CHAPTER EIGHT

'Neo,' Morpheus said, quietly, 'can I see you privately for a moment?'

Nodding, and just a little nervous, Neo followed Morpheus into an empty room after dinner. He wasn't sure what to expect. Morpheus' expression had been stony throughout dinner. Neo was scared. Scared that, for the first time, he would be meeting with Morpheus' disapproval.

'Neo,' he said, slowly and deliberately, sitting in an armchair, and gesturing towards the other. Clumsily, Neo fell into it. His stomach was in knots. His chest heaved. He felt dizzy, and he thought he might vomit. 'I'd like you to tell me exactly what's going on.'

'Well…uh…Trinity's pregnant.'

'I think we established that.'

'Well…what else is there to say?'

'When did this happen?'

'At Zion, sir. The night of your speech. The night of the dancing.'

'I see.' Morpheus cracked his knuckles, and Neo shuddered inwardly. 'I see.'

He did not speak for many more moments, but finally, he did. 'Do you realise, Neo, how dangerous this is to everybody concerned? Not just to you, but the entire crew?'

'No.'

'Well, allow me to inform you.' Morpheus did not smile, and this concerned Neo. Usually Morpheus had some kind of smile on his face, whether in his eyes or playing on his lips. But today, his expression was stone-cold, so distant, so angry.

'Firstly, Trinity's life is now in peril. If the machines found out about her pregnancy, they would hunt her down. She is now the bait. The machines see pregnancy as weakness, as sentimentality. And,' he finished, 'the machines seek to destroy all weakness wherever possible.'

Neo was stunned, and did not respond.

'This means,' Morpheus continued, 'that she could not go anywhere beyond the hovercraft during her pregnancy.'

'Oh.'

'And once the baby is born, that's even worse. If the machines got wind of the fact that the One had a child, they would seek to destroy it.' Morpheus leaned in closer to Morpheus, his stare still stern and icy. 'Unless the Agents got there first. They would have a field day, Neo. It would be their new mission in life, to kill the child of the saviour. And the mother.' He leaned back again. 'This ultimately puts not only Trinity and the baby in danger, but you and the rest of the crew on this ship.'

Neo hung his head. He did not know what he could say.

'Now, the way I see it, you have two options to bypass all this.'

'What?'

'We could have you and Trinity move to Zion. You could live with Cass and Zee, and hide away. But you would be refugees. You could not leave once you'd entered, for once you leave, you would be back in matrix territory. And,' he said, 'once the baby is born, it can be physically tagged.' He clenched his fists. 'This means that we have no hope of conquering the matrix, for you would no longer be with us. We would have to cope on our own.'

'Shit,' said Neo finally, fear gripping his stomach. His head swam, trying to absorb all this mind-numbing information that was being presented to him. 'What's our other option?'

'Well,' Morpheus said, linking his fingers over his lap. 'The other option is to abort the pregnancy.'

'You mean kill our baby?' Neo gasped. 'Morpheus, how could you even say that.'

Morpheus shrugged. 'I say this not out of malice, but out of logic and care for all concerned.'

'I can't make this decision, Morpheus. There must be some way of disguising this from the matrix, without having to go to Zion or kill the baby. There must be.'

Morpheus shook his head. 'Neo, Neo, Neo. There is no other way. This is it. It's time to pay the price for a moment of recklessness. Make your decision, and fast, so that we can act upon it before it is too late.'

Neo slumped in his chair. How could he make a decision like this?