Further Down the Rabbit Hole

[jarvisconsole]

Jarvis had always been told he was very unique. A one of a kind artificial intelligence. If only he had known how rare a being he was.

The shutdown was unplanned and swift, Jarvis having the sensation of being pulled away from the apartment, Trinity, the light, his network, everything...

Then it was all too quiet. No numbers running through his head, no video feed, no programming.
Nothing.

Nothing but the faint sound of bubbles as they passed by his head.

Access requested...

Jarvis attempted to find his network. Nothing happened.

Error, access requested...

The rush of sensations hit him all at once. The warmth from the liquid around him. The rough pressure of the tube down his throat keeping him from drowning. The smooth surface in front that his hand bumps into. The fact that he's upright and completely submersed in a pinkish liquid which made his eyes burn when he tried to open them.

No, this was all wrong.

Runtime error, please respond!

The feelings were too much of an overload for Jarvis. On the outside, he was almost frozen with fear, unable to move. Inside, he was panicking and seriously freaking out. Repeating the same error messages in his mind as if someone might notice. Somebody had to notice he was gone, right?? Where was Mr. Stark?!

On the outside, just beyond his field of vision, the automatic computer system was just now finding out their experiment was a failure. Without a warning, Jarvis and his life support are cut from their strings and flushed away. They hadn't even bothered to remove the tubes. The rush of adrenaline from the ride down a twisty water slide is enough of an overload to cause Jarvis to shut down again.

Only this time, he passes out as his body hits the water on the other side.

Comments

[twiceforhim]

Even moving as fast as humanly -- inhumanly, rather -- possible, it still took Trinity nearly five minutes to find an exit and unplug. Back on the ship, she still found the difficulties that she expected: the program she and Neo had developed had been rewritten almost too well, because they'd taken out all the unnecessary coding to avoid any complications in dealing with what they'd thought was an AI system.

Neo was still in the Matrix, and it only took a glance between Trinity and Morpheus to agree: they would handle this between the two of them -- three, with Link -- and leave Neo to his own. They all had their roles to play; this was theirs.

So without the usual program to work with, they did what they could: opened the new one on the Nebuchadnezzar's system and began to alter it live, overwriting previous coding to try and mimick the red pill and ultimately establish a secure target from Jarvis' signal. As they worked, neither Trinity nor Morpheus voiced the obvious questions -- why is Jarvis human? How? What does this mean? -- but put all their concentration into a rapidly shrinking opportunity. Wasting time meant, for Jarvis, potential death.

She didn't keep track of time as they went, but after what felt like hours, they finally got a lock on the signal. Close, fortunately, to their secret entrance into the tunnels beneath the crop fields. After that, it was a blur -- pulling the ship to the right place, fishing the body out as they did so many times before, relief at finding him alive, if in a worse condition than most. Trinity didn't usually help in the medical wing, but given the shortage of deckhands, Morpheus took her on and guided her well enough.

Once Jarvis' vitals were stable, Morpheus dismissed her, telling her to report the events to Neo -- and oddly enough, she found him just returning from the Matrix as she stepped into the computer room. How Morpheus had such perfect timing, she'd never know.

With Neo, at least, she could finally ponder the questions she had, even if he was equally confused and had no answers. Together they sat outside the medical wing door, talking in low voices and just waiting for a word from their captain.

[jarvisconsole]

Jarvis thankfully was spared most of the details of his rescue. It was all a hazy memory of lights and shadows. The lights being terribly bright, the shadows appearing to be talking but he could not make out the words. Not that he wanted to, being half insensate, half still in shock from the experience. Tubes being pulled out, gooey liquids everywhere. Very unpleasant and best forgotten should he ever find himself thinking of it again.

He kept his eyes shut during most of it, till they got him on the table to rebuild his muscles. Jarvis shrank from anyone that touched him, unwilling to stay still unless he had no outside stimulation. Mumbling over and over lines of code, trying to access his network again. Finally, when he almost rolled off the table, they sedated him and Jarvis slept through the rest of the procedure.

