The Matrix : Redefined Chapter 6
I don't own the setting or the universe. Wakowski Brothers do.
If you recognize I probably don't own em. If you don't, I might.
I just wanna play a little, that's all.
-----
AP 1 - Day 8 (After peace)
Morpheus came out of the construct in the same place Neo had only ten minutes earlier. He was halfway down the hallway when he smelled the gunpowder. It's a smell you don't forget. Cursing himself for not bringing any guns with him he drew his ever present sword silently as he crept toward what was obviously the epicenter. The sight that met him in the dining area left him queasy even after all his years as an operative of Zion and the things that had been necessary in the matrix. Even after that he was still unprepared for the sight of over two dozen dead in the one room.
"Trinity, Neo?" Morpheus called out as he came out of the door way and to the room where they could see him of they were there.
Two looks answered him, the weariness in there eyes more of a warning than any verbal threat. He knew that against Trinity he stood little chance, Against Neo none, Against both bore no thought worth thinking.
"It's me Neo, It's morpheus" He said quickly, "What happened here?"
"Who," Neo asked gesturing at the bodies "Are they? If you really are Morpheus."
"Neo!," Morpheaus says quickly, "It's me. I don't know what just happened here but I'll do everything I can to help you find out." He finished with his usual graveness when speaking on a serious subject.
Neo studies him closely, head at that odd angle that screams intense concentration upon one thing to the exclusion of all others.
"Morpheus?" He asks.
"Yes Neo, The oracle sent a sentinel to Zion and that sentinel is rebroadcasting my signal up to the main levels so I can visit you here."
"One moment," Trinity says cautiously as she pulls out her phone and flips it open, "Operator get me morpheus. Yes I'll hold."
A moment later Morpheuses phone rings, he then takes it out and answers it.
"Morpheus here." Trinity hears in perfect stereo.
"It's him" Trinity says to Neo.
"Good." Neo says "Morpheus you're code looks different this time, Must be because of the sentinel rebroadcasting your signal. Just couldn't really tell.
However I have some questions for you."
The matrix : elsewhere.
"Are you sure you got him?" One voice asks.
"Yes, and no one suspects. They all think that the precious ONE was the target of those poor misguided souls." A second voice answers.
"How many more targets are left and how many more souls do you need?"
"Well, "
The darkness is not relieved by the voices and there is no real source of light. The voices echo in the darkness and it also conceals a third voice. That voice though is silent, as it does not want to alert the other two that is there. Even though it can not see through the darkness it can tell that the first voice is familiar, He has heard it before somewhere though he can not remember exactly where.
Zion : Hammer.
"Operator." Tank answers the phone cheerfully.
"Link I need an immediate census of active emitters in Zion. " Morpheus says without preamble.
"You need what?"
"I need a manual check run on every piece of equipment in Zion that can transmit. I just joined Trinity and Neo here and found a mess. There were unplugged humans that attacked this place. Not just any group of humans either. These guys fought just like we do and they wasted a lot of programs trying to get to Neo and trinity."
"UnPlugged you say?"
"Yes, they are dead and the bodies are not going away like happens when you dust an agent. That means these are unplugged, Zion is the only source of unplugged humans, and they fought like we do. Find the source Link, And plug it. They attacked Neo and trinity and laid waste to a lot of programs in failing to get to them. It's peace on the line here, we can't afford that."
"Locke'll want to hear this."
"Good idea, get him here, He might know one of the faces and save us all a lot of hassle. Tell Niobe it's clear to come in now would you. Tell her I said thanks for waiting till I could check things out a little."
"Yeah she heard, She'll be there in a minute."
Niobe looked at Link hard for a moment then asked if all was clear to go ahead. When he indicated to go ahead the assistant beside her jacked her in and the last thing she heard was a warning not to ask to many questions at first.
Locke took the news with a distinct lack of enthusiasm, even for him. The idea though ridiculous also was the only logical one available. The idea that any human from Zion would want to do Neo harm was beyond his comprehension, While he didn't almost hero worship the man, He also highly respected all he had accomplished for them. However, anyone from Zion would have known that an attack on Neo in the matrix was like pissing at the tide to turn it back, Pointless, Messy and really kind of gross mess when you got done. However, if anyone would recognize any of those faces of the dead it would be him. He had after all ran the training and defense elements of Zion for several years now. In the construct only a couple of minutes behind Niobe he grabbed a digital camera to get pictures of the faces to see if anyone else knew any of the faces he didn't.
