Okay, I would've updated this story earlier, but for whatever reason, every time I uploaded the document, it vanished. So I couldn't. Many thanks to those who reviewed. ^_^

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            "We don't know what he is." Neo said, leaning forward in his chair. "He seems human…sometimes."

            "Well I never heard of anything like that." Link recalled, rubbing the side of his face. "I'm gonna have to check this guy out myself."

            "It's the damnedest thing…" Neo snorted, cracking his neck. "He says he remembers everything."

            "What's that?"

            "He says he…well, you know, that he remembers everything that happened to him. But…what is there to remember?" Link nodded, chewing his thumbnail. Neo continued. "He says…well it sounds like he wasn't even in the matrix at all."

            "But you said he had-"

            "I know, I know, nothing about this makes any sense." He stared out at the navigation screen. "He could be a plant, for all I know. Some kind of secret weapon that the androids are using against us."

            "I say we dump him." Link held out a thumbs down. "Sounds like bad news to me."

            "Maybe. But what if he is human? We can't just abandon someone."

            "Mm." He shrugged. "Just seems weird, is all. We can't afford to have too much confusion around here."

            Link was right; uncertainty could mean destruction. But how could they claim to help this man and just as easily leave him behind? "Morpheus is running some tests on him. If there's anything wrong, he'll find it."

            "Let's hope so."

            Morpheus entered the room, rubbing the back of his neck with a hand. "The verdict is in." he said.

            Neo stood. "What is it?"

            "He is not human." Morpheus walked a small circle before sitting down. "Nor is he android."

            "Just what the hell is he?"

            "He's a cyborg." He said, folding his hands in front of him. "Parts of him are entirely mechanical."

            "No shit?" Link was surprised, swiveling around in his chair.

            Neo blinked repeatedly. "How is that possible? Who would create…"

            "That we don't know." Morpheus explained. "His eyes, some bones, implants, even that broken arm, all completely artificial."

            "The arm?" Neo remembered, scratching his head. "But Trinity was right there, fixing it. How could she not have noticed?"

            "It's extremely advanced material. But all manufactured. The actual arm cuts off at the shoulder and is fused with the bone. Inside the synthetic bone of the arm, there is a sort of mechanical piping that allows movement running back up to a device hooked into the stem of his brain. There are intricate wires all throughout the appendage that appeared to be veins at first glance. Remarkable, really." He ran a finger along his own arm as a diagram. "It seems as though the original arm was amputated. Very crudely, I might add. He can control it, but not as well as the other, which is his own save for the third finger's joint."

            "Why so random?" Link asked.

            "It almost looks like he was torn apart some years ago put back together using these parts. We're going to greater lengths to repair the arm, now that we know it cannot heal on its own, and some other broken wires in his neck." He informed.

            "So," Neo lifted a hand. "Do you mean he was torn apart like this on purpose? Not just fixed after an accident or something like that?"

            "That is how it appears." Morpheus nodded. "This was not all done at one time. If he sustained an 'accident' of enough magnitude to destroy every part of his body that is now robotic, there is no way he could have survived. The alterations must have taken place over a period of years, each separate so that his body could heal from the operations…but there is no way to tell why someone or…something would do this."

            "His mind." Neo said after a long while of silence. "What about his mind? Is it alive or is it…a program?"

            "Well I believe that it is real…At least his actual brain is real, that is certain. He seems to think like we do." Neo was slightly relieved. "But there is an implant in at the base of his skull…"

            "What kind of implant?"

            "I'm not sure, exactly. And that's what worries me." Morpheus sighed deeply, thinking for a moment before continuing. "It could be some sort of cloaking device. That would explain why his signal appeared on and off on our scanners. But that would also mean that it is malfunctioning. A device like that should remain active until it is deactivated by an outside source…"

            "So someone was hiding him from us." Link reflected.

"That is what it seems…but we must be cautious. It could prove to have other…more destructive functions." Morpheus suggested.

Neo hesitated, staring down at his hands. "Where is he now?"

            "Eating." Morpheus stated, motioning to the door. "He was asking for you. Perhaps you could get a little more out of him."

            "For me?" he gawked.

            "Yes. He knows it was you who found him." Morpheus turned and said something to Link, who nodded.

            Neo sighed, exiting the room to find his cyborg discovery. He wondered what 'Lith' could possibly tell him. Maybe nothing, maybe he was psychotic and perpetually incoherent. Was he a discarded creation? If so, why was he hooked into the matrix, or at least a matrix like device? Or what if he wasn't supposed to be unplugged? Would someone be after that rendered piece of flesh they concocted? It was question upon question once again. No matter what he learned, there would always be the nagging unanswered questions.

            Entering the mess hall, he found Lith sitting, clothed in a black sweater and tan pants, staring dejectedly at a bowl of porridge like mush. Trinity was silent at his side, obviously unable to get him to speak at will. She smiled tiredly as Neo came into the room, a gesture he returned. "Hey." He greeted. Lith did not look up, but nervously drove his nails into the edge of the table. "Trinity, can I…speak with him alone?"

            "Of course." She nodded, coming towards the door. "Is anything wrong?"

