Persepolis
A new wave of sentinels barralled in from a tiny right-side passage, the mass almost ramming into the ship as it came past. Persepolis performed an almost lazy barrel roll on its left. It needed to be tighter; much tighter, but it couldn't be done- whilst transmitting, a violent manoeuvre could kill those still being broadcast.
"Left! Left!" yelled out Finn, in a rare lapse of composure.
"There's no room left!" said Marduk.
"And no signal right." Marduk did not reply, but threw the ship left. There was a hard impact as the top of the ship smashed into something, leaving debris strewn behind as something tore off. Two sentinels had managed to latch onto the rear of the ship and were merrily cutting it open.
"Too fast," said Marduk."We need to take longer. Find me a loop, Finn." Finn studied the plans for the area, and quickly checked back to see if the crew was ok.
"Hurry it up, you bastards..." he said.
-
Shehazarard
The proximity alarms were already sounding.
"Percy's..." Ariadne began.
"I know," said Dallas, cutting her off at one. He had been distracted by one of the monitor screens for a while, having turned it towards himself so Ariadne couldn't see it.
"This is going to need good timing," said Ariadne.
"Looks about right to me," said Dallas. Ariadne started at him, unable to work out whether that was blind optimism, sheer stupidity, or incredible instinct. When she thought about it, that summed up just about everything Dallas ever did. "Are they in?" he asked. Ariadne nodded. "Is it working?"
"Perfectly."
Dallas grinned.
"This is going to be sweet..."
-
"I have no interest in your..."
ssssssssssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...
"...'gift'" says Melitus.
Mors, you rip open the envelope. To your surprise, the object contained within is rather small; it falls out of the bag and onto the floor, rolling across with a metallic noise that seems loud in the surrounding silence.
-
"You have to love this," says Dallas. "Melitus thinks he's so clever, in a part of the Matrix no-one else can see or access, hidden from everyone else. And Jericho thought he was so clever for what he did at the Circe building." Dallas lets out a laugh which slowly grows in power and intensity.
-
The small object rolls across the floor. It is no larger than a pen, with a red light at the end which is blinking regularly. Mors, you get a feeling of shock when you see it.
It's a spammer.
-
Dallas could not stop laughing.
"All that effort to keep quiet!" he says. "And now... LOOK WHO'S FOUND YOU!" He turned the monitor so that Ariadne could see.
-
Outside the factory, two black cars had pulled up silently. In perfect unison, six Agents emerged, all stopping to look up at what was in front.
"Hmmm..." said Agent Daniels.
And then again, all as one, they all drew their weapons, and started to pace inside.