The Digital Warren

[jarvisconsole]

System nominal.

Security sweep intact.

J.A.R.V.I.S. online....|

It was a typical day for the Stark residence. Jarvis was on standby mode while Mr. Stark was away on business. Jarvis could easily access his flight records if he wanted to know how long it would be before he returned home. But he was not worried. Worry was not for computer AI's, even Jarvis who was the first of his kind. An AI bred to serve and control an entire computer network within the house, workshop, and with access to Stark Industries.

Jarvis bided his time by reorganizing files, continuing to sweep the outer perimeter. Nothing yet on scanners...

Comments

[jarvisconsole]

Hiding his small conference with the hacker known as Trinity had been easy to do from the police. But from Mr. Stark, it was a little more difficult. He got the complaint from the local police department and talked to Jarvis about it. Jarvis was his usual dry humor self but his explanation did get his coding looked at a little more thoroughly than he liked. Not that he told Mr. Stark that but he was glad when it was over and nothing was found to be wrong. His security protocols were increased and life went on as usual.

Jarvis was in stand-by mode at the time of the message arriving. The Tower was secure, Mr. Stark and Ms. Potts had retired to their quarters, and he was merely running security checks at different intervals so as to keep the integrity of his own firewalls in place at all times. Unlike the other humans in the Matrix, Jarvis saw the world truly as a simulation from within his systems. His inner servers were displayed for him as a holographic wire display of the Tower itself with data streaming in different directions in blue rather than green.

A window popped up with a message. Jarvis did the usual scans to check for malware and the like before opening it. He would have logged it with Mr. Stark's other emails, which he never looked at Ms. Potts had that job, but this one's address was different.

It was specifically meant for him.

Jarvis contemplated for a moment about sending a tracking package of data with a reply to locate who had sent him this message. However, curiosity was a difficult thing to stamp out for the AI and somehow he did not think this was the usual spam email, phishing for information.

Please identify.

[twiceforhim]

It appeared automated, which suggested that Stark hadn't intercepted her, at least. Trinity's reply was quick, but she didn't give her name; the crew had monitored Stark after his return and hadn't seen him take any additional security measures, but all the same, she wanted to leave him out of this as much as possible for the time being. That included giving him no hints as to who she was, should he backtrack later.

I'm the choice you made.
Cryptic, as per Trinity's M.O., but not too cryptic -- especially when she added a moment later,

You wanted proof of my freedom. Are you still interested?

[jarvisconsole]

Jarvis treats the subsequent messages with the same care as the first. While she does not name herself, he is able to make the correlation easily enough.

Yes, Ms. T. I am interested.

[twiceforhim]

It was the best answer Trinity could hope for; she wasn't about to approach this with any less care than usual, but it was still good to see that the opportunity remained open.

I can explain it better in person. Can you get me in quietly?
That was, around security and under any alarms.

[jarvisconsole]

Oh, Mr. Stark would not like that. And it went against his programming. No, he couldn't do that.

But there must be a middle ground where they could meet.

I'm afraid that would be impossible at Stark Tower. However, there is a small apartment on the west side of town that Mr. Stark has reserved for occasional friends visiting.

It was here that Dr. Banner had stayed for a time before leaving. Jarvis still had full access to the rooftop apartment but security was not nearly as tight as it was at the tower. He gives the full address in his next message.

Will that suffice?

[twiceforhim]

Trinity hesitated, considering, but she and the others had already committed to this. Risks were risks either way.

Fifteen minutes.
She made the trip in under ten, but she used the extra time to scope the place out, just in case. Having phoned Morpheus on the way to let him know, she now approached the complex in silence, pulling off her glasses to tuck them away as she sought out and arrived at the indicated address. She knocked twice, her other arm hanging loosely at her side -- but ready to draw either of her concealed guns at an instant's notice if needed.

[jarvisconsole]

Jarvis needed almost no time at all to be there. Hooking into the network and shifting his hologrammic data was a matter of minutes.

The door swung open of it's own accord. The lights coming on as well as if welcoming her in. "Good to see you, Miss Trinity." His voice coming from the walls before he's able to integrate his hologram.

[twiceforhim]

Trinity entered with a quick glance around, but they appeared to be alone. Just to be certain, however, she asked.

"I take it that we won't be interrupted?"

[jarvisconsole]

The door closed likewise behind her.

"There is no one else here. We will not be disturbed."

His firewalls were secure, Mr. Stark was back at the tower.

