Disclaimer: I'm a poor college student, please don't sue me. Besides, I'm making diddly squat off this. The Matrix and many of these characters belongs to Warner Bros., Wachowski brothers and company. I'm just.....borrowing some of them for fun.
Note: I changed the ending to Chapter 3 once, and then tweaked it again. Make sure you read the final version. And yeah, I might do that with other chapters as I go along to make sure everything fits together, but I'll make a note if I do.
Chapter 4
A hiker found his body two days later at the bottom of a ravine in the foothills outside of town. There was an old bridge over it, which had been closed to traffic for decades, ever since people started committing suicide off of it. Every other year or so, there was at least one person who jumped to his or her death from it, despite the chain-link fence around it. People generally avoided it because rumors said that it was haunted.
Catherine heard the news when she was at the Cabaleros offering her condolences. Two policemen delivered the unpleasant news. The official story was that Joe, after receiving a mid-semester report that he was failing all his classes, had become so depressed and frustrated that he went to Catherine for advice. Finding that she wasn't home to help him, he felt abandoned and drove off. Thinking that no one could help him and that everyone would be better off if he disappeared, he jumped off the old ravine bridge and fell seven stories to his death. The coroner's report indicated mass trauma to the head and back, caused by heavy blows. It was probably from hitting trees or an outcropping on the way down, or possibly hitting the side of the ravine and rolling toward the bottom. His car was found off to the side about a hundred feet from the head of the bridge.
Mrs. Cabalero was so stricken at the news that all she could do was cover her face and cry out "my poor boy" over and over as the tears streamed down her face. Mr. Cabalero held his wife to comfort her, but also to comfort himself. The poor man looked like he had aged ten years in two days. Catherine could see the torment in his eyes whenever she looked at him: "Why didn't my son call me?" It pained her to see the Cabaleros in so much pain. They were like the parents she never had. She stayed around for a few days, helping with chores and cooking. By that time, she had already run out of tears and just felt numb.
Catherine had called the police after finding the note, acting panicked as if she really believed it. She knew that whoever did this would be watching her to make sure that she really wasn't home when Joe came over, and so she performed exactly as they would have expected. She also stopped hacking for a while, suspecting that they were probably also watching her online. How else would they have known that Joe was going to her house that night? She wanted desperately to tell the Cabaleros that their son did not commit suicide, that he was killed for something he knew, but she couldn't put them in that kind of danger. To anyone who was watching, she looked defeated and finally willing to conform with the system, no longer as into computers as she used to be. On the inside, though, she was raging, thinking, planning her next move.
The police had taken Joe's computer "to search for a motive." The Cabaleros were too deep in grief to complain or even care, but Catherine knew better. They would never get the computer back, or if they did, everything would be wiped clean. She had to find out what was on that computer.
Using the public access computer at the county library, Catherine started looking for the hacker Joe had told her about, Dion. After one week, she still found no trace of him. It was like he had dropped off the face of the earth. What was it that Joe said? Ask him about the Kansas City IRS. Whatever he-they-found there, someone didn't want them to find it. That someone had a very long reach, had the police either working for him or had the ability to manipulate the police, had the ability to trace Joe to Catherine, and had the ability to cover up a murder. Catherine knew that to take these people on directly would be suicide, they had the entire system on their side and she was just a fifteen-year-old high school student. It didn't matter though, she wouldn't meet them head on but she would carry out Joe's final instructions to her. She would find a way to contact other members of the secret society at the university, find some way to reach Dion, or find a way to hack the Kansas City IRS d-base. Something was very wrong with her world, and she set out to find out exactly what it was.
*****************************************************************************
*nine months later*
The summer heat was stifling, but at least the city library had air conditioning. To lessen the chances of getting traced despite her screens, firewalls, piggybacking, and other tricks, Catherine now used eight different places with computers: her own computer, the Cabaleros', the county library, the city library, the high school's, the junior high's, one Internet gaming arcade, and two Internet cafes. She needed the extra precautions because she had a feeling that she was getting closer.
