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.
Chapter 6
*two hours ago*
On board the Anubis, five faces peered curiously and anxiously at the core's screen. Link, in the operator's chair, had one leg drawn in towards her while the other dangled carelessly. One hand played nervously with her short, ash-blond hair while she swiveled slowly back and forth in the chair. Behind her, Morpheus was trying to look impassive even though he was probably more nervous than any of his crewmates. He felt like a father watching his baby daughter taking her first steps: ecstatic that she was doing it, but worried as hell that she was going to get hurt. Trace, Cora and Dion were on either side of him, both with similar expressions on their faces.
"Think she's actually going to do it?" asked Trace, the ship's medic.
Trace didn't really understand what she was seeing on the screen, but that didn't matter-she was Zion-born, as most medics were, and couldn't jack into the Matrix. She would've been curious about what it was like living inside if it weren't for the bullet wounds and dead bodies she had to deal courtesy of the Matrix. After serving in the resistance for twelve years-losing several friends/shipmates along the way-Trace developed the reputation of being a mother figure on whichever ship she was on. It was no wonder either, since she was nearly 35 and most resistance fighters were freed in their teens and were lucky to reach 30. If it wasn't the Agents that got them, it was the cold, the malnutrition, disease, or squiddies.
"Yeah, she's at the cafe now," said Link, the operator. "No Agents in the area, so she's all clear for now."
"No, silly, she meant if the potential's able to hack the d-base," said Cora, the programmer. She was as excited as Morpheus about this one, but not for the same reasons. As the youngest member on board, it would be nice to have someone her age to talk to. The next closest people were Dion, who was 22, and Link, who was 25. Turning to Dion, she asked, "Think she can do it?"
"I don't know, it was pretty tough when I tried," he replied, watching the screen. "I've never met her, but Joe-I mean, Technicolor-knew her. He talked about her like she was his kid sister."
Hearing his voice drop a little, Cora patted him on the back. The crew knew that he still missed his friend and they all felt a little guilty that they weren't able to pull him out. Dion tried to smile though, which only made the crew want to pull this potential out successfully all the more. Maybe saving his friend's friend would help take away the pain. At least, he would have someone to talk to about it.
"We'll get her out," said Morpheus, still looking at the screen. "I have a feeling that she's special. Besides, how else would we be able to know what she's doing before the machines? She's either very lucky, or she has Fate on her side."
"I don't know," said Link. "They probably have a file on her, but she hasn't done anything too big before this. She's probably low-priority, so they're not keeping too close an eye on her."
"You still think she's the One, huh?" asked Dion.
"Yes, I do," said Morpheus.
He saw the questions in the others' faces. They knew that he had been wrong the last two times with disastrous results. The first potential, four years ago, was killed by Agents on his first trip back into the Matrix after being freed. The other one, almost two years ago, was killed while they were trying to free her. Agents burst in on the crew as they were running the trace program. Dante and Morpheus were barely able to get out, but they lost Shadow and Ante, their two main fighters. They recruited Dion and Cora soon after that.
The crew was silent, contemplating what Morpheus' belief this time could mean. If he was right, then they would be successful in getting the potential out, especially in a tricky operation like this one. If he was wrong though, more people could end up getting killed. The crew believed in their second-in-command; they heard the rumor that the Oracle said that he would find the One. But maybe third time isn't the charm. Morpheus wouldn't confirm or deny the rumor, no matter how much they bugged him about it. Rumors like this traveled fast though.
It was time to find out if he was right.
The five turned as they heard their captain, Dante, approaching the core.
"How's she doing?" asked Dante, stopping abruptly in front of his crew.
They all looked up to him, some of them literally because of his tall frame. He didn't appear particularly concerned about this mission, especially compared to the other two times that Morpheus had a feeling about a potential. Was something wrong, they wondered.
"She's going through with it," replied Morpheus, observing the neutral expression on his commander's face. Better than the increasingly tired but not quite resigned look he was used to seeing.
"Do we have a map of the area?"
"Yes," said Link, pulling it up on one of the side screens. "The closest point of entry is a hardware store, one block away."
"Other exits?" asked Dante. "We'll need somewhere farther away so we'll have time to hook her up and run the trace program."