[twiceforhim]

What Trinity intended was going against just about everything she normally did -- she normally wouldn't be as blatant as she was about to be, but again, the circumstances necessitated a deviation. She'd spoken with Morpheus on it for a while, and they both agreed much of it was unavoidable.

She moved further into the room, coming to a stop about midway in the same alert but relaxed position. "You might have started putting some of my hints together since we last talked," she began. "But I'll be as forward as I can." A true rarity, in her case.

"This world isn't Earth. Not as we see it. It's just a highly advanced computer program designed to simulate Earth in the 1990s -- what we call the Matrix. Most of the humans you see every day are unaware; they're tapped into the program at birth and they'll die without ever knowing the difference.

"You can probably understand my confusion when you said you weren't aware of it. As a program that incorporates billions of consciousnesses, including both humans and machines, it seemed highly unlikely that an AI system would be isolated within the Matrix's informational boundaries."

She paused there to let him take it in. It was a lot of information, and she wouldn't have told it half that quickly to any person -- but computers weren't people, and they could process much higher amounts of information, even unlikely ones, at considerably faster rates.

[jarvisconsole]

Jarvis, while used to calculating quite quickly, did have to take a moment to calculate the probability that her words were correct.

And somehow, he does not like the odds. They were strangely in favor, almost 50/50. The avatar frowns slightly.

"How did you come by this information if other humans were not aware of this Matrix?"

[twiceforhim]

"A long time ago, there was one human who was aware of the Matrix. He freed himself and a few others; from there the numbers expanded up to today. We continue to do the same: look for people who can probably handle the truth and free them.

"The person you're talking to now is nothing more than my digital construct," Trinity continued. "A seemingly physical projection created by and attached to my mind. Likewise, everything that surrounds us is nothing but more programming."

[jarvisconsole]

"Is there a program to disconnect from this Matrix?"

Because if so, Jarvis is very interested in seeing the coding for it. He's not aware that for humans, they have to swallow a pill.

[twiceforhim]

"Yes," Trinity replied with a slight nod, "we've been using one version for a long time now. Normally it can only be used on humans, but--"

She reached inside her leather jacket and withdrew a covered disk, holding it up for Jarvis to see. "Given the situation, we've adjusted it and developed an alternate program. Once activated, it should detach you from the Matrix. From there I can reroute you into the mainframe, and at that point you should be aware of what I've described." There were a couple shoulds there, but more than that was her unspoken insinuation: Trinity needed to have a hand in the process, which meant she personally needed access to Jarvis' system. She could do it remotely if he let her, but that was the key phrase: if he let her.

[jarvisconsole]

It would be a breach of protocol if he didn't scan it for any errant programming first. There's a computer console to the side available, the CD drive sliding open. "May I see it?" Jarvis is definitely not integrating it into his system without doing a security scan first.

[twiceforhim]

"Of course." Trinity stepped aside to set the disk in the tray, figuring he would want to examine it thoroughly. When he did, it would reveal nothing other than what she'd described -- of course, given the nature of the coding, which was well beyond anything commonly used in 1999, much of it would likely be unrecognizable. Depending on how good Stark's own abilities were, and how much they'd been integrated into Jarvis.

[jarvisconsole]

The disc slides into the console smoothly and before long, a bluish hologram is displayed between them. An invisible screen with moving symbols in columns flicking by. Jarvis is puzzled, inspecting them curiously.

This was not like any coding he had ever encountered before. He understood maybe a fifth or sixth of it, no more. "This encryption is quite remarkable," he says, still trying to analyze it.

[twiceforhim]

"It's only a piece of the Matrix, at best," said Trinity, watching the hologram and recognizing the bits of coding that she could catch. "Or more like a reflection.

"As you can see, it's based on a system separate from yours. Its purpose isn't to interfere with your programming, but to cut off the programming that's blinding you." Much like the program, the red pill, that they used for humans. Same idea, different execution.

[jarvisconsole]

A new set of programming with new encryptions to learn? How could Jarvis pass this up??

Of course, he erroneously thinks he'll be delivering this to Mr. Stark on a platter after it's done. But that's not the issue.

"Very well. Proceed." Jarvis steps to the side, giving her full access to the keyboard. He'll be watching everything closely.

