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From the ground, a black speck, tearing through the clouds, mostly unseen, or wirtten off as bird or plane.

Neo lands upon the Metacortex building, and looks all around. His phone rings, and when answered a voice speaks slowly and firmly in authoritative terms.

"Neo. This is Morpheus. What do you see?"

A world of green code, all around... if he concentrates, even the air itself just dissolves into endless walls of code. But too much to take in. He sees nothing.

"I see... I don't know. I can't see it. I can only feel it."

"Focus, Neo. Feel your way. Nothing is impossible."

Neo looks, feeling something is very wrong

And he glances towards the Mountains...

---

Well then., You asked for it and you got it. Here we are in the second of our lovely Philosophy Journeys!

I believe we have two returning faces from last time, but only one of which stayed the course, Azrael. In as much as you could win or lose it, Azrael won it last time, so I hope he can muster enough time to engage with this one- though oddly enough time was just as pressing for him last time and I believe he missed most of the consequences.

THIS time, I feel Heph, who in the end retrated from the Journey last time, is determined to make his mark. He's done well to put himself centre stage- he got the key. That very well COULD have been Azrael. But Azrael has not been entirely silent; it was he who met the Hunter. And the deal with the key is now rather done! Now you have to deal with the result.

The rest of you folks are new to this sort of thing. Hmmm. Well, I am sure some of you have read it up, and some of you are keen. What exactly are we about here?

Ok. First of all, we are not about lecturing, enforcement, the setting of things as they ARE. What the Philosophy Path is about is the setting of a certain situation and the gauging of youyr reaction to it. Last time, just to put the icing on it all, this decision coincidded with a crisis of self-identity that could well have been fatal.

A bit different this time. There is no life or death conundrum. There WILL, in fact, be an intellectual exercise to solve at the end of the presented segment- you can;t fight your way out of the problem- but that really is about working out a puzzle, a problem, a practical issue; it's not really a matter of Philosophy. It's there because the Philo path has the issues you have to think your way out of, rather than fight.

So,, what about the Philosophy itself? Well, as I say, it is being done a little differently. We don't have one life or death issue. At the heart of it, there will be one big question which may well determine future action, but the issue may seem a little academic; you may feel you are compelled to act a certain way even if you believe another. Worry not. I am more concerned about your thoughts and beliefs than how things eventially pan out.

Other than that, there are LOTS of little questions all around, forming the landscape of the Philosophy Path of this story. To keep you thinking, one has already been offered- would you open the Door? Many said yes. One, at least, had reservations. If you did not make your thinking on that issue clear, please do so very quickly before you learn too much about it and so contaminate your answer forever! Fewer experience points will result if you 'miss the bus' there.

Durung the Philo path you will be bombarded with facts and maybe questions. Those in last time will be familiar with the basic format. Yopu are actively encouraged to cvomment, ask questions, and even dispute assumptions. Please remember, however, that in the end, the Philo Path is not offered by the unquestionable God, but by situations and people in-game, and should you totally disagree with something, you may simply have to accept that your character does not agree with the presented fact and move on. Arguing a point to death is unhelpful once your opinion is made clear. It's your opinion I am interested in, not your ability to engage in rhetoric.

Beyond that, this is a game, the game was written by my brohter, adapted by myself, and we try to be as neutral as possible but some assumptions are vital to gameplay- last time there was a large argument about whtherthe Machinea are truly sentient, and all we could say in return is- it is one of the pretexts of The Matrix as a franchise that they are. Without that, half the point falls away. It may be that future official Matrix material contradicts situations we advance here. But every effort has been made to make it all consistent with what we feel the spirit of the films to be.

So, how to pass or fail, if there is no central conundrum? You will be judged on your ability to engage with ALL the issues raised, and at the end of the Path, have a clear and coherent strucutre in your head about what you think of it all, and why you are either happy or unhappy to be acting the way you now are. Right now you are vague and confused. Your objective, basically, is to become sure and certain, armed with knowledge and having thought things through. The Combat Path people are going to have to rely on you to be sure about what exactly to do next in this big mess. Their job is to keep you alive in the meanwhile. After that, all direction in the game is up to you.

