Trinity walked into the main area of the ship Nebuchadnezzar, one of Zion's newest ships, and greeted the small crew consisting of Tank, Dozer, Mouse, and Morpheus with a nod of her head.
"Good morning, Trin!" Tank greeted her with a big smile. "Don't try to read what I'm going to say today."
"Only if you start sentences I know you can't finish." Trinity tossed back at him with a smile. Even though the ship was new, the crew had known each other from shortly after an unplugging. Trinity was one of the newest ones to Zion, and she rolled her eyes every time it was brought up. For code's sake, she'd been unplugged for a good four years now. Her favorite things to do were to practice fighting Matrix-style in the simulations, and to watch Tank and Morpheus work whenever possible. She would threaten anyone who suggested she had a crush on either man with a punch to the face because she knew it was not true. But she did know both men had a penchant for being obvious no matter what they said. After four years, Trinity often knew what they were going to say before they had a chance to say it.
"Morning, Trin." Morpheus sipped a Zion form of coffee, as different from regular coffee as tasty wheat was from flavored oatmeal. And by the way, tasty it was not. The coffee was a shade darker than Morpheus' head, and he was all business, as usual, standing and watching everyone perform pre-takeoff procedure on the new ship. They had just boarded the Neb for the first time, and were taking it out for a maiden voyage. Tank had finished his drink, and was seating himself in the chair before the computers that recorded the Matrix code. His brother Dozer was double-checking the five seats that would hold up to the maximum amount of people who jacked into the Matrix. Mouse just disappeared in the dormitory area, to check that each room was outfitted with the necessary beds.
"Today, we were informed of a problem, and I think you would be the one to handle it, Trinity."
"Really?" She felt her heart speed up. "It would just be me alone?"
"Yes, but I think it'd be better if I tell you the details after we get to the proper level to jack in."
Trinity thought she could hardly wait.
"It's not fair!" Seventeen-year-old pro computer hacker Trinity threw a tin cup to the metallic floor and turned to face her leader. Morpheus kept his arms folded and his voice calm.
"There is a glitch in the Matrix, Trinity. We need you in there to keep an eye out"
"For the One, I know. And I can only get unplugged if I end up facing any Agents." She smoothed a lock of hair behind her ear. Her black hair was only long enough to frame her cheekbones–short enough to slip out from behind her ear often and long enough to annoy her peripheral vision.
"That is correct. Tank will be watching you from the screen at all times. Hack into the code as often as you can. You need,"
"To get more experience in reading the Matrix code until I can see the people moving individually. I got it." She sighed in frustration. He knew specifically that watching the code was her weakness, and her least favorite activity. Morpheus' glance told her there was less time to complain and she needed to be in the Matrix soon, so she walked over to one of the chairs and sat down. "And you have no idea when the glitch will end?"
"No, and as soon as we do, you'll come back. Trust me, you won't miss the food."
"Just the training sessions." She looked at the floor disappointed. Everyone on the ship knew she was kicking butt on all that sparred with her, except Morpheus. He was too well trained to let her get the upper hand.
"You'll be back before you know it."
'Fat chance,' were her last words before she lost consciousness of the real world and entered the Matrix.
Trinity's green eyes adjusted to the outdoor light quickly, and she glanced around quickly to get oriented. A black pay phone rang on the corner of the sidewalk, and somehow she knew it was for her. Her forehead creased lightly as she answered, "Agents already? Guys, I just got here."
"No agents." Tank's voice reassured her. "Just a cell phone Morpheus wanted you to have." It appeared in her right hand, opposite the pay phone in her other hand. "You'll want to be careful now. The Matrix has dangerous territory and we can't trust our screens as fully as we'd like. The library is just two blocks to your left, and through the mess the glitch is causing, you are temporarily unable to move from the Matrix."
"Oh goody. I was afraid you were going to say I'm stuck to the sidewalk."
"Nah, but you won't be able to jack out for a while. So we're…"
"Keeping your eyes on me at all times. I've got it. Trin out." She hung the phone up, pocketed the smaller phone and headed left. The three-level concrete and brick building bore the name LIBRARY and none of its patrons looked up as she slid past the entrance. Trinity wished for a moment she had a backpack so no one would question her. After taking a seat in a sofa with a huge book in her lap, she covertly glanced at the clock. Only seven hours till closing. While she waited, she had to switch location from time to time. Through this process, she discovered the hide-aways where computers were kept, near the back of the building on the first floor.
That night, she stayed in the library's periodicals section until closing time. She hid behind the large columns that held the books whenever a guard passed by. Warily glancing from side to side, Trinity made a silent run for a booth with a computer. From three sides, she was invisible once inside the booth. The computer was on the desk and she could sit as she worked. Businesslike, she tucked strands of hair behind both ears, and got to work. Her hacking know-how got her through the beginning of the Matrix code silent as a ghost. She glanced at her surrounding to ensure no one was near enough to sneak up on her. She needed to know she was being as quiet as possible. Unfortunately, the ring of the phone could not be silenced.
Trinity grabbed the phone and answered it swiftly. She spoke in a hard whisper. "Don't do that again! For the sake of my heartbeat, don't! I almost died when you phoned just now! I was sure a guard would swoop down on me."
"Relax, Trinity. You're too uptight right now." Tank said. "That won't be good later when you really do meet an Agent. Anyway, the nearest guard is just locking the library from the outside. Can you manage the night without being caught?"
"I'm sure."
"Trinity, remember what we told you about seeing the One through the code. He'll"
"Change the code someway that he will be impossible to ignore once he makes himself known."
"Do you enjoy cutting me off?" Tank's voice smiled at her.
"Sometimes I do when you're being predictable."