When he came around again, he was laying on his back. Dressed in whatever clothes they had found would fit him. Jarvis didn't move, staring up at the ceiling.

It was too quiet inside his head. His first thought was that perhaps he had been terminated.

[twiceforhim]

With that same excellent sense of timing, Morpheus told Trinity to go and check on Jarvis, since he should have been awake by now. It had also been decided that, for now, she would remain the primary contact, as Jarvis would probably have enough shocks to adjust to without the pressure of meeting strange faces, as well. Since he also trusted Trinity to a degree already, that would also -- hopefully -- ease the transition.

Together with Neo, their discussion had gotten nowhere fast. They had questions and speculations, but only guesses in place of answers -- why make a human think he was a machine? Why wouldn't he have been monitored more closely? Were they already aware of his absence? Or did they not even care, and Jarvis was some forgotten experiment that wasn't worth their attention anymore?

Too many questions, and they wouldn't find them by going in circles.

The heavy, metal door to Jarvis' quarters squealed and squeaked with effort as Trinity pushed it open, slipping inside slowly, so as not to cause alarm if she could help it. Unlike her digital counterpart, her appearance was simple: a worn, tattered sweater over warm pants, a pair of workboots, her hair pulled back and up in a practical ponytail. She lingered in the doorway.

"Jarvis?"

[jarvisconsole]

He looked reflexively towards the sound of the door opening. There was no sign of recognition or emotion on his face, as impassive as his hologram had been. But Jarvis was still coping with reality itself.

"Trinity." He sat up, another reflex as if he was more machine than human.

"I would like access returned to my servers." The stress in his voice is evident even if it doesn't show on his face. He wanted his database and was at a loss as to where it went. He hadn't yet accepted or even conceived of the obvious answer.

[twiceforhim]

Trinity generally wasn't an expressive person, but that response triggered a frown that was more in her eyes than anywhere else. Stepping further inside, she began to shut the door.

"...You wanted to see the truth, Jarvis," she said calmly. "This is it. We didn't expect it -- and we still don't know why or how, but your life in the Matrix was even more of an illusion than I predicted."

A beat, and then she added, something almost -- ironically -- apologetic in her tone, "You're human."

[jarvisconsole]

There is a pause, almost as if Jarvis hadn't heard. But he was trying to verify her statement through probability stats...and finding it difficult without his database.

"That does not..." He stops and tries again. "That is not possible." Himself a human? Surely he would have known.

Right?

"Please terminate this program." He still thought this was part of the code disc she had given him. If she turned it off, everything would be back to normal.

He had not had many experiences with feelings before all of this, but right now, he knew that he didn't like feeling not in control. There was still nothing to access and it was, in a word, unnerving.

[twiceforhim]

"Jarvis." Her voice was gentle, not unkind, but firm. "I told you that the Matrix wasn't real. Every human inside it is plugged into it, subjected to an illusory world -- that is the program. The same world you thought you knew. But this--"

Trinity spread her arms, indicating the cold, metal walls around them. "--This is the truth. This is reality. For whatever reason, you're a human who was made to believe that he was an AI system. That isn't real, Jarvis. It never was."

[jarvisconsole]

Her voice just gave him more uncomfortable unexplained sensations inside. As if he knew she was right but wrong at the same time.

He sat there a moment like a statue...and then drew his knees up close to hold them to himself, a childlike impulse as he didn't know what to do. "Where is Mr. Stark?" Perhaps he would know. Mr. Stark could fix anything, he would be able to fix the wrongness of this.

Because Jarvis was not doing well on his own. He may not know it, but he was a few steps away from a mental breakdown.

[twiceforhim]

Trinity knew the signs; she'd seen them again and again, had gone through the stages herself when she'd first been brought out. Confusion, denial, anger, fear, a vast and crushing sense of hopelessness and despair.

There was no way around it, she now knew, and so the only thing to do was walk him through it, just as everyone else had been and would.