At first, she tried contacting the other members of the secret society at the university, but they had all gone underground-which meant that they were impossible to find, given that they were a SECRET society in the first place. There was still no trace of Dion, and she was worried that the same thing that happened to Joe had happened to him too. It wouldn't have surprised her.
That only left plan C: hack the Kansas City IRS d-base. From what she heard, this was nearly impossible. The last hacker who tried and got through somewhat was Dion, and he had disappeared, either to protect himself or because something happened to him. But even he only made it far enough to knock on the back door, not get into the master bedroom. The answer to all of Catherine's questions was in there though, and she was determined to find out.
The going was slow, because she had to keep up pretenses that she had moved on from her hacking days. She joined a community service club, did well academically, and even got to know some other kids at school. Between school and her job, she only had the weekends a few weeknights to carry out her plans.
Three months into her search, she stumbled across a posting left a message board: The Matrix is everywhere. The message was signed by Dion. It was the first sign of him, according to other hackers who knew him, since November, which was around the time Joe died. Catherine tried to find Dion, but it was all in vain. She couldn't actively seek him out without exposing herself. She didn't know if whoever was watching had connected her to the hacker Trinity.
What was the Matrix? She heard whispers of it and sometimes thought she caught fleeting shadows of it, but no one she asked ever knew. She spent two months searching for the answer, but all she found was rumor, theory, and superstition. Somehow, it was connected to what Dion found while hacking the Kansas City IRS d-base. Everything was pointing in that direction, and Catherine set out to do the impossible: hack the d-base and live to tell about it.
*****************************************************************************
*on board the Anubis*
Link, the operator, waved Morpheus over to the monitors. She felt bad about disturbing him during his meal, but not too bad because the food sucked anyways. Zion had much better food, although she heard that it was nothing compared to what you "ate" inside the Matrix. Petite, pale, with short blond hair and perky blue eyes, she was born and raised in Zion, and so she never had the chance to find out what she was missing out on. It didn't matter though, because what you "ate" in there wasn't real. It was actually processed dead people, a thought which made Link want to hurl.
"What is it?" asked Morpheus, coming up behind her.
"Looks like your girl is going to go for it," she said, pointing to the monitor. "She's packing all of her clothes and erasing things on her computer. I say, she'll try to get into the IRS d-base tomorrow."
"Then it looks like we're going have to move quickly," replied Morpheus. "I'll talk to Dion and see what he says about it, and tell Dante."
Dion was their second-best programmer and an above-average fighter, audacious but somewhat reckless for someone freed so recently. They had pulled him out about a year ago, in November, after his semi-successful attempt to hack the IRS d-base put the Agents on his trail. Morpheus and Dante were able to get him out, but couldn't get to his friend, Technicolor, before the Agents did. The Agents killed Technicolor, making it look like a suicide.
"Yeah, looks like his lure caught us a new fish," said Link, referring to his posting a few months ago.
Actually, it caught several new potentials for different ships and was a time-tested way to find more. The resistance fighters often had newer crewmembers post on message boards because their fellow hackers probably remembered them. It was the best way to set potentials chasing after the truth.
Morpheus first noticed the potential after they failed to reach Technicolor in time, watching the way she behaved to throw off suspicion. He had barely noticed her slipping out the back when the Agents caught Technicolor; she was almost invisible in the green code. This had led him to suspect that she was different, that she could potentially be the One. Her cunning and her caution made her a very attractive potential and he kept a close watch on her before notifying Dante.
Now was the time to bring her out, but it would be very tricky. They would wait until after she hacked into the IRS d-base, knowing that what she would find there would send her running. Then, it was a matter of getting to her before the Agents did. If she was good and covered her tracks well, they would be able to reach her first. If she made a mistake, like Technicolor did while following Dion's footsteps, then her chances of survival diminished dramatically. However, the advantage was that she would definitely take the red pill-she would have no other choice, once her eyes had been opened to the great lie. Morpheus turned to find Dion and Dante. They needed to formulate a plan.
