The Song of Charity
Welcome To The Real World
As Morpheus walked her to the adjoining room, Charity studied everything. From each particle of dust on the floor, to the tiny cracks in the ceiling. The people waiting in the next room held no interest for her. All she cared about was what Morpheus was saying, and why Trinity hooking her up to monitors.
"Why are you hooking me up to machines?"
"So we'll be able to find you when you wake up."
This statement confused her, of course.
Wake up?
And where would I be when I wake up? she thought, and was about to ask that very question, when something on the floor caught her attention...
It moved.
As if something seethed beneath it. Coiled and ready to spring. Peering closer, it seemed to breathe. Moving towards her, and yet standing still.
Reaching out with her foot, she jumped back in surprise when the carpet clung to her shoe. Lifting her leg, she stretched it out like bubble gum. Morpheus' words began to meld together, becoming a quiet hum, as Charity watched the floor move up her leg, clinging.
Tilting her head for a better look, she watched as it swallowed her leg. And soon, it grew hot. Burning its way up to her waist. Gasping, she looked to Morpheus for help.
"Help!" she cried out, as it seared her arms and chest.
"Damn, we're losing her!" he swore.
"I'm tracking, I'm tracking!" someone yelled out
Trinity cursed. "Tank!" she yelled over the phone. "Find her! Quick! God damnit, hurry!"
One minute, Charity was burning, and in the next, all went dark.
* * * *
Oh My God!
What's going on?
Where am I?
What did they do to me?!
I'm suffocating. Can't breathe. What's wrong with my eyes? Have to get out. Have to...wake up.
Charity realized she couldn't move. Her limbs were like dead weight. Trying to push her panic to the back of her mind, she tested all her limbs, and found all of them limp, as if they'd been asleep for years. Struggling, she pushed, twisted herself to the surface, only to be blocked by a thin barrier. Feeling strangely like saran wrap, and moving like elastic.
Crying inside, Charity clawed intil she felt air against her fingers. Once that tiny break was accomplished, she surged through with all the power of fear behind her.
Stomach clenching, she tore at the cord running into her mouth, and down her throat. She gagged as it was finally free of her throat. So weak from that ordeal, all she could do was hang onto the side. Charity's lungs burnt as she took her first breath. But once her eyes opened, that breath got stuck into her throat.
Thousands upon thousands of pods. Full of people. Young, old. Dark, angry skies, blistering over head. And the smell. Of loneliness and sadness. Monsters in the distance. The whisper of evil surrounded her. Tears pouring out of weak eyes, Charity looked everywhere.
They had thrust her into her nightmares.
* * * *
"How is she?"
"She's healing remarkably fast. Though her muscles need to be totally rebuilt, her neurosignals are running up the scales like crazy." Farmer, the new physician, remarked.
He'd only been with them for a few months, since Neo's arrival. Though he wasn't much to look at, he was a wizard at his chosen profession.
Nodding his understanding, Neo patted Farmer's back, and moved to Trinity's side. "You seem troubled."
"I am" she remarked, eyes on Charity's thin, prone figure on the table.
"Care to share what's bothering you?" Neo asked softly, his warm gaze knowing.
"I would, if I had the words for it." Sighing, she laid her head on his shoulder. "She was so strong in the Matrix. But look at her now, Neo. She's so weak."
Rubbing his cheek against her hair, he watched as Charity's body twitched from Farmer's manipulations. Studying Morpheus, as he stayed close, helping to apply the heating needles, and close as many plugs as they could.
"She's only weak now, Trin. We all were, once."
Nodding, she closed her eyes briefly. Then walked away, not able to watch a woman she had come to admire, now in such a sad state.
"Hey, Trin!" Tank called out, sitting comfortably in his chair, by the console.
Lifting a brow, she went to him. He looked...excited.
"Take a look at this." Tank pointed to a screen, showing Charity's vitals. "Do you see what I see?"
Trinity couldn't believe it. It had to be a glitch. "That can't be right." Peering closer, Trinity realized that what she was seeing wasn't a glitch.
Charity was different for a reason. She was a hybrid.
* * * *
Charity slowly woke. Opening sore eyes, she stayed still, letting her eyes adjust to the darkness.
Where was Lily? No homey scents from Amy's kitchen, or laughter as Lily ran down the hallway...
Then she remembered. This wasn't her room, her home, or her world. She didn't know what this place was. Sitting took some effort, since her arms and legs didn't want to do what they were told.
Charity ran her hands over her head. And noticed that her hair was gone. All that remained of her long, red hair was now short strands that wanted to poke up at odd angles. Rubbing her hands over her face, she stopped the urge to cry.
Get a hold of yourself, damnit! "OK, now what?" she said aloud. "Yep, one step at a time. First... get up."
Moving her legs off the small cot, she stood unsteady. Bracing her hands against the wall, she took deep breaths, then stood straight. "Let's find out where everybody is, shall we?" But the heavy metal door was hard to open. Just before she was going to give up, it finally moved.
Leaning her head out first, Charity saw a dark metal structure, with odd beeps here and there.
But no one was around.
"Where is everyone?" she mumbled.
"Eating."
Startled, Charity spun around.
Short, thin, and balding, Farmer stood smiling at her. "Well, you woke up quicker than I expected. I was just about to check up on you."
He placed a hand on her forehead in the ageless gesture of concern. "How do you feel?"
Warily, Charity measured him. "Besides being entirely too confused for my state of mind, weak, and bald, I'm fine."
Chuckling, he offered his hand. "I'm Farmer."
Returning the gesture, Charity allowed herself a small smile. "Pleasure to met you."
