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THE THREE OF CLUBS
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"Sorry I'm late," Junior Operator Flicker declared nonchalantly as he bounced from the nearby mess hall into the open Operations section of the
hovercraft.
Brushing her dirty-blond hair away from her intense emerald eyes, Lieutenant Commander Sky replied, "It's about
time, Mr. Flicker." She swivelled and lifted her slender athletic figure from the grease-stained and threadbare operator chair.
"Hey, I was hungry," the operator shrugged.
"Well, let's hope you're hungry enough to test your fixes." The commander cast a raised eyebrow at him.
"What fixes?"
"Nos' bug fixes."
Quickly, his perplexed gaze shifted into sunlit clarity. "Oh shit! That's right!"
"So you remember Nos after all," Sky said as she hopped into her favorite battered suspension chair.
"Yeah."
A pause.
As the blond commander leaned back and settled into her chair, Flicker seemed to be caught in another mind-floating daze.
"Well, what are you waiting for?"
"Okay, okay." His mental gears clicking, Flicker snapped out of his daze, dashed to Sky's side, and grabbed the nearby head-spike connector.
Sky glanced up at him, "And after the test, good or bad, let the captain know... I should be ready for recon entry."
Flicker inserted the cold hard spike into the back of the commander's head. "Waterfall, huh?"
"Yeah," Sky answered softly, "she looks promising."
"I know what you mean."
"But then," Sky added, "they always look promising."
"I know... Let's hope this one makes it..." Flicker headed to his operator chair. "Cy made it."
"Yeah, let's hope our lightning can strike in the same place twice..." A smaller pause, then Sky closed her eyes and focussed, "Ready?"
"Ready."
"Then load me up, Mr. Flicker."
"Okay, loading... Now!"
From his grimy cable-covered station, the junior operator finger-punched the on-screen 'Load' button, and glanced reflexively at the fragile
real-world Sky... lying back, eyes closed and plugged in... nothing at all like the polished hard-edged warrior-image that would enter the Construct.
As Captain Kan-chiang peered beyond the cockpit viewscreen into the dark underground passageway that rushed
towards him, his First Officer, Senior Operator, and long-time comrade -- Commander Hitchhiker -- sat beside
him, monitoring the various control displays.
"You sure about this?" Hitchhiker asked, wondering if it might be too soon... too soon for another recon entry.
Big and muscular, the commander rarely wore the multiple shirt layers that his crewmates wore in the broadcast depths miles above the warm
home of Zion, the last human city in the real world. At the same time, he rarely removed the worn-and-torn orange creased-billed cap --
his father's old cap -- that covered his bald black-skinned scalp.
"Yes, I'm sure," Kan-chiang answered in his slight Chinese accent. He knew what his first officer was thinking... but he felt that it was time...
the right time to try again.
Not much older than Hitchhiker, the captain continued to focus his piercing bronze-brown eyes down the dark passageway. His solid build and
close-cropped black hair fitting the image of the hardened soldier, his eyes and pose nonetheless revealed his thoughtful composure.
Within thirty minutes, likely much less, Lieutenant Commander Sky would complete another follow-up test of the 'Nos' simulation. From there,
she would begin another reconnaissance mission in the Matrix. She always seemed to strive for the utmost efficiency.
"Why plug-in twice, when you can do it once?" Sky once said.
Leaning back with the fingers of his left hand touching tip to tip with the fingers of his right, Kan-chiang allowed himself a slight smile... then
slowly the curl on his thin lips faded.
The 'Nos' simulation was another matter.
Designed by the sometimes wild, sometimes absent-minded, but extraordinarily gifted programmer -- Junior Operator Flicker -- with close
assistance from Sky and occasional help from Hitchhiker, the simulation of 'Nos,' short for 'Nosferatu,' was a revolutionary attempt to not only
tie the hovercraft main computer directly into the Construct, but also give the computer its own personality... a digitally-simulated human
personality... just short of artificial intelligence, of course.
The potential benefits were enormous... including instantaneous security alerts sent from the hovercraft main computer to those plugged into
the running Construct... or conversely, hovercraft commands given by those in the Construct directly to the main computer.
Ideally, if the Construct tests proved the viability and reliability of the simulation, Nos could very well leave the Construct as an exceptional
addition to the crew... not only as a hovercraft in the real world... but also as another fighter in the Matrix.
And ultimately, by sharing the burdensome operating duties with such a valuable simulation, the operator would be better able to focus on his
primary responsibility -- the safety of his crewmates in the Matrix.
Unfortunately, there were glitches.
In his earliest incarnations, Simulation Nos demonstrated the most-stubborn and most-problematic interface bugs... the bugs affecting the
interaction and communication back and forth between the main computer and those plugged into the Construct.
Would Nos detect and decipher the visual cues and vocal commands given by the crew? If so, would he act and react properly?
