Five years after Neo made the Truce, Zion and the Machines witness a Resurrection...
A Resurrection of War. A Resurrection of Life. A Resurrection of the Mission.
Prologue: Five Years after The Matrix Revolutions
----
Mega City
12-5-03
9:14PM
It was cold that night. Very cold, as a matter of fact. No one could remember the last time the weather was this bad. The snow fell from the sky like small pieces of glass, hitting people in the face with a cutting sensation that made them turn away if they made the mistake of looking into the opposing direction of the snow fall. One would say it was hail but it wasn't heavy enough. It was just the collaboration of snow, and really harsh winds. They crashed into the windshield of the black sedan driving down the dark icy street. The driver, a man in his late 20's, 29 to be specific, ignored them as the windshield wipers pushed them off to the side like someone making lines of cocaine with a razor-blade. Funny I should think that, the man thought to himself with a chuckle and a smirk, as he looked down at his Detective badge that was attached to the chain he wore. It read, "Detective" and underneath that, "Narcotics Unit". Oh well, he said to himself in an assuring tone. I guess I could say my mind is always on the job, technically. He laughed. He was such a poppycock artist at times, and he knew it. He did it on purpose to get out from being between a rock and a tight space. Most of the time it worked. Sometimes though, it backfired. Like when he had to explain to his girlfriend why he came home late the night he promised he'd be home for dinner that night and to go to bed with her at the same time, rather than coming in and sneaking into the bed after she'd already been asleep. She was still peeved at him for that. He thought of what had been said during that argument, while his eyes were fixed on the road ahead of him.
"Vince, what is the matter with you, you promised me you'd be home by 9:30!"
"I know Cheryl, I got caught up with work I couldn't help it!"
"You told me that no matter what, that even if it meant you would have extra work to do that you would put work on the side and come home to see me!"
"Yeah I know but--rrgh, Howard wouldn't let me off the hook he said if I left he'd suspend my pay for a month!"
"Oh bull, you know he wouldn't have done that, you always say how he tells you you're one of his best cops!"
That was only half of it. Usually Vince would be hearing that when it was attached to the bad end of a complaint from Captain Howard, the head of Vince's precinct. Something always along the lines of "You're a good cop Vince, but you get into so much *CENSORED* that I don't know what to do with you, y-you're driving me up a *blinking*' wall, listen to me I'm stuttering over here!" Always about his spontaneous way of doing things. He got a reputation in the precinct for that. The officers would say "Burnett? That guy's a loose cannon, I don't know how the Captain puts up with him." Or the other Detectives would say "Vince's chaotic, he'll shoot first and ask questions later." It all made him smile. But Vince couldn't blame Howard on his tardiness from home. He let him get away with too much stuff, any other Captain would have either suspended him and assigned him to a desk job or have him thrown off the force all together. It's Irvine's fault, he told himself. Irvine. The name had been his best friend for the past year. A search warrant was out for this guy, and he was one the more sought after convicts on the "Wall of the Wanted" back at the precinct. He was a suspected murderer, kidnapper, drug dealer, and hacker. This Irvine character was Vince's case, and he'd had no leads on the guy, just searches around the city that turned up with nothing. His mind went blank. Cheryl's voice came back into his head, like a reminder to come out of thinking of work. It was like purgatory was following him around, making sure he got more pissed off at Irvine for the stupid reasons that caused him and Cheryl to fight all the time.
"You're always late! If you're late one more time after you make a promise like this, I swear Vince, I'm getting out of here!"
"Babe come on, what am I supposed to do?"
"Straighten out your priorities and get your *CENSORED* together! Wake up already and get with the program."
The words echoed in his head as if he woken up from a nightmare. Who was to say he wasn't in one now? He chuckled and shook his head. What the hell am I thinking? He looked at the clock on his console, the time read 9:14PM. He checked his watch to make sure he wasn't seeing things, and it said the same. I finished early tonight? he asked himself. He couldn't remember leaving his office so early, but he shrugged. "Whatever," he figured. His apartment was around the corner and that meant he'd made it home early. He stopped at the red light, and looked to make sure no other cars were coming down the intersecting street. When he felt he was clear, he made the right turn and drove down the street until he came up to his apartment building. Parallel parking the car along the sidewalk, he shut off the ignition and hesitated before he got out of the car. He looked up at the window of his apartment and stared. I can't believe I'm home this early. I could have sworn it was eleven... he said to himself in his thoughts. He stayed there looking up at the window, as if there was some outside factor wanting to stop him from getting to his home early, and stay in the car for another two hours. Blinking, he shook his head and got out of the car, gently shutting the door.
The night suddenly seemed calm, despite the snow and the wind. His black leather blazer kept him warm enough to survive the 15 foot walk from the car to the door of the building. He looked down the dark street as he made it to the door, and saw nothing but black when he looked yonder. "Dark future down the road," he jokingly suggested to himself. He pushed the door open, and stamped his feet to get the snow off of his feet. His eyes scanned over the mailboxes on the wall, looking for his own mailbox. When his eyes fell upon the name "Vince Burnett", he stopped, and moved forward with his key.
He shook his head. I've lived here for almost a year now and I can't remember where my mailbox is. He inserted his key, and after turning it, he slowly opened it a tad and peeked inside. Ever since he saw that Clint Eastwood movie where the black guy opened his mailbox and the bomb exploded, he was always afraid of nonchalantly opening his mailbox. However, like always since then, he saw nothing out of the ordinary in there. Actually, this time he saw nothing in there.
No mail, he thought. Maybe Cheryl got it. Closing the tiny door and locking it, he turned and made his way over to the elevator. Running his eyes over the buttons, he pushed the "6" button after the door closed, and waited for that sudden jolt that took place when an elevator first started to move. When it occurred, it rocked him a bit as he stood in his place. He reached under his blazer and grasped his gun, a black Colt 1911A1 with wood grips.
He looked at it for a few seconds before making sure the safety on the slide was secured. After he was sure that the safety was activated, he slid it back into it's holster, and then he felt that jolt of the elevator again. The next thing he heard was "ding", and the doors opened. Running his hand through his shoulder length dark brown hair, he stepped out onto thin carpet that covered the floor of the hallway. Cracking his knuckles like he usually did as he walked to his door, he counted the cracks as they went off. 1, 2, 3, 4...5, 6, 7, 8..9, 10. He stopped in front of his door and made claws out of his fingers, and extended them straight, and did this twice.
He got a hold of the doorknob and twisted it. To his surprise, it was open. He pushed it open and stepped in, immediately looking around the apartment. No one in the kitchen, which was a few feet in front of him. Then he noticed the TV on in the living room right in the next room. He peered around the wall and looked to the couches, and his eyes automatically locked with Cheryl's. She looks surprised, he registered to himself before thinking anything else. In reality, she was.
"You..you're home." She said in a gentle tone, with a touch of disbelief. It was as if she was whispering because it was too good to be true, and if that was the case, she didn't want to disturb this vision of Vince that stood before her, or else it might disappear. "Yeah, I'm home," he answered, to her surprise. She didn't know what to ask or what to say. So, to improvise, she got up from her seat on the couch and walked over to him. She was dressed in dark grey sweat pants and a random t-shirt, with white socks on her feet. She was shorter than him, but not too short, a 5'3 to his 6'0. She stood not even a foot away from him, and before he could react, she went up on her tippy-toes and gave him the tightest hug she could.
It startled him for a moment, he wasn't expecting it. After a few seconds, he let the fact seep in, and rested his head on hers, which she had pushed tightly into his chest. He blinked, breathing in through his nose and taking in the scent of her hair, the scent of peaches. He exhaled slowly and kissed her head, preparing to let go so he could get off his jacket, holster, and boots, so he could sit with her on the couch and relax, but instead she pulled him into a kiss. The sudden pull and the last sight of her head coming closer to his caused him to close his eyes tight, and as she wrapped her arms around his neck for better leverage, he relaxed and let them stay closed comfortably. As he wrapped his arms around her waist, he thought to himself, I honestly didn't expect this kind of reaction from her. Maybe I was underestimating her. Maybe I underestimate myself. When she let off of him, she looked at him in the eyes with a warm, caring look.
"Welcome home," she told him with a smile. He smiled back.
"Good to be home."
Chapter 1: Life's too short
MCPD
12-6-03
5:30PM
Vince sat at his desk in his office. His elbow rested on the desk top as he stared at the blank screen on his monitor. The sign-in box was on the screen. The cursor blinked every second. His eyes glanced around. He looked at the walls, with the melancholy design and the dark brown stain finish, and large windows through which he could see a good amount of the rest of the floor he worked on. The wall all the way to his left was also the wall of the office to his left, same with the wall and the office in front of him, the wall his door was on. He had to walk through the other Detective's office in order to get to his. There were a few files cabinets behind him, and since he had a corner office, a window behind him. There was a space heater under this window in absence of a radiator. It was like that in a bunch of the offices around him. Someone went around and turned all of them on to low. The storm from last night was still there now in the morning. Wind and sharp snow flakes in everyone's face. To his left was another large file cabinet. On his desk was a phone, a calendar, a printer in the corner on the right side of the computer console, and a picture of Cheryl.
He looked around his office again and took all of this in. This isn't an office, he thought. It's a glorified cubicle. Shaking his head, he looked out of the windows to his left and saw Howard's office. Vince made a face to himself, and watched as Howard sat there talking on the phone to someone. I better at least look like I'm doing something, Vince decided, before I get bitched at because I'm getting payed for doing nothing. He looked back at his monitor at the blinking cursor. He typed his name into the first space, and "Vince Burnett" came onto the screen. He pressed tab and then it came to his password. The name & password check completed with a beep and the search interface came up onto the screen, with several fields and options for specifying whatever it was someone may be searching for, and an area for search results. He paused, staring at a blank screen again.
He knew that typing in "Irvine" would do him no good. He'd done it time and again and came up with nothing useful as to where to find the guy. He had no previous record, no location, no place of residence, no relatives, no name changes. The guy just popped up out of thin air it seemed, and it made Vince angry, how this guy could just slip in and out of his jurisdiction. He sat back in his chair and put his legs up on his desk and his hands on his head, staring at the screen, the blank search fields and that blinking cursor again. A fly landed on him, and he brushed it off. Another black pair of jeans, and the same pair of boots, but this time, a blue t-shirt. His gun hung from its holster under his blazer. I don't know where to start or where this stops. I forgot where it began, and I could only imagine where it'll end. But in the mean time, what the *CENSORED* am I going to do just sitting here looking for a ghost?
He leaned forward and put his face into his hands as if he were crying and slowly slid them down his face and into a sort of praying position, and rested his head of them. Then he repositioned his left hand and rested his head on it, his elbow on top of the desk in front of the keyboard. His right hand was on the desk, the other elbow resting on his right thigh, and he tapped his fingers and sighed. Out of the corner of his left eye he saw Detective Stanford coming into his office. He was about Vince's height, maybe an inch or two taller, and with broader shoulders. He was in his mid 30s and in his combed back brown hair, gray hairs were obvious. He had a serious look in his eyes most of the time, but that was only when he meant business, when he was working. Usually he was a friendly guy though, and now it looked to Vince as if he had something interesting to say.
"Hey, Burnett."
Vince stopped tapping his fingers and put his left elbow on his left thigh, and clasped his hands together under the desk. "What's up, Stanford?"
"You heard about the party, right?"
He arched a brow. "No..what party?"
"Carrington's getting promoted, we're throwing him a surprise party and the ceremony is this weekend."
"Really? What's he moving up to?"
"He got onto S.W.A.T."
"That's a promotion?" Vince said, as if to ask what put the S.W.A.T. team over the Narcotics Unit.
"Well, yeah. Figure, our Narcotics Unit is a tactical unit of its own, we're not just regular Detectives, we do that and our own kind of S.W.A.T. work. So now he's moving from being a regular Narcotics Detective to getting to see a little excitement."
Vince shrugged. "I guess you got a point. Is there time for the whole unit to just take time off and throw a surprise party?"
"We're not the only Tactical Narcotics Unit here, or did you forget that part?"
Vince pointed his finger at him. "Hey, don't get smart with me!" he said in a joking tone, the both of them smiling at the sarcastic humor and reaction. "So when is this party anyway?"
"Well, figure, it's about 5:45PM now, I think we're all going down to the party room by 9:00PM, fancy food'll be catered and ready and everything, music and all, the whole nine yards."
Vince nodded. Suddenly, Stanford looked as though he remembered something.
"What's the matter?"
"Oh, no, I was just gonna say, I almost forgot, everyone in our unit is invited and their partners are welcome, so if you wanna surprise your girl you can suddenly take her out to dinner, and it's free!" Standford said with a chuckle.
A smile came over Vince's face. "Yeah, she'd like that. I think I owe her a few surprises," he said with a nod. He looked around for a clock. "What time do we get off if this party is at nine?"
"I think your shift ends in fifteen minutes. You've been doing paperwork all day since like six, right?"
"Yeah it sucks."
"Go ask Howard, he's not really busy, he told me to go remind everyone about the party tonight, you were the last guy left." Stanford suggested.
"Alright," Vince said as he logged out of his computer, turned it off, and got up out of his chair. He extended his hand and Stanford took it and shook his hand with a nod. "I'll see you tonight at the party," he said, to which Stanford replied "Alright then I'll see you tonight." He then left Vince's office to move onto whatever else he had to do. Vince rubbed his forehead. "Party tonight," he thought to himself. "I play my cards right I might get lucky." He walked out of his office and made his way over to Captain Howard's office. He knocked on the door, and was immediately greeted with a "Come in!" He opened the door, stepped in, and closed it behind him, looking out through the windows to see if Carrington was around.
"What is it Vince, what, what're you doing?"
"Ssh, calm down boss I was making sure Carrington wasn't around."
