AN: Hey everyone! Well, October's here and it's time for two things. One is something I'm usually excited about and the other is, well, something I usually see as an annoyance since all it does is get in the way of one of my favorite TV shows. The first is, of course, Halloween! I like decorating the house for Halloween and this year I'm doing a haunted pirate theme for the front windows of the house I live in. Sort of like Pirates of the Caribbean but not quite since it won't have anything to do with the movie or the characters in it. The other October events are the playoff games before the baseball World Series. Usually, because my NY Mets aren't playing, the playoffs aren't exactly exciting. This year, though, since the Mets are in the playoffs, things are a bit more interesting. Actually, I'm going to Game 1 at Shea Stadium (home of the New York Mets) and, even though I'm sitting in the nosebleeds, it still should be a good time. Anywho, I think this story should be coming to a close sooner rather than later. Don't worry, though, I'm 99.99 sure there's a sequel for this story. Thanks for all the reviews for my little misadventure! I really do appreciate them.
Disclaimer: I own nothing except the characters I made up and their Real World alter egos. I don't own The Matrix, The Animatrix, or any of that cool stuff. I'm broke and in graduate school studying biology. All I own are my Pointe shoes.
"Nobody
knows where they might end up
Nobody knows
Nobody knows where
they might wake up
Nobody knows
Nobody knows where they might
end up
Nobody knows
Nobody knows where they might wake
up
Nobody knows…" (From "Cosy in the Rocket" by Psapp)
Mouse yawned widely, looking more like a reptile that his vermin namesake, and spooned of what the others on the ship creatively called food into his mouth. Sleep was the last thing on his mind at the moment. There were several things on his mind- including a project he'd been asked to start- driving sleep from it. That said, he was awake and having a very early breakfast.
Though it seemed like something that should bother him, the single celled protein everyone on the ship ate didn't faze him in the least. As a matter of fact, it reminded him of the oatmeal his mother use to make him before he went to school in the Matrix.
"What's going on, Pix?" he asked, watching as the ship's still healing medical trainee wander into the room blearily rubbing her eyes., "Can't sleep either?"
With her threadbare blanket wrapped around her shoulders, partly pulled over her head like a cloak, Pixie gave Mouse a tired smile. The bruises on her body and face were starting to fade and the pounding in her head was nearly gone. She was starting to look more and more like her usual self instead of the beat up look Hawk had given her.
Still some of the bruises on her body- the deep ones that were on her bones- were bothering her and the persistent cold on the ship wasn't helping any either. She'd taken to wearing another sweater over what she deemed her "pajama" sweater just to try and stave off the cold.
"Nah, I'm just not tired anymore. I was ever one for sleeping anyway," Pixie answered with a shrug.
She walked over to the tap, trying not to frown as the machine gave her a serving of what passed for food. Pixie liked her job quite a bit but she did miss being able to eat solid food. The medic tried not to think about how much what she had in her dish reminded her of mashed brains or worse.
Mouse smiled slightly at her response and waved as another figure entered the mess hall. Much to Pixie's chagrin, Hawk had entered the room just after her.
The two of them were being oddly formal with one another since her victory over him in their challenge. He hadn't issued any return challenges but Pixie wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing. It made her very nervous; actually, as some small part of her was convinced the other boy had something else planed. Knowing Hawk, it had to be something very bad.
The last third of the rookie trio sat down across from Mouse and Pixie. Silenced reigned in the room as Mouse continued his eating and Pixie poked at her food. She wasn't entirely sure she was hungry but Pixie knew she had to eat something. Being elbow deep in some machine she was repairing and hungry was not something she relished.
Still it was hard to eat when one wasn't exactly hungry and uncomfortable under Hawk's probing gaze.
"So," Mouse started, breaking the uncomfortable silence in the room, "What's everyone been up to?"
Without waiting for their answers, Mouse launched into an explanation of the new Agent Training program he had been asked to create. Pixie had heard about Mouse's latest task from someone else on the ship. She hadn't heard of any of the specifics of the project but it seemed to make both Mouse and Hawk very happy.
That was reason enough to make Pixie nervous. She could think of only a few things that might make both rookie males happy.
Still wearing a leering smile- The smile more of a result of Mouse's description of his new project.- Hawk began explaining how he'd been asked to do some "very sensitive" repair work on the hull of the ship. According to his own words, he was given the job because he was the most skilled person on the ship.
That fact, Pixie knew, was not true. If anything, the three of them were still learning the ropes, as it was, on the ship. They weren't exactly extraordinarily skilled at anything. The exception to that might have been Mouse who was known for his programming skills.
Pixie, herself, had been kept busy, mostly with repairs and mild injuries. If she wasn't stuck between two tight pieces of machinery in the bowels of the large ship, she was in the medical bay working with Dozer either on more repair work- since the machines in the medical bay always seemed to need tuning up- or helping him treat small, nagging injuries.
"Does anyone know what has the rest of the crew all excited?" Mouse questioned, changing the subject all of a sudden.
The fact the rest of the ship's crew was excited was enough to make Mouse excited. Any number of things could be happening- from freeing a new mind to getting into the Matrix- and Mouse was ready for any of them. Ready in theory anyway, maybe not in practice.
"Maybe we're going back to Zion," Hawk answered, hopefully, "there are a few girls who'd like to get to know the Hawkster, if you catch my drift."
Mouse laughed, getting Hawk's joke, and Pixie felt a blush creep into her cheeks. Anything that might be remotely considered off colored could make Pixie blush. Not exactly her best quality but it still happened no matter how much she tried to hide it.
"I don't think we're going to Zion," Pixie said, interrupting Hawk's running tally of how many girlfriends he had had in Zion, "even though I wouldn't mind going back home either. I haven't seen my friends in a long time and I miss them."
