Chapter Two
Jolene heard her father's uneven snore
Right then she knew there must be something more
Jolene heard the singing in the forest
She opened the door quietly and stepped into the night.
-Cake, 'Jolene'
You like him, don't you? You like watching him.
Trinity sat in the core, watching the matrix coding scroll down the black screens all around her. The monotonous hum of the tech gear brought back Cypher's words, and the memory of herself sitting at this very spot watching Neo in his never-ending search for the Matrix.
Trinity thought of Neo now, who was currently helping Switch and Apoc in the kitchen, tending to the little hydroponically grown vegetables and other feeble crops. His hair had grown out enough to almost warrant a cut, now. Trinity allowed herself a small smile as she pictured herself doing that task for him, blowing tiny remnants of hair off the back of his neck-
"Forget it, Trinity. Just forget it," She told herself aloud. The Oracle had, however politely, made it clear that to love Neo was to seal his fate. Trinity hopefully clung to the Oracle's perpetual ambiguity, believing that she meant something entirely different to Trinity's interpretation. But there are only so many ways you can interpret that.
So Trinity had resigned herself to not admitting her feelings, at least for now, and finding someone else to be the One.
Funny- Trinity, and indeed, everyone around her, had always seen herself to be incredibly strong and confident. But when it came to Neo, it seemed she had trouble even being honest with herself.
Turning back to the green code in front of her, Trinity placed her attention back on Denmark- well, the Denmark of the Matrix. Astral, the young hacker she had been watching and, well, baiting for the last little while wasn't looking anymore- dammit! She had been so close. Almost as close as Neo had been- if she had only remained five more minutes.
A soft clanging of boots on metal caught her attention as Mouse entered the core- looking, as he always did now, a little worse for wear. Poor kid- he slept badly, if at all, and the nightmares were worse than ever now- he refused to talk to anyone about them. Even to her.
"Everything ready?" He asked, faking a grin at Trinity.
"Five minutes ago," Trinity replied. "She's no longer online."
"Well, that doesn't matter," Mouse showed a familiar flash of self- confidence. "I can still find her. Astral trusts me."
"Well then hurry up. Get in." Trinity helped Mouse plug himself in, wondering at the fact that they had found a private moment in which to do this- of course, if Morpheus found out, he'd have a fit. But the big man no longer hovered around Mouse like a mother hen, he had a new charge to do that to. Trinity wasn't sure if Mouse appreciated the burden of independence he had been given or resented Neo's new place onboard.
"Tank's coming, right?" Mouse asked from his terminal as Trinity walked back to the construct.
"He should be- he'll call you when everything's in place. I'll call you if something goes wrong."
Mouse flourished another cheeky grin before his eyes shot back in his head and he woke up in the white room.
--
"And I also got these pants at the Gap, and they only cost me a hundred and fifteen crowns." Greta modelled her new clothes for her unimpressed big sister Astral, whom she called Astrid.
In Karrebaeksminde, Denmark, their mother had left the two girls alone for the night while she visited a family friend. Astral had been contented to sit in front of her computer, doing countless searches with a bag of chips, until her sister, who didn't like to be alone, forced her down to look at her new clothes.
"You shouldn't shop at the Gap," Astral mumbled. In Danish, of course.
"Why not?" Greta whined. She really hated Astral sometimes.
"Because no corporate empire should be built on the backs of children."
"Well I don't care who makes them, they look cool and they last." Greta replied, indignantly.
"Well, yeah, they don't pay those kids two crowns a week for nothing, you know." Astral said as she stood up, turning to leave.
"That's just 'cause you don't know how to dress!" Greta pointed an accusing finger at Astral's mostly second-hand non-thrift clothes, and her short pink hair, put back in huge slanted spikes.
"Whatever," Astral began to climb the stairs. Well, back to the elusive Matrix for her.
"Wait! Astrid! Come back, pay attention to me!" Astral sighed and turned, mentally preparing herself for what was to come next.
"This is so boring!" Greta complained. "Take me out, will you? I want to go somewhere. I want to go to a rave!"
"There aren't any raves going on in Karrebaeksminde," Astral said dryly.
"Bull! You've been to raves, why can' t I go?"
"Because every time I went to a rave, it wasn't in Karrebaeksminde." Astral sighed, knowing how to get her sister off her case. "Besides, raves are going out."
"What?"
"I read it in a magazine. Raves were in the out list."
"I don't believe you!" Greta, always so assured in her hip-ness, crossed her arms. "Show me."
"Fine," Astral came back down the stairs and grabbed a magazine, flipping a few pages. Now she very rarely read teen magazines, but she was glad in this instance. Sure enough, under 'out' was the word 'rave'.
