Disclaimer: The Matrix and its characters do not belong to me, although I
wish to God that Keanu and Lawrence were mine.
Rating: PG-13. May change in later chapters.
Neo opened his eyes, squinting into the harsh light assaulting his retinas. Struggling to right himself with stiff limbs that allowed barely any movement, he forced himself into a sitting position, wincing as he did so. Swinging his legs over the side of his metal bed frame, he tried his feet gingerly on the floor, and after finding them supporting him-barely- he shuffled to the doorway, grabbing on to the cold steel as a sudden fit of weakness hit his body. He struggled to stand.
"Neo."
He heard the voice, even as a strong arm grasped him about the waist, leading him back to his bed. He looked up, faintly recognizing his leader, Morpheus. Morpheus. Neo's face melted into a rare smile. Morpheus was safe. He was safe. There was no Matrix around him- he was back in his room in the Neb. He tried to speak. "Mmm....Morph...."
"Don't try to talk, Neo." Morpheus' voice was unusually gentle, and as low as usual. Vaguely Neo felt a large, warm hand resting on his forehead. "We're safe now- on our way to Zion for repairs, actually. You've suffered severe mental shock, although you're physically fine. It'll probably take a few days for you to recover..."
Neo was trying to focus on what his leader was saying, but he was so tired...so tired. And his mind was drifting. He used the last of his strength to focus on Morpheus' face, every syllable conveying his anxiety. Licking his cracked lips, he attempted to speak. "Trin....ity...Trin...."
"Trinity is fine," a slight, unbidden smile crept along Morpheus' lips, as he wet Neo's mouth with a sip of cold water. "She's been with you all this time, but I just sent her to eat something, and..."
Morpheus' voice faded into nothingness as Neo's eyes, as if being lowered of their own accord drooped and closed. He was fast asleep, thinly breathing. Morpheus pulled his blanket over Neo's torso, the worry lines in his forehead smoothing themselves out slightly. Neo was going to be okay.
After seventy-two hours of alternating between sleeping, dreaming, and waking, Neo finally became fully conscious. He rose to his feet, and unsteadily walked out of his room, into the main chambers of the Neb.
The desolate scene nearly took his breath away.
The ship was virtually unmanned- he could see no one, except Tank, who sat alone at the computer terminal, his back to Neo. The terminal was virtually the only place in the Neb that hadn't been damaged by what Neo had mentally christened the "spiders."
Otherwise, the room was a disaster. All the intricately arranged wires and pipes were a thing of the past. Snapped cords and wires lay everywhere; broken glass, bits of steel, and nails, nuts, and bolts littered the floor. Looking up, Neo could see a huge gash easily as long as his body- and three times as wide- torn into the ceiling. Carefully avoiding the debris on the floor, he walked over to Tank, who was staring morosely at the falling code, doodling something on a piece of rag. Neo paused, uncertain of what to say, and then finally cleared his throat.
Tank whirled around. "Good! You're up." He attempted a smile, but Neo was shocked at his appearance. Tank's normally tan skin had taken on a chalky pallor, and his eyes were rimmed with red, his usually enthusiastic, quick movements lethargic. The spark that had characterized Tank was gone, now replaced with a dull, lifeless look in his dark eyes.
"My God. Are you okay?"
Tank looked at him disbelievingly, then with dawning understanding. "You don't remember?" He then answered his own question. "But how could you, you were out cold almost immediately after we brought you back. You...do remember that Switch, Apoc and Mouse were...lost?"
Neo nodded. "Yeah," he dropped his eyes, suddenly saddened. They hadn't known him well and he hadn't really known them either- but it hurt, nevertheless.... they'd all been fighting for the same cause, after all.
"Dozer was, too." Tank's simple statement obviously cost him a lot; he swallowed hard before continuing. "Cypher terminated him. I got away with this;" and he lifted his shirt to show off a minimally bandaged burn, blackened and curling at the edges. "Don't you remember?"
"I think so...." Neo sank into the adjoining seat- Dozer's seat. "I'm... sorry," he said haltingly. He didn't know WHY he was sorry, save for the fact that Dozer had died, and somehow he, the One, couldn't save the kindly operator. He laid a hand on Tank's shoulder; the guy was obviously struggling not to cry. "Go ahead, man, let it all out."
Tank shook the moisture from his eyes in one swift motion. "Naw, I'm all cried out, I think. Got to get back to work." With that, he turned back to his computer and the codes.
"Where are...I mean, how would we....." he paused delicately.
Tank rubbed his eyes. "The bodies are lying in state over there," he indicated a room with one gloved hand. "They'll be buried when we reach Zion. You can go and see them if you want."
