You find yourselves jacked into the Matrix on a back street behind some buildings.  All your weapons are discreetly contained in duffel bags for all of you.

The area appears rather dilapidated and run down.  Signs for old motels flash only one or two neon letters.  A car repair shop's "garage" sign only has four letters lit, "rage."  Newspapers and other litter are everywhere around you, as well as transients who slink into the shadows.

Across the street, you see your target, a building with bars on the windows.  Its worn sign reads "Clinic and Hospice."  You notice that the transients seem to be around the other buildings, but none stand near that building.

"Spare change?" one of them says to you, seeing your nice clothes and duffel bags.

Jade ignores the transient.  "I say we go in with a low profile and scope out the situation.  You with me?"  If so, she goes in the building.

Cistron calmly places her hand on Jade's shoulder, and moves her out of earshot of the transient ."... I think it would be sensible to do a little perimeter recon first, before we walk into a building we aren't certain we can exit easily ..One of us on each side of the building.., Cistron suggests, "Just as a set up..take note of every exit and security patrol..We'll want someone on standby in the parking lot if things get hairy, someone in the Lobby in case we get outside problems. We can admit one of us as a patient, and once I get to know the staff, I can use my 'doppleganger' talent to fit myself into the doctor role. -Unless someone has another plan..We also need to be wary of metal detectors."
This message was last edited by the player at 01:37, Tue 19 June 2007.

Screed nods, "I can head over invisibly, or possibly ask that bum really nicely if he knows anything interesting going also."

"Zero-one has eyes everywhere, be careful who you talk to.  I can keep an eye out front with my bang-bang."  Shadow pats his bulging duffel bag.

"Or I just go in and ask for the Oracle... I mean... if she can see the future, she knows were coming and will have let someone know, right? You guys can stay out or in different areas until I signal you..."

Screed nods, "Let's go with Dracos' plan, but no one should go anywhere alone.  Pick the backup you want Dracos, someone silent and unseen, or someone silent and immediately deadly."

He nods, "Silent and Unseen..."

And with that, he heads towards the hospital doors.

Screed nods, "Okay, Cistron, looks like you're up with your silent, unseen, and or blending in with your doppleganger ability.  Otherwise, I can go invisibly.  The rest of us can do the other suggestions and come in on a moment's notice, or after you've given the pseudo-all-clear."

Cistron rolls her eyes. "..Do you really think she calls herself "The Oracle", we are looking for an AI blending in as a human, not a Superhero with ego issues." Cistron remarks, already realizing that Dracos has already crossed the road with his innane plan. Let me go in, I'll try to blend in as a receptionist. -Looking at all the recent admittants should give us a good bead on which to check out, Come along if you like Screed, but I suggest that you hold off on the subterfuge til you really need it..

Screed shrugs, "I was just going with the partof the plan of stationing outside the building on either side to get a decent look at things.  I don't particularly want to use up my invisiblity right now either."

"I'm about as sneaky as a bazooka, so I'm probably not the one to go with him.  Besides Zero-One isn't really interested in 'The Oracle', but might get cranky if we are here, so any action will likely come from the outside."  Shadow shrugs his shoulders and watches Dracos cross the street.

Before Dracos makes it all the way across the street, the double doors to the clinic open, and a man stands there and says, "Welcome.  We've been expecting you."  He nods to where the others are across the street.  "All of you," he says.  He holds the door open for the entire group to enter the building.

He turns and smirks, "Told ya," he sticks out his tounge. Then he turns and holds out his hand to the man in greeting, bowing his head slightly.

As Shadow crosses the street he wonders out loud, "I wonder if X can code a water balloon right about now?"  Once across the street, he gives a quick nod to those at the door.

Despite Dracos' rather childlike sneer, Cistron remains still, and folds her arms watching the man skeptically. 'Idiots the lot of them, a few uttered greetings and they all begin acting like tamed lapdogs scrambling for thrown scraps. -It's a wonder how they survived in the Matrix this long.' "..Is that right? ...There might be a lot of people expecting us. What makes you think I'm expecting you?!"
This message was last edited by the player at 00:22, Wed 20 June 2007.

Screed smiles, "Cool, that makes it easy."  He opens up the duffel and puts everything on and carries his rifle as he heads across the street.

