Well you thought I wasn't coming back weren't you??? Actually, my mistake, nobody reviews the story so I'm guessing nobody reads it!! :'( If that is true, I'm the most useless creature in the universe and my toaster has an appointment with the tub!!! bwahahaaaaaaaah)
Come on, is it really so hard? Review? Please? Please? Review? please please? A great, big please with sugar on top?
Last time I posted a chapter and I got ONE review! Special thank you to the person who reviewed!! (ohya, the second review doesn't count, cause that person did it cause I had 2 ask them personally to read my mother****** story! I mean what kind of a friend r u if u don't read your best friend's stories???)
But if anyone is reading this please review, you just have 2 click a couple times, press several keys, and you're done!!
Well that was a loooooooong and booooooooooring note, so I'll just get on with the story!!!
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Silver dawn lit up the horizon as they drove into the city. Without any clouds, there was none of the magnificence of the northern sunrise, but still there was beauty in the way the sky turned a silvery gold at the horizon, slowly fading to green, turquoise, and light blue towards the top.
Alisa realized she must have dozed off somewhere along the way, after she and Trinity had switched driving. They had crossed the border into Arizona, and seeing people and civilization was very comforting indeed.
Alisa wondered at how easily she had accepted all the crazy events of the last 24 hours. Maybe somewhere, in the subconscious of her mind, she still thought she was dreaming.
But what if she still was? There was no way of telling. Also, she still couldn't believe that Dan was really dead. It somehow wouldn't store in her brain. It wasn't although she was heartbroken – after all, her and Dan were always a lot more like friends than boyfriend and girlfriend. But still, losing a friend was just as bad.
Alisa was well aware of the tension happening between her and her strange companion. The woman that called herself Trinity had said she had the answers to the questions Alisa asked all her life – yet she would not share them, saying it was not her job. "I cannot tell you what the Matrix is," she had said, "You will have to see it for yourself."
She was also responsible for Dan's death. Deep down inside, of course, Alisa knew that there had been no other way, but Trinity seemed to give it very little thought and brush it aside as though it was nothing. As though she didn't know what it felt like to lose a friend.
Didn't know, or simply didn't care.
Or maybe, she knew it all too well, but pretended not to, not wanting to face it again.
Suddenly, a cell phone rang. Not taking her eyes off the road, Trinity reached into her pocket and exhumed a small black high-tech phone, flipped it open and spoke, "Yes?… What, now?… Squiddies? Shit!… Where's the nearest exit?… Okay… okay, I'm on my way." She closed her cell phone and suddenly spun the wheel sharply to the right, startling Alisa. They turned into a small street, and Trinity parked the car along the side.
"There's been an emergency," Trinity said quickly, "I'll have to leave you for a while."
"What?"
"Don't ask any questions." Trinity said briskly and solemnly, "Just stay in the car, stay low, and don't attract any attention to yourself. Someone will be back for you – either me or one of the others. Oh, and you might need this." She tossed her cell phone to Alisa, jumped out of the car, slammed the door and took off down the street.
"Oh, great," Alisa murmured, "Just great. Now I'm all alone with everyone bossing me around and I'm starting to think this is all a very bad joke."
Joke or not, Alisa had no intention of staying in the car. The keys were still in the ignition, she took them, got out, and locked the car, feeling a bit like a grand auto thief.
The sun had risen by then, and the city was bathed in gold. It wasn't the heavy, liquid gold of yesterday's sunset – it was light and glowing, as though the buildings and the busy streets were painted with watercolor shades of ocher. Especially beautiful were the trees in a nearby park, their translucent leaves glowed, as though as though with a light of their own. Alisa headed for that park, feeling a cool morning breeze blow past. When she saw a small pub with tables right out in the park, the realized she was starving. Fishing in her pocket, she found a twenty. That should be enough.
Meanwhile, aboard the Nebbuchadnezzar…The instant Trinity awoke, she hardly waited for the rod to leave the back of her head before jumping up. "Squiddies?" she repeated, "Where's the source of trouble?"
Tank, as usual, was at the monitors. "I'm not sure, but I'm seeing the little bastards coming up the catacombs to our left. They haven't seen us yet."
"So the Scavenger was right, we do have sentinels" a voice came from the right. Neo entered the room. Then he saw Trinity, and smiled at her. "You're back just in time, how did it go?"
"Took out a couple of agents, got Lynx to a safe spot but as you see I had to leave her." Trinity answered, feeling somewhat less worried now that Neo was here. "She seems to be a very stubborn. Might give us problems. Are you sure she's the right person for us to unplug?"
"I'm sure. Besides, it's not like we have a choice."
