Hiyall,

Excuse me for the endless delays on posting more chapters of my mxo-book. Sorry for that, it has been tough for me as well.  In the meantime more chapters are finished and edited by conrac.

Chapters 4 and 5 are available below. If you have not read the previous chapters, and would be interested to read these, you can find them under mxo based book by quark75 aka TRX in game.

Chapter 4.

TRX woke after exactly six hours of refreshing sleep. Within seconds of leaving his bed, his door buzzer sounded. Making his way to the door, he opened it to find Lyrics wearing fresh clothing and carrying an overstuffed duffle bag with a shirt end peaking out of one end.

Taking in TRX's messed up hair she smiled, and simply asked, "You ready T?"

Aware of his appearance, the direction of her graze and the fact that he was being teased, TRX mustered up as much dignity as he could manage, saying:

"Do I look like I am ready?", before breaking down and joining his operator in a hearty laugh.

"Ok Lyrics, you go on ahead and meet up with Rage. Assign him to cabin 4 and let him get settled in there. In the meantime I'll pick up that operator student of yours. He seemed like he was hanging on every word you said from what little I saw in the mess hall. Are his parents filled in?"

"Yes, Last night before I showed Lino around Baby Blue we went to meet them. They are of course concerned for his safety as any parent would be in time of war, but very proud he has made the choice to actively defend New Zion. Very nice folks, they offered to make the crew dinner the next time we are in New Zion"

"Oh that is nice of them, where can I find him?"

"While I chatted with his parents, Lino packed up his kit. We dropped the bags at the hovercraft last night. He said that he would be in the chill room on the 12th floor of this housing complex today saying goodbye to some friends. I guess he is there now."

"Ok thanks, I'll correct my hair and collect him right away. I also dropped my gear off last night before I went to sleep. Uhmm, one more thing though, Linotype will be your responsibility. I advise you to not let him do any work this evening, let him settle, explain some stuff and let him watch. Also explain the rules and watch schedule we keep aboard ship and so forth. Ok? Oh and while you're at it, contact the Logos II and tell Niobe I'm on my way."

Lyrics responded with a crisp, "Yes sir!" and went about her tasks.

About ten minutes later TRX boarded his vessel with Linotype. He first assigned him a cabin, and asked him if he had something to eat this morning  and if he hadn't suggested it would be a good idea to stop in the mess before reporting to Lyrics at the broadcast station. With that said TRX shook Lino's hand with a smile and officially welcomed the operator trainee aboard The Blue Distortion and then departed for the bridge.

As his Captain departed, Linotype glanced around his new home deciding how to arrange his belongings. He was excited about the adventure that had just begun and proud that he was found worthy and selected for training, but admittedly a bit nervous as well. After he put his things where he wanted them he took one last look before making his way to the mess hall for a quick bite before they got underway.

On the bridge TRX was chatting with Rage, in the manner pilots for a thousand years have about the little flaws of the machine they were about fly and what one could expect behavior-wise across the vessel's performance envelope. Rage had already settled in his cabin, and was clearly motivated to pilot the vessel.

"Sir, it's an honor to work on your ship after our long friendship in the matrix."

"No Rage, the honor is mine" said TRX with a wink and smile.

As the scheduled time of departure approached everybody settled into their stations, TRX and Rage on the bridge and Lyrics with Linotype on the broadcast deck. Rage requested permission to leave through his headset and got clearance to leave through Gate 5. Rage brought the hovercraft light on her pads and with a smooth pull on the controls slowly lifted off and headed in direction of the gate.

At the broadcast station Lyrics began teaching Lino the do's and don'ts of the operator's position drawing on both what was laid down in "The Book" but heavily interlaced with practical experience that she had learned on the job.

They departed New Zion without any problems, and the silent running to broadcast depth was fortunately uneventful. With the end of the truce, sentinels were once again actively hunting Zion's fleet.

Upon reaching broadcast depth, Rage began searching for a sheltered nook in which to hide Baby Blue from any sentinel patrols that might overfly the area. Soon finding a place near a mechanical line he gently and skillfully set the hovercraft down under cover.