"Dammit!" Greta cried. Astral really hated being alone with her sister. "Why does everything bad have to happen to me? Take me out anyway, Astrid."
"Where? You wanna go to the McDonald's?"
"It's Karrebaeksminde! I fucking hate Karrebaeksminde!"
"Whatever," Astral went upstairs to her room, to where her computer sat idle. She usually spent time like this searching for the Matrix, but there was only so much her attention span could take. She collapsed on her bed and thought.maybe the Matrix was just a myth, a rumour among the world of the bored and geeky. Astral reasoned with herself that if she did live in Copenhagen, instead of little Karrebaeksminde, she wouldn't bother looking for the Matrix- she'd have too much other stuff to do.
She stretched her arms out behind her head and thought of Mouse, whom she had met barely a month earlier. Of course Astral had her reservations about meeting people she had met online, but Mouse had become a key player early on in her search for the Matrix. She liked him, though. Looked a little like Lee Evans. He didn't speak Danish, and she didn't know where he lived- if he even lived anywhere. He'd always just appear, usually at Karrebaeksminde's little train station, and call her. Or he'd find her online. Astral, of course Mouse was the only one who knew her as Astral, wondered where he was right now.
A few stones bounced off her window and Astral sat up, listening. A few more pebbles were thrown and she went to open her window.
"Astrid!" A boy called from the ground. Her friend Inger stood there, staring up at her, his face covered in blood.
"Inger!" She cried when she saw him. "What the hell happened?"
"My parents found out about Sören." Inger sobbed, one of his eyes swollen shut.
"Oh shit." Fucking town! Astral thought. She still maintained that if they lived in Copenhagen, a guy like Inger could have loads of boys. Sadly, though, he lived in Karrebaeksminde with his highly judgmental and abusive parents, and all he had was Sören, who treated him about the same way his parents did, in Astral's opinion. As an added bonus, he lived in Copenhagen.
"I'm running away. I decided I couldn't take them anymore, I need to be with Sören. I'm going to Copenhagen." Inger sounded more determined than Astral had ever heard him.
"The fuck you are! I'm coming with you," Astral disappeared back into her room.
"What? Astrid, no!"
She appeared back at the window, stuffing a backpack with a few things. "Like I'd let you go alone, Inger, you'd never survive. I'll just take you there, make sure you get to Sören safely, okay?" She shrugged on a coat.
"But you can't, Astrid! What about your sister and mother?"
"Who cares about my sister? Besides, I'm coming back. I'm not going to go missing on them." She tossed down a cloth to Inger. "Here, clean yourself up. Do you even have any money?"
Inger sighed. "Well, no, not as such. Do you?"
Astral turned off the lights in her room and started to climb down a rainspout. "I've been saving up for a new hard drive, I've got a huge wad of cash."
"I can't let you spend that," Inger said as Astral took him by the arm.
"Shut up, Inger, you're more important than that. Come on." The two broke off in a run towards the train station.
--
The phone rang. Greta, who was busily engrossed in Top of the Pops, answered absently.
"Hallo?"
"Astral?"
Greta stopped. Of course she didn't know an Astral, but North American boys never called her- they always called Astrid, especially in the middle of the night, and though Greta would never admit it, she was furiously jealous.
"No, but I'm sure I can be just as much fun," She answered in English.
A confused silence. "Can I speak to Astral, please?"
"There's no Astral here. There's my sister Astrid if that's what you mean."
"Could I speak to Astrid then, please?"
Greta sighed. "Yeah, sure, just a second." Greta stormed up to Astrid's room and opened the door rudely. "Astrid, phone." she trailed off, seeing the room dark and empty. Picking up the phone plugged in there.
"I'm sorry, Astrid's not-" She sighed and hung up when she realized that no one was on the other line.
--
At Karrebaeksminde Central, Mouse had hung up when a familiar figure came running down the street with someone else.
"Astral!" Mouse ran forwards towards her and they hugged, spinning in the dying Danish light. Mouse let her down and looked at the young man standing behind her, shyly, his shirt stained in blood.
"Who's.who's this?"
Speaking in English. "Oh this! Inger, this is Mouse, Mouse, this is Inger. He's my best friend." Inger, whose English was surprisingly not very good, bit his lip and stared at the ground. Astral looked back and forth between the two. "I'm taking him to Copenhagen."
"Copenhagen?" Mouse looked up from where his eyes had been trained on Inger. "But Astral.I only brought two passes- for us."
"You brought passes? You were going to ask me to Copenhagen?" Astral beamed at the boy.
"Well.yeah. Astral, I.it's important. We have to go tonight." Mouse was in all seriousness.