"It's not like my opinion matters, but I have a lot of confidence in her." Shift spoke for the first time, without turning around from a monitor he was watching. Trinity hadn't realized he was in the room, it seemed like he had somewhat of a stealthy way of getting around.
"Okay, everybody, get your asses up here!" Morpheus's somewhat strained voice came from the bridge. Shift groaned, but jumped up and made for the stairs leading to the bridge (if that crooked ladder could be referred to as stairs), Trinity close behind him. Tank began to take off him headset, but Neo stopped him.
"You stay here." He commanded, before joining the others.
After they all clambered up to the control bridge, Trinity edged closer to Neo and whispered in his ear, "Do you think Shift has a thing for Lynx?"
Neo grinned at that. "It's possible. After all, you did have a thing for me." He turned to look at her, and Trinity smiled, despite the urgent situation. Neo always had a way of making her smile.
"The squiddies are coming up on our left," Morpheus said in his usual calm way, "We've gotta get ready to blow 'em with the EMP." This was nothing more than routine. Why did Trinity suddenly have a funny feeling in her stomach?
Neo mad his way to the front of the bridge as Shift was helping Morpheus land the ship carefully among some ancient debris. As the engines went off, he spoke into the intercom, "Tank, get ready to switch off all power."
There was a short silence and Tank replied, "Hey, what about the battle pods?"
For a second Neo was puzzled, but then he remembered. On their recent trip to Zion, their somewhat old and tattered ship had been repaired, and a new feature was installed.
The battle pods. Small, spherical one-man pods that worked by the same principle the ship did – they were tiny hovercrafts that could reach great speeds. Each pod had two high – explosive missiles, one attached on either side that could take out any target as long as they hit it directly. Which they always did, thanks to the highly advanced aiming system.
But there were only three pods. And they were, of course, down in the pod bay.
"I don't think we have enough time," Neo said, "Besides it's a new weapon, unfamiliar to us."
"But we decided we'd try 'em out the next time we have squiddies!" Tank protested, "Come on, what could happen? This is routine!"
Neo sighed and looked over at Morpheus. "I think we should play safe for now," he said.
"I agree with Morpheus." Trinity piped up, crossing her arms and coming to stand at his side in confirmation.
"Aw come on!" Tank exclaimed, "We can't be afraid of using new weapons, besides while you guys get to have fun in the Matrix, I just get to sit around watching! I wanna kick some robot freak butt, too!"
"He's right," Shift spoke suddenly, turning around to face Neo. "We have a new weapon, we gotta use it. It's a war, isn't it? War is a battle of tactics."
Neo realized Shift was right. "And we cannot use the same tactics all the time." He said. "Cause that way, we'll lose. Tank, get the pods ready."
A cheerful "Yesss!" was heard from the intercom.
Neo headed down from the bridge, and the others followed him.
"Wait a minute!" Trinity said, "You don't mean you're going to go after the sentinels, are you?" her usually steely green eyes held concern as she rested her hand on Neo's arm. He hated to upset her, but he realized this time he had to.
"I do," Neo said, "I have to. It's my job."
That was true. Everyone on the team had a job, and Neo knew very well what his was. Morpheus was the one with the knowledge, the experience, he was the 'brains' of the group. Tank was the one on whom the missions relied – he had to get everyone right where they needed to be, right when they needed to be there. Shift was probably the best hacker of all, good at finding any kind of information, and a great fighter. Trinity was also am amazing fighter, the team wouldn't be right without her, and, of course, she was Neo's woman, and he wouldn't be right without her either. And Neo? He was their leader. He was The One. The one who was supposed to make plans, decisions, and lead all the crazy suicide missions with the goal of saving the world. Everyone believed in him, and without him no mission would go right.
So that's why he knew he had to go.
"Neo, you're too valuable to us," Trinity said, "We can't let anything happen to you. Let me go instead, I'm more familiar with the machinery."
Neo shook his head solemnly. I wouldn't live through it if something were to happen to you, he thought, but instead he said, "None of you have used this particular model, I was the one testing it at Zion. Besides, nothing can happen to me. Thanks to Trinity, I can't die!" he said the last sentence in a joking tone, but there was some level of truth in it.
"Man, are you so sure about that?" Tank asked, looking his friend in the eye.
"Yes. I am." Neo was sure. He had to be.
"He believes," Morpheus spoke quietly, "And I believe in him. Let him go, Trinity, you cannot shield him from everything."
Trinity looked at Neo with so much emotion in her eyes, those beautiful eyes, that he thought, tell me to stay and I will. But she didn't. She just brushed a strand of jet-black hair from his face and whispered, "I believe in you, Neo." Then she let go of him. Neo leaned in and gave her a quick kiss, then turned around and strode away towards the pods bay.
