Title: Frames of Reference: Chapter Four

Author: Stormhawk

Rating: PG

Notes: For anyone who is still confused…

Ok class, time for a science lesson. Today's lesson: The physics of Stevie Smith

Stevie Smith hasn't been Stevie Smith her whole life. At least her whole real-world-body life. Her real world body originally belonged to someone else. When the children experiment came about the mainframe selected three teenagers basically at random – the only stipulation being that they shared some physical traits with their favors. It orchestrated their deaths and wiped their minds therefore creating empty bodies with which to do the experiment.

It reset their residual self-images to their baby selves but their real world bodies were still teenagers, just getting filled up with new memories.

I think I have finally explained myself, anyone else who is still confused email me.

Word Count: 3272

Please Read and Review.

Stevie was hungry, no matter how much she hated the goop that was the staple food aboard the ship…and in the real world in general, she had to eat something. And they were a couple of centuries late for a McDonalds.

Climbing off her pallet-bed, she stumbled through the narrow passageways toward the kitchen. The Nebuchadnezzar almost reminded her of a submarine that her school had visited; they were both ships. Except that this was a hovercraft. Opening the squeaky door to the kitchen she groaned when she saw that it wasn't empty and that the only other person in there was Anderson.

Begrudgingly, and only at Morpheus' insistence Anderson had faked being nice to her for a couple of days. When he and the rest of the crew realized that she had no interest in being friends or changing her opinions about the Matrix and her father they had stopped trying to be her friends and had basically ignored her.

The real world sucked.

She missed her home; she missed her dad and her friends. She missed everything about her normal life. A frown was the only acknowledgement she received from Anderson – then again that was no different from usual. She was and never would be more than the daughter of an agent to him.

Yes, her father was an agent. A computer program but considering the world she had grown up in was a computer simulation that made him as real as anyone else. These facts had taken a little while to get used to but he had explained them in the same calm tone that he had always explained everything.

Her father may have been an agent but he was also a kind man, the person who had chased away her nightmares, bandaged her skinned knees, driven her to school when she missed the bus, waited up for her after her first school dance and…been there for her.

He had been there a lot more than other fathers that she had known; some of her friends envied her for the fact that she could talk to him about anything, that he never yelled at her. He didn't drink or smoke and he was only rarely home late from work.

But he wasn't there anymore.

Pulling on the lever the slop plopped into the small tin bowl. "I hate this stuff," she muttered to herself. It looked like snot. That sentiment was probably the only thing she shared with the rebels.

Some of the goop slopped over the side of the bowl and onto the counter. Shaking her head at it she grabbed a spoon and walked toward the door.

"Aren't you going to pick that up?" Anderson's voice was an icy hiss.

"You do it Anderson. I'm going back to my room and eat this…do you even call it food?"

"You dropped it Smith. You pick it up."

"Am I even a person to you? Or just some extension of my dad?"

"Your 'dad'," he spat. "Is nothing more than a murderous program. It is a heartless killer; he's a piece of code. You, you're just some freak."

"Shut up Anderson!"

"He's a monster." The next thing he knew was Stevie's plate of food hitting him right in the face.

"Don't you ever say that again!" Stevie screamed at him.

You know that feeling when something bad is going to happen?

Stevie froze when he saw the look in his cold eyes. Murder. He was through putting up with her. His face twisted in rage as he wiped the goop off with the back of his sleeve. Then he ran toward her. Jumping through the door and running quickly down the thin corridors toward her room Stevie barreled right into Yami.

"Hey, watch it!" the older girl said as Stevie pushed herself to her feet and ran down the next section of corridor. Anderson jumped over Yami without stopping to help her up. "Neo, what is going on?" she yelled in frustration. It really pissed her off when she didn't know what was going on.

Stevie reached her room and slammed the blot through the lock just as he reached it. "Get out here Smith!"

"What – so you can kill me?"

"That would be the general idea, yes."

"In your friggin' dreams Anderson."

"My name is Neo."

