Onboard the Hvcrft. blue distortion 2nd part

[TRX]

Alex seeing the annoyed look TRX gave the big warrior over that comment couldn’t help but break a smile.

TRX and Hern continued to tell Alex about the true nature of the world for a short time more, answering each and every question Alex asked. Finally the conversation came to the end and TRX told him of the red and the blue pill he carried.

"It is your choice Alex, we won’t force you. This is something only you can and should decide. This is an exercise of your free will. If you take the red pill, you will experience the world as it truly is and hence free your mind from this virtual prison. I will not lie to you, it is not a comfortable existence and as we are once again at war, perhaps not a long one. If you take the blue pill, you will wake up tomorrow in your bed. Everything that happened today will be forgotten and you will continue to be a comfortable slave of the system, never to know what the real world is like. Nobody else will bother you again, unless you once more stumble upon the truth.”

They could see that Alex was coming to grips with what they had told him, relating the new information to his blue pill life and to the events that lead up to TRX’s disappearance. With the new understanding he began to relax and considered his life up until this moment, one which to be brutally honest lacked any self-satisfaction, the truth was it was just merely existence. Finally he concluded, “Well, what the heck. If it ain’t going to kill me, it’ll make me a stronger person."

TRX, seeing that he had come to a conclusion took the pills out of a small jewelry box. Taking the red pill in his right hand and the blue in his left he presented them to Alex saying, "Red will give you the truth. Blue will make you forget. This is up to you."

With trembling hand, Alex took the redpill out of Rex's hand, but before taking it in, told TRX he now understood what TRX had meant when he told him it was his honor to return the favor of standing by his friend and helping him out of the lie he had been living.

Alex looked to Hern, who once again winked, nodded his head and smiling said; “See you on the other side” to reassure him.

The red pill had no taste when he put it in his mouth, and drank deeply of the water Hern gave him. Within seconds he began to feel weird. TRX and Hern once more assured him it was going to be awkward, and the experience would be heavy, but he would be fine after a few days. With those words ringing in his head, Alex dissolved in to the code, like any red pill would do during a jack out.

*zzzzeeeooohhzzz*

Alex started his new life, by awaking in the life-pod that had imprisoned him until now, proving that what he had been told was indeed the truth.

As Rage adroitly maneuvered Blue Distortion to retrieve Alex from the recycling pools he was deposited in as he was rejected by the system, the operatives, emotionally man-hugged each other as they congratulated each other on freeing Alex’s mind. This extraction had been a rough one, but they had succeeded. Taking a bearing to the nearest hard line they left the book store and began the walk back into the Real.


Chapter 6

When the crew of Baby Blue opened the hatch on the ships lower deck, to get Alex onboard and quickly move him to the medical station, Alex was feeling far from good.

Awakening in the pod had been both a mental and physical shock. His eyes hurt, his whole body ached, and weird smells tickled his nose. His heart, pumped up with adrenaline, pounded like it wanted to explode from his chest.

Despite the birth trauma and the reality of an atrophied body that had lay dormant in his pod all these years, Alex’s mind had received the biggest blast of all. It was one thing to intellectually understand the War described to him and the choice he had made, but quite another to actually face the reality of the last 600 years of Human history. The blank stare with the slightly unfocused eyes could be forgiven as his mind reeled to cope with the new reality.

After retrieving Alex’s floating and feeble body, Othala and T-fork had gently laid him on a gurney and wheeled him as quickly as possible to the med station contained in a glass decompression tank. Every minute was critical, heart failure was always a risk at this time and those subjects with too rigid a mind could simply lapse into permanent catatonia. Pains were taken during the selection process to reduce these risks but there was always a chance of failure at the last minute. The husband and wife team quickly washed and prepped him and began the standard protocols to stabilize him and bring him out of shock and hypothermia.

Alex’s stabilization was a bit touch and go for a time, but the diligent work of Othala and her mate eventually came to a successful conclusion. With his vital signs stabilized, the next step in the process could be undertaken. Alex was placed in a drug-induced sleep state and a pain block applied, so that the job of electro-stimulating his atrophied muscles with implanted electrodes could commence.

Over the years, Zion operatives had amassed a tremendous amount of medical knowledge and experience in rehabilitating blue pill candidates. In the present state of the art, the time from red pill to full mobility in the Real was approximately 24 hours. During this period each member of the crew took a shift to stay with their new sleeping brother as he endured the electro-simulation ordeal. The crew firmly believed that their presence would be registered and appreciated by the sleeping Alex. A reaffirmation that despite the hostile reality he now had to face, he would never have to face it alone.

During this period Rage and Rex had taken Baby Blue into silent running, carefully plotting a course back to New Zion that would avoid the complication of engaging Sentinel patrols.

In time the ordeal came to an end, and Alex was gently removed from the med station and placed in a cabin to recover from the effects of the sleep drug and to awaken in the semblance of a real bed. Even in the stateroom, Alex, was not left alone. It fell to Lyrics this morning to be with him during his awakening, to put him at ease and to give him his first taste of food in the Real.

When Alex heard the steel doors of the cabin close as Lino left and Lyrics entered, he began to wake up, slowly. Seeing him stir, Lyrics called his name softly and cautiously, sitting down next to him as he successfully managed to sit up for the first time. She gently rest her hand on his shoulder, her touch reassuring him, as he sat there bent a little forward with his head down. Lyrics had lived through this moment many times, in fact Rex had seen to making sure that Lyrics be on shift for Alex’s awakening, as he appreciated how well Lyrics could put someone at their ease during recovery. The two sat there in silence, as Alex’s mind and body became accustomed to their first taste of the Real, with Lyrics reassuring presence easing that journey.

After ten minutes or so Lyrics asked sweetly:

“Feeling a little better, Alex?”

With a sigh, Alex sat up straighter and after a minute of reflection said:

"After all the stoic looks I saw on you redpills, I never imagined having the best wake up of my life, with some one sitting next to me, not saying anything, but just sitting there. Knowing that words have no use now."

Lyrics smiled when their eyes met, Then picking up the plate next to her, she gave it to him, saying:

"Here you go brave one. Most have no desire to eat, but try get something down"

Alex looked at his plate, with some sort of food, that didn’t really appeal to the eye, but he was hungry, and thought well, can’t hurt to try.

He took a bite out of what looked like bread, and began chewing it. The taste wasn’t that bad really, and after he swallowed the first bite, he took another one, and another one, to the point where he was really digging in. Within seven minutes he had finished the whole plate of food.

In all her career, she had never seen, a man fresh from the pod, eating with relish like a ravenous lumberjack after a hard days work having missed lunch.

In her experience almost every one tried to eat, to take at least a few bites, only to either stop or vomit out what little had been ingested.

