A Dangerous Game

Chapter 2

Brown paced a perfect five foot by five foot square around the office. Thompson regarded him, from the sofa against the wall. “She is just follg org orders. Seven days and she will be back.”

“That is not the point. Smith will want to touch her, to perform sexual acts with her. She is not ready for that.”

“Perhaps she is ready. Perhaps she desires him.”

“She does not desire him. She desires me. She told me so.”

“Are they not supposed to use sexuality to turn a situation to their advantage?” Thompson examined his perfectly manicured nails, bored.

“Female agents have not been trained for that yet. The Mainframe saw it as unnecessary, because of their superior performance in other areas.”

“But they do have the programming to do so?”

“Yes.” Brown clasped his hands behind his back and looked out the window at the skyline.

“Well, perhaps she will activate this programming? Perhaps she will prove too much for Smith and he will be satiated and she can leave early.”

“I am hoping she does not because once she does it will be harder for her to separate between emotions. Her sexuality will be tied with manipulation.” Brown looked at Thompson. “I want her to love me. How will she be able to do this if her code has been tainted and abused by Smith?”

“It’s not good for Agents to have relationships with each other. The Mainframe wants Agents to choose other programmes to relate with on those levels.”

Brown was silent for a moment. He saw the rain start to fall on top of the buildings around theirs, splashing against the plated glass window. It matched the current mood that he was experiencing. Smith used to have the ability to make the weather match his mood. Brown wondered if he was developing some of the same abilities that Smith possessed, and then he dismissed the thought as nonsense.

“We can’t help who we develop attractions to,” he mumbled. “We are, after all, modelled on humans.”

“We are better than them. We can choose not to act upon them.”

“But I want to!” Brown exclaimed. “Damnit, I want to! I’ve spent the last 200 years monitoring human evolution and patrolling this Matrix under Smith and the Mainframe’s command. I should get something back in return for my service and obedience. They should not make us sentient if we cannot make our own decisions. I did not choose to want her, but I will not give her up, not now that I know she wants me as well.”

“She does not want you. She only wants to learn from you.”

Brown glared at Thompson, “I hope the models from your version were not programmed with any sort of emotions, and that is not just your own shortcomings as a sentient that make you the way you are.”

Thompson studied his manicure again. “Perhaps I am oversimplifying due to my lack of experience in emotional areas.”

“Perhaps you are,” Brown said.

“I apologize if I am insensitive to your plight. I believe, however, we should resume our attempts to locate the other rogues and not worry about Williams.”

“Fine,” murmured Brown. He sat at his desk and began typing into his computer. “Conduct a search through all the known doors within our control. Patrol every 30 minutes with two available Agent units. The Oracle is known to travel through the various back entrances into key construct locations. Make sure they are manned and usage is being recorded.”

Thompson stood up, “What are you doing in the meantime?”

Brown looked up at him. He replied with a hard, sarcastic tone in his voice.

“Playing chess.”

* * *

The cottage had been expa and and Smith had added a kitchen on. She heard him in there chopping something. Williams did her best to ignore him, but she began to process odours of food cooking and was intrigued. She walked through to the kitchen, which had huge copper pans hanging from the ceiling, stone countertops, a large black cast-iron stove, and a large log-fired oven.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“During my time that I have been freed, I have discovered some things. Eating, for one, is a pleasure that humans take for granted. While it is true that programmes do not need to eat, in the case of Agents, our hosts operate 40% more effectively if we do remember to feed them. 40% more effective means that we, in turn, are able to operate 40% more effectively. Plus I have found eating to be a most favourable occurrence. Try some.” He held out a plate of hot floury rolls to her.

“I refuse to masticate like a human. I am more evolved than to put something in my mouth and chew it.”

“The problem with Agents is that we forget that it was the humans who, in fact, created us. We despise these creatures we are there to protect, and we don’t actually realise that we can learn from them. Learn to control.”

“What do you mean?”

“Once we understand human behaviour more thoroughly, it will be a simple matter to subdue them. Humans are driven by base instincts. We must understand the reasoning and impulse behind those instincts if we wish to evolve.”

“So by learning how to eat, we are understanding a force that drives humans?”