"Oh, Carrington? I guess Stanford told you about tonight."
"Yeah, I wanted to know when my shift ended for today, I forgot."
Howard checked his watch. It read 5:50. "It's ten to, you're done at six, get outta here you can go home now" he said all in one breath. Vince shrugged. "Alright then, I'll see you tonight then." Howard nodded. "Okay."
"Later boss." Vince said on the way out.
"So long." Howard called after him.
Vince made his way downstairs to his car and drove home.
6:10PM
Vince walked into the apartment and threw his jacket and holster onto the couch. Cheryl heard the door slam shut, and she poked her head out of her room cautiously. Seeing Vince startled her, and his greeting made her jump. "Hey, honey what's up?" he said in high volume. "Vince, what're you doing here?" she asked, surprised. "I'm home, and tonight we're going to a fancy dinner" he said as he made his way closer to her. "Fancy dinner? What do you mean?" she said. He came over and held her in his arms and gave her a kiss. More surprises. He went into the bedroom and sat on the bed and began unlacing his boots. "One of the guys at work is getting promoted and my unit's throwing him a surprise party. Nice party, and good food, and it's all free."
"Oh.." she answered, a bit blindsided by the fact he was home so soon, and because now he was taking her out tonight, sort of. "What time do we have to be there by?"
"Nine o'clock. You got something nice to wear?"
"Uh, yeah, do you?"
"I'm sure I'll find something."
"What about your dress uniform?"
"No, no, that I have to wear for the official ceremony this weekend."
"Can I go to that too?"
Vince stopped. He looked up at her, and saw the hopeful look in her eyes. She really wanted to be with him, he realized. He extended his arms, his left out a little further than his right, and motioned for her to come to him. She came over and sat, leaning up against him, and he put her arms around her. "Of course you can come with me to that ceremony," he said to her, his eyes locked onto hers. "Are you okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine, just.." she began.
"Yeah, what is it?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.
"I miss you. Work's been taking up a lot of your time lately and sometimes I really hate when I can't see you."
He kissed her forehead and ran his hand through her hair. "Here I am. For the whole night."
She looked up to him and smiled and wrapped her arms around him. He laid back on the bed and took her with him. "I'm tired," he said. "I'm comfy," she answered. He closed his eyes. "Lemme know when eight o'clock rolls around, we'll get dressed then," he told her. "Why?" she asked. "Because staying here like this for a while would be nice," he answered. All she said was "Mhmm." They dozed off in each other's arms.
When 8:00 came around, Vince woke up to Cheryl shaking him gently, saying to him "Come on Vince, time to get ready." He rose up out of the bed and stretched his arms out with a relaxing sigh. He looked around, first to Cheryl, then the closet. Okay....what to wear...got my pants on...got a shirt in the closet..got my jacket..a little cologne, good to go. He walked over to to dresser and opened a drawer, and pulled out a grey tank-top undershirt. After this, he simply removed his blue t-shirt, revealing his in-shape but not jacked up upper body, and put the tank top on, but kept his jeans unbuttoned. Cheryl started getting changed into a little black dress. Vince reached into the closet and pulled out a short sleeved dark-purple button-up shirt, and began buttoning it.
"Do you always dress in black?" Cheryl asked him.
"Yup. Works with everything," he answered. When he was finished, all of the buttons were fastened, sans the top two. He pulled up his pants around the shirt and closed them up, turning to his hutch to go for his cologne. "There, almost done. All I gotta do is put some of this stuff on," he started, as he opened the small bottle and poured some into his right hand palm. He set the bottle down, rubbed his hands together, and then wiped the cologne on either side of his neck and on his chest until his hands were dry. He turned to Cheryl, who at this point was in her dress, pantyhose, and shoes. He had a double take.
"What?" she asked with a smile coming out on her face.
He smiled back and shook his head. "Come on we gotta stop *blinking* around we gotta go soon," he said to her in a joking voice.
"Alright you *CENSORED*, I gotta fix up my hair and do my makeup," she retaliated. He sighed and waited. This is gonna take a while.
9:09PM
MCPD Party Room
When Vince and Cheryl walked in, the party had already started. Ah, this is good. No congratulatory speech to sit through. He turned to Cheryl. "Come with me, we gotta go say hi to the man of the hour, then we can sit." She nodded. She hooked her left arm around his right, staying close and getting some sort of a grip on the sleeve of his blazer. Some people were dancing, but he didn't mind, he cut through the dance floor, however in a nonchalant manner.
When they finally got over to Carrington, his wife was with him and he was being congratulated all around. He was a year or two older than Vince, and about an inch short. When Carrington noticed him, his eyebrows raised and he greeted him with a "Hey! Thought you wouldn't be here." Vince chuckled. "The party just started, I'm a few minutes late, no big deal." Carrington smiled "I suppose. And who's this?" he asked, his eyes shifting over to Cheryl. "Oh, this is my girlfriend Cheryl. Nice, right?" Vince said, raising his eyebrows with a mischievous smile, slightly tilting his head forward. Cheryl smirked, jabbing her elbow into his side under his arm that she had wrapped hers around, causing him to jolt a little. Vince frowned as if he were to say "Whatchu talkin' about, Willis?", and Carrington and his wife laughed. Cheryl extended her free hand to shake Carrington's, and he accepted, getting a good yet gentle grip and shaking lightly before letting go. "Well, you guys go get something to eat and sit down and enjoy yourselves. Vince nodded. "Will do. C'mon Cheryl."
With that, they made their way over to the table with all the food trays and got on the now short line. After scanning over the trays and getting what they wanted, they made their way over to a sparsely populated table and sat. "Do you know all these people here?" Cheryl asked. Vince looked up from cutting his food. "Yeah, most of them, all of these guys are in my unit and some of em have done work with us on big cases in the past. They all know me though," he said with a wink and chuckle, causing her to smile. "Why don't you have a partner?" she asked. "I wasn't assigned one. I could request one if I need a friend or something, but that won't be until I finish this case I'm working on," he said as he cut his food with a knife and fork. She nodded and got to working on hers.
He plucked a piece of food with his fork and put it into his mouth and started to chew. Good stuff. It was baked ziti. As he chewed, he opened his sense of hearing. Music was playing. People were talking. A lot of conversations going on at once. He studied this. Then he started analyzing every little thing he could and started comparing it to how animals in the wild would act. He didn't know why he did it, but it was a habit. They all come together as friends or members of a pack or a clan to celebrate the fact that one of their own has moved up a level. They gather and feed themselves and communicate, about all sorts of things as they eat. Just talking and eating for the most part, oblivious to what's going on outside. They gather like animals to a place where they know the food is at. Is that all? Why, though? What's the point?
"Vince," Cheryl called. He snapped out of his trance. "You alright?" she asked, a slight worried look on her face. He put his hand over hers, and nodded assuringly.
"I'm fine. Just, deep in thought."
At about 10:00 they had left at went home and went to bed. The thoughts repeated in Vince's mind as he fell asleep.
(Note to the reader: I know it's been a little slow in the story so far. After this chapter it speeds up and gets more like a Matrix story and less like a cop story, I promise.)
Chapter 2: The clues don't add up
12-7-03
3:00PM
Vince sat at his desk with his legs resting up on top of it. Leaned back in his chair, he tapped his pen on the desk as if he was antsy. He'd done all of his paper work and there was nothing for him to do. He could go and enjoy himself, but Cheryl was at work, so in reality he couldn't. "Why do you just sit there, Vince?" Captain Howard had asked him once. "If you got no work to do you don't have to come in, we'll contact you if there's something that needs to be done." Made him feel real useful. But today would be different, and Vince didn't have a clue. With his legs still up on his desk, he swiveled in the chair left and right for mere hip movement to keep him busy. His eyes drifted around again. Same *poop*, different day. He looked over to the Wanted posters up on the wall across from his office and the one to the left of his. The usuals, and a few weird ones. Some sleaze bag Italian grease ball. A few black guys. A couple juveniles. Handful of Latinos. And then one was missing. Vince arched a brow. The poster for Daniel Lancaster, a suspected serial killer and syndicate member, was taken down. Vince rubbed his chin and thought about this. Either he was arrested or killed. Wait, wasn't he being watched? Vince rose from his chair and walked into the Captain's office. Howard had two other detectives with him in. When he saw Vince coming to the door, he shook his head as if to say yes and motioned for him to quickly get into the room. When he did, he shut the door behind him.
"Burnett, good thing you're here, I was just about to call you."
Vince looked over at the other two detectives. Corallo and Hall. He gave them a nod before looking back over to Howard. "Why, what's the matter?"
"You saw the wanted wall, right?"
"Yeah, Lancaster's poster is gone, what's the deal?"
"These two were watching him. Now he's gone, and we can't find him anywhere."
"Yeah, and how do I fall into this?" Vince inquired.
"We checked his phone calls and we didn't find anything usual, so we tapped his phone." Corallo answered.
"He made contact with a person named Irvine and few times. The guy you're looking for."
Vince's eyebrows raised, a look of surprise and almost shock coming over his face. "...What?" Howard was first to snap him out of it.
"Listen, we think this guy is the reason why Lancaster is gone, he might have drugged him up and kidnapped him or killed him or something. Either way, you're all on this case now."
"Well, do you have recordings of his phone calls?" Vince asked anxiously.
"Yeah, right here." Hall said. He picked up a tape recorder and pushed the play button. It started with the usual fuzz from a recorded tape but then it picked up. Vince listened closely. It started with the phone ringing. Then someone picked up.
"Lancaster."
"Yes, hello Anubis." Vince frowned. Anubis? When was he ever called Anubis?
"Who is this?" Lancaster demanded.
"You know who this is. You've been expecting my phone call."
"Okay, stop playing games *CENSORED*--"
"Anubis," The man said in a bold tone, cutting Lancaster off. "You asked me about the Matrix on the internet a long time ago. Are you still interested?"
"Irvine...?" Lancaster suddenly asked, as if he were in the presence of someone highly superior than he.
"Yes. The phone is tapped, Anubis. I will contact you again." The click of the phone hanging up followed after, and Hall pressed stop.
All four men exchanged looks. "Anyone ever heard of the Matrix?" Howard asked. All three detectives shook their heads to say no.
"Hold on, there's one more." Hall said. He pressed play again. The phone ringing was heard again, and someone picked up.
"Hello?"
"Anubis, this is Irvine. Are you ready to meet?"
"Yes."
"Meet me in the shut down storage warehouse in the slums district. I will give you the red pill."
*Click*
"Okay gentlemen, we have our work cut out for us," Howard started. "Corallo, Hall, I want you guys to go into his house and look for clues and see if we can get any evidence on this guy, here's the warrant, keep it with you." He handed Corollo the warrant, and he folded it and put it in his pants pocket.
Then he turned to Vince. "I want you to go over to that old warehouse and see if you can find anything. And while you're at it, find out what the hell they talking about and find out what the 'Matrix' is. After that, since you're narcotics, look into whatever sources and informants you have on whatever the red pill is. Move it!"
Vince nodded and left the office. He checked his gun to make sure it was loaded and the safety off. Hall chuckled. "Ready to shoot off again, eh Vince?"
"Just making sure. Whatever is takes to keep my *CENSORED* alive. I'll see you guys later."
3:30PM
The car radio was off as Vince drove to Appolyon, the part of the slums district where the warehouse was located.. He drove at a moderate speed, and wasn't in any sort of a rush. His eyes moved all over as he drove down the crowded city streets, looking from person to person, store signs, the road ahead of him, side streets, anything in his sight that was in front of him. He looked at the street he was on. Main Avenue. He made a left onto 36th street. Brick and 9th wasn't too far away, but the location was a good choice for something like a secret meeting. The area the warehouse was in was a run-down section of the city, somewhere you would go to only look for trouble. The warehouse itself had been shut down a few years ago but no one wanted to touch it because the people living in the area deemed it "historical" since it had been there for quite a while. Please. It was for storage. Why is it necessary to have incentives?
It seemed like the whole neighborhood was stuck in time. With the sunset in the background, and the dusty feeling of the place, the area had a sepia tone to it, boring and dull as if it was clay. There was a sign of life though, people walking up and down the sidewalks, and some cars. It wasn't abandoned. It just wasn't that great of a place either. It gave Vince the feeling someone was watching or something was out there. He passed 6th street and sighed. Vince was wary as he turned onto Brick avenue, always on the alert. Someone around here might not like him in these parts and decide to show off how many bullets they had in their gun. Was it a boring day or just the city that did it? It started to rain. Oh great. Make that the day, and the city.
He felt like leaving, but his assignment held him back, so he shook his head. Where is this warehouse? Then, as he came to 9th street, he saw it, standing there still as the rain cut through the sunset, as if were expecting him. He pulled into the lot and up next to the building's main entrance, and turned off the ignition. He thought about whether our not he should walk through the rain or cover his head. *CENSORED* it. He got out of the car and walked into the door. It was dark, there were no lights on. He moved over to flip a switch to his left on the wall. He toggled it a few times; nothing.
He scanned the inside of the room with his eyes. There were several racks with four or five large shelves on them that were made of steel, painted in orange and green. There were four rows of these continuous racks that ran from roughly the front to the back of the warehouse, with some space in between the ends of these rows and the main wall for walking, and cross sections between every three blocks of racks. The space in between the rows themselves was large, about nine feet of space between each.
He proceeded forward, cautiously. The only light was those coming through the windows, which were small in size on the walls and not many, and large on the ceiling, they few and far between. There was one large window in the middle of every set of rows separated by a cross section, and they were barred. It looked like a huge stock room in the back of a large department store. With the sun going down outside, it wouldn't be too long before it was pitch black in the warehouse. He stepped forward into one of the rows between two racks. After walking a few feet, he reached into his blazer and pulled out his gun and let his arm hang down at his side again, then pulled back the hammer. He had a funny feeling walking through this place. Just in case.
