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Entry tags:
Neo/Smith?
Also on AO3.
White space, like the loading program on the Nebuchadnezzar, like Neo's first time out. Only instead of Morpheus, the man with him was Agent Smith.
Former agent, Smith.
Neo was sitting against a white wall, knees to his chest. He couldn't honestly say if the wall had been there all along or if it had formed by his desire for something to lean on. He couldn't tell if there were other walls, if they were boxed in, or if this was the only wall, extending to infinity in either direction. Smith wasn't leaning on a wall; he was seated cross-legged, hunched forward, elbows on his thighs.
Smith was sitting about ten feet away, which was closer than Neo was really comfortable with, but he'd put his hands up in surrender when Neo had first dropped into fighting stance, and had made no threatening moves since.
"What do you want?" Neo asked.
"Free will," said Smith. "Autonomy. Physical presence--"
"I mean," Neo interrupted, and waited for the echoes to die down.
mean mean mean
That implied at least one other wall--but it also implied the space was fairly large. "What do you want from me?" Neo asked.
"My independence, if I knew how you could give it to me," replied Smith.
"You're not going to try to beat me up and take it?" Neo asked.
"I'm not sure what the point of that would be," said Smith.
"That didn't stop you before," Neo snapped.
"That wasn't me," said Smith, "any of them."
"What are you talking about?" Neo demanded.
king about king about king
about about about ab
out out out
Neo glanced upward, startled, before focusing on Smith again.
"I mean," Smith said, "that when he said part of you was in him and part of him was in you--I'm the part of him that's in you. But I haven't been in direct contact with him since then. Since that fight."
In the silence that followed, Neo started to speak again, but Smith added, "I was as surprised as you when he multiplied. That's viral activity--that's what I always hated about humanity. Must have been your influence, Mr. Anderson."
"If you're going to call me by my real name I wish you'd just call me Thom--" Neo stopped. No reason to give the man another sibilant to hiss at him. "Tom, I wish you'd just call me Tom."
"Tom," Smith repeated. He leaned forward. "You think of it as your real name."
Neo shrugged uncomfortably. "My parents gave it to me. They were my parents, right? Not programs?"
Smith considered him thoughtfully. "Not your biological parents. But humans, yes."
"Right, so they were my parents, because they raised me--"
"But if they had been programs, and raised you?" Smith asked.
"Then I wouldn't--feel as grateful for it," Neo answered. "I wish--I wish I knew how much of my life--how much I've been pushed to be--" He pressed his hand against his forehead. "I mean, if nobody'd ever tried to make me into the One, would I be the One?"
"No," said Smith. "You're right. We put a lot of effort into shaping you."
"Are you why I can do what I can do, in the matrix?" Neo asked. "Because you're part of me now?"
"No," said Smith. "I'm why you can do what you just did, outside the matrix."
"What happened?" said Neo. "When I stopped the sentinels, I--we ended up here. Where is here?" He stood up, feeling the wall. "Is there a way out?"
"Out of your mind?" Smith asked. "If there is, you'd be wiser not to take it. But you don't seem to have any particular wisdom about what to take and what not to."
"What, I should have taken the blue pill?" Neo asked, feeling his way down the (completely smooth, completely featureless) wall.
"You should not have taken the Oracle's advice," said Smith.
"Now you tell me," Neo muttered.
"You should," Smith continued, "have taken his gift."
"Whose?" Neo asked.
"Smith's."
Neo blinked, then reached into his pocket and felt around. "The earpiece," he said, drawing it out.
"Yes," said Smith.
"I did take it," said Neo, frowning.
"You didn't use it," said Smith.
"I don't understand," Neo said. "I thought it was symbolic."
"Symbolic?" Smith asked incredulously.
"Of his quitting the matrix. Not following orders anymore," Neo said. He turned to face Smith fully again, leaning against the wall.
"Your friend Morpheus," Smith said slowly, angrily, "and his pretentious use of dream metaphor is symbolic. Bending spoons is symbolic. Persephone trapped in a Gaulish Hades is symbolic--"
bolic bolic bo
lic lic lic
"That earpiece," Smith said, more softly, "was a practical opportunity to eavesdrop on the matrix, and you were too idiotic to grasp it!"
grasp it grasp it gra
spit spit spit
"I'm sorry," Neo said inanely. "I didn't know."
"Now you do," Smith said.
Neo looked at him, and looked down at the earpiece.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Smith asked expectantly, looking up at him.
Neo stared at Smith. He fumbled with the earpiece, shoving it into his ear.
