The sky was covered by the clouds - it was going to be another grey day.
"Another grey sullen day" Ally thought. She looked out of the window of her hut. Mom and Dad were still asleep. It was quite early and quite cold. Nobody could be seen on the streets of the village.
She put on her shoes and coat and went outside. Shivering, the girl was walking down the street, among miserable, low, dirty buildings. People tried to build something they had seen in the Matrix, but they got nothing that could even resemble great buildings, beautiful buildings created by in the virtual reality by the machines.
Ally sighed. She had never been in the Matrix, and when she was little, she wondered why did her parents have those weird things on the back of their necks and along the spinal cord and in another places, and she didn't. Then she was told about the Matrix, and about The One. Neo. And Trinity, Morpheus and all other people who saved the world, who fought the war with the machines, and won. They were all dead now, some of them died in the fight, some of them just aged and passed away. But the memory remained. Still. There was the Book, it was called the Book of Truth, some people called it the Book of Freedom. Ally didn't know what was in it, her parents never allowed her to read it. She was too small for that, they said, too immature for that, they said. Too unprepared.
She now was at the end of the village, where the fields were. There was really no purpose for the fields, but people were doing something there. They were trying to do something they had seen in their dreams, digital dreams, Ally guessed. And it wasn't working.
She knew people were afraid of reality.
They were fond of freedom, but it scared them. Her parents have been in Matrix for only 11 years, and sometimes they told her how terrifying it was for them to wake up and understand that the world they were living in wasn't real. They didn't know what to do. Reality was uneasy, scary and far from beautiful. But they coped.
All the people coped. And they were doing something on the fields.
But now nobody was there.
Suddenly, something cached Ally's eyes. Something she had never seen before. Something so unusual, she couldn't even understand it.
Colour.
It was something tiny, and yet dramatically different, awfully uncomfortable, yet desirable. In wonder, she came up to the little green dot in the ground.
It was like a stick, looking at her, it was stuck in the ground. At first she wanted to pull it off, but then reluctantly she stopped her hand. It was so beautiful, so delightful to look upon, the eyes seemed to rest on it. Ally had never heard of colour like this, her parents never told her.
Sudden cry from behind made her to turn around, fearfully. It was a man, an old man, and he was looking at the stick. With tears in his eyes, he stared at it and seemed to cry and laugh at the same time.
"Call. Call your parents" he whispered. "Now!"
Scared, but excited and suspicious and with other feelings making an unbearable mixture, Ally started to run back to her shelter.
The old man was still looking at the tiny spout. He closed his eyes and tears crossed his face, tears of happiness.
For there, in the ground, so tiny and pathetic, there was a new life. Green life. A tree. A green ray of hope in the black and white and grey despair.
"Another grey sullen day" Ally thought. She looked out of the window of her hut. Mom and Dad were still asleep. It was quite early and quite cold. Nobody could be seen on the streets of the village.
She put on her shoes and coat and went outside. Shivering, the girl was walking down the street, among miserable, low, dirty buildings. People tried to build something they had seen in the Matrix, but they got nothing that could even resemble great buildings, beautiful buildings created by in the virtual reality by the machines.
Ally sighed. She had never been in the Matrix, and when she was little, she wondered why did her parents have those weird things on the back of their necks and along the spinal cord and in another places, and she didn't. Then she was told about the Matrix, and about The One. Neo. And Trinity, Morpheus and all other people who saved the world, who fought the war with the machines, and won. They were all dead now, some of them died in the fight, some of them just aged and passed away. But the memory remained. Still. There was the Book, it was called the Book of Truth, some people called it the Book of Freedom. Ally didn't know what was in it, her parents never allowed her to read it. She was too small for that, they said, too immature for that, they said. Too unprepared.
She now was at the end of the village, where the fields were. There was really no purpose for the fields, but people were doing something there. They were trying to do something they had seen in their dreams, digital dreams, Ally guessed. And it wasn't working.
She knew people were afraid of reality.
They were fond of freedom, but it scared them. Her parents have been in Matrix for only 11 years, and sometimes they told her how terrifying it was for them to wake up and understand that the world they were living in wasn't real. They didn't know what to do. Reality was uneasy, scary and far from beautiful. But they coped.
All the people coped. And they were doing something on the fields.
But now nobody was there.
Suddenly, something cached Ally's eyes. Something she had never seen before. Something so unusual, she couldn't even understand it.
Colour.
It was something tiny, and yet dramatically different, awfully uncomfortable, yet desirable. In wonder, she came up to the little green dot in the ground.
It was like a stick, looking at her, it was stuck in the ground. At first she wanted to pull it off, but then reluctantly she stopped her hand. It was so beautiful, so delightful to look upon, the eyes seemed to rest on it. Ally had never heard of colour like this, her parents never told her.
Sudden cry from behind made her to turn around, fearfully. It was a man, an old man, and he was looking at the stick. With tears in his eyes, he stared at it and seemed to cry and laugh at the same time.
"Call. Call your parents" he whispered. "Now!"
Scared, but excited and suspicious and with other feelings making an unbearable mixture, Ally started to run back to her shelter.
The old man was still looking at the tiny spout. He closed his eyes and tears crossed his face, tears of happiness.
For there, in the ground, so tiny and pathetic, there was a new life. Green life. A tree. A green ray of hope in the black and white and grey despair.