Matrix Games: The Matrix Online: The Sentinel

April 18, 2005

Wright Announces 'Smart Plastic'

Information Baked Into Packaging Lets It Sort Itself For Recycling - By CITY STAFF

This article (written by "City Staff," or machines) reports on a technology that will now be used to "bake" information into different kinds of plastics, allowing easier recycling, in addition to being able to track how long people use products before throwing them away. In the future, the technology may be able to embed pictures and even movies into the plastic material.

We see evidence of machines planning the arrival of this technology by going back two issues of The Sentinel and reading "Landfill(ed): Refuse Alternate Sought." While it mentions nothing about plastic, it clearly sets the stage for a need for this kind of technology that enables recycling. That way, bluepills will warmly welcome the new technology.

This article mysteriously sets the stage for the Assassin, who hasn't yet been introduced to players in the game. He is a masked exile found near dumpsters who is especially good at killing people, forcefully employed by the Merovingian (and rebellious against the Merovingian). Clearly, the Assassin is able to read the information now embedded into plastics to help him track people down. And since the Assassin is actually made up of flies, he is probably able to read a lot of information in a very short amount of time.

The article also mentions ironically that devices as small as PDAs could potentially scan the plastic. This could be exactly what the Merovingian has in mind for his red-eye Agents and their PDAs.

The article puts all of this in very mundane terms, talking about the major revenue stream of the production company, privacy advocates raising concerns, and how the "baked in" information can last as long as the container itself.

Assassination Attempt Fails

By City Staff

This article begins by reporting a 25% increase in assassination attempts, with an Eastern European leader escaping as assassination attempt and also a city official "wounded in the buttocks." The article also debunks rumors that Morpheus is behind the assassination attempts because, as the Sentinel keeps reporting, Morpheus was already killed in Southern Asia last year.

After all of the diversion talk in this article, the information with real purpose is presented at the very end of the article: Machines are making it clear that they are not affiliated in any way with the Assassin. The article reports a website called Assassination Nation which catalogs assassination attempts. The site states, "Somebody out there fancies themselves 'the garbageman,' and he's going to 'take out the trash' to 'places of disposal,' no matter what it takes." The author then concludes the article by saying this kind of "trash talk" is unusual in espionage and terrorist circles, "which may indicate... the assassin an independent actor without any state or organizational affiliation."

If you click on the words "Assassination Nation" within the text of this article in the original paper, it brings up the following encoded message:

## The Sentinel Mainframe ## ## Backdoor Initialized ## ## ACCESS secured ## ## ZION RELAY Initialized ## ## Bulletin Transmission ## ZION BULLETIN An unknown party, masked, seems to be using kill codes which override emergency jack-out mechanisms. Avoid him/her. ## A group project is in early stages of preparation. It is ambitious, possibly dangerous, but does not violate the truce. Prepare to set time aside in 12 days -- possibly earlier -- for this special undertaking. ## Sobra Shores is unusually dangerous. Avoid it. ## Anyone who can decode the following encryption please contact your Zion operator: EGJHZWMK TDGGV KZADD KHADD SFV XWWV XDAWK ## End Transmission ## ## Access Logs Cleaned ## ## Relay terminated ##

The "masked" man is clearly the Assassin. The "group project" refers to Niobe's meeting with the General to plan something against the Merovingian. Sobra Shores refers to gang uprisings against the Merovingian, the results of which will be covered in the next Sentinel issue. As for the encrypted message, a simple alphabet shift reveals "Morpheus blood shall spill and feed flies," clearly a threat from either the Assassin or the Merovingian (probably the Merovingian).

This Is More Interesting Than It Sounds

- by Andres Bonifacaieo

Andres Bonifacaieo did a "ride-along" with a garbageman named LeVar this week, when in fact usually reporters do ride-alongs in police cars. Why? The article doesn't say. I would suppose it's because the plot writers for The Matrix Online needed this reporter to report on the garbageman phenomenon.

After some small-talk reporting about the life of a garbageman (money, keeping body fit, schedule, and social life), Andres reports on LeVar's strange experience seeing a mysterious man behind a dumpster in a trench coat, just standing there looking at him while lurking around garbage cans or dumpsters, which has happened at least 6 or 7 times. The man also wears a mask "right outta that movie, Eyes Wide Shut."

Andres checked for reports with the police, and they have reports for this masked man, but nothing involving breaking the law. Seeing this masked man as the new city attraction (the previous attraction being the "Morpheus wannabe"), Andres offers dinner and an evening of drinks at Wally's if the man contacts him at the Sentinel.

Andres also couldn't resist asking LeVar the "obligatory" question about whether LeVar has ever found a dead body on the job. LeVar says yes, and that it was preceded by Martial Arts fighting. After one went down, the others ran away. Nobody was around, so he touched the dead man and received an intense static electricity shock. Presumably, he touched a man that had been an agent fighting against redpills.

News Briefs

Organization Plans Ads - A new organization is going to spend almost $1 million on upcoming national television ads in order to battle the President's reform plan.

PDA holds Mystery - Law enforcement has uncovered a Personal Digital Assistant (the kind with a red light) that has apparently been used in recent phone vandalism, containing codes that could cause malfunctions and possibly unauthorized wiretaps (see "Phone Vandalism Epidemic" from Matrix Games: MxO: The Sentinel: March 30, 2005).

These PDAs are being marketed by the Merovingian (see "Glowing Red is New Black!" from Matrix Games: MxO: The Sentinel: March 30, 2005). This means that the Merovingian is helping Cypherites sabotage hardlines and that the red-eye agents are probably also involved in hardline sabotage. Also, it makes sense that the PDAs could be used for unauthorized wiretapping since the Merovingian is a trafficker of information and always interested in trafficking more information.

Violence Up - This brief reports a dramatic increase in reports of fighting (especially Martial Arts), but also points out that the number of emergency room cases is strangely low. Of course, this means exiles and redpills are fighting since they would never need to be treated in hospitals within the Matrix.

66 Former Officials Back Nominee - Many former government officials (Defense Secretary, CIA Director and 64 others) are supporting the President's nominee of an ambassador to an international organization. Controversy surrounds it since the nominee is on record for criticizing the validity of the international organization. 62 critics signed a letter attacking the nominee and calling for his rejection by the Senate, while the counter-attack was organized by the nominee's mother.

Border Watchers find and report 18 aliens - Volunteers to watch the Southern Border reported their first sighting of illegal aliens, resulting in 18 arrests when "agents" arrived. One alien wandered into the building in which 100 volunteers were staying asking for food and water. The volunteers helped him and then notified "agents," who picked him up.

Personal of the Day - this personal ad says, "FWG XDAWK FG EGJW. JWLMJF LZW GFW. -- EGJHZWMK (Box ERROR)." Using a simple alphabet shift, this translates to "Neo flies no more. Return the one. -- Morpheus."

Back to MxO Chapter 1.2 or Back to Sentinel Index