"Well that's all good and well, but Mouse, I've gotta take care of Inger. I'll pay his way."
"But Astral-"
"Inger's my best friend, Mouse. He comes before everything. Everything." She punctuated that last word and Mouse sighed.
"'Kay, fine. But I can't be held responsible if he sees anything he's not supposed to see." Mouse couldn't even feign anger at Astral's grin.
A lumbering red train pulled in, right on time. The three piled in and started their relatively short ride to Copenhagen.
--
"Sören!" Inger cried as the dingy apartment door opened. The boy threw his arms around the big blond man's neck, who took him in a crushing hug. Astral took a step back from the man, whom she hated with a passion.
He caught her eye over Inger's shoulder, and looked up at her, condescending. "Astrid." He said bitterly.
"Sören." She replied.
Sören turned to look at Mouse, up and down. "And who's this tasty little morsel?" He asked in Danish, fortunately for Mouse.
"Just a guy. Leave him alone." Astral spat at Sören. "Inger, if you're all fine here, I'll be off."
"Okay, but.oh, Astrid, where are you going to go?" Inger stood in the doorway, Sören's huge frame behind him.
"I'll be fine.I think. Maybe I'll go back home. Besides, I have something I have to take care of with Mouse. Take care, Inger, okay?" Astral worried about her friend.
"I will, Astrid. Keep in touch." Inger stepped forward and gave her a quick hug, before falling back into Sören's possessive hold.
Mouse's cellphone rang.
"Mouse," He answered.
"We're ready to go," Tank's voice replied from the real world. "Everything in place there?"
"Yeah, we'll be there in a few minutes."
Mouse and Astral walked down the dark streets of Copenhagen, under flags and closing shops, stickers that said in English "Copenhagen Gay Life Welcomes You!" as they left Sören's building.
"Do you know where we're going?" Astral asked as she followed Mouse, weaving past people who made their way through the narrow cobblestone streets.
"Yeah, don't worry about it." Mouse flashed her a cheeky grin. "I know exactly where we're going, exactly."
"Mouse, wait." Astral stopped and the boy turned to her. "Is this it? Like really it?"
"It is. If you're ready for it." He grinned again. "Here's one word of advice. Don't lie. She knows more about you than you can imagine."
"She?" Astral and Mouse started off again.
"Yeah. Trinity."
Jolene heard her father's uneven snore
Right then she knew there must be something more
Jolene heard the singing in the forest
She opened the door quietly and stepped into the night.
-Cake, 'Jolene'
You like him, don't you? You like watching him.
Trinity sat in the core, watching the matrix coding scroll down the black screens all around her. The monotonous hum of the tech gear brought back Cypher's words, and the memory of herself sitting at this very spot watching Neo in his never-ending search for the Matrix.
Trinity thought of Neo now, who was currently helping Switch and Apoc in the kitchen, tending to the little hydroponically grown vegetables and other feeble crops. His hair had grown out enough to almost warrant a cut, now. Trinity allowed herself a small smile as she pictured herself doing that task for him, blowing tiny remnants of hair off the back of his neck-
"Forget it, Trinity. Just forget it," She told herself aloud. The Oracle had, however politely, made it clear that to love Neo was to seal his fate. Trinity hopefully clung to the Oracle's perpetual ambiguity, believing that she meant something entirely different to Trinity's interpretation. But there are only so many ways you can interpret that.
So Trinity had resigned herself to not admitting her feelings, at least for now, and finding someone else to be the One.
Funny- Trinity, and indeed, everyone around her, had always seen herself to be incredibly strong and confident. But when it came to Neo, it seemed she had trouble even being honest with herself.
Turning back to the green code in front of her, Trinity placed her attention back on Denmark- well, the Denmark of the Matrix. Astral, the young hacker she had been watching and, well, baiting for the last little while wasn't looking anymore- dammit! She had been so close. Almost as close as Neo had been- if she had only remained five more minutes.
A soft clanging of boots on metal caught her attention as Mouse entered the core- looking, as he always did now, a little worse for wear. Poor kid- he slept badly, if at all, and the nightmares were worse than ever now- he refused to talk to anyone about them. Even to her.
"Everything ready?" He asked, faking a grin at Trinity.
"Five minutes ago," Trinity replied. "She's no longer online."
"Well, that doesn't matter," Mouse showed a familiar flash of self- confidence. "I can still find her. Astral trusts me."
"Well then hurry up. Get in." Trinity helped Mouse plug himself in, wondering at the fact that they had found a private moment in which to do this- of course, if Morpheus found out, he'd have a fit. But the big man no longer hovered around Mouse like a mother hen, he had a new charge to do that to. Trinity wasn't sure if Mouse appreciated the burden of independence he had been given or resented Neo's new place onboard.
