AN: This was already written so I thought I might post it. There should be two more chapters with in 2 months.

"Good day." A young Zion born came out of the shadows and extended her hand towards Apoc. He took her offered hand and shook it. "Welcome aboard the Scorpio. I am Chetta."

Her long curly hair was left out, wild but looked pretty on her full frame. She looked only a few years older than Apoc and Switch. Her smile was wide and inviting so the group of newbies followed her as she went straight to the main deck. Splinter hung back a little as Mouse, Fox and Apoc went up the ladder. She watched as Apoc disappeared up the hole and then Kitten. Switch threw a glance over to Splinter and Splinter smiled as Switch climbed the ladder too. Splinter waited a moment before entering the main deck through that hole as well.

"...am Storm, the Captain of this hovercraft. This is Pandora, our ship's doctor, Chord, our engineer and you have already met Chetta, she's our computer technician. They are my crew." A loud voice hit Splinter's ears as she crept out of the hole. She looked around at Storm's crew. Storm was unplugged and looked in her late forties. Her arms were covered in the minute scars and the input/output plug was strikingly evident under her short blonde hair. "You will be staying with us for three days. In that time this is not a vacation. You will do as asked and you will be a part of my crew."

They all nodded, taking in the large main deck, filled with electrical cords, computer screens and even seven old chairs, lined up in a semi circle, covered in dust.

"I will need to see you all some time in these three days for a complete physical. No sickies are allowed on the hovercrafts." Pandora spoke, casting a glance over the six. Pandora was another unplugee, probably in her late thirties, early forties. Her long brunette hair that came down below her waist in a long braid punctuated her slight frame well. "If any of you have anything, you will have to be brought back to Zion."

She turned and left the room. Chetta started the engines and the ship shuddered. The six newcomers nearly fell over each other. They righted themselves and then waited as Storm manoeuvred the Scorpio out of the boarding docks and out into the sewers.

"So, you didn't need supplies?" Fox asked, putting down a small bag he had. Storm looked at him and left the room, which confused them all.

"What's the deal with her?" Asked Switch, she studied the old plug in chair closest to her. Fox and Kitten sat down on one of the chairs, Apoc stood with his arms crossed over his chest, Mouse was lying in the plug in chair that Switch was studying and Splinter stood near the hole they came up in, looking at all the computers in the room.

"She's a little eccentric." Chord replied. He was Zion born, bald and had a rather contagious grin. He looked in his early thirties. "And no, we didn't need supplies. We are on a special mission. Just to get you four up to your parents. Fox and Kitten are just tagging along."

Kitten and Fox grinned at Chord as the other four smiled softly in embarrassment. Chord grinned again.

"Look, why doesn't Fox, Apoc and Mouse come with me." He turned to look at Chetta. "Would you take the girls to the women's quarters?"

Chetta smiled kindly at Splinter, whom looked very alienated. She moved off to the right with Kitten, Switch and Splinter following her as Chord moved off to the left with Fox, Apoc and Mouse following him.

~~~

"Here are the lovely women's quarters." Chetta walked into the women's quarters. The three girls filed in after her and looked around the room. It was long, nearly four metres wide and very long. Chetta turned and placed her hand on the wall near the door; lights flickered on along the rooms ceiling. The room itself was rather long, many crude mattresses lined the wall on the right side. The three girls followed Chetta down the long corridor like room into another room. The end opened out into a large room on the end, like an L shape. The room contained a bathroom on one side, a kitchen, a dining room and to their amazement an old ping pong table.

Taking the bed nearest the room, Splinter put her bag down and sat down on the bed, waiting. Switch took the bed next to Splinter, Kitten next to her. They could see that Storm occupied the one closest to the door, Pandora next to her and Chetta was next.

The walls were a dull grey metal. Just like the rest of the ship. Splinter turned and placed her hand against the wall next to her bad and to her surprise, it was warm.

"It's warm." She told Switch, moving to kneel on her bed, both hands against the wall. Switch and Kitten copied her by kneeling on their beds and placing both their hands against the metal too.

Switch moved over to touch the opposite wall. "This side is cold." She told the two.

"Yes, the walls the beds are lined on is next to the engine room. It saves on heating." Chetta told them, going over to the sink and turning on the tap. There was a thumping sound and the tap shook until water rushed out into the waiting cup Chetta had under it. "Anybody else want some?"

"No thanks." Came the replies of the three girls, followed by the shakings of three heads.

The three newcomers wandered around the room they were to stay in for the next three days. Chetta watched them, intrigued. Switch looked at lot like her famous father with his eyes but with her bleached hair and boyish figure, she looked even more like the infamous hacker Switch who died not long before she was born. She was still a very beautiful woman, thanks to her mother and fathers genes.

Splinter looked the exact copy of her mother. She had the same thin but beautiful face, the perfect figure, grey eyes that pierced, black hair that she grew long, unlike her mother. She was an after thought, unplanned according to the cyber papers. Also very smart and talented with a computer was the story on the girl.

Chetta emptied her glass and placed it down on the table. "C'mon, I'll show you the rest of the ship."

