MORPHEUS IN THE UNDERGROUND, Chapter 2
Morpheus and Niobe have entered the world of the Labyrinth, leaving Kid behind to guard their exit point.
As they jogged downhill to the Labyrinth walls Niobe asked, "Morpheus, why the walkie-talkies?"
"Look at your phone, what do you see?"
"Uh? ... Oh, 'No signal.'"
"We are no longer in the Matrix."
"Remind me, Morpheus, why exactly are we here?" Niobe's sarcasm and antagonism were gone; they were on a mission now and she was totally professional.
"Two reasons. There is a theory that the Labyrinth may provide a route to the Source which we can exploit. Also, there are many sentient programs in the Labyrinth – Jareth may be the top dog, but not all the inhabitants are in thrall to him. Some may be helpful to us."
"Ha! I find it difficult to accept the very idea of a 'helpful' sentient. You may trust the Oracle, I do not."
"Niobe, you have not met Sati."
"I have not. But little girls don't make me go dewy eyed."
By now they had reached the forbidding outer wall of the Labyrinth. "There is a door somewhere, if we can but find it," said Morpheus. "Once inside I don't know what to expect. They say 'things are not always what they seem in the Labyrinth.'"
"Who says that? How come you know anything about this Labyrinth?"
"I have been this far once before. I met a maintenance program called Hoggle. He wasn't very forthcoming, but he did tell me a few things."
"Oh yeh, you trust this Hoggle do you?"
"He is afraid of Jareth, who has some power over him which he resents. So, no, I don't trust him."
They heard a crash behind them, like a great door banging shut. Morpheus looked round and saw a small figure with an enormous head emerge from a whirl of dust. "That's him! … Hey, Hoggle!"
The dwarf did not look pleased. "Oh, it's you, Morphine. Back again. Who's that with you?"
"Niobe," said Morpheus, grinning at the deliberate corruption of his name, "May I introduce Hoggle. … Hoggle, may I present Niobe."
"Pleased to meet you, Hoggle."
"No you aint. People aint never pleased to meet me."
"Suit yourself," she replied tartly.
"That's better," mumbled the dwarf, and introductions were complete. He then began to wander off, ignoring them.
Niobe ran to overtake him. "Hobble, we want to get into the Labyrinth."
"It's Hoggle. … I suppose you're after her."
"Who's that, Hoggle?"
"You know: the young lady trying to get her baby brother back from him. … Why else would you want to go in there?" He gestured towards the Labyrinth.
Before Niobe could think of a reply there was a shout from Morpheus, who had been examining the wall near where they had first seen Hoggle. "Niobe, over here; there are double doors in the wall!"
She shrugged and raced back to join Morpheus. Hoggle shook his head sadly and set off for the hidden passage which led from the outer wall directly to the oubliette. Most outsiders dropt into the oubliette; they usually gave him a little something for leading them out again.
Morpheus was struggling to open the doors. There were no handles and he had tried pushing to no avail. "They must open outwards," he told Niobe, "but how?"
She too looked for handles, but saw none. There was nothing on the doors which could be gripped and pulled. She looked for a bell pull, but there was none to be seen. Niobe expected nothing to happen, but she tried anyway: "OPEN SESAME!" Nothing happened. She lost her cool, banged on the door with her fists and shouted. Nothing!
The pair of them turned away, defeated, and the doors swung mysteriously open behind them. Quickly they rushed for the doorway, not knowing how long the doors would remain open. On the threshold Morpheus hailed Kid on the walkie-talkie. "Hey, Kid, can you see us, we are now entering the Labyrinth. Over."
"I read you, Sir, loud and clear. But you seem to be out of sight. Over."
"Never mind. I will contact you in an hour's time unless something crops up. Over and out."
They were in a narrow alleyway between high brick walls which stretched left and right as far as the eye could see. "Left or right, Morpheus?"
"This place plays tricks. How about we go straight ahead?" And indeed to Morpheus's delight and Niobe's amazement there was a near-invisible gap in the wall opposite the entrance. They were now in the maze proper, with a choice of left or right. They agreed to keep together, and on the toss of a coin set off to the left.
Very soon Morpheus lost his smug look, and an hour later his confidence was gone: the Labyrinth seemed impenetrable. "There seems to be some AI in the very fabric of the place, it keeps changing to confound us."
"Yes, it's an excellent defence. Any Agent coming after Jareth or his cronies would have a hard time getting through to the castle. But we are making progress – the castle is clearly nearer than it was. … Ah, this is different!"
Ahead of them were two figures with animal-like faces looking out over ornate shields. When the creatures moved and spoke they realised that there were another two peering out beneath the shields. "These doors are the only way," two of them said, "which will you choose?" The creatures seemed to find this rather funny, as though they were sharing a joke between them. "One door leads to the castle, the other door leads to certain death!" The jokey way they said this suggested that it might not be a serious threat.