"How about the high school library?" asked Link. "It's on the other side of town, and she'll be familiar with the place. It'll help her calm down. The exit's in the archives room."
"That will do. Morpheus, Cora, Dion, you're going in with me," said Dante. The three nodded. "Link, get ready to run the trace program. Trace, is the med bay ready?"
Trace nodded.
"Good. Help Ratch when he's getting ready to lower the claw, he's piloting the ship right now."
Ratch was the seedy-looking mechanic, kind of quiet, kept to himself, but prone to random acts of kindness, which was something valuable in such a turbulent world.
Dante took one last look at his crew before heading towards what Cora had dubbed the "game chairs." He was about to strap himself in when something occurred to him.
"Wait, Morpheus," he said, signaling his lieutenant. "Do we have a copy of her RSI? We need to be able to recognize her immediately."
"Yes, of course," said Morpheus, hiding his surprise that Dante hadn't seen even seen the potential yet.
Thinking back on it, he remembered that when he first told Dante about Trinity, they were looking at her as code. The other couple of times he mentioned her, it was only to update Dante on her progress and there wasn't much to tell. In pretending that she believed that Joe's death was a suicide, she hid her activities from the Agents, which made it difficult to tell how far along she had gotten in her search for the truth. It had even surprised Morpheus, who didn't realize her plan to hack the d-base until Dion made the connection that she was following in his footsteps, taking similar actions that he had, only doing a much better job of covering it up. This was only a few days ago, since apparently Trinity did most of her planning in her head, leaving behind very little physical evidence. The crew didn't know anything except that she was planning something big because her bank account was slowly diminishing. They weren't totally unprepared to pull her out; they were just surprised that they would have to act with such short notice.
Morpheus pulled up the image on one of the main monitors. Most of the people present had already seen it. Morpheus tried not to think about it as Dante not believing that she could be the One or, worse yet, not being interested at all. Finding and freeing potentials was the most exciting part of their duties because you never knew when you would be getting a new best friend, a dependable crewmate, or even the One. It would take a very depressed person to lose interest in something like what they were about to do.
Dante merely glanced at image and was about to turn away when apparently something caught his attention. He froze in mid-turn and whipped around to look at the picture again.
"This is her?" he asked, obviously surprised but trying to hide it.
"Yes," said Morpheus. "Catherine Morgan, goes by 'Trinity.' Age 16, hacker and programmer, high athletic ability. She's very fast, very smart. With a little training, she should be able to give Agents a run for their money."
Dante didn't seem to be paying attention because he barely nodded when Morpheus finished speaking. He was concentrating on the image, squinting a little and with his mouth hanging just a bit open, as he was confused or taken aback. That didn't make any sense though; it was so unlike Dante to be surprised by anything. At age 38, he had seen more death and destruction, experienced more tragedy and hope, than anyone could even imagine, yet he kept most of this inside himself. He rarely mentioned anything about his past, especially his life in the Matrix, waving it off because "it's over now so it doesn't matter anymore." The crew looked worriedly at their captain. Morpheus was about to ask if something was wrong when Dante broke out of his trance.
"She's sixteen?"
"Yes," answered Morpheus, carefully watching Dante.
Taking in the raven hair, ice blue eyes, and angular face of the young girl, Dante tried to control the emotions that were threatening to spill out. He felt like crying, like screaming, like do something-anything-if it would only explain how this girl could be the one that Morpheus was intent on freeing. He didn't know her, but her features were unmistakable. She was an impossibility, a ghost out to haunt him. But this was no time to remember ghosts or shadows; his crew was waiting for him.
"Is something wrong, sir?" asked Cora.
"No," he answered in a tone that wasn't harsh but did not invite further inquiry. "Let's get going."
His crew had no choice but to follow him, questions about their captain's reaction to the image running through their heads. Did he know her? Impossible, since from what they knew, he was freed at age 22, three months before Trinity was even born. And yet, they knew little else about his life before joining the resistance. It was a question that remained in the back of Morpheus's mind as they jacked into the Matrix and the world turned momentarily to black.
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Author's Note: Does anyone know how to italicize the text? I'm saving the chapters as text only documents, which erases whatever I italicize in the Word document. Is there a better way to do this?