If anyone at the end is seriously confused about what they think about the plan to go to X and do Y... then it didn't work out. I will be the final judge, of course.

Now. A lot of this might TOTALLY pass you by if you are not careful. You can engage with what is presented- that's the easy part. But you wouldn't go into battle without your powers loaded or without yoyr weapons, if any. You cannot improvise your way out of everything. You come prepared and armed.

And you may find yourslf unable to make a truly meaningful response unless you forearmed yourselves as well. So...


- Did you listen to what the Oracle said? And I mean REALLY listen? Because responses to things so far tell me that you have not.


- Were you paying attention during things that seemed trivial? Maybe some of those battles were making points beyond the basic one made. Maybe there was more purpose to the museum than you thought.


- Beyond the words of Lo Qi and Sennacherib, were you bearing in mind underlying reasons and meanings? Did you compare and contrast? What didn't add up? What definitely SHOULD have been pursued further? I worry because, for example, no one even questioned the Hunter when he said that the Agents could not guard the door itself. That issue has now been discussed after the fact- but he actually told you in advance. Maybe there is a lot that has been missed like that.


In a way, you guys on Philo have always been playing from the moment you stepped into the Museum. with all the talk of the Door it was easy to get sidetracked. Perhaps that was intentional, of course. Question is, do you want to keep being played? Or play well yourselves?

Time to wake up.

And so, to our first issue... what in the hell have you found?

---

The rough-looking man stands and squints, his eyes not used to the light.

"No..." he says. And he advances out the door at a brisk pace.

Oh, and one more thing...

It may become apparent during this game that you are all screwed, and you will wish you were with the Combat Path.

I just want to state, just to everyone is comfortable... yeah. You're screwed. Of course, it is when you are most screwed that we can best see a person's true self. You chose to come to this point, of course. So we shall see the consequences.

"You are a Machine, right?"-Melkor starts with basic question.

Berserker looks up and down the man and then scanning the room he was in.

It's a stone cell, Berserker.

"Machine?" says the man. He looks puzzled, and then shakes his head.

And advances outwards down the white corridor.

Actually, Ush, I could argue that we didn`t have full choice in opening the Door, since there were events beyond our control. At the end, Melkor felt that opening the door is inevitable, but didn`t think he can make a fully concious decision and preferred to put responsibility into the hands of the Hunter.

Originally posted by Ushgarak
It's a stone cell, Berserker.

"Machine?" says the man. He looks puzzled, and then shakes his head.

And advances outwards down the white corridor.

"What are you? Who are you? You are not human, right?" -Melkor is puzzled by this weird being.

Originally posted by Lord Melkor
Actually, Ush, I could argue that we didn`t have full choice in opening the Door, since there were events beyond our control. At the end, Melkor felt that opening the door is inevitable, but didn`t think he can make a fully concious decision and preferred to put responsibility into the hands of the Hunter.

There's always a choice.

You advanced one alternative.

Meanwhile, he's just moving onwards.

"Wait! Those outside may be your enemies! Agents, they serve the System! The same System that imprisoned you here, it seems."- Melkor is desperate to gain some connection with the "stranger". He will carefully try to put a hand on his shoulder.

He turns.

"Agents. Sentient programmes inserted into the Matrix to police it as a contingency to the possibility of unstable elements. Have they changed?"

"Their purpose hasn`t changed. They are unbeatable inside the Matrix, at least to us, humans. Many of them tried to kill us before we could free you. Do you have reasons to fear the Agents?" -Melkor is glad that he is establishing more communication.

"And you are a sentient programme as well, right?"

"How many?"

"12, I believe."

A pause.

"Not enough."

He turns and resumes his way down the corridor.

"What do you intend to do? And there is another- an unstable code that cannot be destroyed...."- Melkor will describe how the Hunter looks like to the "Stranger."

"But he helped us to reach the Door."

"Everything can be destroyed."

"Do you wish for destruction? You seem very powerful." -Melkor is a tiny bit nervous that Stranger just claimed that he can overpower 12 Agents.

"Why wish for destruction?"

"If you have enemies, you have to be prepared to destroy them. But it is better to try to understand each other, and work to prevent causes for conflict. This is what I believe, and why I want to understand sentient programmes more."