He passed the first barred skylight. Looking around, through the empty racks, up above him, and watching his back, he didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. Then he saw something on the floor ahead, in the light of the second skylight. He picked up the speed in his step so he could get a closer look, and stopped in the light pouring down from above. It was a small white card, about the size of a business card. After he put his gun back into its holster, he put on the pair of rubber gloves he had in his coat pocket and flipped the card over. There was writing in black ink. A curious frown came over his face as he turned the card over right side up so that he could read it. It read "The Matrix Has You." The Matrix...
He arched a brow, and stared at it as he held it in his right hand while with his left he went for a small plastic zip-lock evidence bag. He slipped the card into the bag, fastened the top, and put it into his coat pocket. Then he removed the gloves, placed them into his other pocket, turned, and walked towards the door. He noticed the rain had begun to come down harder. The water ran down the window kind of like suds, each bead of water running down and leaving a trail, followed by another bead of water, all across the window in vertical rows. He moved on, and walked through the door, to the outside. The rain hit him all over as he walked to his car. He didn't waste any time standing there, as he climbed in and drove away.
4:10PM
Vince was last of the three detectives to get back since the place he had to go to was farther. When he walked in, Simpson, the guy at the front desk nodded to him. He was close to retiring. "Burnett, the Captain is waiting for you in his office with Corallo and Hall." "Thanks Simpson." Vince responded. He ran up the stairs to the second floor and made his way into Howard's office, as he walked in he heard Howard say "Here he is." He shut the door behind him.
"Burnett, did you find anything?" Howard asked.
"The place was empty, this is all I found," he said as he pulled out the white card in the evidence bag. He tossed it onto Howard's desk, and he examined it through the plastic. "The Matrix" he said to himself. "You didn't find anything on this Matrix though?"
Vince shook his head. "Nope, nothing. That's it. Whoever Irvine is, he was there, and Lancaster was with him."
Howard shook his head as to say yes. "Good, good, now we have a break in the case, these two didn't find much." He looked over at Corallo and Hall "You two go look up whatever info you can find on Lancaster's syndicate connections." He looked back over to Vince. "Burnett, I want you to look into whatever the red pill is. If we can get a supplier down or something, maybe we can cut him off, got it?" All three of the detectives nodded. "Then get to it. And somebody get this bag over to Evidence."
Vince walked out and went back into his office cubicle. As he sat there waiting for his computer to start up, he thought of the white card again.
'The Matrix Has You'....
What is the Matrix?
(I'll take this moment to let everyone know, the rest of the story is written and complete. Instead of posting the whole thing up at once though, I'm putting it up piece by piece. Chapter 3 will be up as soon as I see some sign of life on the thread and get some reviews in between chapters, because I hate posting a story up all at one shot and no one reads it or says anything. Stay tuned!)
Chapter 3: The Man from the other side
4:45PM
In the thirty five minutes that had passed since he had gotten back, Vince had began writing the report on the evidence he found and almost died of boredom reliving the moment. He included in the report the time he left, the time he got to the storage warehouse, the time he left the warehouse, and the time he got back to the precinct. He described the inside, including the power failure, and especially, the card he found on which was written, "The Matrix Has You." All of the important details, the literal stuff that anyone who needed the information would have some use for.
What he didn't include though, was that it felt as if he was being watched by unseen eyes. That feeling that creeped him out and caused him to take his gun from his holster. He thought it over as he typed and wondered: Am I still being watched?
He shrugged it off. Stop scaring yourself. That always happens when you feel spooked but can't see anything, he convinced himself. He looked at his screen and all of the black text against the white screen. The blinking cursor, blinking every second. The font control, the spacing. Nodding, he decided he was finished with the report. Saving it, he sat back in the chair and exhaled through his lips, his cheeks puffing up only until all of the air/carbon dioxide was out of his mouth.
He looked out of the windows surrounding him to see what was up. Then he noticed something, something he never saw before. Three men came to the upstairs floor and entered Howard's office. To Vince, they looked like secret service agents back from the 1960's, dressed in black suits, with generic black dress shoes. Under their jackets were white dress shirts, and black ties, pinned to their shirts via a silver pin with simple horizontal line design. They all wore their hair parted at their left, and they all wore white earpieces in their right ear, the coiled wire hanging down beside their neck and then being tucked in under their white shirts. The most notable and possibly intimidating feature of their outfits were the the square framed sunglasses they all wore, the lenses shaded black to the point where you couldn't see their eyes or tell if they were looking for you. But that wasn't the case for Vince. He saw Howard look in his direction and point towards his office, and the three of their heads turned; They were looking at him alright. It wasn't until they exited Howard's office and started towards his own that he started to worry.
Okay, he thought, What have I done lately that would get the Feds on my case.... haven't shot anyone... haven't blown anything up, no car accidents.. oh *poop*, here they come. The three men entered the office and stood in line from side to side, the one in the center a step in front of the other two. They all stood at at least six feet tall even. The one in the middle spoke.
"Mr. Burnett, I'm Agent Williams, these are my colleagues, Agent Davis and Agent Miller," he said, the other two nodding smugly as their names were mentioned.
Vince stood up from sitting in his chair to see eye to eye with the man, standing at least two feet from him. "Hi," he said wearily. "Something I can help you with?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact there is, Mr. Burnett." Agent Williams said. He spoke in a bold, direct tone, he didn't drag on any words or speak slow or fast, rather, at a steady rate, almost as though he were a robot. "We understand that you've been tracking an individual named Irvine for the past year and you haven't gained any leads on him until recently when a Mr. Daniel Lancaster went missing."
"Yeah, that's true..." Vince replied, in a skeptical tone. This news traveled fast for something that happened only so recently. "What about him?"
"Well, we understand he has charges of murder, kidnap, and drug use against him and currently there is a warrant out for his arrest and that you're the Detective who's been put on the case. We were wondering if you had seen anything unusual lately."
Vince recalled the warehouse and the white card. "No, nothing unusual. Why?"
Agent Williams took a breathe of air and sighed as if he realized he would be staying longer than he had planned. "The truth is, Mr. Burnett, this character Irvine is far more dangerous than he seems, especially according to the way you have him listed down in your files. Compared to your records, he is far worse than he appears. And of course, we all know appearances can be deceiving."
Vince raised an eyebrow at his last statement. "Yeah..What's he really like?"
"To make a long story short, the man is a known terrorist that has his own group of sorts that works with him. You are aware of the shoot outs that have been taking place all over the city, are you not?"
"Yeah, I've heard of them, they turn up from out of nowhere. Is he involved with those too?"
"Yes, actually, he is involved. A great threat to the public, and he isn't the only one." He swallowed, and took a moment to turn his head towards Agent Davis and Agent Miller. "However, we have a more important subject to talk about while we're here."
"Oh, yeah? What's that?"
"We'd like to ask you for your help Mr. Burnett, in tracking this Irvine down and helping us take him into custody."
"Yeah, I think I can do that. Is there any specific procedures to follow?"
"Here's my number, Mr. Burnett. If any new information about him turns up, you know where to contact me." Agent Williams said, holding out a small white business card. Vince took it and looked at the phone number. It read (843) 797-8360. He looked back up at Agent Williams and nodded. "Yeah, sure, I can help."
"Thank you for your cooperation Mr. Burnett. We look forward to hearing from you in the future." Agent Williams concluded. The three men turned, and exited the office, walking toward the stairs. Vince looked back at the card for a moment and looked back to the three Agents. He called after them.
"What If something about the Matrix turns up?"
The three Agents froze in their steps. Vince's eyebrows raised, he took this in as if he just said something that was very insulting to them, and this now was the reaction. They all looked back in his direction. He narrowed his eyes and frowned slightly as though to analyze their reactions.
"The what?" Agent Williams asked.
"The Matrix...at the last known location Lancaster and Irvine were known to be at, I found this card that said 'The Matrix Has You', and we figured Irvine was linked to it. What should I do if anything about the Matrix turns up again?"
They looked at each other like they were deciding what to do about this. Agent Davis's right hand came to his right hand ear over his ear piece. Then, he looked over to Agent Williams and Agent Miller and nodded. Miller looked to Williams.
"He's planning another unplugging."
"He will be back."
"We can use this to finally get him."
Vince watched and listened to this and thought Maybe I should have kept my mouth shut about the Matrix..sounds like they've been looking for him for a while too though.
Agent Willaims looked back over to Vince. "Mr. Burnett, would you please come take a ride with us?"
"Um.." Vince manged to get out, as he tried to think of a reason to not to go. He looked at his computer. He'd finished the report. The only idea he could think of was Howard. "I just have to let my boss know."
"He's already aware that you may be stepping out with us. It will only be brief."
Vince's eyes shifted from Agent to Agent and he stayed silent for a moment. They stared back at him through their sunglasses. It didn't really seem like he had a choice. "Yeah, sure. Let's go."
Agent Davis lead the way, followed by Agent Williams, Vince, and then Agent Miller. They made their way downstairs and towards the exit. Vince looked towards the front desk where Simpson would be, but he wasn't there. Where'd Simpson go? Must be on a *CENSORED* break.
Eventually they made their way outside and into a black sedan parked in front of the precinct. Vince and Agent Williams climbed into the back, while Agent Davis drove and Agent Miller sat in the front seat. They pulled away slowly and drove down the street at a regular speed. Vince looked around the car and out of the windows, seeing familiar buildings he would pass on the way to work, only this time in the reverse order. He looked over to the Agents. They all were looking forward with their hands in their lap, except for Davis, who was driving with his hands at ten and two.
Things were too quiet. "Where are we going?" he asked.
"It's nothing to be concerned of. We're almost there." Agent Miller answered. A
bout ten minutes passed, and they drove into an underground parking lot. They parked on a level that had a moderate amount of cars in it, Vince observed. The ignition was turned off. "Please step out of the car," Agent Williams said, and the three men exited the car. After seeing all of their doors opened and noting the fact that they all were moving out of the car at the same time, he opened his door and stepped out, closing it behind him. Miller and Williams made their way around to the side of the car Davis and Vince were on, and then they all stood in front of Vince, like they were cornering him. Davis was to his right, Miller to the left, and Williams in the center. Noticing that they were moving toward him and that he was stepping backwards, he got concerned.
"Hey, guys. What are you doing?" Then things got rough.
Davis and Miller violently shoved him at his shoulders and sent him back, hitting up against the car door. "Hey, what the *CENSORED* are you--" he managed to get out, but was cut off when Davis grabbed his face and his right arm and held him against the car. He turned his head so that the right side faced out to the Agents, and got a tight grip, configuring his fingers in a manner so Vince couldn't open his mouth enough to get any noise out at a significant volume. Miller grabbed his left arm and held it up against the car with the same painfully tight grip. Twitching under their hold, Vince couldn't move. Williams pulled out from the pocket inside of his jacket a small silver box and opened it, pulling out of it a small dark gray object that was two inches long.
"We apologize for the procedure, Mr. Burnett. But in the end, you'll be doing us a favor."
Looking as far right as he possibly could, Vince saw Williams push a small button on the object. A red light lit up, and he thought it saw it shake at first. Then, many little spike like objects broke out from the sides of the object, and they too began to move, and it all together started squirming. It looked like a small robotic centipede. Williams held it out and moved it closer to Vince's head. He started moving about, trying to escape, but to no avail, his efforts were futile. He tried to scream but could only let out a low grumble. Williams held the centipede over his right ear, and let go. Vince felt it drop into his ear and begin to squirm and wiggle it's way inside of his head. He started to freak out, moving and kicking violently and putting out as loud of a noise he could muster.
He screamed out loud as he jumped up in his bed. Cheryl jumped up next to him, scared out of her sleep. Vince sat there with no shirt on, and the rest of his body covered by the comforter. In a cold sweat, he panted for air as if he was holding his breath under the water for too long. He looked around the room frantically, trying to place himself, letting out small yells as he calmed down, each more quiet than the one before it until it reduced to a heavy breathing. Cheryl came to him and put her arms around him. She ran her right hand through his hair and placed her left hand on his chest.
"Vince! Vince, are you alright?"
"Wh-what...where, where am I?"
"Vince, it's me Cheryl, you were having a bad dream. You're here, home in bed."
"..Huh? A dream? No, I..I was at work, and the three guys, the feds, Williams, and Davis, and Miller. They put some thing in my ear, and.."
"No no, you're fine. You scared the *poop* out me."
His senses came back to him, he felt her bare breasts upon his left arm. He looked down to them, and then up into her eyes. Still breathing heavily, he looked over to the alarm clock beside his bed. It said 10:36. He frowned. "10:36? It was about a quarter to five when I left the office. When did I get home?"
"You came home around eight o'clock and said you were tired and we went to bed."
"Eight? What?" He couldn't remember walking in. "What did we do?"
"Well, we didn't go to sleep right away." She said in an implying tone. He raised his eyebrows. He didn't remember any sex either. Giving up, he shook his head. "It must have been a bad dream. Realistic to say the least, huh? You almost set off all the car alarms on the block." She said in a kidding voice.
"Have you ever had a dream where you couldn't tell if you were awake or in bed dreaming the whole thing?"
"What do you mean?"
"Like, it seems real, like this, right now, but you can't tell if you're dreaming or not. Kind of like when you have dreams and realize something was wrong and you were only in bed dreaming it up but you couldn't tell which one was a dream or not."
"Nope, never. You crazy head." She kissed his head on his temple and got up out of the bed. He looked over to her. Bare *CENSORED* naked he registered. "Where are you going?" He asked. "To get a drink," she answered. He decided he had to use the bathroom. He moved his legs over the side of the bed and sat up, realized he was naked too. Hm. He stood up and walked down the hallway into the bathroom. Standing over the toilet, he began to *CENSORED* and sighed, feeling exhausted and tired. He looked into the mirror at his reflection. He looked tired, he could tell in the way his eyes looked. When he finished, he stepped over to the right and rinsed his hands in some warm water.
