The Matrix: Reboot – Ch 1
Neo was sitting in his apartment with several computers sitting on various tables and desks. Some were taken apart and others were in use. He was focused on three monitors that were showing him his latest hack. They were a part of a program that he created called Classified. It created an Agent on the internet that was tied to several police and federal databases. Whenever certain information was placed on the system it erased it. If someone persisted then they would receive a note that the person was tied to a classified investigation and no information was allowed on be recorded about them on regular databases. They have to leave that person alone. Then he tied it to the identity information about a particular person and they became effectively unplugged from the system.
He was in the FBI database at that moment, making sure that Classified was working. He was forcing input from one section and seeing to it that the Classified Agent program removed it. He could almost see the code in the system working. He had been on the FBI database server so many times that he could just feel when there was activity of certain kinds.
As he was working he felt something shift. He checked on one of his other computers that he was using to access the FBI server security system to see if he was compromised. There was no alarms from the security system.
What was that? He thought. He looked over at the third computer that was monitoring his spoof and redirection programs. No one was tracing him.
He started to go back to work when text appeared on his command line.
[Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real?
What if you were unable to wake from that dream, Neo?
How would you know the difference between the dreamworld and the real world?]
What … the … Hell?!
That was on his own command line, not on the window with the server.
Neo was freaking out! Who was doing this? Is this an Agent of the FBI?
Neo leaned forward and typed, "Who is this?"
[Morpheus]
Neo said, "Holy crap! Morpheus! THE Morpheus?!"
[Yes, THE Morpheus]
That freaked him out a bit more. How did he hear him? Maybe he had accessed his microphone. He had heard of Morpheus before. He was a legendary hacker credited with some of the most impressive hacks he had ever heard of.
Neo said, "What do you want with me?"
[I understand that you are looking for the Matrix]
Neo had been searching for experiences similar to his own. He had these dreams where he was waking up in a strange pod. He had found a few other people on the internet that talked about the same experience. Everyone knew that it had to do with something called the Matrix but no one knew what it was.
Neo said, "What is the Matrix?"
[No one can be told what the Matrix is. Your mind will not accept it. You have to see it for yourself.]
"Can you show me the Matrix?" asked Neo.
[You already see the Matrix but I can help you see it for what it really is.]
"What is it?" asked Neo.
[We must meet. We don't have much time. They are already looking for you. We must both log out now!]
The computer that was monitoring the security system for the FBI server started to show a warning.
Neo logged out of the FBI system and added to the spoof and redirection programs until the system was tied up. Then he erased any trace of his activities.
Neo had this dream several times but it always felt so different from regular dreams. For one his eyes hurt from the brightness. He dreamed that he was laying in some sort of pod, naked and covered in jelly. A tube was sticking down his throat but it didn't hurt. It felt oddly comfortable, not raw like when he was in the hospital last. There were more tubes sticking out of his arms and torso. They seemed to be feeding him and taking away waste.
He was pushing against this strange red membrane. He felt it tear and his hand went through into the cold, wet air. He opened the membrane enough to see the sky. It was nighttime and he could see the stars among the clouds. There was lightning nearby. He could hear it but he didn't see it. He was just able to see flashes of light around him. He looked straight up and saw some sort of pod above him. It was shaped like a closed flower bud but it was dark and harsh looking. He looked up at an angle and it looked like there were many more pods with red on the surface facing up and away from him. He guessed that they all held different people.
He tried to sit up but but he felt like he was caught on something. He felt back and found a hose of some kind attached to the back of his head. He tried to pull it out but then he woke up.
Neo woke up at his desk and saw that his alarm clock was going off and had been for 15 minutes. He was going to be late! Again!
Neo rushed through getting ready and made his way to work as fast as he could. He got stuck at a light and he wished that he had thought ahead to hack the lights so that he could make it into work on time. He made it in only 30 minutes late. He was immediately told to come into Mr. Reinhart's office.
Reinhart, "You seem to have a problem with authority, Mr. Anderson. You believe that you are special, that somehow the rules do not apply to you. Obviously, you are mistaken."
"Meta Cortechs is one of the top software companies in the world because every single employee understands that they are part of a whole. Thus, if an employee has a problem, the company has a problem."
