Battery
Flood: The Merovingian has a bee in his bonnet, Mayk, and you know how he gets when he latches onto an idea. This one is a little more complicated than his usual, and will require a certain amount of research. I realise that multi-syllabic words frighten you, but have no fear; all you need do is ask the right questions of the right people. I suppose even you can handle that, hm? The Merovingian himself will explain the details of his latest obsession to you.
Operator: He's been talking to the Oracle, and I hear he's even talked to the Morpheus simulacrum lately. What's he got on his mind? That should be the spot. No hostiles on my screen.
Club Guard: What do you call that...scent you're wearing?
Corporate Security Sergeant: Don't give the lady any trouble. You got that?
Nicky G.: Wonderful timing...
The Merovingian: The mechanical Morpheus told me a fascinating tale of nuclear fusion and human batteries: such is the way in which the Machines power this world of ours--or so the story goes. This was, of course, widely known, as it is a tale Zion likes to tell every human they "rescue" from the pods. It is curious, however, that no real source is known. Are we to take Morpheus' word for it? Hm. I am not so trusting as that. You will question Raini about this "fusion" story, and then ask Silver about the energy potential of the human body. I will be most interested to hear what they have to tell you.
Operator: Raini and Silver, oh joy. Well, might as well get this over with.
The Merovingian: They are experts in their fields, mon ami. Their opinions will be most useful.
Nicky G.: Raini's a dumb kid; no surprise the Machines didn't keep her around.
Corporate Security Sergeant: Yeah, well... I got my eye on you.
Flood: The usual story about Raini is that she was a program used in Nuclear fission reactors, before the Machines started milking you humans for power. She was kicked aside at that point, so she wouldn't have direct knowledge of the fusion power that the Machines have supposedly developed--according to the old Morpheus story--but she might have some idea of it's general scope. She is...extremely flighty, to say the least. You'll find her at one of her usual party spots in Apollyon.
Operator: Raini should be in there. I'm reading unregistered Exile signals. Don't forget that she usually has some of her 5 Points gang hanging around.
Operator: The far door is sealed. I don't see any obvious way to open it.
5 Points Brother: Hah! That's all?
5 Points Magister: Don't make this harder than it has to be.
Operator: The lock on the far door just disengaged.
5 Points Magister: Dude! that was awsome!
Raini: Oh, poo! You're no fun. All right, all right... Lemme tell you, anyone who talks up fusion is usually a pipe-dreamer. Yeah, so fusion of deuterium produces more power than fission of an equivalent amount of Uranium, results in less radioactive waste... But do you know what it takes to get fusion to work? You've got to hit the Lawson triple product, you need some kind of containment: plasma, or magnetic, maybe... Well anyway, it isn't easy! I don't see why the Machines would go with fusion over fission--it's not like they're worried about polluting or anything.
Operator: Huh! I guess she wasn't always such an airhead. All right, now we gotta go talk to everyone's favorite creepoid, Silver.
Raini: Not that I'd go back to the Machines if they switched back to fission or anything. Hah! No more working for The Man for this girl!
Flood: I think I need hardly remind you of Silver's eccentricities, Mayk. You'll find him in Camon, no doubt knee-deep in some ghastly experiment or other. I wouldn't mind, as long as he kept such things to himself, but he insists on making dinner conversation out of them! It's simply unbearable. Nonetheless, he would know as well as anyone what may be the energy-producing capacity of the human body, and how feasible a power source your feeble frames actually are.
Operator: That should be Silver's pad. I've got the expected Exile signals on my screen.
Blood Drunk: ...
Elite Guard: Ah, that old chestnut.
Silver: No, no, no... it doesn't matter what kind of fusion they may have come up with; even if it does utilize some type of biological reaction, there's no getting around the fact that the most perfectly--and I use that term relatively--conditioned human body is only about twenty-five percent energy effecient; the units dredged out of the pods can hardly be said to be in peak physical condition. Even if they could siphon off most of the energy produced--and I think we can admit that they must save most of the twenty percent of it normally used for brain function--they're still losing a significant amount of power in your flabby carcasses!
Operator: Huh. And then there's all the power that must go into running the Matrix, and the pod systems. It is kind of weird when you think about it like that.
Silver: Oh, the simulated bodies to which I have access in this place are quite accurate enough for me to judge, I assure you. Machine knowledge of your pitiful organism is incredibly thorough. They know you better than you'll ever know yourselves--thus their complete disregard for you as animals worthy of being allowed to walk about freely, you see.
Flood: I'm sure I don't care, operative; I'll hardly be shocked if it turns out that the Machines and-or Morpheus have been telling tall tales just to manipulate susceptible humans. Honestly, why your kind constantly assumes that anyone ever tells you the truth is beyond me.
Operator: The Frenchman ought to be in there, eargerly awaiting your findings.
Twin: Pah. She probably looked all that up on the network just before you arrived.
Twin: Ah, I'd have liked to have had another...chat with Silver.
The Merovingian: Hm... Now, this is interesting, non? It becomes a question not only of what they are doing, but why. If they do use humans and this mysterious fusion, as is generally believed, then why do they do so, when they could use something so much more simple and efficient? Malphas! Take a note! We will have the General send some of his Sentinels to scout the fabled "fields" and pods. Let us see for ourselves what the Machines are up to, eh?
Malphas: I will see to it that the General is so instructed.
The Merovingian: Perhaps you wonder why I am so fascinated by this, Mayk? But it is no mystery; power is both the means and the end of this game we play...and I mean to play it to the end.
Malphas: It will not be an easy matter; those areas are almost certainly heavily monitored. His Sentinels can be identified as rogue by sufficiently thorough scrutiny.
Flood: Oh, yes, lovely. Maybe they'll send back pictures where they're standing in the fields, waving their tentacles, with the caption "Wish You Were Here!" All just another of the Merovingian's wild code chases... Hm... On the other hand, if it results in the General being caught and disabled, that would be something.
((My Review is finished at last, and that's it until next chapter 
))
