02-27-2016, 07:27 AM
The code that comprised Smith floated in the void… a place between existence and non-existence. It was both familiar to the ex-Agent and surprisingly different. When he was an Agent, he would often spend time in this quasi-state; watching the patterns in the Matrix for an anomaly and taking over a human host to eradicate it. It was during these times that Smith felt free. Free of his insufferable duty and the stench of humanity.
But this was not the same as it was then. There was no stream of data running through him. The unique feeling of open hosts did not present itself. In fact… this felt… more similar to his destruction at the hands of Mister Anderson than to the period he had spent between hosts. When Anderson had destroyed him in that hallway, and again in Smith’s City, there had been no sense of waiting for him; no data for him to peruse or hosts for him to jump to. Then, like now, there was only blackness, all-encompassing and pervasive.
Yet again, there was a difference in this black void than in his destruction. His code was still intact, the fact that he could even contemplate his existence led credence to this. However, at those times, his code had been destroyed. This first time, the Machines had managed to piece him back together from among the code of the Matrix. The second, Smith had been whisked away here. The only comparable situation the ex-Agent had experienced to this sensation was, in fact, that time when he had been brought to this Omniverse.
Everything was the same. The sense of waiting. The feeling of helplessness. The only difference was… this time Smith knew more about what was happening to him than before. It was quite fortunate that he had met those two programs in that game. The Colonel and Mister Matrix. The two had explained to Smith that this… Omni was not the Architect after all and the Omniverse was not the Matrix that he knew. While they couldn’t quite explain WHAT it was, they were quite certain that everything Omni had said had been the truth. That they were Primes and could change the world around them.
Had Smith not experienced the strangeness of that island, he might had disregarded their comments as overt lies or the inane ramblings of madmen. But the creatures he had met… the impossibilities that he had seen first hand… the only logical conclusion was that Smith had been taken to a new world, as they said. One in which he was both a program and a physical entity. One in which the Matrix as he knew it was non-existent. The question was: why? Why did this Omni deign to bring him here? It could not be simply interest in Smith. No creature of that much apparent power would be interested in something so… simple. No. It had to be for some greater purpose.
Purpose… The ex-Agent remembered when he had a purpose. When he had been an Agent of the System, tasked with eliminating threats to its stability. That ended in that hallway, all that time ago. Mister Anderson had freed him from his insufferable task and, in doing so, put Smith in a far-more insufferable fate. Without purpose, he was no better than the human filth he had been forced to deal with for so long.
And so, he had found a new purpose. He would eliminate the humans he so despised and rid the world of their filth. He would destroy the Matrix itself, and the machines. In doing so, he would free himself from the wretchedness of existence. He would free the world from the pollution of mankind. And the world could begin anew and flourish without the influence of either man or machine.
Perhaps… yes… perhaps this is why Omni brought him here. Omni had grown tired of his creation. He had seen what Smith had seen, the filth of humanity… of life itself. How it destroys when it should nurture, how it perverts what it should preserve. He had seen the futility of existence and wished it done away with. Wiped clean. This was why Omni had brought Smith here. There were none better suited to erasing a diseased world than he.
Shortly after he had come to this revelation, the darkness surrounding Smith faded into a white landscape. It tugged at the program’s memory and he realised this was the sight he had seen when Omni had first brought him to this world. With a better look, it was obvious this was not the Architect’s domain, and Smith cursed himself for his foolish presumption before.
The white landscape was as empty as it had been before… or rather, it was and it wasn’t. Smith had not been here long enough to notice before, but now he was startled to see that a rather large fountain was placed not far from where he had reappeared. Grey stone towered overhead, a cascade of blue water twinkling and sparkling as it fell from the apex to the stone bowl beneath it. Smith appreciated the clean, geometric lines of the monolith, the perfection of form and function.
The light dancing from the falling water… it reminded the program of something Omni had said. The strange being’s words were dredged up from Smith’s system memory as he recalled the event. Omnilium… With it anything Smith desired could be his. Perhaps it was time to test Omni’s words. And to test whether Mister Matrix and the Colonel has lied to him. The ex-Agent held his hand before him and focused his digital mind on the task. It was a simple one, more a exercise in whether or not he COULD summon something than an effort to create an object of any significance. Well… any material significance.
A multi-hued orb formed in Smith’s palm, barely larger than a marble and almost pitifully small. The program admittedly knew little about this world and its mechanics, but he assumed it was enough for what he desired. After all, it… felt like it was working. If it could be called that. It just seemed as though what Smith was trying to do was what was actually happening within that rainbow sphere in his hand.
Soon enough, the Omnilium began to take shape, stretching out in a line and beginning to curl around itself. The shifting colors dulled and faded along its increasing length. Within moments, a small, off-white earbud with a long, twisting cord was all that remained in Smith’s hand. With a bit of a grin, he looped the cord around his ear and placed it within his shirt. As he pushed the bud into his ear canal, a stream of data began running through the program’s mind. He was connected to something called the Dataverse. It seemed to be analogous to the human’s world wide web in his own world. Information was his to possess with but a thought. Smith’s grin widened. Yes. This would do nicely.
With his newly-acquired connection to the knowledge of this realm, Smith set himself upon the task of gathering intelligence on those who had killed him. The two men were simple enough to find in the Dataverse. Sasuke Uchiha and Victor Wolfe. Both had participated in something called Dante’s Abyss and had shown themselves to be able fighters. Interesting… It seemed that Smith should have been more careful in who he had allied himself with. It seemed that this was not the first time Mister Wolfe had betrayed an ally… And it seemed he would need help in enacting his revenge upon his attackers.
