The Uneasy Alliance
by AJ Marks
Part 22
Adama followed John to a small room, which also was completely white making him wonder if they had any other color other than white. It got a bit, dazzling after a while.
“Now, what did you want to say to me that you did not want the other to know,” John asked, his tone curious as he turned to look at Adama. He wanted to know what Adama wanted to ask, but had a feeling he already knew and waited.
“You’re involved now because someone else is already involved,” Adama stated. John made no move to counter or dispute but waited a bit as Adama continued. “What I can’t figure out is why you don’t go in and get him.”
“Everyone has free will commander,” John replied.
“Free will, yes,” Adama replied looking right at John. “But they have been manipulated to the point they don’t know what is real or not. They no longer have that free will you speak of.”
“They made that choice commander,” John stated.
“No, they were not given the ability to make that choice. You know what I say is right. A choice is when one knows and is able to make a clear educated decision, not one handed to them,” Adama stated.
“We are forbidden to interfere,” John said, repeating their law.
“Forbidden or won’t?” Adama asked. “Seems to me that you interfered earlier.”
John had no answer to this question, and even he wasn’t too sure about the answer. They blurred a line when they ran across the Cylons heading towards terra, but what Adama was saying definitely crossed the line.
“You have a chance to correct a mistake,” Adama said to him.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” John replied.
“You have a chance to end this, now before even more lives are destroyed,” Adama said. “How many more lives will be destroyed before you step in. You have the opportunity to do so now, the only question is will you?”
“Who are you referring to?” John asked, but had a feeling they both knew already.
“Count Iblis,” Adama replied back to him, turning a bit to walk around the room. “He doesn’t hide very well.”
John looked on in shock at Adama before realizing the man was wiser then they had thought. If he had already spotted Iblis then perhaps they could be more open with him.
“Yes, but how did you know it was him?” John asked.
“I could feel him, uch like he knew about me, or you. I’m not sure if knew that I had a feeling it was him,” Adama said.
“Well, now that you know, what are you going to do?” John asked.
“Hoping that you finally take care of this time,” Adama said.
“Perhaps,” John finally replied not committing to anything, he could not at the moment.
Adama turned and made his way back to the group along with John. Now they would have to be returned back to the Galactica and the fleet, there was still a lot of work to do if the human race would survive.
*****
Neo looked on at the leader of the group, this virus which had infected the Matrix as it looked back at him. He knew this enemy was different than anyone else he had encountered, but defeat was not an option. This battle would test him beyond what he knew.
The machine in front of him did not seem to understand that death did not always apply to this world. It was the one trump card he might have, and one he was willing to take. He raced down clashing with the leader as they both dodged and avoided attacks.
Neo knew he had to destroy this machine quickly before it figured out everything about the Matrix and took over. The only problem was he had to figure out a way to completely destroy the program this time and not like Agent Smith. The last thing he needed was a machine like Smith running around the Matrix.
Stopping he took a breath and calmed himself, concentrating on the numbers swirling around before him. He knew the enemy was still attacking but was unable to land any blows. He studied the Cylon closely looking for weak spots and then quickly moved to attack hoping he could damage it enough before it became aware of what he was doing.
The Cylon leader stopped his attack upon seeing that something was wrong. The attacks seemed to fadeout before they hit the human, which was intriguing. It almost seemed that the human wasn’t there but somewhere else. Suddenly it stumbled back slightly as if punched. It took a few seconds before it realized it was under attack, and a lethal attack. How had this human understood so much? It didn’t matter, the leader would give this human a lesson.
Neo kept up his attack even if he was now aware that the Cylon knew he was attacking it. The battle was faster and quicker than any other battle. Pulses were shot up and he dodged with precision as they continued to fight. Time ceased to exist in the fight, it was only one to the death.
One of the Cylon lieutenants recognized that the lethal force which had attacked them had stopped. It realized now was the time to launch a second attack on the human planet. Lining up they moved forward under his orders and prepared to lunch another attack.
Neo risked a glance over at the Cylons and realized what they were up to. But he could lonely hope that Morpheus and the others were prepared for the attack this time. He focused once more back on the leader knowing that once it was destroyed he could head back to the planet to help out.
Neither Neo, nor the Cylon said anything to each other. They both fought knowing this would be the turning point for the Matrix. Whoever won would win the battle, perhaps even the war.
*****
Morpheus was about to dial out when an agent walked up to him. It freaked Morpheus out a bit to have an agent talking with him so calmly but knew the situation had changed since the last time he face off against one, and Agent Smith was s special agent.
“We have another attack wave incoming,” the agent said to him.
“More? All right,” he said turning to the others. They were still geared up to fight, even humans in the Matrix were ready to fight. The Matrix put every military on the planet on full alert, and even was able to slightly recover from the damage done. The attackers would face the full force of the Matrix this time.
Morpheus raised his weapon ready to fire when a thought came to him. When Neo and Trinity had come for him they were heavily armed, perhaps, he quickly dialed the number on his cell phone.
