DISCLAIMER: I'm sure that by now, you've come to realize the obviousness of the truth. ^_^
Author's Notes: Thanks again for the attention! It really pleases me, even though I sometimes feel I don't deserve all the compliments. But then again, who's complaining. ^_^ Whereas the last chapter was really more about getting the story going, this one will concentrate on building up tension. As you may already have guessed, things are about to get complicated.. *sniggers evilly*
CHAPTER 2: The Silent Hour
A
thousand years, you said,
as our hearts melted.
I look at the hand you held,
and the ache is hard to bear.
- Lady Heguri -
Strips of code ran endlessly down a computer screen, revealing themselves momentarily to a pair of watchful brown eyes, before fading back into the black abyss they'd emerged from. In a vain attempt to overcome his mind-numbing boredom, Neo had begun to stare at the monitor intensely. He found the Matrix infinately interesting, even in coded form. He kept hoping he might catch sight of something extraordinary, something that would answer the one fundamental question that had been circling around in his mind ever since he'd discovered he was indeed, the One. Why, he asked himself, am I here? What's my purpose, if it's not to serve as a mindless cogwheel in some big scheme of things? No matter how relentlessly Neo waited, the only answer the Matrix offered him was the inscrutable humming of a cooling system.
Much help that was.
The flickering, green lights on the computer screens reflected a weak glow upon Neo's pale skin, as he sat quietly in the heart of his newly-found home. It had been a slow night, and Neo had had plenty of time to himself. Trinity's meeting with Morpheus, which she'd said would last just a second, had extended from minutes to hours. And Neo, who'd only joined her here for some quality time with his girlfriend, had suddenly found himself taking over for her shift. Not that he really minded, after all, it wasn't his first time on guard duty. But the whole situation did make him a bit jumpy, though.
There had been no word from Trinity, nothing. It wasn't like her to just abandon her guard post indefinately for a social call. One serious conversation had to be going on down there, for her to get this delayed. Trinity had already stayed away for.. Neo's eyes darted over to the far end of the windshield, to a digital watch screwed in place to the wall there. It's glowing red numbers had just shifted to 4:19 a.m. Three and a half hours, he counted in his head. Jesus.
For days now, Neo had senced a change in the atmosphere on board the Nubuchadnezzar, for no apparent reason. Perhaps it was the way Trinity had been behaving, double-checking on him every chance she got. She had developed a distinct need of closure on him, and it troubled Neo. She hadn't explained her actions, except by telling him she'd been having nightmares, about him. Even though she hadn't gone into the details, Neo could just about guess what they'd been about.
After all, he dreamt such dreams as well. He imagined that it went along with love; when you have something amazing and pure, the thing you most fear is losing it. But in spite of this, he had a feeling there was more to Trinity's behaviour than your average 'disturbing dream' anxiety. She wasn't the kind to get upset easily, always being a soldier before a woman, so Neo had good reason to believe that whatever it was, it was big. But try as he might, he could never quite put his finger on what that something was.
Sometimes he could see it in her eyes, when she looked at him. A sadness so deep and profound, it threw him. And at the same time, it made him love her all the more. He would just look back at her, feeling her pain almost as acutely as she did, and poar out his worship of her through his eyes, in hope that it would make a difference. After all, it was all he could really do. Trinity was a very private person, she liked to keep her pains and worries to herself. Not out of timidity, but from pride and out right pig-headedness. If he would press her on the subject, he would just end up driving her away, and that was the last thing Neo wanted.
Trinity was more experienced than him, knowing her way around the real world far better than he did. Neo still had a lot to learn, but she never seemed to deem him incompetent for all of his questions. He respected and admired her, for being a survivor, a soldier, without letting it slowly kill the person inside her. There was a duality to her character, which came from the nature of her work: he too, had learned it necessary to separate oneself from the person one became inside the Matrix. Trinity had told him once, he should always think of entering his former world as a dream, a videogame - that he should subconsiously accept what he did inside, wasn't real. Even though real people would get killed in the process.
It was a good piece of advice, Neo thought, much more practical than Morpheus' request to free his mind. Once the attempt to free his mind had become consious, there was no way to avoid the disasterous failure at doing just that. The things you are forced to think about, forced to consider, are such you doubt - never the kind you're willing to accept in a heartbeat. The plummeting fall during his first jumping experience had proved Neo that.