As he stepped out, in the corner of his eye, he saw the mirror, and in the mirror, he saw his left ear, and it reminded him of his dream. He stepped back into the bathroom and leaned over the counter. Leaning forward, he turned his head so the right side faced the mirror, enough so he could still see when he shifted his eyes as far right as possible. He tilted his head in several directions in the light, looking for anything unnatural, like scars, or a cut, or a tiny mechanic centipede. Sighing after finding nothing, he shook his head, and turned the light off. Walking back out into the hallway, he went back into the room and saw Cheryl waiting for him in the bed. "Hey tough guy," she greeted him with. "Hi babe," he mumbled as he walked around to his dresser. He started taking out clothes and getting dressed.
"Where are you going?" she asked.
"I gotta go take care of something work related."
She sighed. "All you do is think of work," she claimed.
"Go to sleep," he answered. "You expect me to track down a nightclub owner during the daytime?"
(Continued in next post)
(Chapter 3 continued)
11:14PM
Since he didn't want to waste time brewing up coffee as a stimulant, Vince popped a caffeine pill once he got into his car and drove off. Tonight, his destination was Guiness Lake, in the Barrens District. He had a few questions for Indigo, the man who ran the joint at Club Dante, where he always liked to hang around. Vince had gone to him a few times in the past for information, and he needed his help with that again.
Westview, as the Barrens were formally known, was by no means as good looking as its actual name sounded, hence its new nickname. While the Slums District Vince was in the other day had a dirty, run down and dilapidated look of Urban decay to it, it was suddenly of admirable quality when compared to the Barrens. Regardless of this, people still lived and spent time there. An average person would wonder why, but Vince knew that the type of activity that went down in the Barrens, especially this late at night, was no cleaner that the area was. This was why he was paying Indigo a visit, because he had a good feeling Indigo would know about this new red pill substance that had come up.
Parallel parking the sidewalk opposite the club's front entrance, Vince switched off the ignition and opened the door. Before he got up out of the car though, he checked his pistol, making sure it had a full magazine with an additional round in the chamber, as usual. He'd never had to pull a gun on Indigo or threaten him before, having a well established undercover identity. However, the local gang in Guiness Lake, calling itself "The King's Men," has a persistent presence in the club and the entire Guiness Lake area. They protected the place and acted as Indigo's muscle, among other things Vince didn't have much trouble imagining. He stepped up out of his car, and closed the door, neglecting to lock it. If someone wanted to steal it, they would anyway.
He stepped up to the front door and waited as the Bouncer gave him the once-over. One of the most important things about going undercover was dressing like you weren't a cop. Vince did this in style, managing to look good no matter what the occasion or the disguise. The Bouncer nodded in acknowledgment.
"Been a while, Janus," he said in a deep, albeit greeting tone.
"Time's not something I have a lot of these days."
"You're not the only one. I've seen some nice ones walk in tonight, you'll have a nice selection," the Bouncer said with a grin.
Janus cut to the chase. "I gotta talk to Indigo."
Suddenly the Bouncer was all business. "What about?"
"Business as usual, what else?"
The Bouncer considered it. After a moment, he pulled a radio from his waistband, motioning to a fellow member of the King's Men to guard the door.
"Janus is here to see Indigo, says he's gotta talk." A few seconds passed while the Bouncer waited for the answer.
"Send him in," said an anonymous voice over the radio. The Bouncer nodded, and stepped aside. "He's in the back."
Janus, as he was known in these circles, nodded and walked inside. It was his undercover alias when dealing with these types of characters. He found irony in the alias he'd chosen, being that Janus was a god with two faces, and that was the same situation this Janus was in. One of these faces was Vince, the Mega City PD Narcotics Unit Detective. The other, his underground alter-ego, Janus. Although this was an undercover thing, he had to admit to himself that he let the lines blur sometimes. He enjoyed it. As Janus, he felt like he was free, free from the systematic routine that ruled everyone's daily lives.
Inside, the club was dark as any nightclub would be, with flashing strobes creating all sorts of different light pattern designs all over the place. Along with this, the techno music, and the pounding bass to go along with it. It seemed like the only sort of music you'd hear in this city's clubs, but Janus didn't let it get to him. He just blended in, something he considered himself good at. As if on instinct, his eyes scanned the club and all of its patrons, trying to assess any immediate threat. Right away he could pick out the gang members of The King's Men, posted all over the club and noticeable. It was obvious that they did a better job at deterring trouble makers when they were seen rather than being subtle.
He directed his eyes to the back of the club near the VIP sections, and it was almost as if Indigo was waiting for Janus to see him, because when he saw Indigo, he was looking right at him. Decked out in an outfit that was black and charcoal grey in color, he would have been nearly invisible in the darkness. However, the beanie cap he wore on his head was what made him distinguishable, something he was always seen wearing. Of course, this all was complimentary to the chilling stare on his face. When Indigo realized Janus had recognized him, suddenly his facial expression changed to seeing someone he was fond of, but not necessarily someone he missed. Upon waving him over, Janus cut through the crowd and made it over to his table.
"Well well, Janus, you finally show your face around here after how long? Doesn't matter, have a seat."
Janus knew the warm welcome was total bull, but he sat down and acted like he was happy to be there regardless. As far as Indigo knew, Janus was a man who knew things as good as he did, so their network of traded information was mutually-dependable one.
"So, to what do I owe the occasion?" Indigo inquired. He took a puff of his cigar, which Janus registered was strawberry flavored. Curled up next to him was one of the nice selection of ladies the Bouncer had mentioned earlier. Janus looked over Indigo's attire once more.
"You know, I would have expected you to wear something with a little purple in it, since you go by the name."
"Haha, what are you here for Janus, to give me fashion tips or talk matters? Besides, you're confused, it's my sister Violet that wears the color all the time."
Janus nodded with a grin. "Right, right. Anyway, speaking of all this color bull****," Janus began, a remark which made Indigo almost imperceptibly narrow his eyes as though he'd been insulted-- something Janus intended for, "There's a new drug being passed around that I don't know a source for. It's called 'the red pill,' you heard anything about it? Know where it's from, anything like that?"
Indigo seemed surprised at the mention of it, his eyebrows raising at the mere mention of the pill. Like Janus had reminded Indigo of something he knew very much about that hadn't crossed his mind in a while.
"The red pill, eh? Where'd this come up?"
Janus didn't like the way he'd put emphasis on the word red, but he didn't show it. "A friend of mine disappeared, and when I looked into it, it turned out that someone else was behind it. Said he'd give him the red pill."
"Is that right? Who's the other guy?"
"A guy who calls himself Irvine."
The look of familiarity on Indigo's face was so noticeable it was like shining a flashlight in someone's face. Janus knew he was onto something. Indigo sat there, pondering, but not saying anything just yet.
"Indigo," Janus called to him, trying to break him out of his trance. He snapped out of it and turned his attention to Janus. "Why did you say 'red' like that?"
Indigo grinned. "Cause the red pill's only half the bargain. There's also the blue pill."
The *blue* pill?! Janus thought to himself. *CENSORED*, this is bigger than we thought. Indigo cut in on his silent consideration, as though he knew what was going through Janus' head.
"You said Irvine offered your friend the red pill? That's why he disappeared. The blue pill is for people that want to stay behind."
The look on Janus' face had what-the-*CENSORED* written all over it. Indigo seemed amused.
"Not to worry though," he continued. "You don't give a *CENSORED* about what the pills do, you want to get in touch with the guy who's giving them out, correct?"
Janus nodded. Indigo was good for things like this. Through his large colorful family, he knew a lot of people.
"Yeah, I wanna see this guy. Can you set something up?"
"Oh, sure. I just need to make a few calls. Of course, there's the incentive I need to consider..."
"Yeah, you're worried about what you're getting out of it, I know." He reached into his jacket to grab something out, and a nearby King's Men member thought he was going for a weapon. When he moved in, Janus gave him a stare as he pulled out a small envelope, causing the gang member to stop in his tracks. It earned him a scolding look from Indigo, who motioned for him to get back in place with a simple tilt of his head. Janus placed the envelope down on the table before Indigo, who looked at it with curiosity.
"Inside the envelope you'll find some details on your father's agenda for the next week or so. Where he'll be, what he'll be up to, and when."
Indigo took the envelope with a smile, and nodded with a look of approval towards Janus. "Very good, you know what turns me on Janus. You'll get a call soon. Til next time."
"Right, thanks Indigo. Catch you later."
With that, Janus nodded to his host, got up from his seat, and made his way for the exit. When he stepped out, the Bouncer looked over at him as though he was wondering why that meeting went so fast. Janus smirked with a smart-*CENSORED* smile. "Business as usual."
The Bouncer shrugged, and got back to his guard duty as Janus stepped into his car, turned on the ignition, and drove off.
"Nice work," he said as he looked at himself in the rear view mirror. "One step closer to Irvine."
12-8-03
2:13PM
Vince sat at his desk in his office again. He'd quit thinking of his dream experience and more about what it was that apparently got him into that situation: the Matrix. Accessing the FBI's database, since nothing could be found in the precinct's, he entered 'the Matrix' into the search field. The results that came up were interesting, enough to cause his eyebrows to raise. They were almost scary. All cases and information with any mention of the term 'the Matrix' were all missing persons cases, the evidence of such mention of the Matrix found at the site of supposed kidnapping. None of them mentioned Irvine though. He tapped his fingers on his desk. Obviously, whatever this Matrix was, it was all related to people that turned up missing. Where did they go? He sat back at his chair and looked over at the shelves with all the binders on them and noticed a dictionary. He arched a brow, and pushed over in his swivel chair, grabbed the dictionary from the shelf, and rolled back over to his desk. Flipping through the pages, he looked up the word Matrix and read the following:
"ma·trix or ma·trix·es
A situation or surrounding substance within which something else originates, develops, or is contained: "Freedom of expression is the matrix, the indispensable condition, of nearly every form of freedom" (Benjamin N. Cardozo).
The womb.
Anatomy.
The formative cells or tissue of a fingernail, toenail, or tooth.
See ground substance.
Geology.
The solid matter in which a fossil or crystal is embedded.
Ground mass.
A mold or die.
The principal metal in an alloy, as the iron in steel.
A binding substance, as cement in concrete.
Mathematics. A rectangular array of numeric or algebraic quantities subject to mathematical operations.
Something resembling such an array, as in the regular formation of elements into columns and rows.
Computer Science. The network of intersections between input and output leads in a computer, functioning as an encoder or a decoder.
Printing.
A mold used in stereotyping and designed to receive positive impressions of type or illustrations from which metal plates can be cast. Also called mat2.
A metal plate used for casting typefaces.
An electroplated impression of a phonograph record used to make duplicate records."
Shaking his head, he couldn't make any sense of it. He put down the dictionary and asked himself again, What is the Matrix? His phone rang. He picked it up and put it up to his ear.
"Detective Vince Burnett."
"Is this Janus?" A mysterious voice asked over the phone. He recognized the voice. However, he wasn't sure.
"Who is this?"
"You already know who I am, Janus. You wanted to meet?"
"Irvine."
"Yeah. You must be saying to yourself, 'I finally come into contact with this bastard', hm? You've been searching for me for over a year now."
Vince looked over to Howard's office, and all around the floor, looking for someone to help him get a trace on Irvine's location. "How'd you get this number?"
"Don't bother trying to record and trace this phone call, you won't find me. I'm far beyond your reach, but if things turn out right, it won't stay that way for too much longer."
He looked around, trying to see if anyone was watching him and pranking his phone. Seeing no one, he went over to his window and looked out. Hundreds of windows from dozens of buildings. He could be anywhere.
"I'm not outside either. The question of why or how I can see what you're doing, or how I know your 'real' name is probably driving you crazy, but we both know that there's another question driving you even more crazy."
"What?"
"You know what the question is, Janus. But you've been bugged, and that unfortunately cuts our time short. I'll be in touch."
"But wait a minute!"
"I can't afford to, always been short on time to begin with."
The line went dead. He took the phone from his head and looked at it before placing it back upon the receiver. He sat back in his chair and tried to make sense of what just happened. He'd actually spoken to the guy, who somehow knew exactly what he was doing and thinking. He didn't get it. What the *CENSORED* was that?
Chapter 4: You never see it coming
Without realizing that he was staring at the floor in his deep thought, Vince knew Indigo came through. Soon. He shook his head. Now he knew he was out there, but he hadn't the slightest idea as to where. He looked back up at his computer monitor and saw the search results and remembered what he was doing before he had gotten the phone call. Finding out what the Matrix was. He looked over out the window across the floor to Howard's office again. How many times have I looked over there in the past few days? He got up out of his chair and exited his office and went over and knocked on the Howard's door and was greeted with an immediate "Come in". He stepped inside and closed the door behind him. Howard looked up from whatever it was he was doing at the moment and blinked as he took a moment to see who came in. "Whatcha got, Vince?" he asked. He seems calm.
"I just did a search on the FBI's database for the Matrix. Every case that came up was related by one specific factor other than mention of the Matrix."
"Yeah? What, what is it?"
"They're all missing persons cases. Every single one."
"This looks like it's deeper than just one guy who fell off the face of the earth with a drug dealer. Something's not right here."
"You have any suggestions?"
"Well you said all of the cases related to the term Matrix were all filed as missing persons cases. Obviously your friend isn't the only one doing all of the disappearing acts, so there's more like him out there, meaning that going after one guy might be a waste of time."
"A waste of time? People are disappearing and leaving no trace as to where they go and all we get to do is play around with our thumbs up our asses trying to figure out what the Matrix is."