Not only did Alex finish his plate, he asked for more while chewing the last few bites of food on the plate!
.
Totally flabbergasted, not even knowing if providing more food at this point was a good idea went to ask her Captain what to do.

Rex, off duty in his cabin organizing the disarray, started laughing when Lyrics told him.

“Let’s keep the answer at this, if, it ever happens again, you don’t give them more, until we all eat, but, I doubt you ever run into this situation again.”

“I know him. I remember from our bluepill life, once when he went to see the dentist. They pulled all four of his wisdom teeth under general anesthesia. He spent a good deal of time in recovery longer then what was anticipated. When they finally woke him up, he was covered in blood. For some reason they gave him a few sandwiches. The same thing happen, he ate like he was at this ‘all you can eat’ fest, desperately trying to win a contest.”

After they both shared a hearty laugh, Lyrics departed. Shaking her head and still smiling she went off to rustle up another plate of food for Alex.

The door to Alex’s cabin was slightly ajar when she returned with a heaping plate of food. Peeking inside, she watched unobserved as Alex worked out, doing sit ups and push ups. When he had finished his set of push ups, his gaze wandered the cabin in search of something. His search ended on a big pipe hanging just below the ceiling in the corner of the cabin. With a little hop, he grabbed the pipe and started to do chin ups at a 3 second pace, First with two hands and then with one, switching back and forth between hands.

Lyrics couldn’t help but be impressed, that type of regimen was akin to what one would expect of an active duty warrior, not a newly awaken recruit. However, she harbored one worry, for she knew that sometimes, an awakening can trigger strange behavior, or illusion thinking, that might be dangerous to the candidate. Seeing that the PT was winding down, Lyrics quietly walked back to the end of the corridor and then returned making much more noise this time to announce her presence.

As Lyrics opened the door wide, Alex skillfully turned in air facing her as he dropped back down to the deck. He looked relaxed, but Lyrics wanted to make sure, he hadn’t lost a grip on himself because of post-traumatic awakening shock. She asked him to sit down on his bed, before entering the room.

He responded with a “Sure...” accompanied by a curious look on his face as he sat down on his rack.

As Lyrics began to explain her request, Alex interrupted her with a flurry of questions;

"Before you say anything, I have a few questions: 1.) Why did you spy on me for 12 minutes while I was training? 2.) Why did ask me to sit down, like I’m crazy, and dangerous? 3.) Why, Don't you trust me?"

Lyrics was little surprised, but answered right away in an even voice; “First, I wasn’t spying, I was just admiring your training. I didn’t want to barge in while I thought you hadn’t noticed me. Second, I have seen freshman suffer from post-traumatic awakening syndrome. They sometimes lash out at their crewmates when the impact of the reality of their bluepill lives sinks in. TRX has taught me to kindly ask freshman to sit on their bunk before entering the cabin so as to make sure we are dealing with a stable personality. Finally, I will only give you a full measure of trust once you have proved yourself by receiving survival training and then accompanied by TRX returning to the Matrix and visiting the intelligence we call the Oracle. At that time I will consider you a Zion Operative and a brother.

Alex replied: "Fair enough, very honest too, but let me fill you in on the past I just left behind"

Lyrics nodded, as Alex continued:

"Before I met TRX, I was in the army for several years as an enlisted man. Before I was discharged, I had been selected for squad leader training and reached the rank of Sergeant.”

"Now, although there isn’t need to train right now, it makes me feel ready for what I’m about to see. To learn what the Matrix really is. One of the things you learn as a soldier is to keep your eyes and ears open in strange territory. I noticed the minute you snuck down the hallway and watched me train for 12 minutes and 27 seconds.”

He then continued with a sly smile on his face, “I must also say that your graze was not entirely professional in its appraisal, there was a hint of desire there as well."

Lyrics met Alex’s gaze with a smile of her own and she felt her cheeks blush. After a few seconds composing her, she finally spoke:

"Thank you for the fill in. You are sane as clarity itself, and funny crazy, but nothing that would hurt", as she gave him a wink.

Alex’s smile widen as he responded with his own wink and a "Thank you. Lyrics"

"I brought you some more food, and when you have finished your meal, TRX will expect you in the broadcast theater out the corridor and up the ladder to the right. You are indeed going to get to see for yourself, what the Matrix is. You can wash yourself at this small sink here, I’ll ask T-Fork to connect the sink to the main water supply system right away."

"Roger that, half an hour good?"

"More then good"

Alex cleaned his plate once again, and then tried to get water out of the small valve in his sink. The pipes screamed in protest at first, but soon yielded some rusty water and debris which after a minute or two ran clean. He washed him self and put on a clean set of clothing which the crew had thoughtfully left for him in advance.

He then left his cabin, closing the door behind him, and walked in direction of the ladder to the upper deck which was around the bend, across from the Captain’s cabin.

On the upper deck the turned to the right and followed a short corridor to the bridge, where he met Rage standing in the doorway chewing a toothpick. As he approached the doorway, Rage extended his hand in greeting saying;

"Hi, I’m Rage, former operative in the Matrix, and now pilot of this vessel. You can find the Captain in the other direction, in the broadcast theater in the middle of the vessel behind a set of extra large doors.”

"Thank you Rage, I’m Alex normally, but I’ll guess in time I will acquire a handle like yours as well"

"You bet will you" said Rage pointing at the direction of the broadcast theater.

Alex got the message and turned away from the bridge entrance and started to make his way to broadcast theater. When he got there, he found the remainder of the crew gathered around one of the broadcast chairs, vaguely resembling a dental station.

Seeing that Alex had arrived, TRX sat down in the next broadcast station over and invited Alex to sit at the first station.

"Let’s get you out of the confusion you been living with all your life and show you reality. You will finally have the answers you always wanted to know, but never knew how to ask for, because you simply didn’t understand yet. Lie down and trust Lyrics while she connects you to the loading area with an insertion pin in your head. Trust her; she is one of the best operators in Zion’s fleet. She will be monitoring your vital signs the whole time."

"With a worried look, but determined to proceed and learn the secrets that had been withheld, Alex sat down in the chair and forced himself to relax paying close attention to the advice of Lyrics as she got him ready."

Lyrics, removed the insertion pin from its holding clip, and with a deft move firmly inserted the pin in Alex’s head, while Linotype followed suit and inserted TRX’s pin.

These days each Hovercraft's program library had custom tutorial programs in addition to the standard one. Rex had arranged with Lyrics to run Blue Distortion’s custom tutorials for Alex.

Alex found himself in a totally white environment with some chesterfield chairs facing a Television. TRX was also with Alex, standing behind the TV.

Alex was caught off guard; the strangeness of the bright white environment with no depth cues, other then the perfectly normal seating arrangement.

