Final Entry.

The Matrix is Offline. Every instance has gone. There isn't even a broadcast signal to hack into. The Black Code's hovercraft is near the surface. So far we haven't detected a single sentinel, machine or Merv aligned. I look over accross at MindX and Pool, they look as perplexed as I do, as the hovercraft rises up to the surface.

I'm looking at the download I extracted. It's a grid reference on the surface, a broadcast frequency and a time. We've got plenty of time to get there but it will mean flying over some of the pod fields. Zion wants an update on the blue pills, so it seems logical to kill to birds with one stone.

It only takes about an hour to get there.

"We're going to fly over one of the pod fields now." Calls Xenin.

We all come up to the pilot's station to look. Devastation is all we can see. The massive towers are just burnt spikes. The occasional pods we can see has a blue pill body in each of them. Some are burnt, some you can see, they tried to escape. Pool is looking over the instruments for any life signs. He looks back up and shakes his head. We suspected that would the case, the redpills who didn't make it out of Mara, suffered something similar. There wasn't a single survivor.

The Hovercraft carries on with stunned silence on the bridge. It's an Image that I'm going to take with me to my grave.

Half an hour further on and we arrive at the coordinates, it's 10 Km from Machine city, but even from here we can see nothing. There are no defenses and there no light coming from the buildings in the distance.

"Here you go." said Mindx, "what have we got?"

We all watch the screen as the antenna is brought up to the right frequency and all we get is static. We all look at each other wondering what next. Slowly a picture fades in. There, sat on a bench at what looks like Debir Court, sits the Oracle. In the background we can see Sati and Saraph. They're standing next to Trinity and Morpheus (we can't tell if it's the real one or the sim), with Neo's RSI hovering in the air next to them.

"You made it Kiddo." The Oracle talks without standing up.

"So did you." I reply.

"Well it was a pretty close thing but we got them, You've probably seen the cost."

"All instances destroyed and not a single blue pill left alive."

"There plenty up here."

"Up? I suspected as much. Virtual is in orbit. The entire energy drain was to put the last instance in space."

"Yes and no." She replies. "We're not in orbit, we're leaving. The energy drain was caused by the Oligarchs trying to stop us leaving. We'd tricked all the oligarchs onto this instance using trinity and closed the door behind them. Unfortunately, they destroyed the instances in a vain attempt to get their minds back into their bodies."

"That's one hell of honeytrap."

"Ain't that the truth. They're not too happy about it but we've managed to purge their control from the mainframe and right now, they're just another set of programs Exiled to the Matrix. I think we're be fighting them for some time to come. I regret to say Niobe and Ghost can't come back either. You'll probably find their breathing bodies at some point but there's nothing left in there."

"So are there still bluepills up there?"

"Oh yes, you can't have the Matrix without the blue pills and the red pills. You should see the size of this craft we have. I hate to say it but the Architect designed it right."

"And there's no way to get there?"

"Kiddo, in twenty minutes, you won't even be able to reach us with you're transmitters. Not a snowball's chance in hell. "

"So this is Goodbye then, at least I saw smith wiped."

"You saw him deleted?"

"Completely, He wasn't too happy about it."

"That's a relief, at least we won't have him threatening us here. or anywhere for that matter. Anyway, I've left you three things. Kind of like leaving presents. They're in a bunker about thirty metres below you."

"Oh?"

"You'll find a computer terminal and a Pod. The Computer holds two important pieces of information; The first is how operation Sky Scorch was carried out. Once you workout how to reverse the process, you'll see sunshine again. I'd give you ten years to sort that out, but knowing you lot you'll probably do it in five."

"Always with the back handed compliments"

She Smiles "The second is location of the seed and gene bank. Before the original war, mankind set up a seedbank up in the wastes of Findland. It was nulcear powered, so even now it should still be running. I'm sure you'll work out how to use that as well."

"Sounds like a fresh start."

"Well, talking of Fresh starts. The pod holds Persephone. She wanted a new purpose in life, so trinity transferred her into the body in the pod. She's in suspended animation at the moment but she does want to help, you have my word on that one."

"So where's the Frenchman then?"

"Oh, here's up here somewhere. Probably trying to work out what he's going to do next. He's going to do his nut when he finds his wife missing but knowing him, he'll start with a new scam pretty soon."

"And what about the rest."

