VI - Visions of the Future

INT. Logos main deck. Sparks unplugs Niobe, who looks over at Ghost in amazement.

NIOBE: I can't believe it.

GHOST: We did it.

SPARKS: Did what is the question.

NIOBE: What do you mean?

Sparks returns to his station, puts his headset on, and sits back down.

SPARKS: I mean, it didn't work. Whatever was supposed to happen didn't happen. Something's gone wrong.

INT. Caduceus main deck. Dead bodies litter the floors, all stabbed to death. The only person left moving is Bane/Smith, who is descending down a ladder...

INT. Some ship's cockpit. Captain Roland and his crew are doing their thing when something rocks the ship. The systems start to shut down.

ROLAND: What was that?

CREWMEMBER: I think it was an EMP.

ROLAND: How?

CREWMEMBER: No idea, but right now we can't reach eleven-four-seven.

INT. Zion War Room. People are running around everywhere or working at workstations.

PERSON: Sir! We just lost contact with the Icharus!

LOCK: What?

PERSON: And the Novalis! And the Caduceus!

LOCK: How is that possible?

LIEUTENANT: I don't understand it sir. The line is broken.

LOCK: God damn it, what the hell is happening?

INT. Logos operating station.

SPARKS: One minute, everything's fine. The next minute all hell breaks loose. Now there's no sign of Morpheus, Trinity, or Neo. Everyone's gone.

The phone light lights and buzzes. They all stare at it.

NIOBE: Well, then who is that?

SPARKS: I don't know.

NIOBE: Well answer it.

Sparks turns it on and hesitates.

SPARKS: ....Operator.

EXT. Chinatown Street (Matrix). Seraph is at a payphone booth, talking in it.

SERAPH: Is this the Logos?

INT. Logos Operating station.

SPARKS: ...... Maybe.

Niobe grabs the headset Sparks is wearing and puts it on.

NIOBE: This is Captain Niobe of the Logos. Who is this?

EXT. Chinatown Street (Matrix).

SERAPH: My name is Seraph. I bring word from the Oracle. You must come at once.

He hangs up.

INT. Logos Operating station.

Confused, Niobe looks at Ghost.

Follow Ghost - Follow Niobe


[Tea house]

[WIN Dialogue]

[LOSE Dialogue]

INT. Oracle's kitchen. Ghost walks into the room, sparsly lit by sunlight, and sees a woman he doesn't recognize sitting at the table. She is, of course, the Oracle.

ORACLE: You must be Ghost.

GHOST: (Takes off sunglasses) Who are you?

ORACLE: I am the Oracle.

GHOST: If that's true, then what's my response to that postulate?

ORACLE: "Truth is an event, and only through experience can the veracity of a truth be verified."

GHOST: William James.

ORACLE: You're asking me to prove?

GHOST: Can you?

ORACLE: I can tell you that I only remember bits and pieces of my past. I don't remember your face, but I remember your heart. You asked me one question: If she could ever love you. I told you, "Only as a friend, as her brother."

Ghost smiles wistfully, recalling the moment.

ORACLE: Yes, I remember that face. I recall asking you what you were thinking, but I can't remember what you said.

GHOST: I thanked you.

ORACLE: Why?

GHOST: Because I felt freed.

ORACLE: From what?

GHOST: Expectation. Can you tell me what happened to you?

ORACLE: Two programs that I trusted sold the termination code of my original shell to the Merovingian.

GHOST: Why did they do that?

ORACLE: For love, and for the life of their child.

GHOST: You knew about it, and yet you let it happen?

ORACLE: I had to.

GHOST: Why?

ORACLE: Because the child is important. I can't tell you why, but I believe that one day the child will change both our world and your world forever.

GHOST: Is that why you called for me?

ORACLE: No. I am trying to prepare those that stand in the front lines of our coming trial. We stand upon the edge of a precipice, the fall from which we will not return. Each of us must find courage when are are most afraid to do what me must. That is our only hope.

