Blinding lances of light, massed packets of data, intermittently connected the orbiting constructs with each other and occasionally with the dark center. The bursts of light accelerated as they grew closer to that black heart, becoming long, thin shafts and then finally vanishing as they were absorbed in the all-consuming darkness. Chase could see figures moving through the spaces between the systems; deckers in their various electronic personas all showing a healthy respect for what lay at the center. Chase had to get away; it was almost more than he could stand. Sometimes, it was impossible to believe that nothing in the Matrix was real. The images, the feel, were too right .