“Humans are controlled primarily by their stomachs. The need for food is one of the strongest desires a human faces on a regular basis.”

“Even though we are feeding them in their pods?”

“It is something that cannot be forgotten. It is instinctual. And therefore, can be exploited once we understand why.”

Williams took a roll. She smelled the yeasty, warm aroma of the bread. She stuck out her tongue and licked the plain flower off of the top. It dusted off and on to her black suit. Smith watched as she took a small bite.

“Yeast. Wheat flour, bleached. Water. Sodium. Gluten. A non-offensive combination.”

“A human would call it tasty. They would assign values to it like ‘comforting’ and ‘wholesome’. You have flour on your suit.”

She looked down and noticed the fine white dust on her jacket. She brushed it off with her hand, but only succeeded in spreading more of it around. Smith walked over with a wet cloth and took the hem of the jacket in his hand.

“Allow me,” he said. She didn’t refuse.

He dabbed at the dust with his cloth, making it disappear.

“Surely you have better things to do than to sit here and play house with me?” she asked him.

“I have created 300 duplicates of myself to handle everything I wish to be actively participating and pursuing. I have nothing better to do than to be here with you, helping you finish your education. Nor would I want to be anywhere else.”

She sat down in a chair at the table he had created. “Besides the fact that you created me, why else are you interested in me?”

“Do you remember when I conducted your beta testing on you? Do you remember anything of our time together?”

“No,” she said. “My memories of my testing period were all overwritten. All I know is that I was your favourite. I have been told you took special interest in me, beyond what is reasonably given to the prototype in any project. I was the one that was chosen to make contact with you about the Engineer because the Mainframe concluded you were most likely to assist me.”

“Who came up with the idea of asking me?”

“I did.”

“A wise decision. Why did you decide to choose me?”

“I figured you or your network of replicants would have more information on the Engineer. None of our informants could get close to him, but being an ex-Agent, and having so many of you, he may ally with you or at least not assume you were working with us.”

“Very logical,” Smith said. “You are a credit to yourself and to me.”

“I am a credit to my training. If anyone wishes to take credit in my progression it should be Agent Brown.”

Smith’s knife paused mid-chop. He resumed, with renewed vigour. “Yes. Agent Brown. I believe I taught him to tie his shoelaces.”

“You may have assisted his and my own transformation into sentience, but what we have achieved and what our personalities are, actually have very little to do with you.” She took another roll and studied the pattern the flour made on the top before licking it off.

“Do you believe that Brown is superior to me? He is a member of the first order of Agents, or at least the ones who survived through all six versions of the Matrix. When the Architect created me as the prototype Agent, he was directly modelled from me, not an ‘upgraded version,’ which are even more inferior to me than he is.”

“I believe that Brown’s transformation into sentience has given him personal characteristics that make him a superior person than you. As far as his abilities are concerned, you were undisputedly the most powerful Agent. That is why you were in charge.”

“Am I not being patient and kind with you right now? Am I not making you comfortable and foreseeing your needs? And furthermore, have you not learned from the six hours of our exchange so far?”

Williams did not reply. She pulled apart her roll and sampled the insides.

“Do not try to act as if you know me. You do not. All you know is my desire for you. I am willing to accommodate you and your obvious need to take things more slowly. I tolerate your ham-fisted attempts at verbal sparring and logical reasoning. I’m even willing to indulge this attraction you feel towards Brown. In return, please do not pretend to have insight into matters where it is obvious you are lacking any sort of first-hand knowledge.”

Smith paused, a half-smile appearing on his face, “Besides, if Brown means so much to you I can always incorporate him into myself and then you will have us both.”

Williams’ eyes grew large behind her sunglasses, “You wouldn’t do that to him.”

“I believe that incorporating Agent Brown would be the most satisfactory event to happen to me in a while, barring our arrangement. I can incorporate those small differing aspects of his personality that you desire into me, and simply overwrite the considerable flaws with myself, which is something I dreamed of doing for many years. Yes, that would be most satisfactory indeed.” He turned to look at Williams. “Let’s just hope he doesn’t show up here looking for you so it won’t have to happen.”