The Atrium
Neo
He hurries out of the medical wing of the Detox centre, through the tunnel that leads to Zion's lowest level. Electric lights cast strange shadows as he moves.
He pauses as he reaches for the doorknob at the end of the corridor. Unlike most door handles in Zion, it's round and almost shiny, reflecting his hand about to curl around it.
. . . I can only show you the door . . .
Morpheus and his riddles. He even confuses Trin sometimes. Half answers and double questions indeed.
Pushing aside memory, Neo pushes the door open.
Noise swamps over him.
Zion.
He moves through the crowd, returning the occasional nod from a Jack or Zionite, people he knows through 'work'.
Reaching the centre of the space, he pauses and looks up. Thousands of people, just living out their lives. Not oblivious, but largely uncaring.
Zion will survive whether or not the Matrix falls. As such, some think that the war is waste of time, resources and people.
He scans the crowd, seeing a sea of drab greys and blues and browns, with light glinting off the occasional socket. The diversity of race is the only variant here, where clothes are strictly utilitarian and fashion does not exist.
"Neo!" Tank calls as he jogs up to him, smelling of Detox bleach. "I rang the docks, they said the Solomon just came in. But they won't be through for an hour or so more, Wraith needs to get her shots."
"How's Nanu?"
"Fine."
"Let's go Home then."
Nanu
She's on a bench, feet dangling, stripped to a singlet again. A Detox medic is examining her, shining lights in her eyes, ears, noting the exact position of her plugs. Key is hovering near the door, looking nervous.
"You're in good shape honey," the lady smiles. Key pricks up her ears. "Key's taken good care of you." The medic relaxes visibly. "Just your shots now."
Nanu inhales sharply.
As the Detox lady begins organising the vaccines, another girl comes into the room, preceded by another doctor. Her hair is only dark stubble, but Nanu recognises her.
"Wraith."
She blinks, looks up. "I know you."
"Yes, we went by your old work once."
Wraith makes an unconscious motion, as if to tuck hair behind her ear. Half way through the move she pauses, and looks wryly at her hand.
"It'll grow back," Nanu smiles.
Wraith gives her an odd look, as if confused. Nanu realises that, in some way, she's older than she is. Despite the several years in age difference, Nanu has a little more experience in this world.Then the medic comes back with a large needle, and her smile vanishes.
***
Rubbing her sore arm, Nanu follows Trinity down a corridor from the medical wing to the 'atrium'. She can hear a noise, a hum of people, coming through the door ahead of her.
Zion.
They stop at the end of the corridor, and Trinity looks at her.
"I can remember what Morpheus said to me when I was at this point."
Nanu takes the bait, "What did he say?"
"He told me that Zion is the last human city."
Nanu looks blank.
"The last human city," the captain repeats. "Meaning that there are people, like in any Matrix city, who are racist, or dishonest, or greedy, or dangerous. This place is about as far as you can get from a perfect world. So be careful."
Then she opens the door.
The atrium rises above them, the stone roof hidden by tangled layers of steel grids, rails and ladders like an artwork by Escher, connecting levels to levels. And everywhere, people. The space at the bottom of the atrium is as large as a football field and as full as a city McDonald's at lunch hour. Gavin's analogy of an ant's nest isn't wrong, but the way levels overlap and interlock, and the system of ladders and stairs makes Nanu think of a hive.
Voices are everywhere, all speaking at once in dozens of different accents and languages.
"Oy, 'musta ka na?"
"Zao an."
"Sie sind spät."
"Nakuha mo ba ung hinigi ko sayo'ng program?"
"Tu sei pazzo!"
"Nanu, stay by me."
She walks closer to Trinity, resisting the urge to reach for her hand like a drowning girl for a rope.
"Where're we going?" A quiet pulse of pain is beginning again in her head.
"Home."
***