“Operator,” the familiar voice said.
“Tank, can you get me anti-air weapons, a lot of them?” he asked. “And I need to know how to use them.”
“Hang on, I think I can,” Tank said and Morpheus heard the rattle of the keyboard. “What’s going on in there?”
“Seems like our guests infiltrated the Matrix, but we have a bit of help this time infighting them,” Morpheus replied before he felt the downloading on how to use the weapons. He felt himself disappear and appeared in a white room. Weapons appeared, rows and rows of weapons. He picked up as many as possible, and as many as possible knowing he could give the weapons to others to fight as well.
He reappeared where he had been loaded down with anti-air weapons. A few people stared at him, wondering what happened, but Morpheus didn’t take the time to explain, instead tossing a few of the weapons to the agents.
“Here,” he said, as one agent caught one of the weapons. “I assume you know how to use it?”
“Of course,” the agent replied, shouldering the weapons and aiming with ease.
Good, pick up what you want and let’s get to work,” Morpheus aid, tossing a few more to a few other agents.
Morpheus went ot work as well. The fighting started off furious but it got easier as the battle wore on and he had a feeling that the leader of the Cylons was in a fight against Neo, but couldn’t tell who was winning, or where they were fighting. He didn’t want to disturb Tank either who was probably doing his best to keep up with what was going on.
A group of Cylons landed nearby even as Morpheus lined up another fighter. He spotted two familiar figures engaging the Cylons and slightly turned to see the twins fighting ass well with their usual flair and style. He knew that every program in the Matrix understood the danger the Cylons posed and briefly wondered how Agent Smith would have reacted.
He hoped Neo was having as much success as they currently were.
*****
Neo glanced once more at the leader in front of him, one he had considered a virus which meant he was fighting it like one. It made no difference if it was organic or computer, the treatment was the same, elimination. He was the medicine, or anti-virus software to fight this threat. So far they fought fast and furious and he knew going to the source of the battle would be the best way to win.
He had a thought which might erase the entire program. He continued to attack looking for weak spots before noticing that there were brief moments of openings for him to attack. It would be dangerous but if it worked the battle would be over.
The next opening he attack and wiped out part of the attackers program. He watched as the attacker paused in the attack in surprise, as if it was unaware that such a weakness existed at all.
Neo used that pause to continue his assault on the program. He attacked a few more times deleting more and more program. Finally the enemy was no longer a strong enough to challenge him. Quickly going in for the kill he eliminated the rest of the program and took a few seconds to make sure the program was gone before checking around to see if everything was all right within the Matrix.
Concentrating a bit he reappeared next to Morpheus who seemed a bit startled and noticed the twins nearby along with several agents and Trinity.
“Morpheus, want to tell me what’s going on?” Neo asked him.
“A lot,” Morpheus replied back. “It seems that a group of machines, called Cylons, attacked the Machine City on the surface.”
“Machines attacking machines,” Neo asked, wondering why they would do such a thing.
“It’s a bit more involved that that Neo,” a female voice said behind them. They turned to see the Oracle walking towards them. “You two both know things are much more complex than such simple answers.”
“You have news then?” Neo asked, looking at her.
“Yes, the machines, as you know are called Cylons,” she said, indicating the damage and broken bodies of the Cylons littering the street. “They are a race from beyond the stars and we have limited information about them thanks to our new human allies.”
“New human allies?” Neo asked, this bit was new.
“Yes, it appears that somehow there are other humans in the galaxy,” Morpheus said. “From what I’ve been able to find out, they are at war with the Cylons and have been for a long time. They finally lost the battle and have been looking for Earth, calling it the thirteenth tribe.”
“If this is Earth, its not going to do them a lot of good,” Neo said.
“Actually, their arrival is the answer for both of us,” the Oracle said. “The Cylons are targeting the humans in the Matrix, which effects the machines greatly. With our new allies help we might be able to finally reverse the damage to the sky and a way to rebuild Earth. We have the way, they can gain the resources.”
“Interesting,” Neo said, knowing such things would make for a very interesting development, and make the Matrix obsolete at some point in the future.
“It will take time, things don’t happen overnight, and this Cylon threat hasn’t been neutralized yet,” the Oracle said. “It will take time for this to occur, it might even take lifetimes for it to happen.”
“By then, men and machine working together should understand each other, or at least that’s the plan,” Morpheus said.
“Neo, you will play an important role in all of this. It appears you are invulnerable to the Cylons in the Matrix. For that we’ll need you to make sure it doesn’t happen again or billions of humans could lose their lives,” the Oracle stated.
“I can do that,” Neo said. “As long as you keep me updated on what’s going on out there.”
“That, we can do,” Morpheus said. “I should get back and see what’s going on. Its good to see you again Neo.”
“You too Morpheus,” Neo said as he watched his friend take out a cell phone and dial the number.
“Tank, need an exit,” Morpheus said, before heading off.
End part 22