"Tank's coming, right?" Mouse asked from his terminal as Trinity walked back to the construct.
"He should be- he'll call you when everything's in place. I'll call you if something goes wrong."
Mouse flourished another cheeky grin before his eyes shot back in his head and he woke up in the white room.
--
"And I also got these pants at the Gap, and they only cost me a hundred and fifteen crowns." Greta modelled her new clothes for her unimpressed big sister Astral, whom she called Astrid.
In Karrebaeksminde, Denmark, their mother had left the two girls alone for the night while she visited a family friend. Astral had been contented to sit in front of her computer, doing countless searches with a bag of chips, until her sister, who didn't like to be alone, forced her down to look at her new clothes.
"You shouldn't shop at the Gap," Astral mumbled. In Danish, of course.
"Why not?" Greta whined. She really hated Astral sometimes.
"Because no corporate empire should be built on the backs of children."
"Well I don't care who makes them, they look cool and they last." Greta replied, indignantly.
"Well, yeah, they don't pay those kids two crowns a week for nothing, you know." Astral said as she stood up, turning to leave.
"That's just 'cause you don't know how to dress!" Greta pointed an accusing finger at Astral's mostly second-hand non-thrift clothes, and her short pink hair, put back in huge slanted spikes.
"Whatever," Astral began to climb the stairs. Well, back to the elusive Matrix for her.
"Wait! Astrid! Come back, pay attention to me!" Astral sighed and turned, mentally preparing herself for what was to come next.
"This is so boring!" Greta complained. "Take me out, will you? I want to go somewhere. I want to go to a rave!"
"There aren't any raves going on in Karrebaeksminde," Astral said dryly.
"Bull! You've been to raves, why can' t I go?"
"Because every time I went to a rave, it wasn't in Karrebaeksminde." Astral sighed, knowing how to get her sister off her case. "Besides, raves are going out."
"What?"
"I read it in a magazine. Raves were in the out list."
"I don't believe you!" Greta, always so assured in her hip-ness, crossed her arms. "Show me."
"Fine," Astral came back down the stairs and grabbed a magazine, flipping a few pages. Now she very rarely read teen magazines, but she was glad in this instance. Sure enough, under 'out' was the word 'rave'.
"Dammit!" Greta cried. Astral really hated being alone with her sister. "Why does everything bad have to happen to me? Take me out anyway, Astrid."
"Where? You wanna go to the McDonald's?"
"It's Karrebaeksminde! I fucking hate Karrebaeksminde!"
"Whatever," Astral went upstairs to her room, to where her computer sat idle. She usually spent time like this searching for the Matrix, but there was only so much her attention span could take. She collapsed on her bed and thought.maybe the Matrix was just a myth, a rumour among the world of the bored and geeky. Astral reasoned with herself that if she did live in Copenhagen, instead of little Karrebaeksminde, she wouldn't bother looking for the Matrix- she'd have too much other stuff to do.
She stretched her arms out behind her head and thought of Mouse, whom she had met barely a month earlier. Of course Astral had her reservations about meeting people she had met online, but Mouse had become a key player early on in her search for the Matrix. She liked him, though. Looked a little like Lee Evans. He didn't speak Danish, and she didn't know where he lived- if he even lived anywhere. He'd always just appear, usually at Karrebaeksminde's little train station, and call her. Or he'd find her online. Astral, of course Mouse was the only one who knew her as Astral, wondered where he was right now.
A few stones bounced off her window and Astral sat up, listening. A few more pebbles were thrown and she went to open her window.
"Astrid!" A boy called from the ground. Her friend Inger stood there, staring up at her, his face covered in blood.
"Inger!" She cried when she saw him. "What the hell happened?"
"My parents found out about Sören." Inger sobbed, one of his eyes swollen shut.
"Oh shit." Fucking town! Astral thought. She still maintained that if they lived in Copenhagen, a guy like Inger could have loads of boys. Sadly, though, he lived in Karrebaeksminde with his highly judgmental and abusive parents, and all he had was Sören, who treated him about the same way his parents did, in Astral's opinion. As an added bonus, he lived in Copenhagen.
"I'm running away. I decided I couldn't take them anymore, I need to be with Sören. I'm going to Copenhagen." Inger sounded more determined than Astral had ever heard him.
"The fuck you are! I'm coming with you," Astral disappeared back into her room.
"What? Astrid, no!"
She appeared back at the window, stuffing a backpack with a few things. "Like I'd let you go alone, Inger, you'd never survive. I'll just take you there, make sure you get to Sören safely, okay?" She shrugged on a coat.