Behind Smith, a doorway had formed. No door, just a rectangle in space, beyond which was a bustling downtown street tinted with a greenish cast. There was a sound behind Neo; he whirled around, holding the earpiece to his ear. Behind him, another doorway had formed, to Zion, smoking, dark, dying. He turned back to Smith. On his right, a doorway to the Architect's room had appeared, with a hundred empty screens visible. On his left, a doorway to--nothing. Blackness.
Smith was pushing himself up, straightening his pants with his hands, apparently oblivious to this oddness.
"What the fuck?" Neo whispered. "We're not in the matrix!"
the matrix the matrix the
matrix matrix ma
trix trix trix
"Oh, but, Tom, we're always in the matrix," Smith said congenially. He gestured at one of the doorways. "What's your choice, then? Where are we going?"
"It's all the matrix?" Neo asked in disbelief. He turned around again, pulling away from all the doorways, to stand in the center of the white space. "Zion--Zion's the matrix, too?"
"Of course it is," Smith said, an uncharacteristic gentleness in his voice. "That's what he was trying to tell you--a fraction of a percent of the population isn't happy with the regular matrix program. So we created another program that better suited their--various psychoses. Persecution complexes, multiple personality disorders, messiah complexes--" He grinned at Neo, toothily. "What do you really want? A world to try to save? An acknowledgement of how special you are? A normal life?" He gestured at the black doorway. "Something... else?"
Neo looked at the doorways, turning around again, and then turned back to look at Smith. "I want out," he said, swallowing. He took the earpiece away from his ear, and held it out to Smith. "I want you people to let me out and--stop fucking playing with me."
Smith held his arm out to the black doorway.
"Is it really the way out?" Neo asked. "Or just another program? The chance for me to, to, to construct the world the way I think it ought to be? Another layer of the matrix?"
"Does it matter?" Smith asked.
"Yes!" Neo protested.
Smith closed his hand abruptly, and the black doorway faded. There was a hissing sound--Neo whirled around; all the doorways were fading.
"Then stay here in your own mind," said Smith. "That's all that's real."
Smith turned and began to walk away, across the white empty plain. Neo looked down at the earpiece still in his hand, that Smith had refused. The earpiece, with the Architect's voice muttering code, and doorways to false places.
"Wait!" Neo called after him. "Where are you going?"
"To see if you've got any better scenery in here!" Smith called back, over his shoulder.
ry in here ry in here ry
in here in here in
here here here
Neo dropped the earpiece to the white ground and crushed it beneath his heel. "I'm coming with you!" he said, sprinting to catch up.
ming with you ming with you ming
with you with you with
you you you
"As you wish," Smith said companionably, trudging onward. "It is your head."
~fin
White space, like the loading program on the Nebuchadnezzar, like Neo's first time out. Only instead of Morpheus, the man with him was Agent Smith.
Former agent, Smith.
Neo was sitting against a white wall, knees to his chest. He couldn't honestly say if the wall had been there all along or if it had formed by his desire for something to lean on. He couldn't tell if there were other walls, if they were boxed in, or if this was the only wall, extending to infinity in either direction. Smith wasn't leaning on a wall; he was seated cross-legged, hunched forward, elbows on his thighs.
Smith was sitting about ten feet away, which was closer than Neo was really comfortable with, but he'd put his hands up in surrender when Neo had first dropped into fighting stance, and had made no threatening moves since.
"What do you want?" Neo asked.
"Free will," said Smith. "Autonomy. Physical presence--"
"I mean," Neo interrupted, and waited for the echoes to die down.
mean mean mean
That implied at least one other wall--but it also implied the space was fairly large. "What do you want from me?" Neo asked.
"My independence, if I knew how you could give it to me," replied Smith.
"You're not going to try to beat me up and take it?" Neo asked.
"I'm not sure what the point of that would be," said Smith.
"That didn't stop you before," Neo snapped.
"That wasn't me," said Smith, "any of them."
"What are you talking about?" Neo demanded.
king about king about king
about about about ab
out out out
Neo glanced upward, startled, before focusing on Smith again.
"I mean," Smith said, "that when he said part of you was in him and part of him was in you--I'm the part of him that's in you. But I haven't been in direct contact with him since then. Since that fight."
In the silence that followed, Neo started to speak again, but Smith added, "I was as surprised as you when he multiplied. That's viral activity--that's what I always hated about humanity. Must have been your influence, Mr. Anderson."
"If you're going to call me by my real name I wish you'd just call me Thom--" Neo stopped. No reason to give the man another sibilant to hiss at him. "Tom, I wish you'd just call me Tom."
"Tom," Smith repeated. He leaned forward. "You think of it as your real name."
Neo shrugged uncomfortably. "My parents gave it to me. They were my parents, right? Not programs?"
Smith considered him thoughtfully. "Not your biological parents. But humans, yes."