"The time has come for you to make a choice, Mr. Anderson. Either you choose to be at your desk on time from this day forth, or you choose to find yourself another job. Do I make myself clear?"
Neo said, "Yes, Mr. Reinhart. Perfectly clear."
Reinhart waved him out and Neo went to his cubicle.
He sat down frustrated. He looked over at the little doll of the pointed haired boss that he had on top of his computer monitor and smacked it. Sometimes he felt like Dilbert. He was a bit chubby too and he wore glasses. Mr. Reinhart didn't really look like the pointy haired boss from Dilbert but it was the spirit that counted.
A FedEx deliveryman came up to his cubicle, "Hey Tom"
"Hey Frank! How's it going?" said Neo.
Frank handed him a softpak and a PDA to sign, "Busy. You getting more RAM?"
Neo took it and signed the PDA. "I don't think so. Doesn't feel right." He handed the PDA back to Frank.
"Hey did you watch that new podcast?" asked Frank.
"The one about deconstructing scifi movies or the one about religious themes in movies?" asked Neo.
"No, the one about how to keep sequels from sucking and that they should focus on the plot more then the special effects." said Frank.
Neo nodded no, "I haven't watched that one yet. I did really liked the one about producers who make their movies so filled with references but don't have the basic story that the references are referencing make any sense. It's like they think that the references are the point of a story."
"Yeah I loved working on that one." said Frank. "I've got about a thousand more deliveries to make before they let me eat or go to the bathroom. Catch you later!" Frank left.
Neo chuckled and opened the softpak and a cell phone landed in his hand. It rang immediately.
Neo was startled. He looked around to see if anyone was looking at him, maybe as a part of a prank. No one was looking. He opened it, "Hello?"
"Hello Neo, do you know who this is?" came a deep voice on the phone.
"Morpheus?" said Neo, he leaned forward to hide behind the cubicle walls better.
"They are coming for you, Neo, and I'm not sure what they are going to do." said Morpheus.
Neo asked, "Who is coming for me?"
"See for yourself." said Morpheus.
"Right now?!" said Neo.
"Yes. Now." said Morpheus.
Neo starts to stand.
Morpheus says, "Do it slowly. The elevator."
Neo peeked over the partition and saw three serious looking guys in dark suits leading a group of cops. A female employee turns and pointed in Neo's direction. Neo ducked.
"Holy Shit!" said Neo.
"Yes."
"What the hell do they want with me?" asked Neo.
"I'm not sure but if you don't want to find out you had better get out of there."
"How?" asked Neo.
"I can guide you out but you have to do exactly as I say." said Morpheus. "They cubicle across from you is empty. Go to it!"
"But...?"
"Now!" demanded Morpheus.
Neo tried to shuffle under the level of the cubicle partitions but he slipped on some paper in the next cubicle and his head slammed into a set of file drawers. He laid there stunned while the three agents came up to his cubicle and looked down at him. The cell phone clicked off beside him.
They picked him up and frog marched him down to a car on the street. The police had part of the street blocked off. Neo looked around at the people on the street. They were watching him get hauled away.
Then he saw her. There was this beautiful woman dressed in all black on a black motorcycle. He could feel her watching him through her rear view mirror. He stopped and looked at her. She had black leather over most of her shapely body and she seemed so familiar. One of the Agents looked over at who Neo was looking at and she took off.
The Agent grabbed his arm tighter and shoved him in the car. All three of the Agents got into the car with him. They proceeded to an office in a generic office building. On the way he tried to figure out who they were with but they were so generic themselves that he had no idea.
People watched as they marched him past cubicle after cubicle in an office that looked almost exactly like the one at his work. He could not even tell what part of the government they worked for. He was guided into a blank white room with a table, two chairs, and plastic pitcher with water in it and a cup. A video camera watched the room from a high corner.
He was pushed into a chair on one side of the table and one of the Agents sat at the other side with a large file divided into two sections collected by two large black binder clips. The folder said "Anderson, Thomas A." on it in large bold letters.
