“Get up! The machines have broadcast a message to the hover barge. Agent Gray wants to meet us!”.
Oranos’ eyes slowly open, trying to focus on the bright lights and shapes around him. He recognizes the voice of Aggie, fellow rank 1 captain of the Guardians.
“At this time of the morning?! Doesn’t he sleep?” replies Oranos.
“He’s not human fool!”
“I might be tired but I can still be sarcastic” Oranos states groggily. “I hate being woke up early. Any idea what’s going down?!”
“No idea. But it sounds urgent. Apparently were needed for a mission only loyal machinists are trusted with”
“Bah I’m too tired to be loyal” replies Oranos jokingly.
An hour later…
“I’m sure you’re all wondering why I called you here” says Agent Gray. The Agent stands in the middle of an assortment of people. All of them Guardians. In the crowd can be seen such loyal Guardians as Aggie, Oranos. Cognoscentee, Primordia, Ferggie, Lesona, Euler, Kratos and quite a few others.
Cognoscentee is the first to make a reply. “Well we were wondering…”
“Well, we need some investigation carried out. We need a loyal member from your faction to carry out this mission. The Guardians are the Machines most loyal allies so we chose you.”
“Best to list the brief outline of the operation, and a well-suited member can volunteer” suggested Primordia”
“A reasonable idea. The operation currently seems to be an investigation.” Agent Gray continued speaking over Oranos’ groan, obviously feeling an investigation mission was not important enough to be woken up for. “The investigation is into some recent deaths that have occurred in the areas of Uriah, and Sobra Shores. We would not usually ask machine operatives to investigate such matters, but the deaths seem particularly odd, and a human insight may prove useful. So who will volunteer?”
Oranos, despite seeming pessimistic at first, enjoys working for the Machines. Though he’s loyalty to them is more so due to his loyalty to the Guardians. Though he generally seems lazy, when he focuses he is excellent at investigations and getting to the bottom of things. Possibly for the sake of ending the meeting quickly as possible, or just because he knows he’s the man for the job, he steps forward. “I’ll do it”.
“Ah. Mr. Edwards. I’m sure you will be able to sort this matter out. We will send the details to you later in the day. I’m sure you want some sleep” suggested Agent Gray, obviously noticing Oranos’ yawning.
“Thank you Sir”
“You may all go. Good to be doing business with you all”
One by one the Guardians left. Through the top floor, through the sky, then finally through a hardline, in a flash of green code.
Part 2: Rise before the fall
A few hours ago Oranos had been woken up abruptly. Agent Gray had called a meeting, and asked for a volunteer for an investigation mission. With little hesitation Oranos volunteered. He was now waking up for the second time in the day. The dark and dank rooms of the hoverbarges were not very comfortable to live or sleep in but they were home nonetheless. The gruel they were forced to eat was unpleasant but satisfied their hunger. There was a time when this was different, but it’s now just portrayed through the virtual world of the Matrix.
Oranos is captain of The Chaotic Order. A crew within the faction called the Guardians. Their full name is The Guardians Of the 7th Gate, but they are usually referred to as the Guardians or “g7g”. Oranos, being a rank 1 captain has been given a lot of responsibility throughout his time as a machinist, and Guardian, but most feel this was deserved as he helped create what is considered to be the strongest machinist force. Nevertheless, Oranos was showing signs of aging, despite being at such a young age. Heavy bags were under his eyes, and there were small signs of premature wrinkling on his face. On many occasions Oranos had been called “hot-headed”, a pun to do with his moods, and also his bright red hair. Oranos was average height, and in fairly decent shape. Despite the stress showing up physically, Oranos never seemed to be losing it. Although he had a tendency of getting angry, or even hysteric at times, this was natural for Oranos, even before he was made a leader, yet he still maintained a sense of humor, often being sarcastic.
He quickly got himself up, and dressed. And went down to where the main computers were. He was expecting files from the machines containing his mission briefing. Sure enough there it was. He began to browse through the file, learning what was going to be in this mission. Agent Gray mentioned strange deaths located in Uriah and Sobra Shores. The file mentioned a little about what was known about these deaths.