Neo sighed and rubbed his eyes, as they'd begun to ache from the bright screens. He decided to run another check for sentinels in proximity to their position, but the results came back negative, showing that the area was clean miles around. Suddenly his ears caught the sound of approaching footsteps, and Neo perched up on his seat for a better view. He assumed it was Trinity, coming back to relieve him and to take over for the rest of the shift. Who he saw walking in though, wasn't Trinity but instead their very drowzy looking operator.
"Tank? I thought you'd be sleeping." Neo voiced his thoughts, unable to conceal the disappointment in his voice.
"I was," Tank complied, "until Captain dearest ordered my sorry ass back here."
Tank walked in through the doorway with a stoop, yawning loudly as his body protested against the interruption in his sleep. Neo could tell he'd been in a hurry to get dressed, since the beige, ragged-looking sweater he was wearing was put on inside out. Tank didn't seem to notice, or care of the fact, dress-code being less formal here than in Neo's fictionary life as Thomas A. Anderson. God, Neo groaned as he thought back to that period; had he hated the ties back then.
"Morpheus?" Neo asked, and after a brief silence he continued; "Was Trinity with him?"
"Boy, you sure have a one tracked mind." Tank shook his head amused, and jumped on his seat. "But no, I didn't see her."
"Oh. I wonder where she is then."
"Probably sleeping, like you should be too." Tank flicked some switches and began typing on his keyboard. "The way I heard it, you're both going in later today." He added, opening up a file on his computer which looked like the map of a city somewhere. With remarkable speed, the program zoomed in on one twenty storie building at the outskirts of the map.
"Morpheus said that?" Neo double-checked, as his eyes strayed away from the computer screen and back to Tank.
"Yeah. Seemed really weird about it too." Tank answered, without pulling away his eyes from the task at hand. "Apparently some guy who calls himself the Worm contacted him through un-official channels, and requested a meeting. He'd said an exchange would take place."
"An exchange of what?" Neo wondered outloud.
"I dunno man. And this Worm guy, I've never even heard of him." Tank admitted incredulously. "I can't believe Morpheus is buying into his bullshit."
"You told that to Morpheus?" Neo raised his brow. He'd thought their Captain had an authority that was rarely questioned, even by Trinity.
"Yeah, but did he listen? Noo.." Tank grunted, and shook his head in disappointment. "I haven't seen him as obstinant since--" He fell silent, and glanzed at Neo briefly before returning to his work.
"Since what?" Neo asked, waiting for Tank to complete his sentence.
"Since we found you." Tank stared at him, a thoughtful look in his eyes.
Soon both men averted their of gaze to the gloomy view which spread through the windshield in front of them. The Neb had been set down to the corner of a huge cavern, it's walls filled with cables and wires and entrances to round-shaped, spacious tunnels which lead deeper into the sewers. On the barren floor, in between the dust and the ashes, lay boulders of scrap metal, which might've been ships or quite possibly sentinels a decade or two ago.
A current of smoky, polluted air blew the ashen grey dust that lay everywhere in the sewers. Sometimes Neo wondered what the stuff was, but a part of him wasn't sure if he wanted to find out. There was probably a morbid story behind it - like that it was the ashes of cremated soldiers who'd died fighting the machines. After all, the war had been going on for a hundred years, yet there existed no cemetaries, due to lack of space. Or then it could be the burnt remains of the lush vegetation that had once grown up on the surface of the earth. Either way, the sight made him sad.
The train of Neo's thoughts came to a sudden halt though, as Tank spoke up again. "Look man, I'll take it from here, you can go. Have an early breakfast for all I care. But I suggest you rest, and prepare.. You've got a long day ahead of you." He patted Neo on the back, and then returned to running yet another perimeter check on his computer.
"Yeah," Neo sighed as he stood up and made his way towards the doorway, "One hell of a day."
* * * * * * *
Trinity sat in the mess hall, her eyes directed at the colourless goo ahead of her on the dinner table. She really wasn't that hungry, but felt obligated to swallow her mild flavoured breakfast. It was nutritious, if not tasty, and it would keep her body going for the day. And Trinity felt, for tonight, she'd need all the energy she could muster. Having lifted up her first spoon full of the mouldy gruel, she suddenly heard the hinges of the door behind her creak as someone walked in.