Once the hovercraft was securely undercover, TRX made his way down to the broadcast theater and took his place in his large interface chair. Lyrics assisted her Captain, while Linotype watched with interest. She double checked all the status displays, as she removed the interface cable from the chair's storage compartment and seeing all indicators were reading green inserted the pin into the back of TRX's head with practiced ease.

As TRX had not jacked in for some time, the insertion of the interface pin was a bit uncomfortable. Lyrics, having preprogrammed the interface, initiated the sequence that would send the Captain to the South Vauxton Central hard-line, a phone booth in the relatively dangerous Downtown section of the Megacity.

.

As TRX's mind adjusted to the data feed, his avatar slowly morphed into his residual self image near the phone booth in South Vauxton. As an experienced operative he did an automatic scan of the immediate area looking for any glitches or something out of the ordinary that would indicate lurking danger. With everything looking clear, he took an equipment inventory at which point he took his cell phone and called Lyrics, "Uhmm Hun? Why didn't you load the PDA I normally have in my coat? Now I can't open my map display. You will have to direct me to the building where I need to meet Niobe."

"Ok, thanks"

The moment TRX terminated the call; Lyrics saw activity in the code indicating there was an agent nearby. She immediately tried calling TRX back, but only got a busy tone. "*CENSORED* we are being jammed!" she exclaimed to Linotype as both operators watched the drama unfolding and willed their Captain to notice the approaching danger.

TRX unaware of the unfolding situation, crossed the street when he reached the parking lot. His intention was to take the alley on the right side of the facing building in order to bypass it and arrive at the designated destination. As he walked into the alley, he was surprised to find an Agent within hand-to-hand range blocking his path. The Agent, straightened his cuff-links, and flexed his virtual muscles as he greeted TRX with "Hello, Mister Parker" before immediately attacking the surprised Zionist.

This particular agent was well known to the operatives of Zion, as Agent Brown, and while not the most formidable of the Agents arrayed against the forces of Zion he was more then able to take on and defeat the most skillful warriors Zion could field in one-to-one combat. TRX was a good fighter, but not yet in the top tier of Zion's elite, though each time he entered the Matrix he learned a little more about manipulating the code and intensifying his attack and defense capabilities. Just as in the time Neo, an operative's best tactic in such a one on one confrontation was to flee. The difference in the post-Neo era was the ability to "hyper-jump" that Neo had mastered and passed on was commonly in the repertoire of most operatives after only short time training within the Matrix. For some reason, most agents had not learned this capability so one or two successive hyper-jumps were sufficient to break a hot pursuit. The difficulty was an operative needed to gather him or herself for a short time before launching themselves into the ballistic trajectory that would quickly carry them to safety.

TRX, surprised, did not have the necessary time to launch himself to safety, but his combat instincts were still with him as he used the force of the Agents attack against him, causing Agent Brown to momentary become un-balanced giving TRX a slight temporary advantage. The Agent's off-balance follow up punch was easily blocked setting Brown up for a powerful right-handed uppercut, known as a guardbreaker move, seemingly delivered in slow motion as TRX's heighten combat senses kicked in. Against another operative with about the same combat ability such a solid strike would be enough to give a TRX an advantage for the rest of the fight, if not in some cases kill an opponent. Not so against this formidable adversary, but, the strike did knock Brown to the ground which was just the opening TRX needed to roll away, gather himself and leap to the roof of the building he had meant to bypass.

TRX's landing was picture perfect and by "the book", the force of the landing absorbed as he went down on one knee, one fist touching the rooftop as a slight seismic wave rippled the roof structure transferring the energy of the jump to the building. The Agent had recovered quickly from the knockdown and tried to bring down the fleeing operative with his semi-automatic pistol, but to no avail. TRX, gunshots echoing in his ears, heart pounding with the adrenaline rush, quickly got his bearing and sprinted for the edge of the roof so that he could leap the 20 meters or so to the destination building. Ducking behind a roof-top shed structure containing the roof access stairwell, TRX pulled out his cell phone and contacted Lyrics as he opened the shed door and raced down the stairs.

Lyrics had not been idle as Rex was fighting for his life. She had managed to readjust the signal strength and burn through the jamming she first encountered when trying to warn her Captain. When her Captain called she was ready with the information he needed as she answered: "T, run down the stairway until you reach a brown door on the third floor, enter it, close it and then wait!"