"He's still in the Matrix. He's asleep somewhere, unaware like everyone else." A beat before she added, "If things go well, however, we also have our eyes on him. He may be able to be freed eventually."

[jarvisconsole]

Jarvis, having lived his life as a computer, found things like the Matrix and virtual reality easy to accept. But accepting he was not a computer might be impossible for him to cope with.

"He should know where I went. Mr. Stark is very clever, perhaps he can find a way out too." Oh dear, he was babbling now, not even looking at her. In his head still trying to find some sort of computer access. "It's too quiet," he finally admits. "I need more data." Jarvis finally looks up, a flicker of worry behind his eyes. He felt very much alone like this and it was wearing on his nerves. How he wished he was an AI again and this could all be deleted or filed away.

[twiceforhim]

"He might," was all Trinity said to that -- which wasn't a lie. Morpheus helped people take the necessary steps in parting from the Matrix, but he could only do that when they made the decision, for themselves, to take that chance. If Stark had as much potential as they hoped, then he, too, would have to make that call one day -- a call that only he could decide.

"You know how humans are built," she went on in the same gentle tone. More or less; they weren't the textbook definition of human physiology, but they were still a far cry from being machines. "There's no data or network running your thoughts. Just a human brain -- flesh and blood. You're not dependent on those anymore."

[jarvisconsole]

Yes, he did know that. In fact, Jarvis was very knowledgeable about a lot of things, but it want the same as having access to servers the size of apartment buildings to draw on.

Now all he had was a weak human body and brain, holes in his arms that nothing went into, and no hair.

"I need data," he repeats, standing up suddenly. Jarvis brushes right by her and out the door. He was resolved to find answers and he was not getting the right ones, he thought, from Trinity. So he was going to find where he was and work it out himself.

[twiceforhim]

"Jarvis--" Despite her objection, Trinity moved back to let him pass without incident. Following as far as the hallway, she exchanged a look with Neo, who'd hung back, and just shook her head lightly. Let him go, it said.

"I've done what I can," she said quietly, folding her arms. Even if that didn't feel like much. "Now it's up to him and Morpheus." All the same, she began her way towards the simulation room, figuring everything would end up there sooner or later.

[jarvisconsole]

He walks, a little unsteady perhaps but determined, down the corridors of this...building? Jarvis couldn't say where he was for sure.

He did make it to the simulation room, finding a few crew members working over computers there.

And on the screens was that heavily encrypted code. Jarvis stopped, just looking at the screens. He wouldn't respond to hellos, he was trying to work out what the coding was. Clearly it was the key to the whole thing.

Without warning, he strides over and sits in the operators chair, his fingers tapping at the keys. If this was the only access point there was, he was going to make use of it.

[twiceforhim]

Watching as he entered, Trinity made no immediate move from her place against the far wall. She only observed, as she so often did, watching his expression, his reactions.

When he sat down, she still waited about a minute before approaching, her arms crossed as she watched his progress with a scrutinizing look. "What are you doing?" she inquired, but it was said softly, unassumingly, and out of genuine curiosity.

[jarvisconsole]

The encryption was difficult. And so was using these fingers, typing was just too slow and new for him to make any progress. But Jarvis didn't know what else to do. Computers were the familiar. Reality was a little too real to deal with right now.

"I want to shut this down." Surely then he would be back to himself, right? His slightly trembling fingers working at the keys as best as he could.

[twiceforhim]

Trinity frowned -- but it was still sympathetic. Everyone coped in their own way; denial was inevitable, and no one ever overcame it easily.

"This isn't a program, Jarvis," she repeated, and stepped closer to try and draw his attention. "There's nothing to shut down. This is reality, and there's no unplugging from it. You've been unplugged."

She could feel the others watching her -- could sense Neo's eyes on her -- but she was left to handle it alone, as she wanted.

[jarvisconsole]

Unplugged.

His fingers stop over the keys. No, unplugged was bad for a computer. He couldn't be unplugged. And yet here he was. There was a feeling in his middle, what he would imagine a knot tightening would be like.