He started a warning tone. "I'm at least…"
"Thirteen years older than me and you don't feel the need to pull rank on me, but I'm being too much of a kid for you to pass up the opportunity." Trin smirked at her cleverness.
"That's enough cutting me off for now." His tone had grown serious enough for her to wise up. "I was going to say I am at least glad you got the code without a problem."
"Uh-huh. Whatever you say."
Tank paused for a second, and Morpheus' voice took over. "Trinity, the next hack into the code will require you to follow it down to the middle row, count to 20 seconds, and click. Then you'll…" He continued to outline the easiest way to hack into a deeper code that would form the individual people in the Matrix. "You might even detect yourself in the library. We won't have too much of a chance to communicate later on, so stick to your guns and focus on the goal."
"You know I will. And…"
"You wish you had guns right now. Be patient, Trinity."
"Morpheus, I've been getting tired of you telling me to be patient. And you read my mind about the guns."
We can't have a minor in the Matrix armed. That would get you into the hands of the police and perhaps the Agents."
"But," she protested.
"Later. When you are older." Morpheus hung up.
"Oooh! Sometimes, I just wish…" She mumbled to herself as she followed directions in the code. She simply had trouble focusing on the code well enough to see moving figures; the scenery she could see fine. The tips Morpheus had given her were like enhancing a map so the view got clearer as you got closer to a specific place on that map.
After she had enlarged the view on the screen to see the library clearly, she blinked three times to ensure her brain would be alert enough to take in what she saw. The key was to look past the numbers and through them, and use them at the same time. No wonder she couldn't focus on the code for too long. It made Trinity feel bug-eyed after five minutes of looking and desperately needing a break after 15, if she could hang on that long. This time, she was determined to buckle down, so she widened her eyes for improved alertness once more and got to work, mumbling little encouragements to herself as she went along.
She saw cars moving in steady streams outside the library, the guards patrolling the city on their circuit, police cruisers mingled with the traffic. No pedestrians walked the streets, but a group of drunks would circle the same three blocks of streets, so that gave Trinity something to focus on. But she was only focusing on the outside of the library. She pulled up the inside of the library. The screen blinked as it showed the three floors in rotating succession. When it landed the first floor on the second rotation, she was shocked to see movement on her screen. The figure moved horizontally across the screen; it was walking between columns of books 20 feet behind Trinity.
It was a part of the code, a simple link in the whole connection that formed the Matrix. That meant it was a program. Trinity exhaled slowly. She watched it head to her right, never taking her eyes off the computer. 'I told Morpheus I needed a gun. Even a small concealed revolver would do. At least it's not an Agent. Agents sneak up on you and hold a gun to your head unless you run for it. But you have to run like the wind.' She realized she'd stared at the second floor without seeing. Leaning forward, she scanned the third for sign of another intruder, but saw none. Just as the first floor rotated to greet her eyes, she saw...nothing. Trinity couldn't help her sigh of relief or how much her shoulders relaxed. The intruder didn't show itself again on the screen.
A crash of books hitting the floor from a higher level startled Trin from her focus on the screen. She began to get up, but checked to see where the intruder had relocated. Once again, the screen was showing the third level, and showed no sign of intruder. First floor, no sign. Second floor, she saw the intruder turn quickly behind the encyclopedia section. Now Trin rose from her seat and walked to the books lying on the floor the computers resided in. They were encyclopedias all right. Thankfully the hard-bound cover wasn't broken on either book and she carefully carried the two books, which together weighed 20 pounds, up the stairs. In addition to the library being large, the bookshelves were also huge and high. Trin saw a vacancy on the third level of books. With the weight of the books, no ladder, and her 5'5" height, Trinity didn't feel up to the challenge. The laws of the Matrix could be broken, but it was safer to use that power when a domino effect was less likely to happen. So she placed the books on the floor next to the shelves and walked back to the computers, cautious enough to listen for extra footsteps, breathing, and to glance over her shoulder to see who was joining her in the lonely library.
After that intense moment, she saw absolutely nothing of interest. She focused not only in the library, but widened it so she could see the exterior surroundings and the inside of the library together. The neon clock on the wall told her she'd been reading the code for 36 minutes the next opportunity she had to check time. Trinity would normally be impressed with the new record she was setting, but the clock also told her it was nearing 1:30 a.m. She turned the computer off and went to find someplace comfortable to sleep.
The next morning, she waited patiently for the first arrivals at the library to start leaving so she could leave in plain view and not be questioned. Her three-quarter sleeved black shirt and brown pant legs were slightly wrinkled, her short hair nonplussed, and the semi-dark shadows under her eyes simply made her look like a college student who had gotten up earlier than a preferred time and had now finished her research. But Trinity's stakeout at the library was far from over. Until Morpheus told her the glitch was no more, she would keep borrowing the library's free computers, and few that saw her would question. She entered a coffee shop and ordered a cinnamon raisin bagel and a latte.
She remembered Tank's warning and glanced covertly at the people passing her. Even though she felt beyond a little girl's fears, she still wished that Morpheus had allowed her to protect herself with a gun. In lieu of a weapon, she wanted to be reassured she was safe, but she remembered the phone couldn't be 100 trusted with the glitch in effect.
"What do I do next?"
She kept her face in a serious mask, and noticed a man in a suit watching her. His light blond hair was nicely combed, and unlike the simulated Agents she'd seen, he did not wear sunglasses as he sat alone at a table three or four tables away. He seemed calm yet his gaze was one of recognition. His blue eyes didn't seem threatening but sent a message to her saying 'I'm watching you.'
A/N: Ooohh!! I'm evil on the first chapter! The man and library visitor will remain mysteries as long as the second chapter isn't put up! Now who would want the second chapter up?? I have no idea.