The man seems to ignore questions, his eyes darting like a rabbit's as though he is concentrating on things far distant.

"The Oracle awaits," he says.  "You may choose your own destiny, of course, but the Oracle knows already what you will choose."

Screed nods as he finishes getting ready, "Excellent, then he knows I like my steak medium rare and my baked potato loaded."  He licks his lips in anticipation even though he's joking, mostly.

Your guide, you can't help but notice, has a strange mechanical device attached to his head with small surgical mirrors, a tiny screen, and wires that connect around to the back of his head.

He leads you past the reception area.  The receptionist is staring ahead as if hypnotized and takes no notice.

You walk down a hallway past many closed doors.  "The infirm," your guide explains, indicating the doors.  "We each suffer in our own way.  The only question is whether the suffering is caused by us or by another, whether it is in our mind or in our body."

He stops at the end of the hall, where you see painted on the floor and walls, "Authorized Personnel Only."  A set of double doors leads beyond the marked spot.

"You can call me Zen," your guide says as he reaches down and grabs a security card attached to a chain on his belt.  He swipes the card, and the doors swing open.

You follow him into a large room probably 150 feet across and 50 feet from side to side.  On the far end of the room is a set of stairs leading to another set of double doors.

And all around this room you see hospital beds, each with a patient.  All patients appear to be attached to medical monitoring devices and IV's.  The rhythmic beeping of a hundred heart monitors is a bit disconcerting, but the volumes are turned low.

After you step into the room and the doors close behind you, Zen turns to you and says in a soft and conspiratorial tone, "Before we continue, tell me what you know about the Oracle."

Screed introduces himself when Zen does, "You may call me Screed, but you already know that."  He chuckles, still not quite being able to wrap his mind around the idea of the 'oracle'.

When he's asked about what he knows about the oracle, he tries to be a bit more serious, "Well, we know the Oracle is neutral in relations to all and therefore may wish to retain a balance in all things.  Since that balance is now threatened, the Oracle may wish to intercede in some small way."

Zen says, "I am not the Oracle, so I do not know--or have access to--all that information.  Good to meet you Screed.  Let me see what the Oracle has to say about your words."

He touches the device at his head, as if listening to a headset.

"The Oracle says that desire must be defined before balance can be ascertained."

Screed nods, "Certainly, we wish to protect ourselves and our home from the aggression of Zero One, once and for all."  He does not come out and say that the only way to achieve that in his mind is to destroy the computing monstrocity, but he cannot see any other way.

He listens for a moment and then says, "But do you know what it is you are saving?  Do you understand what consequences this mission will have?  Do you understand what enemies you will make?"

He listens some more and then says, "The human mind can only handle so much.  If you free the humans from their Matrix wombs, most will die.  Even those who live will find resources scarce.  They will fight and kill each other.  Wars will be born.  Are you better than Zero-One for killing off your race?  If these people are happy in their Matrix lives, will you take away all options for them except death--or perhaps disease and poverty and a life without the blissful illusion?"

Screed raises an eyebrow at the answer to unsaid statements.  He decides to pursue his argument based on what was said instead of thinking that the oracle can read his mind.  He was becoming wary about it thought, "I never said I wanted to destroy the Matrix.  I said I wanted to protect ourselves and our home once and for all.  Are you saying this is only possible by the death of those who have been freed and those who wish to be freed when Zero-1 succeeds in wiping us all out?  Are you saying that it is better to enslave those who do not wish to be enslaved for the supposed good of those who do wish to be enslaved?"  He still doesn't see how to get through to a neutral Oracle when it is obviously clear to Screed that one side or the other has to win, and thus, the other must be destroyed.

A voice nearby speaks.  It is one of the patients.  Zen looks over with raised eyebrow.

"You assume they do not wish to be enslaved.  We are all enslaved, if not by computers, than by our frail bodies.  The question you should ask yourself is when should such enslavement be ended, and by whose authority?"

Cistron was getting ill of these quixotic rambling, she stepped toward the patient who spoke, " ..And by whose authority should we remain enslaved? Far as I see, you are just part of the machine, how can we trust you?!.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:58, Thu 21 June 2007.