Melkor wants to learn as much as possible about Stranger without pissing him off. Though he is working on assumptions here.

Berserker continues to follow the man when he realizes that he seemed like a dictionary with the Agents.

"Friend do you know about the Oracle?" Berserker asks.

Azrael would probably have opened the door.

He smiles at Melkor's comment,
"If you've got enemies, the cause for conflict has probably already occurred, whether you know it or not." He walks a step behind the Stranger, and then asks, "What do you intend to do?"

"Oracle... no. A term for one who can make predictions about the future? A potentiality I am aware of."

He puts his hand on the far door handle.

"Really so why are you here in this part of the Matrix"? Berserker asks.

He doesn't answer. He just opens the door.

Silence.

"Do you think we will survive this situation? We humans are fragile sometimes." -Melkor cleans his throat.

Berserker watches as the man opens the door remaining silent.

He walks up the stairs.

"Well," Azraels says, to no-one in particular, "Guess we're going up."

He follows.

Melkor follows, both uncertain and excited. He doesn`t want to be in front this time.

"Sirin, Klez, are you going?"

"Guess so," Berserker says to Azreal.

Berserker then begins to walk up the stairs.

There is s soft firing sound.

The tramp-like figure is standing at the top of the stairs.

He is looking curiously at a needle embedded just under his right shoulder.

The Hunter?

Azrael approaches the Stranger from behind.
"It seems you do have enemies."

Berserker immediately looks for where the needle came from.

The man you have dubbed the Stranger plucks the needle out of his body, and flicks it back towards the Hunter; it embeds into him.

Then, suddenly, the Stranger's hand is on the Hunter's gun-arm, and twists it around violently. You can hear the loud crack of the bone breaking, and the Hunter is thrown to the floor.

"Well that didn't go to well for him," Berserker says A little concerned with how easy the Stranger put the Hunter on the floor.

"Actually, if it wasn`t for him we wouldn`t be able to free you." -Melkor doesn`t want Hunter to be pernamently harmed.

He ignores you. He is looking across the lake, at the 12 Agents.

Each of them is tightening their ties, straightening glasses, adjusting cufflinks... and so forth.

Berserker is looking at the guy then to the Hunter on ground.

What is the Hunter doing Ush?

"Could that really be fear?"

The Stranger turns his head towards the Hunter on the ground.

"Why would anyone create such a thing?"

With his other hand the Hunter raises the synthisiser to his throat

"you/could/not/und/er/stand"

The Agents raise their guns and open fire.

"I thought you wanted to free him, yes?"- Melkor asks the Hunter, wondering what is really going on.

Hard to converse during a storm of gunfire, Melkor!

Berserker begins to take evasive action from the gunfire

Hey, I thought their bullets will be stopped, actually.....

Melkor will go for cover, because he is likely still not in good shape.

Balder, sitting in the back, tries to avoid the gunfire.

Azrael hits the floor.

Originally posted by Trickster
Azrael hits the floor.

and Helios will do the same.

There follows a bullet time segment.

The bullets fly in a wide spread pattern towards the stranger. he walks, unhurriedly, towards the bank. he simply turns and sidesteps and slips around the bullets, as if casually picking his way arund a jumble of bollards. The camera pans around him at all angles as he strolls through the hail of bullets.

All you guys see, of course, is a blur.

Azrael stays down, watching the Stranger head toward the Agents.

Melkor does as Azrael, amazed.

"What have we freed?"- He asks.

Heph simply watches in stunned amazement.

"He's FAST!" Heph observes, stating the obvious.

"I knew we should have thought this through," Klez says, keeping in the cover of the Door. "Who is he?" he shouts at the Hunter.

The Stranger seems to pause for a moment, and then a great shockwave of power seems to come from hi,m distorting reality around him (much like with Neo).

The shockwave goes out across thw water, parting the mists, and then he leaps up into the air... and just keeps rising upwards and forwards, out towards the lake.

Sirin, who had drawn her pistols to provide covering fire, simply stands poised for action but doing nothing as her jaw hangs open.

"He can FLY!" Sirin adds to Heph's amazement.