~~~

"One more corridor to the left," Chord rounded the left corner and Apoc, Fox and Mouse followed. "...and here we are." He pushed open a heavy metal door to reveal a large square room with beds lining one wall. The room was long enough to have five beds along one side. The rest of the room was a kitchen a living room and a play room all in one with the bathroom off to the side in an adjoining room. Lining the opposite wall to the beds was a fridge in one corner, a sink, benches with cupboards underneath them and above and then there was a small oven in the corner.

"My bed in the one near the door." Chord told them, moving into the room and sitting down on the couch in the middle of the room. Next to it was a table with four chairs. He indicated that they drop their things down. Fox took the bed in the corner, Apoc next and then Mouse.

"Come on, I'll show ya the rest of the ship." He got up again as the silence got to him and the three followed him out of the room, Apoc turning the light off as he went.

~~~

Splinter was fascinated at the ship. They followed Chetta down deeper into the ship, every left, right, down, up was lost to her as suddenly they were back on the main deck where all the computers were. She was totally drawn in by them.

"Hey, um, Chetta." She called out, as Chetta went to show them where Pandora was. Chetta stopped and watched her. "Ah, could I stay here and look these computers over?"

Chetta agreed. "They haven't been used in nearly 20 years. Not since the Matrix was destroyed. There's a whole stack of disks in the store room if you can find it."

Switch smiled at her little sister's inquisitive mind. She knew that The Matrix computers would entice her. "I'll see you soon k?"

Splinter nodded at her sister, not listening to her. She got into the Operators chair slowly and turned on the computers. A soft whirring caught her ears and sounded to her like purring. The main screen flickered once but no image came on. She tried tapping a few keys into the keyboard in front of her but nothing. Guessing it was connected to the Matrix she gave up on it.

So then she tried a different computer. Nothing happened. She tried re-connecting it to the Zion mainframe.

"Bingo." Images flashed across her screen, thousands of images in just a few seconds. "Woah."

These computers were way faster than her laptop. She was amazed at how fast it really was. She typed in a few digits she knew off her memory and she was in. The Zion mainframe whizzed past her eyes so fast she nearly didn't catch it. Then she saw something she wanted to play with.

"Hmm, lights to the city." She giggled softly, bringing them online. She brought up a program behind it to make sure no-one could trace it. She looked again at the Zion electricity. She rerouted the lights to the city to the computer on her right and she kept an eye on it. Then she tapped into her laptop, downloaded a virus onto the left of her and spent the next 10 minutes changing it slightly to suit a new purpose.

Setting it up, she rerouted all the other screens to show major security cameras. She pressed enter and suddenly all the light on the cameras went out. Then they flickered on, then off. Splinter started to laugh at the surprised people rushing around Zion. A sudden noise startled her and she spun in her seat to see Pandora watching her from a few meters away.

"How long have you been there?" Splinter asked, knowing with all the evidence around her she was up for a long stay in juvenile detention. Even with her parents intervention. She watched Pandora walk up silently to her, then past her to run her fingers over the screen where Zion's lights were online.

"Long enough." She replied. Splinter spun in the chair again, this time towards the screens, watching Pandora. Quickly she cut the connection to the Zion mainframe, covering her tracks with two little buttons and shut down the computers. She watched Pandora walk around the computers and behind them, looing at Splinter through the cracks between each screen.

"I grew up in the Matrix. I loved to play with computers, they were a security blanket." She walked around the computers to stand in front of Splinter. "I won't tell on you okay?"

Pandora's good natured grin startled Splinter but she smiled too.

"When I was first taken out of the Matrix I was the operator. I sat right in this chair." She pointed to the chair Splinter was sitting in and Splinter slid out of it to make room for Pandora. "I loved it because it meant I never had to go back into the Matrix."

"Look, I'm sorry about fiddling with the lights, I get an itch and I need to scratch. It usually turns out to be a big prank." Splinter tried to reason with Pandora but was cut off as Pandora started to laugh. "What?"

"Oh honey, you are quite a character, we're gunna love you on the Scorpio. We haven't had a kid on here since Chords cousin. She was a sweetie. Although," She pondered for a second, "...I do recall the walls were a nice shade of crayons."

Splinter laughed at Pandora and realised she just made a friend.

"Your secret is safe with me Splinter." Pandora whispered. "Be a little more discreet next time, and make sure Storm doesn't find out."

Splinter nodded. "How about I have that check up now?"

"Okay then." Pandora grinned and directed Splinter down to her 'doctors office'.