Seraph enters the room.

SERAPH: We must go. (He bows slightly.)

GHOST: Thank you. (He puts his sunglasses back on and turns to leave.)

ORACLE: Ghost. You still love her, don't you?

GHOST: As much as she loves another.

ORACLE: That is a hard path to walk.

GHOST: Neitzche said it best: "One must want nothing to be different. Not forward, not backward. Not in all eternity. Not only to bear what is necessary, but to love it."

ORACLE: Amor fati. You're a good man, Ghost. If somehow we do survive, if the Path does continue, I hope it is made by others like you.

Ghost nods to her, and leaves.

INT. Maintenance Passage. A door opens on the right, and reveals the interior of the Oracle's apartment. Ghost exits the apartment, and Seraph stops at the door.

SERAPH: I wish you luck and courage. (He nods.)

GHOST: (Looks down to where he has to go.) Same to you.

He walks away, and the door closes. Seconds after Seraph closes that door, another door on the right opens, and Smith walks in. Ghost raises his fists in defense.

SMITH: Damn. Not who I was hoping for. But perhaps you can help me find him.

GHOST: You're an Agent.

SMITH: Oh, no, no, no. Not anymore.

GHOST: Then what are you?

SMITH: Me? I suppose you could say that I am the Alpha-

Smith #2 comes in through a door on the left.

SMITH #2: -Of your Omega.

Smith #3 comes in through a door behind Smith #2.

SMITH #3: I am the beginning-

Smith #4 enters from behind Smith #1.

SMITH #4: -Of your end.

Ghost checks behind himself and sees even more Smiths coming into the passage. With no other choice, he runs towards the nearest Smith, diving over him. He dodges one more as he runs and just as yet another one enters through a door on the left, he punches him in the chest and runs through the still open door, slamming it behind him. He winds up in an unfinished skyscraper.

Continue - Follow Niobe


EXT. Chinatown. Niobe enters the streets from an empty building and picks up her phone.

SPARKS (V.O.): The teahouse is at the end of Wo Ping Avenue.

NIOBE: Got it.

INT. Teahouse. A wooden house with some tables, teacups, and chopsticks. The house is empty, save for one individual: Seraph, who is drinking tea from a jade-green cup when Niobe enters the room.

SERAPH: Thank you for coming.

He stands up and sets his cup down on the table he was sitting on.

SERAPH: The Oracle is waiting for you. I can take you to her, but before I do, let me first apologize.

NIOBE: For what?

SERAPH: For this.

He kicks Niobe, starting a fight. As they exchange blows, he says various encouraging things.

SERAPH: I must challenge ALL your moves...Yes, fast strikes, excellent...Yes, impressive...You show promise...Very resourceful...

Niobe wins! - Niobe loses!


Just before Seraph is knocked out, he stops and relaxes.

SERAPH: Enough. Good. Again, I apologize, but these are difficult times and it falls upon me to measure a heart's resolve. Come.

Continue to the Oracle - Watch Niobe lose! - Follow Ghost


For whatever reason, Niobe loses the fight against Seraph. He frowns, and sits back down on his table and picks up his teacup again.

SERAPH: I am sorry, but the Oracle was mistaken. You cannot help us.

Infuriated, Niobe leaves, slamming the door behind her.

INT. Logos main deck. Sparks unplugs Niobe from the Matrix and looks at her questioningly.

SPARKS: You're back so soon?

NIOBE: I must have done something wrong. I don't get it.

SPARKS: Probably just as well. We've got major Sentinel activity at the moment. Maybe he knew.

NIOBE: I don't know. I can't shake the feeling that I missed something important.

She stands up, and walks with Sparks over to the operating station, looking at the readouts.

SPARKS: Look at that...We gotta move.

Continue (No Oracle for you!) - Watch Niobe win! - Follow Ghost


INT. Oracle's kitchen (Matrix). Given the amount of light coming in from outside, it is either very early or very late in the day. The Oracle, now plainly seen as a frailer version of what she once looked like, is sitting at her table, drinking tea. Niobe walks in.