TRX found the door half way down the stairway, entered and immediately closed it behind him while still holding his cell to his ear. Lyrics staying with Rex, told him to have a little patience and to wait for one minute. After a minute she said "Ok Sir, you lost him, the Agent has left the immediate area. Move toward the end of the hallway behind you, take the elevator to the top floor."

TRX, racing heart slowing to a normal pulse rate, walked with a firm and steady cadence down the hallway and took the elevator.

Lyrics continued providing directions "Sir, as you get out of the elevator, there will be wide doors in the middle of the big hallway, that's where Niobe is waiting, in the office behind it."

"Thank you Operator, I'll call you back later", TRX closed his cell phone as he walked down the big hallway, decorated with suits of medieval armor, pushed the wide doors open, and entered the office.

As he entered the room he saw Niobe standing at the big picture windows with First Mate Ghost beside her, Liaison Officer Merrit was slightly to the left nearer the corner of the room.

Niobe said, "Just in time captain. Say, you're eyes look like you just walked out of the wilderness".

TRX chuckled and replied, "Greetings Captain Niobe." He tipped his hat to Ghost and Merrit while saying their names.

TRX continued, "I was hardly jacked in at the central hard line, when I ran into Agent Brown in the ally on my way here." Followed by a grin, "But I managed to let him eat my dust".

The corner of Niobe's mouth lifted a little, "Well TRX, at least you haven't lost your skills, after five months of sitting on your *CENSORED*!"

TRX moved closer to the Logos II crew, as he thought to himself, "Well, I guess I had that coming".

Niobe continued, clearly not satisfied with TRX's long 'vacation'

"What part of the rules that state the maximum leave is three months.. did you not understand Captain? And not to rub you're face in the dirt too much, but, this is second time you have done so."

When TRX took too long to answer, she punctuated her point by stepping into his space and piercing him with her gaze. The fact that she had to up at him, in no way minimized the power of her presence in such close proximity as she firmly promised, "If there is a third time, you can count on Zion command to take your vessel from you, as well as your captain status for a while. Is that understood, Rex?"

Just before answering her question TRX caught Merrit in the corner of his eyes, having a hard time not laughing at TRX, because of the expression on his face.

"Roger that Captain", he said while trying not to think of Merrit as she turned to face the window and cleared her throat. Ghost was looking at the toe of his shoe and coughed, also amused.

Niobe said with slight smile "Good! Welcome back then." as she straighten Rex's tie.

TRX now feeling a little more comfortable, responded, "Thank you Niobe. Uhmmm, I guess you didn't get me here just to bite me did you?", as he took a cigarette and lit up with a Zippo.

Niobe sighed, "Nah. I wish that was the case Rex. I admit, I enjoy scaring you a little, but unfortunately, now that I had the fun part, we have more important business to...."

Before she could finish she was interrupted by her cell phone,

"Yes Operator? What?! Ok, give me the location of the nearest exit."

Merrit and Ghost went on instant alert hearing the tone of their Captain's voice.

As she hung up, TRX asked Niobe what the emergency was.

"Sentinels!" she almost shouted. "Follow me! Quick!"

TRX immediatly dropped his sigarette on the floor, before he ran out the room behind the ZionElitecrew and towards the stairways to quickly get to the roof. Two quick hyper-jumps allowed them to leap from building to building and then down to the street. Dodging traffic as they crossed the street, they could see the phone booth in the distance, as they sprinted to cover the distance as quickly as possible.

As they ran past the lobby of an office building, two agents ran out and took pursuit. Only Niobe's timely warning and quick reactions had allowed them to just avoid the ambush.

