Disclaimers: They belong to the Wachowski brothers, Time-Warner and whoever else…
A small piece
of shounen-ai/implied yaoi… towards the
end. That’s mildly slashy to anyone who
isn’t familiar with Japanese terms. A
swear-word too!
A look at Agent
methodology…
Agent Brown sat in a low-lit room,
filled with banks of monitors. The
screens around him flickered with what appeared to be footage of the human
called ‘Neo’ doing various things. Some
screens displaying the human fighting, others showing him meeting Trinity for
the first time, fewer still displaying Thomas A Anderson sat at his desk on
what appeared to be a normal day.
Several screen flickered, picture blurring to display code before
refreshing to begin what looked like a set sequence again. Brown didn’t pay much attention to these
screens. They were afforded a glance
before he resumed typing, attention fixed on the monitor directly in front of
him. The screens around him continued
to play selected scenes from the human’s life.
Apparently he was modifying some of the programs running. Two monitors froze, displaying the same
image. That caught Brown’s
attention. He stared at the image,
calmly analysing before beginning to type again.
Somewhere in the recesses of the
room a door opened, admitting Agent Smith.
He crossed the room to stand behind Brown.
“There.” Said Brown
indicating the dual display.
“How unfortunate…
for Jones.” Smith said, considering the image.
“The point of
divergence was negligible.”
“Yes. Are there any other such cases?”
“Several. The human ‘Neo’ is inclined to rebel against
the system, regardless of the circumstances.”
“There are no cases
where he has been subdued?” Smith was curious.
“Three.”
“Only three?”
“Yes.” Brown tapped some keys and the monitor
displays changed to show the same scene.
“How probable are
these occurrences?”
Brown didn’t reply, instead setting the simulation running for Smith to observe.
********************
Point of Divergence 0.2789
The view is of the side of a skyscraper. The sun reflecting of the perfect glass, giving some indication of the height of the building. The stillness of the image is shattered, quite literally by the cracking of the glass on an upper floor. The window shatters outwards as two figures plummeted towards the ground. A man and a woman, seemingly grappling still, even though faced with their apparent demise. The woman’s short hair flutters in the updraft. The man’s sunglasses are knocked off his face. Neither noticing the lower level roof that they will most likely strike.
“Trinity!” Neo’s voice sounds ragged from a distance. The view flashes to him, trying to run up the stairs of the building to the roof. Probably trying to change the Matrix so that she won’t be harmed. He makes it as far as the door to the roof before being smashed into the wall by Agent Jones. Neo is quick to strike back, hurling Jones off the metal stairs. The monitors display a fleeting view of Jones falling backwards down the stairwell, not apparently upset by the situation.
Neo is through the door in an instant. Running out onto the roof, just in time to see the impact. He makes it over to the fallen figures and then freezes. The angle changes to show two corpses, Trinity lying mangled and broken beneath the Agent. Neo sinks to his knees beside what is left of her, shoving aside the other, trying to ignore the mildly unperturbed expression on Smith’s face. A look that is reminiscent of Jones.
The view changes to display a deserted street. In the rain and gloom, Neo staggers along, seeming unaware of his surroundings. The rain continues to fall.
********************
“He will just give up?” Smith sounded surprised.
“That is the most likely outcome.” Was Brown’s reply.
“And the Matrix itself?”
“Will remain operational, though it would take time to repair the rebel damage.”
“Of course.”
“As it would also take time to restore… all inoperative Agents.”
“Would they not find another way to create similar disruptions; if it could be done before, what is to stop them from doing so again?”
“The system would compensate.” Brown said, turning to look at Smith.
“Having made but one mistake it would not be allowed to happen again?”
“Yes. We would… adapt or evolve, if you would prefer.”
A tiny smile from Smith was the reply.
********************
Point of Divergence 0.2759
Neo and some other rebels are walking down a street, apparently towards an exit. Suddenly as if acting on some unseen cue, they stop. Neo turns to face a building across the street, his gaze fixed atop the building. His eyes lock with the figure he sees there. The view changes to show an Enforcer, standing, with arms folded, looking back at him. Neo frowns, seeming beginning to change the Matrix around him or perhaps around the Enforcer. The Enforcer’s brows come together in a similar frown of concentration, then his expression relaxes. One of the rebels cries out, before becoming disappearing segments of code in the middle of the street. Another vanishes before they even have time to emit a sound. Two more are lost at once. The final one turns helpless eyes to ‘the One’ but he can’t save them. Neo stares at the empty space around him, that used to be occupied by people.