"Amazing isn`t it? I guess we have to be careful not to make him angry." -Melkor remarks to Sirin.

"He can FLY!" Sirin says, still amazed.

"He can..." Heph says, then stops. "Wait...can't Neo do that?"

"Yes, I think so, but unlike Neo we don`t know how much he is on our side.... and isn`t she cute, by the way?"- Melkor silences his voice with the last part of the sentence, when he refers to Sirin`s childish amazement. He wishes he could fly himself...

Klez raises his pistols, still using the Door as cover, and returns fire with the Agents across the water, picking his targets better now that the Stranger has cleared the fog with his display.

Who IS this? What have we unleashed? Klez thinks. I knew this was a bad idea...

"Yep this guy is either going to be really sweet for us or really bdd for us" Berserker says while dodging gunfire.

He doesn't quite fly, more a glide.

He descends down towards the water, and lightly skips it with a foot, propelling himself back into the air again, to land on the far bank.

Melkor wants a good view, though he would propably prefer to avoid shooting.

This whole experience again feels quite surreal for him, like he was dropped into the movie or something..... Few months ago he would only need to wake up.

Heph watches eagerly to see what the Stranger does next.

Hard to see through the mist.

The Hunter stands up, behind you all.

Klez holds his fire as the mists begin to conceal his targets again.

"Who is he?" Klez asks the Hunter.

"vic/tor/y"

"Is that his name or are you being vague again? I want straight answers."

"we/should/re/turn"

"Where to?" Heph asks, glancing back at the Hunter before trying to pierce through the mist.

The Hunter is returning to the boat.

"I think we should follow him, he likely knows what`s going on better than us."- Melkor states, trying to see something in the mist.

"So, what`s his name?"-He asks the Hunter. "And what does the victory mean for you?"

Heph will hop into the boat, keeping quiet as he knows that asking questions will not result in answers.

"Oh, so we're going to head back towards the Agents? Oh, brilliant! Just brilliant! Next we'll be flying the Percy into a cloud of Sentinels intentionally..."

Klez groans, but as he is as lost as everyone else here, he will return to the boat. He keeps his pistols ready for the return trip to the opposite shore.

"What's up with us and the obsession with suicidal charges? Anyone?"

Balder will still get on the boat though, hoping that it won't be a repeat of the fortress.

"Who knows?"

Helios returns to the boat, more out of curiosity about the Hunter than his actually wanting to.

"I blame Dallas. If he was able to, he would have invented it."

Berserker continues to try and hear what is going in. Trying to hear if the Agents are still firing.

"Well then my good Hunter let's cross the Delaware then," Berserker says as he takes a quick stand on the front of the ship like George Washington. Before jumping back down into his rowing position.

Originally posted by General Zink
"I blame Dallas. If he was able to, he would have invented it."

"I wouldn't doubt that."

Time to head back out across the river then!

The Hunter catches fire on the way... but you are kinda used to stuff like that now.

"What do you think Hunter means by victory? Defeating the System?"- Melkor speaks, full of doubts.

Berserker looks over at Melkore, "How should I know I only have on thing on my mind right now.". Berserker then begins to sing, " Row Row Row your Boat Gently Down the Stream. Now everybody join." As he caontinues to row across the stream looking as the Hunter caught aflame again.

I wonder what causes him to do that... Klez thinks, watching the Hunter burst into flame and keel over again.

Well.. you have arrived at the far shore, inside the Monastery.

There is the sound of a fight nearby.

"Well then I think that is our fine friend now," Berserker says listening to the fighting.

The fight has moved a little inside the Monastery, which is why it was not immedaitely apparent.

This Stranger is fighting... well, ten Agents. There are two dead SWAT guys near him.

Berserker will look to see how he is doing against them.

The Agents are in a circle around him. he does not move to attack any of them, instead waiting for them to come to him.

They move forwards.

The Stranger grabs, at a speed at which you cannot see the arm moving, the arm of the first Agent that atttacks. he whirls the Agent around and uses it as a shield against the next few blows.

He skips lightly on the ground and proepls himself backwards into the Agents behind him. he lands by one who has drawn his gun; grabs the armn again and snaps ot around to one adjacent. Grabbging the gun hand, he forces the gun to fire at that adjacent Agent.

