|
THE SUNSET
* 7A *
As Senior Operator Unicorn sat anxiously and restlessly at his grimy cable-covered operator station, coding and analyzing and recoding before one disorderly array of flickering monitors, Junior Operator Hitchhiker stood steadily and tirelessly beside him at another battered keyboard, typing before another array of monitors.
One display, its original information transferred from the captain's workstation, continually updated the color-coded graphical data gathered from the localized glitch, including fluctuations in its dimensions, energy, frequency, geometry, and intensity. Another display zoomed out to a color-coded three-dimensional view of the geographic region surrounding the glitch, including hill formations, woodland areas, river and stream routes, as well as village and campsite locations.
Meanwhile, the three main screens of green rainfalling code that served as windows into the undecodable Matrix, focussed on the two imprisoned minds -- 'The kids,' the crew called them -- who sat alone before the burning glitch.
"Dammit!" Unicorn uttered at his input and output programming screens. "How much time do we have?"
Without a turn or break in his character-keying, Hitchhiker maintained his analysis of the regional weather, "Not much."
"Dammit!"
Climbing back up the main ladder from the lowest level of the hovercraft 'Nosferatu,' Crewman Threads pulled a hanging half-used rag from his back pocket, and wiped off the last remnants of mechanical oil from his fingers. Ever curious, he grabbed a metal stool and looked on as both operators worked, or tried to work, their magic.
After entering another set of code strings, glancing from one screen to another and back again, the senior operator shouted "Arrggghhh!", fretfully dug his fingers into his pale scalp, and rapidly raked them through his short blond hair. "I STILL can't stabilize the fire more than that!"
Finally pausing to look over his shoulder, the tall junior operator decided, "That'll HAVE to be enough."
"You sure?"
"Hey, you got it easy! Look at this..." Hitchhiker pointed to his regional weather display, "See that? Not a damn thunderstorm in sight! That kills our whole 'lightning-and-fire' camouflage!"
Unicorn swivelled back to the problem on his own screens, "Yeah, well, what's the point in having the camouflage if I can't keep the fuckin' fire lit?"
A few moments passed before Threads finally spoke up, "You're gonna hafta create the storm yourself, huh?"
Recognizing the inquisitive voice of the young crewmate behind him, Hitchhiker resumed his analysis, "Looks like it."
"How're ya gonna do that?" the youngster asked.
"I have no fuckin' clue."
"None? None at all?"
With a slight turn, Hitchhiker caught a glimpse of Threads on the stool, "I don't see YOU helping out... It's YOUR lightning idea in the first place!"
"YOU'RE the one who brought up the camouflage!" Threads reminded him. "YOU'RE the one who said this could work!"
"Well, so far, it sucks!"
"Don't blame this on me!"
"Hey boys!" Unicorn barked. "Would you shut the fuck up? I can't hear myself think!"
Coming from the Engineering end of the hovercraft through the Infirmary section, her heavy boots treading briskly upon the metal deck, Commander Million strode coldly into the Operations area, stopped, and smiled, "That's a new one."
His pale-blue eyes still focussed on his screens, Unicorn scoffed, "Fuck you, 'de Mille'!"
"You'd like that, wouldn't you?"
On top of the loud low-pitched noise from Hitchhiker and Threads, the piercing high-pitched noise from Million was the last straw on Unicorn's back.
"You know what?" Unicorn spun sharply around to face the others. "Fuck all this! Fuck the storm, fuck the lightning! Just take a couple flamethrowers and scorch the whole fuckin' perimeter! THAT should cover up ANY entry or exit point... No stupid storm, no stupid lightning!"
"No way!" Hitchhiker shot back just-as-sharply, "THAT's stupid! I think you were plugged into the Matrix too long!..." Threads and Million cringed at each other with this last comment -- a distasteful comment that tainted the overlooked distinction between Matrix-born and Zion-born humans -- as the junior operator continued, "Why not just build a big-ass sign that says, 'Agents! Over here! I'm a Zion rebel! Come get me!'"
"Hahahaha!" Unicorn tilted his blond-haired head back in full-blown laughter. "You may have been born on Zion, but I think YOU'RE the one who's got holes in his head!" The elder operator demonstrated with his tiptoe-ing fingers, "You can't just TIPTOE in there and hope no Agents will pop up... You have to EXPECT them to be there!"
"Why should we?" the younger operator demanded. "This is a 'first contact' situation!"
Threads agreed, "Exactly! Million didn't contact me with guns blazing... It was all stealth and deception!"
"But THIS is a totally different situation!" Unicorn uttered in hell-raising frustration, then spat in head-shaking resignation, "Oh, fuck it! I have work to do..." Spinning back to his input and output screens, he whispered to himself, "If I can just reinforce the fire intensity another ten percent..."
Hitchhiker threw a perplexed expression at Threads, and the just-as-confused crewmate replied with a wide-eyed 'Don't look at me!' shrug.
Then unfolding her slender arms, and turning her contemplative amber eyes upwards, Million came to a startling realization, "Actually, I hate to say this... but Unicorn is absolutely right."
"What?" Hitchhiker jumped.
Threads shared the operator's disbelief, "What are ya TALKIN' about?"
"He's absolutely right about expecting Agents to be there," the scarlet-haired commander clarified, "Think about it."
"Think about WHAT?" Threads shrugged again. Counting, he extended his thumb, "We have the tenth century..." He extended his index finger, "a couple of kids..." He extended his middle finger, "a glitch we know nothing about... or how it's connected to the kids--"
"The glitch!" Hitchhiker finally grasped. "Damn, that's right!"
This time, it was Threads who threw a perplexed expression. "Huh?"
"Unicorn's right," the operator answered.
"Wait, what just happened?... Am I missing something?"
As Million looked on, Hitchhiker stepped towards his crewmate to better explain, "Threads, you're a programmer... What do you do when you find a bug in your computer's operating system?"
"Get rid of the computer."
The operator sighed, "You know what I mean."
"I know, I know..." the crewmate understood, then added, "Well, depending on the version of the OS and the severity of the bug, I'd take care of it with a software patch, a service pack, or..." He finally began to realize, "a full upgrade."
Hitchhiker made his final point, "And WHO do you think will take care of bugs in the Matrix?"
"Agents," Threads admitted dispiritedly. "THAT'S why we have to expect Agents."
As Unicorn continued to tap into his dimly-lit keyboard, a dark and awkward pause blanketed the trio... until Hitchhiker approached the vindicated senior operator, "Uh, Unicorn... Sorry about--"
"Oh, don't worry about it, boys... That's why they pay me the big bucks."
Next>>
|
|