“In each death the blue pill was found in a state of decay. Not decaying flesh, but rather decaying code. It appeared as though their Residual Self Image had been destabilizing. On areas of their body that had not yet experienced this, there were odd wounds; the most prominent being on the neck. The areas they were found in seem particularly filthy but currently, we are not sure if this means anything.”
Oranos found there circumstances for death very disturbing. The ability to destroy someone’s Residual Self Image could be very dangerous to both blue pills, and red pills. Although unsure how he would be able to find anything, that the machines missed, he decided he would give the locations a thorough inspection. For now however, he would continue to look through the file, and see if he could think of any theories on the matter.
Meanwhile, in the dining room, Sius and Kratos were eating whilst discussing some new programs, and constructs. “I call it The Woman without the Red Dress” said Kratos half laughing. “She’s not much for conversation but ah well.”
Sius laughed and replied “You have too much time on your hands. If you spent as much time training as you did making useless programs you could beat Seraph!”
“You really think so?!” Kratos stammered, shocked.
“No of course not. I’m being sarcastic, but you’d at least be able to stand up to those Lupines”. Sius started laughing.
“Sius, sius, you forgot about last week when I saved your *CENSORED* from that Zionist”. Kratos shook his head in a shameful manner.
“Heh, I could have taken him. I’m surprised he managed to hit air with those knives.”
“Maybe so, but could you have finished him off before his 10 friends arrive?”
Sius, could not be bothered to press the argument on even though it was not serious. “I’m going to go check see if there have been any broadcasts on the computers. I’ll see you later!”
“Ah, bye”. Kratos looked slightly disappointed, but soon went back to eating his gruel. The hoverbarge was pretty quiet that day. Most of the Guardians either off in the Matrix, or in there separate hovercrafts outside of the hoverbarge.
As he was walking down the corridor to the computer rooms, Sius overheard a heated conversation, obviously coming from his current destination. He recognized the 2 voices as Oranos, and his younger brother Sonaro. The voices sounded similar, but Oranos’ commanding tone of voice, gained from leading such a huge group, was very distinct. The 2 brothers were obviously arguing about something, so Sius decided to listen in to see whether it was something he should walk in on or not.
“I don’t care! You’re not supposed to be here! Now go away!” Oranos commanded, sounding extremely annoyed. More so, than Sius was used to, although it was a known fact that Oranos found his brothers annoying. Nasoro, his other younger brother, was older than Sonaro, but just like Sonaro was rarely seen on the hoverbarge. It was an in-faction joke that Oranos’ locked them in his hovercraft out of embarrassment, but nobody really believed he would be that cruel. He just insisted that they were often wandering around the Matrix, or sleeping.
“I’m here because you need me!” an equally annoyed Sonaro replied.
“I’m too busy for you now, and I don’t need your help! As I said you’re not supposed to be here!”
Sius walked closer to the room, and noticed the door was slightly open. He could see Oranos gesturing angrily while he spoke, but the door was blocking Sonaro out of view. At first Sius wondered what they were arguing about but then realized it must be because Sonaro was out on the hoverbarge hindering Oranos instead of doing work within the Matrix. Not wanting to intrude he turned around and left the corridor.
“Fine! I’ll leave, oh great leader!” sneered Sonaro.
Oranos shut the door behind him, and went back to browsing the file. After giving it one last look he decided he would go and make a start. He got up, and went to the jack-in room. Not surprised to see many of his faction mates already jacked in. Since the truce was made, and hoverbarges were created, jacking in had become a much more simple procedure. Not only could this be done from hovercrafts, but hoverbarges too, and although it was encouraged to have an Operator watching the Matrix during periods jacked in, it was not necessary and it was now even possible for it to be done on your own. Oranos found an empty seat, and sat down. He felt the cold metal port at the back of his head and shuddered. Despite being a red pill for so long, he had never gotten used to this. The idea of having something in his head disturbed him. Without trying to think about he grabbed the jack, and inserted it into head, closing his eyes. He felt a sharp spark of pain, and when he reopened his eyes he was standing in completely different surroundings.


Good story so far Oranos...all i gotta say is...KEEP IT COMING!