However, they were not out of the woods yet. TRX, running at the end of the column saw that the agents needed to be delayed in order to allow the Logos II crew time to jack-out in order to defend their hovercraft from sentinel attack in the Real. As Baby Blue was not in imminent danger, the job would to fall to him. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw his chance, as the agents were running in line ahead formation. Urging his compatriots to hurry, Rex slowed slightly, allowing the agents to close the distance. Picking his moment, he planted his foot and used his forward momentum to pivot around in a 360 degree round house kick that connected with the lead agent's chest. A devastating blow to any enemy, except for an Agent. However the laws of physics were faithfully encoded into the code of the Matrix, and the momentum of that strike was transferred to the agent who was lifted off his feet and thrown into the path of the trailing agent. The pair of agents went down in a tumble as TRX tucked and rolled and started running in a different direction in the hopes of drawing the agents away. He had executed a flawless hit and run attack. As he turned a building corner he saw Ghost, the last of the trio, disappear into thin air, jacking-out. He had accomplished his mission, but now had two agents on his tail as he headed to another nearby hard line he half remembered.

Fortunately, his operator was on the case and surmised his destination. So when the cell phone beeped and Rex answered with a shout "Get me outta here!" He was treated to Lyrics, with a pumped up, but steady voice providing precise instructions to his destination.

"Ok, hard right; backdoor in front of you; left; right; now straight; take the front door out; across the street. Around the next building on your right; Hyper-jump 11 o'clock.....Now! You're going make it, make a left; hard line in front of you. Go! Go! Go! Don't look back and grab the phone."

Just before TRX felt his RSI transfer into code, he saw the agents stopping their sprint, raising their guns and emptying them as fast as they could pull the triggers.

The next thing he knew he opened his eyes, back in the Baby Blue's Broadcast Station to the sound and feeling of the pin being removed from his head.

"Phewwww... That was close" he said to Lyrics, seeing Linotype next to her with a very pale face and eyes opened wide in awe.

"Not to mention a perfect 'Trinity-escape' Cap" Lyrics whispered with a smile.

Chapter 5.

On board the vessel Logos II, the crew breathed a collective sigh of relief. The fight had been desperate at times, but the training and teamwork of the veteran crew was enough to carry the day. That and the fact that the sentinel patrol commander had apparently not called in overwhelming reinforcements. Could it have been calculating what the prestige of taking out a priority target with just the members of its patrol would do for its career? After all, Niobe, through her interactions with "The General" had first hand knowledge of the ambition that could drive the enemy's military AIs. Never the less, Niobe not taking any chances with the lives of her crew and the safety of her craft made sure to clear datum in as quick and stealthy a manner as possible, to throw off any late arriving reinforcements at the site of the battle. Once she was satisfied that Logos II had fully disengaged and had not been trailed, a relatively sheltered location was selected and the hovercraft set down so that a complete battle damage assessment could be made. Fortunately, none of the boats critical components had been severely damaged and the hull had retained its integrity. Two of the lift pads had been damaged and one of the turret guns had jammed, but the crew was able to affect repairs with spare parts stored onboard. As the repair crew labored, battle stations continued to be manned with somebody prepared to initiate an EMP pulse should the situation warrant. The Real was once again a dangerous place to operate hovercraft, gone were the days of the Truce and the use of moored hover barges as operating stations.

With the repairs complete and the Logos II underway again, Niobe ordered her operator to make contact with The Blue Distortion to pass on her status and expecting to hear that TRX had survived the suicidal diversionary attack on the agents. Ghost, had related that the attack had delayed the agents just long enough for him to safely jack-out, but the last he had seen of TRX was that he had run out of sight around the corner of a building with the two agents in hot pursuit.

The relief in Niobe's voice was evident as she continued after she heard TRX's voice acknowledging the ship to ship call,

"Captain, Rex, On behalf of my crew I want to thank youfor your bravery and initiative today. That was a very risky move you made on those two agents. Given the circumstances I don't think the Emergency Jack-out Protocol would have worked for my team so you bought us the time we needed to safely escape. You did what you had to do and as a result ‘We are still here!' Thank You!"

The comm link, except for the background static on the carrier, was quiet for a moment as TRX reflected on Niobe's choice of words and Morpheus's famous Temple Speech.

"T Gathering himself he replied, "That is well said! There's nothing I can add to that, except that words can not express how happy I am we all made it, Niobe"; as his fingers finally loosened the tension in his neck muscles that had been there since his own escape with the fate of Logos II crew unknown.

"Good Luck with your mission, Rex. Logos II out."

As Lyrics broke down their end of the comm link she took the opportunity to inform her Captain that he had twenty-five minutes before having to jack back into the Matrix for his appointment with Richard McPhearson, an acquaintance from his bluepill life.