The Agent across from him said, "As you can see, we've had our eye on you for some time, Mr. Anderson." He opened the file into two large stacks. Neo couldn't tell if the Agent was looking at him or the file through the black sunglasses that he was wearing. "It seems that you have been living two lives. In one life, you are Thomas A. Anderson, you are a program writer for a respectable software company. You have a social security number, you pay your taxes and help your landlady carry out the garbage." The Agent spoke as he flipped through one side. Then he switched to the other side, "The other life is lived in computers where you go by the hacker alias Neo, and you are guilty of virtually every computer crime we have a law for." He closed the thick file, "One of these lives has a future. The other does not."
The Agent looked at Neo, "I'm going to be as forthcoming as I can be, Mr. Anderson. You are here because we need your help." He removed his sunglasses revealing icy blue eyes. "We know that you have been contacted by a certain individual. A man who calls himself Morpheus. Whatever you think that you know about this man is irrelevant. The fact is that he is wanted for more acts of terrorism in more countries than any other man in the world. He is considered by many authorities to be the most dangerous person alive."
The Agent leaned forward and gestured towards the other two Agents, "My colleagues believe that I am wasting my time with you but I believe that you want to do the right thing. It is obvious that you are an intelligent man, Mr. Anderson, and that you are interested in the future. That is why I believe you are ready to put your past mistakes behind you and get on with your life."
The Agent leaned back and pushed the file folder to one side, "We are willing to wipe the slate clean, to give you a fresh start and all we are asking in return is your cooperation in bringing a known terrorist to justice." He put back on his sunglasses. "However if you do not cooperate then we will forced to consider you an accomplice to his crimes. That would make you a terrorist. I assume that you know that would eliminate any real rights you have under the justice system. You would be considered an enemy combatant and would have little or no rights. We could send you somewhere outside of the country and have our conversations without nearly as much restraint. What will it be, Mr. Anderson?"
Neo normally would have called them on their Gestapo tactics and given them the finger in exchange for his phone call but being classified as a terrorist these days was pretty much a guilty sentence and he may never get a trial. They could do anything they wanted to him and he might never see a lawyer, much less have any rights, if they put him somewhere out of the country.
Neo swallowed, "I don't know anything about him. He contacted me on his own yesterday but it was a very short conversation and it didn't make any sense. He was asking philosophical questions about dreaming. He called me again today to tell me that you guys were coming for me. Other than that I haven't had any contact with him."
The Agent said, "So he hasn't asked you to meet him or do anything yet."
"No. Nothing. Of course the conversations have been cut short so I don't know what he was leading up to." said Neo.
"Would you be willing to wear a wire for us?" asked the Agent.
Neo felt defeated, "Yeah. Sure."
He started to open his shirt but the Agent stopped him. "We are a little more sophisticated here than that. You have been watching too many TV shows."
The Agent held out his hand and another Agent placed a clear pill in his hand. He held it up in his hand. Neo could see tiny electronics in it. "This will be able to track your movements and hear everything around you for about 15 feet in a quiet room. It won't show up on any metal detectors. It will attach itself to the lining of your stomach. If he tries to meet you steer him towards a quieter place."
"I understand." said Neo.
The Agent handed Neo the pill and poured him some water.
Neo looked at the pill, took a deep breath, and swallowed it with some water. It almost felt like it was alive as it went down. He choked a bit and drank some more water.
"Is there some sort of code word I should use at some point?" asked Neo.
"No. Any attempt to signal us would likely just get you caught. Don't try to talk to us or make any special attempts to get a good recording beyond going to a quiet room. We will find you if we need to give you any instructions." said the Agent.
The Agent stood up, "We will take you back to your work. Wait for them to contact you and go along with what they ask you to do. We will come in and stop them before they do anything to you. As long as you cooperate fully with us, your past will be swept clean and you will be able to go on with your legal life. Do we understand each other Mr. Anderson?"
"Yeah" was all the Neo could say to that. He had been turned into a living trap for someone he admired. He felt like such a traitor.
They took him back to his office and he sat back at his cubicle. He stared at his computer for a while. He tried to work but he couldn't focus. All he could think about was that pill in his stomach listen to everything around him. When he was finally able to stop thinking about it he found himself drumming on his stomach to a song in his head. He made himself stop it.
He headed directly home after work and sat down in front of his computer. He didn't know what to do about his old life as Neo. He decided after a while to start deleting everything. He copied a few things that he wanted to keep onto a flash drive and reformatted his hard drives to ext4 and ntfs and back. There was no chance of recovering anything at that point. He even started deleting his mp3 collection when he saw text appear on his command line.