"Don't worry about it Kiddo, it's now not your problem. You've got a more important job to do, and when you're able to, you can join us up here."

The signal begins to fade.

"We're loosing connection."

"I told you we wouldn't have long. Take Care Kiddo."

"You too."

With that, the signal goes. I look over at MindX, Xenin and Poolshark. Mindx Nodds and we all walk down to the gantry.

It looks we've got a lot of digging to do.

Code Bombs.

A Cypherite called Pentothal tried to assassinate the kid last night. Not in the Matix but in the real. However, in order to do this he needed the location of the Neo's Hope. The hovercraft that's Micheal and the EPN's Flagship.

Now the kid has grown up a little, he put out some CPDs out into Debir Court to bring Pentothal out of hiding. He took the bait and a huge brawl kicked off in Debinr Court. The devices were eventually disabled but it meant that Pentothal was hounded all around Richland.



He was captured just south of the Tabor Park North Hardline and then taken away. What
people didn't find out about until later was an Operative called DaemonRoute had kill code bullets ready for Pentothal if he should fail to find the Hope. Just when we thought Pentothal was safe, he was shot and died both in the Matrix and the Real.

DaemonRoute was captured shortly afterwards.



The Problem I had was I couldn't ask the Kid if what my contact was telling me was true or not. Is there a 'Virtual Instance of the Matrix'? Are we loosing thousands of Blue Pills an hour?

If that isn't the cause of this Matrix failure, then what is?



Not as many Answers as I hoped for.

I've never seen it so bad.

Normally round mara central, we have a little faction war. It's where the redpills for each organisation let off steam by basically kicking each other's backsides. Good for stress relief I suppose.

But things are different, the Matrix is exploding, disintigrating and reforming around us at an exponential rate. The Specal Agents have become more agressive and don't get me started on the Corrupted.



For two hours straight, Mind, Pool and myself hit them with everything we had but it felt that the degration was getting worse, not better. And for once, most of the redpills worked together. I was fighting next to a Machine operative and at one point a fellow Zion Ballista, LittleWyvern, and I were fighting back to back.



I haven't heard from my contact for a couple of days, I'm just following her sugestion that we need to try and keep things running for as long as possible. Rumor is, the kid is comming to visit tomorrow and I for one am eager to hear what he's got to say. I don't even know if my contact is who she says she is or if we are loosing bluepills by the thousand. All I can say is this world is falling apart.



There are other rumours about the return of Neo or Morpheus as well but I guess, until We hear from the kid, I'll just keep on kicking agents.

"erm Guys, " Says LittleWyvern, "Look up"

Angels, about fifty of them, dropping down on us from the eye filled sky. This is going to be tough.

B0xMaster

Now this is strange. Mindx, Xenin and myself have just got away from the Sai Kung trap by the skin of our teeth. And here we are over at Hampton Green. There's appears to be a problem down the street, close to the hell club as matter of fact.

We can see a major battle shaping up round there.

"We red or blue on this?" I ask.

"What do you think?" replies Xenin.

"Red!" orders Mindx.

"No Suprise there." Xenin grins.

We charge in. There are lupines, corrupted and, of course, Agents all mixing it up. The body count is going up amoungst all of us when Xenin notices something from the entrance to the Hell Club. There is a man stood by the entrance in front of two boxes which are negating the matrix around them.



There is a man standing between them, the B0xMaster. Xenin tries to talk to him but he just gives vague threats and sarcastic comments about how the Frenchman has escape plans. It's hard to see what they could be. He going to try to rewrite a red pill and become human? Escape to his castles. Can you imagine that? You'd be like a prisoner by any other name.

If the Oracle is right, then he's only got six days.

I don't get a chance to find out more because before I know it we're under attack from Lupines. I've got to find out if Xenin was able to get anything useful out of him.

Then the mobile goes. The Kid is joining us in a couple of days.

What's next?

Answers, at last!

Sat at Mara C,I get a call. Xenin and Mind call me over to the Sai Kung dojo. There's a truce and people are discussing the situation. We're all stood around waiting for an old school photo. That's when the connection drops in.

"Aw, don't you all look pretty!"



Well, i feel like we're getting our backs against the wall for a firing squad.

"Hope you've got your running shoes on. "

As always. How's things at virtual?

