"Grace. Would you like to see the truth for yourself now?" Neo asked, his glasses giving her a perfect reflection of her face.

Nodding, she reached out to pick up the red pill and placed it on her tongue. Swallowing it dry, she followed Neo as he stood and walked over to a set of doors. Upon entering, Grace saw equipment of all kinds that she'd never thought existed. Trinity guided her over to a chair and after placing a heart sensor above her breast and a phone on her ear- just like she had done with Neo- she walked over and took a seat in front of a computer monitor.

~~*~~

"The medical droid just unscrewed her neck plug, she'll be down in the water tanks soon." Morpheus informed as Neo and Trinity's minds came back to their bodies.

"All right. Are we there?" Neo asked.

"Right overhead." Link affirmed.

Moments later, the bay doors opened and the mechanical arm dropped down, pulling the frail Grace up. Wrapping her in a blanket, Neo smiled at her.

"Welcome."

~~*~~

Opening her eyes in the new room she would live in, Grace found Neo sitting on the floor waiting patiently for her to wake.

"How do you feel?" Neo asked, eyes showing concern.

"Weird. How long have I been out? I mean, unconscious since I was- whatever I was." Grace slowly sat up, rubbing her eyes.

"Well, since you woke up in the real world, you've been asleep for two weeks. You didn't even wake up while we fixed up your body. Even I woke up then." Neo smiled, standing. "I'm sure you have many questions."

"Just one right now." Grace ran a hand slowly over the stubble of black hair on her head.

"Yes?" Neo asked, cocking his head to one side.

"Where's Trinity?"

Neo smiled before placing a blanket around her shoulders.

"Come with me. I'll show you."

As Neo moved fluidly around the core, Grace slowly took in her surroundings. As her eyes widened at the sight of computer monitors showing green coding dropping down like rain drops, Trinity moved over to her side. Jumping at the shock of Trinity's hand on her shoulder, Grace swiveled around, only to breath a sigh of relief.

"Hey. Did you shut down your program?"

"Hi and yes."

Neo smirked at the lack of conversation, considering women were generally more talkative than men, but then again, maybe that was just a Matrix thing.

~~*~~

As the weeks passed, slowly at times, and faster at others, Grace quickly became accustomed to working hard and eating goop. The one thing she despised was going into the Matrix, or even the Construct. Neo, noticing this quickly, brought her into the core one morning without one word of explanation.

"Link, morning. I've got your newest buddy. I'll check on you two later, okay?" Neo placed his hand on Grace's shoulders before turning and leaving.

"What's going on?" Grace asked, turning to look at Neo's retreating back and Link's huge smile.

"Well, you're a great programmer and a great hacker, from what you did in the Matrix. Since you happen to hate going into the computers, and especially hate that needle in your head, we've decided to turn you into an operator. I warn you, it's a hard life, all that typing and hacking while sitting in a comfortable chair. Not to mention listening to all these people complaining about exits and agents on the other end of the line, disturbing us from playing games." Link's laughter filled the room, and, being as infectious as it was, Grace began to laugh too.

"All right, I'll give it a try."

"Good, because I think you're gonna be all right."

"Who was the last operator?" Grace asked as she slid into the empty seat.

Link's gaze faltered, as did his smile for a moment before his face became serious.

"In the last sentinel attack, three people were killed. Sparks, this ship's official operator was one of them."

"Official?" Grace asked, cocking her to one side.

"Yeah. Morpheus, Neo, Trinity and I are rooming here. Our ship, the Nebuchadnezzar, it was blown up by sentinels. So we're staying here because this ship had enough room to take us on after the attack in Zion."

"I heard. Neo and Trinity did a rather solemn but good explanation about it. It's was entertaining to listen to them finish each other's sentences, like one mind was working." Grace smiled at the memory. "They really love each other, don't they?"

"More than some people can even comprehend." Link replied. "Well, let's get you started. You'll need to learn how to read the coding first, then we'll move on to basics. The coding is the hardest to crack, but after that, it's just figuring out how to work through and around it."

"Let's get started then." Grace smiled, turning to face her console.

~~*~~

"Okay, so these are people? And that symbol signifies male and that one female? Okay. What does an unplugged person have to make them different?" Grace asked Link as Neo walked in.

"Well, let's go find one. If we can't find one, I'll pull up an example of one."

"How's it going?" Neo asked, placing an arm on the top of Link's chair.

"Pretty well, she's a quick learner. She's got everything from finding a déjà vu in the Matrix to what an agent looks like to the difference between a pine tree and a cat. Now we're onto the more complicated coding of people and rebels.

"Can she hack in to find someone?" Neo asked, glancing down at Grace's upturned face.

"Well, Grace, why don't we show him? Mister Big-Shot here may be able to fly, but can we find the Oracle? Let's go for it." Link turned, watching Grace's fingers fly over the keys.

Link began his own search for the Oracle to make sure Grace was right, but she was learning so quickly, it wouldn't surprise him if she found her.

"She's in an old motel on the outskirts of the city. Seraph is with her."

Neo looked at Link to confirm this.

"Yup. There she is. Reading 'The Odyssey' too." Link laughed.

"Well, a few more days at this and I think we'll have a second operator on this ship." Neo smiled, before backing up to leave.

"It's amazing at the speed she and Wish learn. Wish was so quick."

"Yeah, but most of what she learned was uploaded into her mind from the Construct." Neo countered.

"Yeah, yeah. You're right." Link nodded in agreement.

~~*~~

Neo opened his door to his and Trinity's room only to find Ghost and Trinity in a conversation that was by all means becoming heated. Sometimes Neo was smart enough to just leave these two alone, considering the amount of conversations and arguments they'd had recently. Ghost was slowly wedging his way between Neo and Trinity and neither of them liked it in the least. Unfortunately, this was not one of those times. The fact that this was taking place in the only private and personal place he and Trinity shared on the ship only added another ember to the fire.

"Hey, guys, what's going on here?" Neo asked, pushing the door open fully.

"We're just having a discussion." Ghost replied, not even turning to acknowledge his presence. "You don't need to worry about it."

Neo did not like being dismissed so unkindly, and upon taking a step in, he noticed Trinity's cool exterior faltering. Ghost had been pushing something too far.

"I think I do."

Ghost's head whipped around, narrowing his eyes, he replied:

"And why's that?"

"Because you are in my room, disturbing Trinity. If you want to argue with her in your room or the mess hall or the core or wherever, I won't stop nor bother you. But this is OUR room, and I don't want you fighting here."

"Why not? You two do."

Trinity's eyes locked on Ghost's face.

"Excuse me?!?" Trinity asked, her voice filled with shock.

"You heard me."

"Leave." Neo commanded, trying to keep his emotions in check.

Before Ghost could even reply with his own comment, Trinity finished what Neo was going to say.

"Now."

Glancing at the two for a moment, Ghost stood and walked out of the room. Closing the door behind him, Neo placed his hands on it to calm the anger boiling just beneath his skin.

~~~~~~

For who has read Changing the Tides: understanding why Neo had such a distaste for Ghost? I guess this whole scene was the last of the change for Ghost before you meet him in Changing the Tides. I'll be wrapping this story up soon because if I don't, it'll just run straight into and through Changing the Tides. One more chapter, that's it.