There was no damage, the attackers had past without harm. The captain was concerned that they had come to the area the Neb was in, it had been considered fairly safe and to see the machines meant that something was more than wrong. Morpheus sent word to other ships that the sentinels had come down, setting the girl to make sure the communication links were secure. The new virus protection grids had been fine-tuned, the basic coming from Zion when a ship was downed by a rogue Internet virus, Harregale altering it to suit the ship and the systems that were already in place to confine and destroy her rose. There was a heavy silence on the ship for some hours; Link was at the Operator station, running through the construct with a fine-tooth comb when she saw it. Placing a light hand on his left shoulder she pointed mutely at a section of code he had yet to check.
"That's it. That's the Alleyway." They had been trying to find a record of it but there had been none, Jade finally disclosing that it had been a creation of Chimera and there was no known way to disentangle it from the construct. Typing furiously the Op tried to delete the program. He muttered under his breath. The captain appeared, having heard the conversation from his position and carrying a concern for the safety of his crew should the program warp the construct.
"Can you get rid of it Link?" He asked, his eyes flowing the code, the Op shook his head.
"It's locked itself into that black version, I can't separate them and it's really vicious." The girl walked over to one of the chairs, tapping at a screen to get the system up.
"What are you doing?" Trinity had just walked in, seeing the worried expressions on the faces of the two men and the grim one on Harregale's.
"I'm clearing the construct of my mess. Link, I'll need to go into the white one first, with a computer link to the black." The captain raised a hand.
"I will not allow you to go in alone."
"I'll go." Neo put a hand on Trinity's shoulder, a gesture to keep her from volunteering. The girl looked at him for a brief moment.
"Fine, but if things get nasty, you get out, the One or not." He almost took a step back, seeing what he had been told was there, a glimpse of the no-nonsense, my-way-or-the-high-way, Trinity in a girl who could appear no more than twelve. He nodded.
"My call."
"Your call." They moved to the chairs. A tone sounded in the communication bay and Morpheus left Trinity and Link to plug the others in. The woman froze, remembering what the Oracle had said.
"Neo, I can't let you do this." Her eyes were haunted as he looked at her in confusion.
"It's not dangerous Trinity, I'll be fine. I have to go."
"No, I will. You stay out here." He frowned, trying to understand, moving again towards the seat. "Neo." One word brought his attention to her again, one word was all it took to make him understand. His eyes locked with hers.
"Alright." The girl looked at them for a moment before sighing and stating,
"Same rules, you get out no matter what. I'm not needed, you are."
"Don't be ridiculous," The woman said, settling back into the supports, "We need you."
"I'll do my best Majesty." Neo slipped the spike into the plug for Trinity, moving over to the girl.
"Take care of her Arre, I can't live without her." His words were whispers on his lips, her eyes caught his.
"If only one of us comes out, it'll be her. I promise." There the flash was again, the way she accepted that she might not come out, that she would die fighting, there were more similarities than any cared to admit at that point. Neo nodded, the spike gliding smoothly into it's port. Quickly he went to stand by Link's shoulder.
"Link, I need a computer with grunt, not something to play games on." The Op rolled his eyes, enhancing the machine for the girl. Morpheus took his place at the other shoulder.
"Why aren't you in there Neo?"
"Trinity." Morpheus looked to him questioningly. "The Oracle told her something. She told me to stay here."
"The Oracle says things for a reason." Was the only reply as they watched the pair inside cornering the program.
*~*
"Cut it off from the…"
"It's not responding, the barriers aren't enough." The girl swore, throwing up her hands, taking out her phone.
"Operator."
"There's no way to do this here. Can you isolate the black construct?"
"Yes, I, can…" The keys outside typed as furiously as those inside, trying to assess damage and prevention. "Done."
"Load me directly into Alleyway."
"What?"
"You heard me Link, I got this bloody thing in here I'll get it out. The only way to do it is to erase all the parts of the black construct I brought in with me. Get the Queen an exit and me loaded up, I don't have time to argue." She snapped the phone shut, taking the cold blue glare from Trinity with her own.
"I'm here to protect you Arre,"
"But it was my job to keep you safe first. There's no telling what Alex will do, I will not risk you getting killed."
"Alex?"
"The program, like the construct was downloaded into me sometime. The commands for activation are those damned nightmares I had when I first came here. By loading me in you must have transferred them to the ship. Which is why they stopped." She shook her head. "Chimera said that we had to watch out for nightmares, that if we had them we hadn't been working hard enough. I think this was his way of making sure we pushed ourselves all the time."
"I am not leaving you to face these things alone."
"Yes you are, my call. You want to fight me on this, fine, but not now."
"I am the ranking officer on this ship, and if you don't like it…"
"Rank or no rank you are far to important to be deleted by a fucking programmed bully!" The girl shouted angrily, causing everyone to stay silent a moment. "Now, I'm going to wait until you're out, and then I am going to clean up this mess and get rid of Alex once and for all."
"Alright, call us if you need us." The girl nodded, visibly relaxing.
"Ok."
"Link, get me an exit."
"You sure? That is the nastiest piece of programming I have ever seen, you know, bar the Agents."
"She can handle it."
"Alright, you're the boss." The phone appeared, sitting on a table. It began to ring. Trinity turned back to the girl to again tell her she would be back if she were needed, but she stopped.
"What is it?" The girl's face was tense, eyes closed.
"It hurts, shit," she took a deep breath. "Ok, I can do this. Shit."
"Arre, what is it?"
"He's hurt, real bad. I get flashes sometimes of what he's feeling. He's hurt and he's dying." Her breaths became more even. "Get out, just let me get on with this."
"How do you know?"
"Are you saying you can't feel it when Neo gets hurt?" She rolled her eyes. "Are you going to let me get rid of the program or not?" The woman picked up the receiver, pressing it to her ear, eyes locked with the girl's, she disappeared.
*~*
"He's alive." Were the first words hat passed her lips as she opened her blue-grey eyes. She looked to her captain. "Morpheus, she says he's alive and I believe her."
"Is that possible?" Link asked.
"With the amount we don't know about their connection, I think it is." She was running a hand through her hair as she watched the girl standing in the blackness on the screen.
"Trinity," Neo said, catching her gaze. "You didn't answer her before." His eyes were searching and she smiled a little.
"Neo, I don't need to feel when you're hurt, I know. I feel your heartbeat right next to mine." He nodded, amazed that something that could have sounded so romantic and possibly sappy didn't, she said it so certainly that it was a fact.
"We can reach the ship." The captain said.
"Let's hope we're not too late."
"Wouldn't someone have already collected the bodies?" Neo asked, confused.
"The Argive crew were not welcome in Zion, they made enemies in the fleet. The ship will be collected soon but the bodies will be left for the machines." Neo swallowed.
"I hope she's right. I hope he's still alive."
"We all do man," Link put in, "and not just for his sake. She's going to be destroyed on the inside if he dies." The ship lifted from its resting-place within a few minutes, speeding towards its target.