Originally posted by Dexx
"yes, you all are real. but nowhere near the same as the guy sitting on that chair with the plug in his head"
"Oh but he IS," says Jericho. "You see, the hunk of meat sitting on the chair is meaningless..." He draws close to you, and lays his sword against your body.
"Something we have all learned is that the shell is not important." As he speaks, he traces a line around your body with his sword. "You say I am not alive just because at this point I am not flesh and blood? Well, neither are you. This form of yours is just ones and zeroes."
He brings the sword tip to your forehead and presses in slightly.
"We all know that it is the mind is wherein your essence is kept, above and beyond your interface with the world around you. That mind can be transmitted, altered, even overwritten, like all data. Whether that mind is in an organic body, or a computer simulation, or an iron teapot, it would still be a human mind. And my move is the last hope for huamnity. It's free spirit will live on in perpetuity through US."
"this form of zeros and ones is merely the way of projecting my mind into the matrix. it is still the brain inside that piece of meat out there, really governs my actions. you have lost that. Your capabilities are limited by what AI limits can provide you. but no more. You say i underestimate mankind's genius? maybe...but at least i am prt of mankind whilst you are no longer. You are only a part of mankind's creation. if it is enough for you.."
"No," he says. "You are wrong. Your brain is the house for the mind in your body. That mind is being transmitted into the Matrix. Your brain is now empty. That is why you die... if you get cut off. You are left with an empty shell.
Sooner or later, you will have to realise it- you and I are governed by the exact, same, things. There is no distinction. Our minds, both Human, exist in this 'simulated' world."
He withdraws his sword.
"But I don't expect you to let go of your denial. It is, of course, that same denial that will soon lead all of Zion to its extinction. But I would say, that you would believe what I do... if the Oracle had told you what she told me."
"Someone cannot be changed by what others tell them. what you are now, is what you were before speaking with the oracle. She knew what you are, and she knows she cannot change anyone. she told you....what you needed to hear.
It is hope that drives us. hope that we will one day prevail over the machines. as long as we will have that hope....nothing will stop us even from dying trying fulfill it. It is human nature. As soon as you gave that up and valued your own well being more...you became..a traitor. simple as that. I trust the oracle saw that. Yes...we may lose...zion may fall. But we'll all die trying to protect it. To some..the value of life, other than your own is a virtue for which they are prepared to die for. Something you once had.."
"It is the Council who are the traitors to humanity," says Jericho. "They would rather cast people out than face the truth and accept new alternatives. Everyone will die as a result. I will still be here, and opposing the system in Humanity's name, when you are all long dead. I tried, all my life, to help Zion by procedure. That procedure is flawed and useless. Any one who wishes to TRULY fight on... will stand by me.
And I know exactly the nature of what the Oracle told me. By your definition, you would have called it treachery as well. But again... your denial will lead you to ignore that. You're a blind man, Rade."
"Hey!" says Rade*.
"Don't worry, you have time to learn how to see."
"so, by your definition...if you kill me now, i would still live on...through him?" he says pointing to rade* "don't you get it? you died. you FELT how it was to die. Well...not you...the original jericho. You probably have no recollection of that event. But tell me jericho....how do YOU fight on. how CAN you while existing only within a program. this is their world...governed by their rules.."
"What can I say?" says Rade*. "That life is mine..."
"You have only EVER fought them in a programme, you cretin," says Jericho. "We cannot fight them, in the real world. We fight them HERE, AS programmes, and in SPITE of their rules. Truth is, the System is looser than you think... IF you have the wit to look in the right place. This world is their weakness. And if you have the right Vision, then you will know what to do. Still... I am glad you saw all this before you died... and vaguely satisifed that you couldn't understand. I knew Zion never would. Rade*, Castor*... kill them."
At which point we have to wait for Heph. BTW, the capital V in 'Vision' was deliberate- Jericho's emphasis was on something specific.
"Jericho, if you really knew anything you would realize that fighting them here is useless. They control this place. Your knock one stone down they simply place another in its place, quite easily I must say. This world will never yeild the solution. The only was to stop them is to destroy the machines. Right now all your doing is shooting peas at a tank. When really what you should be trying to do is kill the driver.
The matrix is run by machines, humans can never be free if we fight in their system. Realize this Jericho, you can tell yourself that your doing something here, but what your really doing is treading water, why?
Because your afraid of failure. Your afraid of not winning, and for that reaosn you will never accomplish anything."
"Hey!" says Medea, to the Xiao Emo, which turns, irritably, and snarls at her. "Don't just kill him!" she says. It ignores her, and moves in to take the first bite out of your flesh, Heph.
"I said..." says Medea, stepping forwards, and before she can finish, the Xiao Emo lashes a foot into the side of her face.
Medea rubs her face thoughtfully for a moment... and plants a vicious Grasshopper Kick right back at the Xiao Emo's mid-riff. It turns and brandishes its swords...
The fight that follows is vicious, lasting about a sequence, Heph. But the Xiao Emo is badly hurt already, and Medea is an MA specialist. After some vicious blows, the Xiao Emo snarls, vanishes... and does not return.
Medea moves down to tend to you, Heph.