Trinity craned her neck to catch a glimpse of the intruder, and saw Neo, standing frozen in the doorway. "Trinity." He called out to her, surprise evident in his voice.
"You should go back to bed." Trinity ordered tiredly, and brushed away a few locks of nearly black hair that had fallen down on her eyes. "There are still a few hours till morning."
"I know," Neo begun awkwardly. "I just.. I needed to see you. You weren't in your cabin.." He said, and made a relaxed gesture towards the corridor behind him.
"No," Trinity admitted, a smile softening the look on her face. "I wanted some time to think."
The blinking halogen lights on the ceiling high-lighted Trinity's hair with shades of electric blue, further accentuating the huey, liquid colour of her eyes. The two pools of mountain fresh water stared back at Neo blankly, as he continued to take in her beaty. Trinity had an unearthly feel to her, an aura of tranquility and calm only matched by her fiery temper and nerves of steel. She seemed untouchable, never within easy reach.
Her lips parted, as though to say something, and an obscure question roamed Trinity's gaze. Immediatly she straightened her neck, turning her face away from Neo. But he'd already seen her lost expression. "Something's bothering you." Neo circled around the table she was seated at, and sat down to face her. He was aware that Trinity often came here to be alone, she'd told him that once herself, and of late he'd found himself doing the same thing. The mess hall, which consisted of the dining area and the small kitchen, wasn't a very homely environment with it's meal dispensing machines and cold, sterile surfaces, but at least it was quiet. The noise of the engines and air-conditioning systems never quite reached these walls.
Trinity blinked, lowering her gaze from Neo to the metal grey table in front of her. This wouldn't be easy, she thought, and kept twirling a spoon in her food. "I guess Tank already told you we're going in today?" Her question came out more as a statement of fact.
"Yeah. He might've mentioned that." Neo nodded, folding his arms on the table. So that's what she'd been talking about with Morpheus, he realized, simultaneously worrying about the tone Trinity was using. Should he take it as a sign this wasn't the run of the mill assignment he'd begun to think that it was? If there was one thing Neo had learned, it was that when both Morpheus and Trinity were acting strange, nothing good could come out of it. Last time he'd felt this much tension charged up in the air, was when he had gone in for the first time to meet the Oracle.
And just look how well that one turned out.
Trinity lifted up her gaze again, and stared at Neo for a moment. "I don't think you should go. Your presence is not required." She spoke calmly, her voice less official than the expression on her face.
Is that an order, Neo wondered. "You don't want me there?" He inquired, an undertone of hurt in his voice. "No," came out Trinity's blunt reply.
"Why?" Neo demanded.
Just tell him, said a voice in Trinity's head, just tell him you fear this is the last time you'll see him alive. And despite all of this, the anxiety that twisted her stomach.. A deep, profound silence was all the answer Neo got.
"Trinity," Neo's voice became concearned, as he grabbed hold of Trinity's fingers. "I wish you would tell me. Whatever it is."
"I just keep thinking.." She begun. "About what the Oracle told me.. How things turned out in the past."
"And?"
"I don't know what affect my actions could have. I don't know, if I might be causing something bad to happen by telling you more than you're meant to know." Trinity answered, an apologetic look on her face.
"Meant to know?" Neo snorted. "How do you know you're not meant to tell me?"
"I can't know." Trinity agreed. "But until I do.. Until I understand what it means.."
"You'll continue to keep me in the dark." Neo finished her sentence, slight traces of frustration on his boyish face. He felt helpless, unable to do anything for the one person he most wanted to help. Feeling awkward in relationships wasn't exactly news to Neo, he'd always felt more at ease dealing with computers than with other people, but this particular kind of awkwardness was something he hadn't experienced before. In his life in the Matrix, Neo had felt himself disconnect with every girl he ever dated - they simply drifted away. Now the problem was quite the opposite. The intensity of emotion he felt everytime he saw Trinity, had been something he'd been completely unprepared for. It was like a million different things, suddenly thrown at him from all directions, while he was left in the middle feeling deeply and utterly lost. Love, that darned thing, never came with an instruction manual.
"I hope you're right about this, Trinity.." Neo's voice was suddenly stripped bare of it's sharp edges. "..'Cos I can't lose you." He finished, with a sincerity that reached his eyes.