Upon arrival in the restaurant he found a scene of complete chaos. The bullet holes in the walls spoke volumes about the battle that had taken place. Over a thousand little dots adorned the walls in little streamers going every which way at almost random. He saw the bodies and suppressed a shiver at the thought of what had happened to them. Poor souls he was thinking when he realized that he didn't know a one of them, more than that though was that they didn't look at all familiar to him, They were complete strangers.
His greatest shock though was when Seraph walked in responding to a call from Trinity. Niobe seemed to know him thought he was cool but, Locke just couldn't put his finger on it but there was something familiar and disturbing about him as he went from person to person looking at each face for a moment while committing them to memory. His biggest surprise though was when the manager of the place, a not so obvious program even with the stilted speech, and offered them refreshments and a copy of the security footage that no one, himself included, had thought to ask if even existed.
What that tape showed was horrifying in sense that Locke just couldn't live with at all. To see Neo do what he had been told a couple of specialty guardians had done and pass through things was bad enough. To see Trinity move like that was a shock that went beyond words. He had heard about Neo doing things like that but not given them any real credence. To see her move so fast that even the camera in this place had trouble recording her left a cold chill he just couldn't quite place somewhere in his middle. The arcs of her jumps were wrong though, He recognized that she would soon join Neo in that superman thing from some comic book that Link went on at length about. Niobe seemed once again at ease with things on the tape, like privately she was not surprised, he was disturbed.
When he said he should be getting back and see what could be found out about the shooters Neo offered him an easier way to get there and asked him to wait just a moment while Neo went to go find whatever it was he needed, Locke asked the manager if he could get a copy of the tape. The manager smiled and led him back to his office where he hit eject on the security VCR and another tape came out. This tape he was told contained everything that was on the one he held plus the time up until Locke had asked about a copy of the tape.
Then Neo returned and motioned him to follow, Locke did. Down the hallway they went past the bathrooms and finally to what looked like a broom closet. This Neo opened and showed Locke an all white room that looked just like the construct. In fact it turned out to be the construct. He just stepped through and took everything with him. In minutes he had the information downloaded from the camera and the tape copied and was started looking for who ever had done this.
Matrix : The park.
"They were what?" The architect asked incredulous.
"They were unplugged humans." Seraph repeated and looked at the oracle for guidance on how to deal with this.
"And they went there to kill there savior ?" The architect asked puzzled, "The man who is responsible for them even still being alive. And then you expect me to believe that from what they can tell, the power management program was just an accident."
"That is what the evidence says."
"You don't believe that though do you." The architect asked.
"No, " Seraph replied, "I don't. I think they were just a way to distract us."
"Has he been replaced?"
"Yes he has." The oracle replied, 'The previous version of the program was still available when this occurred. He was immediately reactivated."
"There was no interruption in power flow though." The architect said.
"Of course not, As I said he was immediately reactivated."
"That was not planned. That kind of substitution must be centrally coordinated."
"It wasn't though, was it?" The oracle replied with that knowing smile.
Zion : Security office.
Locke sat there in horror and shock. The attackers had been searched for over a dozen times. He had personally searched for them and written his own programs to do the search over again with different levels and types of matching. He had tried everything he knew to do. Still the bodies in the restaurant defied identification. He called for five different people to help him.
They all sat down and did there own thing and tried everything they knew in order to identify the bodies. In the end though, the conclusion was inescapable. These were not from Zion. These were from somewhere else.
From the fact that they were not in Zion and never had been he knew they were not from there. From the fact that they matched no known Unpluggings from the beginning of Zion to current he knew they were still in the matrix. From there fighting style, technique and coordination he knew they were from Zion, no one still in the matrix could have done what they did. You could not learn that while still being plugged in, You needed to learn it in the construct or the training simulations.
Still though, one of them sounded somewhat familiar to one the searchers, so she had gone off to chase down a hunch. In the mean time though he had to report what he had found, Or rather what he had not found. The corollary to the inescapable was that these were not from Zion and they were not still plugged in, So that meant that they were from somewhere else, and that there were other humans out there free of the matrix, and they might not be friendly to Zion.