Rex went to his cabin, to relax and prepare himself for what most likely was to be an intense discussion with McPhearson. At the conclusion of the meeting he hoped, if all went well, to give Richard the choice between the blue and red pills.

He jacked back into the Matrix, in the neighborhood of Kedemoth in the Richland Slums. He turned out to be a little bit further away from the bar where he was to meet Richard then he remembered. Lyrics had apparently solved the equipment download issue he experienced in Downtown as this time his PDA was in the inside pocket of his Blackwolf Trench Coat where he expected to find it. Retrieving the PDA, a few presses on the touch-screen brought up an area map where he could compare the coordinates of his location to the ones Lyrics provided for the meeting.

Orienting the PDA to the local scenery, he selected a direction and started heading toward the meeting place. He confirmed his navigation with the GPS feature on the PDA map display. A cold front had rolled in since his meeting with Niobe filling the sky with threatening gray clouds. As he made his way down the street in began to rain, prompting him to button his trench and tilt his fedora forward over his forehead and eyes. He continued to monitor his progress to the bar using his PDA/GPS.

He had been carefully weighing his meeting with his old friend and decided to go solo, fearing that descending on Richard with a crowd of freaky red pills might unsettle him and more importantly possibly alert the machines that something was in the works. With the end of Neo's Truce, the machines were trying to shutdown Zion recruitment operations whenever they could. As a result some additional security was indicated, which he planned to fill by using his enhanced coding abilities to create an autonomous simulacra, a human appearing entity, that he could create within the Matrix code and direct to guard the entrance to the bar where the meeting was to be held.

Before entering the bar he checked the time, and checked to make sure he hadn't been followed one last time. Seeing that it was all clear he entered the bar. Once inside he noted that several people were scattered throughout the room. Two people were sitting at the bar talking to the bartender and an additional two were shooting a game of pool. His own contact was sitting alone at a corner table, oblivious of his surroundings as he stared at his bottle of beer.

TRX, deciding to blend in first, went to the bar to order a beer from the bald bartender. As he did he noticed the backdoor exit and hoped to Neo that no enemy would enter from that direction.

TRX then looked over to the man again, still staring at his beer, and confirmed that he was indeed McPhearson. Totally blended in with his surroundings, TRX made his way to the old friend he hoped to awaken.

"Richard?'', he said with a low and calm voice.

His old friend stopped staring at his half empty bottle, to see who had broken his musings. At first Richard didn't recognize the man, but when he saw him taking of his fedora, his eyes had a mix of recognition with a pinch of disbelief.

"Parker, is that you? Good Lord! It is true, you are alive! But, hmm, you look, hmm, different somehow." He said as he got to his feet.

They greeted each other with a firm handshake, then sat down at the table, as Rex placed his PDA on the table where he could easily monitor the blue screen of the advanced gadget and check on his simulacra' activity.

Richard, impressed by the strong presence of the man he once knew as Markus, started asking questions right away.

"Where have you been all this time man? I tried to find out what happened to you for a long, long time. I was worried sick! I thought you were dead! And who the **** is that wise guy with the black bandana that contacted me, and arranged our meeting?"

TRX with a calm and self-assured voice replied, "Richard, before I answer your questions, I just want to thank you for the support you gave me back then. You were one of the very few that stood by me no matter what other people said and did."

TRX paused a few seconds as he took a quick glance at his PDA.

"The reason I am here is that it is time for me to return you the favor."

Richard confused asked, "What do you mean? The tone of your voice sounds just as mysterious as that black bandana guy, with his babble about ‘rabbit holes' and appearances being misleading. I want some answers about what the **** is going on here!"

TRX empathized with what the poor man was going through, trapped in the lie with happenings that could never fully be reconciled or explained in the framework of Richard's unawake life. Richard was not as near to awakening as had been reported and Rex realized they needed a more private place, where he explain in detail could what the Matrix was all about.

"Richard, do you trust me?"

McPhearson hesitated a moment then said, ''Well, not completely, you still have not answered my questions"

TRX needed some time to reformulate his extraction plan, so he made a joke about only renting beer and excused himself for a trip to the restroom. When he entered the small hallway he saw an old telephone hanging on the wall and had an inspiration. As he entered the men's room he deactivated the guard simulacra using his PDA and placed a call to Lyrics using his cell phone.