"I know." Trinity nodded, and squeezed Neo's fingers gently with her own. "I can't lose you either. I won't." She promised, her eyes glowing with conviction.
* * * * * * *
After breakfast Trinity and Neo headed over to the main deck, climbing a set of ladders before proceeding to the short corridor that curved around the end towards the spacious room there. Their feet walked forward with a casual, slow pace, emitting clanking sounds as the heels of their boots met the metallic surface of the grating beneath them.
"They're already waiting for us." Trinity was the first to speak up. The words themselves meant nothing, they were a mere platitude to break the silence that had hung between her and Neo for over an hour now. The soundlessness had begun to crawl around in Trinity's skin, making her hyper-aware of her surroundings. In that state of anticipation, every glance and breath seemed magnified a thousand times over in volume. She simply couldn't take it any longer, and had urged herself to blurt out those words, whatever words, to rid herself of the feeling.
"Oh." Neo said, uninterested. He probably couldn't think of anything else to say. Understandable. Still, Trinity couldn't shrug off the feeling that she had somehow hurt his feelings, offended him in some way. That feeling too, bothered her and she wanted it gone.
"Are you sure you're up to this?" She asked, her eyes implying a hidden meaning behind her words.
"As ready as I'll ever be." Neo answered, stopping in midstride. He faced Trinity in the hallway, his eyes doing a quick sweep over hers as he considered the next thing to say. "This never get's any easier, does it?" He grinned nervously as he spoke.
"I guess not." Trinity answered, unsure what Neo had in fact asked. But then again, did it really matter? Everything about her life was difficult these days. Now, there was only the good difficult and the bad difficult to choose from. No more easy. That, she'd given up along with the blue pill she never chose.
Without a second thought, Trinity stepped closer to Neo, pressing her lithe frame against his. He was taken aback by her impulsive behaviour, and lowered his eyes at her with a question mark written all over his face. If she wanted to keep him at a distance, this was a strange way of showing it.
"A kiss.." She whispered, closing her eyes. "For good luck."
Neo didn't reply, instead lowered his face onto hers. He loved this moment right before their lips met. It was like standing at a cliff, overlooking an endless pitch dark crevice - and then taking the consious plunge into oblivion. He held his eyes closed at the first touch, which was a rough, starved encounter. Neo soon claimed Trinity's lips again, tasting the breakfast she'd just had on her mouth. They leant into each other as the kiss deepened, somehow maintaining their balance whilst standing in the middle of the floor.
Neo recoiled ever so slightly, as he felt Trinity's fingers settle at his side. They felt hot, even through the fabric of the sweater he was wearing, as though her entire body was flushed with fire. As he pulled back, and gave a brief glance at Trinity, she was gazing back at him vacuously, moistening her swollen lips. Neo was about to lean in and kiss her again, as the sound of someone clearing his throat very loudly reached his ears.
"Are you two never gonna stop?" Tank's voice echoed from the end of the hallway. He was peeking around the corner, signaling for the two lovebirds to join him on the main deck already. "We *are* on a schedule here." He added, and then ran back the way he had come from.
"So much for the luck." Neo glanced at Trinity amused.
"But the kiss was still good." She replied, a shadow of a smile hanging about her features.
They smiled at each other, reveling in the little thrills that still ran through them. Most of the time, kissing was all they ever did, since you never knew when the sentinels decided to pay the Neb a surprise visit. Due to those circumstances, they had made quite an artform of making out where ever the passion over came them. A kiss in itself, left them surprisingly sated.
When Neo and Trinity finally made it to where Morpheus and Tank were waiting, everything seemed prepared for their arrival. Tank was sitting by a computer, punching in the preluminary commands to connect them to the Matrix. Morpheus, on the other hand, stood at a small distance, facing the entering pair.
"Neo? I take it you'll be going in with Trinity?" He asked casually.
"That was the deal, yeah." Neo nodded. "So Morpheus, wanna tell me what this is all about?"
The expression on Morpheus' face became troubled, yet he retained the sparkle of anticipation in his eyes. "Do you remember.. What I told you about the Prophecies of the One?" He asked, in a hypnotic steady flow of speach.
Neo nodded.