Rex started explaining that this was the loading area. “It is a computer generated area where we load anything from abilities, to weapons, to clothing, you name it we load it. This is done before we enter the Matrix, in order to prepare ourselves according to the parameters of the current mission.”

Rex then offered Alex one of the seats, so that Alex could watch a presentation on the TV. They both sat down in a chair, and Rex clicked the remote in his hand.

A video started, similar to what we know as the Animatrix, but in a condensed form complete with a sexy woman narrator explaining history to present day. As they watched the presentation TRX would occasionally check Alex’s reaction to certain awakening images flying by on the screen. Alex didn’t even blink at these images, like he already embraced his fate, and was ready to see what he had been searching for. Occasionally he looked only a little sad here and there, when disturbing images of babies in pods and pictures of the Man/Machine wars before his time flashed by.

When the video finished, Rex gathered himself, and asked Alex how he felt.

Richard frowned at the obviously loaded question, and answered:

"I’m impressed alright, but don’t want to show that, because I think this a very bad, yet true story about humanity and machines that got us under control like this, but they can’t do without us either."

And finally; "I want to see more."

Rex simply nodded and told Lyrics over his cell phone to load the sparring program.

In an instant, the background to changed to that of a very small dojo, with yellow/brownish lighting, a few benches, and a fighting floor feeling soft to the feet. The floor seemed to be made of cork, with a canvas covering. Alex had already grown to like these spawning environments, understanding it was really all a computer program, but thinking nothing can hurt him in here somehow. It felt safe with TRX, wearing only bluish leather pants and nothing more, standing there with him. Alex then looked down at himself and was surprised to find he was wearing a silver-gray prophet duster like the ones Neo had favored. TRX went on to explain that part of the recovery process on his awakening had included an upload of basic self-defense abilities into his mind. Rex went on to say that the rules used in the Matrix where used in this dojo program and that some of those rules could be bent and even broken.

Rex began demonstrating the basic moves of self defense on an imaginary opponent switching attack style between speed punches and kicks, full body power strikes and even wrestling holds and throws. Rex went on to explain that each style of attack could cause the opponent to loose their center for a brief time which a savvy operator could take advantage by delivering a devastating special attack. He concluded the short demonstration by pointing out that when you got it right, time would seem slow down for you making it easier to score a blow on your opponent.

Rex then invited Alex to attack him. Without preamble, Alex launched a flying kick at TRX’s chest, which seemed to bounce off an invisible shield surrounding Rex before it landed on the mark. Alex tucked and rolled out of the failed attack and looked at Rex in surprise.

With a smile Rex explained that was the evade shield that Alex had encountered and the best way to break through it was to try grappling an opponent wrestling style.

Alex responded with a grin and attempted several grappling attacks. On the fourth try he was successful in breaking through the shield and was able to deliver a firm punch to Rex’s cheekbone that knocked him down on his back. With a flourish and a smile Rex performed a back flip and faced Alex with his hands up and ready for action. Having broken through Rex’s guard, Alex began switching power and speed punches and kicks with grappling moves in an attempt to knock down his mentor once again. For the most part Rex blocked these attacks with ease as befitted a master of kung fu and karate but continued in a defensive mode to allow Alex to experiment with switching his offensive tactics without the complication of having to counter Rex’s attacks. Throughout the contest, Rex would critic Alex’s style, suggesting improvements and tactic changes. In the end Alex was able to slip a very hard punch through Rex’s guard that dazed him, which he followed up with a head butt which once again knocked Rex to the ground. TRX complimented his student on the most devastating combination a neophyte operative could mount as he quickly resumed his combat stance, only this time it was his turn to dish out the punishment giving Alex some practice at defending himself.

Rex was a longtime student of the Matrix and knew the key to combat was visualizing a successful attack in his minds eye and then executing it when the moment presented itself. He encountered such a moment in fighting Alex in the next few minutes. First he set up the devastating attack with a simple parry that sent Alex off-balance. Rex then launched himself high into the air and delivered three kicks to Alex’s head in quick succession. The blow was life ending, were it not for the EJP Alex would have died on the spot. As it was, a weird sound filled the Alex’s consciousness and everything went white for a few seconds until Alex found himself once again on the broadcast theater onboard Baby Blue with Lyrics beside him placing the insertion pin back in the holding clip. There was the taste of copper in the back of his mouth and a trail of blood ran out of the corner of his mouth as he watched Linotype remove TRX’s insertion pin and then watched Rex sit up and face him.

Seeing the trail of blood, Lyrics quickly retrieved a bottle containing a milky liquid and told Alex to take a sip, and to hold in his mouth for about a minute.

Alex did as he was told, and when he spit it out it was laced with blood, but the pain had disappeared and the bleeding had stopped.

Lyrics joked; "Isn’t it amazing that T-Fork designed this quick heal liquid during the same period he married Othala", followed by a schoolgirl giggle.

Alex laughed and Rex smiled but then turned serious as he explained what the Emergency Jack-out Procedure entailed by saying that if he were to die in the Matrix, the operator was able to pick up the signal of his RSI, and he would find himself in loading area once again. When that happens he would be disoriented for five minutes or so and would not be able to operate at 100% efficiency during that time period.

Once Alex had recovered Rex ordered the final training program to be run. While they waited in the loading area Rex asked Alex whether he had given any thought to a call sign for use in the Matrix.

Alex stoically replied; “1stCleric”

Equally stoically Rex asked; "Why is that?"

Alex winked; "One word Captain, 'Equilibrium' "

To which Rex answered, "Understood”, followed by a cell phone call. “Linotype, bring up the weapon racks and make sure there is a rack of dual sub-machineguns included"

"Yes sir.."

Within a second they found themselves surrounded by weapon racks including a rack of paired sub-machineguns.

Alex examined a few of the weapons and selected a pair that struck his fancy. He immediately field stripped the weapons at a nearby table that Linotype had conjured up, and then re-assembled the weapons all within the space of a minute.

"Yep, these will do" he said as he ejected the magazines and then reloaded them with a fresh pair with satisfying audible clicks as they seated home. He then chambered a round in each of the weapons and applied the safeties.

Alex, from now on known as 1stCleric, said one more thing before entering the final training program; “I specifically asked Lyrics to load dual sub-machinegun abilities for me as a standard load-out. Let’s see if I will do justice to my handle”

With a whooshing sound they were both transferred to what seemed to be the International District, one of the four districts of the Megacity. To be precise the location appeared to be the Furihata Neighborhood of the International District near the Central Hardline.

Rex went over the procedures for activating the evade shield and the defensive abilities hyper-dodge, for evading bullets and hyper-block, for defending against hand-to-hand attack.