"What makes you think that?" Hawk retorted, throwing Pixie an angry look.
"Well, I heard Morpheus talking about checking out some older broadcast positions that haven't been used in a while," Pixie countered, ignoring Hawk's glare by staring at the worn tabletop before her, "I think someone's going into the Matrix soon."
"I think you're confused," Hawk commented, "Back me up here, Mouse."
"Actually, I think Pixie might be right. I heard Trinity talking to Morpheus about it the other day," Mouse added, confirming what Pixie had said.
Hawk's frown deepened for a moment. He, like Pixie and, most likely, Mouse, hadn't been in the Matrix since their respective freeings. Part of him was curious about what had changed in the false reality since he'd last been in it.
Uncomfortable silence partially forgotten, their conversation turned to what they missed most in the Matrix. Pixie had little to say on the topic. The Matrix didn't hold very many good memories for her and, thus, there was very little she missed.
If anything, the only thing she missed was being able to see the sun and the sky. From what she'd heard, there was no sun on the surface now and the sky had been turned black. A far cry from the blue sky she use to be able see from the window in her room back in the Matrix.
A creak of the door that separated the mess hall from the rest of the ship made the trio of rookies stop speaking. Three sets of eyes turned to see who had interrupted their conversation.
"What's going on sir?" Hawk spoke, his tone far more casual than it had any right to be considering who he was speaking to.
"Finish your meals and then come to the Core," Morpheus informed the three young people, his voice brooking no complaints.
He was giving an order and they weren't to question him. It was a tone Pixie rarely ever heard the captain use. He did give orders, true, but they seemed more like suggestions to her. Strong suggestions to be sure but they weren't true orders either. There was a fine contrast between the two and Pixie figured Morpheus managed to make that contrast clear.
"Why?" Hawk wanted to know, "Maybe I had other plans today."
Morpheus gave Hawk a look that made Pixie look down at the table and feel like she'd been reprimanded. The reaction wasn't the same for Hawk who was still, boldly, staring at the dark skinned captain. He, apparently, missed the warning in the captain's dark eyed glare.
"We'll be broadcasting soon so I would appreciate it if you hurried. Our window is finite and I'd rather not waste it," Morpheus answered, not really answering Hawk's question.
He nodded at Mouse and Pixie, who were eating at a more rapid pace, and threw another look at Hawk before leaving the room. The door closed behind him with the creak of rusting metal. Pixie wouldn't have faulted Morpheus if he'd slammed the door in frustration.
"Broadcasting?" Hawk asked, not sure what was going on, "What's he going on about now? I agree with Cypher, Morpheus is nuts."
Mouse threw a dirty look in Hawk's direction. The programmer had been waiting to hear those words for a very long time. Since he'd come onto the ship, as a matter of fact.
"He's taking us into the Matrix," Mouse half said, half exclaimed, "Finally!"
"I wonder, why though," Pixie commented, speaking softly, "we're not scouting for new potentials or making a drop or anything like that. Taking a random trip into the Matrix doesn't seem very safe either what with the Agents and all."
Since passing her three tests, Pixie had been considering her options when it came to entering the Matrix. She wanted to go in only if to see what it was like, to see if the opening of her eyes to the real "Real World" would change how she saw things in the matrix, and to test out her skills.
The latter, though, was very optional. Pixie had already decided she wanted nothing to do with Agents or anything like them. Better to behave like a virtual ghost in the machine and go into and out of the Matrix without being detected. Pixie wasn't entirely sure that was possible but she figured she could hope.
Whenever she though about going back into the Matrix, though, the "whatifs" came to play in her head. What if she saw someone she use to know? What if that person still recognized her and wanted to know where she was or why she wasn't dead? The latter question seemed the less likely of the two. She looked radically different now, no longer being sickly. Plus, Pixie fancied she'd grown up some since leaving the Matrix. The differences between her at fifteen and her now were small but still there.
No matter what fears and misgivings she had about going back to the Matrix, Pixie wasn't one to buck an order and she was curious. A dangerous combination to say the least as she shoveled the last of her vile looking food in her mouth, washing it down with some tepid water from the tap. Both she and Mouse seemed to be in a race to see who would finish first.
The race continued as they made their way to the Core, each trying to out outstrip the other. Hawk, for his part, sauntered behind the pair, taking his sweet time. Pixie wasn't sure that was the brightest thing for him to be doing but she wasn't going to say anything to him. It was his problem if he wanted to get into trouble.
The Core seemed to be busier than normal, in Pixie's opinion, as everyone prepared to jack into the Matrix. She'd only managed to get into the room seconds before Mouse and that was only because she'd shimmied in front of him to gain access to the ladder first. Being slight had its benefits in strange ways, sometimes.
"Sir, where are we going?" Pixie asked, as she was pointed to one of the few unoccupied chairs in the room.
The question had, sort of, slipped out. Pixie hadn't meant to ask it aloud and that fact was plain as day on her sheepish looking face. She figured that her curiosity would be assuaged sooner or later so asking was a moot point. Still, the question had slipped out.
"He's taking you to see the Oracle," Cypher blurted, "Got to make sure none of them are the big, bad One, right, captain?"
Pixie looked to her captain for an affirmation on that fact. She, like anyone who lived in Zion, heard of the Oracle. Torrent had mentioned her once or twice, never giving any details in front of her or Eli. Chian, too, had gone to see her but that conversation ended quickly. She hadn't been keen on talking about anything related to the Oracle either.
"Yes Pixie, we're going to see the Oracle. It's time for you and the others to see her," Morpheus confirmed, before turning back to setting up his own equipment.
Pixie gave a small shrug, not really sure what to make of the information either way. She wasn't sure why Torrent and Chian hadn't been keen on speaking about the Oracle but she figured she was about to learn why.