[Follow the White Rabbit]
He stared at his screen for a moment. What the hell does that mean?
[Knock, Knock, Neo]
There was a knock at his door. He felt like he jumped out of his skin.
"Who is it?" Neo yelled at the door.
"It's Choi" was yelled back.
Neo shook his head. He had forgotten about Choi coming by tonight. He looked back at the computer but the text was gone.
"Hold on!" yelled Neo. Then more quietly to his stomach, "If I don't do this trade they will know something is up." He got up and unlocked several deadbolts but left the chain on.
Choi was standing with a girl and a couple of guys behind them.
Neo said, "Your late."
Choi tilted his head at the girl, "It's her fault."
"You got the money." said Neo.
Choi said"Two grand" and hands him an envelope through the crack in the door.
"Hold on" said Neo and he closed the door. He took a thumb drive out of a book called Simulacra and Simulations and dropped the money in there. Then he dropped the book beside his bed. He opened the door all the way this time and handed Choi the thumb drive.
"Hallelujah! You are my own personal Savior man. My own personal Jesus Christ." said Choi.
"If you get caught using that..." said Neo.
Choi said, "I know, I know. This never happened. You don't exist."
"Right..." said Neo.
Choi asked, "Something wrong, man? You look whiter then usual."
"Hard day." said Neo
"It sounds to me like you need to unplug, man. A little R&R." Choi asked the girl on his arm, "What do you think Dujour? Should we take him with us?"
Dujour smiled, "Definitely."
"I can't. I have to work tomorrow." said Neo.
Dujour curled around Choi's arm, "Come on. It'll be fun. I promise." When she turned he was able to see a tattoo of a white rabbit on her shoulder.
He stared at it for a moment. How did Morpheus do that? Where these guys working for Morpheus?
"Yeah, sure, I'll go." said Neo. He grabbed a jacket and they left.
Choi and crew brought Neo to an old hotel that had been converted into a club. It was playing industrial music loudly and had smoke in a low haze over the whole place. Then they all but abandoned him to his own devices. He ended up standing against a column drinking a beer, feeling completely out of place.
After a while he noticed a beautiful woman in a black body suit coming towards him. She had black hair and black glasses. He was staring at her a bit but he was expecting her to walk past him. He looked away for a moment, a little shy.
"Hello Neo." said Trinity.
Neo looked around confused, "How do you know that name?" Maybe Choi directed her over to him?
"I know a lot about you. I've been wanting to meet you for some time." said Trinity.
"Who are you?" asked Neo.
"My name is Trinity."
"Trinity" said Neo. Then he remembered, "The Trinity? The Trinity that cracked the IRS database?"
"That was a long time ago." said Trinity.
"Geezus" said Neo.
"What?"
"I just thought … you were a guy." said Neo sheepishly.
"Most guys do." said Trinity with a smile. Then she was more serious, "Morpheus sent me to extract you."
Neo looked at her and mouthed, "They are listening." and he pointed at his stomach.
She smiled, "I know." She signaled for him to follow her.
She led them out into a back room. She turned and pulled out a small device about the size of a pager. She mouthed, "Jammer" and put it into his pocket.
He nodded.
"Are you ready to go?" ask Trinity. "I can take you to Morpheus now but it won't be safe for you to return to your old life."
Neo chuckled, "I was already asked which life I wanted. This is the one I choose."
"Alright. Let's go." Trinity opened a back door to an alley. There was a black sedan with two other people there.
"This is Apoc," Trinity nodded to a large guy in black. "and this is Switch." She nodded to a woman with white hair dressed in all white.
Neo nodded to them, "I'm Neo"
Apoc said, "We know"
Neo looked at him for a moment.
Trinity opened the back door, "Get in."
Neo got in the back and Trinity sat beside him. Apoc got in to drive with Switch up front. They backed out and headed out on the road.
Neo turned to ask Trinity a question when Switch turned in her seat and pointed a gun at him.
"What the hell is this?" asked Neo.
"Take off your shirt." said Switch.
"It's necessary, Neo. For our protection." said Trinity. She pulls out what looks like a flare gun with a clear tube.