"Tank, come with me, you'll get to kick some robot freak butt. Shift, keep watch on us."
As the two of them made their way down to the pod bay, Tank said, "We have very little time. The squiddies would be here any minute, and we have to have all power switched off by then.
Neo nodded in acknowledgement. They climbed down another steep ladder and as he pressed a button on the wall that opened the pod bay doors, there was a hiss and a whirr of hydraulic mechanism as the steel doors slid open, revealing a rather large room with another set of huge doors at the end and three bubble-like structures perched on the floor in a row.
For a second Neo felt like he's been zapped into a Star Wars movie, but said nothing, because he figured Tank wouldn't know anything about something like that.
So he said, "I'll take the one on the right, and I'll come out first. You choose your pod and wait here while I take out the first squiddie, come only if I call for help. When the second one comes up, I should be able to take him out as well, and at the same time you will leave the Neb. I'll have no missiles by then and will be returning to the ship as fast as I can, and it's up to you to take out the third one. Then you've got the most important job – watch both our backs with your second missile as backup in case any more show up. Got it?"
"Yes, sir!" Tank joked, and they proceeded to climb into their pods.
As Neo shut the small, circular pod door and started adjusting the equipment, he couldn't help but start to think. He had said that nothing would ever happen to him. And he believed it, he realized. All young people do, but he wasn't that young anymore at the age of 38, and still that faith was strong in him. He was the One, and he didn't know what made him that – was it the prophecy, was it all pre–arranged in the universe, or was it just the faith of those around him that put him on the path?
"Shift, open the pod bay doors. We're ready to go in." he spoke into the pod's radio system.
Again there was a mechanical whirr and a hiss of air as the pressure equalized. The massive doors at the end of the pod bay were opening.
Maybe I've just been extremely lucky, Neo thought. But when will my luck run out? When will something bad actually happen to me? When I've served my purpose in this universe? Is it really up to me to save the world, or am I just one of the sticks in the giant wheel?
The pod bay doors have now completely opened and, after checking with Tank and Shift, Neo 'wheeled' his pod out of the ship. Still musing over his problems, he decided that his existence was similar to walking on a knife-edge, when a little step to the side could kill him. But he was determined to make the best of it as long he had that miraculous ability to stay on that knife-edge.
But, it was no time for philosophical thoughts, for he has already left the Neb and was hovering in the vast catacombs, feeling like a fly inside a cathedral. Most of the pod was made of material that was transparent from within, but to the outsider it looked like a solid steel ball.
Neo had a great view of the surroundings, and they were not pretty. The enormous stone tunnel was littered with all kinds of debris, and there were clouds of steam rising from unseen vents. The ancient system still seemed to be working, long after the city above it had been destroyed.
There was a whirr and a snap as all power on the Neb went out, and Neo peered through the gloom at the seemingly lifeless giant, well camouflaged among the rocks and carcasses of dead ships.
A voice in his radio snapped him back to reality. It was Shift talking. "They're coming," he simply stated.
Neo perched his pod along the side wall to wait for the enemy to appear. He didn't have to wait long. Immediately, two small sentinels appeared out of the tunnel on the left, seeming tiny in the vast space they were floating through. Resembling squids with their long tentacles (hence the name), they were definitely hunting for something. Hunting for signs of activity, signs of life. Hunting for life so they could destroy it.
Of course, they were lifeless machines with no feelings, emotions, but Neo felt as though they enjoyed killing people. He wondered if the advanced computer brains actually had feelings, because human feelings are a product of advanced thought.
Or so some said.
The squiddies haven't noticed the sleeping ship, nor the pod, hidden along the side of the tunnel.
But Neo wasn't going to keep it that way for long. He powered the engines and slid silently along the wall, towards the sentinels. The first squiddie's radar detected movement. It saw the pod. And headed towards it.
It's time for open battle.
"You doing okay, Neo?" Tank spoke through the radio.
"So far, so far," Neo replied as he left the tunnel wall and confidently headed right at the squiddie in full thrust.
He could see it coming towards him, its tentacles stretched behind it for less resistance, pure evil, pure destruction, a cold-blooded predator coming for its prey. And yet he was not afraid.
To the people on the Neb it seemed as though the two machines were flying at an incredible speed on a straight collision course in midair, right in the middle of the enormous tunnel.
Neo aimed his right missile carefully, the radar's green cross stopping right in the middle of the squid's head, locking the target, and fired. The pod rocked slightly as the weight of the missile left its side. A white blur, the missile sped towards the sentinel at a thousand miles per hour.