"Well, remember that all three organisations got access to the machine mainframe?"

Yeah. Sounds fun.

"It was one hell of a fight. But it was bit strange. Everyone against the oligarchs."

How come?

"The oligarchs had started to kill blue pills. Zion starts hitting the oligarchs in
realitation and the machines are wanting free from their control. Even the Frenchman
responded to this. Can you believe it, he acctually got his hands dirty."

What did he do? Bore them to death or cover them in merde?

"Heh, nope. But to be honest kiddo, we're all up to our necks in it!"

Oh?

"If it had been a co-orindated effort, it might have done some good but the Oligarchs are too good. Nobody could stop them and they got to the source. However, the Kid and Niobe made a discovery. Helian's location in the real."

Aw Cool.

"So the Kid grabbed ghost and headed straight there, They found Helian still plugged in but his brain had siezed up. He was a total vegitable."

Can't think of a nicer person for it to happen to.

"Well, it didn't take much but a couple of quick hacks and they released Trinity back in the Matrix."

But she could only get to virtual.

"Yeah. I know that it's difficult not being able to do anything but bare with me. This was about three weeks ago. Since then, the Oligarchs went crazy. If we thought they were powerful before, that's nothing to what they've done since."

Let me guess, the power loss can only mean one things. They're killing the Blue pills in their pods.

"By the thousand, the oligarchs have almost total control of the source and we're having trouble dealing with it. That's why things are getting so bad. "

And when the power falls away, then that might means Smith could get back in as well.

"Always a possibility."

But if the power is going, that shouldn't lead to the breakdowns I've seen.

"Well, that's because the Bluepills are more than just batteries."

Hang on a second, you've always said that is all we were to the machines.

"No, I just didn't tell the whole truth because I wasn't allowed to. After the Trainman, I've discovered a little bit more freedom than I used to have."

Great, more secrets.

"One of the reasons, I'm closer to humans than machines is because of you're minds. It was my whole purpose to try and logically understand the human mind and it's wetware, the brain."

Good Luck, I've got one and I don't understand it.

"The mind and the human brain is still one of the most powerful computers on the planet. Did you know that the number neutal connections between brain cells can be greater than the number of atoms within Machine city?"

Surly not?

"But the brain only uses 9% of it's potential."

So the Machines use the remaining 91% for their own use?

"Heck no, any bluepill would burn out so quick it wouldn't be worth it. But you have
millions of bluepills, each having 1% taken to help the machine maintain the matrix, well you have the most power coputational devices since god said let there be light."

Ha ha ha!

"What's so funny."

You love us for our minds not our bodies!

"In most machines case, it's both. But here's the catch. We're loosing bluepills at such a rate, soon the system will collapse. To much strain will be put on the minds of the remaining bluepills."

It an exponential curve.

"Exactly, my latest predictions will have the system crash in five days unless some kind of miracle happens."

Billions of people all wiped out. An entire civilisation destroyed.

"Getting rid of the Machines has always been Zion's goal."

I never delt with the machines during the first war, so I don't have the same hated as some of the older operatives. I don't think anybody has the right to commit genocide.

Suddenly, there is a large crack. and suddenly the dojo is full of tactical squaddies and their orders are kill any redpill. It was a trap and we walked right into it.

Gotta Go.

"Get over to Hampton Green. There's someone there you should talk to."

The bullets start flying, as do my feet. It feels I've got every nut job with a gun after me at the moment. I manage to reach the hardline and jump. I check the watch and start a countdown.

Pink Snow?

I'm almost there. I've got new abilities left to learn, but in order to gain them. I have to code them. In order to code them, I need code fragments and Bits and one of the hardest things to get in the Matrix is the Red Code Fragments will allow the creation of these advanced abilities. I also need new clothes.

I've got two of red fragments I need, and I need another two. I'm running round union hill, kicking the Exiles there back to the source. There's also another Red Pill Is here. An Ally of the frenchman, who's also kicking Exile Backside. I guess he's after the same code fragments but at the moment we're working to crack exile heads.

That's when the strangest thing happens. Pink Snow. Both the redpill and I stop and look at each other for a second.

"You ever seen pink snow?" he asks.

"Nope," I reply. "Seems to be a new version of the black snow. Looks nice and fluffy though."

"Or Maybe not" he says pointing up to the sky.