"Yeah, yeah, I know, this isn't any walk in the park it's been happening all over the place it seems. Okay then, listen. You're in charge of this now."
"What do you mean I'm in charge of it?"
"The whole missing persons thing with the Matrix, I want you to lead the case."
"I'm a narc, I don't work in missing persons why don't you hand it over to them?"
"Because this Irvine guy is still in your hands and you've got a lead now."
Vince sighed. His facial expression became that of one who was concerned or worried about something else other than the situation at hand, as he thought about Irvine's phone call once again.
"What's the matter with you?"
He snapped out of it. "Wha-Oh, nothing, I'm fine. Yeah, I'll see what I can do with this. If I don't find anything you'll be the first to know about it."
"Do whatever you gotta do to find out where these people are going, who Irvine is, and what the Matrix is. Find out by any means necessary."
"Alright." Vince looked at the clock. It was 5:50. His shift ended at 6:00. "Hey I'm gonna get outta here okay?"
"What? Oh, yea, that's fine, see you tomorrow." said Howard, already putting his attention toward something else on his desk. He was busy in paperwork. Vince stepped out and went back into his office. He turned off his computer, and as he walked out of his office, he shut the door behind him and locked it. After he made it downstairs and went outside, he began walking over to his car. He reached into his pocket for his keys, and then his cell phone rang. He took it out and flipped it open.
"I did say I would contact you soon."
Vince had a double take. "Irvine!!"
"You sound excited. And now it looks as if you're searching for me more now than you ever have in the past."
"How long have you been watching me?"
"Questions, questions. That's irrelevant."
"Questions?! You act like you think I'd have none!"
"Well, I did know you would have questions, and you'll have more soon, but I was looking for something more specific. I hear you're interested in the red pill."
I know what he wants to hear.
"Yeah. What is the Matrix?"
"Aha. Now we have progress."
"What is it?"
"I can't tell you what it is. You have to see it for yourself."
"The Matrix is pervasive, it's all around you. You're staring at it as we speak. It's right under your nose. You've been living these past 29 years oblivious to its existence. It has you Janus. I can help you escape, but only if you want me to."
Vince considered this. Help me escape..?
"So where's this meeting going to take place?"
"Are you sure you're ready for the truth? I think you are, but I won't force you to do this."
"I'm sure."
"We'll meet tonight at 1:00. In Kedemoth there is a nightclub called Club Duality. I found it appropriate, don't you? I'll be inside. Until then, keep dreaming."
Irvine had hung up the phone before Vince could ask another question. He looked at his phone, and thought about what he said. He looked down the street as he put his phone in his pocket. He turned his head and looked in the opposite direction. He looked at the buildings in front of him, the cars parked alongside the street, and then all around him. Nothing seemed at all strange. Pervasive? He shrugged and moved to climb into his car, started the ignition, and drove off.
6:00PM
When he got out of the car, he slammed the door shut, but in the process, dropped his keys. When he kneeled down to pick him up, he thought he saw someone standing on the street corner in the corner of his eye. Maybe he's waiting to cross the street. After picking up his keys, he stood up and turned his head toward the person standing there. In a second, he scanned the man from head to toe. Black suit, white shirt, tie, glasses. Staring at him. Williams?! He had a double take. Then, a group of people walked in front of the man who was supposedly Agent Williams. When they'd passed by, he was gone. Vince looked in the direction he stood for a moment and shook his head. Just a dream... just a dream. He turned and crossed the street, and then walked up the steps to the apartment complex lobby and stepped inside. Down the block on the sidewalk on Vince's side of the street this time rather than the opposite stood Agent Williams, watching silently. A couple passed him by, and when he saw Vince make it inside the building, his right hand went up to the ear plug. He took a moment, registering whatever instructions it was that was coming over the link.
"Subject is inside home. Irvine nowhere in proximity. We will continue to watch Mr. Burnett until further instructions are received."
With that, he turned and walked away down the street, amidst every other non suspecting person.
1:00AM
Kedemoth
Pulling up in front of Club Duality, turning the engine off, and checking his gun all seemed like Deja-vu to Vince. He'd only just done this the night before, and although he was in a different area of the city, it didn't matter. The same setup. Meet in the club, discuss business, see where it goes. But unlike his meeting with Indigo, this wasn't for information. This was it. The break in the case, meeting the man he'd been searching for for a year now. He shook his head. Vince was going to sit this one out. Game time.
He had parked down the street from the club's front entrance, so he began walking down the sidewalk toward the place. It was crowded, but it didn't get to him. He noticed someone walk up alongside him to his right, dressed in rather outlandish fashion that seemed cool for being so out of the ordinary. He thought nothing of it until he saw another one in front of him, walking in his direction. Instinctively, he looked down to his side and noticed someone was also behind him, and didn't have to think twice about the person on his left. Not only were these people following him, they had him boxed in. He knew something was up, but he also knew they did too, based on their configuration. They had the drop on him, it seemed.
"Janus," the one on his right spoke. "Stay silent. Don't turn your head to look at any of us, focus on the sidewalk and just keep walking straight," he said. "We're what you might call friends of Irvine. We're taking you to him."
"We know you're armed," the one in front of him said. "So don't try anything funny. This is for our protection. Once we get you inside the club, head to the back. Irvine will be waiting for you there."
In his silent compliance, Janus offered no argument. They approached the door, and the man in front of this escort squadron presented some sort of card to the Bouncer. Upon examining it, he handed it back and stepped aside, allowing the group entry. Once inside, flashing strobe and laser lights pierced the darkness, with smoke machines doing their thing. Along with this, the fast paced, booming, almost hypnotic techno music.
"Rise FM, broadcasting LIVE from Club Duality! The 24/7, 365, off the hook stay up FOREVER party venue! WE MAKE YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE," the DJ yelled into his microphone, drawing loud cheers from those on the dance floor.
One of the escorts nudged Janus with his elbow, so he turned to look.
"He's in the back, behind the doors. Be careful in here, there's a lot of exiles in the joint."
"Exiles?"
The man smiled behind his sunglasses, something Janus thought strange for him to be wearing in this dark club.
"Never mind about that for now. Maybe we'll see you around again," the stranger said, before disappearing into the crowd. Janus pondered for a second, after realizing the rest of the team escorting him had also fell out of sight. Now alone, he turned and looked toward the doorway Irvine was supposed to be waiting behind. Wasting no time, he went straight to them, a set of tinted glass doors that you couldn't see through, like windows on a limousine. He pushed them upon and stepped inside. And the greeting he received wasn't what he expected.
(Chapter 4 continued)
Irvine stood in the center of the room with his arms crossed. He wore a simple three piece black suit, the jacket of which was knee length. His shirt underneath was red wine colored, with a matching tie. He grinned upon Janus' entry. "You finally showed up."
Besides Irvine, there were four other people waiting there with him. Three of them had guns pointed at Janus. He stood wide eyed looking at each of them trying to figure out what he'd just gotten himself into. One of these people was a black man that was maybe an inch taller than Vince was. He had a mustache, and sunglasses covering his eyes like the rest of them. His hair was short cut, almost like a soldier's would be but with the curled hair of a black man. He wore a leather ankle length trench coat. Under this was a black bullet proof vest made with leather covering the kevlar, and under that, what could be a black long or short sleeve shirt. He wore a generic pair of black pants that looked like they were made of denim and were slightly baggy, and pair of boots that looked like they were made from the Lugz company. He noticed a cylindric silver and black colored sword hilt that obviously belong to a sword coming up behind his head, strapped on his back. Black gloves covered his hands. But what Janus took major note of was the MP5-K with a 15 round clip that he had pointed in his face. He looked from the barrel of the gun, to the black guy's face. He had no facial expression.
Janus then looked to the next one. A female of oriental descent who was petite in size. Her jet black hair was tied back into a long french braid that went down to her waist line. She wore a skin tight body suit made of black spandex, and it was all one piece for ease of motion. Her boots were also skin tight and they looked like they were a part of the body suit except you could tell it was thicker leather material. They were definitely feminine, made for quick and agile activity, and they went as high as her calf. Over this body suit she wore a small leather jacket. She had a Walther PPK chambered for .380ACP aimed right between his eyes. The sunglasses made her look as if she were a stone cold killer. If the shoe fits..
He looked onto the last person aiming a gun at him. Another female. This one was about an inch taller than Cheryl was. Her hair was red, and up in a ponytail. She wore a skintight red and black leather pants, and a black leather corset, over which she wore a red vest. She stared at him through her red-tinted sunglasses as she held a Beretta 85FS aimed at his face in her hand. She wore gloves over her hands with the fingers cut half way.
Then there was the last thug of Irvine's pack. This one seemed laid back, or not at all worried or concerned about Vince than the other three did. Unlike the others with black or dark brown hair, this man had slicked back platinum blonde hair. He had black sunglasses in his own style like the others did on his face, along with an observant expression.. He had a long, ankle length black coat on. Under the coat he wore a black dress shirt with a raised collar that stopped just under his jaw, and over this, a vest. Under the collar of the dress shirt he wore a dark violet tie. The coat itself had no buttons to hold it closed but instead there was a gold chain that was attached and fastened at about the same level as the middle of his chest. The vest itself had gold buttons rather than black. Instead of a gun, his weapon of choice was a Katana, which was approximately 29 inches long, encased in a black sheath with gold thread wrapped around the base. He wore black gloves on his hands. His pants were black dress pants, and he wore black dress shoes with them. Rather than being ready to kill Janus at the first sign, he had the sword at his front with his hands placed over the top of the hilt, as if it were a cane. This man was Anubis, the man known in the MCPD precinct as Daniel Lancaster.
Out gunned, and outnumbered, Janus knew he had no chance. "Alright. Alright," he said to signify his surrender. Removing his gun slowly from his jacket holster, he released the magazine from the gun and let it drop to the floor with a *CHANG*. He slowly brought his free hand up to the slide on his gun, and pulled it back, ejecting the last round from the chamber. It fell to the floor and bounced once before finally resting. Then he dropped the gun itself. However, the three people still had their guns pointed up at him. He looked over at Irvine.
"What's the deal?" He asked, raising his arms.
"You've been bugged, you're being watched. This is for the safety of everyone here. Kira,"
Vince arched a brow when Irvine said Kira, but then realized he was talking to one of the people holding a gun to him. The one wearing the black and red leather put her gun into the holster and stepped towards him. He turned to face her. She pulled a syringe like object out from her coat and Vince eyed it skeptically.
"What is that?"
"Don't move." She answered with a serious tone. She brought the syringe up to his right ear and pushed it in. He started to worry, and heard a loud whining noise. She pulled back on the "pump" part of the syringe and the next thing he knew it felt like someone jammed a Q-Tip into his ear and pulled it out. Slightly stunned, he put his hand up to to his ear and looked at the syringe. His eyes widened with horror. Inside the syringe, the metallic centipede that Agent Williams dropped into his ear in his "dream" squirmed around inside like a trapped animal until it seemingly died and was lifeless and still. Kira threw the syringe away. Vince's hand was still over his ear.
"That thing was real?!" he yelled out, looking to Kira for an answer. She said nothing and stared at him again. The others hadn't yet dropped their guns. Irvine put up his hand.
"Blade, Solitaire, please, put your weapons down. Our friend here is no longer a danger."
In the respective order their names were mentioned, Blade and Solitaire put their weapons away under their coats. They turned their heads toward Irvine, and he smiled.
"Now, Janus, time to get to business. You probably feel as if you've gotten yourself caught up into something you have no knowledge about, but strangely, it doesn't feel wrong, no?"
"..Yeah."
"When we last spoke you asked me what the Matrix was."
Janus nodded.
"Do you really want to know what it is?"
"You're lookin' at it."
A puzzled look came across Janus' face, to Irvine's amusement.
"The Matrix is all around you. Here, now. On the dance floor. Outside, all over the place. You see it everywhere. When you drive your car. When you go to the precinct. When you have sex with your girlfriend. I told you earlier, it's pervasive. You would never know of it's existence until now. It's a deception, leading you to believe that you're living a peaceful regular life in the early 21st century. Sometimes, you can sense it, like there's something big or important around the corner, but it never comes. This can change."
Janus knew this feeling Irvine was talking about, about feeling so close yet so far from something you knew was there but couldn't see or know in any way. It wasn't something he only experienced at work. It was a feeling he had for as long as he could remember.
"It can?"
"Yes, if you want it to. I'm giving you the option to get out of the Matrix, and free your mind. Either that, or you can stay here in the Matrix and live the same life you've been living every day where you wake up, go to work, come home, spend time with your girlfriend, go to sleep, and start it over again the next day."
Janus looked at him and thought it over. This talk of truth and another world wasn't something he expected. He was anticipating a drug exchange, but the things he said had effect. They summoned idle thought Janus had always had about this life and place, idle thoughts that were buried and pushed aside by the life his work put him into. Irvine could see he was considering his words.
"Have you ever felt like you dreaming, and couldn't tell if what you experienced was real?"
What is this guy a mind reader? Janus remembered his experience with the Agents, and how life after that seemed aloof. "All the time."
"Would you like to wake up and find out?"
Janus arched a brow. He had no idea where this was going. "...Yeah."
Irvine reached into his pocket and pulled out a small silver case, and poured its contents into his hand.
"This is it Janus. You've been searching for me for a year, and here we are. Once we've reached this point, there is no going back."
Janus continued to pay attention. The pain in his ear was killing him.
"You said you wanted the red pill..." he began, and opened his hand to revealed to Janus both the red and blue pills Indigo had mentioned to him the night earlier.
"If you take it, everything will change. Everything you've known your whole life will be revealed for what it really is. There is no going back. If you take the blue pill, the road ends here. You wake up in your bed, as if this was another dream, and keep living your life as you have been, searching for that which you cannot find. Choose your destiny."