That Agent starts to blur as he avoids the gun shota. The Stranger does an amazing flip over him- carrying his captive Agent and discharging the gun all the way, firing down at the blurring Agent. The flip avoided two Agents coming his way; he lands by two more.

He balances on one foot and blocks the blows of the two Agwnts with the other. One he repels, with the other he ctahces his foot under the attacking arm and actively uses his foot to hurl the Agent into the air, virtually by the armpit. The foot then comes down on the back of the neck of the Agent he was grasping, stunning it.

His free hand then reaches behind him and literally grabs the blurring Agent mid-blur, pinning it. he whirls his gun arm around, causing the Agent he just replled to have to blur in turn, and at the end of the whirl the gun now faces the original blurring Agent, that the Steanger has now pinned, aiming directly at the head.

There is a puse.

The gun fires, and the Agent flies back out, collapsing to one side, electricty forming all over as his body reverts to a Human.

Wit the final balletic motion of his twirl, the Stranger spins once more and, during the motion, breaks the neck of the Agent whose gun he was using. Agent and gun drop to the ground also.

"This is incredible! Should we help him?"- Melkor tries to follow the fight.

"Stay back. We'd just get in the way."

Three Agents are immediately adjacent to the Stranger; two behind that he flipped over a now-dead Agent to avid earlier, and the one he repelled with his foot a few moments ago.

The Stranger does not attack. He never seems to take the initiative, as many of you often would to bring foes off-balance. The Agents can make their move.

The Stranger keeps hs eyes in the Agent in front; he uses one arm behind him to block all attacks from those behind- something he seems to be extremely good at, blocking without looking.

As other Agents approach, the one he is facing throws a straight punch. A moment before, he has hooked his left arm around the arm of one of the Agents attacking in front, and spins him around in front. The straight punch connects with the Agent instead, propelling him across the room.

The Stranger his already clapped one arm on the extended straight-punch arm, and then brings the other up underneath to the exact middle, at great speed. There is a crack sound as the arm breaks, and the elbow of the same arm that did the breaking propels into the Agent's throat. Giving a steangled cough and unable to use one arm, that Agent falls to its knees.

During this, he had skipped two back kicks into the Agent behind to keep it at bay; now he returns to blocking it with one arm behind him as another four Agents come forwards.

He makes a neat slip sideways so the blows of the first two sail past him. He spins and makes a kick that connects solidly with the head of one Agent- smahing its glasses- and comes down upon the head of the gasping Agent with the borken arm, knocking it to the ground.

The next Agent makes a kick, which is caught in mid-air and brought up at an impossible angle that snaps it. The Stranger spins around that Agent, with it at the centre with the leg acting as the radius of a circle; the move is performed at blurring speed (a la Neo 'walking' sideways along the Smiths in Reloaded) that tumbles other Agents out the way. he then cups one hand around the Agent's head and with the other makes another throat strike. This time the combined force crushes the Agent's windpipe; it collapses and dies soon afterwards.

another agent is dispatched in an instant; it comes forwards with a powerful blow that the Stranger catches agin and twists violent so that the Agent is thrown up and over him; he cathces it as it comes downn by the neck, which is twisted and broken in a moment.

Another kick fends off another Agent, and comes down once more upon the gasping Agwnt with the broken arm. This thrid attack oin this Agent is fatal; the blow to the back of the skull finishes it.

This time, though, two of the Agents catch the leg on the way down.

And someone else is now entering the fight- with the demeanor of an Agent, but dressed entirely in whtie. The Doctor.

That Doctor guy is back huh.

Holy... Klez thinks, completely stunned by the Stranger's performance of 'killing' seven Agents alone. However, as his leg is caught, Klez decides that he may need help.

"Stay back!" Klez orders to those that have been injured.

As the Doctor enters, Klez raises his pistols and shoots at one of the Agents grabbing the Stranger's leg.

"This isn't going to end well. Klez, it's not our fight."

Sirin watches in amazement as the Stranger throws the Agents around like rag dolls and promptly ends them. In training she had been told that nobody can fight Agents, so she had not even in her wildest dreams thought of Agents being defeated by brute force.