There is a ripple in the physical construct of the Matrix and the Enforcer is gone from the rooftop. Neo staggers backwards as the AI suddenly appears before him. He makes a desperate attempt to utilise his abilities but nothing happens, finally he resorts to the physical. He swings a fist at the Enforcer’s face, which is caught before there is any impact. His wrist is snapped painfully backwards. He falls, clutching his damaged wrist, panic written on his face.
“For dust you are and to dust you will return.” Comes the whisper of the Enforcer, the last sound Neo hears as he is deconstructed.
********************
“On the East side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.” Smith quoted.
Brown considered the comparison, “He is the Guardian of the East Gate?” he queried, regarding the image of the Enforcer.
“No. The Morning Star.”
“Then should we not have a Lilith?” Brown said turning again to regard Smith.
“I do not think so.” Smith frowned down at Brown. “That is not even an Apocryphal reference.”
“Tiamat, then?”
Smith seemed to consider the point. “Perhaps.”
Brown broke the following silence “This is the least probable outcome, though.”
“The Enforcers will not be pleased.” Smith’s tone implying that he couldn’t care less.
********************
Point of Divergence 0.2028
The view is of a darkened room. It looks suspiciously like some expensive hotel room… though one that might charge hourly rates. The room is indistinct, furniture blurred by the darkness. The only things that can really be seen is the bed, or rather various movements going on under the bedcovers. There are a few silly, high-pitched cries that would indicate the activity being engaged in. Finally the movements stop. Both figures are still hidden from sight by the covers.
Still in relative darkness the view shifts to take in items strewn around the room. There are a pair of boots laying carelessly on the floor. They look at lot like those worn by a certain rebel. A grey suit jacket hangs off the back of a chair. A gun-holster is slightly hidden by a white shirt flung across the same chair. From inside a leather trench-coat, lying on the floor a mobile phone begins to ring. There is a muffled “Huh?” from the bed. After a few rings and more confusion from one of the occupants of the bed, a male arm reaches out from under the covers towards the ringing. The phone is located and crushed. As the broken pieces are dropped to the floor, Neo seems to finally find his way out from under the covers. He sits up with an exclamation of “Fuck!”
“Precisely.” Comes the smooth reply as Neo is pulled back down against the bed.
“I should really…” He half-heartedly protests.
“You are not going anywhere, Mr Anderson.”
********************
There was silence. Brown tilted his head to look up at Smith, regarding the blank expression with some trepidation.
“That is an improbable outcome. Your simulations are incorrect, Brown.” Smith’s voice was even but there was an underlying irritation in his tone.
“That is impossible. All points of divergence have been analysed and outcomes calculated within acceptable parameters.” Brown didn’t take his gaze from Smith’s face.
“This is not an acceptable parameter.”
Brown frowned “All probably outcomes must be reported…”
“They will select the most probable chance of neutralising Anderson.”
“Yes.”
Brown hesitated, feeling Smith’s hand come to rest lightly against the juncture between neck and shoulder.
“This in not an acceptable parameter.” Smith repeated, bending so that his lips slightly brushed Brown’s ear.
Brown leaned back, eyes closing behind his sunglasses. He let out a sigh as he heard the keys click, as Smith leaned over to delete the last read-out from the analysis program.
“You are obstinate, Smith.” Brown muttered.
He heard the soft laughter that was Smith’s reply, as he felt the fingers trailing along his jaw, tilting his head back further. Yet Brown found that he couldn’t regret that stubbornness, at least for the moment, before a warm mouth on his drove all other thoughts from his mind.
Jones stopped outside the door of the room where Brown was, supposedly, running his analysis. He paused for a moment to listen through the communication channels and verifying that the most probably outcome was occurring on the other side of the door, then removed his earpiece before continuing on his way.
OK… Well, I didn’t expect that to happen, at least not when I started writing but anyway…
The first ‘point of divergence’ would be an alternative to “Shutdown”, the second would be for “Order” and the third might be something from my, as yet, unfinished piece “Neo-Realism”.
Smith was supposed to just walk away and maybe think about it at the end but it seems he decided that ‘doing’ Brown was a better idea… not that Brown seems to mind.
Maybe the excuse is that I’m feeling sorry for Brown at the moment, maybe computing tests have fried my brain, or maybe I just needed a little shounen-ai to make the world a better place J
18:10, 03/05/02
Narsus