Janus stared at the pills. After a moment, he reached out and took the red pill from Irvine's palm. He noticed that Irvine and the rest of his crew had their eyes on him, including Lancaster. He couldn't not take the thing now, it wasn't like he could put it in his pocket, go home, and say "I'll get back to you." Without any other option, he gathered saliva in his mouth, placed the pill on his tongue, and swallowed.
"Just a moment," Irvine said. He took a cell phone out from the inside of his coat and pressed a release button, and the face shield snapped up. He pushed a button on the phone and brought it up to his ear. It rang and the person on the other end picked up.
"Operator."
"Glitch, are you tracking him?"
"We got him, we see where he is, we just have to wait for him to 'die'."
"Very funny. Is the exit ready?"
"It's all set-- what the..."
A look of concern came over Irvine's face upon hearing this. After seeing this, Janus, and the rest of Irvine's crew looked to him to see what the problem was.
"What's the matter?" Irvine asked.
"GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE! AGENTS AND SWAT ARE CONVERGING ON YOUR POSITION NOW!!" Glitch screamed.
Without further comment, Irvine closed his phone and looked to his team. "Agents and SWAT are inbound, we gotta move."
"A *blinking*' sting operation?! He set us up!" Blade said in disbelief as he moved for the door.
"No, they probably tracked him here without anyone realizing it. Get to the Kedemoth Central exit," Irvine said. He turned to Janus, who was trying to figure out what was happening. "Janus, this goes against procedure but we have no choice, get out of here as fast as you can. We'll come back for you." With that, he turned and hurried for the rear exit the rest of his team had already escaped through.
"What the *CENSORED*'s going on?!" Janus yelled after him in confusion. Then, from the inside of the club, he heard yelling. He turned to look out the tinted glass doors of the VIP room and saw a team of men dressed in tactical gear clearing out the club, and coming in through the doors after them were three men he immediately recognized: Agents Williams, Davis, and Miller.
"Oh *CENSORED*!" he exclaimed, before escaping out the rear entrance as well. Without taking time to look back, he ran as fast as he could down the street. Outside it was dark, cold, and it had started to rain. Irvine and his team were nowhere in sight. He felt fear and adrenaline pushing him to run faster, and he felt lighter on his feet. He didn't know where to run, just that he had to get away and hide. The fear of knowing someone was chasing you, and that you had to get away by any means necessary was no stranger to him. He'd had dreams of this all the time throughout his life, running to get away from someone chasing him, and pulling all sorts of stunts like jumping extremely far and high distances to do so. That was something he wished he could do now. He knew those three Agents weren't on his team or looking out for his best interest. They'd used him to find Irvine. But now that Irvine was apparently safe, the only thing Janus was worried about now was getting himself out alive, having never fully known was he was getting himself into. He blamed himself for being foolish and impulsive, and told himself he should have known better.
His throat was getting cold, and now about three blocks away from the club, he was running out of breath from breaking into a sporadic top speed run. He heard someone calling out behind him.
"There's no use running, Mr. Burnett. You're only making things more difficult."
No way! He thought in his mind. How had they already caught up with him? Did they even bother to check through everyone else in the club? How did they manage to cover this distance so quickly? It wasn't possible, he told himself. Nevertheless, he continued to run, into the night, and the uncertain darkness that was ahead. He twisted down alley ways, hopped over fences, ran through moving traffic. He was feeling tired. His vision was getting blurry. He didn't understand why, until finally he remembered the red pill. What the hell was it anyway? Janus had no idea what kind of narcotic it was supposed to be, because right now it was giving off the effects of a large dosage of sleeping medication. By now he'd ran into the Moriah Projects area, and was crossing over a metal bridge that went over water. Ahead, suddenly, it seemed as though the bridge had vanished and a cyclone opened in the water, into which he was being sucked in like a vacuum. Was this some hallucination side effect the red pill? This is the Matrix? He felt his balance go, and he started to fall down forward. He blacked out.
(Chapter 4 concluded -- didn't realize it was this long!)
An hour had passed since Irvine and his crew had jacked out of the Matrix. They had to take emergency protocol procedures and drop from broadcast depth, and then locate a new place to hide the ship. It was either that, or sentinels would have came and destroyed them all. Now, the team was hunched over and crowded around the construct display monitors, watching.
"What's going on?" Kira asked, trying to read the screen.
"Looks like they're in the middle of refreshing the Matrix. All the code is renewing itself and starting it over, I'm seeing glitches and changes all over the place," Glitch said.
"Where's Janus?" Irvine asked. "Did they get him?"
"Hold on, lemme trace his signal. Hopefully the red pill didn't cut him off or cause him to wake up, or else he's dead," Glitch said as he banged away at the keys. After a short period of lag, he finally located Janus. "There he is. Looks like he's asleep in his bed. I guess they relocated him."
"He must have passed out," Solitaire added.
"Wait, wait a minute. Look," Irvine pointed out.
Glitch watched, and then a look of confusion washed over his face. "He's... moving? That's impossible."
"Why is that impossible?" Anubis asked.
"Because when the machines give the Matrix a refresh they're just cleaning out all the small glitches or sectors that display bugs. During this time, all bluepills are put to sleep."
"Put to sleep?"
"They can't wake up, they're put into a state of mind where it's like they're asleep in bed having a regular dream."
"How do the machines fabricate the dream?"
"It's a playback composed of whatever you did for the last 24 hours before the refresh."
"So what's the big deal?"
"Our friend here has somehow awoken during the refresh period, he shouldn't have been able to do that. It's like waking yourself up out of the Matrix."
"So he's sleepwalking..." Kira concluded.
"I guess so. Still, I don't know he managed to pull it off." Glitch said.
"We've gotta go in and get him." Irvine said. His words were like two cymbals being smashed together during a moment of silence. His crew looked at him.
"What are you nuts? That's never been attempted, ever." Blade said. "We could die in the process, we don't know how stable the uplink is."
"The uplink is going to be fine."
"How do you know!?" Blade returned.
"He's still alive. And if we intend to keep him that way, we've gotta go get him before Agents kill him."
"Uh, Captain," Glitch said. "I don't know if you know, or care, but our computers on this ship have been all *CENSORED* up recently. Either the hardware's screwed up and we need repairs or we need a firmware update, but they just haven't been cooperating. So if they cut out while you're in there, well..."
"Just shut up and jack me in already."
"Will do, Sir."
Janus stumbled around. He didn't know what was happening to him. His vision was blurry. He saw the hallway and his hands in front of him extended forward as though he could see through a vertigo effect, but he didn't feel his body moving forward. He felt like he was drunk and delirious at the same time. He could see what he was doing but he felt as though he had no control. The air in his lungs tasted like it was coming out of an air conditioner, but he couldn't feel any air in the atmosphere at all.
Where... where am I...? What's going on?
He made it outside of his apartment, by some virtue of not falling down the stairs on the way down. He tried to look around and take in his surroundings. All he saw was darkness, all around. Not a pitch black darkness, but the light was very dim, like walking around in the middle of the night. Cars on the road weren't moving, as though they were stuck in traffic. No people were around.
Where the hell is everybody? Why can't I move right?
Now, he was walking in the middle of the street, and noticed something he didn't seem to have caught onto.
What's that...?
It looked as though spots of reality were dissolving, revealing green strands of shapes, running over the surface of every single thing he could see. The shapes were changing every second.
What the hell is going on?!
And then, he heard a voice. It was behind him. His head felt like it was spinning as he tried to turn around.
"Janus. Come to me. It's safe."
That's Irvine's voice...
Before him, he saw Irvine. His vision began to get more blurry. He felt like he was staggering forward.
"Irvine.. what's happening...?"
"It's all a dream, Janus. And the whole world is in it."
"A dream..?"
"Come to me Janus, this way."
Irvine went to Janus and slung his arm over his shoulder to help him along. What he saw was odd. Everything in the Matrix looked as it should, but along with the darkness, everything was blurring as though he had slight double vision, and he noticed that there were patches of coding all over, giving the world a decayed look. No doubt that it was part of the repair process, with code renewing itself. It made things difficult to see, but it was easy for him to move around and find his way.
Janus had no balance however. He was still disoriented from the effects of the red pill. Finally, they reached the same phone booth exit Irvine used to get in. Lucky for him it was just around the sidewalk from Janus' location. He put Janus into the phone booth.
"I hope this thing rings..." Irvine said to himself. The phone rang with a noisy echo effect added to it. For a moment, Irvine worried an Agent might show up, but he remembered how all the bluepills were in a sort of stasis mode, this preventing an Agent program from entering someone's body. He picked up the phone and held it to Janus' ear.
"Irvi--..." Janus disappeared.
Catch you in the real, comrade, Irvine thought to himself.
Janus shook as if he was scared out of his sleep from his leg falling off the side of the bed. The world was just a dream...?
Something felt... wrong.
He looked down in front of him and saw his hands. Everything was red. There were tubes. He was confused. He saw a flash of light above and raised his hands toward it. He pushed up at what felt like some sort of sheet of jello. It stretched, and he put all of his effort into trying to break out of it, but all of his strength had left him. Finally, he broke out from the womb that held him in and sat up and leaned forward. There was some sort of a hose attached to his face. He pulled it off and he took a deep breath but fell forward with the weight of the tube and accidentally inhaled some of the red goo and closed his eyes. He began to cough and leaned over whatever it was he was sitting in the get it out of his mouth so he could breath.
He opened his eyes and his vision came into focus. He saw hundreds of thousands of red pods with people sleeping in them. He looked to his left and to his right. More naked bodies with tubes attached to them, each in an individual pod of red fluid. He looked down at himself. The tubes were attached to him to. And suddenly, as he looked in front of him and upwards to see colossal towers lined with millions of the pods, he realized that he wasn't dreaming anymore. He felt awake.
This is real...?
Lighting struck in the sky, the flash of light hurting his eyes. Static shocks burst randomly in between pods everywhere. The sky was black, charred, as if it were burnt. He looked down below and saw no floor.
Where am I....Where's Irvine?
He turned his head to look around but felt something holding his head back. He reached behind slowly and felt a large cable plugged into his head.
What..
Suddenly, a large machine rose up in front of him and extended four large legs from his body. It scared the hell out of Janus, he had never seen anything like it before. Then, it released a huge arm that was strangling him by his throat. A camera eye extended forward as if it were examining him. The plug in the back of his head detached it self and it felt like someone scratching nails on a chalk board. As a result of this feeling combined with fear, he began to twitch furiously. When the cable fell out, the machine let go and flew away.
Janus braced himself on his pod trying to breath. Then suddenly every other tube on his body had burst off, and it hurt, it felt like being shot, and he moved and jolted about as if that was happening to him. Then, something else happened. His pod drained, and he was sliding down some sort of a chute. He had no control. Nothing to grab onto. He was just falling.
Finally he was shot out of this chute and ejected into a pool of murky water. He tried to swim, but he couldn't. There was a bright light above. He reached for it as his muscles tired out, and he could no longer keep himself up. He began to sink, but a large crane came down from the light above and grabbed him just as his hand was about to go under. It reeled him up into the light, and then he heard a loud slam behind him as if something shut.
He could barely see. He was in some sort of a room. There was a blue tint everywhere. Someone was carrying him. Whoever it was had set him so all could see them. Then he saw them all: Irvine, Blade, Anubis, Solitaire, Kira, and two others he did not know. They were no longer dressed in black. Irvine came over him and spoke gently.
"Welcome to the Real World, Janus."
His vision and hearing blurred. He was cold. He passed out and fell once again into an abyss of darkness.
Chapter 5: A Pirate's life for me
Date: Unknown
Time: Unknown
Area: Tunnels of the Real
Janus lay on a table, completely bare except for the cloth covering his groin. The table was lined with white fluorescent light bulbs, giving off bright white light. The part Janus was laying on was covered by a thin white sheet. Small antennae were attached to each side of his head at his temples. In the time that passed, his eyebrows and eyelashes had grown in, with only a little bit of the hair on his head apparent. His head rested on a pillow. Irvine, Anubis, Kira, and another man all stood around the table watching over him.
Rather than their crafty black clothing they were wore when Janus first ran into them, they were now all dressed in rag like clothing. Black combat boots covered all of their feet, and they wore combat pants in several dark shades.
Irvine was wearing dark blue pants and a white baggy, raggy shirt that looked like it was made of homespun cloth but now tarnished. His hair was more messy in appearance than it was in the Matrix. Anubis was dressed in a brown shirt with black pants, and had short blonde hair still growing in.
Kira dressed in a black tanktop and black pants, her hair as long as it appeared in the Matrix, but not as treated looking. There were black plugs visible on her arms placed every few inches.
The other man standing there looked to be of haitian decent. He wore an outfit of fatigues, a B.D.U. jacket with cut off sleeves and combat pants in a matching dark shade of olive green. Under his vest he wore a black t-shirt, and combat boots of the same color like the others. He wore black knuckle gloves on his hands. His dreadlocks were tied back under a black bandana, and the surplus cloth that made up the knot was nearly as long as the dreadlocks themselves, which ran down to the base of his neck.
This man's name was Marley, and he was a ship crew assistant like Glitch, the operator. When the others were jacked into the Matrix, he would help out Glitch while he was operating, and that included anything from unplugging the others from their chairs, or piloting the ship when the ship was under Sentinel attack & pursuit while Glitch worked as fast as he could to set up an exit to get the rest out of the Matrix ASAP. He'd also help when none of them were in the Matrix, like piloting the ship or manning a turret. Sometimes if Glitch was piloting, Marley would sit in as Operator himself. The room they all stood in was an infirmary.
A fluorescent light hung above the table. There were medical supplies and cabinets here and there, and some monitors and consoles displaying the readings being taken from the antennae on Janus' head, such as heart rate, brain waves, and other important conditions that would be monitored on a newborn. The floor was solid steel, as well as the bulkheads. Black conduits ran across the ceiling, as well as pipes and mainlines, with some wires on the floor as well. A small cart stood beside the table, on which was several medical tools.
