The Matrix, Suburban Style! Part 1

Part 1

Consider. In a bedroom community not far from here, a man named Jim Anderson is waking up from his six hours of sleep. He has a long commute ahead of him and he has to get up early to face rush-hour traffic. Watch as he gets ready, leaves his kids in the hands of his wife, and hops in his SUV. He has to fill up on gas before he can hit the highway. The price of gas makes Jim an unhappy man.

Jim hits the highway slowly, not reaching the speed limit for some time. Then, once he's merged with the vast morass of other vehicles, he accelerates to a rediculous speed and is immediately stopped short by the volume of vehicles on the road. Traffic makes Jim an unhappy man.

Jim sits at his desk, staring vapidly into his monitor, shrouded by his cublicle walls. Jim is mentally drained from even his half-assed attempt to focus on the road. In eight hours Jim has to repeat his commute. He will have to repeat it ad nauseum because he wanted a big house in the suburbs. Commuting makes Jim an unhappy man.

Jim dreaded his evening commute. But on this very day, Jim got a particularly strange message on his computer. It read 'follow the white rabbit'. "What the hell?" Jim says to himself.

Work ends for Jim and he climbs his mountain of an SUV and starts the engine. 1/2 of a fuel tank left. He exits the parking lot, and behold, ahead of him is a white Volkswagen Rabbit. Jim decides to follow the white rabbit. It leads him into an abandonded part of the city and parks. A black man in a black leather trenchcoat gets out and motions for Jim to come forth. Jim, having been bombarded with prejudiced media, assumes it's a trick and that he'll get robbed. Jim drives away and goes home.

The white rabbit message and car appears every day of the week, and on Friday Jim decides to satisfy his curiosity. He follows the white rabbit to the same part of town, and the same man gets out and motions to him. Jim gets out cautiously and appoaches. In a deep slow voice suspiciously like that of Lawrence Fishbourne, the stranger spoke.

"Jim. Do not be afraid. I am Urbanis." The man paused. "Do you want to know the truth?"

"About what?" asked Jim.

"About the world around you; about your commutes, your traffic, and your high gas prices."

"Ummm, yes."

"Good. Come with me."

"I can't. If I go any more than ten metres from an internal combustion engine, I might die."

"Open your mind, Jim."

"I can't!" whined Jim.

"Open your mind. You can do it."

Jim summoned all his courage, and stepped forth, to a distance of fifteen metres from his SUV.
"Whoa," he exclaimed.

"Come with me Jim, and I will show you the answers to all the questions you have been looking for."

Urbanis led him up to an old hotel room and sat him down in a large old burgundy chair.

"Let me explain something to you. You and everyone you know exists in a simulated world known as the Suburban Matrix. Your world isn't real."

"Like, physically not real?"

"No, it isn't a real community. It's fake."

"Whoa!"

"Before I tell you more, I have to ask you something. Are you willing to open your mind, give up everything you have ever known, and see the world in a way you have never seen it before? If you are ready, take the blue pill in my right hand. If not, take the red pill in my left hand. If you take the red pill, you'll wake up in your SUV and remember nothing. If you take the blue pill, your life will be forever altered."

Jim considered for a moment, particularly on the point of taking drugs from strangers. He really was not looking forward to a Friday commute, so he took the blue pill and swallowed.

"Lever! Load the Introduction Program," Urbanis said to a man quietly sitting at a computer, before now unseen.

"Here you go!" said Lever as he handed Urbanis a pamphlet.

"Good. Now relax. This may feel a little... weird."

Urbanis smaked Jim with the pamphlet, and proceeded to explain what the Suburban Matrix is.

"After the war, Humanity celebrated in it's most foolish achievement: the birth of mass suburbanization. Everyone fled the world's urban centres to escape noise, pollution, and other people. They created artifical communities where people lived, and well, couldn't do anything else. Governments supported the program. We don't know who wanted the freeways more, the people or them, but what matters is that this is what the world has been reduced to."

Urbanis opened a large road map criss-crossed by freeways and highways with very little space for anything else. The map was nearly black from all the road markers.

"Suburbia is a system of control which maintains and enforces complacence so that people live out their lives without questioning the world around them. This complacence was and is harvested by certain agents. People's minds are kept in slavery, all so that they can become THIS."

