March 30, 2005

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Glowing Red is New Black!

Light-Emitting Diodes as Fashion Statement: Digital and Proud Of It - By SENTINEL STAFF

This article reports a new trend observed in the Matrix: a flashing red light attached to "PDAs, cellphones, laptops, MP3 players, radios, eyeglasses, and belts". Notice that "eyeglasses" is casually mixed in with the rest of the objects. Keeping in mind that the Sentinel is actually run by machines, what the article is really explaining (to bluepills in the Matrix) is why there are Agents running around the Matrix with red eyes. These Agents appeared shortly after MxO first began and originally attacked any redpills carrying fragments of Neo's RSI code.

The fact that the article is talking about red-eyed agents is confirmed by a couple quotes: "It's caught on with the button-down crowd," and, "Charcoal-suited businessmen favor the look, often with the slightly cool touch of dark glasses, worn even during the day." And, when two of these men were approached by a reporter about it, they "declined to identify themselves" and said, "The better to see you with," suggesting the red eyes help somehow with vision. How appropriate: red eyes to see redpills.

The article also quotes a redpill (who is identified as a "club denizen"), who says these people are "bad dudes. ... They're hard enough to handle even with the latest downloads," and he almost says "you bluepills..." but stops and says instead, "You civilians don't stand a chance." The article also identifies them as "LED" agents because they carry a PDA with a red LED light.

One bluepill red-eye copycat tried to follow a group of red-eye agents, and he couldn't keep up with them going up six flights of stairs. When the agents saw that he was "ten wheezes away from a coronary", they peeled off the LED from his PDA and stuck the lights on his forehead saying that maybe he'll see better now. The article concludes from this that these people must have commando training or be part of an Olympic relay team.

Once the man finally reached the roof of the building, the agents were gone, but he thought he heard a helicopter. This foreshadows appearance of the General, who always travels by helicopter and controls "Commando" units. This small clue makes it clear enough to me that "The General" (General David Beatts) actually commands these red-eye agents that no longer have purpose. He also says that "not all bees follow the hive," suggesting to me that agents are actually sentinels from the real world, since sentinels sound a bit like bees when they fly. This makes perfect sense since we see in M1 that Agents issue orders to real world Sentinels. This doesn't necessarily mean that the General himself (nor his COmmandos) are sentinels.

I am convinced that the red-eyed agents are actually sentinels from the Matrix movies who lost their purpose once man and machine reached peace. Many of them would have been scheduled for deactivation, and surely thousands of them would have sought exile in the Matrix. They wouldn't have needed the trainman to get in, however. Why? Because as I discuss in the Matrix System: Agents page, agents are sentinels. Agents have special permission within the Matrix to operate, and in fact may be able to jack in wirelessly in an instant. Both sentinels and red-eyed agents have red eyes.

Also, there is a red-light PDA that is being produced and marketed by Flood, the Merovingian's liaison, as shown in the article's photo. I think the Merovingian found a way to control these agent exiles by programming the PDAs to somehow be connected to the agents themselves, giving the Merovingian control of them. This would naturally make the General want to destroy the Merovingian, because those red-eye agents would have otherwise been under control of the General.

Phone Vandalism Epidemic

Up 50% from previous years - By City Desk

This article is written by machines since it comes from "City Desk," and it reports a surge in vandalism of phone lines. The article cites possible down-to-earth causes of this vandalism, but the real cause involves the PDAs that red-eye agents carry (this is confirmed by the next Sentinel issue in the News Briefs section). The Merovingian is using red-eye Agents to sabotage the hard lines of redpills who are jacked into the Matrix in order to trap them inside of the Matrix.

Machines (or the "City Desk") released this article in hopes that bluepills might watch for some of the vandals, leading to their capture. However, even with the help of spycams that watch often-afflicted phone lines, no vandals have been caught yet. The damage involves electronic hacking rather than obvious physical vandalism, so it is clear that the vandalism is an organized effort rather than random acts. As we later see, the General is definitely an organized leader.

