Author's Note: Some would say this theory was all but canonized in the sequels. Some would say it wasn't. What is truth?
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"There's something odd," Neo said, arms folded behind his head as he stared up at the ceiling. Trinity shifted beside him.
"What?"
"I go from my mundane, dissatisfying punch-clock life as a nerdy programmer to the messiah of the daring resistance fighters who have broken free of their mundane, dissatisfying lives in order to discover the truth of reality... I gain superpowers - albeit only in the Matrix - without any effort, just by believing in myself vigorously enough... I instantly have an 'in' with a major figure in the resistance, and the most beautiful woman in the operation-"
"Flattery is trite."
"-it's not flattery, it's an affirmation that I have working eyes. As I was saying, the most beautiful woman soon falls in love with me, as was prophesied by - an oracle, somehow. An oracle within the Matrix, mind - how does she know anything about what people outside the Matrix will do? Finally, I stage a daring rescue of my mentor - one in which I mow down enormous numbers of innocent cannon fodder, but it's okay because they can all be taken over by the Agents anyway, so there are no real civilians in this war - that has a dramatic moment when I seem to die, but getting kissed by a woman for the first time literally brings me back from the dead. I knew I was desperate, but that much? And then I become Superman..."
Trinity tapped her fingers on his chest. "So what are you saying?"
"I'm out of the Matrix." He shifted under the covers; they felt strangely uncomfortable. "And yet... all of this seems more like an escapist fantasy plot than my life within the illusion. And the most telling thing about the Matrix is that absolutely every signal that reaches the brain seems real. It's almost as if... Trinity, have you ever wondered if the Matrix has a special subroutine for those who express dissatisfaction with their lives in the Matrix? One in which those of us who find the whole thing unreal are given a world in which we're told it was unreal but this one is real... one specially designed for all of us to play out dramatic, exciting lives as freedom fighters, so we can feel wise and fulfilled and... be happy?"
Trinity paused.
if human . emotion == "skeptical":
_ _ _ trinity = LoveInterest("Trinity", "female")
_ _ _ trinity . get_reassurance()
"We all have thoughts like this, Neo," she said eventually, "but we all find they do us no good. If it were true, we wouldn't be able to do anything about it, would we?" She shrugged. "We'll need to go on another mission in a few hours. You should get some sleep."
"But-"
while human . get_response() . is_objection():
_ _ _ trinity . insist_on("compliance")
"Go to sleep."