A/N: Oops. I forgot to mention last chapter that the 'place' Smith reads from Morpheus was Wonderland, from 'Alice in Wonderland.' Or, if you're so inclined, it can be either one of the two places where Keanu' character in Constantine visited. (i.e. Heaven or Hell)
8 FallingFlight in the matrix was everything I dreamed. Mankind's tall earthbound building shrank in size as I flew up higher in the atmosphere of the matrix. Soon the buildings looked like nothing but children's blocks, a faint haze of smog clouding the grid-like outline of the city.
It was amusing to see how small and insignificant things could seem. The air was crisp and cold, the chill numbing and exhilarating. I paused in my endless ascent, and slowly spun around to survey the panoramic view.
It was… magnificent. The sky was a rich blue, while below me the earth was a patchwork of dun colors- a medley of brown, gray and yellow. Overlaying the land was scraps of clouds, shredded pieces of fluff that slowly moved as I watched.
As my eyes absorbed everything and I held myself motionless in the air, I sensed the quiet. Despite the wind whispering in my ear, I felt a deep and endless silence, an immense stillness that contained… forever.
And I recognized it.
My effortless command of the matrix was lost, consumed by a wave of memories, emotions that welled up in me to fall with lethal force. Phantom agony flashed across my eyes, causing me to involuntarily hold my hands against my eyes. In the darkness I recalled, and remembered words:
"Beautiful…" a woman whispered. It was then I heard the silence, the deep echo of eternity.
"Trinity, what is it?"
She answered—a shadow, unknown ghost of the past, "It's the sky, Neo. I see the sky," her voice was laced with awe, amazement. From her joy I caught the lingering beauty of her vision. For one moment I see her face, the delicate arch of eyebrows over large blue eyes and then like a dream, the memory fades. And wondered, why can't I remember her face? And why can't I see the sky?
Another memory surfaced; a dim memory of a woman falling, plummeting from a great height. As she fell she shot at a pursuing agent--- a program also falling and returning her fire. There was cold fury and desperation in every line of her body, then the agent shot a bullet---and I saw in slow motion the bullet piercing her chest, her features twisted in agony and shock. And still she fell…
"No! Trinity!" Grief and loss filled me with a pain so great it was like a killing blow. And I knew that Trinity was dead. But who was she? I never remember her face moments after recall, yet like all my memories, they leave more questions than answers. Was that truly an agent shooting her? And why does her death hurt me so? What had this woman meant to me, no—not me but my earlier version?
I came out of my daze abruptly, feeling my body falling, the wind howling in my ears. Uncurling my hands from my face I opened my tearing eyes against the wind's pressure. The ground rushed toward me with shocking speed, the lines and blocks of the city expand by the second.
I'm falling. I'm falling and gonna to end up as street pizza! I'm falling like Trinity! The words rang in my mind with paralyzing force, as I stare at the expanding landscape. The edges of city now take a slightly two dimensional shape as the land directly below began to reveal more detail, the rectangles revealing themselves as city blocks and smaller squares appeared within the enlarging squares.
Roof tops, I realized, the ground is seconds away. I then reached for the ability to manipulate the matrix. Yet the skill that had seemed so easy minutes before eluded my grasp, as I also dealt with the residue of emotions. The despair at the lost of Trinity, the joy of the sky--- all these feelings disrupted my command of the matrix. And now the fear of death clashed with tumultuous emotions and memories, as I fought to stop my descent.
I failed.
And watched as the ground, a two lane road, set between two blocks of single homes widen from a thin ribbon, to a larger band, lengthening until it expanded into a wall that I was seconds away from hitting…
It's not real, my mind suddenly screamed, you're not falling to your death! I closed my eyes and realized, no felt--without doubt or uncertainty, it was true. From the depths of my turmoil, a shadow emerged and touched the matrix for a brief second.
Seconds past as the expected fatal impact never happened, and the motion of falling had stopped. I opened my eyes to see a dark gray wall in front of me, the surface a lumpy texture with white pebbles occasionally seen. Reaching out to touch the surface I felt the gritty texture, it's warmth.
It's the road. The moment I realized that gravity caught me, and I fell—I had stopped my fatal plunge less than arms-length from the road, and simply dropped to the ground.
Shaking from the excess emotion and adrenaline, I cautiously stood up, and dusted myself off. The screech of tires and the long blast of a horn erupted behind me and I turned to look at a compact car. I stared at a frowning face behind a dark windshield, flinching as he used the horn again.
For one second I think to pay disrespect with equal rudeness. It's easy to alter the matrix code and stop the car from working. Easier still to pick up the car and shake it's occupant like a rattle. Or just pick up the car and toss it upside down. All choices tempt me as the driver blasts the horn for the third time, a long explosion that leave my ears ringing at the end.
But I chose the easiest and most difficult action; I step off the road and watch the car drive away. The driver never looked at me again.
Humans. My second encounter with them is no more pleasant than the first. I wondered if the Architect was right, that any memory of humans from my predecessor should be altered, even deleted.
Yet did I want the memory of Trinity gone? I only remember fragments, yet what I do recall--- haunts me. And somehow fills my emptiness.
I must think on it.
>>>>>>>>
"That was unexpected. We were deleted from the host body." Jones said. Running internal diagnostics he checked his position. He was surprised to note that they were only a few miles away from their previous location, within a private home. It would only take them moments to return to confront their former leader.
"What is unexpected is that Smith did not fragment our code." Brown answered, staring at the fork he held in his hand. On the fork's tines the lettuce shone with olive oil. Dropping it on the table with a clatter, he stood up from the chair to cross the room. Brown then moved the curtains to look out the front window and scanned the street.