"And mine is Stevie. You never even gave me a chance to be me, all you can see is my dad."

"Neo…what's going on?" Morpheus asked, appearing behind him – attracted by all the screaming.

"Her. What else would it be?"

"I think you're scaring a teenage girl."

"Morpheus I think they must have done something to you when they captured you. That's the daughter of an agent in there – you saved it, brought it into the real world and you never even told me why."

Morpheus led him a few feet away from the door and whispered to the younger man. "What if we can turn her to our side?"

"We tried, she's not interested."

"So you think killing her is the only choice we have left?"

"It seems like a good idea."

"I don't think so."

"I think it's time for a vote Captain. You know how I feel, you know how Trinity feels…she's bad enough around the recruits."

"Trinity has her reasons for that."

"I know Morpheus, I know. I want her off the ship, just dump her or send her to Zion or something."

"Don't you think you're being unreasonable?"

"No. Not at all."

*****

"When are those humans going to get here?" Smith asked impatiently as they hung around the lobby of the Agency.

"Maybe they did run out of juice."

"Speaking of their failing ship – would you like to accompany the repair fleet?"

"Excuse me?"

"The fleet that is going to be repairing the ship. I'm sure they would feel much better if they had someone they trusted there along with a crew of machines, just so they don't destroy each other."

"How can I go with them? They're in the real world."

"Your program would be uploaded machine out there."

"So instead of a rebel hacking in I would be hacking out?"

"Yes."

"The real world sucks."

"Putting your glitch aside it would an interesting experience. Also it will help to calm them down."

"They aren't my buddies or anything, we just made a deal."

"It is your choice."

"Ok – what the hell, I'll go."

"Finally," he commented as Ryder walked in and through the metal detectors without incident.

"We don't have much time," the human captain explained. "We are running on reserve juice at the moment."

"Then allow me to be simple. We will plug four of your crew back into the Matrix, repair your ship in return for your services in the real world."

"What services?" Ryder asked suspiciously, he had known it wouldn't be as simple as they had first thought.

"Any information or strategic plans that you come across you are to inform us of. We will provide you with locations of communications points and identify you with the sentinels to avoid any unfortunate incidents."

"That seems reasonable enough. Only one thing, can you provide us with what passes for food out there?"

"We have designed something better. The food will be the same, the manner in which you ingest it will not be."

"Meaning what exactly?"

"May I Smith?" Stef interjected, knowing that the techno babble explanation that he had given her would only confuse the human she would simplify it him. He nodded.

"You plug in with a tube in your mouth, eat in the Matrix and when you get back out you will still be full."

"That seems too good to be true. What about our operator – he's Zion-born, he can't plug in to eat."

Smith was on the verge of scowling, these humans wanted everything. "Since he was born outside of the Matrix it is infeasible to even attempt to plug him in. There is nothing we can do for him."

"If that's the way it has to be."

"Do we have a deal?"

"Yes," Ryder agreed, he'd talk to Galli but besides that everything was better than they could have hoped for. Holding out his hand as he would to any human he was making a deal with Smith looked down at it in distaste. As the human was about to withdraw it Stef elbowed it, begrudgingly shaking it the captain managed a smile.

"We will send the repair fleet now, could you have your location?" Ryder gave them the coordinates then left.

*****

The upload was a simple process, in fact it was the same process used by the humans to enter and exit the Matrix. It would take the fleet about an hour to reach the Exodus so that gave her time to download the information on how to control the machine, a two meter tall bipedal, vaguely humanoid creature, it had a glowing red orb in place of a head but the normal amount of appendages. Once they had received word that the fleet had arrived, Stef rang the ship and got them to plug her robot in.

Then their operator called the exit phone. Picking up the phone she disappeared from the Matrix. This was nothing like the glitch, it was a lot less painful for a start and it wasn't a pod of red-pink goop that she woke up in, it was a nice clean ship.

"Agent Mimosa?" the captain asked as he unplugged the robot. Standing to its full height, Stef took a couple of experimental steps and found it was really easy to control.

