I feel that I must thank my reviewers, considering that I think it's a miracle I even got 7 reviews. Anyways, thank you ever so much Isiodith, magicks, April, Gina-chan, and especiallmentally Raven (again) and Lomewen. You get special thanks because my story is on your favorites list, which practically constitutes ~wow that word has a lot of t's in it~ a national holiday in my twisted world. Now, enough with my useless talking. You want to read the story, and I exist to serve you (*COUGH*) so here you go.
Entry 7
Well, that was interesting. It took a lot longer than we planned for to get Aria out of there.
We went in around 8 in the morning, Taiwan time. She was still sleeping, because it's a Saturday right now in the Matrix. God, that's the one thing I really miss. Sleep. I never get enough sleep out here. I'm always busy, always working, always on call for something. The few hours of sleep I do get are not especially restful. You learn to go without it out here. You have to.
So Tank loaded a few programs- I mean, I don't speak Chinese and it would be kind of hard to explain anything to this girl if I don't even speak the goddamn language. We hopped out of a phone booth about two blocks away from where she lives. The Agents don't know about her, so we weren't too worried about them showing up. There's a difference between constantly being on the lookout because of habit, and constantly being on the lookout because you know those sons-of-bitches are going to be there. This way we can pay a little more attention to watching the girl.
She walks by at 9:15, right when Morpheus said she would. I gotta say, this girl is punctual. Trinity nods at me, and I start to follow her. We agreed that I would follow her for a while until an opportunity presents itself. The others will follow me. I follow her down to the supermarket, then to the post office, and then she stops awhile at a house. This has already taken too long. The Agents can track us if we stay in one place for too long. Finally she comes out, and I start following her back to her house. We're supposed to have her by now. I don't know what to do.
Then of course, because a bad situation can never just stay bad, it has to get worse, I see two Agents. Shit! This is really, really bad. The only good thing is that Aria stops too. I don't know if she knows who, or rather what, they are, but she clearly doesn't want to walk past them. She ducks into a side alley and I step behind her. She looks a little surprised (I would too) but doesn't say anything. I open my mouth and say "We have to avoid those men," but a bunch of gibberish comes out. She's nodding like she totally understands, though, and then I remember I'm speaking Chinese. Oh yeah. Oops. I feel pretty stupid.
She says something, but I can hear it in English in my head. Dude…this is so cool! I've never used the language programs before. She tells me that we can go around the back and through a tunnel that'll take us back to the street. Sounds like our best bet to me. We run down the alley and I can hear them starting to chase us. Oh shit. This is just the way to get a new person. They're gaining on us, and she's getting really scared, I can tell. She huddles closer to me and looks up at me, like she expects me to know what to do. Well, maybe I do. There's a phone booth around the corner, and I just hope that Tank has a patch on it. Cause if he doesn't, we're dead.
I shove her in the booth and thank god the phone starts ringing. I yell at her to pick I up, and she does, looking totally confused. Well, I would be too, if I were her. I wish I'd had time to explain what's going on. Now if she takes the blue pill we're going to have to send her right back into the arms of the Agents. As it is, I just barely have enough time to grab the phone before the Agents turn the corner. Let them think we went into a building. It'll buy us more time, which we desperately need.
We're transported into a basic place, kind of like a launch program. Aria sits down on the floor, and then looks around at the others, who are already there. Trinity kneels down and talks, very softly and very urgently, to Aria. She's nodding like she actually understands what Trin is telling her. Finally Trin asks her if she wants to choose, and she says yes. Apock opens a little silver container. One side has the blue pill, and the other side has the red one. Switch pats Aria's hand, and Trinity tells her about her choice. One will take you with us, other one you'll wake up in your bed yadda yadda yadda. Aria thinks for a few seconds, then grabs the red one. We all smile.
We got back to the Neb in time, although the sentinels were getting a little too close for comfort. I hate them. Nasty creepy things. I wonder why all the machines look like giant bugs. Whose idea was it to make them so creepy looking anyways? Ugh. I have an irrational hatred of bugs, so having the machines that control most life look like big ugly bugs doesn't help.
Aria's in the cocoon now. That's what we put everyone in when they come out of the Matrix. Basic shock prevention, as much as possible. We have to regrow all their muscles, which takes a little while. Up to three weeks, depending on the person. She shouldn't take too long, though. She just seems like she'll adjust really fast.
Which reminds me, I should describe her. Or her as I saw her in the Matrix. She's got long black hair- it was really too bad to cut it all off. It reached almost to her waist. Switch saved it for her- she said sometimes it makes you feel better. I don't know how hair can make anyone feel better, but then again I'm not a girl. She also has these big brown eyes that look so pretty when she's looking up at you and– damn! I can't do this! I will not torture myself over another crew member. I don't want to end up like Cypher. I can't let myself start liking this girl; it's just too dangerous. She could die her first day and then where will I be? Right back where I started. Better to avoid her until I can think of her like anyone else here- just part of my family. And you can love your family, but you can't fall in love with them. That's the best thing to do. I won't let myself like her. I can't.