Neo shook his head. He didn't know if he could take it. Rising to his feet, he touched Tank lightly on the back. "You'll be okay."
"Oh, I know I will." Tank looked up at him, and a bit of light entered his eyes, even as a slight smile formed. "We've found the One. Dozer...would have been so happy. He's been at this even longer than me." Shrugging his shoulders slightly, he turned around once more.
Neo felt a slight chill come over his body. The One. He, Thomas Anderson/Neo, formerly of the Matrix, was the One, the savior of the REAL world. At that moment, he was filled with a quiet assurance that took him by surprise- he had never been more sure of that in his life. The One. Neo hoped that was a title he'd live up to.
The silence of the ship's helm was broken abruptly when Morpheus appeared seemingly out of nowhere, dropping heavily on his feet. Neo looked up to the ceiling just in time to see Trinity drop down as well, stirring up a small cloud of dust. Both disentangled themselves from the light harnesses they'd been suspended in, a smile on Morpheus' face "You're up," he said. "We've been making repairs on the ship."
"Yes," Neo replied. But his eyes were fixed on Trinity. Dressed in an enormous broadcloth shift that covered her entire body from her neck to her knees, she seemed to be looking anywhere but at his face. "It's good to see you up, Neo," she said to the top of his head.
He smiled and moved towards her, but she backed away, flushing slightly. Morpheus looked at the two of them, a small, pleased smile on his face. "Trinity, please see that Neo eats something. I must discuss some repair specifics with Tank." He walked over to where the younger man was sitting, and watched as the two walked into the small room used for dining purposes.
"You must eat, Neo. I know the food is less than...gourmet, but......regain your strength. This food contains many vitamins and various other things that you will need, as both your mind and your body have been through so much recently..." Trinity's hands moved nervously as she prepared a bowl for Neo, babbling nearly incoherently, as he watched her in shock. Trinity never babbled. She was acting so out of character, it was scary.
"Trin," he said, barely noticing that he'd used the abbreviation of her name usually used only by Dozer, Tank, or even Cypher. "Stop."
She did so.
Moving closer to her, he carefully pushed a lock of thick, dark hair off of her cheek, so he could look her straight in the eye.
She didn't move.
Slowly, carefully, he touched her lips with shaky fingers, outlining their shape, their feel. Neo truly didn't know what was coming over him. In the Matrix his girlfriends had been few and far between, often "normal" girls turned off by his obsession with the cyberworld. Around them he was often at best, sullen, or at worst, an awkward conversationalist with a tendency to space out on his date. Now, despite his nervousness, he felt more comfortable than he'd ever felt in his life.
Removing his fingers, he cautiously lowered his mouth to hers, taking in her huge, upturned eyes in a pale face, her icy fingers which now were moving on his jaw, warming at the contact.
When he pulled away, she lowered her eyes to the floor, placed his bowl off food in front of him, and made for the door with undignified haste. Leaping up from his chair as quickly as his weakened state allowed, he went after her but arrived at the doorway only in time to see her hook herself up to the harness and disappear up into the ceiling once more. Frustrated, he plopped down into his chair and dug half-heartedly into his meal.
Morpheus called a meeting in the main cabin shortly after Neo had eaten, and when they were all assembled, he tucked his hands inside his threadbare shirt and began to speak.
"As you all know, we've... had to be very vigilant as of late. The past...incidents upon this ship have led to the loss of some very beloved and very essential members of our crew."
"However, as you know, we have been shorthanded three crew members for some weeks. Thankfully, Neo is back with us, but the repairs on this ship will take far too much time and effort to complete in a reasonable amount of time, with the lack of a full crew.
"We are going to Zion," Morpheus finished. "We have not been there in some time, and I feel that Zion's resources are needed to complete the work on this ship. There we can make use of real mechanics, replenish our food supply... and bury our dead."
Tank's eyes flicked upward, then dropped, as he obviously thought of Dozer. But Neo noticed a subtle transformation in the room when Morpheus spoke of Zion. Heads were raised, light entered into eyes; Trinity even offered him a slight smile. Even Morpheus' voice sounded less morose. "Neo," he said. Neo looked up. "You will see Zion."
Neo nodded, unsure of what to say, but for some reason the statement filled him with excitement. He was going to see the real world now, as it was supposed to be- the last human city.
Morpheous turned from him and began speaking once more. "Tank received a very interesting transmission this morning," he said. He glanced over at Tank.
"Yep," the younger man replied. "It was a message from Creon. He's the captain of another ship much like ours- and a close friend to Morpheus," he added for Neo's benefit.