"Operator", he heard on the other end of the line.

"Lyrics this is going to take longer then I thought, I need to have a private discussion to explain things to Richard so I need to escort him someplace secure. I think extra backup for the trip will be necessary. Please check to see if any Zion operatives I have worked with in the past are available to help on short notice. I don't want to be here any longer then I have to, I have a bad feeling about this, I better switch to a fighting configuration"

Lyrics fingers flew over the keyboard as she typed in the query and found Rex's old friend and mentor, Hern21, just a few blocks from the bar. She related the good news to her Captain and placed a call to Hern21.

Hern21, who was sitting on a bench near the Kedemoth Central hard line, answered his phone with a short "Yeah".

"Hello Hern, Lyrics here. TRX needs you quickly at the bar half way down 23rd Street. He is trying to recruit a blue pill. Can you get there yesterday?"

Hern replied,"Yeah, on my way"; as he stood, gathered himself and hyper-jumped toward the bar.

Lyrics reported to TRX that Hern was on his way as she returned to monitoring the bar and its' surroundings. Only to notice that three unknown red pill signatures were approaching the entrance to the bar. Her sharp intake of breath and quick explanation alerted her Captain.

"I need my Karate abilities Now, Lyrics! Can we use the phone in the hall?"

"Sorry Capt, that phone isn't on our net, Trinity once used her cell phone. It's risky, but I can give that a try"

TRX said, "We have no choice Hun, do It!"

A second later, his eyes closed and initiated REM behavior as his fighting programs replaced his coder programming. The rapid download through the unaccustomed device, left him dazed, gripping the men's room sink for support as he assimilated his fighting abilities.

Regaining his composure, TRX quickly returned to the bar room to try a salvage a situation that was going from bad to worse.

As he entered the room, TRX saw that the three men, backs to him, had taken up threatening positions about his friend and were beginning to brusquely interrogate him. He also recognized the three humans as machine operatives. Awakened humans who with the Truce over had thrown in with the Machines to maintain iron control over a chained humanity. The Orwellian metaphor of some pigs being more equal then others flashed through his mind along with the label "Know it all elitists" as he quickly closed the distance to the table sizing up the opposition as he approached.

At that moment Hern stepped through the front door of bar and picked up the warning sign TRX made with his fingers indicating the three men that were pressuring Richard.

Two of the men, TRX dismissed as flunkies, albeit dangerous ones. The leader, however, moved with the balance and grace of a veteran martial art grandmaster.

The leader seeing Hern closing the table with determination in his eyes leapt to engage him. The flunkies both drew their automatic pistols, one obviously with the intent of executing Richard with a head shot right then and there. Fortunately, they had not yet noticed, TRX, closing the last few yards to the confrontation his own WestTec handgun drawn and lined up on the executioner. Taking no chances TRX placed a round through the executioner's ear, initiating his emergency jack out procedure as he spun around surprise in his eyes. His body disappeared an instant later.

TRX sidestepped and continued his charge toward the other gunman who had turned to face the sound of the TRX's shot. He was fast but not fast enough, bringing his gun up and squeezing off a shot that grazed Rex's leg just before the full force of the Captain's charge propelled him hard against the wall, knocking the wind out of him and dazing him for a few seconds. TRX then performed a wall kick, twisting as he did in order to face his stunned opponent and pummel him with a flurry of body punishing punches to his torso that were delivered faster then the eye could follow. Hern having defeated the leader after a series of punches and throws, finished off the gunman with a well placed knife throw to the chest. After a few seconds the bodies of both the leader and the gunman disappeared as there EJPs activated.

Richard sat there in shock, his eyes wild, unaccustomed to the proximity of the extreme violence, the inhuman speed with which the combatants moved and delivered their attacks and the disappearance of the dispatched red pills.

TRX seeing Richard's eyes put a firm hand on his shoulder and locked eyes with him saying, "If you want to live, follow me, there are no doubt additional killers on the way. We will protect you."

They ran out of the bar's back door and zigzagged down a few alley ways, finally entering a storeroom at the back of a bookstore, closing and locking the door behind them.