Janus opened his eyes, barely, and he squinted. He couldn't look around much, but he saw the others standing over him. He recognized Irvine, but Anubis and Kira were out of his path of vision. Marley looked down and made eye contact when he noticed Janus had awakened. He tried to speak, and could only do so in a whisper.
"What's going on?"
"Relax buddy, we're rebuilding your muscles." Marley answered. "You got a while to go yet."
"Irvine? Where am I?"
"We'll explain everything to you later, Janus. Sleep for now."
His head barely moved, but it was Janus' effort to nod. He closed his eyes, and in a matter of seconds he fell back into sleep. Hours passed. Every so often, Janus' body would twitch as a result of his nerves reacting to the muscle rebuilding process.
Irvine looked over to Anubis and Kira and nodded, and they left the room to go elsewhere on the ship. As Marley and Irvine removed needles from his body they placed them into a small basin filled with a sterilizing fluid. Marley yawned and rubbed sweat from getting into his eyes, his forehead reflecting the fluorescent light. Irvine looked up to him and cracked his knuckles.
"We have a lot of work to do still," he said to him in an assuring tone.
Marley nodded and looked down at Janus, who was still asleep. "How much longer you think this is gonna take?"
"An hour or two maybe. The hard part's over. All we have to do is get the rest of these needles out, and then work on the plugs."
"The plugs..." Marley said in a mumble, as if he had something against them. Irvine raised a brow.
"They look freaky."
Irvine gave him a look that said "Don't go there."
Marley chuckled and shook his head. "Come on let's finish this guy up."
And so they continued working, and it took them two more hours to finish. After removing all of the acupuncture pins, they moved on to working on the plugs all over his body. This included closing up every plug on his body, except for the one located on the back of his head. The reason for this was to stop anything from getting into his blood stream that shouldn't have been there and to prevent infection.
When they finished, they covered him up in a cloth to keep him warm and left him sleeping on the table. The rest of the crew was busy attending to ship maintenance, monitoring sentinel activity, attending to themselves, whatever they could do to keep themselves busy, while Irvine and Marley did the surgery. When they came out of the room, they met on the main deck.
Here, the floor was made out of grated metal. Wires and conduits were all over the place. They ran across the floor, they ran along the walls, they hung from the ceiling, from the bridge up above that was part of the upper level of the ship. There were pipes everywhere. Metal supports all over the place, and they all had a burnt or tarnished look. Pipes were all over, huge pipes connected by flanges or thin pipes connected with through welding.
The main structure was the core. Every chair from which someone would sit in to be jacked into the Matrix was wired to this core. Several monitors were attached to it, about four per chair, and with these came a keypad, for keying in certain modifications and configuration set ups. Not far off from the core was the Operator's station, a plethora of monitors and several keyboards all connected together by many wires. It was a mess. But a clean mess at the same time.
"How's he doin'?" Blade asked, crossing his arms and standing tall. Here in the real world his hair was more natural looking. His eyes were gray, and he wore a dark gray sleeveless shirt and dark brown combat pants and the black boots. Everyone had black boots, it went without saying. He tilted his head slightly.
"He's alright now. His vitals are normal and he's doing okay. We still have to put some clothes on him and put him into his bed." Irvine answered.
Anubis took a seat in one of the chairs and took a moment to scratch behind his ears. He never said much to anyone and was rather anti-social. He seemed to have no care at all about the new crew member, and continued on lukewarm about it as usual with most things. Solitaire stood hanging onto a pipe with her right hand. She had a white tank top and blue pants on with suspenders, her hair done up in a high ponytail. "So, what's he gonna do for us?"
"Right now there's not much he can do, but it brings one more guy onto our side once we get him trained and everything. Besides, he wanted out." Irvine replied.
Kira sat there listening. "So what's that mean, he's just as effective as we are? That's not saying much," she said.
"With our position, with the way things are looking, I know what you mean. But he wanted the truth so I wasn't gonna deny him the fact." He looked over to Marley. "Marley, go help Glitch with the sentinel watch. I'm going to put Janus in his bed. Later, we'll give him orientation."
Marley nodded and walked off with a "Yes, Sir." Irvine went off to tend to Janus, and Marley made his way over to Glitch.
Glitch was young looking, about 25 years old. He was caucasian, and stood 6'0 in height. He had short combed back black hair, and wore a dark gray baggy shirt with blue combat pants, a headset, and brown leather gloves cut short at the finger. He nodded over to Marley.
"Whatcha got?" he asked.
"Ah nothing, Cap told me to come and help you, what's new?"
Glitch shook his head and looked at the three large central monitors displaying scrolling code strands that represented the Matrix. "Nothing special really. System refresh is finished, copper tops doing what they do, no sentinels on our *CENSORED*. We're doing good so far, so I guess it's just me and you watching people again and trying to fix this *CENSORED*."
Marley shrugged. "Better than nothing."
Janus slowly opened his eyes, and his blurred vision came into focus. He had a slight headache. As he stared up at the ceiling, he realized it wasn't his apartment ceiling anymore. Then he saw that he was sleeping up against a titanium wall. A long shelf-like mesh box on this wall contained a few articles of clothing. The titanium plates that made up the wall were bolted together. The top rim of the bed was also lined with bolts.
Where the hell am I?
He took a moment to try and gain his bearings. And then, in a flash, he remembered. The entire world around him blurring, with decayed looking patches of green symbols, and the tub of red goop with the tubes. Above his pillow was a light, and behind that, an empty black rack. There was a single monitor panel on the wall adjacent to that of the light and the mesh box. Two thin pipes ran along the wall that he slept against, the wall with the mesh box. Farther along the wall was a phone attached to a receiver but with no buttons to dial.
It must be like closed circuit or something.
There was a cabinet, and a small fan above it. He looked down at his bed. It was only big enough for him to sleep in, and he had one pillow and a large burgundy cloth that was a blanket. There was a little bit of space to walk around his bed, five feet out to the side, and four feet away from the foot of the bed was the door, which was fastened by a lever, the same way a Navy ship's doors are closed by.
This must be what a jail cell feels like.
He looked back down at his bed and looked at how big it was. He looked over his legs and noted his clothes. Now he was dressed in black combat pants, new boots, and a dark brown shirt made of the home woven material.
My clothes are gone... what the hell did Irvine do with them?
He looked down at his bed on his left side. Something caught his eye.
What the hell?
A tube was going into his shirt. He pulled up his sleeve and he was taken off guard by what he saw. The needle entered his arm where it should have, but instead of going in through the skin, it was inserted into a plug in his arm that was gunmetal in color.
What the hell is this?!
Getting a grip on the tube and needle, he pulled at it with hopes of getting it out of his arm, and he felt pain. Wincing, he pulled at it slower and more gently than before, until it had come all the way out of his arm.
Then the memory of waking up in the pod came back. He remembered the huge towers of pods filled with red fluid and naked people sleeping with tubes attached to them.
Tubes...wait...
Slowly he moved his hand to the back of his head to where his headache was coming from, that being right above where his nick connected to his head. Gently running his fingers across that area, he felt something he didn't expect. A round, metal plug, on the back of his head, with a small hole in the middle. His eyes widened, and he hit his hand down onto the bed from the spontaneous reaction.
What is this!?
He stood up from the bed and put his hand on top of his head and felt short tiny hair.
My hair's gone!
He began feeling his chest and his arms and felt more plugs, and pulled his arms away and looked at himself.
What the *CENSORED* happened?!
There was a knock at the door. Snapped out from his moment of hysteria, he looked towards the door. The sound of the crank turning came about, and the door whined as it was pushed open. There stood Solitaire, and smiled when she saw the freaked out look on Janus' face. To him it looked like she was holding back laughs, causing him to calm down and be more concerned as to why she was there.
"Hey newbie. You alright?"
The look on his face made it obvious that he had tons of questions. He opened his mouth to speak but she cut him off.
"I'm Solitaire, I think we met a few hours ago," she said, and extended her hand to shake. He accepted and shook her hand, and then she took back her hand/ She gestured with her head for him to follow her. "C'mon, everyone wants to say hello."
She led, and he followed, leaving the door open behind him. He studied the hallway as he walked behind her, noting how it was all made of metal, and had a blue tint to it, and how it was lined with wires and pipes. They passed several other doors, and he assumed that this was the quarters level of whatever it was he was on. They came to a ladder and she climbed up, and he followed. They passed a level as they went up, and came up to the main deck on the opposite side of the floor from where Glitch and his set up was located.
Janus narrowed his eyes as he looked around, noting the wires and the pipes all over the place and shaking his head. That's a lot of wires.. He looked at the the core setup and how complex it was. His eyes roamed all over the place, from the floor to the ceiling, over to the chairs, of which he counted six. And then finally, he looked over to the others that were staring back at him. He saw and recognized Irvine, Anubis, Kira, and Blade. Solitaire joined the others, and there were two more he didn't recognize. Realizing he was standing alone, he began walking over to the others. It felt kind of weird to be walking, and why he didn't know, but he got used to it and in short time it felt like normal walking. He stopped about seven feet away from the rest of the group. Irvine stepped out and took his hand and shook it firmly.
"Welcome aboard, Janus."
"Where the hell am I? Is this a warehouse or some *CENSORED*?"
"This is my ship, the Nemesis. It's a hovercraft, but not the same as the kind you're used to."
"Hov-hovercraft?" This was ridiculous, it seemed. "What the *CENSORED*'s going on here, what'd you do to me? You cut my hair, you took my clothes, you put these metal things all over me. Tell me what this is! I had these insane dreams, cause of that pill you gave me. Is that what 'the Matrix' is? Your pet name for the trip you get off of the red pill?"
The crew couldn't help but get a laugh out of that. "Looks like he's got us all figured out, Boss," Glitch said with a laugh. Irvine himself smiled with a brief chuckle.
"We'll explain everything one thing at a time."
He nodded as if to be referring to something behind Janus. Janus turned his head and saw a bronze plaque attached to the center of the core and it read "Mark VII No. I NEMESIS Made in Zion Year 2202". 2202? He turned back to Irvine.
"What's the date?"
"Actually to be honest we don't know. We estimate that the year is sometime around 2203, two hundred years after your time. But we'll get to that later. Right now, it's time to introduce you to the rest of my crew, but in a more formal manner."
They all stood in line. First Irvine came to Blade. "This is Blade, my first-mate." Blade nodded. Then he moved onto Kira. "This is Kira." She gave a nod. Next he moved onto Anubis. "This is Anubis. He isn't too talkative but he might warm up to you." Anubis simply greeted Janus with a cold stare, and Janus gave it right back.
"Lancaster," Janus responded. Anubis continued to stare.
"His name is Anubis." Irvine said, guiding him a long.
"This is my Operator, Glitch." Janus nodded, and Glitch nodded back in return, replying with "Nice to meet you."
Next Irvine came to Solitaire. "You've already met Solitaire." She winked at him, and he nodded back.
Irvine then came to the last person. "This is Marley, secondary Operator and a great help among many other things." Then he turned to his crew. "You all know Janus. Let's make him one of us." They all smiled. All except for Anubis. He kept the cold stare.
What's his problem? Janus wondered. Irvine looked back to Janus and continued to speak.
"This is the real world. You have yet to see how it really is, but it's nothing to rush at. In this world, survival is a struggle. We do whatever we have to do."
Janus arched a brow. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"We've broken off from a major fleet to take a neutral side in a war. However we are looked upon as rogue pirates." "A war? Pirates?" "We steal and salvage, we attack, we hijack, we hack, we crack, we shoot to kill. All of this is necessary to survive. It's the life we live, but the way we see it, the ends justify the means." Janus thought this over. Still, he had many questions. A pirate's life for me. ----
Since people seem only know how to read and not reply, I had to resort to bumping the thread myself by posting the next chapter. Thanks for the feedback to those who gave it.
Chapter 6: Reality Check
Date: Approx 2203
Time: -
Irvine stood before Janus, studying his face and making note of how he was taking all of this. He grinned, for there were two things about this that amused him. One, how Janus was just standing there and listening to this like it was nothing. Two, the fact that Janus was only scratching the surface. He had yet to learn of the world they lived in and why they lived like pirates. He still did not know what the Matrix was, but Irvine knew this. He knew he would have many questions, and being human, some answers he would understand and accept, and some answers would confuse and possibly frustrate him.
"Janus, you asked me what the Matrix was. Are you ready to know?"
Janus looked back at him in the eye. This was all a roller coaster, and he figured it was only going to get better. Or worse. He knew he was going to find out what it was one way or another, so he answered Irvine by nodding his head.
"Good. Come this way." Irvine led him over to the chairs, and then walked over to the chair that was to the right of Janus'. He looked back at Janus.
"Sit, and lay back," he told him, before doing the same in his own chair. Janus sat down and laid back as he was told, and positioned himself so that he was comfortable. To him, it felt like a dentist's operating chair. He turned his head and looked to his left where Irvine was sitting. He watched as Marley walked over and pulled off of the pillar a needle with a handle the size of a man's fist. The needle itself was at least 5 inches long. Marley took this needle and inserted it into the hole in back of Irvine's head, to Janus' wide eyed state of surprise.
Blade had walked over to his chair and pulled the needle behind Janus' chair off of the cylinder, and Janus quickly turned his head toward Blade with a look on his face that said "What are you going to do with that thing!?"
Blade smiled and shook his head, placing his left hand on Janus' forehead whilst holding the needle plug with his right. As he brought his hand around the chair's head rest and set the tip of the needle down upon the entrance of the canal on the back of his head, Blade gave Janus a reassuring look, and Janus looked worried.
"Relax. It's like nails on a chalk board."