"I was surprised at-at the Virus' power," Jones said. Other than being forcibly expelled from the human host he realized nothing within his system was changed or deleted. While reassuring, it was also troubling, an observation he didn't want to analyze.
"The Virus? You mean Smith. Why not say his name? You never say his name. Why?" Brown turned away from the window to stare at him. Jones matched his gaze.
"Because he's an exile and Virus, Brown. I accepted his orders when he was under mainframe control. The moment he stopped obeying orders is when Agent Smith died to me. Now only the Virus is left. Only a anomaly of the matrix. Like before." Jones found it odd that Brown rarely liked to communicate through the earpiece. Much like Smith had been before he went rogue.
"You said, 'Smith died.' That is a human expression Jones." Brown said quietly.
"So?" Jones challenged the other. Brown stared for a moment until he faintly shrugged his shoulders. Brown then returned his gaze to the window, ignoring Jones intense glare.
Never communicating through the earpiece seemed odd until Jones realized it helped to keep certain thoughts hidden. Commands like the ones the Architect had given each of them, concerning their one-time leader.
"Don't you think our situation is strange?" Brown said, his eyes fixed firmly on the window.
Jones stared silently.
"Smith ran when we were to be returned to the source. But the Architect has since reactivated us. The question is, why?"
"We are needed to guard Mr. Anderson." Jones said promptly. He was relieved to give an answer that didn't cause him to scan for glitches. Since Agent Smith turned an exile, it had almost become a compulsion to check his memory. To observe Brown for emerging flaws and wonder if either of them would turn out to be corrupted like their former partner.
It had been a relief when they had both willingly returned to the source. Yet since his reactivation, he noted how… emotional Brown had become. Just like Smith had been before his exile.
"There are upgraded agents to perform the job. And our instructions, don't you consider them… strange?" Brown said his head tilted as he finally turned his attention back to his partner.
"No, I do not." Jones said. He then sent a message through his earpiece. And I won't talk about this! Please Brown, I do not want to be deleted! But as Jones half expected, Brown ignored the sending and continued.
"Why were we sent to attack Smith as soon as we reached the matrix? The Architect knows how powerful Smith has become. We couldn't defeat Smith and the Architect knows this. But we were ordered to attack him if Mr. Anderson wasn't nearby to see our fight. Our following orders make even less sense. And why were we also given separate orders? There must be a reason."
"Brown—" Jones said.
"I know we're not to discuss our separate orders. But… let me check with the mainframe about something," the smaller agent lifted his hand to his earpiece.
"What are you inquiring about?"
"The other agents status." Silence reigned until Jones noted the change in the other's expression.
"Brown?" it disturbed him that Brown's face was showing emotion.
"Three agents are missing from the matrix. Like the others they are presumed terminated, codes deleted." Brown's voice was hard, echoing the expression on his face.
"Three agents? Others?"
"Yes, the agents in pursuit of Smith before we arrived. Let me check on another fact from the mainframe." Jones waited as a remote stillness settled over the smaller agent, until a minute later a surprising event occurred.
"Brown? Why are you shaking? Are you malfunctioning?" Jones watched with alarm as the other agent's hands trembled until they clenched into fists.
"I queried the mainframe about how many agents are active in the matrix. Including us, there are only… two." Brown's voice was steady, yet Jones noted that his face seemed paler than normal, a ghostly mask behind dark shades.
"Two? Are you saying that we are the only agents left?"
"Yes."
"Impossible." Jones said. "The Architect need only reboot---" Brown shook his head in reply.
"Jones, all the upgraded agents codes have been deleted, expunged from the matrix." Brown added reluctantly. "Possibly erased by Smith." Jones knew that for Brown to even mention the theory made it all but certain. The mainframe rarely dealt with ambiguities.
"There's a master template for each agent. The Architect can-" Jones continued until interrupted by Brown.
"The mainframe stated that reactivation of agent programs is counterproductive. Until a newer upgrade can be written and loaded, agents are low priority. And you know our orders."
"This is--" wacked, crazy, insane. Internally Jones ran through those words and left them unsaid. While appropriate to the situation, they were emotional, something he wanted to avoid. He started again. "What can we do against the Virus- against Smith? He defeated upgraded agents, programs more advanced than us. What can we do?"
"What we always do, Jones. We obey orders. What else can we do? Run?" Brown said.
"It's a thought." The words hung burning in the air between them. They stared at each other for endless minutes until someone began to pound on the front door.
"Agent Brown? Jones?" called a voice thru the door.
"Neo Anderson. You followed us?" Jones opened the front door and surveyed their assignment. Leaning casually against the doorframe, Anderson looked rumpled, the gray of his suit and black duster smudged with traces of dirt. Jones noted how much more human he looked, his face faintly smiling at them.
"Yeah, I grew tired of waiting. I notice your codes were disrupted for a second a while back. Was there trouble?" Neo looked curiously at both programs.
He could see their code. Until then, Jones had felt a sort of distant contempt about Anderson, like he did with all humans. He had put the earlier destruction of Smith in the hallway as a fluke of circumstance, a one in a million chance. No human could ever be the equal of any program, no matter what they could do. Even the ability to stop bullets didn't impress him. Knowledge that Neo was under the Architect's control only strengthened his estimation.
That Anderson could see code shattered that opinion. Only the most advanced and powerful programs could see code. And the knowledge that the human could interpret code was…frightening.
For the first time Jones understood Smith's need to destroy this human.
"Trouble?" Brown repeated.
It was a comfort for Jones that both he and Brown activated their earpieces to act as one unit, especially when in the presence of others. Yet the security faded knowing they both held certain data partitioned and hidden away.
As one both agents exchanged glances and info and this last thought.
We do our duty—our purpose. We follow orders.
For now.
Jones was uncertain where the last thought came from.
tbc
Next: Questions Revealed
