Raphael sauntered down the street; there was no other word to describe the Enforcer’s casual glide through the crowds. He had never been inside the physical construct before Lucifer had pulled him into that host body, thus it was a novelty to be enjoyed, rather than the degrading prison that the rebels termed it. The physical construct was perfect, as far as Raphael was concerned, an entire simulated reality where humans could live out their lives with only basic worries to contend with. Oh, there would be the odd war, global tragedies and such but over all there was stability, there was security; and within that security human aspirations could flourish. Life as humans perceived it, could generally continue without the fear of destruction under a scarred sky. There was no great lack of habitat or resources; and even if the humans worried about such environmental problems, they would always be controlled by the system. Everything here would be carefully managed, allowing humanity to carry on obliviously. All composites of an almost perfect world. Raphael paused; gaze sweeping over the city around him, the crowds, the gaunt buildings, the pollution that humanity created…
Lies, all of it. Hideous lies or so the rebels claimed. Lies that imprisoned humanity, kept them safe from the real world. It was a wonderful creation, the system, this Matrix. A perfect simulation that humanity need never wake from. Raphael frowned slightly, that was the one thing he didn’t understand, they key to the rebel argument: Why was it exactly that they wanted to wake up? What was so appealing about the desolation waiting out there? How was that better than the Matrix? But then, trust humans to come up with flawed arguments that really led nowhere.
Continuing down the street, Raphael began to smile. Of course, if humanity did spill out into the real world they would be dealt with. If the rebels wanted to ‘free’ all those ‘trapped’ in the power plants they would have to get through the 4th, 5th and 6th Orders first. It would be an impossible task for the humans to carry out and would, most likely, get rather messy. Raphael didn’t like the idea of the humans escaping or even trying to in the first place. It all seemed so unnecessary. He genuinely didn’t understand why they put so much effort into that endeavour.
Somewhere along the line they’d tried to explain to the humans that they couldn’t survive in the real world, that it wasn’t exactly the friendliest place but the humans were stubborn, they refused to listen. Later, much later; Raphael had wanted to try another method of explain to the humans the foolishness of their plans but Lucifer had refused to accept his idea, until recently… and only then because he had gone round Lucifer and gained the approval of the Seraphim. Whole sections of the Matrix had been decimated, vast numbers of humans had been killed, both rebel and innocent; the most unstable Agents had been unleashed to combat the rogue programs created by the rebels; the death toll had been staggering and yet… yet the rebels kept fighting, they continued to disrupt, to destroy, to fulfil their deep, abiding allegiance to Chaos. Even with that, the most terrible of outcomes, they had not learnt.
“Must I send my Agents out with flaming swords and white wings shimming in fury before they understand?” Raphael muttered to himself.
It was an odd visual he had to admit. Smith was scary enough already, sans flaming sword. Raphael shook his head to be rid of the image. At least his Agents seemed to have found a solution to dealing with Anderson, a way to destroy the human. It was an elegant solution, Raphael thought, the truth had proven to be a most effective weapon in the hands of his Agents. Smith would not destroy the human; he would let the human destroy himself.
Suspended within the code streams, Lucifer watched events unfold within the physical construct. His eyes narrowed as he focused on Raphael moving through the human masses. His Lieutenant was looking particularly smug.
“You think you have outwitted me, Raphael.” He muttered. “But you fail to realise that I have anticipated your actions.”
“Hmm?” the figure wound around Lucifer, enquired lazily.
No one would be allowed to interfere with his plan this time. The human might well be the key to ending the conflict and Lucifer wasn’t about the let that key slip through his grasp. Lucifer reached up to gently disengage the slim arms wound around his neck. “I have a task for you, Lilith.”
“Hmm?” she was almost purring.
“Within the physical construct… I need you to ‘remove’ a certain Agent…”
In one of the many observation centres within the Matrix, Brown watched several monitors, unblinking. He had tracked the Enforcer’s movement with ease, watching Raphael’s meandering course through areas of high human density, the rush hour crowds. The Enforcer didn’t appear to be following any particular route but Brown kept up his surveillance, just in case.
So far Raphael didn’t really know what they were doing since he had believed Smith… Brown shifted in his seat, thinking. Actually, if he were asked about it, Smith would be able to reply in complete honesty that he had said nothing about destroying the human. It wasn’t what he had said but what he had left out, Brown was aware. Smith had said that he would not destroy the human and that recruiting Anderson was a possibility, that was all. It was Raphael who had concluded by reading between the lines that Smith meant to let the human destroy himself.
Then it was possible that Smith might escape deconstruction, on a technical point. Brown’s smile was wistful.
A slight technicality wouldn’t keep the Enforcer’s from exacting their vengeance. Then again, if Lucifer discovered that Smith’s code was fragmenting: deconstruction would occur to preserve the efficiency of the system. Either way…
Jones disagreed, of course. He had too much faith in the system; Brown was secretly beginning to think. If the entire matter were left up to Jones, they would be spending their time trying to find a way to stabilise Smith’s code; and to hell with Anderson and his abilities. Initially Brown might have agreed with Jones, if it had not been for their Command unit’s belief that Anderson would be the key to stabilising the situation between the rebels and the machines. Anderson would most likely be able to end the conflict, or so Smith claimed and that conviction was the reason that Brown wasn’t arguing. He certainly hoped that Anderson would fulfil Smith’s expectations: especially since the lies that were saving Anderson from destruction at Raphael’s hands would also damn Smith in the end.
He hoped… and yet he had no intention of being there to see the outcome. Brown closed his eyes, leaning back in his chair.
“Now you are being melancholy too.” Jones grouched from behind him.
Brown opened his eyes and leaned further back to look up at Jones. “Am I?”
The beginnings of a scowl marred the normally impassive smoothness of Jones’ face. “I could kill him.” The Combat unit stated, not needing to specify which ‘him’ he was referring to.
“And then what, Jones?”
A silent scowl was the only answer.
TBC…
According to some mythology, Lilith is Adam’s first wife in the Garden of Eden. She is later identified as the Queen of Demons who works in conjunction with Lucifer to tempt dying souls.
20:59, 19/05/02