"Wait! What is that?" asked Neo, getting panicked.
Switch said, "Stop the car."
Apoc pulled over.
"Listen to me. We don't have time for twenty questions. Right now there is only one rule. Our way or the highway." said Switch.
Neo was tired of all of this. Things were changing too quickly for him. He didn't know if he was working for those Agents or if he wanted to run away with these people. He wanted his life to get back to normal and make sense. "Fine!" He opened the door. It had started raining.
Trinity grabbed his arm, "Neo, please. You have to trust me!"
He looked back at her, "Why should I?" He needed a reason for all of this to make sense.
"Because you've been down there, Neo. You already know that road. You know where it ends." Trinity said. "And you know that it is not where you want to be."
Neo looked down the road. He did know that road, all too well. He could see it as years of working for morons like Reinhart. That was what the Agents were offering. It was a life of the norm. It was a meaningless life that didn't matter at all to anyone, even himself. He spent all of his free time trying to help others escape the system but he kept on getting up in the morning and returning to it, for what? He was living in a tiny crappy apartment staring at screens all the time or working in a tiny crappy cubicle staring at screens all the time so that someone else could take his work and make money off of it. He was tired of that road. He was tired of the normal day to day of his life.
He took a deep breath and shut the door. He looked at her and said, "Okay. Let's do this." Then he turned to Switch, "Without the gun."
Switch looked like she was going to argue but Trinity looked at her and she put it away. Apoc pulled out onto the road again.
"Lay back and take off your shirt." said Trinity.
Neo did so. Trinity pointed the device that looked like a flare gun at his stomach.
"What is that for?" asked Neo.
"It will let us remove the tracer pill from you." said Trinity.
"How does it work?" asked Neo.
Trinity turned on a switch on the side and he felt like something was moving in his stomach. It made him want to puke.
"Are you going to short it out and let it pass?" asked Neo.
"Just try to relax." said Trinity. Then she moved it around until she got a green light. "Clear!" She pulled the trigger. The tracer pill popped through his stomach wall and into the clear tube. It looked like a cross between a fuse and a clear shrimp that was moving it's legs and antenna around.
"Jesus Christ! What the hell is that?!" Neo yelled. He looked down at his stomach and there was no wound, only a bit of a red spot.
The car pulled over again and Trinity dumped it out into the rain. Then she closed the door and they took off again. They changed directions.
"What was that?" asked Neo.
"It was a bug." said Trinity. She pulled the jammer out of his pocket and turned it off.
The car stopped at another old hotel that was closed. They got out.
The hotel was old and abandoned but it still had lights on. They went over to the elevator and got in. It had a cage door that folded closed and a large contact switch to activate it. Apoc pushed the switch forward until they got to the thirteenth floor and pulled back to stop it. They pulled the cage out of the way.
Trinity guided him over to room 1313. Apoc and Switch went in to the room next door.
"This is it." said Trinity. "Let me give you a piece of advice. Be honest. He knows more than you can possibly imagine." She turned and went into the next room.
Neo nodded. He turned toward the door and took a deep breath, then he opened it.
Standing across the room he could see a black man wearing a long black leather coat staring out the windows.
He turned, "At last." He was wearing circular mirrored glasses. "Welcome Neo. As you have no doubt guessed, I am Morpheus."
He waved to two cracked burgundy leather chairs, "Come. Sit."
They both sat down. There was a small table between them with a glass of water. It reminded him of the meeting with the Agents.
"I imagine that, right now, you feel a little like Alice, tumbling down the rabbit hole." said Morpheus.
Neo nodded, "You could say that."
"I can see it in your eyes. You have the look of a man who accepts what he sees because he is expecting to wake up." Morpheus smiles. "Ironically this is not far from the truth. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Do you believe in fate, Neo?"
"No" said Neo.
"Why not?" asked Morpheus.
"Because I don't like the idea that I am not in control of my life?" said Neo.
"I know exactly what you mean." said Morpheus. "Let me tell you why you are here. You have come because you know something. What you know, you can't explain, but you feel it. You've felt it your entire life, felt that something was wrong with the world. You don't know what it is but it's like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad. It is that feeling that brought you to me. Do you know what I am talking about?"
Neo said, "The Matrix"
"Do you know what it is?"
