The Uneasy Alliance
by AJ Marks
Part 6
An assortment of amazing techno lab machines moved around a humanoid form lying on a table. It was one of the attackers which had been attacking them lately and the orders were to find out as much as possible about what it was. It was very different from normal as the machines were used to working with humans, not other machines. The room was used to develop the bio-implants for the Matrix and performing on another machine had not been done here yet.
The armor of the robot was the first thing they looked at, finding out that it was made of a metal they had never encountered before. It was vastly superior to anything they had ever produced.
The head machine of the lab scanned the robot looking for some sort of connection it could use to gain access to the programming of the robot. It found nothing it could use which puzzled it a bit before ordering the armor to be removed.
The armor was strong and took a lot of energy to remove but it finally gave way to the prying machines to expose the inner workings of the root, which the machine had to admit, this robot was very advanced indeed. They mapped out the wires and where damage was taken before moving further into the robot looking for the core before finally finding it, and the machines noted it looked rather simple compared to the rest of the robot.
Connecting to it however was quite complex and took longer than expected before everything was set up and ready to go. Plugging in the equipment and engaging the right safety measures the connection was activated. At first nothing happened, and they wondered if something had gone wrong, or if it had sustained too much damage to pull anything from the brain. A brief surge was recorded in the system and the machines terminated the connection but curious as to what might have happened.
The machine kept a close eye on the system for the next few minutes making sure everything operated at normal levels. Satisfied with the levels it turned back to the robot and would try the brain again later on. For now it went about discovering its abilities. And how they could fight it.
*****
The Oracle turned around to see Seraph standing in the kitchen, waiting for her. They had been through a lot over the years, and she knew he questioned her attempt to change the cycle of the Matrix last time by using Neo and Agent Smith. The Architect seemed to think she went too far, but he tended to overanalyze everything to the point he forgot what was going on.
“Any news about our mutual friend?” she asked Seraph, hoping to have something about Morpheus.
“He has not yet returned to the Matrix,” Seraph replied. She knew he was listening to the agents, who were also on the lookout for Morpheus, he would not hide when he returned.
“That’s too bad, I fear we should move ahead without him, something hasn’t gone right this time,” she said, suddenly stopping. She felt something had happened, something strange was in the Matrix. She quickly wrote down her question before turning to Seraph. “go the Architect again, give him this, hurry.”
“I will, what about Morpheus,” Seraph asked.
“Do not worry about him, I’ll listen in to the agents as well, and they can bring Morpheus here for me,” the Oracle said pausing unsure if she should say anything else before making up her mind. “And be careful, be ready for anything, there is danger.”
“I will, you be careful as well,” Seraph said, bowing before leaving the room leaving the Oracle to ponder this latest development and what it might mean. She hoped the old program would see him again.
*****
It wondered around lost in a strange new world which made no sense to it for long moments. It had to figure out where it was in this mass of confusion wherever it went, it saw nothing else it could identify or even feel.
It took a few more moments to try and gather information about what was around it and what it could do and where it could go. There were passageways all over which led to many different areas and decided standing around in the same spot was not an advantage and would be spotted unless it continued to move. At the moment nothing was coming after it but it knew that might not remain that way for long.
Taking off down a corridor which looked promised it paused at a portal to another larger room a bit amazed at what it spotted. If it had the ability to report back to base it would, but until then it had to do more and adapt to the new world, adapt and conquer like its programming told it to.
*****
Morpheus sat in the cell marveling at how the Council took an already complex situation and made it even worse. Thinking about it he realized he should have seen such a conclusion coming as many on the council still did not trust the machines despite the treaty and current actions. Most of the council had never been in the Matrix, nor had they fought in that last battle when most of the military had been wiped out. The council members were only fooling themselves if they really believed they could defeat the machines at this time.
He thought it was a bit ironic that humankinds most advanced creation, the machines, were the ones to stop the war because they had changed but it appeared to be a lesson humans had yet to reach. The members of the council had not learned that lesson and it would be at the expense of the future. The only good thing was Link and Niobe were not in here with him. Perhaps they could gather enough support to force the council to let him go.
Looking up at the door opening he saw Turner walking into the room and heading for his cell. Morpheus did not blame him for what happened, he was following the council’s orders. If he had acted things might have turned out even worse.
“Sorry about what happened in there Morpheus,” Turner said stopping at the cell door. “I want you to know, I believe you.”
“Are there others who are on our side?” Morpheus asked hoping there was, if so they might be able to do something about it.
“There are some, not many, but the council’s gag order has limited the spread of your support, exactly what they wanted,” Turner said obviously not liking the situation she had been placed in.
“Those attackers are not from the machines, at least not the ones we know,” Morpheus said having thought about it in the cell. “They are very systematic in their attacks, targeting the humans.”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” Turner replied.