One woman "who gave her name only as Azure" (clearly a redpill) said something that would be read very differently by bluepills and redpills: "People depend on these phones to get home. It can be very dangerous to be prevented from going home. To both mind and to body." Some bluepills wonder why so many public phones exist, and the article goes on to say that city code requires all the public phones to promote public safety. Of course, the bigger reason is to allow redpills to enter the Matrix.

A Real Come-On

Who is this Mystery Smoocher? - by Andres Bonifacieao

Saying that he's doing a favor for his friend Polly who usually does the "society beat" for the newspaper, this article offers a reward to anyone who can offer verifiable evidence revealing the identity of a "mystery man wearing a very convenient hat" who was caught kissing Persephone. Andres doesn't actually say Persephone's name in the article - instead he says, "I needn't mention names, here, mon cher...". Clearly this indicates not only that he's talking about the Merovingian's wife, but also that all in the Matrix (even bluepills) know who the Frenchman is.

Andres then goes on to his "real" topic. While he is sitting at the bar talking to his buddy Wally, "an aerobics-toned goddess in a painted-on backless halter" (perhaps Niobe) sits next to him and tells Wally she doesn't need a drink. She just wants to talk to Andres. And of course, she ends up offering him blue and red pills. Ironically, Wally had just been discussing a trend of "hipazoids wearing black latex everything" and labels it "hydrophobia squeakalotus", referring to latex's repelling of water and the fact that the material is noisy when moving around in it.

Andres describes more of their conversation, and the fact that he keeps the conversation light by flirting with her and not taking her seriously, but that she persists. Finally, he says he's not ready to end this conversation, but that he "sure won't take one of those pills." Obviously, she has his attention and curiosity.

Finally, their conversation is interrupted by a couple of "creeps" masked with bandanas who have come in looking for her. She disappears, and the "bandana creeps" end up going out the bathroom window down the hallway, presumably where the redpill went. These bandana people are, as we later find out, Cypherites ("masked"), follower of the legendary Cypher. They believe everyone should be part of the Matrix simulation and are probably teamed up with the red-eye Agents in the sabotaging of hardlines.

The previous article about phone vandalism did mention a lot of recent gang activity:

Authorities speculate the vandalism may have a connection to a recent surge in reports of gang activity. Numerous "rumbles," some involving martial arts combat, have been reported around the city. Curiously, no concurrent uptick in emergency room admissions has occurred, according to area hospitals.

The last sentence about hospital emergency rooms is confirmation that this "gang activity" involves redpills and exiles, since any redpill killed in a fight would auto-jack out of the Matrix right before they actually die.

News Briefs

City School Officials Issue Lead Warning - A study "sponsored by a consortium of soft-drink manufacturers" found toxic levels of lead in area schools, resulting in drinking fountans and water taps being declared off-limits in several schools.

President Unsure About Appointing New CIA Director - The President can't decide if he wants to appoint a successor to the CIA director or "just put the Vice President in charge of the agency, among his other duties."

Schools Ink Vending Contract - Schools sign contracts with soft drink manufacturers to put vending machines in schools, as school officials cite a "win-win" due to the license fees soft drink companies must pay.

Garlic Avalanche Kills Three - Three workers in Southern China died of suffocation after a harvested garlic bin burst open and engulfing them.

Indian Tribes Assert Treaty Rights - Citing 1850 and 1858 treaties, Indian tribes are filing suit to regain title to large portions of the city.

Alien Mollusk Found In River - Zebra mussels, Asian mollusks that tend to clog areas of water flow, have now been found in local waters after migrating globally by adhering to ship hulls.

Flood Cleanup Continues - Repair to flood damage is expected to take several more weeks. This brief says, "'Pray for no more rain,' one advised. 'More rain will necessitate a bond issue.'" I wonder if this may be hinting at The One, by the way it said "one advised" and the way that rain seems to be representative of Smith. Also, Smith would be a "bond" (bondage) issue. Who knows, perhaps Neo is now a program (city official) who is helping to run the Matrix (this would also explain why Machines can't give Neo's body back), speaking in terms of hoping that no more Smith viruses pop up. As we later see in The Matrix Online, there are indeed remnants of the Smith virus left.

Matrix Games: The Matrix Online: The Sentinel

March 30, 2005