Part One

The future.

A world torn apart by a century of conflict between humans and machines.

In response, the machines created a false reality for humans to live within, away from the nightmare. They called it the "Matrix."

Humans ultimately submitted themselves to punishment.

The machines used their bodies for energy, since the scorched skies robbed them of the solar energy necessary for their prolonged functionality. Just as humans used machines as objects, machines have done the same to them.

Only the abilities of a single man, born inside the Matrix, changed everything.

His name was Neo, but those familiar with the Prophecy knew him as "The One."

Morpheus had the honor to know him as something else: a friend.

It had been fourteen years since peace was established between humans and machines, and since the defeat of Agent Smith at the sacrifice of Neo and another trusted ally, Trinity.

In all that time, Morpheus refused to give up the hope that Neo still lived, presumably in the Matrix. Once after the machines claimed his body in Smith's defeat, they had to have placed it back there.

However, as many times as Morpheus went into the Matrix, he could find no trace of Neo or whatever new presumed identity the machines gave him – Thomas Anderson no longer existed in the new incarnation. As such, Morpheus led a new expedition aboard their hovercraft,Nebuchadnezzar II.

He had been meditating in his quarters when Niobe – his bunkmate, wife, and mother of their six-year-old son back in Zion – confronted him.

"This is a fool's crusade, Morpheus," said Niobe. "Respect Neo's legacy and go back home. The war's over. It's been over for years."

"I know, Niobe. But I have to be sure. I promise, we will return home, once I have been given the answers I am seeking. I must meet with the Oracle."

There was a knock at the iron vaulted door.

Morpheus permitted entry for the person on the other side.

It was Link, one of the two operators they had aboard the Nebuchadnezzar II.

"We're ready," he informed Morpheus.

They followed him to the operator console where the other two members of their crew, Ghost and Sparks, waited.

The crew of the Nebuchadnezzar II was in fact two from past separate hovercrafts joined together. Niobe, Ghost, and Sparks once manned the ship codenamed Logos, while Morpheus and Link were the last remaining members of the original Nebuchadnezzar. Both ships perished in the final war.

The Nebuchadnezzar II was the largest of the hovercraft docked in Zion, if not the sole one remaining in the city. It was trusted to Morpheus and Niobe, following their efforts in the war, meant merely for expedition or retrieval of freed souls from the Matrix.

Morpheus and Ghost were the only two going in, with Niobe choosing to stay behind and captain the ship in Morpheus's place.

"When you see the Oracle, let her know I blame all this on her," Niobe jested.

Morpheus could only smile at his wife before he was officially jacked in.

"Haven't we already been this way?!"

"No, I specifically remember that wall."

"It looks like the same friggin' wall we passed by minutes ago!"

"Really? I remember it looking differently."

"Ugh! I'm tellin' ya, we're going 'round in circles!"

Ryuko Matoi had been a passenger of the Type-Z model T.A.R.D.I.S. for a short time now, which made navigating around the interior of the massive Gallifreyan ship extremely difficult.

The aid of Senketsu, her sentient sailor uniform (a kamui), was of no help.

He was just as lost as she was.

"Let's take a right here," he suggested.

"We've already been that way," Ryuko griped.

"How do you know?! All the halls look the same!"

"You just said they looked different!"

Their bickering ceased once they heard movement from one of the nearest rooms.

Following the noise, Ryuko happened upon an area where she found Gen, the Time Lady responsible for this new interdimensional journey she was on. The blonde, who was as young as she appeared but in fact centuries old, fiddled with a network of machines connected to a single chair at its center.

"About time I found you," Ryuko said. "What're you doing in here?"

"I've finally decided to tamper with the Matrix of Time," she relayed.

Ryuko frowned. "The what?"

"A Gallifreyan supercomputer capable of creating a micro-universe," Gen elaborated. "The High Council of the Time Lords once used it as a storehouse of knowledge to predict future events."

"Okay…," a bewildered Ryuko uttered. "So, pretending I understood any of that, what're you going to do with it?"

"Well, seeing that one exists in my own T.A.R.D.I.S., I'm essentially one of the Keepers of the Matrix. So, for the first time in my travels, I'm going to use it. All I need is your assistance in maintaining its operation."

Ryuko's eyes bulged. "You want me to do what?! I don't know the first thing about this…thing!"

"I'll give you some quick pointers before you jack me in," Gen assured. "I need your help, Ryuko. Without it, my mind could be lost forever to the system."

"Yeah, we definitely wouldn't want that," Ryuko coyly stated.

It always felt as if there were more lost souls populating the Matrix every time Morpheus went in. Very few would accept the red pills these days, opting instead to continue life in the artificial world, in spite of learning the truth.

Things were easier when we had Neo, he subconsciously reflected.

Crossing the city park, Morpheus and Ghost found a young, elegant woman of African descent sitting on a bench and eating a piece of candy.

For a moment, they wondered: could this have been the Oracle in a new form?

"Welcome back, Morpheus," she said.

Indeed, she was the Oracle.

"You look different," he indicated her newer, younger face.

"Felt like I needed a change," the Oracle said with a smile that complemented her new beauty. "You've come here to ask about Neo again, haven't you? For the past fourteen years, we've met here in this same park, since our worlds made peace, and you've asked me the same questions again and again. I know how desperate you are to find him, Morpheus. But I can't tell you where he is. Neo's body died in the real world. His spirit is beyond even my understanding."

Her answer was cryptic, but Morpheus interpreted it in his own atypical way.

"Then there's hope he still exists somewhere in the Matrix."

"Don't put too much hope in this prophecy, Morpheus," she warned. "There's a dark presence that's grown here in the last few years. And it's made me quite uneasy."

Gen had not expected for the Matrix of Time to produce such a setting as a well-populated city. Then again, Time Lord technology was unpredictable – her own T.A.R.D.I.S. being a prime example of that. Nonetheless, she relished in stepping into the virtual reality for the first time.

Everything felt so real – from the heat of the sun to the concrete beneath her feet.

She rounded a corner into a dark alley that led to an empty courtyard.

"O.K., Ryuko," she addressed the thin air. "You can pull me out now."

A minute had passed before she realized that she was still in the simulation.

Multiple scenarios began to run through her mind, such as Ryuko's inability to operate the supercomputer controls, despite the simple tutorial Gen gave her. Of course, "simple" to a Time Lord might as well have meant "complex" to the common human.

"Having…trouble?"

She turned to find a man dressed as a Secret Service or F.B.I. agent, complete with squared sunglasses and an earpiece.

"Uh…no?" Gen answered in confusion, questioning how a virtual construct such as this one could be capable of interaction. As far as she knew, the Matrix of Time was unqualified of such design.

"Oh…but I believe you are…" the agent claimed, speaking with a voice reminiscent of Carl Sagan, noticeably pausing at odd places in his sentences. "In fact…I would say…you don't belong here."

A sickening smile manifested on his face as he threateningly advanced on her.