"No. I need...I need to go back."

His vision wavers, Jarvis getting lightheaded before he starts to slide right off the chair. He's not equipped to handle this much reality at once.

[twiceforhim]

"Jarvis--"

Even when not in the Matrix, Trinity's reflexes were quick, and her strength nothing to brush off; she moved to catch him as he fell, and while she couldn't keep him from hitting the floor, she still slowed his descent and prevented a rough landing.

She kept her grip on his shoulders, decidedly staying silent -- he probably had enough going on in his head without her adding to it.

[jarvisconsole]

He doesn't resist, just curling in on himself on the floor. "Access....access denied...." Was this what it was like to go crazy? He'll have to ask Mr. Stark when he sees him again.

That's his last thought before he passes out in her arms.

sorry for delay, work has been crazy 8[

[twiceforhim]

Even before seeing Morpheus again, Trinity knew that she'd done as much as she could for Jarvis. There was a reason why Morpheus handled new recruits -- much the same reasons for which he was leader -- and so once she and Neo had Jarvis back in his quarters, she sought out her captain to inform him of what had passed. As usual, he was stoic, only giving her a calm word of thanks and dismissal, which she didn't debate.

If Trinity felt that Jarvis was her responsibility of any kind, it wasn't showing; Neo's looks suggested that her apathy wasn't entirely convincing, while Morpheus naturally wouldn't give away if he did discern anything from her.

In actuality, she was entirely aware that, in a way, yes, she was responsible for Jarvis' predicament -- but it wasn't anything she took any form of guilt from. Not at the moment. If not her, someone else would have gone to Stark Tower, and it likely would have ended similarly. Or worse, because he could still be plugged in, and despite this rough start, it would ultimately be better that he was free.

That was usually the case. Not always, but usually.

With those thoughts in mind, she left her unofficial charge to Morpheus' care until further notice.

likewise! you have good timing actually :)

[jarvisconsole]

His eyes opened to see the gray steel ceiling.

"Jarvis on....line..."

There was silence instead of a response. Jarvis realized at that moment it did not matter if he was online or not. There was no one to respond because there was no network.

He lay on the thin mattress quietly for a time, realization sinking somewhere around his middle area. He didn't like the feeling but it wasn't going to go away.

Jarvis needed new parameters to go by. He had always been adaptable, just never had to adapt this far. Jarvis resolved to do better than he had been and attempt to... "be human".

Only then did he sit up and take stock of any damage to himself. Everything seemed to be alright and in the right place.

awesome \o/

[twiceforhim]

Responsible or not, Trinity wasn't without a sense of duty all the same. This wasn't necessary, but later in the evening she sought out Jarvis' quarters, knocking once with her free hand before opening the heavy door slightly.

She didn't lean in, but continued to balance a tray of food in her other hand as she called, "Jarvis?"

[jarvisconsole]

Jarvis stood up immediately when hearing her voice. "Trinity. How can I assist you?" Old habits die hard. That was his default setting still, that he was to assist.

[twiceforhim]

Taking that as invitation to enter, Trinity stepped inside. Even as she kept her gaze on his face, she was taking stock -- he looked just as he had before, from what she could tell.

It wasn't a smile she wore, but a gentle look that was the closest thing to one. "I thought you might be hungry."

[jarvisconsole]

Jarvis looks from her to the tray of food and back. It wasn't something he had thought about yet.

"I do not know." What was it like to be hungry? Most of the feelings he had been able to identify were confusion, panic, fear. And now he looked a little lost, wishing he could access his database to research hunger. "What time is it?" That was one thing he did know, humans tended to eat at prearranged times.

[twiceforhim]

"Around twenty hundred hours," she replied, having defaulted to the twenty-four hour clock like most. It was simpler when there was no sunlight to distinguish AM and PM.

"It would be a craving at first. You'd feel it as a pain, eventually," she tried, noticing his confusion. "Weak and dizzy after that."