Back then, Kan-chiang felt that this project was a fruitless fantasy.
But as the months passed, and as Flicker and Sky and Hitchhiker tackled the technical difficulties, the bugs diminished in severity and number...
Nos began to stabilize... not only as a program... but as a personality... a person.
These days, in his latest incarnations, Simulation Nos demonstrated the occasional vocal bugs... His deep voice would stutter, or its volume
would fade in and out, or it would cut out completely in the middle of a sentence... On other occasions, he would exhibit visual bugs...
His gray eyes would fade to white, or his monochromatic suit would drift to another hue or saturation or brightness, or he would freeze
completely in the middle of a movement.
But at least this project gave his crew something else to do, something else to focus on, something else to look forward to... other than the
raging and enraging and ongoing war with the Machines.
Those damned Machines.
As his penetrating eyes peered into the rushing tunnel, Kan-chiang waited patiently for Sky.
Instantly, the stiffness of the old suspension chair beneath Sky vanished, and the blackness behind her closed eyelids flashed into the
super-bright white background of the Construct -- the preparation program that allowed the crew to load anything from clothes, to weapons,
to vehicles... anything they needed.
Standing like a vivid spear in the pure snow, the lieutenant commander contrasted the black skin-tight suede that wrapped her chest and legs,
with the long blond braids and bright-blue leather jacket that framed her bare midriff.
"The 'City Street' program, Mr. Flicker," she commanded behind her dark sunglasses.
In another instant, the white background dissolved into the cloud-covered concrete-and-steel grayness of a dirty but deserted metropolitan
intersection.
Standing at one end of the wind-blown intersection, Sky glanced up towards the distant peaks of the massive mirror-glazed skyscrapers...
then returned to the cracked asphalt, found the shining weapon at her feet, and crouched down to pick it up.
"Welcome back, Sky!" a deep voice called out.
With a knowing smile, Sky straightened up and caught the tall hairless figure in his black three-piece suit... wearing his circle-rimmed spectacles...
gripping his own polished weapon at the other end of the intersection. And the commander laughed her high-pitched laugh.
"I may be back... but we'll see how welcome I am!" she shot back.
"Haha!" the figure in black approached the center of the intersection. "Touche, Mademoiselle!"
Leisurely swinging her weapon, Sky likewise approached the center.
Above them, the traffic lights flashed red.
They stopped within yards of each other.
Between them, several crinkled newspages floated by, hanging effortlessly in the flow of the urban wind.
Suddenly, the blonde in blue began her attack.
"Do you know why we're here?" She lunged with the swift thrust of her silver-and-sapphire-studded rapier.
"Of course," the figure answered with the quick and calm parry of his unearthly black-mercury blade. "To test my programming."
Their blades locked for a breath.
Then Sky leapt backwards, her golden braids bouncing as she landed. "Not bad, Nos."
"Thank you," the simulation acknowledged in a half-bow, his sparkling gray eyes confident yet cautious behind his spectacles.
Another breath.
"Do you remember what happened the last time we met?" She lunged again with a flashing series of swings and thrusts.
Forced backward, Simulation Nos parried and countered with his own swings and thrusts. "Yes," he said.
This time, Sky was forced backward. "Care to elaborate?"
"One moment," Nos answered.
Their blades swooshed, clinked, and clanked in rapid sequences as the familiar fighters matched each other, movement for movement, swing for
swing, thrust for thrust.
Finally, Nos found an opening, swept the commander's silver rapier aside, and touched the tip of his black blade to the bright-blue leather
covering her heart.
"The last time we met," he said, "my sight was off-center and my saber flickered in and out of existence."
"That's right."
"But this time," he smiled, "both my sight and my saber seemed to have found their mark."
"It would seem so." Sky cleared her throat.
"I apologize." Nos disengaged his sword from her chest.
Once again, Sky leapt backwards and landed lightly. She glanced downward at her leather. "You're lucky you didn't rip my jacket!"
"But YOU'RE lucky a glitch didn't kill you on the spot."
"Kill me?" Sky laughed. "Don't worry, the training safeties are on."
"What training safeties?"
Amidst the towering skyscrapers, the cracking asphalt, the flashing traffic lights, and the whistling wind, Sky grew concerned. "Is there another
problem with your hearing or understanding?
"No, I hear and understand you perfectly... but my programming detects no active safeties."
"Huh?... What about last time?"
"Yes," he answered. "At our last meeting, I confirmed the activation of training safeties... But this time, I cannot."
The lieutenant commander burst out, "Why didn't you tell me EARLIER? Another glitch could've killed me!"
Calmly, the simulation in black answered, "You didn't ask."
Angrily, Sky ripped the sunglasses from her blazing green eyes, gazed up towards the distant peaks of the massive skyscrapers, and yelled
at the top of her lungs.
"FLICKER!!!"
Installation *3* coming soon...
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