"No. It isn't true. I don't believe it!" Jim exclaimed as he wretched from the thought and the bile built up in his throat.

"He's gonna pop!" said Lever.

Jim vomited all over the floor, and passed out.

Jim awoke in a strange place. He stood up and scratched his neck. He reached into his pocked searching for his cell phone to call for help, but it was nowhere to be found. Urbanis walked in just then.

"Where's my phone?"

"It's gone. You've been unplugged. Come. Walk with me," said Urbanis.

Jim groaned and stood up, following Urbanis. After leaving the building and walking a few blocks with Urbanis and Lever, Jim whined "why do my legs hurt so much?"

Urbanis looked at him with pity. "You've never used them before."

"Whoa."

"This entire world is the real world. This city is alive and real. If you get out and walk around, you'll see a great many things. People, shopping, colour, architecture, harmony. Stop."

Urbanis extended his arm, stopping Jim from walking onto a street and saving him from certain death as an SUV rounded the corner sharply.

"Lever, load the Bike Program."

"Here you go." Lever handed Urbanis another pamphlet. Smack.

"Owww. Why do you keep doing that?"

"Behold." Urbanis motioned to a bicycle leaning against a shop.

"Do you think he'll make it? No one makes it on their first try. Everyone falls," said Lever.

"Get on it, push forward, and peddle," said Urbanis.

Jim hesitantly approached the thing, mounted it, and began waddling through an alley as he attempted to peddle. He was doing well, but nonetheless fell off it. Urbanis and Lever looked disappointed. "Keep trying," said Urbanis.

Jim kept at it for several hours, and after many scrapes and bruises he finally was able to ride the vehicle with stability.

"I know how to ride a bike," Jim said slowly.

"Show me!" said Urbanis, who then mounted a bike himself.

The two raced around the alleyways with Lever watching excitedly.

"Come on! You're faster than this," said Urbanis.

Jim stopped and said "I know what you're trying to do."

They raced again, and Jim performed rather well.

Right then, Lever called out to Urbanis. "I've got sentinels closing in!"

"Sentinels?" said Jim, puzzled.

"The automated enforcers of the Suburban Matrix. They have no personalities. They're all the same."

Two black SUVs skidded into the alleys. Lever hopped on a bike and the three sped away, the SUVs in hot pursuit. One of them bumped into Jim's bike and he rolled over the hood. The sentinels quickly stopped and seized Jim, throwing him in the back. Urbanis and Lever got away, however.

Jim found himself at a chair in a white room with only a desk and another chair, occupied by a man in a black suit.

"Well, Mr. Anderson. It seems you have discovered our little secret," said the suited man.

"Who are you?" asked Jim.

"Harper. Agent Harper."

"Why am I here."

"It seems you have been living a double life today. Let me assure you that one of these lives does not have a future. How about we make you a deal?"

"How about I give you the finger, and you give me my phone call."

"I think you will find it difficult to make a phone call if you cannot speak...."

At that point Agent Harper began stuffing Jim's mouth with subdivision developer's brochures and automobile lease contracts.

"Mmmmhhhmmmlllll!"

"That's right. You're afraid of gun crime, urban youth, immigrants, and cultural liberty. You want to stay in your fortress and keep the real world out. You want to breed more children to create an army of little tiny homeowners."

"Mmmmhhhmmmlllll!"

Agent Harper punched Jim, and he awoke in a new, bigger SUV full of gas in his work's parking garage. Jim drove home, distraught. He immediately went to bed, as it was late.

The weekend passed and Jim reflected on everything he had seen on Friday. He was driving his kids to one of their many practices when he saw a billboard with a picture of Agent Harper smiling, holding a bowl of cereal. In the caption read "an SUV in every driveway and a child in every womb."

Jim was returning from dropping off his son, alone, when the white rabbit swerved in front of him. He thrust his entire leg into the brake pedal and came to a stop. He tumbled out of his monstrosity and onto the pavement. Lever and Urbanis stepped out of their vehicle and seized Jim.

"Come along, Jim. We need you," proclaimed Urbanis as they dragged him to the rabbit.

"What the hell is going on here?" cried Jim.

"Jim, I wasn't sure until yesterday, but I am now. You are the chosen one."

"What?"

"Just come with us. Remember, there was no turning back from the blue pill."

Jim submitted and the three drove in silence until they arrived at the local Sprawlmart.

