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| "Go Therefore and Make Disciples" Part 1 |
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"Go Therefore and Make Disciples" Part 1 By: Gershom Wetzel "It's true. Morpheus has found The One." "You don't know that." "You don't know otherwise." "I need proof." "I'll get it for you." "Later. We're almost set." I left Tap to his operator duties and went below decks to seek out the rest of my team. As I suspected, Wrench was in the makeshift kitchen tending to cleanup; he always ate last. The others were gathered around the table in the adjacent room, hunched over cold dishes of whatever miracles Wrench managed to conjure up. "We're ready," I announced. The others were filing through the hatchway before I had hardly finished speaking. Shipshape. "They're not ready," Star said as she passed me by. We'll see. I had my doubts as much as Star or any of the others. Our mission was a double extraction this time. No body does double extractions. Nonetheless, Finch, our point man on this campaign, was stonecold confidence that both our targets would trace-out and we would soon have two new crew members. I tried for the most to remain optimistic, but morale had been low for some time, and I must admit the others' collective uneasiness about extracting two at a time was valid. What if only one of them traces out? What if they trace to diametrically opposed locations and we can only save one? Realistically, the risk was high and probability was in a word low, nevermind that time was fast running out. The Coming of The One had received notice on all fronts, in all circles. From Zion to the Desert. From East to West. Even the machines seemed to have taken notice of him. In the last six months, Agent activity had nearly tripled, meaning that where there had been three now there where nine. Which meant fewer trips. Two or three trace-outs at a time would be routine very soon. Which made our job that much more critical. Our responsibility that much greater. And success that much more beyond our grasp. Because the question that begged everyone's attention was what if this Neo is not The One? What if he was just lucky? "Star," I said. "It's going to be okay." I looked deep into her steel-blue eyes and found a wall like no other. Reading Star sometimes was like ramming a jell-o jiggler at a fortress. "You think so?" she shot back. "I do. Have a little faith." "Sure, Preach." Oh yeah, my name is Preacher. They call me Preach. That's what I was going to be...back in the Matrix. I found out early in age that there was a God who loved me and wanted fellowship with me. And that through Him I could bring hope to others. To set them free. Imagine my surprise when I was unplugged. I don't mean that what I believe turned out to be a lie. I mean that the Matrix had inadvertantly prepared me to do the job I found myself presently charged with. Mysterious are the ways of God. I took Star's arm before she passed from reach. "Hey. Light the world." I think we connected for a fraction in time. The steel in Star's eyes went white hot for a moment. And she nodded, a hint of conviction tempering that singular move. Tap plugged us in. He is a True Child. Entering the Matrix was a lot like turning on a light in a dark room. At once there was the blackness that opal eyelids bring, and then...there is "reality." There, bold and fluid. The Matrix. The room we plugged into this time was little more than a cube with a door. The floors were wooden and the walls were some kind of cheap stucco. There was a desk near the window. Our equipment was in a corner under a shroud and positioned to look like old furniture. Lazarus, the youngest of our crew, busied himself heating the devices up. Core stayed with him, a one-man fire team if the heat turned up. There was nothing to worry about between them. Laz had never lost a trace. And Core had never lost one of his own where he could help it. Not once. Trust was mutual between the three of us and my confidence in my team's abilities, each of them, was stronger than the steel in Star's eyes. The remaining three members of my strike team (myself included) flowed into the hallway and down the stairs from the second level of what turned out to be a warehouse building. We found our car waiting in the brisk night air, the sole occupant of the parking lot. I reminded myself that it really wasn't cold and with a deep taste of the air I let the sensation run off. "Finch, you're driving." The "Beast" as we called our car, a Pontiac Le Mans, roared down highway 114 toward Las Colinas. One of the house rules about strikes in extreme circumstances was never to plug in further than five city blocks or four miles by highway from where you had business. We exited O'connor and turned left under the highway. We found our targets standing as instructed in William's Square, a cul-de-sac of buildings on our left. The center of the concretescape, a fountain with large bronze mustangs forever charging through it but never going anywhere, was often the stage around which youngsters played and lovers nuzzeled when the weather changed. It was here that we met our potentials, Flash and Mystic, both young women. Sisters at that. Finch pulled the Beast to a stop on the curb and went to escort them over. Star slid into the driver's seat. The