"Freeing the One would result in our victory.. over the machines. And I believe, that prophecy is close to it's fulfillment." Morpheus circled closer, and it seemed with every step he took a sence of nervousness seated deeper into his voice.
Neo just stared at him blankly. "Why? Who exactly are we going to meet?"
"It is as you would say, a long story, and time is against us. We were only given a 10 hour window to meet him, for security reasons, and we're quickly running out of time. Should you two fail to arrive.. All could be lost." Morpheus said grimly. "So as for now you'll just have to trust my judgement."
"I don't accept that." Neo shook his head. "Look, when I'm told I probably shouldn't do this, I get a bad feeling. I wan't to know what's going on."
"Trinity?" Morpheus glanced at the woman, guessing she was the one responsible for the heads up. "You know something the rest of us do not?"
"I just have a feeling." She quipped back. "I think it's a trap."
"But what if it's not? Wouldn't the slightest chance of this being a genuine, honest request.. be worth risking everything?"
Trinity remained silent, and glanced at Neo. Not everything, she replied in her thoughts.
"Fine then," Morpheus turned his back, mistaking Trinity's silent reverie as a sign of agreement. "We will get you two as close to the meeting place as possible, but the little remaining distance you must cross as inconspicuously as possible." Morpheus explained to Neo. "Trinity shall fill you in on all the details on your way over."
"Alright." Neo frowned, "If that's how it's gonna be."
"Good. You're both ready then?" Morpheus asked.
"Yeah." Neo answered, having noticed Trinity's nod in his direction. "But sooner rather than later.. I'd like to know what the hell I'm supposed to do in all of this."
"And you will.. Perhaps sooner than you think." Morpheus grinned mysteriously, and turned to walk over to Tank to check on his progress. "We're ready to make the call, just give me the word." Tank told him, and the two men discussed some details of a map for some time. "These ducts here look rather old of origin, perhaps they could be used for travelling.." Morpheus' low voice blended into the general drone and buzz on the deck. It was a large, mostly vacant space with wires and cables running across the floor and walls. Most furnitures were bolted to place, to prevent them from moving should the ship jerk suddenly when floating through the sewer ducts. Also, most items there were functional rather than esthetic, with their gruesome, cold design.
While Morpheus and Tank continued their debate over route options, Neo followed Trinity's example and settled himself down on one of the seats on the main-deck. He couldn't help fidgeting, as he sought a more comfortable position.
"Neo?" Trinity tilted her head on her seat, her fingers squeezing the arm-rests. She'd felt the need to tell him to be careful, but now those words sounded so very childish and stupid in her ears. In the Matrix, Neo was the strong one. Of course he would be careful, and it wasn't like there was much out there that could hurt him anyway, Trinity rationalized in her mind.
"Yeah?" Neo responded absent-mindedly, as Tank circled around his seat to plug him in. He couldn't help arching his back at the feel of a cold steel spike entering through the back of his head.
"..Nothing." Trinity breathed out. You coward, can't even express your concearn.
She waited patiently until Tank got to her, and plugged her in as well. After he trailed off, leaving her alone with her thoughts for a second or two, Trinity felt a disturbing sence of weight at the back of her head, which was caused by the heavy cable that lead down from the plug-in and winded across the floor. Usually she was too distracted to feel the shiver that ran through her around this time, right before being loaded into the Matrix. That was not the case now.
Trinity glanced at Neo from the corner of her eye, and caught a glimpse of him taking a deep calming breath before closing his eyes. Right then, in the blinking of an eye, she experienced a moment of hesitation, as her doubts and fear overweighed her usually rational mind. What if this isn't the right way to do this? She wondered. Should I lay out all my reasons for Neo to remain unplugged? Should I plead out to Morpheus, beg Neo to let me do this alone? For that moment, she doubted the decision she knew she'd already made. There was never more than the one choise. "Load us up, Tank." Trinity ordered, and braced herself for the ride.
I guess this was an OK chapter, even though I left all the juicy stuff for the next one. I wanted to write something emotional, slow-paced, before all hell breaks loose. 'Cos you know, that could very well happen in the next chapter. ^_^ BTW, I'm thinking about fitting the plot of this story to a timeframe of 24 hours. So I guess that makes this a 'day in the lives of' type of a story? Hopefully you won't mind? Just wanted to add a bit of an original twist to this fic. Well, please keep the reviews coming!
