On April 6, just after 3:00 a.m., the Seattle Police Department Bomb Squad responded to a report of a suspicious device at Fisher Pavilion in Seattle Center. According to the police report, officers arrived to find a "collective of plastic, wires, paper, cardboard, and metal tubing" that was "buzzing and blinking" on the grassy patch near the Center House. The surrounding area was secured, while the bomb squad "took control of the scene."

Police found a one-page manifesto attached to the apparatus; it begins: "Good morning, Seattle. It's time to wake up. I watch you all every day, trying to fit with what the rest of the world wants you to be."

The minds behind the message? A Bremerton couple, never caught or charged by the police, who go by the names "Neo" and "Trinity." The pair emphatically say they are the "quantum reincarnation[s]" of the fictional characters from the Matrix movies.

Melding pop-science and undergrad-level philosophy, Neo and Trinity say they represent an "international revolutionary group" that's 1,200 strong.

In his online broadcasts at www.truthofthespoon.net, Neo preaches peace, love, and subjective reality, using phrases such as "connecting to the source" and "soul bonding" to explain the group's fuzzy philosophy.

In an interview, Neo and Trinity referred to their past lives in the Matrix: "People are making the same mistakes they did in Zion [the underground city from the Matrix films]."

The device, a life-size mirror-faced NASCAR cutout, wired to a beating gelatin heart (Neo and Trinity hauled the contraption in a cab after taking it on the ferry from Bremerton) is supposed to represent "the human race being connected and driven by the heart of fear."

According to the police report, the device was determined to be "nonharmful" before it was removed and disposed of by the bomb squad. A representative for Seattle Center called the incident "a nonevent."