"Yes, it's me."

"Good – that means this deal is on the level doesn't it?"

"Yes, did you doubt that? Humans beings betray each other, not us."

"That may be proven by history but machines haven't exactly been our best friends over the years."

"The repair crew will do its job, there's no need to watch them, I have something that I wish to discuss with you."

"You have done us a great favor, we can listen to you."

"I'd rather talk in my own body, rather than this avatar if you don't mind."

"We have a construct – will that do?"

"It will suffice."

Galli plugged her robot back in and then plugged Ryder, Pandora and Darth in. The construct, as it was everywhere, was pure white except for the four chairs. "Let's talk," Darth said.

"You owe me a favor, I didn't pull the trigger on the Smurf so you owe me."

"What can we do for you?" the captain asked politely, what could an agent possibly want that they could give them?

"There is a girl out here, on the Nebuchadnezzar to be precise. She is very important and I want her plugged back in."

"So you want one of us to give up our spot?"

"This is a temporary situation, I can see what I can do about the rest of you – that includes your operator."

"Who is she?"

"Her name is Stevie Smith. She is Agent Smith's daughter."

"How the hell is that possible?" Pandora burst out. "Sorry, but I had to ask."

"Not in the traditional way if you are thinking that. She was part of an experiment; he didn't want her to die so she was brought out here. Dragged out kicking and screaming but alive."

"If she's on the Neb, we don't have a chance."

"If you don't try, the deal is off," Stef bluffed, this was the first and possibly only chance they would ever have of getting Stevie back.

"This was never part of the arrangement."

"It's the decent thing to do. She doesn't belong out here." The collaborators looked at each other, unsure of what to do.

"Why would programs care about the decent thing to do?" Pandora asked, of the three she was the most suspicious.

"Programs are people too," she said quoting Hummer's graffiti tag.

"That's true," the programmer said.

"Well I'm glad the dark lord of Sith thinks so. What about the rest of you?"

"Your crew gets this ship fixed and we'll do it."

"These machines will do their jobs."

"Well good cause they're freaking…scaring…"

"I know what freaking means captain."

"Freaking out the younger members of my crew. I'm afraid that Cray will get scared and get Galli to trip the EMP."

"They're not going to do that are they?"

"No. I ordered them not to, I don't want anything unfortunate happening. I seriously doubt that it would work anyway, this ship is reliable – it works when we ask nicely and sometimes when we hit it."

"Give the crew a couple of days and it will be better than new. It will be running as sweet as a sentinel."

"This deal seems too good to be true. There isn't some other shoe waiting to drop is there?"

"No unless you plan on betraying us. If you did that you would see how bad of an enemy we could be. But let's not think about that. Beta crew is finished on the power grid and wants to work on the COM system. It has to cut the power to the construct."

"Galli, get us out." Ryder said. The captain and his girlfriend disappeared first.

Darth looked up at the ceiling. "Give me a minute."

"I'm assuming you want something," Stef said as Darth stretched his arms high over his head and yawned.

"I'm just trying to figure out an enigma. You aren't like the other agents, you understand our…human terminology. You talk like a normal person."

"And how many agents do you know?"

"That's part of my point, you are the only one who we know of that has been willing to talk to us instead of just shooting."

"And you want to know why."

"I can't figure it out. Your code doesn't read like anything I've ever seen. It's not pure agent and it's not human."

"My code reads exactly like every other agent."

"Until you look closer."

She wasn't ready to tell him the truth, not yet anyway. What right did he have to know anyway? She had only…well Jones had told him but Greer had only found out a couple of weeks ago and he was the best recruit they had and he was a good guy. Plus it was fun to tease Darth, or at least it could be.

"I am different from them and I am different to you."

He smiled his smile "That answer will do for the moment."

***

"Is it just me…?" Galli asked as they watched the screen and waited to pull them out of the construct, "…or is Darth hitting on an agent?"

"Oh yeah." Cray agreed with a nod.

***

"What's your boss's first name?"