The Stranger proved otherwise.

Following Klez's lead, Sirin fires her light machine pistols at the second Agent clasping the Stranger's outstretched leg.

Melkor obeys Klez, staying away from the fight.

"I think this Doctor is the main threat!"- He looks for Hunter`s reaction.

Heph watches the fight, wishing he could perform such feats, but stays back, as ordered.

No sense in sticking my neck out...

Azrael steps forward, pauses a moment, then opens fire upon the Agents holding the Stranger's leg.

"Hunter!" he says, "Do we need to worry about the Doctor?"

(If the Doctor is an anti-viral program, and the Stranger a mistake, it might be best to slow him down a bit.)

Klez and Sirin firing on the Agents that have him held will release them; that's the effect I want from it. Maybe Azrael should fire on the Doctor? The Hunter ran from him the last time, and we know he can Bullet Dodge like an Agent. Best you give him something to think about.

Fair enough.

Azrael's eyes, his guns trained on the Agents, flicker over to the Doctor, and he adjusts his aim, targetting the white-suited man.

By the time your guns are drawn, the situation has changed.

With one foot caught, the Stranger brings up his other leg and kicks it into the back of one of the Agent's heads, leaving the Stranger now parallel with the ground. The grip on his leg is weakened, and his leg shoos out of the Agent's grasp, coming up to his throat instead. nThe other Agent, attempting to intervene, is interrupted by your gunfire.

The gunfire expenditure will be removed from your ammo availability.

The other leg is at the back of the Agent's neck, so now, basically, the Stranger is supporting himself entirely by having his feet wrapped around an Agent's head. A vicious twist of those feet brings another cracking sound; the Stranger is flipping gracefully into the air as the Agent falls.

The Stranger flies over the combat and lands behind the remaining Agents, all now in a row. They turn to face him, and again he simply waits to give them the initiative.

As the Agents close in, the fight becomes fast and rough. Thr Stranger is no longer going for his flips and throws and spins, all designed to give him room. Now he uses blocks and rapid, fast punches. He never punches hard, like an Agent, but his blows have great effect. He nbreaks the collorbones of Agents near him, rendering one of their arms useless, or dirves a blow into the midriff, stunning them Each Agent comes at him, in turn or tiogether, each is nblocked and dealt a stunning rispote, and when the Stranger gets a moment he killes one of the stunned ones.

Azrael, uo've empted your clip; ther Doctor bullet swerved out the way, and as the Stranger turns he is face to face with the Doctor.

The Doctor claps his arm atop the Stranger, whose own arm interposes it, but upon contact, a strange, translucent film starts to form over the Stranger's body.

Klez watches the film form over the Stranger's body and fires on the Doctor.

Have you checked your ammo levels lately, Klez? How much do you want to start the next fight on?

Erm...cancel that then...

Klez watches as the film covers the Stranger, unsure what it will do.

Sirin doesn't mind finishing off her light machine pistols, though. She has a full UMP and fights better unarmed anyways.

Sirin will fire on the Doctor unless Ush updates before he reads this post or if something else prevents it...

Well, the Doctor seems to be done anyway! He blurs out the wa as his work continues.

And then, the spreading of the translucenty film stops... and fades away to nothing.

The Doctor looks surprised, a look that remains when the Stranger kills him a moment later.

"Sirin, be careful, he is dangerous!"- Melkor shouts, frustrated that he is in no shape to help.

But than he sees that Doctor is powerless too, and his mouth is frozen wide opened....

Ush, I am still too injured to shoot effectively?

"Hold your fire!" Klez orders to the others. "Our help isn't needed."

Klez watches as the Stranger suddenly retaliates, killing the Doctor in whatever way he has chosen.

"Extraordinary..."

Neck break.

And how is Hunter reacting to it all?

Watching

Klez steps back, ushering the others to step back as well, just watching until the Stranger finishes this fight.

"Are those death Agents pernamently destroyed?"- Melkor wonders, trying to stay focused despite growing excitement. Perhaps he should just cheer the Stranger and leave his doubts....

You have absolutely no reason to think that. Those are just human bodies being destroyed.

Yes, it is very difficult to destroy a programme, right?