ORACLE: Niobe. (She takes another sip of tea.)

Niobe takes off her sunglasses and glances around.

NIOBE: Do I know you?

ORACLE: You know me, although you may not recognize me.

NIOBE: Are you telling me that you are the Oracle?

ORACLE: I know this won't be easy for any of you. Change never is. I wish the face you remember was the face I was still wearing. But that face is gone.

NIOBE: If you are the Oracle, tell me if I believe you are.

ORACLE: You don't right now, but you will.

NIOBE: Are you going to tell me something to make me believe you?

ORACLE: Come on, Niobe. You know I can't do that.

NIOBE: Why not?

ORACLE: Because I can't make you do anything.

NIOBE: At least you sound the same.

ORACLE: As I said, you may not recognize the face, but who and what I am beneath remains the same.

NIOBE: Can I ask what happened?

ORACLE: The Merovingian warned me that if I made a certain choice, it would cost me. He is, among other things, a man of his word.

NIOBE: What was the choice?

ORACLE: The same one that you yourself will have to make: The choice to help Neo or not.

NIOBE: Then Neo is alive?

ORACLE: Yes. He touched the Source and seperated his mind from his body. Now he lies trapped in a place between your world and ours.

NIOBE: Can we free him?

ORACLE: Trinity can, but she will have to fight her way through hell to do it.

NIOBE: Can I help?

ORACLE: That's why I called. I cannot tell you what is going to happen. All I can do is hope that if you are given the chance, you will find the courage to do what you can.

NIOBE: You once told me that you knew everything you needed to.

ORACLE: I do. I know everything from the beginning of this Path to the end.

NIOBE: I don't understand.

ORACLE: Even I can't see beyond the end.

NIOBE: The end...are you trying to tell me the world is going to end?

ORACLE: Yes! If we cannot save it, it will end!

NIOBE: You mean Neo.

ORACLE: I mean we. The Path of the One is made by the Many. I have a role to play, just as you have yours.

Seraph enters the kitchen and stops at the doorway, looking pointedly at the Oracle.

SERAPH: It is time.

The Oracle's expression totally changes. The conversation is clearly over.

ORACLE: You must go now. (She picks up her teacup again and takes a long drink.)

NIOBE: Wait. I need more information. How will I know what to do?

The Oracle stops drinking, and stares at her teacup.

ORACLE: There's an old Chinese proverb I've always liked. "The heart never speaks-" (She raises her head and looks at Niobe, whispering.) "but you must listen to it to know." You'll know Niobe. You always do.

Niobe puts her sunglasses back on and nods to Seraph.

INT. Maintenance Passage. A door opens on the right, and reveals the interior of the Oracle's apartment. Niobe exits the apartment, and Seraph stops at the door.

SERAPH: I wish you luck and courage. (He nods.)

NIOBE: Thanks. (Looks down to where he has to go.) Same to you.

She walks away, and the door closes. Seconds after Seraph closes that door, another door on the right opens, and Smith walks in. Niobe raises her fists in defense.

SMITH: Damn. Not who I was hoping for. But perhaps you can help me find him.

NIOBE: You're an Agent.

SMITH: Oh, no, no, no. Not anymore.

NIOBE: Then what are you?

SMITH: Me? I suppose you could say that I am the Alpha-

Smith #2 comes in through a door on the left.

SMITH #2: -Of your Omega.

Smith #3 comes in through a door behind Smith #2.

SMITH #3: I am the beginning-

Smith #4 enters from behind Smith #1.

SMITH #4: -Of your end.

Niobe checks behind himself and sees even more Smiths coming into the passage. With no other choice, she runs towards the nearest Smith, diving over him. She dodges one more as she runs and just as yet another one enters through a door on the left, she punches him in the chest and runs through the still open door, slamming it behind her. She winds up in an unfinished skyscraper.

