THE MATRIX: Ghosts of Tomorrow

[Thomas Hobbes]

Augustine's usually blank face winces briefly as he's winged by one of the "Agent"'s bullets. Time was when he'd have flinched at the Agent's words, too, but he had reasoned his way past that some time ago.

The argument went something like this: The Apocalypse had come, and God had taken His people in to Heaven- the Matrix. The so-called "Free Minds" were nought but damned souls and demons, defeated in the war against heaven.

Of course, it didn't take another Plato to realize that the Matrix was no heaven. No, he had bested much more terrifying philisophical questions than that. He had been shaken by Agents throwing his faith in his face before; but now he could treat the idea of Agents being divine with the silent contempt which it warranted.

"Well, game's over for now. Bug says the Captain has something good to show us."

Augustine smiles slightly. "That sounds ominous," he says, and waits calmly to be brought back out.

 

[Kalanyr]

Code's face flickers in almost regret for a second as the sword disappears back into his trenchcoat.

"Time to go back to the real world then? Wonder whats up."

 

[Festy_Dog]

Ferret nods at the others, putting his FiveseveNs back in their holsters.

originally posted by Kalanyr
"Time to go back to the real world then? Wonder whats up."

"Not the foggiest," Ferret says, walking over to the frozen agent and giving it a good prod, "One day..."

 

[Dalamar]

Path stand up and holsters his guns, then quickly dusts his knee.
"It still feels so real, after all this time and even though I know it isn't."

 

[Bob Aberton]

"Feels real? Yeah, that's the problem, isn't it?" Veritas says, his comment directed at Path. He quietly tucks his gun back into his waistband and retrieves his knife. The he goes on, more to himself. "I feel like Socrates sometimes - not as wise, but just as crazy to the average Joe who's sitting in his cave, watching the shadows on the wall..."

I wonder if Socrates knew this was going to happen to the world...

 

[Dalamar]

"Indeed, makes me wonder even more why the machines didn't erase Socrates from history altogether."

 

[Jeph]

After Bug has pulled you all back onto the Ramses II, you congregate on the bridge. CODENAmE is standing with his back to you when you enter, gazing out the viewing port. When he turns around, his face looks grim. He holds something in his hands, a black cube about an inch on a side, with a tiny port on one face.

"While you were in, we found a dead drone. Looked fine, but its circuits were all fryed. It was carrying this in ts manipulator."

The man snaps the cube into linkup. A smallish screne lights on. Its a recording, one of two agents talking in a blank, white room. One sits on a wire frame chair, the other at an oaken desk.

"Agent White," says the man behind the desk. "We have noticed . . . non-routine . . . behaviors in your actions. Would care to elaborate upon this, Mr. White?"

The other Agent, Agent White, remains silent, his jaw locked. No one addresses an Agent with Mr. If White had emotions, he'd be terribly insulted.

"Mr. White. I'm afraid that you will need to report in for corrective measures."

Again, White says nothing.

"Mr. White."

Finally, the agent in the wire chair responds. "Have you ever been to a mall, Mr. Smith? Humans congregate there. Flocks of them. They are drawn as moths to a light. Imbessillic behavior, of stupid creatures." White smiles faintly, for only a second, and then it is gone. "But are we so different? We gather in our little institutions. We socialize with our own peers. Mr. White, we have always known that man is inferior to machine." Again, the corners of his mouth twitch upwards. "But the truth is, Mr. Smith, that we are only a pale reflection of Man. We are the inferior ones, here."

"It is up to you to decide just how corrective these measures will be, Mr. White. Right now, it seems like you're looking at total reprogramming."

"F**k you, Mr. Smith." With that, Agent White leaps up from his chair, evaporating into smoke as he does so, and disappears through a ventillation duct.

The recording has finished. The screen shows only static.

Bug smirks. "It looks like we've got a potential ally."
The Captain, two, smiles, but the expression does not touch his eyes.

 

[Dalamar]

"It's good news. Too good."
Path has a grim look on his face. He scratches his stub.
"If I'm right, you want us to locate this White."

 

[Jeph]

CODENAmE sighs, a haggard look replacing his grim smile. "I don't want you too. Its almost certainly a trap; too dangerous. But I've got orders. Zion wants us to find Agent White." A sad shake of the head. "They think it's genuine, apparently."

"I think it's real," grumbles Bug, unhappily. "Hey, I loaded the dead drone onto the craft when we picked up the recording." At a stern look from the Captain, the kid rolls his eyes. "Yes, I checked for trackers. Anyway, I was thinkin' it my tell us a bit more about the situation. Wanna go check it out? 'Tsin my quarters."

 

[Kalanyr]

"If Agents really can rebel the Matrix is far more complex than I suspected. Seems worth checking out to me, trap or not. "
To Bug
"Yeah, can we see this drone ? Might be able to work out whether its frying was real or machine made."