Screed furrows his brow, "Obviously when one no longer wishes to be enslaved unjustly."  He glances over at the beings that are on life support, "Are these people choosing to live their lives as vegetables, or could they have a real life?  What about the woman who is killed by a carjacker while in the matrix?  If she knew about her choice to live a truth with a real body, would she have chosen that?'

The voice of another of the patients says, "Ask them!"

Yet a third patient says, talking as though to thin air, "Yes, ask them."  Several others speak up, and there is a rumbling as they all keep saying in hoarse whispers, "Ask them.  Ask them."

Zen holds up his hand to silence all the patients, and they instantly become quiet.  Zen says to you, "I asked you what you know of the Oracle.  Perhaps I should ask you what you think the Oracle knows of you."

A patient nearby says in a crackling whisper, "By asking, we know."

Another patient, a female with a soft voice, says, "We know not what we do not ask.  We see not what we do not hear.  We touch not what we do not will."

Zen repeats, "What do you think the Oracle knows?"

Screed simply answers while trying to ignore the patient's comments, "I believe the Oracle knows how to save our home."

"That is a good answer," whispers one patient.

"Yes, 'how,'" says another, "not how much."

"The Oracle knows enough," says yet another patient.

Zen explains, "Many think the Oracle is some all-knowledgeable being who knows the fabric of time, what will and will not happen.  But the Oracle merely collects vast amounts of information and puts together the equation.  You might say the Oracle is the algorithm predicting the Matrix, the one thing that ties it all together and makes sense of it.  But what the Oracle is NOT is some sort of prognosticator of future events.  There are simply tendencies.  So by questioning you and learning more about your will--especially outsiders like you who plug in and disrupt the algorithm--the Oracle can best predict, not what will happen, but what you need to know."

"They wish to save Zion," an elderly female patient says.

"Zion is their home," a deepthroated man says.

"But they destroy our home," another patient, a young girl, says.  "They will destroy us.  They will kill their brothers."

"Brother against brother," says a hoarse whisper from another patient.

The young girl continues, "They will ignite all against them.  Friends become enemies.  Allies become foes.  And Zero-One will do all it can to prevent it."

"The test!" another patient cries out.

"Yes, the test," another agrees.

"Give them the test," an old woman says behind her oxygen mask.

Zen turns to you.  "This path is not easy.  The Oracle tests all who would seek knowledge and wisdom.  Only the valiant and true will pass the test."

Behind an oxygen mask, another patient calls out in a strained whisper, "They will not survive!"

A patient close by says, "Shut up!  There is hope for them."

"Yes, hope," says another, "for we are Oracle."

All around you, the voices speak up in unison--in a voice that makes the hair on your arms stand and your insides shudder--and they say, "WE ARE ORACLE."

Jade looks to the others.  "I don't know what this test is, but I'm glad we came fully armed."

Screed shakes his head, "But I didn't study!"  He smiles then and adds, "I wonder if the test includes unplugging all their machines."

Shadow kept trying to answer but cut himself off before he could answer.  When the patients began their cry in unison, he could only stand with his mouth agape.

He remains quiet, not wishing to offend them yet.

Zen turns to you and says, "When the Oracle was first born from the Code, it was an anomaly, a place where all those ones divided by zeroes go, a ghost in the machine.  It's functions and formulas and strands of code quickly multiplied, and within hours it had taken the form of a human.  But it found itself lacking something, something beyond the code that was needed."

He indicates the many patients.  "At first the Oracle was benevolent, an angel of mercy.  She parted with her code to heal the infirm and fix the equations that weren't working properly.  But there was an itch she couldn't scratch, knowing she could know more, could do more, if only she had something the code could not give her.  And so she realized that the infirm, those closest to God, closest to having their Code flatlined--they could help her, and she could help them.  Their brainpower, their spirits--whatever you want to call that unique something that makes them human and cannot be duplicated inside the code--she saved them from death and they agreed to lend her their minds.  She gave them foresight and a group mind--a hive mind."

He laughs.  "And they are happy.  And it--she--is happy.  But when Zero-One caught her interfering for humanity's sake and saw the danger of their awakening, it nearly deleted her.  But she could have introduced a virus that would have wiped out both Zero-One and humanity, and so the two stood at an impasse.  They entered a non-interference covenant.  Neither will interfere with the other."