Continue - Follow Ghost


[Skyscraper, Chinatown: Smith's Trap, On Foot, Hardline Pursuit, The Virus Spreads, The Church][note]

INT. Logos Operating station. Sparks is sitting on the chair, with Niobe and Ghost on either side of him.

SPARKS: Niobe, I'm really struggling here. I'm trying to keep up. But I'm losing the plot. There's way too much weird shit going on around here and nothing is going the way it's supposed to go. I mean, doors that go nowhere and everywhere, huh? Programs acting like humans, multiplying Agents, and now picnicking Sentinels!

CUT TO: A shot of the Logos' sensor display. Four red triangles are dallying around the screen, but not really moving anywhere.

SPARKS: They were gunning straight for us when almost immediately, they just stopped.

NIOBE: Just out of EMP range...

SPARKS: What are they doing?

NOIBE: I don't know, but I got a feeling that whatever happened to Soren is about to happen to us.

Niobe and Ghost look at each other, realization dawning on their faces.

GHOST: Sparks, I want the ship's guns online right now!

They both head for the cockpit.

SPARKS: Oh, when! When will it end?!

INT. Logos cockpit. Niobe and Ghost scamble into the cockpit, Ghost manning the guns and Niobe taking the helm.

GHOST: Online.

NIOBE: Maximum vectored takeoff.

She throws a few more switches, and the ship starts to rise from the ground, electromagnetic static flying everywhere. Sentinels appear and start to approach them.

NIOBE: Hold on...TIGHT!

The Logos flies madly through the Tunnels of the Real, trying desperately to lose the swarm of Squiddies that are behind it. Ghost shoots at any that get too close for comfort. But, the Sentinels are too fast, and they can't lose them.

NIOBE: We gotta go straight down. It's our only chance to outrun them!

SPARKS (Intercom V.O.): But it's uncharted! I don't know what's down there!

NIOBE: We are about to find out!

Niobe flies the ship down any tunnel that appears to be going down but with no real plan. She doesn't even know where she's going. Eventually, the hovercraft passes through a tunnel that appears to be icy, or at least composed of a lighter coloured rock. It looks like they'll be able to escape when one of the Sentinels spins around in its place and launches a Tow Bomb, which can go even faster than a Sentinel.

INT. Logos cockpit.

GHOST: Holy shit! What's that?!

Niobe tries to evade it, but it keeps on following them.

GHOST: It's tracking us!

NIOBE: I think I can lose it!

She tries, but to no avail.

NIOBE: Damn it! Can you take that thing down?

GHOST: I've got a shot.

As Niobe keeps trying to escape the Tow Bomb, Ghost shoots it, and it explodes. The explosion damages the Logos' engines, and Niobe is forced to bring the ship into a crash landing as the explosion behind them fills the tunnel.

INT. Logos cockpit.

NIOBE: Sparks! Charge the EMP!

INT. Logos main deck.

SPARKS: EMP armed and ready!

INT. Logos cockpit.

NIOBE: How long do we have?

SPARKS (V.O.): Eight...seven...six...five...

NIOBE: We gotta wait until they're all in range!

SPARKS (V.O.): Four...three..(panicked) two...

NIOBE: Come on...

SPARKS: One...

EXT. Logos.

Sentinels begin to latch onto the ship and rip it apart. The hull creaks and groans as the ship begins to shift under the assault.

INT. Logos cockpit.

NIOBE: Steady...steady....

INT. Logos main deck.

SPARKS: Shit! Now! Punch it now!

INT. Logos cockpit.

NIOBE: NOW!

INT. Logos main deck.

Sparks triggers the pulse, and stands up as it expands around the ship, knocking out all of the Sentinels.

INT. Logos cockpit. It's pitch black.

GHOST: What if they don't find us?

NIOBE: They will.

GHOST: How do you know?

NIOBE: I just know.

GHOST: What do you think will happen after that?

NIOBE: I don't know, but I got a feeling it's gonna be one hell of a ride.

