- Protector of Men Ch 25
Shade was sitting in the mess room as she was about to walk in. Zandra made no move to say hello, but got out a bowl and spork to get something to eat. Maybe eating would make her feel better. Or pass the time. Shade looked up as she moved to sit down across from him.
"Hey, it's superwoman," he mused. Zandra was confused. I know they thought I was good… but Superwoman?
Shade detected her confusion, and gestured towards his back. "Cape?"
"Oh," she realized, and sat down. She felt a little silly, but didn't mention anything more about it.
"Aw, damn," he suddenly voiced. Zandra looked up from her bowl and saw Shade covered in slop.
"What happened?"
He laughed. "I can't eat with my left hand," he managed, trying fruitlessly to wipe off the food from his shirt and face. Zandra noticed a thick bandage on his right hand, probably the reason why he was eating with his left. She had to smile.
"I'll get you my towel," she offered, taking it off her shoulders and getting up.
"No, nono," he said, but didn't refuse when she crouched down to help clean him up. Clearly he was having a hard time doing much of anything with his injury. She was silent as she mopped up his chest, his face, trying not to get the mess anywhere it already wasn't.
"Thanks," he said after she was done. Zandra went back and sat down, ready to resume her bowl.
"So why are you eating so late?" she asked, her mouth full of food.
"Oh, I just got off watching Alias," he replied. They both became very quiet.
"Oh." They both looked down, trying not to think about Alias' new condition. But it was unavoidable, and they still felt uncomfortable. Zandra finished her food without much further conversation and went back to the main deck. Cover was there, speaking with Trim; they both stopped talking when they saw her approach.
"We're going to go in on Tuesday," said Trim, speaking to Zandra. Cover looked at him intently. Tuesday, that meant three days away… Good, she thought, it'll give me time to relax for a while…
"But Zandra, we can't have something like that happening again," said Cover. Zandra looked at him, wondering what he meant.
"It will only be Trim and I," he continued, "It will not require much to get the recruit,"
Oh, so that's what he was talking about. Zandra at the same time felt dissappointed and relieved; she wouldn't be able to help them again, but she would be able to rest and heal. And maybe let her hair grow some more.
"Okay," she replied, "What will the rest of us do?"
"You'll need to watch Alias and Shade for the time being,"
Zandra nodded, and they parted ways. So she wouldn't be doing much for a while.
A week came and went; the new recruit came and became adjusted. Her name was Kemp, and she was quite a character. Her first day in, she had raised quite a ruckus in the ship, but calmed down once Cover talked to her. She was a bit loud-mouthed for Zandra, but she was a new addition, and help was definitely needed. Other than that, she was a regular person. Someone that she would eventually be able to talk to. But for now, someone she could teach. And teach her she did – Zandra would brief her on training exercises, and while she was jacked in, Zandra would watch the matrix code on Kesia's computer.
"Why do you watch it for so long?" Kesia would ask, and Zandra's reply would be that she needed to learn the code. But inside a fire burned.
She wanted to know all of the code. She wanted to be able to tell what was going on in the matrix by just looking at the screen, by just a glance. She wanted to be able to anticipate each movement of the matrix – so that she could not only know what was going on, but how she could get around it. It had been bothering her for a while – Zandra knew that she could change herself in the matrix, but not the things around her. She could run faster, hit harder, jump higher, but she couldn't make anything around her change. And she wanted to know how to manipulate it.
But for now, all she could do was learn. And while Kemp was learning the basics of training, Zandra learned the basics of the coding. It was a lot for both of them, but they each handled the new information in their own ways.
And during the week Alias woke up. It was a tough day for all of them when she realized that she was paralyzed; that she would never walk again. But she took it like a trooper – and by the third day since she had awoken, she was already in a makeshift wheelchair she had made herself. Everyone knew that she would be dying inside, asking god why she had been crippled, but she didn't make any gesture of it to anyone. The only difference anyone could have seen was an overall brightening of her outlook, perhaps an overdone attempt at seeming cheerful in the face of her troubles. When she came into a room, she would greet everyone with a smile, but everyone else found it hard to be so happy. Alias was the only one that couldn't see through her own transparent façade of cheer, into the despairing fighter underneath. But she tried to stay with it, offered to help everyone with things from machine repair to Kemp's training. Most times she was refused though, and was often found making herself busy fixing something small, or taking things apart that she would later put back together. Zandra felt especially strange around her now.
Meanwhile Zandra and Shade's own injuries were healing well. Shade had changed the dressing on his hand so that he could eat and work better, and Zandra's back didn't hurt her so much anymore. Now she was only glad that it hadn't hit one of her spinal plugs. That could have been messy. And as her overall health improved, so did her desire to get back into the matrix. She wanted to see Neo again, but remembered that the Oracle still wanted to see her crew. And he had told her to let on that everything was okay, that she didn't know he even existed… so she would have to mention it to Cover.
"Cover, back when I went to see the Oracle-"
"She told you to unplug more people."
"Yes," she replied slowly…
"But…"
"But she also said she wanted to see the crew."
Cover nodded once, his lips thinning.
"Last time we saw her…"
"I know," Zandra replied hastily, "But that was because I was there. Maybe if you went alone."
He nodded again. "And this informant told you she would contact us?"
"Yes," she added quickly again, "He said we should see her."
Cover nodded for a third time.
"Tomorrow then," he said, "Trim, Shade, and I will go."
"She said she wanted Stephen too."
"He has to go another time."
Zandra nodded and went to the main deck. Kesia was there, staring at the falling code of green again. Zandra asked if she could speak with Tevy one more time, and Kesia agreed. She contacted Colombus and requested for him. He came in a few seconds, a grin already plastered on his face.
"It's been a while," he said, settling down in his seat.
"Yeah, like a week or something?"
"And a day," he replied. Zandra made a face of amazement.
"We really need to get back to Zion."
"I know, I want my feet on some ground."
"Yeah, and we can relax together."
Zandra smiled. "That'd be awesome, if it'll ever happen."
"I hope so," he replied, "I already asked Colombus if we can go back in at the same time."
"That was nice," she remarked, a little surprised at his caring measure. Stephen shrugged.
"I haven't gotten to actually talk with you since back then."
Zandra was reminded of her dream. Her old home.
"Yeah," she breathed, "maybe we'll get to see each other."
Stephen smiled sincerely.