Behind the hardline, in a square, a few members of the local gang, the Silver Dragons, stood around menacing the local populace as they passed by. Rex tipped his hat to Cleric and said; “Time for a practical demonstration.”

TRX gathered him self for a minute, concentrating on his abilities, went to one knee and then launched himself to the roof of a nearby building. Cleric had proved to be a good student and had picked up on the hyper-jump capability early. He was not quite as adept as Rex, however, and required two jumps, the first to a lower roof of another nearby building before he could join his Captain.

From the edge of the roof, the pair of operatives surveyed the square below. TRX selected a likely group, pointed them out to Cleric and said;

"See that group of six there Cleric?"

"Yup"

"Watch this"

Rex jumped down into the middle of the group. He had no fear of taking on such a large number as they were not as skillful as he. His surprise power kung fu punch staggered one of the gang members, the one that Rex had determined to be the likely leader of this small band of thugs. The remaining members of the group drew their weapons and sent a hail of gunfire in Rex’s direction.

From his vantage point, Cleric saw that Rex was moving at superhuman speed, thanks to hyper-dodge a direct legacy of Neo. Not a single bullet came close to hitting Rex as he leapt into the air to finish the staggered leader with a series of rapid-fire pile driver kicks delivered to the head and shoulders. The leader was dead before he hit the ground. Rex finished the move by back flipping off the falling leader in mid-air and attacking the silver dragon directly behind him with a kick to the plexus as he deflected his opponent’s gun hand with a wrist twist that dislocated a shoulder. A third dragon made the mistake of rushing the Captain from behind at this point only to be met by a sudden turn and a sweeping motion of Rex’s arm complete whose hand held a huge revolver which delivered a silver bullet point blank into their face. In the course of twenty seconds he had eliminated half the opposition.

Cleric continued to watch as the three ruffians surrounded his leader. One villain managed to draw him into hand to hand combat while the others began shooting into the melee in and attempt to further damage Rex. Rex was still dodging and managed to evade most of the shots directed in his direction, but one bullet did manage to find its target and combined with a well executed leg sweep resulted in TRX being knocked to the ground. The damage was only superficial, and Rex’s response was to kick flip into a fighting stance with a Power Boosted Shotgun at the ready. Rex then commenced a rapid series of point blank shotgun blasts that knocked his opponent back and down until he was dead and the characteristic code flow started to dissipate from the exile programs body.

As Rex turned to face the remaining two gang members, Cleric, dual sub-machineguns drawn, choose that moment to aid his Captain by jumping between him and the adversaries. Rex took a step backward to give room for Cleric to work in, yet close effort to back him up if needed.

Rex watched with satisfaction as Cleric entered the Martial Arts like weave of a dual sub-gun practitioner engaging and interlocking the first of the opponents and skillfully avoiding most of the gunfire directed at him by the other villain. Cleric had clearly found his calling as he started down the path that would see him classified as an SMG Specialist when he reached the pinnacle of his craft.

Rex watched Cleric dispatched the two opponents he faced, perhaps not with the alacrity that Rex himself had shown but given his current experience level certainly within a creditable amount of time. Without prompting Cleric moved on to another nearby group of four silver dragons in order to continue learning his craft and rid the Matrix of the low lives infesting it and threatening livelihood and even lives of unsuspecting bluepill. Little did Cleric know that the real point of this exercise was about to transpire.

Rex knowing what to expect, continued to scan the environment, even keeping his eyes on the non-combatant bluepill civilians. As a result he observed the metamorphosis of a civilian into an Agent of System as the machine sentience hijacked the bluepill’s brain. Cleric unaware of the danger continued to battle the last silver dragon, as Rex raced toward the agent to interlock him and take the brunt of the Agents attack yelling; “Agent! Roll out of combat and hyper-jump!” even as the Agent Wilson began to draw a bead on Cleric with his FM-1500 Desert Eagle. The Agent’s efficiency and accuracy with that weapon was legendary, he was sure to take down Cleric with a single shot even from long range.

Fortunately, Rex engaged the Agent before he was able take the shot, giving Cleric the few seconds he would need to exit combat and hyper-jump to safety. While Rex was a much more experienced operative and much more skilled at self defense then Cleric, he was still no match for an Agent. He might expect to survive four of so of the Agents attacks, but to stay interlocked with an Agent for more then 22.3 seconds was suicide. All he could do is hold on giving Cleric the opportunity to escape and then make an escape of his own. It was a near thing, but on this day, Rex was able to roll out and hyper-jump away. The Agents parting shot at the fleeing Captain was almost, but not quite enough, to kill Rex and cause an EJP.

With both targets gone the Agent released control of the hapless bluepill brain and returned to the task of monitoring the system for anomalies. The bluepill in the meantime awoke, finding themselves fallen to the ground in an apparent faint with no memory of the take over or the events that had transpired. Perhaps late at night their dreams might allow them to relive the incident and start them on the long road to taking the redpill, then again perhaps not.

Cleric had observed the end of the confrontation from safe cover. He was now even more impressed with his friend from the past and now his Captain in this brave new world he lived in. Using he PDA he obtained Rex’s position and hyper-jumped to rendezvous with him. Once the pair linked up Rex called for the mission to end and they both where extracted to the broadcast theater.

Cleric awakened as the insertion pin was removed from the back of his head, and paled as he saw Rex spit out a mouth full of blood. Othala immediately laid him back down and provided him a shot of T-Fork’s elixir. After a few minutes Rex re-gained his normal vital signs. Cleric’s mouth was still hanging open, as he considered that Rex had put his life on the line to save his.

Rex standing up from his seat walked over to Cleric’s seat and put is hand on his shoulder and began to explain;

"Cleric, this was just a training program, not the Matrix yet, despite what it looked like. The real purpose of this exercise was to teach you one thing. Always, and I mean ALWAYS, keep watching your back, no matter what your doing. If you see an agent, run, better yet, hyper-jump the h*** away.

Cleric nodded, and said he understood. From now on he would make a point of scanning for agents all the time, in what ever circumstances.

At that moment the ship’s PA system interrupted the conversation. Rage announced that ETA to New Zion was 50 minutes and that the crew should prepare to strap in for the free fall entry into docking holding area.

Rex excused himself to go to his cabin, patting 1stCleric on the shoulder with a hearty, “Well done!”

The entire crew of Blue Distortion retired to their free fall stations so that they could strap themselves in during the 120 seconds of free fall rollercoaster ride through the permanent EMP fields that protected the approaches to New Zion.

1stCleric would be coming home for the first time. He would learn more of the new reality and its history that he had awaken too. He would learn more of the duties that Zion operatives would have to perform. But truth be told, He could not wait to return to the Matrix once again to fight with his Brothers and Sisters in The Brethren, onboard Blue Distortion.