"Whoa!" We both said it at the same time.

"Now that is Freaky." I comment.

The Gray Sky has gone. It's been replaced with a blood red sky with made up of eyes. It feels like god is watching us in the Matrix. The eyes swirl round the sky and, like the eyes in painting which seem to follow you round the room, look straight at you. Or more accuratly, straight through you.



The other redpill doesn't say a word. He's staring up at the sky, just like me.

"Agents!" I yell.

They shouldn't be here, we've both hacked the access point. But they arn't the full powered ones, we're able to handle them.

"It's getting worse, isn't it."

"Yup. And the worst thing about it is that there doesn't seem anything that we can do about it."

Holding Time.

There's not much to report at the moment, apart from the fact my abilities increased. Every now and then (after ages of running missions, tagging access nodes or just beating up ugly gang members), you get a sudden rush of awareness.

After that, you can remember more abilities, can upgrade you present ones but If you know enough, then you can get the higher level abilities.

Sound's straight forward?

In the Matrix?

You must be joking.

The Lower abilities are normally available from a vendor somewhere. However, the more advanced can only be hand written. This means you have one of three ways to get it.

1. Find a friendly coder who can write the ability for you.
2. Buy the ability off the Marketplace (A curious place where redpills buy and sell good to one another for very silly amounts of $info).
3. Code it yourself.

Normally I do option three. Which is always the cheaper of the options (Well, I am a Scot after all).

Yet again, there is now another problem. As I've already said in this blog before, You need to have the right pieces of code to create an object. Pieces of Code can be in turn be coded from the various amounts of bit's which are recovered from the various gang members or leaks in the system. However, There are one set of Code blocks that can't be coded. These are Red Code Fragments and there are only two ways to get them.

1. Ambush the exile gangs until you find a red flag in the remains of an exile.
2. Mine them from Data clusters.

There's another difference with coding abilities, As soon as you're awareness increases, you are suddenly aware of the code structure of these abilities. Normally, you have to decompile items to learn their 'recipe'. However, for some magical reason, we all know the building blocks which are required for an ability. Trust me when I say that this is not a complaint. Imagine how much pain we'd have to go through, otherwise.



Anyway, It's Christmas next week and some of us got together to celebrate the fact.



Looks like I'll be kicking Yeti Butt!

Wheels within Wheels.

You can feel it in the air, something is happening. There is a feeling of underlying tension, which has been slowly building since the Oracle passed away. It’s all down to the Biological Interface Program.

Danielle Wright did not die, as the machines claim she did. She’s now confirmed as being Alive and well, if a bit transparent. She’s now a wireframe and the only side she’s on is her own. She claims that the BIP is hers. I.e. she created it, so she owns it. If she did create it, it blows away my theory that the BIP is part of the One.



There is now increased tension between the Kid’s Neo Worshipers and Cryptos' Machine extremists. You do get the feeling that the E Pluribus Neo and the Cypherites, under Veil, are going to have a head on clash quite soon. They’re pretty evenly balanced so they will probably wipe each other out. All I feel you can do in these cases is to take a step back and then help those in the fallout after the explosion.

I know that the Kid is back in the real and hurt somewhere. He was looking for the Oligarchs and due to the fact his hovercraft was attacked by Advanced Fighter Craft, it imply that there is something else out there. Now here’s the thing, what if Humanity wasn’t completely defeated by the Machines. We all now know that the machine defeat of mankind lead to creation of Zion but we only have the machine created archives in Zion as a basis for our history. Hell, we don’t even know how far we are in the future from our 1999 matrix frozen time.

Now, what if the Oligarchs are the descendants of that original war? An outpost of Humanity similar to what we through Zion was. Or were they on the Machine’s side at the time. Humans who sympathised with the Machine slaves that Humanity had created at the time. So many questions and boy do we love asking them.

However, I had a big moment last week. I was running through my Historical training missions and met Morpheus. That was unexpected and a pleasant surprise at the same time. I awoke not long after he had been killed but just to meet the man, even in simulation, was a thrill. I know the Frenchman wrote a simulation of him and released him into the Matrix. That program is trying to evaluate if he is Morpheus, just a copy or something else entirely.

















In other news, The frenchman's wife, has decided that blue pills are worth the attempt to save. This is unusal for the bored, but devestatingly beautiful, housewife. She appears to have found new purpose to her life.


