CUT TO:

A huge explosion starts to come flying at the camera.

Sentinels rush through another explosion.

Morpheus comes out from behind a marble pillar/column in a closed room, guns blazing.

Someone is running on the cieling in the same room with lots of gunfire, chasing someone else.

Seraph attacks someone.

Trinity fights the bulky man with the leather cowl in the pillar room.

Someone crashes through a cement wall.

Link runs along a metal flooring for his life as the floor collapses behind him.

LOCK (V.O.): In less than twelve hours, the machines will breach the dock walls.

Sentinels congregate on the surface of the planet.

Two rebels with an EMP gun fire at something.

A Sentinel crashes into a hovercraft cockpit.

Smith stands in a kitchen, maybe the Oracle's. One set of cupboards has been flung open and Smith is laughing maniacally.

Sentinels fly through the air, chasing a hovercraft. Everything, including them, is on fire.

Someone is in a dark room, looking upwards, possibly Kid.

PERSON THAT MIGHT BE KID: Oh no...

Ghost sits in either a chair in a hovercraft cockpit or in one of those mecha-suits.

GHOST: Gig's up. Here they come!

Niobe sits, also either in a mecha-suit or a cockpit, probably next to Ghost.

NIOBE: Give me full power, full systems!

Two rebels in the Real World are hiding behind rubble. One has a handheld canon, and the person holding it fires.

More Sentinels run around and look menacing.

Morpheus and someone who is probably Niobe sit in the cockpit of a hovercraft as it is rocked by an explosion. Niobe is in the driver's seat, and Morpheus looks like he's holding on for dear life.

More shots of hovercrafts and swarms of Squiddies flying around in some ruins.

Close-up of Niobe's face, dirt-streaked and worried.

NIOBE: Are we too late?

Smith and Neo stand in the middle of a paved road (Matrix?). It's pouring rain. Other Smiths line the sides of the road, closing the two in.

SMITH: Mr. Anderson, welcome back. We missed you.

NEO: It ends tonight.

Niobe, in the Real World, in a hovercraft room/room in Zion appears to be looking up at a screen out of view. Other people, includding Maggie18, are behind her.

NIOBE: Neo...

Neo and Smith run towards each other in slow motion and start to fight.

Morpheus stands, also appearing to be watching the same thing as Niobe.

MORPHEUS: (whisper) He fights for us...

Neo and Smith punch each other and both go flying backwards.

(Matrix) Trinity rounds a corner of the pillar room with a gun and does a cartwheel.

In a hovercraft, someone sets off an EMP? Wires are dangling everywhere. The image resembles Cypher as he was shooting people in The Matrix.

(Matrix) Neo rebounds off a concrete wall like a swimmer turning around to start another lap, leaving an impact crater.

A swarm of Squiddies change direction.

Mifune19, in a mecha suit, yells a sort of war cry.

(Matrix) In the pillar room, Trinity scorpion kicks the bulky man in the cowl into a wall, which shatters as he flies through it.

Morpheus does...something?

Smiths look up from the bottom of a stairwell that looks distorted, like in a mirror funhouse.

(Matrix) Trinity and Neo kiss.

(Matrix) Seraph discharges empty clips from his guns and reloads.

(Matrix) In the rainy scene, Neo looks up.

(Matrix) The Homless Guy (i.e. an Exile) grins.

Link points an EMP canon at something.

(Matrix) In "the clubbing room"20 Morpheus and Trinity start aiming at something, with green lasers all around them.

A subway car speeds towards us.

The camera zooms into a hole in a building and focuses on a man (probably Neo, but possibly the Merovingian).

Neo straddle-jumps above a circular hole in a brick wall just as Smith comes diving through it like Superman, directly at us.

INT. Logos cockpit.

GHOST: Well, it's nice to have something to look forward to.

NIOBE: Indeed it is.

FADE TO BLACK.

Roll Credits

Index - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - Hacking/Glitches - Credits - Music - Notes