"But you can't, Astrid! What about your sister and mother?"
"Who cares about my sister? Besides, I'm coming back. I'm not going to go missing on them." She tossed down a cloth to Inger. "Here, clean yourself up. Do you even have any money?"
Inger sighed. "Well, no, not as such. Do you?"
Astral turned off the lights in her room and started to climb down a rainspout. "I've been saving up for a new hard drive, I've got a huge wad of cash."
"I can't let you spend that," Inger said as Astral took him by the arm.
"Shut up, Inger, you're more important than that. Come on." The two broke off in a run towards the train station.
--
The phone rang. Greta, who was busily engrossed in Top of the Pops, answered absently.
"Hallo?"
"Astral?"
Greta stopped. Of course she didn't know an Astral, but North American boys never called her- they always called Astrid, especially in the middle of the night, and though Greta would never admit it, she was furiously jealous.
"No, but I'm sure I can be just as much fun," She answered in English.
A confused silence. "Can I speak to Astral, please?"
"There's no Astral here. There's my sister Astrid if that's what you mean."
"Could I speak to Astrid then, please?"
Greta sighed. "Yeah, sure, just a second." Greta stormed up to Astrid's room and opened the door rudely. "Astrid, phone." she trailed off, seeing the room dark and empty. Picking up the phone plugged in there.
"I'm sorry, Astrid's not-" She sighed and hung up when she realized that no one was on the other line.
--
At Karrebaeksminde Central, Mouse had hung up when a familiar figure came running down the street with someone else.
"Astral!" Mouse ran forwards towards her and they hugged, spinning in the dying Danish light. Mouse let her down and looked at the young man standing behind her, shyly, his shirt stained in blood.
"Who's.who's this?"
Speaking in English. "Oh this! Inger, this is Mouse, Mouse, this is Inger. He's my best friend." Inger, whose English was surprisingly not very good, bit his lip and stared at the ground. Astral looked back and forth between the two. "I'm taking him to Copenhagen."
"Copenhagen?" Mouse looked up from where his eyes had been trained on Inger. "But Astral.I only brought two passes- for us."
"You brought passes? You were going to ask me to Copenhagen?" Astral beamed at the boy.
"Well.yeah. Astral, I.it's important. We have to go tonight." Mouse was in all seriousness.
"Well that's all good and well, but Mouse, I've gotta take care of Inger. I'll pay his way."
"But Astral-"
"Inger's my best friend, Mouse. He comes before everything. Everything." She punctuated that last word and Mouse sighed.
"'Kay, fine. But I can't be held responsible if he sees anything he's not supposed to see." Mouse couldn't even feign anger at Astral's grin.
A lumbering red train pulled in, right on time. The three piled in and started their relatively short ride to Copenhagen.
--
"Sören!" Inger cried as the dingy apartment door opened. The boy threw his arms around the big blond man's neck, who took him in a crushing hug. Astral took a step back from the man, whom she hated with a passion.
He caught her eye over Inger's shoulder, and looked up at her, condescending. "Astrid." He said bitterly.
"Sören." She replied.
Sören turned to look at Mouse, up and down. "And who's this tasty little morsel?" He asked in Danish, fortunately for Mouse.
"Just a guy. Leave him alone." Astral spat at Sören. "Inger, if you're all fine here, I'll be off."
"Okay, but.oh, Astrid, where are you going to go?" Inger stood in the doorway, Sören's huge frame behind him.
"I'll be fine.I think. Maybe I'll go back home. Besides, I have something I have to take care of with Mouse. Take care, Inger, okay?" Astral worried about her friend.
"I will, Astrid. Keep in touch." Inger stepped forward and gave her a quick hug, before falling back into Sören's possessive hold.
Mouse's cellphone rang.
"Mouse," He answered.
"We're ready to go," Tank's voice replied from the real world. "Everything in place there?"
"Yeah, we'll be there in a few minutes."
Mouse and Astral walked down the dark streets of Copenhagen, under flags and closing shops, stickers that said in English "Copenhagen Gay Life Welcomes You!" as they left Sören's building.
"Do you know where we're going?" Astral asked as she followed Mouse, weaving past people who made their way through the narrow cobblestone streets.
"Yeah, don't worry about it." Mouse flashed her a cheeky grin. "I know exactly where we're going, exactly."
"Mouse, wait." Astral stopped and the boy turned to her. "Is this it? Like really it?"
"It is. If you're ready for it." He grinned again. "Here's one word of advice. Don't lie. She knows more about you than you can imagine."
"She?" Astral and Mouse started off again.
"Yeah. Trinity."