"We're taking you to see the Oracle," said Lever excitedly.

"The what?" said Jim, confused.

"The Oracle. She is both old and wise. She will tell you exactly what you need to hear."

"Look, Friday was fun, but I don't want to get caught up in some cult."

"Listen, Jim. This is important. This will change everything."

"Huh, why not. You guys are already messed up."

"Let me ask you something. Do you think that is air you are breathing?"

Jim paused for a moment, then said "Yes, silly."

"Nope. It's a vile mix of oxygen, carbon monoxide, and carbon dioxide, amongst other pollutants. All from vehicles like your not-so-little SUV."

"Whoa."

"Now come with us."

With that Urbanis led Jim into the Sprawlmart, through the back, and to a stairwell. He motioned for Jim to ascend.

"Ooooow. Stair climbing wasn't part of the deal," whined Jim.

Jim stomped up the stairs to a door. He opened it and there was a living room with a few other children in it.

"Ah, you must be Jim. Urbanis told me all about you. Have a seat, here with the other potentials. I'll be with you in a moment," said a large black woman.

Jim looked to one of the kids, who was playing with a toy bus.

"What do you have there, son?"

"It's the bus that goes from Whitby to Ajax. Look, it's loading passengers." The child handed him the toy. "You try it."

Jim looked at the bus blankly. The child stared at him.

"Do not try to drive the bus. Only try to realize the truth."

"What?"

"There is no bus from Whitby to Ajax."

"Whoa."

"The Oracle will see you now," said an oriental man at the door.

Jim stepped forth into a kitchen where the Oracle stood holding a pan of good old-fashioned cookies.

"Would you like a cookie, Jim?" she asked.

"Ok." Jim took a cookie and bit into it. It was quite good.

"I have some advice for you Jim. Listen carefully. If you live an hour away from work, IT WILL TAKE YOU AN HOUR TO GET THERE. If you drive a large vehicle, IT WILL CONSUME MORE GAS. If you all keep using so much oil, YOU WILL RUN OUT. As oil runs out, ITS PRICE WILL RISE. But if everyone lives an hour away from work and they all need oil, THEY WILL ELECT MANIACS WHO PROMISE TO LET THEM KEEP THEIR SPRAWLED OUT HOUSES. It is just that simple."

"Whoa."

"Oil is subject to supply and demand. It is also a finite resource. If demand continuously increases, and supply continuously decreases, this limited resource will inevitably run out. Don't you see, Jim? The suburban way of life will soon come to an end. People won't be able to drive for an hour to and from work. The cost of running vehicles will only increase. It's not coming down. When commuting becomes economically impractical, suburbia will become a ghetto."

"How come no one else realizes this?" asked Jim.

"The Matrix keeps people in a state of blind ignorance. The agents, enforcers of vapidity, have been able to keep this knowledge from the people. One day they will wake up from all this, and wonder where all the oil went and why they can't breathe the air around them. They will disparage and seek a scapegoat, but it is not their right to place blame."

"But what can I do? I'm just one man."

"You will know when the time comes. Now off with you. You don't want to keep Urbanis waiting. Off you go!"

Jim staggered out of the kitchen and into the hall, confused. Urbanis was waiting there for him.

"What you have heard was for you and you alone. Now come. We have something to attend to," said Urbanis. The two stepped out of the building and back into the rabbit.

"Where are we going?" asked Jim.

"We have a plan, but we need your help."

"What about my kids?"

"They are the Matrix's kids now."

"Noooooooo!" Jim wailed as the rabbit sped onto the freeway towards the city.

As they made their way along the expressway, Jim watched out the window thinking of his children, coopted into the suburban matrix with little hope of breaking free. It was, afterall, everything they had known. They had grown up expecting things to always be this way. Then he understood completely Urbanis' last statement. He looked up, and saw a sprawl-mart beside the highway.

"Deja-vu," he said.

"What?" asked Lever.

"Deja-vu. I just saw that sprawl-mart. I swear."

"Hurry up, Lever," said Urbanis. "A deja-vu is a glitch in the Matrix just after they change something. Now that town's commercial centre will look the same as every other one in the country. The Matrix strives for consistancy and monotony in its architecture and places of business. We'll be safe once we get into the city."

"Where are we going?" asked Jim.

"We're going to see the Architect....."