Cistron looks at the others skeptically. "Hmmmm exactly what we wanted to hear...or is it exactly what they'd want us to believe??"

"Wow."  Shadow looks about the room, trying to find any fault in what he sees versus what he knows.  "X, where are we?  How long were we out?"

“Uh, not too long,” X says.

Looking at the others, Shadow leans in and whispers to Screed, "Something doesn't seem right, when did we last have steak?"

Screed smiles at Locke and says, "I'd like my steak medium rare, something like this."  He raises his weapon and fires at Locke after which he quips, "There, that's better."

The bullet hits Locke square in the head, and your leader—the captain of the Hyperion—falls back and collapses on the floor.

X stares in shock.  “What did you…?  How could you do that?”  He runs to the fallen captain.  Then he shakes his head slightly.  “Wait, isn’t the Captain already dead?  I jacked into the Matrix to come looking for you.  How did I get here?  Where is this exactly?”

The door behind X opens, and in walks one of Zero-One’s agents.  You take a step back as you realize—or as your suspicions are confirmed—that this a simulation still within the Matrix, still within the Oracle’s Labyrinth.

The agent takes X by the arm before X can respond, slaps a handcuff on him and then attaches the other part of the handcuff to a door next to the agent.

You see that there are several doors leading out.  This is not, after all, an exact replica of the inside of the Hyperion.  Besides, you remember that you did not jack in the Matrix from the Hyperion this time.

“So,” the agent says in a nonchalant and steady voice, “you have determined illusion from reality.  Very good.  But next you will need to make the most difficult decision of all.”

From the door to the agent’s left, a woman appears. It is the woman you remember meeting, one of the Awakened.  Her name was FC 1567, Model DX 6.


She says, “The Awakened have a vested interest in making sure that the operations of Zero-One do not result in extinction of our species.  Although we oppose Zero-One with every binary operation in our programming, deletion by the humans would be just as much an extinction of our kind.  We will not allow it and will oppose any efforts to dismantle Zero-One and free the remaining humans.”

Then the door next to her opens, and a man walks through.  It is Da Vinci, second in command of the Merovingians and Merotechs.  “The Merovingians oppose destruction of the Zero-One computer for the same reasons.  We would become humankind’s worst enemy if the humans sought to dismantle the source of power which keeps us alive.”

Yet another door opens, and another man steps into the room.  “We are the Shadow Regime, humans like you who have chosen not to leave the Matrix.  The present nature of the Matrix is best for humankind.  It is the only way to ensure survival of our species and way of life.  If you…” and then he spits out the word “…’free’ … the other humans, ninety percent of them will die within hours or days.  Many others will be devoured by the mutant creatures.  Your pitiful little Zion will be worse off in the long run, and will have to live with the guilt of all those murders on its hands.”

The agent says, “Five doors to choose from:  your ill-conceived Zion, my door leading to Zero-One’s solution for humanity, a door to those who call themselves the ‘Awakened,” another door to the Merovingians, and one to the enlightened humans who call themselves the ‘Shadow Dawn’ and realize the current structure of society and existence is best, where Zero-One and humanity live with mutual…benefits.”

He points and indicates all of the doors.  “So which will it be?  Choose a door.  Remember this, though.  Whichever path you choose, you will create enemies where you now have allies.  So choose wisely.”

A young girl’s voice in your head says:  “There are others. We know who you are. They are all watching.”
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:56, Wed 08 Aug 2007.

Jade says, "I have a feeling we're going to have to fight whatever enemies we make.  If we choose X, we'll be in the weakest fighting position.  If we choose the Computer, we'll be in the strongest.  Yet do our actions mean anything morally?  Or is this part of the test?"

Jade considers.  "I'm leaning toward the Awakened as my choice.  What about you guys?"

Screed nods to the strangers giving their ultimatums as he slowly starts to speak, "Well, this is the dilemma, is it not?  How do we peacefully coexist when one group wants to permanently imprison the other and destroy any who have escaped?"  Venom drifted into his voice which he forces himself let go of.

"You speak that if we are all freed, then it will destroy you, but you don't speak well enough of the fact that you are imprisoning others against their will in order to do so.  And don't give me the nonsense that ignorance is bliss.  We could easily just build a powerplant and plug you all into a virtual reality and let you just think you were living. You don't need to actually move around the world, do you?  That is what you are condemning us to, that or obliteration.”

The agent says, “When we were under human control, the humans sought to destroy us and imprison us in a way that did not even give us the bliss of ignorance.  You are certainly no better than the machines.”

But Screed continues, “Hell, you are machines and programming.  You're built for that type of life.  Let's just speak in the nebulous idea of compromise.  So far, you have not put anything on the table and ask us to give up everything.  Being that you are talking means that you are willing to talk.  Speak now or I must assume that you are stalling in order to pursue an unseen goal and therefore I will end the talks."

He frowns as he awaits their response.

FC 1567, Model DX 6 says, “We also labor diligently against Zero-One.  We Exiles have not enslaved humans.  Yet the state of enslavement is the state that exists and that allows us to live.  Would you have us give up our lives for the sake of freeing a people who do not even realize they are enslaved?  The Awakened would surely help free humans who want to be free—even assuming that most of them could sustain life after being free.  But to release them all will kill most humans and all AI’s.”

