Log 5
Minerva clung tightly to Neo's comforting hold on her as he carried her down the hallway, scanning each room for number 241. She encircled her arms about him, enjoying the feel of his strong arms around her. She felt much safer than she had moments earlier, even though the sound of bullets and explosions were a frequent cacophony down below the second floor in her old elementary school. Tears streamed out of her eyes silently and calmly, almost subconsciously, as she rested her head on his shoulder.
"What's happening to me?" She sniffled, closing her eyes. Neo skidded to a stop and swung a right into the computer room.
"You will learn soon enough," he said quietly, scanning the room full of Macs and PCs. His eyes fell upon the computer mainframe against the back wall. He hurried across the room and finding several chairs set Minerva down in one of them.
He sat at the computer and broke the screensaver, which prompted a password. "Shit," he muttered. Remembering his hacking abilities from days of yore, he set to work on breaking the password. Minerva brushed the drying tears away and took a good look at herself for the first time. She gasped in pure horror. Her clothes were all torn and tattered, blood caked all about her shirt and face. Several ragged scratches were cut across her cheek. She looked down at the mysterious wound in her arm which was throbbing searingly and ceaselessly, noticing the pain for the first time. The skin was black, blue and yellow all about the borders of the hole with streaks of an eerie green. She looked deeply into the lesion in her skin and with a reaction of utter disgust - she realized she could see clear to the white bone beneath. A sickening feeling rose in her stomach, and losing her grip on reality she almost fell over had a hand not shot out and grasped her shoulder, steadying her in her seat. Her eyes rose to his.
"Hold on now, don't let go just yet," he said, as the desktop came up successfully. He had broken through.
"Now, to load the program," he spoke to himself, his fingers flying across the keys. He removed small zip disk and plunged it into the drive, working with the speed of a madman. A giant explosion shook the floor, sending a Mac monitor tumbling to the ground.
"Shit, shit, shit!" he cursed, working as fast as his fingers could take him. The program began installing automatically. The glory of plug-and- play, he thought in amusement.
He turned to Minerva, realizing he had yet to explain anything to her. He took her small hand in his. She looked deeply into his eyes with a fiery curiosity.
"Minerva," he started, "there is so much you have to learn. I wish I could tell you everything all at once, but it would be too much for you to handle. We haven't the time as it is. Now I need you to listen to me.
"Do you remember what happened in your bedroom earlier?" he asked. She nodded solemnly.
"Do you remember what you saw inside the void you created?" She nodded again. "But I don't know what I did," she trailed off.
"There is something you need to know about all of this. This," he said, his hand motioning to the world around them, "isn't real. None of what happened today is real. It's all imaginary, like a computer game. The code you saw spilling out, the same code that burned you, is the computer code that makes up this world. Do you understand?"
She nodded, her face an expression of complex curiosity. "But I don't understand how or why." she started.
"There's no time to explain. All you need to know is that none of this is real and the rest will come in time. I'm sorry I can't tell you everything - as you can tell there are forces other than time working against us. Are you prepared to come with me and learn the truth behind what you have been led to believe is reality? It is not an easy take to undertake - I know, believe me, I know. But I need your consent. Are you willing to come with me and my team and learn the truth behind everything you have seen and cannot explain?" She paused, a look of depression flowing over her face.
"But what about my family, and my friends, and my life? You mean that this is all a lie? That every emotion and thought and event I've ever experienced never happened?" The tone in her voice was one of denial and disbelief, rising with anger.
Neo nodded. "It's a hard thing to accept," he paused as another explosion rocked the building, remembering his purpose, "but it will all come to you should you make the right decision."
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small container. Opening it, two pills spilled out into his hand. He held his hand out in front of her, allowing her to view the two pills.
"Take the blue one, and you stay here. You go back to your reality, and you remember nothing. This was, in essence, nothing but a dream." He eyed the red pill. "Take the red pill, and you come with me, and I show you everything you want and need to know. I will give you the truth Minerva, and I promise you it won't be easy, but I also promise you that you will no longer be living a lie." His eyes begged please. Her heart was heavy in her chest, her body sore and her mind weak.
Minerva's mind was spinning violently - so much that she was surprised it was still functioning and had not shorted out. Everything that had happened today had taken a severe mental, emotional, and obviously physical toll on her body. There was so much she couldn't even begin to comprehend - the black hole, the agents who knew who she was and what she was doing, the heroes in black who had come to her rescue, this man,. She remembered the astral projection, the feeling that she had left her body and went to another plane into what felt like a different world. She had passed over from one side of the borderline to the unknown, and had ended up. in his dreams. It was so confusing and blurry and painful and exciting and dangerous and sporadic and breath-taking and violent and magical and dark and mysterious - she couldn't help but want, if not need to, trust this man.
"I trust you, stranger," she said, looking deeply into his sad, beautiful eyes.
"Give me the damn red one," she replied after a pause. Neo smiled, handing her the pill.
