Chapter Three - Anniversary Forgotten

The Nebuchadnezzar glided silently over the broken bones of humanity, the dead air rushing by as the craft was guided to its rendezvous with the Logos. On board, the crew worked silently, efficiently to ensure the ships survival, for the long dead cites could now be dangerous to their old masters. Morpheus stood on deck, observing his crew. Trinity was flying the Neb, with Neo over her shoulder, learning the finer points of hovercraft flight. Link was watching the radar consoles, carefully surveying around the ship for any hint of sentinel activity. Trinity began to slow the ship down, showing Neo the correct method for using the ships air brakes.

Morpheus stood up, and watched the pair. "So," he began casually, "would you like to try to land it Neo?"

Neo looked up, surprised. "Ah." He looked to Trinity, who gave him single calm nod. "Sure, why not?"

Trinity stood, giving the seat to Neo. He sat down slowly, letting himself adjust to the feeling of the seat, the locations of the controls. It would be his second time landing the Neb. Trinity stood, arms crossed, by Morpheus who calmly watched Neo. Trinity silently hoped that Neo would do a better job than last time, which had required over a weeks worth of repairs to the port side power couplings.

Neo sat, breathed in and out to relax himself, closed his eyes and touched the controls. Slowly, he opened his eyes, and began to glide the Neb down through pipes and steel girders. Neo carefully twisted the Neb, working it down further until.

*WHUNK!*

The ship shook, but in Trinity's opinion it wasn't half as bad as last time. At least, she mused, he had the landing gear down. The Neb settled down on its landing gear as Neo reduced power to its induction coils. Morpheus smiled at Trinity, as if to congratulate her on his improvement. Trinity smiled back, faintly. Her thoughts were, to say the least, elsewhere. Morpheus watched Trinity critically. He knew that she suspected something. Thankfully, she didn't know that the Neb was scheduled to meet with the Logos here in just a short amount of time. He waited, thinking. Trinity had walked back to Neo, and he had taken one of her hands, held it to his chest as he looked up at her. Morpheus watched out of the corner of his eye. He had spoken with Neo at length about the nature of Trinity and Ghost's relationship, and he had seemed completely at peace with the idea. Morpheus was glad. He had feared that Neo might have become jealous or worse yet, territorial. Still he worried. Many people didn't know their true reactions to a situation until it occurred - he would have to watch Neo carefully. The last thing Morpheus wanted to see happen or needed was for a fight to break out between crew members on two ships over a woman. He smiled bitterly. That had already happened to him.

"Neo, please tell me the truth." Trinity whispered in his ear, just as she had done when they had first met.

Neo looked into her eyes, sighed and stood up. "I'm sorry Trinity but I promised I wouldn't say anything."

Trinity pulled her hand away, slowly and firmly. "Neo." She said as she turned toward the lower decks, "Pray for your sake this is something good."

He moved behind her, placed his hand lightly on her shoulder. She turned her head to reveal his face, smiling that childish grin, the same grin she'd seen before in code when he'd challenged Morpheus to a Kung Fu battle.

"I promise." He said simply.

Trinity looked at him critically, turned her head away and continued to walk away. Neo sighed inwardly, and walked back to the main deck. The only person there was Morpheus. Neo walked up quietly to his captain.

"Where is Link?" He asked, noticing that the operator had left in the middle of his coding.

Morpheus smiled slightly. "I had asked him to patch the main AC through to the hard drives and he forgot."

Neo felt his hands get sweaty from holding them behind his back, as he would in the Matrix. He silently chided himself, and crossed his arms over his chest.

"What's the ETA on the Logos?" Neo asked.

"Now." Neo looked at Morpheus curiously, but then felt the Neb shake as the Logos came along side, it's smaller conduction coils still rocking the ship as it landed. Morpheus straightened himself, and gazed ahead.

"I am," He spoke slowly, "going to go greet the captain of the Logos and its crew. Would you care to accompany me?"

Neo hesitated. "Shouldn't Link and Trinity."

"Come with us?" Morpheus finished for him. "No, actually, I have one last surprise for her."

Neo looked down, chuckled, and looked back up. "Tell me what to do and I'll do it."

Morpheus looked over his shoulder, then turned back to Neo. "Tell Trinity we have to do a drop. Go with her. You won't really be in, but in a construct of Niobe's making. Once Ghost is in, we're going to cut you out and," Morpheus half-smiled, "Let those two go at it. You've never seen a real fight till you've seen siblings."

Neo nodded. "Got it. Should I go now?"

Morpheus nodded.

Neo left to the crew quarters, to find Trinity arched over, her head pulled gracefully over to her foot. Neo always felt bad interrupting her yoga sessions, but somehow didn't feel the same this time. Trinity didn't even look up as he strode into the room like a boar, his boots loud on the steel floor.

"Trinity, we have to." He began.

"Go in for a drop." She finished, slowly releasing her foot. She turned, and seemed to almost look through him. She rolled up the mat she had on the floor, and placed it under their bed quickly, while pulling out her boots.

She stood up. "Let's go." She quickly strode by him, and he followed. They reached the main deck, and she proceeded to check her equipment before sitting down. Neo walked to stand over her, his hand on the side of her face. She looked at him once more, her eyes questioning, but before she could ask Neo slid the jack in. He always felt as though in some way he violated her by placing that cold, disgusting metal jack in her neck. He watched as her eyes flew open, then slowly shut.