Smith? That would have to be 'agent' but she knew that wasn't what he was talking about. "He doesn't have one."

"And you do."

"If we don't get out, Beta crew is going to cut the power and we'll both die."

"Get us out Galli!" he said in a fake frenzy.

*****

"You have to come out sometime," Yami reasoned from the other side of Stevie's door.

"Just go away," the younger girl said from within her small cabin.

"If you come out…I'll…"

"Blackmail won't work. You have nothing that I want."

"I'll get Tank to plug you into the agent training program. It's got your dad – I think – and a really cute blond guy in tight leather pants."

"That program is designed to make people afraid of him. It's nothing but a lie. You want to know who was the first person to point a gun at me and threaten to pull the trigger?"

Like I would have an idea, Yami thought silently shaking her head. "Who?"

"Anderson."

There she goes again. "Why do you keep calling him that?"

"It's his real name, not his hacker alias. Thomas A Anderson."

Yami snorted, "That's a dork's name."

"Hence the reason I went with 'Neo'," Anderson said as he walked up with Morpheus.

"She's not comin' out Neo."

The rebel ran his hand through his short dark hair, "I don't care – we have to go into the Matrix."

"To see Auntie O again?"

"No, we don't have time to see the Oracle again," Morpheus, replied in his accustomed calm tone.

"Then why?"

"To do what we do, free minds."

"Well, ok."

"You two go ahead, I'll catch up," Morpheus said. He waited until the younger rebels had left the corridor before talking. Leaning against the door, he was going to attempt and bring some peace to his ship. "Stevie?"

"Go away Morpheus."

"You have to come out. You can't stay in there forever."

"I can try."

"We all want to try and be your friend. We want you on our side but so far you haven't exactly given us a reason to see you as anything but your father's daughter."

"And who was your father Morpheus? What did he do?" The old rebel scratched his bald head and sighed.

"He worked in construction. He was very quiet; read a lot of books quite the opposite of his peers who were quite uneducated. There was an accident at the site one day, he just didn't come home. He died when I was younger than you."

"Great story Morpheus. Did you care what other people thought about him?"

"No."

"Then why should I?"

"It's different in your case Stevie. You have to see that it's different."

"Come on Morpheus," Anderson called from the deck above. Knowing that he had failed Morpheus sadly shook his head and left.

In that second Stevie made a decision. One that she surely would regret but seemed to be the only choice.

She was going to leave the Nebuchadnezzar.

Waiting until all the noise from above stopped, she rolled her blanket up into a bundle and pulled on what passed for a jumper – it was in reality just a long sleeved shirt – and crept toward the kitchen. Filling one bottle with water and the other with goop she walked through the ship toward the ramp. Pushing the release button the ramp lowered until it touched the ground of the real world.

Stevie strode down the ramp with more confidence than she actually had. It was going to be a one-way trip but she couldn't live among them anymore. Shaking off any thoughts of turning back, she walked off.

Later, after they had set up the meeting with the potential; a standard procedure but one they wanted Yami to observe they left the Matrix. Morpheus and Yami walked down toward Stevie's room.

"Looks like she finally decided to come out."

"Must have been really hungry to come out for that goop."

"Maybe she's finally coming around."

"Want to make a bet on that?" Yami asked before stopping realizing she had nothing to bet with.

"I don't bet. I never have."

"How boring."

"No. It's sensible."

After a quick search of the ship they realized that she wasn't on it, this was confirmed when they saw the ramp down. "Crap." Yami exclaimed.

"No, she wouldn't have…"

"After that shit with Neo this morning, why not?" Bolting up to the main deck, they did a quick thermal scan of the surrounding area, looking for a human's heat signature. They found nothing.

"She's long gone Morpheus," Tank announced.

"Good," Anderson said curtly.

"Well, she won't be coming back," Trinity said – was that relief in her voice? Yami wondered. "Exposure, starvation, dehydration, a fall or a machine – she doesn't have a chance."

Anderson grinned, "That will piss the agent off."

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I don't have any footnotes *sigh*