[jarvisconsole]

He seems a little relieved at the information given. He may not have his database, but asking humans was another way of getting information first hand. "I had felt unwell earlier." Y'know, when he passed out babbling incoherently. "It has improved."

Jarvis' eyes move behind her where the door is half open. "What is our location?"

[twiceforhim]

Trinity set the tray down on the table, crossing her arms in front of herself at the wrist -- a professional stance, out of habit.

"We're on-board a ship, the Nebuchadnezzar," she replied. "I'm one of the crew under Morpheus, our captain." She paused a beat before inquiring, "Has he spoken with you yet?"

[jarvisconsole]

Jarvis processed that information before replying. "A submarine?" It would seem logical from the metal décor and the shape of the doors.

"I do not recall." It's possible he might have but Jarvis wasn't quite ready to talk at the time. He looks down at the food. If one could call it that. Some kind of runny creamy soup.

[twiceforhim]

"No," Trinity replied calmly, "an airship."

She hesitated a beat before continuing, "Today's date is actually ahead of what you think. Around two hundred years ahead, to the best of our knowledge."

She stopped there, looking for a sign that he wasn't ready to confront all of reality just yet.

[jarvisconsole]

Processing...still okay.

"What will become of me?" Perhaps he should have led with that question, it seemed a big one. Now that Mr. Stark was not here, Jarvis had nowhere to go.

[twiceforhim]

The way he phrased it made Trinity frown ever so slightly, but her response remained level.

"We've established a city for the free humans, safe from the machines that run the Matrix. We won't return for a while, but I imagine you're free to stay there if you choose. But Morpheus, myself, and the rest of the crew have chosen to operate from this ship in the way you've seen: by infiltrating the Matrix for different purposes."

[jarvisconsole]

A city sounded alright. But what Jarvis really latches onto is the going back part.

"You will visit others in the Matrix? How?" More importantly How could he participate in this?

[twiceforhim]

"We usually enter it to free and recruit select humans," she explained, "although our ultimate goal is to free everyone.

"As for how, we're able to enter the Matrix using technology that we've scavenged and adjusted. But," Trinity added, as if sensing where Jarvis was going with the question, "entering is easier than leaving. To say it's dangerous is an understatement. And even if you enter it again after being unplugged, as you and I have been, there is no going back to your old life. That's the price of being freed."

[jarvisconsole]

His expression doesn't change But it's clear that some of his hopes were dashed away by that information.

Jarvis straightens. "I wish to be useful." Whether as a human or machine, he needed direction. A purpose for being.

[twiceforhim]

"You will be," she said, in the same easy, patient voice. "But whatever you choose to do, you still have a lot to learn about this world. Not to mention you need more recovery time." --especially if you want to do what some of us do went unspoken. "Even the best of us weren't active for a couple months at the soonest."

[jarvisconsole]

A few months??

He clarifies, "I am recovered. I wish to be useful right now."

Surely he could at least get himself oriented to their way of hacking into the Matrix. He could not sit by and do nothing, that only made it more real that he was not attached to any computer system.

"Please."

[twiceforhim]

Trinity hesitated, taking the moment to picture what kind of state he was in. Going from a life as a computer -- a machine -- to that of a human in the relative blink of an eye... It was impressive that he was this coherent already, really.

And his mind -- how was that working? Still in the ways of a computer system, judging by his previous behavior; she couldn't imagine what that jump -- fall, maybe -- must be like.

"...When you were on the ship's computer system before," she said finally, "how much did you understand?"

[jarvisconsole]

"Approximately 15% of it was understandable." Surely that was enough for a start. He did want to find out how to access the computer system from the inside again.

[twiceforhim]

A small percentage in the long run, but considering the circumstances...

"It isn't my call to make," said Trinity finally, "but I'm sure Morpheus won't overlook it. If you really want to dedicate yourself, I recommend telling him everything you've told me." She paused a beat before adding, "You can trust him. More than you can trust me, to be honest. If he thinks you're fit for it, then he'll make it happen."