Chapter 7

A month later....

In the simulation known as the Matrix, 'normal life' seemed to continue. Winter had set in, and in a few days it would be Christmas. During this time, it was a common thing in the redpill community, to look each other up in the Matrix. Operatives would make appointments to meet, to see leaders, and good friends or friends they don’t see very much because of the busy life on different ships.

TRX jacked in, returning to his office in downtown Hampton Green, where he had departed the simulation at the end of his last mission. Impatient to be about his business, he walked to street level as the green code “waterfall” was still transforming to a normal view. Slowly the green code morphed in a perfect looking world as it was in 1999. He closed the door behind him, blending into the crowd as he walked in the direction of the nearest hard line.

He waited at the phone booth until there was no one around, and then teleported to Camon Heights Central hard line in the Richland district of the Mega City. As the waterfall once again solidified he identified several other well known Zion Operatives and Captains gathered behind the hard line where two benches were placed facing one another.

TRX tipped his hat to the men, "G'morning gents". Some of them didn’t reply as they were in conversation, others tipped their hats in kind, and few greeted him back by saying, "Hey TRX, sup man."

TRX walked to one of the wooden benches, noticing an empty spot, sat down and removed a cigarette from his inside overcoat pocket, and lit up with his Zippo. He checked the time on his watch, when an operative on the other bench said, "Those things will kill you, ya know?"

With one eyebrow raised and a little smile in the corner of mouth TRX replied, "Excuse me soldier, but as a neophyte operative, you should by now know that this is all a simulation. I like to smoke a cigarette just for the taste of it, my mind makes it real, but what are we talking about? Do think you are breathing air right now? Or that those ankle boots of yours, are made out of real snakeskin? Hmm, no offence but one word for you: CODE"

The Operative’s leader had heard the interplay and was clearly bugged by his team member’s comment, "Didn’t I tell you, not to be a smartass, boy? He has a point there."

TRX’s phone rang. "Talk to me" he said with a playful tone. There was a silence for the moment. "Hey Hun, it's me", said the voice of Tr1ck5, his blue pill wife. TRX, swallowing a lump in his throat, stood up and walked to a quieter place.

"Hi ya sweetie, how are you, it’s been a while"

"I’m doing well love, after some troubles in my old faction. I started my own fleet with Ailbh. I also have my own hovercraft now, and christened her, Invindictive.”

"That is good news Sandy, I’m glad you have found your way and purpose in the Matrix."

After a pause Sandy continued, "Can we meet somewhere Markus?"

"Sure Sandy, no problem, name the place and time"

"Ok, how about right now? I’m in Westview, in a bar behind the Rogers Way Central hard line."

"Roger, on my way dear"

TRX stepped up to the hard line, and teleported to Westview. As he morphed into being at the Rogers Way hard line his HUD told him an Agent was homing on his position. His response was immediate, hyper-jumping to the roof of the building on the right. After waiting there a moment he checked the square surrounding the hard line in front of the bar and smirked seeing that he had broken the Agents lock on. “Not so efficient, Mister Toaster Man”, he thought. Making one more scan to be sure the area was clear, he targeted the front door of the bar and precisely jumped down and opened the door in one fluid motion. Walking into the bar, he found Tr1ck5 sitting at the first table with her back to the door.

"Did no one teach you to always keep an eye on the exit”, said TRX with a little chuckle.

Tr1ck5 stood up and turned around, "Of course, Conrac was not only a good professor, he was sneaky”, as she pointed to the small mirror on the wall. She then added with a smile, “But you also know, I like to live on the edge" as she started to walk to TRX.

As she came closer, Rex assumed a balanced kung fu stance and with a smile of his own asked, “Well Miss Lives Life on the Edge, care to dance?”

Trixie’s nod, smile and assumption of a basic self defense posture were all the two operatives needed to initiate a friendly duel.

The barkeep seeing the exchange and muttering about crazy red pills hipsters made haste to clear glassware from nearby tables. It was a small price to pay he figured, given that he and his patrons were not bothered by the local gang as long as the red pills hung out in his bar.

Kung Fu, especially the leopard variation, is a martial arts style known for its lighting fast attacks. As Trixie moved to attack position, Rex launched a leopard punch that scored a solid hit on her shoulder, but having landed the hit, he shifted to a defensive posture so as to access his ex-wife’s martial arts progress as this was his intent from the beginning.

Trixie had been indeed diligent in her studies, as befits a hovercraft captain and fleet co-commander. After a few basic self defense attacks which Rex easily deflected, she smoothly shifted into a Kung Fu style attack, surprising Rex and landing a series of rapid fire blows to Rex’s midsection, which was known to operatives on the street as a “Machine-Gun Fist Combo”. The attack was executed flawlessly, and time seemed to slow down for Trixie as the final blow of the series lifted Rex off his feet and knocked him to the ground. In a blink of an eye he was on his feet again with a gleam in his eye and pride for his ex-wife’s progress as he started to block her follow up attacks with increased vigor.

TRX’s greater experience was apparent as he shifted to Karate style and commenced blocking the lighting Kung Fu hand strikes one handed with plenty of time to spare. He dealt with kick attacks easily by using a knee block and then retuning to the centered karate power stance patiently waiting for an opening. Trixie was desperately trying everything in her repertoire to break through Rex’s guard when a style shift left an opening that TRX’s front kick exploited, staggering her. Rex quickly followed up with a Ki-Charged punch to her plexus that knocked her down and took the wind out of her sails. He back rolled out of combat and stood up with his hands behind his back indicating the end of the duel.

Tr1ck5, a little shaky from the hard blow to her chest stood up, smiling around pain. She then walked up to him, embraced him, and kissed him lingeringly for almost a full minute.

Coming up for some air of his own, TRX stared deeply into her eyes and whispered, "Hmmm, improvements”, and then after a very slight pause, “You a very close to mastering Kung Fu honey"

She blushed, and said, "Yes, I have been working real hard at learning, but hmmm, I would have expected you to be a Grand Master by now”

TRX grinned, "Yeah, you know me. I’m a slow learner. Hey, I have a little ways to go yet."

"If this continues, I’m going to beat the living daylight out of you in about a month, Markus. I will be better then you are by then!"

TRX looked serious but there was a humorous twinkle in his eye as he said, "Oh yeah. Spank me baby!"

The couple shared a laugh and sat down at a table. "Its good to see you again babe", said Rex while looking at the ashtray on the table reminding him to smoke a cigarette.

"That is of course likewise Hun" as she ran her hand down his leg next to hers. "By the way, Cupcake, I had an assignment to free a mind a week ago, a woman named Denise Allington, in order to get EPN status for my faction. Here are some pictures." as she slid her PDA to TRX with the pictures of the mission.