"He picked up our signal two days ago, which usually means he's pretty close to us. "Morpheus told Creon of our recent...troubles, and he's sending us a temporary crew member. She's skilled in programming and mechanics, and will be with us until we get to Zion, where Creon has an assignment for her."
Morpheus nodded in assertion. "To our advantage, this young woman has been a part of this crew before. Trinity, do you remember the hacker Vixen, by any chance?"
At the mention of that name, Trinity's head snapped up, and her eyes widened. "No," she breathed. "Vix's coming back?"
Morpheus' features melted into a smile, and so did Tank's. "Yup," Tank said, his grin back in full force. "Creon said she couldn't wait to get here."
Seeing the confusion on Neo's face, Trinity turned to speak to him, her eyes meeting his frankly for the first time that day. "Vixen is.....was Switch's twin sister. We were all recruited about the same time. We were all very close...of course we were all much younger then, still teenagers, like Mouse..." her eyes grew distant as she obviously lost herself in memories. Neo looked at her face, astounded. That was the longest speech he'd ever heard her make.
Quickly, she shook her head to clear it. "She was transferred because..."
"She wasn't serious," Morpheus said flatly, the smile gone. "Very immature. Also, she was having an affair with one of my crewmembers. Nothing is wrong with that, but when it interferes with your work, and makes you favor one crewmember over the other while inside the Matrix..." he shook his head.
"She was only trying to protect him, Morpheus," Trinity said softly to the captain. "She was very young."
"Trinity, you almost died because of her negligence. And all because of an affair. With Cypher!" Morpheus rested one fist against the cold steel pillar in the center of the cabin, brow furrowed. "Creon has assured me she has improved. I certainly hope so."
Trinity moved closer to him. "I didn't die, Morpheus. We didn't know then that Cypher would go rouge. And she is much older, as the rest of us are. You'll see."
Neo cleared his throat, not understanding this conversation, which was becoming increasingly private- and more emotional with each word. "Cypher? Affair? Trinity nearly killed?"
Startled, they both looked up at him, and Morpheus cleared his throat as well, shooting Trinity a warning look.
"You may all go back to your posts. Creon won't arrive till late today or tomorrow." He turned and was gone.
Like? Dislike? Please review- flames are welcome; they amuse me, but constructive critisiscm is greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Rating: PG-13. May change in later chapters.
Neo opened his eyes, squinting into the harsh light assaulting his retinas. Struggling to right himself with stiff limbs that allowed barely any movement, he forced himself into a sitting position, wincing as he did so. Swinging his legs over the side of his metal bed frame, he tried his feet gingerly on the floor, and after finding them supporting him-barely- he shuffled to the doorway, grabbing on to the cold steel as a sudden fit of weakness hit his body. He struggled to stand.
"Neo."
He heard the voice, even as a strong arm grasped him about the waist, leading him back to his bed. He looked up, faintly recognizing his leader, Morpheus. Morpheus. Neo's face melted into a rare smile. Morpheus was safe. He was safe. There was no Matrix around him- he was back in his room in the Neb. He tried to speak. "Mmm....Morph...."
"Don't try to talk, Neo." Morpheus' voice was unusually gentle, and as low as usual. Vaguely Neo felt a large, warm hand resting on his forehead. "We're safe now- on our way to Zion for repairs, actually. You've suffered severe mental shock, although you're physically fine. It'll probably take a few days for you to recover..."
Neo was trying to focus on what his leader was saying, but he was so tired...so tired. And his mind was drifting. He used the last of his strength to focus on Morpheus' face, every syllable conveying his anxiety. Licking his cracked lips, he attempted to speak. "Trin....ity...Trin...."
"Trinity is fine," a slight, unbidden smile crept along Morpheus' lips, as he wet Neo's mouth with a sip of cold water. "She's been with you all this time, but I just sent her to eat something, and..."
Morpheus' voice faded into nothingness as Neo's eyes, as if being lowered of their own accord drooped and closed. He was fast asleep, thinly breathing. Morpheus pulled his blanket over Neo's torso, the worry lines in his forehead smoothing themselves out slightly. Neo was going to be okay.
After seventy-two hours of alternating between sleeping, dreaming, and waking, Neo finally became fully conscious. He rose to his feet, and unsteadily walked out of his room, into the main chambers of the Neb.
The desolate scene nearly took his breath away.
The ship was virtually unmanned- he could see no one, except Tank, who sat alone at the computer terminal, his back to Neo. The terminal was virtually the only place in the Neb that hadn't been damaged by what Neo had mentally christened the "spiders."