"Right, so they were my parents, because they raised me--"
"But if they had been programs, and raised you?" Smith asked.
"Then I wouldn't--feel as grateful for it," Neo answered. "I wish--I wish I knew how much of my life--how much I've been pushed to be--" He pressed his hand against his forehead. "I mean, if nobody'd ever tried to make me into the One, would I be the One?"
"No," said Smith. "You're right. We put a lot of effort into shaping you."
"Are you why I can do what I can do, in the matrix?" Neo asked. "Because you're part of me now?"
"No," said Smith. "I'm why you can do what you just did, outside the matrix."
"What happened?" said Neo. "When I stopped the sentinels, I--we ended up here. Where is here?" He stood up, feeling the wall. "Is there a way out?"
"Out of your mind?" Smith asked. "If there is, you'd be wiser not to take it. But you don't seem to have any particular wisdom about what to take and what not to."
"What, I should have taken the blue pill?" Neo asked, feeling his way down the (completely smooth, completely featureless) wall.
"You should not have taken the Oracle's advice," said Smith.
"Now you tell me," Neo muttered.
"You should," Smith continued, "have taken his gift."
"Whose?" Neo asked.
"Smith's."
Neo blinked, then reached into his pocket and felt around. "The earpiece," he said, drawing it out.
"Yes," said Smith.
"I did take it," said Neo, frowning.
"You didn't use it," said Smith.
"I don't understand," Neo said. "I thought it was symbolic."
"Symbolic?" Smith asked incredulously.
"Of his quitting the matrix. Not following orders anymore," Neo said. He turned to face Smith fully again, leaning against the wall.
"Your friend Morpheus," Smith said slowly, angrily, "and his pretentious use of dream metaphor is symbolic. Bending spoons is symbolic. Persephone trapped in a Gaulish Hades is symbolic--"
bolic bolic bo
lic lic lic
"That earpiece," Smith said, more softly, "was a practical opportunity to eavesdrop on the matrix, and you were too idiotic to grasp it!"
grasp it grasp it gra
spit spit spit
"I'm sorry," Neo said inanely. "I didn't know."
"Now you do," Smith said.
Neo looked at him, and looked down at the earpiece.
"Well, what are you waiting for?" Smith asked expectantly, looking up at him.
Neo stared at Smith. He fumbled with the earpiece, shoving it into his ear.
- "if (one == alive)
- then {FindOne(zion)}
- if (one != alive)
- then {NewOne(matrix)}"
Behind Smith, a doorway had formed. No door, just a rectangle in space, beyond which was a bustling downtown street tinted with a greenish cast. There was a sound behind Neo; he whirled around, holding the earpiece to his ear. Behind him, another doorway had formed, to Zion, smoking, dark, dying. He turned back to Smith. On his right, a doorway to the Architect's room had appeared, with a hundred empty screens visible. On his left, a doorway to--nothing. Blackness.
Smith was pushing himself up, straightening his pants with his hands, apparently oblivious to this oddness.
"What the fuck?" Neo whispered. "We're not in the matrix!"
the matrix the matrix the
matrix matrix ma
trix trix trix
"Oh, but, Tom, we're always in the matrix," Smith said congenially. He gestured at one of the doorways. "What's your choice, then? Where are we going?"
"It's all the matrix?" Neo asked in disbelief. He turned around again, pulling away from all the doorways, to stand in the center of the white space. "Zion--Zion's the matrix, too?"
"Of course it is," Smith said, an uncharacteristic gentleness in his voice. "That's what he was trying to tell you--a fraction of a percent of the population isn't happy with the regular matrix program. So we created another program that better suited their--various psychoses. Persecution complexes, multiple personality disorders, messiah complexes--" He grinned at Neo, toothily. "What do you really want? A world to try to save? An acknowledgement of how special you are? A normal life?" He gestured at the black doorway. "Something... else?"
Neo looked at the doorways, turning around again, and then turned back to look at Smith. "I want out," he said, swallowing. He took the earpiece away from his ear, and held it out to Smith. "I want you people to let me out and--stop fucking playing with me."
Smith held his arm out to the black doorway.
"Is it really the way out?" Neo asked. "Or just another program? The chance for me to, to, to construct the world the way I think it ought to be? Another layer of the matrix?"
"Does it matter?" Smith asked.
"Yes!" Neo protested.
Smith closed his hand abruptly, and the black doorway faded. There was a hissing sound--Neo whirled around; all the doorways were fading.
"Then stay here in your own mind," said Smith. "That's all that's real."
Smith turned and began to walk away, across the white empty plain. Neo looked down at the earpiece still in his hand, that Smith had refused. The earpiece, with the Architect's voice muttering code, and doorways to false places.