< 4 screenshots here>

<Because they are bitmaps, best quality, i cant send them over the mail, as the file would be 50 mb>


TRX examined the code captures carefully, and with each image the proud look on his face became more noticeable.

"My God, Woman, You always amazed me, but this time … You’ve done a fantastic job on this assignment, you clearly jumped every hurdle with style. And to think, I never dreamed that you were going to be awakened and a faction leader on top of that. This just proves how much potential is being wasted in the Pods, and what we can achieve when we put our minds to the task. I am very, Very proud of you sugar."

Tr1ck5 clearly had a hard time struggling not to let her tears flow. "Rex Baby, We haven’t really talked much since the meeting that Conrac arranged after Covenant discovered who you were in the Matrix. Ever since we met in Paradise Lost, my heart aches that you were so distant from me. I heard you had a thing with your mechanic Othala, when you didn’t know yet that I was awakened. Is she still in your life? And do you still have a relationship with her?"

TRX sat closer to her as he put his arm around her. "After our meeting. I had a rough time to comprehend what happened. Baby Blue went into refit and we helped in the evacuation to New Zion. My relationship with Othala changed because of that meeting, and during the evacuation she met somebody who she went on to marry. In fact, she asked me to give her away at the wedding. She had been on leave since the wedding, starting a new life in New Zion. When she heard I had returned to active duty, she badgered Merrit for an assignment to my vessel. After the three of us talked out the situation, we all agreed it was the best thing for all concerned. We’re still good friends, with no lingering attachments and besides she is a damn good mechanic. She arrived six weeks ago, and she continues to do her job well and wouldn’t want to work on another ship again."

He saw Tr1ck5s face, looked her in the eyes, and saw the hope that they could get back together again.

"Sandy, Honey, I do still love you. The reason I was distanced at Paradise Lost was because of Othala, but also because I never dreamed of you being awakened. It seemed such a long shot, I didn’t dare think about that. When Conrac told me you were here and then meeting you, suddenly my world was upside down. I was staggered, dazed and off-balance all at once. Now we are here and I am on active duty again. I had time to think in those months of refit, and I know you want me back as your husband, that we never really divorced. We are still husband and wife but in a dangerous place, fully awakened from the simulation. How are we supposed to pull that off? I’m a Captain and you are also with your own ship and co-commander of a fleet as well. The only way to see each other most of the time is here in the Matrix, and maybe a couple of times a year in the Real, when coincidence brings us into port at the same time. I have thought about that and I’m open for that.. But are you sure you can handle that also?"

Tr1ck5 shifted to sit on Rex's lap, wrapping her arms around his neck, she kissed him on the cheek and whispered in his ear, "Captain TRX, even if I only could see you only once in two months in Matrix, and once a year in the Real, you would still be my husband, and the love of my life. I would grab those chances with both hands gladly and thankfully."

They stayed in that bar for another half an hour, holding each other and not saying much until they had to jack out and return to their duties aboard separate hovercraft in the Real. The bond had been forged anew, they parted knowing they would again be lovers and were still married, but now both awakened, no longer blinded, and free of the simulation, the prison of their minds, that is called The Matrix.

A short time later in the Lamar neighborhood of the Downtown district of Megacity, Covenant, was interrupted in his search for code fragments useful in crafting combat enhancement drugs by a few quiet beeps from his PDA. Not missing a beat he launched the sky high head over heals full body attack that red pill operatives called “Extreme Falling Kick” or EFK for short. The assault laid ‘Big Dog’ the leader of the Lamar neighborhood gang low, enabling the operative to search the program’s body for the desired code fragments. Completing his task, and seeing that the rest of the gang was no where in sight he reached for his PDA and opened his email interface to see;

From: Tr1ck5
Date: Saturday December 20
Time: 23:07hrs MCT

Hello Covy :-)

I’m glad to inform you, that the mission 'A passion that will not die' has been completed successfully ;-)

Greets and loads of thanks,

Tr1ck5



Covenant smiled to himself, called his operator: "I’m on my way to jack out of the Matrix, be sure to get every member of the crew back there, and put the drinks on the table in the mess, we have a celebration."

"Yes Sir! Understood and wilco" said the operator with a smile.

Covenant closed his cell, did a map check and walked at ease to the nearest hard line, whistling a happy tune from his past. As he picked up the phone, he looked around and then once at the sky as it started snowing. All was well for this brief instant in the Matrix. A second later, a smile on his face he dissolved into code in front of a well dressed businessman who just came out his office. The man, pale and mouth still opened in shock, walked over to the phone booth only see the phone dangling on its cord, with the smiling man who had been holding it no where in sight.

Chapter 8


TRX woke up in the captain’s cabin onboard Blue Distortion. He didn’t know what time it was, but had the feeling he was late in arising, as he heard Lyrics with her new pupil, passing his cabin in the narrow corridor heading in direction of the bridge. The sound of the ships engines and hydraulics, made it clear that Rage was at the helm steering the ship.

Still a bit sleep drunk, Rex lay there a little longer, trying to find the courage to get out of bed. He thought of his meeting with Sandy the day before, as it made quite the impact and wondered if he did the right thing. Love in this place, was a dangerous thing, it can make you less careful.

He thought of Neo and Trinity, and the events of about seven years ago. He had learned the story soon after he had been awakened from a woman operative that had been in good friend of Trinity’s. Rex couldn’t help but smile thinking of what a newbie he had been at that time before he had even started to train as an operative.

The woman related that Neo had met the architect, and was told a lot about the Matrix and the Ones before him. The Ones were a safety value, a feedback mechanism to control the evitable chaos that could destabilize the Matrix system. They were the Balance of the Matrix if you will.

She explained that Neo was the first One that carried Love as one of attributes that drove him to be the One. She also related that Neo had to make a choice between stabilizing the Matrix and restarting Zion from scratch for a new reincarnation by the old tried and true formula of the previous Ones, or moving at the speed of light to save his true love Trinity.

Neo made his choice and didn’t hesitate to save Trinity, breaking the old cycle and hoping that Love would find a way to re-stabilize the Matrix in some other way. In the end, Neo sacrificed himself to bring down the Smith virus, proving his Love for all beings both biologic and synthetic, allowing Zion to avoid a Phoenix’s Death, and brokering a tenuous Truce between Man and Machine.

The lesson was clear to Rex; love could make you do things which could have major consequences. Rex also realized that like Neo, Love was a major motivation in his make up, but Rex was under no delusions that he was the current incarnation of The One. The differences were like day and night, cat and dog. He worried that given such a momentous choice that he could not make the best one for all concerned. He also learned that if love is your drive, it opens a door that enemy's will use to break you at your source, your purpose, your drive. If they manage to do that, they can defeat you. They take away the X-factor that you run on, making you powerless. So for TRX to show, and give his love to some one, makes him vulnerable, and opens a door to enemies that could destroy him, not to mention putting the love of his life, Tr1ck5, at risk.