The real world flashed before her eyes as Trinity found herself in the Construct. She looked at her reflection in the glossy metal of the gun racks and began to pick up her weapons, carefully choosing and holstering her choices. She heard the familiar sound of a semi-automatic being loaded with a fresh clip and looked to see Neo checking his favorite firearm. Even through his glasses she could see the way he looked at it. It was no longer a gun to him. It was a program. She could see his eyes moving to follow the code as it flowed over the object. Trinity was struck ever so slightly with a pang of jealousy. For him, anything really was possible. The two continued to load their weapons and don body armor silently, although Trinity noticed the ever so slight smile on his face and she found it incredibly irritating that he knew something she did not.

Morpheus walked along the halls of the Logos, remembering the time he had spent on this ship. It was still so familiar to him, although he knew not how long it had been since he had last been aboard it. He let his fingers drag against the walls, feeling the cool steel and slick rubber of cables criss-crossing its interior. His pace steady, he soon reached the main deck of the ship. He entered quietly, as to not disturb the people inside.

Niobe stood with Sparks and Morpheus could tell that he had finally been let in on their little secret. One chair sat empty while on the other lay Ghost, his eyes moving slowly under their lids. Morpheus watched his hands twitch, and knew from their motions that Ghost was participating in one of his most well known rituals, checking his guns. Even Niobe chided him for such behavior, but it had never done any good.

Niobe rose to greet Morpheus. "Captain Morpheus."

"Captain Niobe." He responded, smiling ever so slightly.

"Hey!" Sparks yelled, his head popping up impishly over his set of monitors.

Morpheus nodded to Sparks, who wasn't looking at him anymore but following his console screens.

Niobe sighed mentally.

Interrupting her thoughts, Morpheus spoke. "Are we ready?"

Niobe looked to Sparks, who nodded. "Yes, we're ready."

Neo held to Trinity as she darted through traffic on her motorcycle. The world flew by so quickly that he could barely read the code as it flowed past. She narrowly avoided a big rig as she weaved through the lanes. Gradually the landscape changed from the drab, dirty city to the bright and fake colors of suburbia. Rows of perfect trees in which perfect children played went by, and all of whom stared at the woman and man in black leather on a motorcycle going over a 100 mph.

Trinity felt the bike move under her, and watched critically ahead. Neo had told her, turn right at the White Rabbit, keep going till you reach a park with red and blue swing sets. She finally saw it - an old dinner sat on the corner of the next intersection, a large rabbit painted on the brick wall. In bright lettering it read, "The Rabbit Hole". She smiled, and turned the bike sharply, feeling his hand tighten around her. It was only a few blocks before she saw the park. She parked and kicked her stand out. Standing up, she observed her surroundings critically.

Neo watched Trinity, and finally spoke. "There's the drop."

She nodded sharply. "Cover my back."

Trinity moved toward a row of lockers, her eyes alert. Neo walked carefully, pretending to scan the code. In reality, he was doing something far more devious.

"There," Sparks said, pointing to a line of code. "That's from him."

Morpheus and Niobe examined the column that Sparks pointed to. In it was the code for a tree, but in it was a message.

"Almost ready to go." It read.

Niobe looked over to Ghost's still form. "What about him?"

Sparks checked another monitor. "Yeah, he's ready to move whenever. He's waiting at the same position."

Neo walked behind Trinity, as she waited. "When are we supposed to check the locker?"

"5 minutes."

Trinity went back to watching the locker and her surroundings. She heard Neo move, and felt the warmth of his back against hers. She let herself relax ever so slightly, leaning onto him.

Sparks watched his console carefully, observing the code for an elm tree by Neo. He double checked his patch through to the Neb's computer systems - he had to be able to bring Neo out remotely. It was then that Sparks saw it.

"Go" The code said simply. That was all the impetus that Sparks needed. His fingers flew over his keyboard. He removed Neo, moving him to a construct located on the Neb while switching Ghost in his place.

In the Matrix, Ghost felt something warm on his back, leaning against him. He didn't panic. Rather he focused, grabbed his guns and spun, his white suit moving slightly in the wind. Trinity felt Neo pull away from her back. She turned to see why and was confronted with double handguns. Trinity focused, and kicked the guns away. She landed but kept with the momentum of her spin kick, and tripped her opponent, causing them to hit hard. She took out her handgun, jumping and landed on his chest. She was met with a shotgun resting in her gut. The two paused.

Ghost, breathing hard, looked up at Trinity, her handgun aimed at his head. He watched recognition spread across her face as she felt the double barrel of the shotgun in her ribs. She smiled and holstered her weapon, still on his chest. Ghost pulled the shotgun away, let it fall to the ground.

"Happy Anniversary." He said.

Trinity had forgotten that today was their anniversary, the 17th year for both of them being free. She looked down at Ghost, who was smiling. Had it really been that long? He reached up, and gently removed her sunglasses. It had been too long sense he'd seen her face, and he wanted to see if she was different now that she had found love. He was greeted with the same eyes, inquisitive and bold. The same Trinity. His Trinity.

Trinity watched Ghost, and brushed his glasses over his forehead. She was greeted with the same man she always knew. Intelligent and logical, but his eyes also betrayed something else. Trinity couldn't put her finger on it, but it was so familiar, the warmth she felt from him. The pair continued to stare at one another, each thinking different thoughts, one sorrowful for love lost and the other grateful for love found.

Neo watched the code, and both Morpheus and Niobe could see the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.