Janus arched a brow, and with that, Blade inserted the needle into Janus' head and it made a *ZZzzt* noise. Janus tightly closed his eyes and gritted his teeth, because the metal of the needle rubbing up against the metal of the canal shaft inside his head cause friction that made that *ZZzzt* noise to everyone else, but to him, it sounded like someone scratching a plate with a fork, or as Blade put it, nails on a chalk board. Blade looked over at the touch tone screen above Janus' chair that showed his vitals and pushed at the screen where it said "LOAD". Janus' face suddenly calmed as if he was sleeping.
The next thing Janus knew, the nuisance of the screeching noise had gone away as if someone has snapped their fingers. He opened his eyes and was caught off guard by what he saw. He no longer was looking up at the ceiling of the Nemesis' main deck. Now he stared at a blank whiteness.
He saw nothing. Nothing but white, everywhere he looked, in every direction. To him, it felt like when you fall asleep and don't even realize it, and when you wake up, hours have passed, but the last thing you remember was what you were looking at before your eyes closed, as if you had merely blinked.
Where am I?
"Welcome."
He heard a voice. It was Irvine's, and it sounded as clear as a bell, since there was nothing like background noise to interfere. It was the only thing Janus heard. He turned around and saw him, but wasn't dressed in the combat pants and the raggy shirt and the boots. He was dressed in the same outfit Janus saw him in when he met him at Club Duality. But that seemed like so long ago. Now he was confused, again.
"Where are we?"
"This would be the Construct. It's what we use to load equipment. We come here before going into the Matrix."
"Load equipment?"
"Yes, this is our loading program. Be it clothes, weapons, vehicles, training programs, whatever we need, we get it from here."
"Program? This is a computer program?"
"Indeed it is."
"But how...?" Janus was trying to figure this out faster than he could process.
"It's fairly simple once you think about it. It's no different than the Matrix where you came from. Take a look at yourself. You have different clothes on. Your hair's grown back, and the plugs on your body are no longer present."
Janus examined himself as Irvine listed the changes. He was wearing the same black pants, shirt, boots and leather blazer he wore before he was unplugged. He ran his hand through his hair and it was long, and felt the back of his head. No plug. It was as though he was back to his old self again.
"How did this happen?"
"It's your Residual Self Image. Your mind's projection of yourself. The reason you're in regular clothes and your hair is back and your plugs are gone is because this is how your mind sees itself, or how you're most used to looking."
Janus looked at himself over and it made more sense. But he still didn't get the whole computer program aspect. "If this is how I'm used to looking, how did it get into a computer program?"
"Not how 'it' got into a computer program, but how your entire mind was put into a program. The plug that is put into your head is like a bridge. Your mind is taken from your brain, translated into data, and is fed into the ship's online mainframe. Then it's inserted into the Construct program. The data re-translates and conforms so that it's compatible with the program and then you get your RSI. It works the same with training programs and the Matrix."
"So I'm not really here right now, and none of this is real?"
"Precisely. Now your getting the hang of it. Real is only what our minds tells us is real, and we get what it tells us is real through our five senses of sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell, which are merely electrical impulses. Our bodies are back on the Nemesis in the chairs with wires plugged into the back of our heads connected to our cerebral cortex. Our minds are here. Our apparent bodies are merely avatars of our mind, like when you play an online computer game. It's not really you in the game, it's the character you're playing as that's in the game and you're controlling it. It's the same concept here only from an intense first person perspective where what you experience here and what registers through your five senses not only affects you here, but also affects you back on the ship. In other words, while it's false here, your mind makes it real on the ship."
"So if I'm shot in the Matrix, I'll have a bullet wound in the real world with the hole and everything?"
"No. You would have the bullet wound here or in the Matrix, but in the real world, your mind would tell your body that you were shot. Consequently, the nerves in your body in the same place you were shot would respond as if you actually were shot, and you would feel pain and bleed."
Janus tilted his head with a slight frown. He was beginning to understand. "So, if my arm was cut off in the Matrix, I wouldn't be able to use it here?"
"Yes, right. Your nerves in your arm wouldn't respond and it would be rendered useless."
"If you die in the Matrix, you die here?"
"Exactly. The body cannot live without the mind. If the mind is killed, it tells the body it was killed, which results in you being dead."
"Can the mind live without the body?"
This caught Irvine by surprise. He frowned thinking it over. "Honestly, I don't know. It isn't something I'd experiment with though."
Janus nodded. "Why though? All of this..the Construct, the Matrix, what's it all for?"
A sly grin crept upon Irvine's face. Janus was eager to learn.
"Pay attention," Irvine said to Janus. Suddenly, the world around them changed. The infinite whiteness of the construct was replaced by a city street where they stood in the middle of the road. There was the black pavement, the sidewalks lining the road, the six-floor apartment buildings, trees, people walking around, and over all this, a magnificent blue sky dolloped with clouds here and there. Janus had a double take, as the city around them had come out of nowhere. He approached a car slowly and put his hands on the top of the hood and ran his hands over to smooth surface. It felt real, it looked real. He could feel the cold of the steel begin to chill up his hands. He was amazed. It's not real...?
Irvine looked at Janus and chuckled. "Amazing, isn't it?"
Janus looked over at him and slowly nodded, before surveying the area around him again. One could say he was dumbfounded, but at the same time, it wasn't new to him. He looked back to Irvine and raised his eyebrows like "What now?" Irvine inhaled. Janus payed close attention as Irvine spoke.
"Look here Janus. Do you see this? This is the world as you know it, the way it was in the beginning of the 21st century. It now exists only as a virtual simulation that we call the Matrix. You've been living inside of a neural, interactive dream world your whole life. This is the world as it is today."
(Chapter 6 cont'd)
He snapped, and the buildings transformed from tall, strong supported structures to crumbled, charred towers of what remained. The sky was black with little light passing through the clouds. Lightning cracked the sky and thunder struck like a whip right after. Rubble and rock and metal and debris was the ground, in tremendous colossal heaps all around. Janus was shocked. No longer was he surrounded by the tranquility of the city. He was now in the world of post apocalyptic destruction he got a short glimpse of when he awoke in his pod. Quickly, he turned to see where Irvine was and he saw him still standing across from him as calm as a breeze.
"Where the hell are we?"
"This is the real world. Right now, we are on the surface, somewhere we seldom visit."
"What happened?"
"There was a war. Centuries ago, our technological prowess had reached its peak and we created Artificial Intelligence. As it developed, it eventually gave birth to a race of thousands of machines of all types, like androids, industry machines, construction robots, home convenience. For any task you could think of, there was a machine to do it."
"So then what?"
"Humans treated machines as though they were an inferior race. When one of these machines took a human life in self defense, it launched a genocide against the machine race, humans took up arms against them. It was a worldwide massacre. Eventually the machines built their own city where they could manufacture and develop themselves and thrive in piece without being threatened. It's not too far from where we're located, but no one dares to go there. No ship ever made it within 100 miles of the city without being destroyed. All except one, but that's another story."
"Then how did this happen?"
"From our understanding, the war began after numerous attempts to establish peace fell through.."
"The war?"
"Yes. We don't know who struck first. However, it was us who blackened the sky and blocked out the sun, with efforts to eliminate the machines' solar energy source. Apparently it didn't work out. Unfortunately, the machines had a greater understanding of our anatomy and our weaknesses, and in the end the machines slaughtered us. After a surrender, it was here that the Matrix began."
"Then why are humans in those red pods with all the tubes attached to them?"
"Do you remember how I said that the machines used the sun as their main energy source?"
"Yeah."
"Well, after we blocked out the sun, the machines had to find another source for power. Instead of wiping us out, they decided they would put us to good use. A human body generates more bio-electricity than a 120-volt battery and over 25,000 BTUs of body heat. Harnessing this power with a certain method of fusion, the machines could manufacture it. With this discovery, they found all of the power they would need, in those that created them."
Janus was blank. "..What are you saying?"
"I have no reason to lie to you, Janus. Look."
The scenery changed, and they were now on some sort of mountain top, overlooking what looked like a field of red dots with large octopus-like machines picking at these red dots with their long tentacles.
"Those are the fields. Those red dots you see are humans. We're a crop now, Janus. No longer born, but rather, grown. We are, as an energy source, easily renewable and completely recyclable, the dead liquefied and fed to the living. All they needed to control this new battery was something to occupy our minds."
Janus looked at Irvine wide-eyed, but didn't say a word, as he came to a horrifying conclusion of what he was being told.
"You wanted to know what the Matrix was? This is it. Control. The Matrix is a computer-generated neuro-synaptic simulation, where the machines put your mind, while your body is used to power them. Our mission is to find a way to destroy it and liberate our people, as it has always been."
Janus took this in, and his forehead wrinkled. He felt surprised. Mad, angry even. Confused. Shocked. Caught up in a state of awe. The fabric of his reality had been unraveled and tied into a noose, and now it was choking him. He experienced trouble breathing.
"I don't believe you. No, I don't believe this. It can't be, this is fake."
"It's never easy to accept, but it's true. While it is hard to believe, you know you're an advocate of the fact that the truth can sometimes hurt."
Janus could only look at Irvine as though he was disgusted, leaving Irvine to wonder whether it was at him or what he had just told the new redpill. "We're finished for now. You need some time to rest and think this over." The world around them turned back into the vast whiteness of the Construct. "Take us out of here, Glitch."
Upon waking in his chair, Irvine got up and walked over to Janus, who was merely laying there staring up at the bulkhead. Marley unhooked the attachments on the chair so that he could get up, but he didn't move. Irvine stepped over and gently helped Janus up out of the chair.
"Are you alright?"
"Nausea.. and a migraine.."
Irvine nodded Glitch over to help him with Janus.
"It's normal. Come on, let's get you to your bed."
When they reached Janus' quarters, Glitch and Irvine helped him to his bed. Irvine nodded to Glitch. "Keep working on the ship's computer repairs."
"Gotcha," Glitch said with a nod, and left to get back to work.
"Janus," Irvine said as he turned to him. "Take as long as you need."
He nodded, and laid down to sleep as Irvine went off. That was all he needed right now. Time, and as much of it as he could get.
The Vehemens buzzed through the underground tunnels of the real, with blue wide rays of light coming out from several points on the ship. The hover pads left their blue trails behind that faded away only about fifteen feet behind the location of each pad. The ship was medium in size and had sixteen hover pads in total. Twelve of them were bunched in threes on four points on the ship. Several antennae and turret barrels stuck out from the ship. It stopped at one point where a large opening broke into the side of the tunnel, turned 90-degrees to the left, and entered the tunnel.
The tunnel was made almost entirely of rock and sediment except for the few pipe fragments jutting out from the rock. This area was uncharted territory that no one had actually traveled in, and therefore was unknown. The reason for the wide blue rays coming out from the ship was that the crew was mapping the unknown territory and writing it down to memory.
A bald caucasian man sat at the controls steering the ship. His controls were two joysticks and a keyboard in between. There were several other monitors and keypads in the cockpit as well. The man was built, with a red tone to his skin. He wore a white tank top, brown combat pants, and had black knuckle gloves on.
On his left sat a man dressed with black combat pants, and a dark blue shirt. He also had long hair and a goatee, and a scar under his right eye. Both men watched closely as the ship hovered onward.
"Iratus," the man on the left began, "set the ship down there in that cave," he said. Iratus nodded and worked the controls. The ship spun 270-degrees and backed up into the small cave in the wall of the tunnel. It set down with a rumble and then was finally still.
"Capitan, are we finished mapping for now?" Iratus asked.
"Yes, that'll be fine, I'll let you know when it's time to leave. Have Zero patch the cooling systems to the hard-drives and shut down whatever power we don't need, we don't want to waste any and it's a pain in the *CENSORED* to recharge as it is. Run a maintenance check and see to it that whatever needs to be worked on is repaired."
"Yes sir." Iratus said, and he left the cockpit. The Captain stared out the window out at the dim blue rocky tunnel they had just came from. The radio crackled and a voice came over the speaker with some static. "Com com, this is the Nosferatu calling in requesting a report of your current status." The man in the chair grabbed the receiver and pushed down on the button. "Check, we hear you. This is Ravage, we've taken a break from tunnel recon for repairs. Who is this?"
"Copy that Vehemens, this is Sideways, the Nosferatu's Operator, Captain Blood felt like checking everyone else's status."
"Oh, that's nice," Ravage said as if to retort. But he meant his sarcasm in jest. "While we're on the topic, how's everything over by you?"
"Everything's straight, we're just mapping and looking out for sentinels, our status is fine." The radio crackled again with more static and another voice came over the radio.
"Speaking of sentinels, we wiped out a few of them not long ago," the voice said. It was a female.
"Who's that?" Ravage asked
"This is Sigma, first mate on the Rebellion."
"Is Django there?" Sideways asked.
"This is Django," he replied over the radio. He had a deep voice but he sounded like he was in a good mood.
"Django how did you turn out?"
"We were fine, our auxiliary power kicked in right after our EMP set off, and the Vendetta came in to make sure we were alright."
"Any sign of more sentinels?" Ravage asked.
"Nope, nothing anymore. They were doing some recon on their own but we zapped em before they even knew we were here."
"What about Zion craft?"
"No sign of them, you know they don't like to go into uncharted territory, they don't want to get lost, that's what happened to the Logos."
"I remember. What about the Nemesis?"
"They're pretty good and keeping their distance, there's been no sign of them at all, they're probably miles from here."
"Yeah, probably. Well I'm signing out for some R&R."
"Alright, talk to you later Ravage." Ravage stood up and hung the receiver back up on the console and left the cockpit to go to his quarters. He recited the objective of all this mapping, quietly to himself. "The closer we can get to the machine city via untraveled routes, the better chance we have to EMP-blast it without the machines having a clue."
