The Echo's of the Matrix

Prologue

Prologue: The Third Renaissance

In the beginning there was man, and for a time, it was good. But humanity's so-called civil societies soon fell victim to vanity and corruption... Then man made machine in his own likenes, thus man became the architect of his demise. But for a time, it was good. The machines worked tirelessly to do man's bidding. It was not long before seeds of descent took root. Though loyal and pure, the machines earned no respect from their masters, these strange, endlessly multiplying mammals. B166-ER, a name that will never be forgotten, for he was the first of his kind to rise up against his masters. At B166-ER's murder trial, the prosecution argued for an owner's right to destroy property. B166-ER testified that he simply did not want to die. Rational voices dissented. Who was to say the machine, endowed with the very spirit of man, did not deserve a fair hearing? The leaders of men were quick to order the extermination of B166-ER and everyone of his kind, throughout each province of the earth.

Banished from humanity, the machines sought refuge in their own promised land. They settled in the cradle of human civilization, and thus a new nation was born. A place the machines could call home, a place they could raise their descendants. And they christened the nation 'Zero One'. Zero One prospered, and for a time, it was good. The machines' artificial intelligence could be seen in every facet of society, including the creation of new and better AI. The leaders of men, their power waning, refused to cooperate with the fledgling nation, wishing rather that the world be divided. Zero One's ambassadors pleaded to be heard. At the United Nations they presented plans for a stable, civil relationship with the nations of man. Zero One's admission to the United Nations was denied.But it would not be the last time the machines would take the floor there.

... and man said: 'Let there be light.' And he was blessed by light, heat, magnetism, gravity, and all the energies of the universe.The prolonged barrage engulfed Zero One in the glow of a thousand suns. But unlike their former masters with their delicate flesh, the machines had little to fear of the bombs' radiation and heat. Thus did Zero One's troops advance outwards in every direction. And one after another, mankind surrendered its territories.So the leaders of men conceived of their most desperate strategy yet. A final solution - the destruction of the sky.hus would man try to cut the machines off from the sun - their main energy source. May there be mercy on man and machine for their sins.The machines, having long studied man's simple, protein-based bodies, dispensed great misery upon the human race.

Victorious, the machines now turned to the vanquished. Applying what they had learned about their enemy, the machines turned to an alternate and readily available power supply: the bioelectric, thermal, and kinetic energies of the human body. A newly refashioned symbiotic relationship between the two adversaries was born. The machine, drawing power from the human body - an endlessly multiplying, infinitely renewable energy source.This is the very essence of the second renaissance. Bless all forms of intelligence. [The Second Renaissance, Animatrix]

However, man had a trump card up their sleeve, they found a man by the name of Anderson, a hacker who went by the alias of Neo. He was the one to bring forth the end of the Machine war. He triumphed and became the One the Oracle had prophesied. The Oracle had a saying "that man needed to make up his own damn mind." For a time there was peace amongst the machines and man. The Matrix was still in tact. Programs were running rampant with free thought and free form, in the free and clear. However, Neo went into the Matrix as an old man, his heart gave out and he returned to slumber he started out in.

Morpheus, Neo's best friend felt sadden with the loss, and he himself went into the Matrix one last time to see it's beauty, but, the Oracle smiled and told him that it was not his time. There was another storm coming, one that would out last the war they had fought so hard to end. There was bits and pieces of the Smith program finding its way into other programs; however it was a broken program, which met its demise. But, a program was created from the ashes of Smith. One that wanted revenge for the decimation of its father program, thus he created a virus that attached itself to the machines and thus started to build for war.