Niobe muttered something about 'not finding this funny' and turned to go another way, only to find the way they had come was now blocked. She worked her way around the little square and quickly found that there was indeed no other way out. Meanwhile the creatures had been telling Morpheus that one of them always told the truth and the other always lied.
Morpheus was not inclined to play the game. "Well, we have established that one of you programs sometimes lies. Why should I believe that any of you tells the truth?"
The creatures retreated behind their shields and muttered to each other. "It's the rules!" they said. "You can only ask one of us."
"Which one," asked Niobe, "said that one of them always tells the truth and the other always lies?"
"They spoke together," said Morpheus. He considered this. "So the statement cannot be true."
"Exactly!" she agreed. "But we still have to decide which door to take. Or should we take a door each?"
"We agreed to keep together. Let's throw a coin: heads left, tails right." It was heads again. "We choose left," Morpheus told the gate keepers. "Someone had fun programming these jokers," he remarked to Niobe.
"That's us: jokers, Mister," giggled the creatures, "Or are we?" The ones on the left shuffled aside.
Morpheus opened the door and peered through. Then Niobe walked through first and immediately fell into the waiting hole.
Morpheus lay down flat and peered into the hole. He could see nothing but could hear muffled voices below, including Niobe's. He fished out his flashlight and trained it down the hole. He could see the top of Niobe's head slowly rising out of the dark below and in a few seconds she was on the ground beside him.
"Niobe, what happened, are you injured?"
"I'm fine. Let's just say I had some help to get out again. … Can we move on, this hole gives me the creeps?"
They left the hole behind (the doorway they had come through had already disappeared) and continued on deeper into the Labyrinth, going this way and that, always aiming for the castle they could often see on the skyline. They discussed the Labyrinth as they walked.
"Did Jareth write the Labyrinth, do you think?" asked Niobe. "Whoever did has a bizarre sense of humour."
"He may have commissioned it," Morpheus replied, "but many minds must have contributed to its design. I think it's first and foremost a work of art. So far it has often seemed threatening, but has never been particularly dangerous."
"Perhaps, but I can't help wondering what would have happened if I had answered 'down' to those hand-creatures." She shuddered.
They came out onto a little stonework square with a good view of the castle ahead. Immediately before and below them was a hedge maze with more stone walls and lanes beyond that, and then what looked like a broad strip of woodland. They still had a long way to go if they were going to reach Jareth's hideout. It occurred to Niobe that Morpheus had never said what he intended to do if they finally confronted Jareth. Was he being over secretive? She suspected he simply had no plan, but was making it up as he went along.
Morpheus called up Kid on the walkie-talkie for the second time since entering the Labyrinth and briefly described their position. "We should have taken a telescope with us when we entered the Matrix, you might have been able to track us. Any news from Link?"
"I spoke to him just now, sir. He's been trying to make sense of the Labyrinth ever since you two went in. He can see you Captain, and says he has seen glimpses of a third human."
"We haven't seen anyone, but the place is riddled with programs with various levels of intelligence. We must try and rig up some way for him to contact us directly. If I could tell him what we are seeing he'd make a lot faster progress. … Has he seen Jareth in here? Over."
There was a long pause while Kid consulted with Link over the phone. Then: "Captain, Link says there is a large, sentient program in your vicinity. It is vaguely humanoid but much larger than a human. He has no way of knowing if it's dangerous. … He says he's seen nothing like it before."
"Thanks, Kid, I'll get back to you. Out."
Meanwhile, Niobe had wandered off a few paces and was close up to what she had first thought to be a very large bird, like an emu. It was a be-whiskered old man, dressed in rags and fast asleep on a stone chair. Above him, presumably attached to his hat, was the long neck and head of a big bird, also sleeping. She signed to Morpheus that she wanted to wake him, but the captain shook his head: you didn't disturb dormant programs unless it was essential. They found steps leading down to the hedge maze and descended. Behind them, the bird-hat watched them go with a disdainful beady eye, and went back to sleep.
"Could that sleeping old man with the bird on his head be the 'humanoid' Link warned us about?" Niobe asked.
"Link does not exaggerate – at least not about things like that. If he says it's much larger than a man then it is. At least a large danger is easier to spot than a small one"
The hedges were neatly trimmed and the grass beneath their feet as immaculate as Astroturf. It seemed as tranquil as an English garden. Only the weirdly turreted castle on the hilltop spoiled the illusion. And could they hear rough laughter, singing, or a child's voice far off, coming from the castle?
Niobe began laughing, and Morpheus was puzzled. "It just struck me," she explained between giggles, "that this place, the Labyrinth, would be really baffling to an Agent. Their logical, linear minds would not cope."
"It is having an effect on you too, Captain Niobe. Sharpen up! We are on a mission, and this place is not a theme park."
The angry tone of his voice, rather than the truth of it, quickly sobered her. The place was getting to him too.