[twiceforhim]

Trinity approached as soon as she was granted access, not even halfway into the chair when her hands took to the keyboard with practiced ease and familiarity. She was good at a lot of things, but many of them had been programmed into her after Morpheus released her; computers, however, were a talent -- a nigh-on obsession -- that she'd possessed since long before then, the thing she'd flung herself into wholeheartedly when she was younger to try and give her empty life meaning.

It wasn't arrogant for her to admit she was good, and she would if asked; her techniques now proved why as she tackled the system, fingers flying over keys and dark eyes flitting across the screen, no discernable pauses between her actions except where she had to wait for the CPU to load or process her requests.

It took Trinity under five minutes to get where she needed to be and begin the assimilation of the custom program into Jarvis' system. At that point, she glanced over at the hologram with her hands stilled above the keyboard.

"I told you how it works, but this is still a first for this particular program. I won't let anything go wrong -- I just want you to keep me updated once it starts." Mostly to be aware of how he was progressing, partly to monitor and prevent any potential ripples in the Matrix that could throw up a flag to the machines running it. Extremely unlikely, especially with how they'd taken apart and rearranged the trace program (since an AI wouldn't be needing it) into the very opposite, a trace-blocking program, to prevent any such slim chance.

Still, Trinity was taking as much care with this case as she would any other. The screen flashed, telling her the program was ready. She didn't begin yet, but addressed Jarvis one more time.

"Ready?"

[jarvisconsole]

Jarvis keeps a keen eye on her work, appreciative that she was so good. Most hackers, while he had never met them, he'd dealt with some of their work before. They always seemed determined to destroy.

This one seemed so much different. Perhaps that was one reason he was trusting her with this.

"I am ready."

[twiceforhim]

With a short nod, Trinity turned back to the monitor. They never really bothered with trying to warn potentials of what they would see; how could they? There were no words appropriate for the shock, nothing that could cope with what they would witness.

Those were humans, whose psychological capacities varied but were still limited overall. A machine was different, even if AI processing was now based on the human brain working at a much higher and faster rate, and that made any kind of warning even more difficult. Even so, Jarvis' experience would be different from the typical; he would only be exposed to a different side of the Matrix, something he was already technically integrated into, not an entirely new and shocking way of life.

Or so Trinity figured.

Her fingers were fast, typing in the required password.

WAKEUP
The system processed it, asked once more for Trinity's approval, and she didn't hesitate before hitting the Enter key to set it in motion.

[jarvisconsole]

The problem with this scenario is both of them were assuming a falsehood. While Jarvis appeared to be a computer and had been trained to think as an artificial intelligence...he was not.

There's a strange ripple through his programming, nothing major at first. But it's a very curious sensation, one that Jarvis attempts to categorize and finds he cannot. "Something is coming loose..." he remarks, looking slightly distracted by his inner processes.

And then things happen very quickly. The 'real world' drains away, leaving more coding than he could even begin to start translating. It's overwhelming, disorienting...and frightening.

Jarvis has never been scared before. Even if Trinity couldn't see what he was seeing, the expression of surprise and fear on his avatar's face is extremely human for a brief moment. "I...I...too much."

And the hologram flickers and disappears.

[twiceforhim]

That expression was what tipped Trinity off.

Fear, with machines, wasn't right. She'd seen Agents look surprised, even uncertain, so there was a portrayal of emotion to that degree -- but fear was something else entirely.

When the hologram disappeared, her attention immediately returned to the monitor and she found that the system had shut down. Puzzled, she started it back up, but just as quickly it went idle, notifying her of an internal error.

"Jarvis?"

No answer, and she wouldn't receive one. "Shit," she breathed, and began rerouting her access into a temporary administrator account to try and get a better idea of what was going on. A minute later she was still getting that internal error message, deepening her frown. The system was still there and running, but not much else; she couldn't detect any external interference, either. It was almost like the AI, Jarvis himself, had simply been stripped out of it.

That gave her pause. The release program, its source, its purpose, what it normally did -- the odd circumstances around Jarvis' existence and situation, that look before he disappeared, the disappearance itself--

"...Shit." Trinity whipped her phone out of her coat and quickly punched in the memorized number. It rang once.

"Operator."

"Get me Morpheus. Now."

A second passed as the headset changed hands, and Trinity almost cut her captain off as she blurted, "Morpheus, we have a problem."

making a new thread

[jarvisconsole]

"I know," Morpheus' voice was terse but calm on the other end of the line. "We're tracking his signal now. Find your exit and get back here."

Meanwhile, Jarvis is having problems of his own...