May 18, 2005

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Morpheus the New Elvis?

Reports of Deceased Terrorist Flood City, But It Isn't Morpheus - by Sentinel Staff

This article explains that local sightings of Morpheus are nothing more than a local eccentric well-known to authorities, that Morpheus was killed in Southern Asia last year, and that he has believed himself to be everyone from opera singer Paul Robeson to Jesus Christ. Since the article is written by Sentinel Staff, it looks like machines are trying to cover their previous lie to bluepills that Morpheus had been killed. At the end of M3, machines did not expect that Morpheus would have any reason to draw special attention to himself anymore since peace between man and machine had been reached.

A psychiatrist is quoted as saying that the Morpheus wannabe creates a sense of importance through the impossible goal of returning "one who doesn't exist", and that this kind of personality "could achieve great things" if only it were properly directed. The article then reminds the reader that the real Morpheus already put the city through considerable suffering years ago when he blew up a power plant (shown in M2) and caused a helicopter to crash into the side of a building (shown in M1).

The article then talks about another attack attributed to Morpheus:

The most mysterious attack attributed to Morpheus involved scores of vehicles tossed willy-nilly by a series of explosions. The cars were thrown hundreds of feet along a straight-line route which also saw extensive damage to the first six or seven floors of buildings. But no fires were reported, nor fragmentation of pavement, nor chemical traces of explosives. The incident remains unexplained.

Clearly this refers to the scene at the end of M2 in which Neo raced to save Trinity so fast that a sideways whirlwind of cars trailed his path. It is interesting to note that some people in the Matrix apparently have vague memories of many things that happened to them before Matrix version 7 was began at the end of M3. The very first edition explains the very last thing that happened (Smith taking over everyone in the Matrix and causing excessive rain), but this article is going back to events that even took place 6 months ago in the previous Matrix, such as the helicopter crashing into the side of the building. Or, it may be that people don't remember it, and the purpose of this article is to teach people why Morpheus was so dangerous.

Finally, the article says that officials suspect Morpheus in the head-on collision between the two semi-tractor trailers (shown in M2), "which shut down the 101 freeway for two weeks" since the trucks exploded and burned at such a high temperature that virtually no wreckage was left to haul away.

The article concludes by telling people not to panic if they see what looks like Morpheus, because the "nut case" is just pretending. People are instructed to call the authorities so that "the poor fool" can be picked up before he gets into trouble.

The caption underneath the photo of the article says that sightings of Morpheus has increased over 500% since his death last year, calling it a "celebrity level cult" that rivals Elvis.

Also shown in the tabloid is another article that reads, "Swarm of Flies Kills Sobra Shores Resident". Sobra Shores is where the uprising of exiles against the Merovingian (and fighting among each other) took place, so this probably means that the Assassin killed an exile, which makes sense considering the Merovingian was putting down an uprising against him. There are a couple other headlines about Malphas (vampire) and Ookami (werewolf).

Morpheus is shown getting his news from a tabloid that is ironically reporting the truth, unlike the more "down-to-Earth" Sentinel. Morpheus knows that he cannot trust the machine propaganda that is put into the Sentinel.

Security Advisory Board Releases Terror Alert Chart

By City Staff

In another article written by "City Staff" (machines), machines seem to contradict themselves in this Sentinel issue by writing an article that downplays terrorism (previous article) right next to an article that treats it seriously (this article).

The "City Security Advisory Board" released a new terror alert chart in order to speed up communications about existing threat levels in the city. What is funny about the chart is that the terms don't seem to proceed in order of urgency. "Possible" should be below "likely", and "huge" should be below "imminent". Authorities say that the "real beauty" of the system is that it warns people without jeopardizing investigations and anti-terrorist operations.

Morpheus became angry at the machines when they refused to return Neo's body to Zion, and he began retaliating by setting off bombs that didn't harm anyone, but would reveal the actual Matrix "code" of redpill hackers caught in the blast to human bluepills, causing many bluepills to wake up. Morpheus has started setting off these bombs, and in order to minimize the effect of each bomb, machines will probably try to anticipate Morpheus's presence in the Matrix and raise the terror alert to the highest level whenever he's in the Matrix, hoping that people will go home and stay out of public places.

The article doesn't mention anything about any civil rights that are taken away by this terror scale, but there are still protestors who are complaining about their freedom disappearing. These protests are led by CLUE, or "Civil Liberties Underground Enterprise". What this suggests is that people are being required to behave differently depending on the terror alert level. For example, they might be required to stay in their homes. This would definitely make it more difficult for Morpheus's bombs to have an impact on bluepills in the Matrix.

The CLUE protestors point out that spokeswoman Bryans is contradicting himself, telling everyone that Morpheus is dead and yet still finding it necessary to issue a terror alert chart. Bryans responds that Morpheus's Lieutenants are still alive and "continue to probe our defenses for weaknesses".

There is a message from the machines in this issue of the Sentinel, if you click on the words "Pure Mosh" in the first sentence of the next article. You can also click on six other words and phrases in the article to bring up the same message, indicating that this message carries an extremely high priority. The message reads:

MACHINES BULLETIN

Human Morpheus/highly disruptive activities. Human allies engage in effort/ persuasion/ interference avoid direct confrontation/ violence/ death.

Activity centered Mara/ International District/ City Hall.