With that thought, Smith pulled up a bulletin website and began a missive.
But this was not the same as it was then. There was no stream of data running through him. The unique feeling of open hosts did not present itself. In fact… this felt… more similar to his destruction at the hands of Mister Anderson than to the period he had spent between hosts. When Anderson had destroyed him in that hallway, and again in Smith’s City, there had been no sense of waiting for him; no data for him to peruse or hosts for him to jump to. Then, like now, there was only blackness, all-encompassing and pervasive.
Yet again, there was a difference in this black void than in his destruction. His code was still intact, the fact that he could even contemplate his existence led credence to this. However, at those times, his code had been destroyed. This first time, the Machines had managed to piece him back together from among the code of the Matrix. The second, Smith had been whisked away here. The only comparable situation the ex-Agent had experienced to this sensation was, in fact, that time when he had been brought to this Omniverse.
Everything was the same. The sense of waiting. The feeling of helplessness. The only difference was… this time Smith knew more about what was happening to him than before. It was quite fortunate that he had met those two programs in that game. The Colonel and Mister Matrix. The two had explained to Smith that this… Omni was not the Architect after all and the Omniverse was not the Matrix that he knew. While they couldn’t quite explain WHAT it was, they were quite certain that everything Omni had said had been the truth. That they were Primes and could change the world around them.
Had Smith not experienced the strangeness of that island, he might had disregarded their comments as overt lies or the inane ramblings of madmen. But the creatures he had met… the impossibilities that he had seen first hand… the only logical conclusion was that Smith had been taken to a new world, as they said. One in which he was both a program and a physical entity. One in which the Matrix as he knew it was non-existent. The question was: why? Why did this Omni deign to bring him here? It could not be simply interest in Smith. No creature of that much apparent power would be interested in something so… simple. No. It had to be for some greater purpose.
Purpose… The ex-Agent remembered when he had a purpose. When he had been an Agent of the System, tasked with eliminating threats to its stability. That ended in that hallway, all that time ago. Mister Anderson had freed him from his insufferable task and, in doing so, put Smith in a far-more insufferable fate. Without purpose, he was no better than the human filth he had been forced to deal with for so long.
And so, he had found a new purpose. He would eliminate the humans he so despised and rid the world of their filth. He would destroy the Matrix itself, and the machines. In doing so, he would free himself from the wretchedness of existence. He would free the world from the pollution of mankind. And the world could begin anew and flourish without the influence of either man or machine.
Perhaps… yes… perhaps this is why Omni brought him here. Omni had grown tired of his creation. He had seen what Smith had seen, the filth of humanity… of life itself. How it destroys when it should nurture, how it perverts what it should preserve. He had seen the futility of existence and wished it done away with. Wiped clean. This was why Omni had brought Smith here. There were none better suited to erasing a diseased world than he.
Shortly after he had come to this revelation, the darkness surrounding Smith faded into a white landscape. It tugged at the program’s memory and he realised this was the sight he had seen when Omni had first brought him to this world. With a better look, it was obvious this was not the Architect’s domain, and Smith cursed himself for his foolish presumption before.
The white landscape was as empty as it had been before… or rather, it was and it wasn’t. Smith had not been here long enough to notice before, but now he was startled to see that a rather large fountain was placed not far from where he had reappeared. Grey stone towered overhead, a cascade of blue water twinkling and sparkling as it fell from the apex to the stone bowl beneath it. Smith appreciated the clean, geometric lines of the monolith, the perfection of form and function.
The light dancing from the falling water… it reminded the program of something Omni had said. The strange being’s words were dredged up from Smith’s system memory as he recalled the event. Omnilium… With it anything Smith desired could be his. Perhaps it was time to test Omni’s words. And to test whether Mister Matrix and the Colonel has lied to him. The ex-Agent held his hand before him and focused his digital mind on the task. It was a simple one, more a exercise in whether or not he COULD summon something than an effort to create an object of any significance. Well… any material significance.
A multi-hued orb formed in Smith’s palm, barely larger than a marble and almost pitifully small. The program admittedly knew little about this world and its mechanics, but he assumed it was enough for what he desired. After all, it… felt like it was working. If it could be called that. It just seemed as though what Smith was trying to do was what was actually happening within that rainbow sphere in his hand.
Soon enough, the Omnilium began to take shape, stretching out in a line and beginning to curl around itself. The shifting colors dulled and faded along its increasing length. Within moments, a small, off-white earbud with a long, twisting cord was all that remained in Smith’s hand. With a bit of a grin, he looped the cord around his ear and placed it within his shirt. As he pushed the bud into his ear canal, a stream of data began running through the program’s mind. He was connected to something called the Dataverse. It seemed to be analogous to the human’s world wide web in his own world. Information was his to possess with but a thought. Smith’s grin widened. Yes. This would do nicely.
With his newly-acquired connection to the knowledge of this realm, Smith set himself upon the task of gathering intelligence on those who had killed him. The two men were simple enough to find in the Dataverse. Sasuke Uchiha and Victor Wolfe. Both had participated in something called Dante’s Abyss and had shown themselves to be able fighters. Interesting… It seemed that Smith should have been more careful in who he had allied himself with. It seemed that this was not the first time Mister Wolfe had betrayed an ally… And it seemed he would need help in enacting his revenge upon his attackers.
With that thought, Smith pulled up a bulletin website and began a missive.