The Matrix Walkers

It was going to be a dark day for us all. I had that feeling all morning. Ever since I awoke and looked to the triple moons, to approximate the time, and they weren't there. Oh my god! The last time that the moons weren't seen in the morning sky, of our history, was when the MATRIX was created. I remember this though I was just one year of age at the time. You see I am what is known as a MATRIX walker.

As far back as I can remember, my people the Nomadi, were tested at birth. Some were born with a very special abundance of knowledge. Some, called us the thinkers of the world. We were tested, and mind probed and if we were found to possess this gift , then we were drafted for the MATRIX project.
But that is only the tip of the ice. Sit back and relax. For this is my story, and I am part of...
the MATRIX.

Tom Bremen entered the VIP room of the Security Offices. He was curious at what the Secretary wanted to discuss with him. Tom had heard from the guards that he was to be sent to settle a dispute among one of the lesser tribes of Nomadi and Walkers that had homesteaded at the edge of the Matrix. What he couldn't figure out was what they would want with him. A Nomadi ambassador was usually assigned such a job, so why would they want a human, he thought. The Nomadi were known to hate humans especially Earther's, that weren't originally born to the planet. Tom was both.
The door slid away at his touch and he hesitated before he stepped inside. The room was dark. A darkness that became blacker as the door slid shut against his back.

The morning sun was just rising above the village walls. The Matrix passages could be seen in the distance having just materialized at this morning's entry point. However, since a gate was located overlooking each of the tribes, appearing in this location was a common occurrence. The villagers went about their daily ritual of congregating at the village square, for the men to trade goods and the women to enjoy gossip about the other tribes, while collecting water at the community well. No one acknowledged the black clad figure standing at the rim of the group as it moved its way in and out of a cluster of bartering farmers. The children standing at the edge of the gathering came forward to greet this unlikely playmate, hoping to hear adventures of the past. They seemed not to be afraid of the darkness cloaked within the cowl of the creature's garment. The group retreated to the distant hillside where the creature could weave its magic tales.
A gust of wind sprang up catching the creature unaware and pulling the hood from its resting place. A mass of bright red-gold hair could just be glimpsed before doused again by the blackness of the cloak. The figure's hand rose and the wind suddenly ceased. The cloaked figure sat on the grass to begin its story again.

Tom awoke with an excruciating headache. His whole left side felt as if it were on fire. Tom lifted his hand to his head hoping to rub away the aches. Instead he felt cold metal. He tried to remember what had happened after he had entered the VIP room, but there was nothing. It was as if his memory had been wiped clean. Tom heard a muffled voice and turned toward it. The door was just sliding open. A Nomadi doctor, with his symbol of office hanging about his neck, advanced toward the bed. This Nomadi was of the Taloe tribe. A tribe that closely resembled humans except for the yellow pigment of their eyes. This Nomadi was no different. Those eyes bored into Tom now as if he were waiting for something. "How do you feel?"
Tom blinked a few times trying to clear his thoughts. He could almost imagine that the being was talking to him. But that was ridiculous. The Nomadi didn't speak Earther languages and this one wasn't.
"I said, how do you feel?"
Tom's eyes widened as understanding came upon him. The doctor was speaking to him and he could understand him. But what frightened Tom the most was that the doctor was speaking Nomadi.

Tom crossed to the window of the land rover. It had been three weeks since his meeting with the Nomadi doctor. Tom was shocked to find that he could communicate in a language foreign to him. However, what was more shocking was when the doctor fitted his amputated hand with the Matrix glove.
He glanced at his left hand still remembering the pain that was involved in the linking of machinery and human flesh. The Nomadi were said to experience a mild discomfort at this procedure, while the human tissue was rejecting it every step of the way. Tom checked his wrist meter again. 800 hrs. of stabilizing fluid left until the rejection set in. Could he make it in that time, he wondered. Tom had been wandering for weeks before he finally received his orders. Tom sat at the window of the range-rover and pushed play-back on the touchpad that ran along the top of his hand.

The ocular implant in Tom's left eye flared to life giving him a visual display of his orders:
Earther, you have been chosen. As you know, the Matrix walkers were recalled and terminated from service in 2199 the year of our Over-lord. This was partially correct. There were five renegades.
The tribe Taloe is believed to be hiding these Matrix renegades in their company. Your assignment is to find these five and disperse with them. You have been given the means to find them. Your Matrix link includes a heads-up display of Matrix diagrams for the known areas surrounding Taloe. You have also been included with a complete dossier on each member of the renegade group. We will await word of your success. Remember that we will be watching...

There was a flash and the visual display went dark. Tom pushed a button giving him a display of the Matrix maps. They didn't seem as important to him as the death of five beings, even if they were just Nomadi. But you know government types, thought Tom, always creating something that they didn't want others to have. Tom changed his display to the dossier on the renegades. The dossiers included general descriptions, whereabouts, and three even included visuals of the targets. Tom decided that the photos would be the most help. He scanned each looking again and again at surroundings, and general appearance of each being. There were two men and one woman.

The woman was what had caught his interest . There was something about her. She had all of the appearance of the Nomadi with her yellow eyes and deep stare, but there was something else in those eyes. They were more golden than yellow. But there was a darkness to those eyes, as if she were looking at his replica instead of the other way around. Her picture intrigued him. What was she like? Why had she run?

Tom shook himself from his revere and turned off his display. "Get a hold of your self Bremen, she's just another Nomadi. He looked again out the window; and thought instead, of displays and the Matrix as the landscape sped by.