Neo slowed down his speed considerably. Now it's going to hit. It's going to hit.
But then, the impossible happened. The missile reached its target in the blink of an eye, but at the last possible second, the squid dodged sideways, avoiding the missile by inches.
The missile continued on its course until it hit the stone wall and the tunnel was wracked with explosion.
Neo was shocked, and the sentinel used that to catch him off guard. It headed right at him, stretching out its tentacles to grab the pod.
"Neo, watch out!" Shift called out through the radio.
Regaining his wits, Neo yanked at the controls and dodged right. The squiddie shot past him, itself a missile.
"Shit, what the fuck was that?!" he exclaimed, "The son of a bitch ducked my missile!"
"Fire again!" Shift said, "And be sure to hit it this time!"
But there was no time to aim, no time to fire. The squiddie was coming right at him again. There was only time to run. Neo dodged again, and shot straight up, confusing his opponent.
"Tank, this is the emergency situation!" he called, "I need your help!"
"I'm right there!" Tank replied.
The sentinel was after Neo again, chasing him further up in a vertical line. Neo was surprised to feel the G-force pressing him into his seat, it was something he left far behind in the world of the Matrix.
But this was the real world.
He turned his pod upside down, and then quickly descended, shooting down right past the squid. The machine was confused, but only for a moment, then it shot down as well, chasing Neo in a series of figure eights. He didn't notice the long broken fragment of some structure sticking 200 feet up from the bottom of the tunnel like a precipice, until it was too late. He veered right, but the left side of his pod, where the remaining missile was, hit it with a loud clang.
"Shit!" Neo cursed.
The impact must have damaged the propulsion mechanism, for the engine promptly died. Neo wondered if this was ironic or what, but he only had a second to do so, because in the next one, the pod plunged down towards the tunnel's floor. Neo cursed, and frantically worked the controls in vain as the debris – strewn ground rushed up to slap him.
A parachute automatically opened behind the pod to increase drag, so it wasn't descending in free fall. The sentinel followed its bright white bubble downwards.
Neither of them saw a second pod come shooting across tunnel in full thrust. Its trajectory intercepted that of the falling pod and its follower.
"Like it or not, sucker, but you're gonna burn!" Tank spat out as he aimed and fired his missile.
The distracted squiddie never saw it coming. The missile shot towards its target, and a second great explosion wracked the catacombs, this time, destroying the machine.
Neo's pod kept plunging down, although slower now, thanks to the parachute. Realizing there was nothing he could do, Neo gripped the sides of his seat and shut his eyes. He was scared. He, The One, was scared. Scared because he might not live to save the world. Scared because he might not live to see Trin again. Scared because he could not imagine the whole thing away, he couldn't change the code and make the pod fly again, the things that gave him his power in the Matrix. This is real as it gets.
The pod hit the ground. The rebound mechanisms worked, and it bounced several times to soften the impact before settling amidst a pile of debris.
As the fog cleared out of Neo's eyes, he realized he was still alive. As he tried to move, he felt a twinge of pain in his head, and when he touched his forehead his hand came back bloody.
Asides from that, he seemed to be generally okay. Suddenly he became aware of a voice yelling in his radio. It was Shift.
"Neo! Do you copy?! Neo! This is the Neb! Shift speaking! Neo, do you copy?!"
Neo thought of answering, but his mouth was very dry. His tongue wouldn't move. He felt a heaviness in his eyelids. It would feel so good to just close his eyes and give in to the fatigue… His vision was going cloudy again.
He had to answer, didn't he? He had responsibilities. He was the leader, the One, they were waiting for him on the Neb.
But all that seemed far, far away now. A ringing in his ears drowned out all other sounds. The whole world was far away now. Suddenly Neo felt warm. Carefree. He felt the sun on his face. The sun? There was no sun. And yet he was feeling it.
They must have been wrong, he thought. The clouds had cleared. He was floating on water, floating far away from everything, from all the cares of this world.
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Dun dun dun dun… So what's gonna happen?? Is Neo gonna diee????? Well…. It's up to you!
The more reviews I get on this chapter, the sooner I will post the next one for you to find out!
I'm sorry, really, I know I'm not being very nice, as a matter of fact I realize I'm being a very MEAN EVIL BITCH, but imagine nobody reviewed your story! Now how would you feel???
I kno, I shouldn't be talking, cause I'm the queen of lazy, but still, I'm on the verge of self destruction from lack of revIews! (bwahahaaaaaaaaaah) So if you wanna c the next chapter soon, pllleeeeeeeeeease review!!! Remember: Neo's fate is in YOUR hands!!!!
MUAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!