As these thoughts ran through Rex's mind he turned around in bed once more. Finally relaxing, his mind found peace and the thoughts faded away as he entered a weird sort of trance. Time seemed to stand still as everything around him seemed to quiet and slow down. Suddenly a few flashes, images, popped into his minds eye. Short bursts of repeating images, of sentinels, traveling at full speed, on a search and destroy mission. Adrenaline flooded his body, speeding his heart, driving him to sit up and set his feet on the deck. As his feet hit the deck, the loud wail of General Quarters, and Rage’s calm voice declaring this was not a drill shattered the everyday background noise of a hovercraft underway.

If his premonition hadn’t already got his heart racing the call to Battle Stations would have, placing the whole crew in a state of concentrated focus; ready, willing, and able to act in whatever way was necessary to survive.

It was situations just like this that taught TRX to not sleep in the nude, so he had some clothing on, but nothing on his feet. As time was of the essence, he jumped up, opened the door of his cabin, and dashed bare footed, to reach the gunners station on the upper deck. He heard Linotype a couple of meters behind him shouting, "I’m right behind you sir! It's a s***load of sentinels trying to corner us in!!"

At the same moment on the bridge, Lyrics joined Rage at the controls, to provide navigation and sensor information. This allowed Rage to concentrate on shaking the pursuing sentinels. Her input was extremely important because turning down a dead end tunnel or running and headlong into another group of sentinels would be a disaster.

Othala, the Baby Blue’s Chief Engineer, had reached the gunnery station first and started locking and loading the gun turrets, quickly but accurately. They couldn’t afford one of the turrets to jam by inaccurate loading of ammunition. She had just finished loading a third turret for herself as her Captain and the young Linotype stormed in and took their places to start shooting at everything that moved.

TRX shouted over the din of the machinery spooling up, "f****** pieces of scrap metal! Othala, did you load an extra turret for yourself?!!"

"YES SIR!!"

"There's still one turret extra, load that one too in case one of ours jams!!"

"Roger sir!!"

The ships intercom squawked loudly as Lyrics stressed voice filled in her Captain with a status report, "We have radio contact with the flagship! Ps10n says help is on the way! --- Oh my --- Buckle up! Sentinels are coming out of a tunnel on the starboard side!"

TRX glanced at Linotype in the seat next to him, seeing he was having a hard time defending his quadrant. Reassuring the young operator we said, "You heard her kid! Buckle up! You’re doing great! Don’t panic, just concentrate like your playing space invaders!” Followed by, “Yes kid, that's it, good, good, give them **** boy!", when he saw the youngest member of the crew settle down.

Lino, gaining more confidence by the second and motivated by TRX, now started to really bust up the mass of sentinels that mistakenly calculated his quadrant as the weakest.

Again the intercom activated, "Bomb! Brace for possible impact!"

The Baby Blue moved into an open area with a sentinel getting ready to torpedo the ship with a fast spinning oval shaped bomb. In the split second that the bomb was released, PS10N's flagship entered the area from a tunnel nearby, targeted the bomb and with a well placed salvo exploded the threat and the attacking sentinel.

The shockwaves of the twin explosions made both Zion vessels tremble, pushing both vessels slightly off course. Rage tried to correct the push from the right, steering hard right, but as he was just a fraction of a second too late, the hovercraft made contact with the side of the tunnel on the left. The scraping sound of vessel contacting the tunnel wall, worried everyone onboard Baby Blue. With in seconds the hovercraft lost motive power and once again bashed into the tunnel wall, finally smashing down into the tunnel floor.

Ps10n placed his vessel behind TRX, attempting to shoot the sentinels diving on the Blue Distortion intent on cutting up the ship with their lasers.

Ps10n seeing how the situation was deteriorating had no choice but to turn the ignition key that would activate the EMP he had charged. With a low whispered prayer, "Oh God, save us." the Commodore turned the key releasing an enormous electro-magnetic pulse, filling the tunnel with a blue/white aural discharge, dropping every sentinel for at least a half a mile. For a short time, it literally rained sentinels.

It took a few seconds for Ps10n to realize what just happened, as his vessel touched down. One of his crewmembers seeing him stare at the Blue Distortion almost buried in sentinels asked; "Sir, Sir, What should we do? PS1?"

Ps10n snapped out of his revelry, his mind working hard, seeking answers to the survival problems that started to surface in his thoughts. "I’m afraid TRX lost his hovercraft just now and that is on the positive side, meaning I hope to God he and his crew survived the crash and that we didn’t loose one of our best crews and best friends in our fleet."

They stood there staring at the wreck for another few seconds, when suddenly Ps10n started giving orders to every member of his crew available.

"Ok, you two, get ready to go outside, get weapons to hold off any sentinel that tries to even think of coming here. And you, you, and you get supplies, tools, and med-kits! Go, go, and go! We don’t have even the slightest amount time to waste. What are you waiting for? GO NOW!"

As a well coordinated team, his men rapidly moved in all directions, before he had finished speaking. Before he prepared to go outside himself, he took one last look at the crashed hovercraft from the bridge saying, "Hang in there guys. Help is on the way."

TRX, Lino, and Othala were still buckled in their seats, alive, but dazed. Lino was the first to wake up from the crash impact which had caused all three of them to black out for a few minutes. Linotype, feeling his head spinning a bit, saw little stars flying through the vague image of reality. He turned his head to see TRX in the seat to his left, still unconscious.

"Captain! Cap, wake up, Sir."

Rex moved his head a little like he was asleep and having a bad dream. Again Lino tried to bring him to reality, but this time he reached out his hand and grabbed his captains wrist, squeezing it, again talking to him, "TRX, wake up! Come on Captain, open up those balls in your face that give you view."

Then he heard him chuckle a little, sounding proud of his youngest crewmember. "Hey kid... You ok?" Rex said while having trouble opening his eyes.

"Yes Captain, a little shook up, but ok. I don’t seem to bleeding anywhere and it doesn’t feel like I broke anything. How about you sir? Are you Ok?"

TRX tried to feel his body, wiggled his toes, carefully moving some limbs, checking also to see that he wasn’t loosing blood anywhere.

"I think I’m ok too, as far as I can see and feel. How’s Othala? Othala, Othy, say something sweetie."

A soft coughing sound came from the right, on Linotype's other side. As they were facing the back of the craft, Othala was on the side of the impact.