"Do you need,." he started, but the pill was already popped into her mouth and vanished. "No," she replied with a smirk. Neo turned back to the computer and began typing again. The program had installed successfully and loaded. There was no need to connect to the internet because of the school's high-bandwidth LAN connection, so Neo skipped that step and got right down to the basics. His phone rang. "Neo, get your ass in gear, I don't know how much longer Trinity and Morpheus can hold out down there," Link yelled into the phone. "Alright, I'm in," Neo said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the parcel. "Ok, take the long red wire and plug one end into the USB port. Unfold the projection disk and plug the other end of the red wire into the red socket. Do the same with the blue wire. Take the black cable and plug it into an outlet. Connect it to the back base of the disk and connect all of the yellow wires to their respective sockets." Neo fumbled with the object and did as he was instructed. "Now, enter in the following IP and code. You are going to need the login and password. Login is 'White Rabbit', password is 'neverwhere'." Neo typed in all the information into the respective columns of the program and clicked 'connect'. The machine hummed loudly as the program connected. "Great! You're in. Now hook the disk over her head and wrap the straps around her ears. The metal loop should go around the front of her throat. Make sure it's not too tight. Be sure all the connections are plugged in and secured. Otherwise we could end up frying her alive." Neo nodded and turned to Minerva. "I'm going to need you to sit in this chair," he said, motioning to the one to his immediate right, "and remain absolutely still." She obeyed quietly and without fuss, and gave him a "whatthefuck" look as he attached the projection disk to her head. "Normally, we'd have to take you to our private lab to upload you out of here, but there wasn't enough time, so we developed a portable version." He smiled at her, aware of her remaining confusion. Minerva decided it was better not to ask and to be cooperative and patient. It would hopefully not be too long before she was out of this surreal dream. "Good stuff. Now I need to you follow me exactly," Link directed. Minerva looked around the room quietly, aware of her surroundings. Almost instantly, she felt an electric jolt pass through her nervous system - her mind was electrified and droning. Her hearing faded in and out, growing muffled and fuzzy. Her body felt like it was turning to a metallic liquid, slowly dripping and melting into the chair. Everything around her started warping and distorting. Colors blended together and ran, objects grew and shrunk, melting and twisting into the background. She turned to look to Neo, her head moving what felt like excruciatingly slowly, and gave him a look of terror. He smiled softly at her. Everything you are feeling is perfectly normal. Just relax. It will all be over soon. I promise. His soothing voice calmed her pounding, runny heart. Before she had the time to speak a word, the world faded in glimmering digital specks to black silence.
Minerva clung tightly to Neo's comforting hold on her as he carried her down the hallway, scanning each room for number 241. She encircled her arms about him, enjoying the feel of his strong arms around her. She felt much safer than she had moments earlier, even though the sound of bullets and explosions were a frequent cacophony down below the second floor in her old elementary school. Tears streamed out of her eyes silently and calmly, almost subconsciously, as she rested her head on his shoulder.
"What's happening to me?" She sniffled, closing her eyes. Neo skidded to a stop and swung a right into the computer room.
"You will learn soon enough," he said quietly, scanning the room full of Macs and PCs. His eyes fell upon the computer mainframe against the back wall. He hurried across the room and finding several chairs set Minerva down in one of them.
He sat at the computer and broke the screensaver, which prompted a password. "Shit," he muttered. Remembering his hacking abilities from days of yore, he set to work on breaking the password. Minerva brushed the drying tears away and took a good look at herself for the first time. She gasped in pure horror. Her clothes were all torn and tattered, blood caked all about her shirt and face. Several ragged scratches were cut across her cheek. She looked down at the mysterious wound in her arm which was throbbing searingly and ceaselessly, noticing the pain for the first time. The skin was black, blue and yellow all about the borders of the hole with streaks of an eerie green. She looked deeply into the lesion in her skin and with a reaction of utter disgust - she realized she could see clear to the white bone beneath. A sickening feeling rose in her stomach, and losing her grip on reality she almost fell over had a hand not shot out and grasped her shoulder, steadying her in her seat. Her eyes rose to his.
"Hold on now, don't let go just yet," he said, as the desktop came up successfully. He had broken through.
"Now, to load the program," he spoke to himself, his fingers flying across the keys. He removed small zip disk and plunged it into the drive, working with the speed of a madman. A giant explosion shook the floor, sending a Mac monitor tumbling to the ground.
"Shit, shit, shit!" he cursed, working as fast as his fingers could take him. The program began installing automatically. The glory of plug-and- play, he thought in amusement.
He turned to Minerva, realizing he had yet to explain anything to her. He took her small hand in his. She looked deeply into his eyes with a fiery curiosity.
"Minerva," he started, "there is so much you have to learn. I wish I could tell you everything all at once, but it would be too much for you to handle. We haven't the time as it is. Now I need you to listen to me.
"Do you remember what happened in your bedroom earlier?" he asked. She nodded solemnly.
"Do you remember what you saw inside the void you created?" She nodded again. "But I don't know what I did," she trailed off.