Note: I changed the ending to Chapter 3 once, and then tweaked it again. Make sure you read the final version. And yeah, I might do that with other chapters as I go along to make sure everything fits together, but I'll make a note if I do.
Chapter 4
A hiker found his body two days later at the bottom of a ravine in the foothills outside of town. There was an old bridge over it, which had been closed to traffic for decades, ever since people started committing suicide off of it. Every other year or so, there was at least one person who jumped to his or her death from it, despite the chain-link fence around it. People generally avoided it because rumors said that it was haunted.
Catherine heard the news when she was at the Cabaleros offering her condolences. Two policemen delivered the unpleasant news. The official story was that Joe, after receiving a mid-semester report that he was failing all his classes, had become so depressed and frustrated that he went to Catherine for advice. Finding that she wasn't home to help him, he felt abandoned and drove off. Thinking that no one could help him and that everyone would be better off if he disappeared, he jumped off the old ravine bridge and fell seven stories to his death. The coroner's report indicated mass trauma to the head and back, caused by heavy blows. It was probably from hitting trees or an outcropping on the way down, or possibly hitting the side of the ravine and rolling toward the bottom. His car was found off to the side about a hundred feet from the head of the bridge.
Mrs. Cabalero was so stricken at the news that all she could do was cover her face and cry out "my poor boy" over and over as the tears streamed down her face. Mr. Cabalero held his wife to comfort her, but also to comfort himself. The poor man looked like he had aged ten years in two days. Catherine could see the torment in his eyes whenever she looked at him: "Why didn't my son call me?" It pained her to see the Cabaleros in so much pain. They were like the parents she never had. She stayed around for a few days, helping with chores and cooking. By that time, she had already run out of tears and just felt numb.
Catherine had called the police after finding the note, acting panicked as if she really believed it. She knew that whoever did this would be watching her to make sure that she really wasn't home when Joe came over, and so she performed exactly as they would have expected. She also stopped hacking for a while, suspecting that they were probably also watching her online. How else would they have known that Joe was going to her house that night? She wanted desperately to tell the Cabaleros that their son did not commit suicide, that he was killed for something he knew, but she couldn't put them in that kind of danger. To anyone who was watching, she looked defeated and finally willing to conform with the system, no longer as into computers as she used to be. On the inside, though, she was raging, thinking, planning her next move.
The police had taken Joe's computer "to search for a motive." The Cabaleros were too deep in grief to complain or even care, but Catherine knew better. They would never get the computer back, or if they did, everything would be wiped clean. She had to find out what was on that computer.
Using the public access computer at the county library, Catherine started looking for the hacker Joe had told her about, Dion. After one week, she still found no trace of him. It was like he had dropped off the face of the earth. What was it that Joe said? Ask him about the Kansas City IRS. Whatever he-they-found there, someone didn't want them to find it. That someone had a very long reach, had the police either working for him or had the ability to manipulate the police, had the ability to trace Joe to Catherine, and had the ability to cover up a murder. Catherine knew that to take these people on directly would be suicide, they had the entire system on their side and she was just a fifteen-year-old high school student. It didn't matter though, she wouldn't meet them head on but she would carry out Joe's final instructions to her. She would find a way to contact other members of the secret society at the university, find some way to reach Dion, or find a way to hack the Kansas City IRS d-base. Something was very wrong with her world, and she set out to find out exactly what it was.
*****************************************************************************
*nine months later*
The summer heat was stifling, but at least the city library had air conditioning. To lessen the chances of getting traced despite her screens, firewalls, piggybacking, and other tricks, Catherine now used eight different places with computers: her own computer, the Cabaleros', the county library, the city library, the high school's, the junior high's, one Internet gaming arcade, and two Internet cafes. She needed the extra precautions because she had a feeling that she was getting closer.