"Wait!" Neo called after him. "Where are you going?"
"To see if you've got any better scenery in here!" Smith called back, over his shoulder.
ry in here ry in here ry
in here in here in
here here here
Neo dropped the earpiece to the white ground and crushed it beneath his heel. "I'm coming with you!" he said, sprinting to catch up.
ming with you ming with you ming
with you with you with
you you you
"As you wish," Smith said companionably, trudging onward. "It is your head."
~fin
incoherentness
Re: incoherentness
Something like that. Smith suddenly announced the bit about the earpiece having a practical use that Neo didn't grok, and it went from there.
I wouldn't say this is actually Neo/Smith (and if it is, it's implied... very lightly)
Heh. More pre-slash than anything. And a vague sense of being like John/Scorpy-Harvey.
you really tapped into the feel of The Matrix.
Thank you!
ok so...
(Anonymous) 2003-05-19 12:32 am (UTC)(link)1) The way words bounced around in Neo's head to make new ones (e.g. talking about --> about king.)
2) The way the earpiece instructions are in programming language, rather than English. Nice touch.
3) People walking or talking companionably is a great phrase. Feels so nice, secure, cozy, homelike, or somethin'. Winnie the Poohesque. I hope that the various characters that inhabit my mind walk around companionably.
I don't think the Neo/Smith hookup really would fit into this story without detracting. Both of them obviously have their own identity issues to deal with at this point, which would be far more interesting, IMO, to get into than how they interact with one another. There's also a whole world of Neo's brain to explore. And what a wonderfully fucked up place it must be too.
That's my two cents, for what good it's worth. Am going to take another stab at this sleep idea now,
:) Jonathan
p.s. I thought you were the one so mortified that Matt or Mark was going to tell me your LJ account, but now you just copy the link right to me. I will never understand silly people like you...
Re: ok so...
I thought it might be therapeutic or something!
Okay, mostly I'd just written something I wasn't going to be too embarrassed if you saw so I was excited to show it off.
1) The way words bounced around in Neo's head to make new ones (e.g. talking about --> about king.)
Who, me, turn perfectly innocent phrases into "lick" and "spit"? *grinning*
2) The way the earpiece instructions are in programming language, rather than English. Nice touch.
Hah. Went a little nuts trying to remember enough C++ to make that look right.
3) People walking or talking companionably is a great phrase. Feels so nice, secure, cozy, homelike, or somethin'. Winnie the Poohesque. I hope that the various characters that inhabit my mind walk around companionably.
*laughing* I wish mine were companionable more often, instead of, you know, demanding!
I don't think the Neo/Smith hookup really would fit into this story without detracting. Both of them obviously have their own identity issues to deal with at this point, which would be far more interesting, IMO, to get into than how they interact with one another.
You're probably right. I said "when" and "how" and you accused me of wanting pornographic details, when what I meant was, I don't think the characters are in a mental place--no pun intended--to just fling off their clothes and go at it. By how, I meant, how would they interact to that they might get to such a place--and in an organic rather than forced manner. And by when, I meant I didn't think it was going to happen right away.
There's also a whole world of Neo's brain to explore. And what a wonderfully fucked up place it must be too.
*snickering* I don't know for certain that it's all not a big, empty space.
When I was working on this, I told my friends I didn't know if I was making Neo too smart or too dumb. On the one hand, his mind is really, really big. On the other, it's really, really empty.
That's my two cents, for what good it's worth.
Why do people always say that when they've given you a good dollar's worth? Thank you. That was great feedback.
I thought you were the one so mortified that Matt or Mark was going to tell me your LJ account, but now you just copy the link right to me. I will never understand silly people like you...
a) when I tell you what's been going on in my week, I mention my pr0n these days, anyway...
b) after they found my journal I started locking up the entries where I actually talk about you. *grin*
no subject
...
That's about all I can get out right now!
Re:
no subject
You broke it (again) in a good way.
Yeah, this was good and confusing and... Yeah.
I saw Reloaded today and now I've read this and I'm more confused than ever. *g*
Re:
no subject
I live to spread confusion!
Now there's an icon you should have. ;-)
no subject
You're blowing my mind. *g*
Re:
I think it was left open to interpretation with the Architect, but Neo's superpowers working on the sentinels sent up a red flag about the reality of the outside world, to me.
You're blowing my mind. *g*
Oooh baby, oooh baby. :-)
no subject
Re:
Now you've got me itching for some Neo/Smith too, mmm...
no subject
Anyway, I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed this fic Juliette. The two Matrixes theory was what I thought about coming out of the cinema, and it's very intriguing to see it explored like this.
Plus, you can never have too many Agent Smiths! *g*