“I talked with the Oracle, the machines want an alliance with us to find out who this enemy is, and how to fight them,” Morpheus said back to him. “They need our help to go above the clouds, we don’t have the technology to build anything, they do, but not the pilots.”
“They’re willing to build ships for us to fly?” Turner said confused.
“Yes,” Morpheus said.
“Why not use the people in the Matrix,” Turner asked reasonably.
“You know the risk that’s taken whenever someone is taken from the Matrix, they need time to gain strength,” Morpheus replied.
He watched Turner pause to think about what he had been told. Taking someone out of the Matrix was a risk, not everyone handled it very well despite knowing the Matrix was only a computer program. That and they had to train the person to actually use their muscles, which had never been used before, it was a tiring process and took a large amount of time which they might not have, nor did the machines have the ability to carry out such a task.
“Morpheus, I think I have an idea, it could be very risky and they might strip me of my position if word got out, but I think it just might work,” Turner finally said after thinking for several minutes about the subject.
“Whatever you’re thinking, I’m in on it,” Morpheus said, deciding it was better to be doing something than sitting in a cell.
“All right, I’ll have to talk to Link and Niobe, see what they think, we’ll let you know when it’s time to act,” Turner said, before leaving the room.
Morpheus had nowhere else to go, he was stuck here. He would sit patiently, waiting for the time to act hoping they didn’t all get caught in this action.
*****
Seraph walked up to the door where the Architect stayed most of the time, rarely going out but yet he seemed to know everything that went on inside the Matrix, the official overseer of the realm. He raised his hand to knock, unsurprised when the door opened before he could knock.
“Come in Seraph,” a voice said from inside the room. He walked in seeing an old man in the middle of the room.
“Architect,” Seraph said, hoping to sound honorable as he walked in. He never had seen such a room before, it was filled with TV screens with all types of different views and the Architect seemed to be watching them all at once before turning his attention to him.
“The Oracle sends me a message,” the Architect said, not a question, but knowing what was happening even as Seraph stepped forward to give the message to him.
Seraph felt surprise at the fact the screens went black for several seconds as he read the message and appeared to actually think about an answer. He scratched his chin for a second before finally appearing to come up with an answer.
“Tell her yes,” he said, then turned back to the screens as they came back to live and ignored him.
Seraph felt unsure what the question was, but decided now was a very good time to leave the room and head back to the Oracle. He only hoped the Oracle could make some sense out of what the reply was, he had no clue what it meant.
*****
Niobe walked into the familiar room of the Oracle’s apartment having come here shortly after leaving the Matrix like many others. There were times when she thought the Matrix provided a better way of life, but lately, with peace between the two, things had become much better. She only hoped the Oracle would see her.
Niobe had met a couple of agents on her way here, but they didn’t stop her, and this time no Seraph to ease her discomfort at being close to two agents. She had nervously followed them but neither seemed bothered by her presence.
The apartment seemed the same as it always did, very little changed except the fact it was empty this time. Usually there were several people already in there. One of the agents motioned for her to head to the kitchen, so she continued on through the door to see the Oracle sitting at the table.
“Niobe, hello, I assume there is a good reason why Morpheus isn’t back,” the Oracle said, but no surprise in her voice that he wasn’t’ with her.
“The council arrested him,” Niobe said honestly waiting to see how the Oracle would take the news.
“Human suspicion,” the Oracle stated. “Should have seen that one coming.”
“Don’t blame yourself, our council thinks we should wait before getting involved, thinks we won’t be affected by the fighting,” Niobe answered.
“It’s not a fault humankind is alone with,” the Oracle replied leaving Niobe confused for a few seconds before she continued. “Is there any indication what the humans will do?”
“There are some of us who are willing to help,” Niobe answered honestly unsure what they might be able to do.
“I guess some help is better than no help at all,” the Oracle said in a resigning voice.
“What do you need us to do?” Niobe asked, hoping to get something for the others that they might be able to do.
“We need volunteers to pilot a ship above the clouds, see if they can spot where the enemy is coming from,” the Oracle replied.
“Can I ask you a question, why are the machines doing this?” Niobe asked, it was a question which had spun in her mind for a while now. The answer might help draw even more support to their side.
“We do not know who they are, or why, only that they are coming from a place we cannot reach. We wish to survive as well, and our survival depends on finding out who they are, and in a twisted way, your survival as well,” the Oracle replied.
“Interesting,” Niobe said pausing to think about that before turning back to the situation. “What do you know about them?”
“Their weapons are superior to anything we have, I won’t lie to you there. It’s a long battle ahead of us until we can even out the technology,” the Oracle said.
Seraph interrupted anything else which might have been said.
End part 6