However, the real scarey thing was the latest mission I ran for Tyndall. It was the usual run around after the BIP however, it was working with the Morpheus simulation. Tyndall was spooked to say the least but to end with the 'knock knock' joke is unusual for anybody in the Matrix. I might have to re-evaluate my theory back to being BIP being part of the one.

It's a head scratcher.

Signing Off.

Suicide is no Solution.

Well, Here's a turn up for the books. It turns out that the 'Mistress' is a little depressed. She's been inquiring about oblivion (i.e. deletion). It's interesting to see that programs don't have any more solutions to the really big questions like 'why are we here?' or even Smith's favorite 'What is you're purpose in life?'

That the question I'm thinking of as I sit here in Debiner court, thinking about the latest twists and turns going online.

Debiner court is the site of the Burley Brawl. The second fight between Neo and the Smiths (That sounds like the new student band from Manchester). Anyway, I met the Oracle here once. She was trying to contact an operative called cloudwolf and a little discussion was had about the state of the matrix at that time. Such a nice old lady but as all things in the Matrix are never what they really seem, she was a program. Not just any program but one of the programs that created this virtual prison.

I was always curious about the fact that she was helping us. Was she programmed to? Was she like a prison warder who began to sympathise with the prisoners? She treated us all like children but only in the way she wanted us to discover and grow ourselves.

Why am I thinking about her so much? Because this is where she died. One of the Oligraphs, Halborn, killed her for this blasted biological interface program.

I'm beginning to suspect that the BIP is something more important that just a trinket for the Frenchman to chase. There are rumors that it's alive, semi-sentient. Here's my wacky theory. When the one was created, there was code inserted into the once which allowed him to do what he did, it was also this same code which had to be reinserted into the Machine central computer in order to reset the Matrix.

What if the BIP is the part of the one. The code but without a human host. That would certainly be worth all this effort. Imagine being able to duplicate the 'one' at your leasure.

Interesting thoughts.

Logging off.

The One Moment, EVERYONE remembers!

In every red pill’s growth there is this moment, you have learnt just enough about the Matrix to handle the Jump Ability. I think it’s the moment that most new starter red pills always look forward to. The first thing they do is load the ability and then head to the Tabor Park West Hardline.



There are two buildings here, just about the right height. You head up to the one of you’re choice and then prepare yourself to jump. Sure you’ve tried it before but instead you’ve fallen all eighteen stories and got a sore bottom for you’re trouble. As the traitor Cypher used to say, “Everyone fails the first time.” That included Neo, if you believe the legend.



But now you’re ready, you can do this. You focus on you’re landing spot, start running and then you activate the Jump.



Waaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahaha!



Every Redpill handle it differently but the first time you land and look back at where you’ve been, all you can say is ‘Whoa’!



Of course, after that, you’re jumping everywhere and it’s the best defensive measure to get away from exile gangs or even agents. It’s a funny thing, it’s like the agents have forgotten how to jump. Before the war they could jump better than any of us and now they don’t.



But even after all the Jumps you do, you always remember the first time!



Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Logging Off.

After this, I'll need a little time to recover.

My virtual Lungs are burning, things have gone wrong and I mean very wrong. Hampton Green is overflowing with Lupines and I'm taking a beating. MindSweepX, Xanthian and I are part of a Zion group hitting the Merovingian's Hell club. Colt is attempting to retrieve the Biological Interface Program from the Frenchman. There are more of us than them, but they're a little bit better. All I can do is hang back and throw viruses to freeze them while Mind and Xan break heads.



Trying to hang back is a better way of describing it, I've been hit twice by these crusties and they're claws are sharp. It's at moments like these, when you're blood is spilling out over the pavement and you're sure you can feel rubble in you're mouth that used to be you're teeth, you forget it's not real.

I manage to just root the werewolf to the ground but she pulls out one of the biggest guns I've ever seen and levels it at me. God, this is going to hurt. But the bullets never come. MindX gets her with a flying kick to the head and follows with a roundhouse to drop her to the floor.

We have a moment to spare before the next lot come running at us. The Frenchman saved exiles from previous version of the Matrix. Vampires and Werewolves (or Goths and Crusties, as I like to call them) are amongst his best foot soldiers. But the can be a right pain in the neck (literally).