"I bet your hungry. Come on, I'll take you on down." Turning, he lead the way down an extremely small stairway. Farmer entered an open doorway, and smiled at a large group of people.
Straying behind, Charity peered in, seeing a group of people, 9 in all, two of which looked to be twins.
"Morning all." Farmer greeted. "We have a guest." Smiling, he turned to Charity, and motioned for her to enter.
Hesitantly, with the blanket tugged tight around her, she went in, not knowing what to expect now.
Everyone stood, while Morpheus moved to her side. "Charity! We didn't expect to see you up and about yet. How are you feeling?" Grabbing her arms, he guided her to a chair.
"Fine. Thanks." she mumbled, though she felt anything but fine. Looking around at the sea of faces, her gaze locked with Neo's.
Eyes warm and friendly, he went to her. "Hello Charity, My name's Neo."
Acknowledging that with a slight movement of her head, she continued to stare.
"You know Trinity and Morpheus, of course."
Upon seeing Trinity, Charity felt relief to see another familiar face.
"Our operator, Tank. Then Sid, Celeste, Cruiser, and Brace." Neo introduced.
"So." she asked anyone in general. "Do I get to find out what's going on now, or do I get to wait some more?" Charity asked, smiling warily.
Nudging Trinity, Neo chuckled. "Anytime you're ready."
"Ok. I'm ready."
"Of course. Lets get to it." Morpheus said, and helped Charity to her feet.
Leading her out of the kitchen, Charity suddenly felt a chill, and an unexpected urge to run in the opposite direction. Stomping down her fears, she kept close to Morpheus' back. Peeking around Morpheus' back, Charity could see a large console, with several computer screens, with odd looking chairs surrounding it. They reminded her of dental chairs, and looked just as creepy.
"What's this?" she asked, perplexed.
"This is my ship, the Nebuchadnezzar. Here we watch The Matrix, and those in it."
"A ship? What year is it?" she whispered, the fear growing, and forming a solid lump in her stomach. God, she thought, this is like a bad sci-fi movie.
"That we don't know, precisely. But we believe it to be around the year 2199. Possibly a little later than that." Morpheus answered quietly, and watched as Charity tried to take that bit of info in.
"2199?" she repeated, her voice thin. "What's going on?"
Morpheus put his hands on her shoulders, to steady her, as she began to weave. "I will try to take this slow, and answer all the questions you must have." Guiding her to a chair, rubbed his hand over the short, red spikes on her head. "Just lean back. This will feel weird." Seeing the look on her face, Morpheus nearly smiled.
"Trust me."
"Yeah. Uh huh." she replied, eyes closed. Then she felt a sharp entry at the back of her head, and within a neosecond, she was in a different room, all white, with no walls, ceiling, or floor. Rubbing her hands over her head in frustration, she noticed it was back!
What the hell?
"This is our loading construct. We can load anything from training exercises, to guns, clothes, furniture. Whatever we need."
Whirling around, she saw Morpheus, dressed much like he was when she first saw him. He stood right behind her, his eyes hidden behind dark sunglasses.
"This is a...computer program? We're in a computer program?" she asked, shocked.
"Yes." Pointing to a set of chairs, that just seemed to appear, along with a TV. "Go on, touch it."
Charity placed her hands on the back, feeling the rough texture of ill-treated leather. She could even smell the dust when she moved her hands over it, disturbing its rest.
"This isn't real? But, I can feel it... in my hands, and smell it. Hell, I'm breathing!"
"Are you?" Settling himself comfortably in a chair, he gazed at her thoughtfully. "Or is it perhaps, just your brain telling you its real. Its senses are loaded with what we traditionally think is real, but who's to say it is?"
Charity stared hard at him, trying to figure out what the hell he meant. Intil it hit her, knocking the breath from her. Plopping into the empty chair she stared at him, her mouth open.
"The Matrix" she whispered. "That's what this is, isn't it?"
Nodding his head slightly, he turned towards the TV.
"The world you know, is nothing but a computer generated program, linking every human within it to the Matrix. Its a dream world, Charity, in which hundreds of thousands of humans are trapped, and don't know it." When he looked back, he could see that her face had gone white in shock, her eyes glued to him.
"How?" she whispered, afraid of the answer.
With a push of the button on the remote in his hands, he transported them to a dark, stormy rock. Winds whistled around them, as the sky over head clashed.
"We're not sure how, or why, but we do know that sometime in the 21st century, humans were at peace. And then...we became gods, by creating A.I."
At Charity's sharp look, he nodded. "Yes, Artificial Intelligence."
"I don't know what happened, except these machines spawned more, intil a new race walked this earth. And it was only after the damage was done, did we humans realize what happened. There was a war. Thinking we could beat them, by destroying their energy source, we scorched the skies. But they found a new source of energy. One that can produce more sonic energy than the sun."
Charity knew what was coming, and but closed her eyes against it. The thought was too horrible, too evil to understand fully.
"Humans...." she whispered, tears starting to fill her eyes.
Saying nothing, Morpheus gazed into the TV, as a child was brought up on screen.
"Somehow, they've managed to reproduce the human body, and drain the brain of its never ending supply of energy. To keep us under control, they then created the Matrix."
Charity moved to the TV as the picture showed huge machines, picking tiny pods off of large stems. She watched as it showed them attaching the wires and plugs, feeding these babies the dead, by IV. It all became too much for her to bear. These images, so like her nightmares, started to fill her mind.
Choking back a sob, she sank to her knees, touching a now blank screen. "Please, let me out."
Turning her tear-stained face to Morpheus, she shouted, "Let me out!"