Chapter 6
*two hours ago*
On board the Anubis, five faces peered curiously and anxiously at the core's screen. Link, in the operator's chair, had one leg drawn in towards her while the other dangled carelessly. One hand played nervously with her short, ash-blond hair while she swiveled slowly back and forth in the chair. Behind her, Morpheus was trying to look impassive even though he was probably more nervous than any of his crewmates. He felt like a father watching his baby daughter taking her first steps: ecstatic that she was doing it, but worried as hell that she was going to get hurt. Trace, Cora and Dion were on either side of him, both with similar expressions on their faces.
"Think she's actually going to do it?" asked Trace, the ship's medic.
Trace didn't really understand what she was seeing on the screen, but that didn't matter-she was Zion-born, as most medics were, and couldn't jack into the Matrix. She would've been curious about what it was like living inside if it weren't for the bullet wounds and dead bodies she had to deal courtesy of the Matrix. After serving in the resistance for twelve years-losing several friends/shipmates along the way-Trace developed the reputation of being a mother figure on whichever ship she was on. It was no wonder either, since she was nearly 35 and most resistance fighters were freed in their teens and were lucky to reach 30. If it wasn't the Agents that got them, it was the cold, the malnutrition, disease, or squiddies.
"Yeah, she's at the cafe now," said Link, the operator. "No Agents in the area, so she's all clear for now."
"No, silly, she meant if the potential's able to hack the d-base," said Cora, the programmer. She was as excited as Morpheus about this one, but not for the same reasons. As the youngest member on board, it would be nice to have someone her age to talk to. The next closest people were Dion, who was 22, and Link, who was 25. Turning to Dion, she asked, "Think she can do it?"
"I don't know, it was pretty tough when I tried," he replied, watching the screen. "I've never met her, but Joe-I mean, Technicolor-knew her. He talked about her like she was his kid sister."
Hearing his voice drop a little, Cora patted him on the back. The crew knew that he still missed his friend and they all felt a little guilty that they weren't able to pull him out. Dion tried to smile though, which only made the crew want to pull this potential out successfully all the more. Maybe saving his friend's friend would help take away the pain. At least, he would have someone to talk to about it.
"We'll get her out," said Morpheus, still looking at the screen. "I have a feeling that she's special. Besides, how else would we be able to know what she's doing before the machines? She's either very lucky, or she has Fate on her side."
"I don't know," said Link. "They probably have a file on her, but she hasn't done anything too big before this. She's probably low-priority, so they're not keeping too close an eye on her."
"You still think she's the One, huh?" asked Dion.
"Yes, I do," said Morpheus.
He saw the questions in the others' faces. They knew that he had been wrong the last two times with disastrous results. The first potential, four years ago, was killed by Agents on his first trip back into the Matrix after being freed. The other one, almost two years ago, was killed while they were trying to free her. Agents burst in on the crew as they were running the trace program. Dante and Morpheus were barely able to get out, but they lost Shadow and Ante, their two main fighters. They recruited Dion and Cora soon after that.
The crew was silent, contemplating what Morpheus' belief this time could mean. If he was right, then they would be successful in getting the potential out, especially in a tricky operation like this one. If he was wrong though, more people could end up getting killed. The crew believed in their second-in-command; they heard the rumor that the Oracle said that he would find the One. But maybe third time isn't the charm. Morpheus wouldn't confirm or deny the rumor, no matter how much they bugged him about it. Rumors like this traveled fast though.
It was time to find out if he was right.
The five turned as they heard their captain, Dante, approaching the core.
"How's she doing?" asked Dante, stopping abruptly in front of his crew.
They all looked up to him, some of them literally because of his tall frame. He didn't appear particularly concerned about this mission, especially compared to the other two times that Morpheus had a feeling about a potential. Was something wrong, they wondered.
"She's going through with it," replied Morpheus, observing the neutral expression on his commander's face. Better than the increasingly tired but not quite resigned look he was used to seeing.
"Do we have a map of the area?"
"Yes," said Link, pulling it up on one of the side screens. "The closest point of entry is a hardware store, one block away."
"Other exits?" asked Dante. "We'll need somewhere farther away so we'll have time to hook her up and run the trace program."