-----
I hope somebodies still reading this.
I don't own the setting or the universe. Wakowski Brothers do.
If you recognize I probably don't own em. If you don't, I might.
I just wanna play a little, that's all.
-----
AP 1 - Day 8 (After peace)
Morpheus came out of the construct in the same place Neo had only ten minutes earlier. He was halfway down the hallway when he smelled the gunpowder. It's a smell you don't forget. Cursing himself for not bringing any guns with him he drew his ever present sword silently as he crept toward what was obviously the epicenter. The sight that met him in the dining area left him queasy even after all his years as an operative of Zion and the things that had been necessary in the matrix. Even after that he was still unprepared for the sight of over two dozen dead in the one room.
"Trinity, Neo?" Morpheus called out as he came out of the door way and to the room where they could see him of they were there.
Two looks answered him, the weariness in there eyes more of a warning than any verbal threat. He knew that against Trinity he stood little chance, Against Neo none, Against both bore no thought worth thinking.
"It's me Neo, It's morpheus" He said quickly, "What happened here?"
"Who," Neo asked gesturing at the bodies "Are they? If you really are Morpheus."
"Neo!," Morpheaus says quickly, "It's me. I don't know what just happened here but I'll do everything I can to help you find out." He finished with his usual graveness when speaking on a serious subject.
Neo studies him closely, head at that odd angle that screams intense concentration upon one thing to the exclusion of all others.
"Morpheus?" He asks.
"Yes Neo, The oracle sent a sentinel to Zion and that sentinel is rebroadcasting my signal up to the main levels so I can visit you here."
"One moment," Trinity says cautiously as she pulls out her phone and flips it open, "Operator get me morpheus. Yes I'll hold."
A moment later Morpheuses phone rings, he then takes it out and answers it.
"Morpheus here." Trinity hears in perfect stereo.
"It's him" Trinity says to Neo.
"Good." Neo says "Morpheus you're code looks different this time, Must be because of the sentinel rebroadcasting your signal. Just couldn't really tell.
However I have some questions for you."
The matrix : elsewhere.
"Are you sure you got him?" One voice asks.
"Yes, and no one suspects. They all think that the precious ONE was the target of those poor misguided souls." A second voice answers.
"How many more targets are left and how many more souls do you need?"
"Well, "
The darkness is not relieved by the voices and there is no real source of light. The voices echo in the darkness and it also conceals a third voice. That voice though is silent, as it does not want to alert the other two that is there. Even though it can not see through the darkness it can tell that the first voice is familiar, He has heard it before somewhere though he can not remember exactly where.
Zion : Hammer.
"Operator." Tank answers the phone cheerfully.
"Link I need an immediate census of active emitters in Zion. " Morpheus says without preamble.
"You need what?"
"I need a manual check run on every piece of equipment in Zion that can transmit. I just joined Trinity and Neo here and found a mess. There were unplugged humans that attacked this place. Not just any group of humans either. These guys fought just like we do and they wasted a lot of programs trying to get to Neo and trinity."
"UnPlugged you say?"
"Yes, they are dead and the bodies are not going away like happens when you dust an agent. That means these are unplugged, Zion is the only source of unplugged humans, and they fought like we do. Find the source Link, And plug it. They attacked Neo and trinity and laid waste to a lot of programs in failing to get to them. It's peace on the line here, we can't afford that."
"Locke'll want to hear this."
"Good idea, get him here, He might know one of the faces and save us all a lot of hassle. Tell Niobe it's clear to come in now would you. Tell her I said thanks for waiting till I could check things out a little."
"Yeah she heard, She'll be there in a minute."
Niobe looked at Link hard for a moment then asked if all was clear to go ahead. When he indicated to go ahead the assistant beside her jacked her in and the last thing she heard was a warning not to ask to many questions at first.
Locke took the news with a distinct lack of enthusiasm, even for him. The idea though ridiculous also was the only logical one available. The idea that any human from Zion would want to do Neo harm was beyond his comprehension, While he didn't almost hero worship the man, He also highly respected all he had accomplished for them. However, anyone from Zion would have known that an attack on Neo in the matrix was like pissing at the tide to turn it back, Pointless, Messy and really kind of gross mess when you got done. However, if anyone would recognize any of those faces of the dead it would be him. He had after all ran the training and defense elements of Zion for several years now. In the construct only a couple of minutes behind Niobe he grabbed a digital camera to get pictures of the faces to see if anyone else knew any of the faces he didn't.