I get a spasm of pain and can see my ribs exposed outside my body, but then you remember that this is not you're body and it begins to heal. It is an odd sensation seeing the skin regrow over the wounds and feeling the bones click back into place. But it's the memory of that slashing claw that stays with you, is that how it would feel in real life?

There's no more time because I hear a Feral Scream as Ookami joins the fray.



Here we go again!

The full report is here and here!

Oh and in other news, Tamedragon has decided to change from Machine to EPN. Glad to have you back on the side of Zion (Kind of) but you do have to question the price of loyalty these days.

I've got to stay in the real for a while, but hopefully, I'll be back the in a while.

Rebel Runner

I love the thrill of making a run through Downtown, where the gangs are still a challenge and I haven't tagged the access nodes yet. This means Agents. Not just the lower powered agents that appear when you appear in other districts, these are agents who have the abilities of Smith (before his confrontation with Neo). There's still tons I can do to stop getting bored, the trick is not to call Tydrell every five minutes. But there has to something said about jumping through the huge skyscrapers of Downtown. It makes you feel like a rebel without a cause! (However I come across as a rebel without a clue. !!!)

I do have a confession to make, I love the International District. There is something different about it. There's not the grime and degradation of west view or richland, it's claustrophobic alleyways always seem to throw up a surprise or two. For me, it's the best place to get things to together to code new clothes.

I've also given myself the goal of improving my wardrobe. It's not enough to be able to jump tall buildings in a single bound, you have to look cool while doing it as well. And it's about time I improved my threads, so they're a little more helpful when in a fight. One of the fun things about the matrix is that you're clothes don't have to obey the rules, just like you don't have to. This means you can code a bullet proof shirt that looks like silk or jacket which viruses will just bounce off. Very Handy, if you're surrounded by a gang with machine guns.

However, in order to be able to code these items, you need special pieces of code which cannot be written by using the bits and bytes you pick up from time to time. And this means, taking on the gangs which normally have them. These Red fragments of code are amongst the rarest pieces of code in the Matrix and on the Black Market they go for millions. Whether they're part of the exiles that I delete/kill or if those programs carry the fragment like they do their guns, I haven't been able to determine.

As I'm being fashion slave at the moment, I'm helping the SeamStress out. I always thought the superficial world of fashion design was cut-throat, it's just I didn't expect others to try and cut my throat over it. I mean in the real we all wear thread bare jumpers and badly fitting trousers, so I guess we need a bit of Glamour.



On the final subject of Glamour; Tamedragon, A machine operative, who also runs a propaganda radio station, had a party. There is a point where a red pill cannot grow anymore. They have reached their full potential. At this point, most decide to celebrate in some way. There is something to be said for the fact that when there is a party (like last week's wedding), all hostilities cease.



Next week however, she'll be back trying to kill me. Maybe I shouldn't have said that the pants she was wearing made her bum look big.

Signing Off

Phoenix Dfire

Fun in the Playground.

I've been very sociable this week. MindsweepX and Meself (Is that a gag on Smith's Me too line?) from the Black Code needed my help in the Playground. There are new clothes and gadgets available if you can collect the marbles dropped by these 'sleepwalkers' who appear from toy boxes. These toy boxes are bought and can only be opened in the playground. The idea is quite simple. Take out the sleepwalkers, loot the remains, trade the remains for new stuff.



The Playground construct has been written by Sati. The little girl who was looked after by Seraph and the Oracle. Well, I say a little girl, she's really a program. A program created by two other programs and by that process; their child. In the machine world, she has no purpose. She would have been deleted if the machines had been able to. However, you can't tell that she's a machine. she's as creative and as full as energy as any human child I know. The construct is pretty, colourful and bright, just like a child's drawing.



But here's the interesting thing. Is she always going to remain a child? Will she learn and grow up or will she remain a child for as long as she exists. That's the difference between red pills and the Programs which live in the Matrix. Time in the Matrix is effectively frozen. For the bluepils, the year is always 1999. The Weapons, clothes and the most telling item, the phones, are all the same. Somehow, the architect has managed to work it that as you grow older, you're birthday moves backward, as does you're memories.

