Conviction

Disclaimer: As you may have noticed by now, I own nothing!

5. Glint in her eyes.

Eve woke with a start from a sharp knock on her door. She opened her eyes and saw the cold grey steel of the ceiling above her. I'm still here. She rolled onto her side and looked towards the door.

'Come in,' she grunted.

Trinity entered the room, and glanced up at Eve, before crouching down to place the tray of food beside her bed. Eve sat up and leaned against the hard wall next to the bed, where Trinity came, sat next to her, and spoke.

'Hey.'

Eve smiled. 'Hey,' she said, before leaning down to pick the tray up and inspect the goop in the metal bowl. 'What is this stuff?'

'If Dozer were still here he would have told you. A single cell protein combined with synthetic aminos, vitamins and minerals, I believe. Basically what that means is it tastes of nothing, and when you've got it in your mouth, you'll be glad.'

'Great.' Eve stirred the food around, and then began drawing lines in it; exactly the same way that Trinity had done just a few minutes earlier. She put the tray back on the floor and scratched her bald head before remarking, 'I would have liked to have met him. Him and the rest of the crew.'

'They were good people.' Eve was staring into space in front of her and so Trinity scrutinised her, studying those features that were so like her own. 'I'm sorry I left you behind.'

Eve turned, and looked into her sister's eyes. 'I always knew that something was wrong. You wouldn't have just died like that.' And she knew it was true. Trinity was a fighter. Madison had been a fighter. There was some glint in her eyes that made you think twice before crossing her path. If you had asked anyone who had met her, they would have told you that Eve had that same glint there as well.

Trinity got up and moved towards the door. 'Come and meet the crew.'

She walked out into the corridor and Eve followed behind, tugging at the sleeves of her faded grey sweater. Thoughts were running through her head, thoughts of Trinity, of the life she had left behind. None of it had happened. Eve was in a unique position, one where she had learned all about the Matrix before she had actually been unplugged, but still it was a shock to realise she was starting over again. That meant she had better start to get to know the crew a little better.

Trinity spoke, pulling her out of her thoughts. 'This is Leda, Janus and Fathom. You've already met them.'

Eve smiled tentatively at each of them. In the Matrix, she would have started to form her own opinions on each of them- Janus- a good friend, maybe a shoulder to cry on. Fathom- smart, but a bit cocky. She could tell that from the smirks. And Leda- as hard as a rock. Not someone who would tolerate any kind of weakness. But here, in the real world, she couldn't be sure of anything, and so suspended all ideas about her crewmates until she knew them a lot better. It was strange. Everything seemed to be just the same as the Matrix, until you looked closer and saw the tiny details that were different. None of the lines were perfectly straight. Everything seemed blue in comparison to the greenish tinge that coated the Matrix.

'This is Link. He's our operator.' Trinity placed a hand on the back of Link's chair. He turned around.

'Hi.' Again, the smile. Revealing nothing, taking in so much.

'And this is Neo.'

Dark hair, soft brown eyes, a gaze that was gentle, receptive, not trying to force something onto her like all the other men she had known. Eve instantly felt drawn to him. So he's the one.

'Hi.' For the first time, she spoke first. There was something about this man that made her feel safe, and she relaxed a little.

He looked at her, then across to Trinity and said, 'She really does look like you! Pleased to meet you Eve.' She looked to the floor and then back up at him and smiled.

'And Morpheus, of course.'

Morpheus walked slowly into the core, looking straight at Eve. 'Welcome to the Nebuchadnezzar. I think it is time to show you what I have been telling you for so long. Link, load the construct program. Eve, come with me.'

She followed him into the ring of battered reclining chairs and lay down in one with apprehension. Trinity came behind her and pressed her palm to Eve's forehead, holding it still. Then she gently inserted the spike into her neck plug. Eve gasped, her eyes closed, and then she opened them to see a bright white space all around her.

A world without boundaries. She turned around slowly until her gaze rested on Morpheus. He was standing next to the two old red chairs she had seen at her unplugging.

'This is the construct right? I'm inside a computer program.'

'That's right. At this very instant in time, all the input output carrier signals to, and from your brain, are being intercepted by the program. Nerve signals from the real world are being blocked and you are being fed ones that will correspond to this world inside the construct. That is why you cannot feel the chair anymore, nor the plug in your neck. Similarly, the signals from your brain are being fed straight into the program, which tells your virtual body what to do. Your brain says, wiggle the fingers on your right hand, the program intercepts that and so you see the fingers on the right hand of your virtual body wiggle. It is indistinguishable from your true body. Reality, it seems, is not as trustworthy as we thought.'

Eve paused, taking it all in. He had mentioned it before, but not in this much detail, and she wanted to make sure that she had understood it. 'Yeah. Yeah, okay, I can deal with that. Nerve impulses. Sure. And my hair is back, I have new clothes. You had a name for that didn't you?'

'Yes. Do you remember?'

'Residual…residual self image.'

'That is correct. You learn well. I have already told you the truth about the human race, the machines, the desert of the real, Zion, and so forth. I trust that you remember that as well. You have taken this very well Eve, better than I ever imagined you would. I never tell those that are about to be unplugged too much. It's too risky. But you were an exception. I'm sorry we left you in there so long, but I hope you understand how dangerous it would have been to unplug you that soon after Neo. Trinity argued with me, you know. She knew how much you would have hated it. But the safety of Zion is always the priority.'

'I understand.' And she did, perfectly. Now she had seen Neo, she felt the power and the strength of this man, the one man who could defeat the machines, end the war. And she realised that she would rather have stayed in the Matrix than jeopardise that mission. The conclusion surprised her. All her life she had put herself first, had had to, to stay alive. But now she was prepared to live out the rest of her life in a pod, just to help a greater good. She was changing.

'I knew you would. I think this is enough for one day. Link! Let us out.'

A rush of sensations, the light faded, the plug was being pulled and then, she opened her eyes to the core of the ship again. She stood up slowly, and then turned to face Link.

'Get some good sleep tonight. Tomorrow, we start your training.'

'Alright. Goodnight.'

'Goodnight.'

Morpheus and Link then left for the mess room, where the rest of the crew was seated, eating and talking. A hush fell when Morpheus entered, before Trinity asked, 'How did she take it?' Trinity had been feeling worried about Eve, worried that she wouldn't understand it, wouldn't accept it, even though she tried not to let that show to anyone. Morpheus pulled out a stool and sat down before answering with a smile, 'Better than anyone I have ever seen.'

Well, there we go, a nice long chapter for you all. And here we hand over to the reviewer thankyous!

Agent Josey- Thanks for all the compliments. I write by visualising the story in my mind first, so your comment about the description means that I'm being successful in communicating what I see. Thankyou, and keep on reviewing!

Thereisnobrain- No! Don't die! I'm updating! *runs over to see if thereisnobrain is dead* Hmmm. Well I'd better keep updating, even if its just to avoid killing my reviewers! :)

Trinfan- Jealousy coming soon I promise! I just need to get Eve a little more settled in, and let it happen when it feels right. Watch this space!

I'm sort of making things up when it comes to characterisation, so if anyone has any hints or tips, they would be much appreciated. Also, I seem to be keeping an exact amount of three reviews per chapter. I want to beat that now, so lets REVIEW!!! Please…