            "No. It's fine." He touched her as she walked by, watching her go out the door with a short wave. Neo watched Lith sit in silence, snorting away the strange and new smells. He sat across from the gaunt figure, startling him slightly. He could see his face a little more clearly now that it was cleaned and had if not a tad more color to it. Loose white hair was beginning to grow down from his head, accompanied by a sparse goatee growing on his face. Lith gaped at Neo innocently, then hung his head.

            "Something wrong?" Neo asked, glancing from the dish to his new acquaintance.

            Lith looked up again, then to the side in shame. Shakily lifting his hands, he cupped the bowl around the sides and held it out. "I…I don't know how…" he said weakly, an infinite embarrassment in his features.

            "Oh, uh." Neo took the bowl from him and set it down. "It's okay…uh, in the mouth." He scooped up a spoonful of slop and held it to Lith's lips. He took the spoon himself and shoved the contents into his mouth, removing the utensil and setting it down. He stared at Neo helplessly with the mush sitting on his tongue. "Uh, swallow it." Said Neo, letting out a mirthless chuckle of semi-pity. Lith swallowed and gagged slightly on the taste before going for another bite. "So I guess this's been pretty rough." Neo sympathized.

            "It is…different. Frightening…" his eyes flashed upward.

            By this point, Neo was sure that Lith indeed had his own wits about him. While timid he may have been, he was surely harmless. "Can I…ask you a few questions?"

            "Yes…" he said quietly, averting his eyes.

            "Uh…those tattoos. Do you know why they're there?" he pointed to the arm.

            "Because they were on…the arm…when they put it there." He said simply, squinting down from under his grayed eyebrows.

            "Why did they replace your arm?" Neo rubbed a hand over his face.

            "I don't know. It doesn't tell me why. The voice, it doesn't tell me." He stirred his porridge stiffly.

            "Mm…and the voice…what did it tell you?"

            "It taught me. Taught me the things I should know…showed me the things." He shuddered involuntarily, tugging at the thick collar on his sweater.

            "What did it teach you?"

            "To…speak…to read things." He rubbed under his nose gruffly.

            "What kind of voice was it?" Neo was confused as to how a mere voice could govern a man without him going insane. But then, when you grow up with something, you don't find it odd. So did that mean he spent all his life that way?

            "A dark voice..." Lith said. "I asked it questions, but it never answered me. It wouldn't tell me what I wanted. It wouldn't tell me why there was so much pain."

            "Must've been hard." Neo leaned back. "How long was it like that?"

            "It is all I…remember…If I had to say so…years…" he continued eating.

            "And you…didn't know about the matrix?"

            "That Morpheus man…he told me about the matrix machine." He stomached another mouthful of gruel. He paused for a long while. "Are you…going to…take me apart more?"

            "No, no, of course not." Neo insisted. "We're not here to make you do anything. We want to make sure no one ever rips you apart again."

            "No pain…?"

            "No pain." He confirmed.

            "Does this make you…my savior?" he seemed confused again.

            Neo cracked a smile and tried to suppress a laugh. "No, not…not exactly. It makes me a friend."

            "Friend. I think I…meant that." He nodded briskly. "And the other humans?"

            "They're friends too. You can trust us."

            "Trust you." He repeated.

            "Trust us to help you." Neo said. "But you have to tell me everything you know. Everything you remember."

            Lith's mouth fell open a ways, but he quickly shut it with a hesitant nod. "And…what about you? Why are you here?"

            Neo smirked. "That's an interesting story…I'll tell it to you sometime." He stood up, Lith watching him. "You should get some sleep. We've got a bed somewhere for you."

            "A bed." He parroted.

            "Yeah. It's a hell of a lot better than those pods." He looked from the door to the other man. "Lith…is…will anyone be following you…now that you're gone from the machine?"

            "Following me?" he pointed to himself. "I…I don't know." His blue mechanical eyes shuddered in his head, causing him to shake away the blurriness.

"Well…come on. I'll show you." Lith jumped up and meekly stood at Neo's side. "I don't think I want to sleep, Neo." He rubbed his hands together nervously.

Neo stopped, turning with a curious glance. "Why not…? I think you have to.

You're tired…that's what humans do when they're tired."

            Lith swallowed, glancing to the floor. "Because…sometimes…sometimes when I sleep…I dream."

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            Neo practically collapsed onto his bed, burying his face hard into the pillow. The events of the recent past played out in his head lethargically, indignantly pushing sleep aside to badger him with questions he could not possibly answer. He felt a hand ruffle his hair, and he rolled over onto his side to see Trinity lying next to him. "You look so tired." She said sadly, touching his cheek. He smiled faintly and sighed.

            "Than I must look how I feel…" he reached out a hand and wrapped it around her waist, drawing her closer. He closed his eyes and bowed his head down, feeling her hands stroke through his hair. "Not a moment's peace on this ship…" he griped, yawning widely.

            "Things would get boring then, now wouldn't they."

            "God I wish things could be boring for once…" he drifted slowly. "Trinity…if you love me…don't…don't wake me up tomorrow…okay?"

            She stifled a silent laughter and closed her own eyes. "I suppose that'll depend what mood I'm in…"

            He mumbled good-naturedly and pressed his body against hers. "Fine. Wake me up. But you only have yourself to blame if you end up pinned on the floor while I have my way with you for doing it…"

            "That would be a damn shame…" she snorted.