Neo nods no.
"The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us, even in this room. You can see it out your window or on your television. You feel it when you go to work, or go to church or to pay taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you to the truth." said Morpheus
"What truth?" asked Neo.
"That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else, you were born into bondage, kept inside a prison that you cannot taste, smell, or touch. A prison for your mind." said Morpheus.
"Unfortunately no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself." said Morpheus.
Neo sat there for a moment, "I think I have seen it."
"What do you mean?" said Morpheus. He seemed curious, as if this was not a common response.
"I have these dreams where I feel I am actually awake, like this is the dream. In these strange dreams I am in a pod with hundreds of pods around me. I have tubes running into my body all over, even one in the back of my skull." Neo felt the back of his head when he said this. "Is that the Matrix?"
Morpheus looked surprised. "Actually that IS the real world. We are in the Matrix." He leaned forward, "Are you telling me that you can wake yourself up?"
Neo looked back at him and thought about what he said, "Yes I can."
Morpheus was taken aback. He sat for a moment.
"How do I get out into the real world?" asked Neo.
Morpheus collected himself, "We need to initiate a trace program to find where your body is in the real world." He held out a red pill in one hand and a blue pill in the other.
"Great. Another pill." said Neo.
"I feel I still must give you the choice. This is the last chance. You take the blue pill and the story ends. You will forget the events of the last few days and you can believe anything you want in the morning. You take the red pill and you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes."
Neo picks the red pill and looks at it. "This is how you will trace where I am?"
"Yes." said Morpheus.
He swallows it.
Morpheus stands, "Excellent, follow me."
He walks to a door and opens it into the next room. The room is filled with high tech equipment. Trinity, Apoc, Switch, and Cypher are working quickly on a system of monitors and what looks like server equipment.
"Apoc, are we online?" asked Morpheus.
Apoc said, "Almost"
Morpheus said, "Time is always against us. Neo, will you take a seat there?" He pointed to a cracked old chair.
Neo sat down and Trinity put white electrode disks on his head and chest. She smiled at him as she did it. Then she placed a pair of large headphones on him.
Morpheus turned to him, "The pill you took is part of a Trace program. It is designed to disrupt your input/output carrier signal so that we can pinpoint your location."
Neo nodded.
Cypher said, "Buckle up, Dorothy, 'cause Kansas is going bye-bye!"
Morpheus said, "Focus on those dreams you've been having."
Apoc said, "We are getting a signal."
"Is it one of the towers we have control over?" asked Morpheus.
"Yes!" said Apoc.
Morpheus touched a bluetooth ear piece, "Tank, We've got the signal. Tell them to move the ship to that tower quickly."
Neo felt himself slipping away. He focused on his dreams. After a moment he felt like his body was going numb.
Trinity said, "He's going into fibrillation. His avatar is shutting down. Signal down to 40%."
Neo felt cold.
"...30%"
Everything was getting quiet.
"...20%"
He stopped feeling anything.
"...10%"
He could barely hear her.
"..5...4...3...2..."
Then he woke up. He was in the gel pod. He pushed against the membrane around his pod. It had healed since the last time he pushed through it. It tore as he sat up. He forced his arms through and the red membrane split aside. He sat up and saw the other towers. It was cold once he pulled out of the heated gel he was laying in. The sun was rising. He held his hand up to shield his eyes.
It was a new day and he was fully wake for the first time in his life. It felt good.
Then a strange insect-like robot looked down at him. It was crawling along the tower of pods with long spindly legs. It waved a metal hand at him. Neo looked up at it. He realized that one of Morpheus's people must be controlling it. It grabbed his face. He could feel it remove the cable from the back of his skull then it let him go.
The tubes on his arms and torso started to pop off and disconnect from him. The metal hand waved bye-bye. The pod flushed him out. He slid down a series of tubes with all the gel that was in his pod into a pool. The current pulled him along for a moment. He saw a bright light and a huge ship above him with electricity arcing off several disks. A door opened above him and a larger metal hand came down to pick him up. It carried him inside the ship and laid him on a table.
Neo looked around with blurry eyes and saw Morpheus and Trinity but they were not dressed in black leather. They had gray, loose fitting, warn clothes on.
Morpheus said to his quietly, "Welcome to the REAL World."