Otherwise, the room was a disaster. All the intricately arranged wires and pipes were a thing of the past. Snapped cords and wires lay everywhere; broken glass, bits of steel, and nails, nuts, and bolts littered the floor. Looking up, Neo could see a huge gash easily as long as his body- and three times as wide- torn into the ceiling. Carefully avoiding the debris on the floor, he walked over to Tank, who was staring morosely at the falling code, doodling something on a piece of rag. Neo paused, uncertain of what to say, and then finally cleared his throat.
Tank whirled around. "Good! You're up." He attempted a smile, but Neo was shocked at his appearance. Tank's normally tan skin had taken on a chalky pallor, and his eyes were rimmed with red, his usually enthusiastic, quick movements lethargic. The spark that had characterized Tank was gone, now replaced with a dull, lifeless look in his dark eyes.
"My God. Are you okay?"
Tank looked at him disbelievingly, then with dawning understanding. "You don't remember?" He then answered his own question. "But how could you, you were out cold almost immediately after we brought you back. You...do remember that Switch, Apoc and Mouse were...lost?"
Neo nodded. "Yeah," he dropped his eyes, suddenly saddened. They hadn't known him well and he hadn't really known them either- but it hurt, nevertheless.... they'd all been fighting for the same cause, after all.
"Dozer was, too." Tank's simple statement obviously cost him a lot; he swallowed hard before continuing. "Cypher terminated him. I got away with this;" and he lifted his shirt to show off a minimally bandaged burn, blackened and curling at the edges. "Don't you remember?"
"I think so...." Neo sank into the adjoining seat- Dozer's seat. "I'm... sorry," he said haltingly. He didn't know WHY he was sorry, save for the fact that Dozer had died, and somehow he, the One, couldn't save the kindly operator. He laid a hand on Tank's shoulder; the guy was obviously struggling not to cry. "Go ahead, man, let it all out."
Tank shook the moisture from his eyes in one swift motion. "Naw, I'm all cried out, I think. Got to get back to work." With that, he turned back to his computer and the codes.
"Where are...I mean, how would we....." he paused delicately.
Tank rubbed his eyes. "The bodies are lying in state over there," he indicated a room with one gloved hand. "They'll be buried when we reach Zion. You can go and see them if you want."
Neo shook his head. He didn't know if he could take it. Rising to his feet, he touched Tank lightly on the back. "You'll be okay."
"Oh, I know I will." Tank looked up at him, and a bit of light entered his eyes, even as a slight smile formed. "We've found the One. Dozer...would have been so happy. He's been at this even longer than me." Shrugging his shoulders slightly, he turned around once more.
Neo felt a slight chill come over his body. The One. He, Thomas Anderson/Neo, formerly of the Matrix, was the One, the savior of the REAL world. At that moment, he was filled with a quiet assurance that took him by surprise- he had never been more sure of that in his life. The One. Neo hoped that was a title he'd live up to.
The silence of the ship's helm was broken abruptly when Morpheus appeared seemingly out of nowhere, dropping heavily on his feet. Neo looked up to the ceiling just in time to see Trinity drop down as well, stirring up a small cloud of dust. Both disentangled themselves from the light harnesses they'd been suspended in, a smile on Morpheus' face "You're up," he said. "We've been making repairs on the ship."
"Yes," Neo replied. But his eyes were fixed on Trinity. Dressed in an enormous broadcloth shift that covered her entire body from her neck to her knees, she seemed to be looking anywhere but at his face. "It's good to see you up, Neo," she said to the top of his head.
He smiled and moved towards her, but she backed away, flushing slightly. Morpheus looked at the two of them, a small, pleased smile on his face. "Trinity, please see that Neo eats something. I must discuss some repair specifics with Tank." He walked over to where the younger man was sitting, and watched as the two walked into the small room used for dining purposes.
"You must eat, Neo. I know the food is less than...gourmet, but......regain your strength. This food contains many vitamins and various other things that you will need, as both your mind and your body have been through so much recently..." Trinity's hands moved nervously as she prepared a bowl for Neo, babbling nearly incoherently, as he watched her in shock. Trinity never babbled. She was acting so out of character, it was scary.
"Trin," he said, barely noticing that he'd used the abbreviation of her name usually used only by Dozer, Tank, or even Cypher. "Stop."
She did so.
Moving closer to her, he carefully pushed a lock of thick, dark hair off of her cheek, so he could look her straight in the eye.
She didn't move.