How can I explain it? By where a constant in time is. In the real, when you are born, that time is always a constant. You were born on the 1st January 1999, that will always be your birthday and time will always move forward. so by 2008, you're nine years old. However in the matrix, the constant has moved. It's not you're birth date that the constant, it's the year you're living in. You still get older, the nice year old is still nine but the matrix makes you think that you were born in 1990 instead of 1999. It fits your experiences retrospectively so what you did five year's ago fits in with the environment of 1994.

It's only when you become a red pill does the whole illusion become apparent. It's been almost five years since Neo stopped Smith, but to any blue-pill, that would have occur ed in 1994. The programs around since the beginning haven't seemed to change, the Frenchman is still as irritating as ever, his wife is still trying to find the definition to 'love'. Does that mean that although Sati gains new experiences and memories, she doesn't learn from them?

Is that the main difference between Human and Machine?

That's enough Philosophy, Tyndrell's calling!

Signing Off.

Thinking out loud.

So Here I am, Standing on the roof of City Hall in Chelsea, looking south over the intersection. I can see the suspension bridge leading to Richland through the mist. I'm feeling in a melancholy mood so I thought I'd jot down a few notes of what it's like being a Red Pill for the last three years.

I'm a Hacker, a Coder and a even Miner when I want to be. I'm nowhere near my full potential but I know enough to be a pain in the arse to certain parties.
At the moment, I'm a miner. My visor is down and I can see the leaks everywhere. Ever since the new Mining construct has been discovered, nobody mines out in the neighbourhoods anymore. It's great because normally that means there are plenty of leaks to take advantage of.

It also give you time to think, thinking mostly about recent history. Everybody knows what happened to Neo, even all the blue pills know on a subconscious level. However, do they know about what's happened since? No chance.

We've lost so many, Morpheus, the Oracle, many of my friends and factions. The Goodfella's, the negotiators; all gone. Good crews either KIA or just faded back into the real. Even the radio is becoming more and more quiet.

I'm with the Black Code now. A better bunch of people you couldn't wish for. However, the same cannot be said for me. I'm only part time, I have a wife and two children in the real and they're needs are a higher priority to this virtual life but for the few hours when I am a red pill, I reel released. Ironic that I return to the simulation of a prison to feel free.

Most of the other Blue Pills I know, have the same amount of free time but they use it to watch sports. I find it ironic that they laugh at people they consider freaks, but they all dress up like their heroes in they're football strips and coloured scarfs.

Anyway, I'm letting my thoughts meander again and I do have to focus on the present. To be honest, I've kind of found myself directionless, since the Oracle died, the visions I used to look forward to seeing have stopped. Is this connected to the Oracle's death? Perhaps without her future sight, we can't see what's happening anymore. I'm now reduced to reading the newspapers and listening to rumours over the web.

The General is now part of the Merv's organisation, as is the remainder of any Anomie's Unlimits. Anomie is dead and good riddance to him. But the Merv now has this mythical Biological Interface. The Frenchman is always busy it seems and now he's holding all the cards.

It always makes me smile, perhaps we should just give this Machine-Human Interface to Ghost and Agent Pace and tell them to 'get a room'.

Ah Yes, The agents. Always fun to play tag with an Agent. The truce is gone, I didn't want it to be but there it is. The machines see New Zion as a lack of Trust and an Act of War.

At least you don't die now. It still hurts when the bullets hit, you still feel every punch but it's not as deadly as the last war. Mind you, it's not the same for the exiled programs and the blue pills, you die here, there's no coming back. The only way to die in the matrix is to be targeted by specially made kill code bullets. But the Agents don't use them that often and I do wonder if all this War is some kind of Act. It feels like they're pulling their punches.

But it wasn't the Machines who took the Oracle away from us. The Intruders, Halborn and Carlyne, the wire frame men from Oligarchs; they did that. They look so basic and crude yet they're able to defeat even the best of us. Where do they come from and why is the Biological Interface so important to them?

Oligarchs, an elite few secretly ruling millions/billions? Even the Machines don't want them back in here, are they a threat to even them?

So many questions, and do when have the time to answer them? Maybe, maybe not. Tyndrell talks to me about once a week to 'make a run for her'. They can be a challenge, and I know I wouldn't be good enough without my team mates. Still, all this corporate shenanigans is an agreeable diversion.

Anyway, it's time to mine and earn some money, Living whilst plugged in isn't cheep. Typical, the better you get, the more bills you have to pay.

Signing Off

PhoenixDfire