THE MATRIX: Ghosts of Tomorrow

[Thomas Hobbes]

Augustine strokes his chin thoughtfully. "Interesting," he says simply, reserving judgement, and follows the others.

 

[Festy_Dog]

Ferret yawns.

"I can't begin to fathom the Matrix, like whether its a trap or not, but like Code says this is worth a look-see," he says, and follows the others to see the dead drone.

 

[Jeph]

The drone is in the cargo bay. An observer would think it an obscure techno-worship ritual, with the entire crew clustered around the steel spider's hulk in contemplative silence. After a few minutes, Bug blurts:

"Its not even damaged or nuthin'. Nothing that I can find is wrong with it's systems, but I can't turn it back on. An' how the hell did it get that cube anyway?"

 

[Festy_Dog]

"This stinks of a setup, I'm sure we'd be suffocting if it stunk any more than it does now," Ferret says, eyeing the drone suspiciously.

 

[Thomas Hobbes]

"It certainly seems like this was sent to us on purpose. But by whom?" says Augustine. "Could it be that the rogue Agent sent us this, in an attempt to get out?" Augustine shakes his head. "It's not likely, and we have to go in whether it is or not, but something to think about." He turns to Codename. "What are we supposed to do when we find him?"

 

[Kalanyr]

"Yes, very suspicious, and exactly what are we supposed to do if he is for real ? Download him onto a DVD? Physically bringing him out isn't exactly an option. "

 

[Bob Aberton]

Veritas squints at the drone.

"Yeah, it's obvious...too obvious. Too obvious to be a trap. It's so clearly a set-up that it's probably for real," he says sagely. "The machines think we're dumb, but they wouldn't underestimate us this badly; they wouldn't set a trap this stupid, even for us mere humans."

He thinks for a minute, his deeply wrinkled brow furrowed in thought.

"Unless....unless they knew that we would think like that, and so this really is a trap...a sort of triple-feint, if you will...but then again, they don't think us capable of that kind of reasoning - or do they?" his voice trails off into uncertain mumbling. He looks up in a moment or two.

"I say we try to find this...Agent White, if we can. Bug, is it really possible to download an Agent out of the Matrix? I mean, they are just computer programs, right?"

 

[Dalamar]

An expression of longing crosses Path's face.
"We should try, even if it is obviously a trap. The possibility to gain access to all his information..."

 

[Jeph]

"It's easy to DL an AI, at least a small one, but the Agents take up a lot of space. We can fit him into the ship's Construct, but we won't be able to do much else with it until we get a back up unit from Zion. That means that if--when--we get the Agent, we won't have access to any training programs, and only the simplest loads." Bug frowns, and turns to the captain. "Can we get a backup Construct?"

CODENAmE nods. "We can make a rondevous with the Century in about two days. It will take a good deal of time to get the backup installed, after that." He looks each of you in the eye, and grimaces. "Its going to be dangerous even if this isn't a trap. A lose-lose situation. I hate that."

 

[Dalamar]

"When do we plug in?"
Path speaks bluntly, like they had been discussing of a training session in the jump program.