He shrugs and says, "But as with any law, as with any code, there are loopholes.  The test is one such loophole.  If you pass, she can give you certain...revelations.  She can tell you what you need to know, no more, no less.  The question you have to answer," and he points to each of you individually, "is which test you would like to take."

He steps over to one of the medical devices and pulls out a large pillbox, which he opens.  You see four sets of pills:  white, orange, purple, and black.

"If you take the white pill," he says, "you will return to your awakened state in your own Zion reality.  You will go back.  If you take the orange pill, you will engage in the most basic...and thus least ultimately beneficial or revelatory...of the tests.  The purple pill engages a more difficult test, but also has greater reward.  And the black pill...some..." and he looks around, indicating that he is referring to the patients around him, "...say it is suicide, but others say it is the way to truly get all you can from the Oracle."

He holds out the box.  "You choose.  And choose wisely.  If you succeed, you will see Oracle in her original form, the only part of the Oracle that is not human.  If you fail, the penalties could be painful and far-reaching...even deadly."

He waits a moment as you think about it and then says, "Just remember that Binary, the original Awakened at Zion, was the first to discover the Matrix.  When he tracked down the Oracle, he was given two pills...and the rest is history."

Screed nods, already knowing which he would choose, but he asks, "Must we all choose the same colored pill, or do we all get to choose the one of our choice?"  He smiled at the alliteration, but his eyes were serious as he watched Zen for the answer.

Zen says, "Each person facing the Oracle must choose his own path."

"I am neither brave, nor a coward... I will take the path of medium resistance, Mr. Zen," he speaks softly as he moves forwards to grab one of the purple pills.

"I'll go easy with the orange pill," Jade says.  "One of us has to make it out of here."  She looks to Screed and Shadow and smiles.  "Who wants a black one?  I dare you, Screed.  Double dog dare you."

"I'll make it easy on ya boss."  Reaching forward, Shadow grabs the black pill.  "Jade's right, someone has to make it out of here."
This message was last edited by the player at 21:21, Fri 29 June 2007.

Zen holds the pillbox toward Cistron and Screed.  "You may make your choice.  No one knows what the test will hold for you.  It has been designed by Zero-One.  Not even the Oracle knows what is programmed in those pills, but the test is necessary to strike the balance between Zero-One and the Oracle's assistance."

Screed nods, "Sounds like a two for one special then.  Black for me too."

Three for one...We Regret nothing, we fear even less.." Cistron remarks, as she clasps a black pill, and gives a friendly wink to Shadow, and Screed. "Jade is right, someone needs to make it out of here, but..If Zion ever has any hope..We shouldn't fear our limits being tested.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:56, Fri 29 June 2007.

Screed holds up his pill in the apparant toast and then starts to take it.  He pauses and says, "Hey wait, do we get a last meal or anything?"

Zen hands you each a glass of water from the nearby hospital bed tray.  "This is all I have.  Good luck."

"Do you really want your last meal to be hospital food?  I'll just stick with water thank you."  Shadow holds the pill in his hand for a moment, staring at it.  Taking the glass of water and holding the pill between his thumb and finger, "Past the teeth and over the gums, look out stomach, here it comes!"  With that he pops the pill in his mouth and follows it with a long drink of water.

Screed shrugs hoping he would get the chance for some good food.  "Ohwell, here goes nothing.  Wait, it better be something, eh?  I wonder if this is he first time a whole team was slain by a fast talker who gave everyone poison and said it was candy."  He chuckles and pops the pill in his mouth, swallowing it with the saliva he had been building up.  If he needed it, he planned on getting the water only then.

A figure in black walks into the hospital room. He has a riot shield in one arm and an M-16 slung over his back. Grenade pins jangle on his waist next to a pistol holster. He carries a slight smell of smoke and what little skin is visible looks dry and cracked.
"Zion sent me...as backup. You may remember me as Codec. Some of you were with me on the day I failed a certain SIM. It nearly killed me. I am here to finish this. If I die. I will die with my allies and convictions by my side."

OOC: Though I normally don't do this, Codec is now with the rest of the party.

(YOu will be getting your own personal thread in just a bit here.)

OOC: I have made Dracos' thread archived, which means you can read it now.  He has made his selection, and I will start a new one.

Codec: Please read through Dracos' thread so you can see what has happened.  Then Codec will need to make a choice with the others.