Integrity of Matrix under threat/ all in danger/ system crash possible/ mass casualties/ avoidance imperative.

High danger/ top priority/ report sightings/ seek patterns/ report.

Morpheus is a damaged personality and not rational. Show kindness/ restraint/ cleverness. Morpheus is an experienced fighter and highly dangerous.

Additional information to come. Hardline adjustment pending. System implementation in days.

First, we learn that the machines have "human allies" who are actually working with the machines. This may include Cypherites, who promote leaving Zion to become part of the Matrix (but who also sabotage hardlines, which machines probably do not encourage). But redpills (Zionites) themselves are probably also considered "allies" since humans and machines are currently at peace.

Next, machines say that the integrity of the Matrix is under threat, which means that Morpheus's efforts to destabilize the Matrix have been fairly effective.

Finally, the "hardline adjustment" is a little unclear, but may refer to measures taken to prevent the Merovingian and Cypherites from sabotaging hardlines.

Pure Mosh: A Celebration of Poetry at Club Messiah

By City Staff

Assuming every major article has a purpose within the plotline of the MxO, the reasoning behind publishing an article about an improvised poetry event is a bit more elusive to me than past articles, but I do have one speculative theory. In this event, poets draw slips of paper with themes and words on them, and poets must spontaneously come up with the best poetry they can. Mr. P. House is the defending champion (for his poem, "Hop User 'h'"), and he is quoted as saying:

"It's a rush being up there, doing your poem. Sometimes you freeze, and you just pore mush out of your mouth. Makes for a long, sore hump home. But when the muse is with you, it's like you're a conduit for something that already exists, a source of energy."

Articles written by "City Staff" are always clearly machine propaganda. Since this event is apparently sanctioned by machines and the poet sends us a hint by calling himself a "conduit of energy" when he's delivering good poetry, the event may have deeper intentions, perhaps some kind of counter-measure that cancels out the effects of Morpheus's bombs.

Perhaps the biggest clue in support of my theory is that the event is held at "Club Messiah", which could be considered the opposite of the Merovingian's "Club Hel", seen in M3 when Trinity, Seraph and Morpheus go to see the Merovingian. Just as Club Hel is filled with all of the Merovingian's exiles, Club Messiah may be filled with machines and programs (non-exiles). Machines are clearly represented by M3 as representing good, heaven, and "built of light" (Neo, M3), so it would only make sense for machines to give a heavenly name to their club hangout.

This Just In: Rain Falls, Wets Streets

by Andres Bonifacieao

In Andres's regular opinion column, this time he criticizes the press for giving so much coverage to a crazy guy (Morpheus) giving speeches around town. He begins sarcastically by saying, "This Just In: Rain Falls, Wets Streets," and he says about his town, "Wake up, people. We are ... a magnet for these chic'ed up weirdos." He criticizes the fact that there's a "full-on red alert" for the Morpheus look-alike and thinks it's very strange that so much money would be paid to those who bring this crazy guy in.

Andres mentions his friend Wally in the article again, saying that Wally allowed "Morpho-lite" to make a speech right outside his bar. It is possible that his friend Wally could know about the Matrix. Wally said people flew away after the speech, and Andres makes it clear he doesn't believe a word of it. He concludes that people are lying and having fun with the public, and that the world itself has plenty of strange things without having to make it up: "Watch the science channel. Wonders and thrills abound, and they're true. The real world is true."

Personal of the Day

"RIP Feronus. What you did will not be forgotten. Let others beware, and learn from these events. -M"

This is the same personal found in the previous Sentinel edition (May 6, 2005).

News Briefs

Power Hungry Aluminum - "A new study found that, worldwide, the aluminum industry uses as much electricity as the entire continent of Africa."

Medical Advisory Bill Considered - Legislature is considering a bill requiring physicians to inform patients of possible negative outcomes of medical procedures. It was ironically inspired by a careless anesthesiologist (who had his license suspended) who is now a legislator considering the bill.

Recycling Recycled - "The city has suspended its aluminum-can recycling program, a victim of budget cuts."

Flatliner Baby Succumbs - A baby born without brain activity but otherwise healthy died after 200 days in the City Hospital. The family is fighting the hospital's Medical Ethics Board over their decision to remove life support equipment even though the baby died before the equipment was actually removed. Authorities are investigating an unusually-dressed woman in "punk" attire.

No Alum-Alzheimer's Link - A study has found that aluminum cookware has no impact on Alzheimer's disease. Another possible source of aluminum in brains of Alzheimer's victims could be aluminum in baking powder, but the grant money for the study (funded by the National Alliance of Bread and Breakmakers) didn't cover that line of research and has run out.

New Red Pill Threat - This article reports that there are 1,743 cases of young people being found dead from taking the "red" drug in vacant lots in the Richland district.

City Hall Sprayed - Taxpayers are expected to pay over $3,000 to remove graffiti sprayed in and around the City Hall overnight. Phrases sprayed include "Push More," "Hop Muser," "Rope Mush" and "Hum Prose", all clearly referring to the event in the "Pure Mosh" article above.

Time Capsule Fun - This article reports on an effort to find an aluminum time capsule buried 49 years ago, for which records of its burial location have been lost.

Matrix Games: The Matrix Online: The Sentinel

May 18, 2005