USH'S MATRIX GAME 2006 SECOND ASSIGNMENT- 'The Monastery'

"Well...wouldn't the curiosity of what's behind that door entice you to open it? I know I'm certainly curious..."

"You said that us coming here was unusual...do you ever get visitors here?"

Lo Qi smiles. "The door is an issue of many complexities and the issue is not as simple as you imply there. But I shall put it a simpler way- for me to open the door would undermine the situation that sees myself and my companions being here at all. But of course I am curious. As an issue the door is fascinating.

"As for visitors... we have some. On occasion. But you are the first of your... type to ever come."

"Machines, you mean."

Heph looks at the Key.

"How would opening the door undermine your presence?"

Lo Qi raises a finger, as if to interpose before your question.

"Machines?"

"Well, you said your type, so I assumed you meant 'Human.' I suppose you mean that we're not here seeking to live at the Monastery, though..."

Ares will stand at the back, looking around idly.

"No, that is indeed what I meant. I was merely seeking clarity. Yes indeed, on occasion some Machines do visit us.

"Now, as for your question... well, it is not by coincidence that this place has been built here, of all places. There was an informal arrangement."

"Informal arrangement? Who with and what about?"

"Well. After the war ended my society was engaged in a process of building... well, indeed, of becoming a society at all. Before then it had only had one purpose- to win the war, and it had no independant existence before that. Hence, a peacetime society was an issue that we were all new to. Certain decisions about the future of civilisation were made, and a certain way that things were to be done.

"But myself, and several others, had little interest in many such things. I wished to live my life as you see it now- in isolation, solitude, contemplation. This did not fit in well with the plans of my society, and it is an awkward society if you are not seen to be contributing to it.

"And so I came to live within this world. But I did not seek conflict with others, merely to live my life unmolested. The door here is a matter of some importance. But the Matrix itself is something that is... complex alomst beyond imagaination. Certainly more complex than, if you will pardon me, a Human can understand, and I believe it has often proved beyond anyone's true understanding. It takes a major part of my society's efforts just to keep it in existence, and then when you consider factors represented by yourselves... it is a monumental effort and powerful though my society is, its resources are not unlimited.

"But by being here, of all places, I can save my society the trouble of having to watch over the door themselves, you see."

Ares perks up at this.

"...since when was the War over?"

"A very good question in certain circumstances," says Lo Qi. "But I think that by the mainstream definition of the word, there is no longer a war, but a resistance. At the very most, a second war has started after the first."

"Your 'society'?"

"No longer my society since I left it. But very much a society, the most powerful on Earth."

"Then...you have been here since the Matrix was created?"

"Since very shortly afterwards, yes," says Lo Qi. "As I said, I remember when things were very different here."

"Just how different are we talking?" Ares asks, interested about the history of the Matrix.

"Have you not heard this story? Maybe you thought it a myth or legend. Well, I can confirm it for you.

"When this world was first created, it was not as you see it now. It was created as a perfect world, a place where everyone had all they need and their desires were fulfilled." Lo Qi smiles. "What an odd concept... the Matrix is a society of interaction. It is not a dreamed dreamed independantly by each inhabitant. Everyone shares the same dream, and interacts within it. Can everyone's desires be met? What if their desires conflict? Maybe that was the problem. Or maybe they had a different criteria for 'perfect'. Regardless, it was an attempt to create a utopia for Humanity where all would live in happiness and harmony, so as to not seek any other way of life.

"It was a diastrous failure. The Matrix itself nearly collapsed, and sadly whilst it is easy to insert someone into the Matrix, as you know all too well it is not easy to take them out. People rejected the utopia on such a fundamental level they simply... died. Just like that.

"And so the Matrix was re-tooiled into what you see it as today, with all the misery, natural disaster, disease, crime, selfishness and unfairnes that you associate with life. Many call it the height of your civilisation- I believe they consider everything from this point on a downward slope to the point where you 'deserved' extermination.

"Fascinating in so many ways," says Lo Qi. "It says so much about the Human mind as to occupy decades or more of thought. But what it says about Machine society also! In search of perfection they found disaster. A lesson to be learned, perhaps. And I suppose they did."

Ares is suddenly not so interested.

"Deserved..." he mumbles to himself.

"Many programmes dedicate their existence towards trying to prove that point of view."