Upon arrival in the restaurant he found a scene of complete chaos. The bullet holes in the walls spoke volumes about the battle that had taken place. Over a thousand little dots adorned the walls in little streamers going every which way at almost random. He saw the bodies and suppressed a shiver at the thought of what had happened to them. Poor souls he was thinking when he realized that he didn't know a one of them, more than that though was that they didn't look at all familiar to him, They were complete strangers.
His greatest shock though was when Seraph walked in responding to a call from Trinity. Niobe seemed to know him thought he was cool but, Locke just couldn't put his finger on it but there was something familiar and disturbing about him as he went from person to person looking at each face for a moment while committing them to memory. His biggest surprise though was when the manager of the place, a not so obvious program even with the stilted speech, and offered them refreshments and a copy of the security footage that no one, himself included, had thought to ask if even existed.
What that tape showed was horrifying in sense that Locke just couldn't live with at all. To see Neo do what he had been told a couple of specialty guardians had done and pass through things was bad enough. To see Trinity move like that was a shock that went beyond words. He had heard about Neo doing things like that but not given them any real credence. To see her move so fast that even the camera in this place had trouble recording her left a cold chill he just couldn't quite place somewhere in his middle. The arcs of her jumps were wrong though, He recognized that she would soon join Neo in that superman thing from some comic book that Link went on at length about. Niobe seemed once again at ease with things on the tape, like privately she was not surprised, he was disturbed.
When he said he should be getting back and see what could be found out about the shooters Neo offered him an easier way to get there and asked him to wait just a moment while Neo went to go find whatever it was he needed, Locke asked the manager if he could get a copy of the tape. The manager smiled and led him back to his office where he hit eject on the security VCR and another tape came out. This tape he was told contained everything that was on the one he held plus the time up until Locke had asked about a copy of the tape.
Then Neo returned and motioned him to follow, Locke did. Down the hallway they went past the bathrooms and finally to what looked like a broom closet. This Neo opened and showed Locke an all white room that looked just like the construct. In fact it turned out to be the construct. He just stepped through and took everything with him. In minutes he had the information downloaded from the camera and the tape copied and was started looking for who ever had done this.
Matrix : The park.
"They were what?" The architect asked incredulous.
"They were unplugged humans." Seraph repeated and looked at the oracle for guidance on how to deal with this.
"And they went there to kill there savior ?" The architect asked puzzled, "The man who is responsible for them even still being alive. And then you expect me to believe that from what they can tell, the power management program was just an accident."
"That is what the evidence says."
"You don't believe that though do you." The architect asked.
"No, " Seraph replied, "I don't. I think they were just a way to distract us."
"Has he been replaced?"
"Yes he has." The oracle replied, 'The previous version of the program was still available when this occurred. He was immediately reactivated."
"There was no interruption in power flow though." The architect said.
"Of course not, As I said he was immediately reactivated."
"That was not planned. That kind of substitution must be centrally coordinated."
"It wasn't though, was it?" The oracle replied with that knowing smile.
Zion : Security office.
Locke sat there in horror and shock. The attackers had been searched for over a dozen times. He had personally searched for them and written his own programs to do the search over again with different levels and types of matching. He had tried everything he knew to do. Still the bodies in the restaurant defied identification. He called for five different people to help him.
They all sat down and did there own thing and tried everything they knew in order to identify the bodies. In the end though, the conclusion was inescapable. These were not from Zion. These were from somewhere else.
From the fact that they were not in Zion and never had been he knew they were not from there. From the fact that they matched no known Unpluggings from the beginning of Zion to current he knew they were still in the matrix. From there fighting style, technique and coordination he knew they were from Zion, no one still in the matrix could have done what they did. You could not learn that while still being plugged in, You needed to learn it in the construct or the training simulations.
Still though, one of them sounded somewhat familiar to one the searchers, so she had gone off to chase down a hunch. In the mean time though he had to report what he had found, Or rather what he had not found. The corollary to the inescapable was that these were not from Zion and they were not still plugged in, So that meant that they were from somewhere else, and that there were other humans out there free of the matrix, and they might not be friendly to Zion.
-----
I hope somebodies still reading this.