"How about the high school library?" asked Link. "It's on the other side of town, and she'll be familiar with the place. It'll help her calm down. The exit's in the archives room."
"That will do. Morpheus, Cora, Dion, you're going in with me," said Dante. The three nodded. "Link, get ready to run the trace program. Trace, is the med bay ready?"
Trace nodded.
"Good. Help Ratch when he's getting ready to lower the claw, he's piloting the ship right now."
Ratch was the seedy-looking mechanic, kind of quiet, kept to himself, but prone to random acts of kindness, which was something valuable in such a turbulent world.
Dante took one last look at his crew before heading towards what Cora had dubbed the "game chairs." He was about to strap himself in when something occurred to him.
"Wait, Morpheus," he said, signaling his lieutenant. "Do we have a copy of her RSI? We need to be able to recognize her immediately."
"Yes, of course," said Morpheus, hiding his surprise that Dante hadn't seen even seen the potential yet.
Thinking back on it, he remembered that when he first told Dante about Trinity, they were looking at her as code. The other couple of times he mentioned her, it was only to update Dante on her progress and there wasn't much to tell. In pretending that she believed that Joe's death was a suicide, she hid her activities from the Agents, which made it difficult to tell how far along she had gotten in her search for the truth. It had even surprised Morpheus, who didn't realize her plan to hack the d-base until Dion made the connection that she was following in his footsteps, taking similar actions that he had, only doing a much better job of covering it up. This was only a few days ago, since apparently Trinity did most of her planning in her head, leaving behind very little physical evidence. The crew didn't know anything except that she was planning something big because her bank account was slowly diminishing. They weren't totally unprepared to pull her out; they were just surprised that they would have to act with such short notice.
Morpheus pulled up the image on one of the main monitors. Most of the people present had already seen it. Morpheus tried not to think about it as Dante not believing that she could be the One or, worse yet, not being interested at all. Finding and freeing potentials was the most exciting part of their duties because you never knew when you would be getting a new best friend, a dependable crewmate, or even the One. It would take a very depressed person to lose interest in something like what they were about to do.
Dante merely glanced at image and was about to turn away when apparently something caught his attention. He froze in mid-turn and whipped around to look at the picture again.
"This is her?" he asked, obviously surprised but trying to hide it.
"Yes," said Morpheus. "Catherine Morgan, goes by 'Trinity.' Age 16, hacker and programmer, high athletic ability. She's very fast, very smart. With a little training, she should be able to give Agents a run for their money."
Dante didn't seem to be paying attention because he barely nodded when Morpheus finished speaking. He was concentrating on the image, squinting a little and with his mouth hanging just a bit open, as he was confused or taken aback. That didn't make any sense though; it was so unlike Dante to be surprised by anything. At age 38, he had seen more death and destruction, experienced more tragedy and hope, than anyone could even imagine, yet he kept most of this inside himself. He rarely mentioned anything about his past, especially his life in the Matrix, waving it off because "it's over now so it doesn't matter anymore." The crew looked worriedly at their captain. Morpheus was about to ask if something was wrong when Dante broke out of his trance.
"She's sixteen?"
"Yes," answered Morpheus, carefully watching Dante.
Taking in the raven hair, ice blue eyes, and angular face of the young girl, Dante tried to control the emotions that were threatening to spill out. He felt like crying, like screaming, like do something-anything-if it would only explain how this girl could be the one that Morpheus was intent on freeing. He didn't know her, but her features were unmistakable. She was an impossibility, a ghost out to haunt him. But this was no time to remember ghosts or shadows; his crew was waiting for him.
"Is something wrong, sir?" asked Cora.
"No," he answered in a tone that wasn't harsh but did not invite further inquiry. "Let's get going."
His crew had no choice but to follow him, questions about their captain's reaction to the image running through their heads. Did he know her? Impossible, since from what they knew, he was freed at age 22, three months before Trinity was even born. And yet, they knew little else about his life before joining the resistance. It was a question that remained in the back of Morpheus's mind as they jacked into the Matrix and the world turned momentarily to black.
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Author's Note: Does anyone know how to italicize the text? I'm saving the chapters as text only documents, which erases whatever I italicize in the Word document. Is there a better way to do this?