"There is something you need to know about all of this. This," he said, his hand motioning to the world around them, "isn't real. None of what happened today is real. It's all imaginary, like a computer game. The code you saw spilling out, the same code that burned you, is the computer code that makes up this world. Do you understand?"
She nodded, her face an expression of complex curiosity. "But I don't understand how or why." she started.
"There's no time to explain. All you need to know is that none of this is real and the rest will come in time. I'm sorry I can't tell you everything - as you can tell there are forces other than time working against us. Are you prepared to come with me and learn the truth behind what you have been led to believe is reality? It is not an easy take to undertake - I know, believe me, I know. But I need your consent. Are you willing to come with me and my team and learn the truth behind everything you have seen and cannot explain?" She paused, a look of depression flowing over her face.
"But what about my family, and my friends, and my life? You mean that this is all a lie? That every emotion and thought and event I've ever experienced never happened?" The tone in her voice was one of denial and disbelief, rising with anger.
Neo nodded. "It's a hard thing to accept," he paused as another explosion rocked the building, remembering his purpose, "but it will all come to you should you make the right decision."
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small container. Opening it, two pills spilled out into his hand. He held his hand out in front of her, allowing her to view the two pills.
"Take the blue one, and you stay here. You go back to your reality, and you remember nothing. This was, in essence, nothing but a dream." He eyed the red pill. "Take the red pill, and you come with me, and I show you everything you want and need to know. I will give you the truth Minerva, and I promise you it won't be easy, but I also promise you that you will no longer be living a lie." His eyes begged please. Her heart was heavy in her chest, her body sore and her mind weak.
Minerva's mind was spinning violently - so much that she was surprised it was still functioning and had not shorted out. Everything that had happened today had taken a severe mental, emotional, and obviously physical toll on her body. There was so much she couldn't even begin to comprehend - the black hole, the agents who knew who she was and what she was doing, the heroes in black who had come to her rescue, this man,. She remembered the astral projection, the feeling that she had left her body and went to another plane into what felt like a different world. She had passed over from one side of the borderline to the unknown, and had ended up. in his dreams. It was so confusing and blurry and painful and exciting and dangerous and sporadic and breath-taking and violent and magical and dark and mysterious - she couldn't help but want, if not need to, trust this man.
"I trust you, stranger," she said, looking deeply into his sad, beautiful eyes.
"Give me the damn red one," she replied after a pause. Neo smiled, handing her the pill.
"Do you need,." he started, but the pill was already popped into her mouth and vanished. "No," she replied with a smirk. Neo turned back to the computer and began typing again. The program had installed successfully and loaded. There was no need to connect to the internet because of the school's high-bandwidth LAN connection, so Neo skipped that step and got right down to the basics. His phone rang. "Neo, get your ass in gear, I don't know how much longer Trinity and Morpheus can hold out down there," Link yelled into the phone. "Alright, I'm in," Neo said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the parcel. "Ok, take the long red wire and plug one end into the USB port. Unfold the projection disk and plug the other end of the red wire into the red socket. Do the same with the blue wire. Take the black cable and plug it into an outlet. Connect it to the back base of the disk and connect all of the yellow wires to their respective sockets." Neo fumbled with the object and did as he was instructed. "Now, enter in the following IP and code. You are going to need the login and password. Login is 'White Rabbit', password is 'neverwhere'." Neo typed in all the information into the respective columns of the program and clicked 'connect'. The machine hummed loudly as the program connected. "Great! You're in. Now hook the disk over her head and wrap the straps around her ears. The metal loop should go around the front of her throat. Make sure it's not too tight. Be sure all the connections are plugged in and secured. Otherwise we could end up frying her alive." Neo nodded and turned to Minerva. "I'm going to need you to sit in this chair," he said, motioning to the one to his immediate right, "and remain absolutely still." She obeyed quietly and without fuss, and gave him a "whatthefuck" look as he attached the projection disk to her head. "Normally, we'd have to take you to our private lab to upload you out of here, but there wasn't enough time, so we developed a portable version." He smiled at her, aware of her remaining confusion. Minerva decided it was better not to ask and to be cooperative and patient. It would hopefully not be too long before she was out of this surreal dream. "Good stuff. Now I need to you follow me exactly," Link directed. Minerva looked around the room quietly, aware of her surroundings. Almost instantly, she felt an electric jolt pass through her nervous system - her mind was electrified and droning. Her hearing faded in and out, growing muffled and fuzzy. Her body felt like it was turning to a metallic liquid, slowly dripping and melting into the chair. Everything around her started warping and distorting. Colors blended together and ran, objects grew and shrunk, melting and twisting into the background. She turned to look to Neo, her head moving what felt like excruciatingly slowly, and gave him a look of terror. He smiled softly at her. Everything you are feeling is perfectly normal. Just relax. It will all be over soon. I promise. His soothing voice calmed her pounding, runny heart. Before she had the time to speak a word, the world faded in glimmering digital specks to black silence.