two women wore casual outfits. The usual blue jeans, tennis shoes or boots, and a jacket over a t-shirt. One of them, Mystic, leaned into the waiting door to check things out. "Please," I said, "step into my office." I smiled, more for comfort than for charm. Mystic smiled back. She must like wit. Even if its dry wit. To each her own. Mystic started to get in and I felt my self exhale for the second time. I silently reminded myself to do that more often, and started to make good on it until the other girl hesitated. "Mysty, I have a bad vibe about this whole thing. Maybe we should just go." "Where's your sense of adventure? Look, here's my keys if you want to go home." Mystic extended her hand with the dangling keys in them. "Want 'em?" Flash didn't answer for a long moment. Didn't move. I looked away from the scene to hide that edge I felt creeping across my face, just in time to see Star shoot me a look in the rear view mirror. "We're running out of time, Preach." I nodded. "Come on." Mystic took her sister's hand and lined her into the car. Finch shut the door, took shotgun, and Star sped us on our way. I dialed Tap on my phone. "Operator." "How do things look from the nest?" "Sunny and warm, sir. The children can play." "Good, let the party begin." I hung up and turned to speak to them, but the dark-haired one was already talking. "So," Mystic began, "where exactly are we going?" Finch took it, throwing on a slightly theatrical accent to his usual speech. He must have told them he's from Brooklyn. "Look, sweety, jus' trust me. I promise, this'll be a night to remembuh." She turned to me. "What's your name?" "Preacher." "Cute. You got a grownup name or is that it?" "Like yours?" I smiled again, this time for charm. "Its what I used to be and what my friends remember me for." I let that though coalesce in their minds for a moment. "Tell me, what do you believe in?" "Only things I can see and touch." "Things you can experience?" "Yeah." "What would you say if I could take you somewhere you've never been before that was unlike anything your life has ever known so far?" "No good. I already tried acid. Hated it." We shared a smile, and I caught Star rolling her eyes. "No, its not a drug. I mean a real place. Real like Rome or Paris. But not like those places." "Where is this place?" "Closer than you think. But you may not like what you find there." Beyond Mystic, I saw Flash sit up. Rising fear filtered through her quesition. "What are you going to do to us?" "Only what you give me permission to do. Relax. Its nothing like what you're thinking of." "Why would we go some place that we may not like?" was Mystic's question. "Because you believe in what you experience. If I give you the Truth on paper, you would not accept it, right?" She thought about that one for a moment. "No. I wouldn't." "If I told you that the Truth is the current best-seller in North America, would you read it? I would wager not. But if I could take you there so you could live in it, would you go?" "Like virtual reality?" "Yes, Flash. Almost exactly." Mystic's eyes narrowed and her gaze fell on Finch. "This have to do with all that "Matrix" talk you're so full of?" "Jus' listen, Mysty." "Yes, Mystic. That is exactly it," I said. "You want what is real on your finger tips, flowing through your senses. I have what you want. But you cannot go back once you take the first step." "What is the Matrix?" I was surprised. Flash asked the question. I looked at her, deep into her brown eyes. "The Matrix is a lie that you have accepted as the Truth since you were old enough to feel. It goes further back than your first memory. And I fear that if I show you what it is, you will not be able to handle the strain of its reality." I've always been gifted with the ability to read people. Never more true than that moment. "Yeah? Try me," Mystic retorted. Hooked one. I sat back against the leather seat and sighed. I shook my head, restlessness furrowing my brow. "I am asking too much. Forgive me, ladies. We will return you to your car. Star, turn around." "No way!" Mystic all but shouted. Star pulled off to the shoulder of the highway. I looked at the girls. They were young, barely nineteen or so. "Mystic, you have no idea what you are in for." "I am not getting out of this car unless its to find out what the Matrix is." I could see it in her eyes. Taste the anticipation. I looked at Flash. "And you?" "I'll try anything once." Curiosity for this cat. We arrived back at the base camp shortly thereafter. Upstairs, I was pleased to find Core and Lazarus patiently waiting and everything in order. We led the two women to chairs in the small room. I pulled a bottle from my leather jacket and shelled out two red pills into the palm of my hand. "You said its not a drug," Flash protested. "This pill is part of a program that allows us to find your location." "What, so you can like 'beam us up' or whatever?" I allowed myself a thin smile of amusement. "Exactly." They reached for the pills, Mystic first, then Flash. "Remember, once you take the first step, you cannot change your mind. The Truth is now or never. And if it is now, it is forever." The girls took the pills, nodding solemnly. And were ushered into the Real World in the next swirling moments. (to be continued) |
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