspection, I noticed that my whole body seemed to be covered in small, metallic holes. This was a slightly disorientating experience.
"You can remove that." The third face said, a man who appeared to be from somewhere in Asia. The look on his face looked slightly amused. For a second, I considered ramming my fist into his teeth. I'd had enough of people being amused at my expense. In the end however, I decided against the idea, and instead removed the wire from my arm.
"Listen," said the second face, "I know you probably have hundreds of questions, are confused, disorientated and weary, but we've been ordered to take you to a bastard called Commander Locke, he wants to talk to you about your unexplained un-plugging."
I absorbed this and remembered the conversation, presumably between these three and this Locke guy that I had overheard in my semi-unconscious state.
"Alright." I said blankly, a little frustrated that I had to live in ignorance for a few more hours.
After a few more questions regarding my health and wellbeing, I followed the three to where Commander Locke was waiting.
*******************************************************************
"Remind me again where we're going." I said from the passenger's seat.
Manticore foolishly turned his head to stare at me for a few seconds before snapping his eyes back to the road.
"We're always searching for new members Wanderer, we're going to the closest place with mass numbers of humans, if we're lucky, which we probably won't be, we'll find someone like yourself who we can initiate."
"We're going into town you mean?"
"Yes."
And that we did. Manticore parked the car on the highest level of a multi-storey car park, despite the fact that there were plenty of other spaces on lower levels, and we ended up traipsing through a shopping centre which was annoyingly crowded.
That was the first day I'd worn sunglasses. Given the choice I probably wouldn't have, but a man walking around with jet black eyes might have raised a few eyebrows.
Anyway, that's beside the point. We ended up getting coffee at a nearby café and spent our time staring at the passers-by.
"What do you feel when you look at those people?" Manticore asked me suddenly.
"A little confused about how you can tell who is ascension worthy." I responded. This brought out a grin from him.
"You know what I mean." He said.
"Honestly, I feel a lot like I've left school, had to go back for presentation assembly, only to find that the place has burned down."
"I see." The word 'see' was emphasised to the point where it sounded ridiculous.
"Well alright, in English that means I do feel a bit superior to what I was, which is them. I just don't really like admitting it."
"Because it makes you sound pompous."
"Precisely."
"Wanderer," his tone sounded both sympathetic and wearisome, "contrary to what you may believe, you can be ascended without being an arsehole. Tell me, do you feel any pity for those people?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because they're happy enough with their lives, I'm happy enough with mine."
"Precisely, ascension isn't for everyone, we are superior to them, but that doesn't necessarily make us better, if you know what I mean."
"I do, but getting back to my original question, how can you tell if someone is right for ascension?"
"People who can successfully ascend usually live similar lives to the one you did. They wander about the world looking for traces of their former life but never quite finding anything. When we see someone like that, we follow them, investigate their life, and if they're fit for ascension, we give them the choice."
"I see," something suddenly occurred to me, "so you were watching me eh?"
"It's a necessity."
"For how long?"
"Almost two months, we first…"
Manticore's voice came to an abrupt halt when we heard the sounds of gunshots and screaming.
To be continued
Replies:
Agent Josie: The purpose of all snowmen is to end. I haven't seen any snow demons around these parts, I haven't seen any snowmen either. Maybe they've all been thrown into ponds like thine, (is thine right?). In any case, thanks for reviewing.
Tai Wilson: It won't be confusing for much longer with any luck. Anyway, i'm glad to see you're enjoying it. A few days you say? That's hard to believe. Oh well, thanks for reviewing.