Not really.

Destroying an Agent is near impossible though.

He's doing quite well with killing their hosts, however. All the better for us...

Oh, by the way. Does the Doctor revert back into a Human, or is he unlike the Agents in that aspect?

This was fielded back in the first Assignment- no, he does not inhabit a Human.

The fight does not last long after the death of the Doctor.

The Agents are whittled down untikl there is one left. Breathing heavily, he swings a punch at the Stranger, who blocks with his left arm, and then simply jabs his thumb into the Agent's throat. With a strangled gurgle, the Agent dies.

"Well then it looks like he can definitely take care of himself," Berserker say. He then walks over to the Stranger and tries to introduce himself, "Hello my name is Berserker and you are?"

"That was just awesome," Heph says, walking forwards. "I've never seen anyone take on one Agent and win, let alone twelve. I mean, I've heard of someone who did and can, but I've never met him."

"Indeed, your powers are beyond our comprehension."- Melkor comes closer and makes a small bow, deciding to show as much respect as possible.

He's started to move away as soon as the fight is done.

"Oh dude! It worked! Oh that was totally cool, man. Like... rightilicious!"

"It sounds like our old friends the programming monks are back." Berserker continues to walk towards the Stranger.

"Perhaps Lo Qi is nearby? I definately want some explanations...."-

I'm hoping that the monks came back and that that wasn't Godtramp talking?

No, he doesn`t seem to talk like this...

Yes, the Monks have arrived, led by Lo Qi.

There is the sound of a weapon cocking. The Hunter is pointing his gun at Berserker.

"stay"

"Why?"- Melkor looks, stunned by the sudden betrayal.

"Hey, no need for that," Heph says. "Besides, I don't think Lo Qi would approve."

"There's no point you following," says Lo Qi. "He won't communicate with you and you would only put yourselves at further risk."

The programmer Monks are making more 'dude!" noisses as regarding their programming.

Berserker looks back at the Hunter, "How is the arm by the way but fine the last thing we need is to start a knew fight."

Berserker stays.

"Then what do we do now huh Lo Qi."

"I think you have made exertion enough for today."

"Then what's next?" Klez asks. "We want answers about all of this."

Godtramp is the Monks' programming work?

"Will we at least have some answers?"- Melkor sighs.

"Yeah exactly where do we go."

I don't think he is the monk's work because wasn't the door ehre before them?

"I told you to bring them to me before they reached the door," says Lo Qi.

"There/was/no/time"

Lo Qi sighs.

"That was an unfair situation to put them in."

"it/is/done/npw"

"Well?" Klez asks, watching Lo Qi. "I feel we've been in the dark long enough, personally."

"Hey I can live with it we never get put into good situations to begin with Lo Qi," Berserker says.

"What kind of being we have freed?" -Melkor firmly goes to the point.

"Oh, he's not going to tell you that," Heph says, folding his arms.

Originally posted by General Zink
"Oh, he's not going to tell you that," Heph says, folding his arms.

"So are we manipulated pawns then? Oracle is a programme too, after all..."

"What're you, a conspiracy theorist?" Heph asks. "We got the key and opened the Door, I hardly see that as being manipulated. We wanted to, after all."

"I would have preferred it if you had been in a better situation to have the choice to walk away," says Lo Qi. "Still, he is right. It is done now.

"As for what it is... that is difficult to explain."

"Well, it seems that our Hunter friend and Monks wanted it as well, and they knew why on a diffrent level, since our decision was based on nothing else but bunch of risky assumptions...

We were told that opening the door brought us the victory in war. But is it the war of Zion, or war of some Exiles and errant programmes?"

(This was response to Heph)

"Hey!" says one of the Dudemonks. "I didn't take you there! It was all down to him."

Heph just shrugs.

"Well, I suppose we have time, Lo Qi. After all, this has become part of our mission."

"I'm afraid time is something you have very little of," says Lo Qi. "But I shall answer some of your questions now, in so much as there are inly some you can really understand right now."

"See, NOW he'll tell you," Heph says to Melkor.

"Who...or what...did we set free by unlocking the Door?"

"Well, this might be confusing, but basically... he is a virus. A very ironic computer virus."