Slowly, carefully, he touched her lips with shaky fingers, outlining their shape, their feel. Neo truly didn't know what was coming over him. In the Matrix his girlfriends had been few and far between, often "normal" girls turned off by his obsession with the cyberworld. Around them he was often at best, sullen, or at worst, an awkward conversationalist with a tendency to space out on his date. Now, despite his nervousness, he felt more comfortable than he'd ever felt in his life.
Removing his fingers, he cautiously lowered his mouth to hers, taking in her huge, upturned eyes in a pale face, her icy fingers which now were moving on his jaw, warming at the contact.
When he pulled away, she lowered her eyes to the floor, placed his bowl off food in front of him, and made for the door with undignified haste. Leaping up from his chair as quickly as his weakened state allowed, he went after her but arrived at the doorway only in time to see her hook herself up to the harness and disappear up into the ceiling once more. Frustrated, he plopped down into his chair and dug half-heartedly into his meal.
Morpheus called a meeting in the main cabin shortly after Neo had eaten, and when they were all assembled, he tucked his hands inside his threadbare shirt and began to speak.
"As you all know, we've... had to be very vigilant as of late. The past...incidents upon this ship have led to the loss of some very beloved and very essential members of our crew."
"However, as you know, we have been shorthanded three crew members for some weeks. Thankfully, Neo is back with us, but the repairs on this ship will take far too much time and effort to complete in a reasonable amount of time, with the lack of a full crew.
"We are going to Zion," Morpheus finished. "We have not been there in some time, and I feel that Zion's resources are needed to complete the work on this ship. There we can make use of real mechanics, replenish our food supply... and bury our dead."
Tank's eyes flicked upward, then dropped, as he obviously thought of Dozer. But Neo noticed a subtle transformation in the room when Morpheus spoke of Zion. Heads were raised, light entered into eyes; Trinity even offered him a slight smile. Even Morpheus' voice sounded less morose. "Neo," he said. Neo looked up. "You will see Zion."
Neo nodded, unsure of what to say, but for some reason the statement filled him with excitement. He was going to see the real world now, as it was supposed to be- the last human city.
Morpheous turned from him and began speaking once more. "Tank received a very interesting transmission this morning," he said. He glanced over at Tank.
"Yep," the younger man replied. "It was a message from Creon. He's the captain of another ship much like ours- and a close friend to Morpheus," he added for Neo's benefit.
"He picked up our signal two days ago, which usually means he's pretty close to us. "Morpheus told Creon of our recent...troubles, and he's sending us a temporary crew member. She's skilled in programming and mechanics, and will be with us until we get to Zion, where Creon has an assignment for her."
Morpheus nodded in assertion. "To our advantage, this young woman has been a part of this crew before. Trinity, do you remember the hacker Vixen, by any chance?"
At the mention of that name, Trinity's head snapped up, and her eyes widened. "No," she breathed. "Vix's coming back?"
Morpheus' features melted into a smile, and so did Tank's. "Yup," Tank said, his grin back in full force. "Creon said she couldn't wait to get here."
Seeing the confusion on Neo's face, Trinity turned to speak to him, her eyes meeting his frankly for the first time that day. "Vixen is.....was Switch's twin sister. We were all recruited about the same time. We were all very close...of course we were all much younger then, still teenagers, like Mouse..." her eyes grew distant as she obviously lost herself in memories. Neo looked at her face, astounded. That was the longest speech he'd ever heard her make.
Quickly, she shook her head to clear it. "She was transferred because..."
"She wasn't serious," Morpheus said flatly, the smile gone. "Very immature. Also, she was having an affair with one of my crewmembers. Nothing is wrong with that, but when it interferes with your work, and makes you favor one crewmember over the other while inside the Matrix..." he shook his head.
"She was only trying to protect him, Morpheus," Trinity said softly to the captain. "She was very young."
"Trinity, you almost died because of her negligence. And all because of an affair. With Cypher!" Morpheus rested one fist against the cold steel pillar in the center of the cabin, brow furrowed. "Creon has assured me she has improved. I certainly hope so."
Trinity moved closer to him. "I didn't die, Morpheus. We didn't know then that Cypher would go rouge. And she is much older, as the rest of us are. You'll see."
Neo cleared his throat, not understanding this conversation, which was becoming increasingly private- and more emotional with each word. "Cypher? Affair? Trinity nearly killed?"
Startled, they both looked up at him, and Morpheus cleared his throat as well, shooting Trinity a warning look.
"You may all go back to your posts. Creon won't arrive till late today or tomorrow." He turned and was gone.
Like? Dislike? Please review- flames are welcome; they amuse me, but constructive critisiscm is greatly appreciated. Thanks.