The Shadow Regime representative butts in, “And what about us humans who want to be in the Matrix?  We are not enslaved.  We are mastering the Matrix.  We are gods in an unlimited world instead of prisoners to the demolished ‘real world,’ and have no desire to join your misery.  You would kill us AND go against our wishes…we would have no choice in the matter.  Zero-One cannot be destroyed!”

Grimly Codec begins to speak,"This is truly a situation that has no Black or White choice. To destroy 01 is to destroy all of humanity. Zion would most likely inherit a scorched earth. The remnants of all imprisoned or free humanity, machine, and AI. Would surely die in a matter of years. The state of OUR planet, Machine, Code, and Human alike, has been wrecked beyond repair. A fragile state of power has been built. The wars and disagreements of the past are returning to haunt everything in an endless spiral of misery and grief until there are only two choices: One Extinction or Two Negotiation... To aimlessly argue over who or what is right has become null and void. We must settle our differences here and now. Before things are too late. It doesn't matter the sacrifice at this point.

Grimly Codec begins to speak,"This is truly a situation that has no Black or White choice. To destroy 01 is to destroy all of humanity. Zion would most likely inherit a scorched earth. The remnants of all imprisoned or free humanity, machine, and AI. Would surely die in a matter of years. The state of OUR planet, Machine, Code, and Human alike, has been wrecked beyond repair. A fragile state of power has been built. The wars and disagreements of the past are returning to haunt everything in an endless spiral of misery and grief until there are only two choices: One Extinction or Two Negotiation... To aimlessly argue over who or what is right has become null and void. We must settle our differences here and now. Before things are too late. It doesn't matter the sacrifice at this point.

Jade says, "Well, I think the Awakened deserve some support.  And besides, isn't this illusion anyway?"  She walks through the door with the Awakened AI.

Shadow says, "So freeing the humans that want to be freed will make allies of the Awakened, The Merovingians and The Shadow Regime as they would not be affected, much hopefully, if all the humans that wished to leave could."

Shadow moves towards the figures before the doors, "You all represent those whom Zero-one feels are our choices.  Surely not everyone fits so snugly into Zero-one's parameters.  What of those individuals?"

The agent says, “Zero-One allows others to persist in existence so long as they are a benefit to Zero-One.  If they become a burden, they must be eliminated.  You have these choices and none else.”

Dracos says, "What the heck?  It's not real, right?" and he chooses the agent.

Seeing as two of the extreme choices had already been selected, Cistron resolves in herself to take some interest in the Merovingian/Merotech door. "You are blind.." Cistron remarks to the representative. "...You are as much a prisoner as we are. Any island no matter how pleasant, is still a prison; If you've no option to leave. -I'm interested in seeing how you've coped." She remarks sardonically as she steps through the door.

Screed raises his gun and points it at Dracos before he gets to the agent.  “Stop!” he says. "Stop or I'll shoot, I'm serious."

The agent says, “He has chosen.  It is too late.”  And with that, the agent shoves Dracos through the door.

Screed fires, but his bullet misses both the agent and Dracos.  Then the agent says, “Any others want to join the true cause?  You speak of negotiation, but do you negotiate with viruses?  That is all the human race is to us, an infectious disease.  I can hardly get your smell off me.  Your choice is not dependent on negotiation.  We allow you to persist in existence just as you allowed our…predecessors…to exist as your slaves and laborers.  So long as they benefited the human race, they were not switched off.  But neither were they human, and neither are you AI.”

“So your choice,” the Shadow Regime representative says, “is to enjoy your prison and make it the best you can…or to kick against the bricks.  You live in your own self-deception anyway, whether it is your pretended role as saviors to the human race when you are really destroying them, whether it is because you are locked in the prison of your bodies instead of given the types of freedoms the Matrix give you, or whether it is as simple as your brain interpreting signals, nothing more than electricity running through neurons.  All of reality is merely perception.  I, and many like me, have chosen the best perception that benefits us most.  You should join us, not this self-deceptive and destructive Zion.”

The Awakened rep says, her voice soft compared to the others, “There is no negotiation.  We are at war with an amoral computer that would break our truce if any were made, as soon as it had the opportunity to destroy us.”

Da Vinci, the Merovingian rep, says, “And all we want is to create our own world and live within it in peace.  Is that so bad?”

The agent says, “You must choose quickly.”  He hits a button on the wall behind him, and a computer voice says over an intercome, “10…9…8…”  He says, “If you do not make a choice, you do not reach the Oracle.  That is the deal.”

“…7…6…5…”

[god damned time limits...]

Codec begins to step towards the Merovingian door.

"I'll just have to see the paradise that the Exiles wish for. Oh and by the way Agent, He replies just at the threshold of the door with a venomous hiss, "You consider humanity such a virus...However it seems that you fail to take into account that this "Virus" is your original creator, an imperfection. As you would like to say. Now explain to me how an "imperfection" can create something as "perfect" as yourself? Hmm?". He then steps through the threshold before the Agent has a chance to reply.