CHAPTER FOUR
(do his superman thing)
"Let's go over this again," Morpheus said. He sounded incredibly tired. "Neo and Trinity were last seen in Neo's room. They had retired for the night. Some of Zion's people within earshot of Neo's room claimed to have heard some thuds and shuffles, but they thought it was – ah – "
"Neo and Trinity having sex," Niobe snorted. "You don't have to act like an old prude. Go on."
Some of the exhaustion faded from Morpheus' eyes, replaced by annoyance. He shot Niobe a glare for that bit of wisdom. "Thanks. I can always count on your encouragement. Now, as I was saying, the people of Zion who were within earshot of Neo's room just thought that the unusual sounds were Neo and Trinity having intercourse – "
Niobe and Link traded 'what-a-prude' glances, which the subject of the aforementioned glances chose to ignore.
" – so they didn't go to the authorities for help," Morpheus went on loudly. "And the next morning, when I went to tell Neo that the System had apparently speeded up the digging process to get to Zion, he wasn't there. His room was perfectly clean, though, so I wasn't worried. I went to Trinity to ask where Neo was, but she wasn't in her room either. Her room was also perfectly clean."
Morpheus paused, then continued, "I still wasn't overly concerned. But when the two of them hadn't shown up hours later, I started asking questions. And that's when we realized that they were gone."
There was silence for a moment.
"Do you think he and Trinity left of their own free will?" Niobe asked.
"No." Morpheus' response was calm and certain. "Neo knew that Zion was in trouble, as did Trinity. They wouldn't have left."
"Maybe they got their memories wiped," Link offered. "Then the System deposited them in some godforsaken corner of the Matrix."
Niobe rolled her eyes. She, Morpheus, and Link had been sitting still for over an hour now, bouncing off theories as to what had happened to Neo and Trinity off each other.
"That's not possible," she said. "Neo is the One. He can defend himself from the System."
Link shrugged. "You're assuming that he and Trinity were both in a position to defend themselves."
"What do you mean?" Niobe demanded.
Morpheus spoke. "I had considered that idea for myself, Link, but if that's what happened, it might be impossible to get them back. We have to consider other scenarios."
"You're saying that perhaps they were unconscious when they left Zion, and kept unconscious when their memories were wiped, and remained unconscious until they woke up in the Matrix?" Niobe asked.
Link nodded.
"I have another scenario. Maybe the System infiltrated Zion, and right now we have a robot parading around pretending to be an innocent citizen. Maybe Neo and Trinity were captured, and are being tortured as we speak."
Morpheus almost smiled. "Zion is completely System-proof, Niobe, you know that. And what would the robots have to gain by torturing Neo and Trinity?"
Niobe relented. "You're right. But that mind-wiping scenario is so difficult to believe. Because if Neo and Trinity are in the Matrix, then their real bodies are in some System-protected area. We won't be able to penetrate easily. Maybe we won't be able to penetrate at all. And you can't find people in the Matrix, unless they want to be found. If Neo and Trinity don't remember us, why would they want us to find them?"
"And besides, Neo can't do his superman thing if he can't even remember that he can do it," Link added.
There was a silence. Link's gaze shifted to a portrait of the current Council Leader on the wall.
"Morpheus, when this is over, the Council is going to fire you," Link announced helpfully.
Morpheus snorted. "They're going to go down on their arthritic knees and thank me, because I did the right thing, and they damn well know it."
"I'm siding with you, Morpheus, but you know how ornery the Council can get," Niobe said. "I wish I could have gone out to search for Neo."
"If you had gone, the Council would probably hand me over to the System as a human sacrifice," Morpheus muttered. "They think you're one of the few people who can actually defend Zion from the System."
Niobe didn't know what to answer to that. There was another long silence.
"Any other ideas?" Morpheus asked finally.
"I have one," Link volunteered. "What if Zion was infiltrated, and Neo and Trinity are dead?"
Niobe and Morpheus spluttered.
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NOTE: Sorry this chapter was so short! Like I said, I'll be putting up Trinity's story soon . . . just wanted to let readers know what was up in Zion . . . I probably committed a ton of errors. My apologies. :-)
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