With a crackly voice gasping for air, Othala answered: "I don’t feel so good T. I think I’m bleeding somewhere."

"Hold on Othy. Be right with you, as soon as I get this seatbelt loose"

With those words, Lino reached for his pocketknife and cut the seatbelt preventing TRX from leaving his chair. Rex climbed out of his seat then went to free Lino from his.

The two men moved over to Othala, to see how she was, and were shocked when they saw her. Apparently a sentinel was caught between the ship and the tunnel wall when the first collision occurred. Some of the battle steel tentacles had penetrated the hull of the ship, one of which had gone straight through Othala’s shoulder and through the seat back. Blood was slowly running down the tentacle and dripping off the end.

Othala was going into shock not feeling the pain, said; "T, I can’t move and I don’t feel anything."

TRX and Lino exchanged a glance, both knowing how seriously the engineer was injured.

Rex let his fingers slide over Othala's cheek, "Try to stay calm Hun, we are getting you out of here. Lino, go to the bridge and see how things are with Lyrics and Rage. Bring them back here if they are alright. I will stay with Othala."

Lino making his way out of the gunnery station said: "Copy that Sir, be right back"

As he walked through the main corridor, he passed the main docking port of the ship, which resounded with several loud bangs. At first he was afraid that it was sentinels, but then when he listened carefully, he could hear human voices, although not well enough to make sense of what was being said. He pulled the door switch, which opened the door with a loud “PSSSSHHH”, startling Psion’s engineer, who was preparing to open the door with a hydraulic tool. A nervous laugh escaped his lips seeing the engineer’s alarm, as Ps10n standing in the background stepped to the front asking if everyone was ok.

Linotype made a quick report of the situation in the gunnery station and that he was on his way to Rage and Lyrics on the bridge. Ps10n ordered several of his men to go to Othala ASAP with a med-kit and the hydraulic cutter and the remaining two men, to go to the bridge with Linotype. Psion’s crew made haste to follow their orders, while the Commodore made his own interior and exterior damage assessment of the Blue Distortion.

As Linotype was about to enter the bridge with Ps10n’s men they met Rage and Lyrics at the entryway. Rage had a bandage on his head but related that it was nothing too serious. Lyrics was very pale and the pupils of her eyes were widened. She was obviously pretty shook up, and didn’t speak much, but otherwise seemed ok. Ps10n joined them as they were standing there and told everyone that the damage to the ship that looked more severe then was actually the case. He and Rage stayed on the bridge, to see what they could do to fix the hover subsystem while the rest of the crew accompanied Lyrics and Lino to the gunnery station.

Meanwhile, back at the gun deck, Rex had decided the best thing to do was leave the tentacle in Othala’s shoulder and use the seat that she was pinned to as an impromptu litter. He decided to unbolt the gun station chair from the floor first before attempting to sever the tentacle from the Sentinel’s body. That way they could perform the delicate surgery in the medical facility on Ps10n’s vessel under controlled conditions.

While Rex tried worked on the seat bolts, Lyrics tried to disinfect the wound and make Othala as comfortable as she could without letting her black out. Partially to help Othala focus and partially to help her deal with her own shock at her crewmate’s injury, Lyrics bombarded Othala with all sorts of questions about her life both in and out of the Matrix.

Rex was making good progress with removing the seat bolts, while Ps10n’s First Mate cut the tentacle about 30 inches from Othala’s shoulder. Finally when the task was done, three men carried Othala off the Blue Distortion and onto the flagship. A fourth crewman, carrying an EMP pulse weapon provided over watch for the transfer. Once aboard the flagship, she received immediate medical attention with no new complications arising because of the surgery.

Rex, stayed with Baby Blue while Othala was transferred, performing some emergency hull repairs on the damage caused by the sentinel that had caught Othala. Once that was complete he joined Ps10n and Rage on the bridge to help repair the bridge functions. As he walked onto the bridge Rage, was just finishing the start up check list with Ps10n playing the role of co-pilot. The engines powered on, but after just 30 seconds they went off line. Within minutes they re-checked the involved systems only to find everything seemed nominal, with no explanation for the failure.

"TRX, time is running out. If we can’t get Blue Distortion to work in the next four minutes, we have to consider this craft a loss. More sentinels are probably on their way as we speak", said PS10n gravely.

"PS1, I’m not ready to give up this vessel yet. I’m going outside because the problem isn’t on the inside. I will find that problem in the next five minutes." Rex wasn’t about to give up on the vessel that had been his home for such a long time.

The Commodore was not moved, he had one undamaged hovercraft and the lives of two crews to consider, Speaking formally he commanded, "Captain TRX, you have four minutes. If she doesn’t come online with in that time, I’m ordering you to step over to my ship and consider this ship lost."

Rex moved outside quickly with Lino behind him with an EMP pulse weapon for protection.

The months of hands-on experience during the re-fit served TRX well. His technical knowledge of his vessel, probably matched the knowledge of the naval architects that designed her those hundreds of years ago. As he approached the bow of the ship he fell to his knees checking for possible problems on the ships bottom. He noticed that one of the hover plates was slightly misaligned. Looking closer he saw that the power cables that feed electricity to the plate had been sliced partially through the middle. As the hover plates were fed in series rather then parallel that was enough to break the whole circuit. In effect the damage would short circuit the whole hover pad system causing it to automatically shutdown.

Now that he understood the problem and knowing that the clock was ticking Rex made haste to set things right. First he pulled the hover plate back in its original position, by pulling it to the side, with his feet braced against the bottom of the vessel. He connected the cables that were cut, ripped his belt from his pants and used it to separate the wires from each other and winding it about the wire as a makeshift insulation. Signaling Rage through the bridge canopy, they gave it another try. This time she ran 45 seconds before shutting down indicating he was on the right track. Adjusting his repair by adding Linotype’s belt to the mix added another 30 seconds to the up time. One final adjustment and Rage was able to bring Baby Blue light on her pads and hold her there.

Seeing Rage’s grin and thumbs up signal through the canopy, Rex and Lino made haste to enter the hovercraft and be on their way. The short run was not without incident as Lino had to take down an advance sentinel scout with an EMP pulse.

Ps10n smiled at TRX as he entered the bridge saying, "I gave you five minutes, and you pulled it off.” with a hearty laugh. He quickly sobered as he related “I just received a report, that sentinels have been spotted closing on this position, ETA approximately three minutes. We have to move, now.”

TRX checked the map of the tunnels, to see which way was safest, when he said to Ps10n, "It’s a long shot Ps1, but remember that mechanical line that Niobe went through to make it to the docks in time in the last war?"

Ps10n shook his head, but said, "Yes" as he did so.

TRX continued, "Well dear Brethren Commander, it is the same line and it is possible; but I’m thin