Richard was now terrified, "What the **** was that? And in Gods name, how did you guys move so fast beating those men? You, big man, you kicked that thug so hard, he flew through the air 5 meters!" as he started to hyperventilate.

Hern seeing and hearing Richard's distress, as gently and calmly as possible helped Richard to a chair and asked him to focus and to breathe was deeply as possible. He then promised to get a glass of water and be right back.

As Richard slowly started to regain control of his breathing, TRX knelt down in front of him and once again made eye contact with him. Rex remembered exactly what it was like to see all kinds of stuff that could not rationally be explained, and felt the pain his friend was going through as Richard started to question his own sanity.

He gently started to explain the last 600 years or so of human/machine history and how the Matrix was a simulation of the Earth in 1999 that was designed to be a prison of the mind to keep the human race docile in their life-pods while the Machines leeched energy from their prisoners to supply some of the power the Machine race needed to survive.

He explained about the war between man and machine and how in a desperate bid to avoid total extermination, man scorched the sky, plunging the world into darkness, in an attempt to cut the machines off from sunlight their primary source of energy. The strategy had only been partially successful, ending the extermination but when the machines eventually won the war resulted in the subjugation of the remaining humans into what essentially were batteries.

He described how he and others like him survived in the outside world of the Real and how as they knew the "truth" they could bend the laws of physics, and in some cases even break them within the virtual world of the Matrix, which explained the "impossible" things Richard had just witnessed.

Hern came back with a glass of water he had asked for in the bookstore. Seeing that Rex's explanation was beginning to sink in he gave Richard the water, and smiling said, "You know I had this same discussion with Markus a few years ago, for what it is worth, he took it a lot worse then you", as he gave Richard a knowing wink. Richard seeing the annoyed look TRX gave the big warrior upon hearing that comment, couldn't help but break a smile.

TRX and Hern continued to tell Richard about the true nature of the world for a short time more answering each and every question he asked. Finally the conversation came to the end and TRX told him the red and the blue pill he carried.

"It is your choice Richard, we won't make you. This is something only you can and should decide. This is an exercise of your free will. If you take the red pill, you will experience the world as it truly is and hence free your mind from this virtual prison. I will not lie to you, it is not a comfortable existence and as we are once again at war perhaps not a long one. If you take the blue pill, you will wake up tomorrow in your bed. Everything that happened today will be forgotten and you will continue to be a comfortable slave of the system, never to know what the real world is like. Nobody else will bother you again, unless you stumble upon the truth again."

They could see that Richard was coming to grips with what they had told him, to relate it to his blue pill life and to the events that lead up to TRX's disappearance. With the new understanding he began to relax and considered his life up until this moment, one which to be brutally honest lacked any self-satisfaction, the truth was it was just merely existence. Finally he concluded, "Well, what the heck. If it ain't going to kill me, it'll make me a stronger person."

TRX, seeing that he had come to a conclusion took the pills out of a small jewelry box. Taking the red pill in his right hand and the blue in his left he presented them to Richard saying, "Red will give you the truth. Blue will make you forget. This is up to you."

With trembling hand, Richard took the redpill out of Rex's hand, but before taking it in, told TRX he now understood what TRX had meant by saying that it was his honor to return the favor of standing by his friend and helping him out of the lie he had been living.

Richard looked to Hern, who once again winked, nodded his head and smiled saying "See you on the other side" to reassure him.

The red pill had no taste when he put it in his mouth, and drank deeply of the water Hern gave him. Within seconds he began to feel weird. TRX and Hern once more assured him it was going to be awkward, and the experience would be heavy, but he would be fine after a few days. With those words ringing in his head, Richard dissolved in to the code, like any red pill would do during a jack out.

*zzzzeeeooohhzzz*

Richard had started his new life, by awaking in the life-pod that had imprisoned him until now, proving that what he had been told was indeed the truth.

As The Blue Distortion maneuvered to retrieve Richard from the recycling pools as he was rejected by the system,

The operatives, emotionally man-hugged each other as they congratulated each other on freeing Richards mind. This extraction had been a rough one, but they succeeded. Taking a bearing to the nearest hard line they left the book store and began the walk back into the Real.