At first, she tried contacting the other members of the secret society at the university, but they had all gone underground-which meant that they were impossible to find, given that they were a SECRET society in the first place. There was still no trace of Dion, and she was worried that the same thing that happened to Joe had happened to him too. It wouldn't have surprised her.
That only left plan C: hack the Kansas City IRS d-base. From what she heard, this was nearly impossible. The last hacker who tried and got through somewhat was Dion, and he had disappeared, either to protect himself or because something happened to him. But even he only made it far enough to knock on the back door, not get into the master bedroom. The answer to all of Catherine's questions was in there though, and she was determined to find out.
The going was slow, because she had to keep up pretenses that she had moved on from her hacking days. She joined a community service club, did well academically, and even got to know some other kids at school. Between school and her job, she only had the weekends a few weeknights to carry out her plans.
Three months into her search, she stumbled across a posting left a message board: The Matrix is everywhere. The message was signed by Dion. It was the first sign of him, according to other hackers who knew him, since November, which was around the time Joe died. Catherine tried to find Dion, but it was all in vain. She couldn't actively seek him out without exposing herself. She didn't know if whoever was watching had connected her to the hacker Trinity.
What was the Matrix? She heard whispers of it and sometimes thought she caught fleeting shadows of it, but no one she asked ever knew. She spent two months searching for the answer, but all she found was rumor, theory, and superstition. Somehow, it was connected to what Dion found while hacking the Kansas City IRS d-base. Everything was pointing in that direction, and Catherine set out to do the impossible: hack the d-base and live to tell about it.
*****************************************************************************
*on board the Anubis*
Link, the operator, waved Morpheus over to the monitors. She felt bad about disturbing him during his meal, but not too bad because the food sucked anyways. Zion had much better food, although she heard that it was nothing compared to what you "ate" inside the Matrix. Petite, pale, with short blond hair and perky blue eyes, she was born and raised in Zion, and so she never had the chance to find out what she was missing out on. It didn't matter though, because what you "ate" in there wasn't real. It was actually processed dead people, a thought which made Link want to hurl.
"What is it?" asked Morpheus, coming up behind her.
"Looks like your girl is going to go for it," she said, pointing to the monitor. "She's packing all of her clothes and erasing things on her computer. I say, she'll try to get into the IRS d-base tomorrow."
"Then it looks like we're going have to move quickly," replied Morpheus. "I'll talk to Dion and see what he says about it, and tell Dante."
Dion was their second-best programmer and an above-average fighter, audacious but somewhat reckless for someone freed so recently. They had pulled him out about a year ago, in November, after his semi-successful attempt to hack the IRS d-base put the Agents on his trail. Morpheus and Dante were able to get him out, but couldn't get to his friend, Technicolor, before the Agents did. The Agents killed Technicolor, making it look like a suicide.
"Yeah, looks like his lure caught us a new fish," said Link, referring to his posting a few months ago.
Actually, it caught several new potentials for different ships and was a time-tested way to find more. The resistance fighters often had newer crewmembers post on message boards because their fellow hackers probably remembered them. It was the best way to set potentials chasing after the truth.
Morpheus first noticed the potential after they failed to reach Technicolor in time, watching the way she behaved to throw off suspicion. He had barely noticed her slipping out the back when the Agents caught Technicolor; she was almost invisible in the green code. This had led him to suspect that she was different, that she could potentially be the One. Her cunning and her caution made her a very attractive potential and he kept a close watch on her before notifying Dante.
Now was the time to bring her out, but it would be very tricky. They would wait until after she hacked into the IRS d-base, knowing that what she would find there would send her running. Then, it was a matter of getting to her before the Agents did. If she was good and covered her tracks well, they would be able to reach her first. If she made a mistake, like Technicolor did while following Dion's footsteps, then her chances of survival diminished dramatically. However, the advantage was that she would definitely take the red pill-she would have no other choice, once her eyes had been opened to the great lie. Morpheus turned to find Dion and Dante. They needed to formulate a plan.