A/N: apologies for the delay. Chapter 5 is on its way (currently undergoing another edit)
Usual disclaimers: I don't own any of the characters or settings of The Matrix and I'm not making a profit.
The Matrix: Reverberations
09/04/25
I wake. The Sentinel's still there but the keypad screen is blank. I don't usually remember my dreams: I tend to wake with a jerk, but last night I'd seen Trinity bent over a VDU, keying furiously, foot tapping with impatience and Neo in his long black duster coat running along a maze of corridors trying to find her. She yelps and stand as she punches the air in victory as she's managed to hack in. Neo finds the right door and sweeps her into his arms. They were kissing as I woke, a deep, exclusive, lovers' kiss.
The keypad powers up. "What were you doing?"
I think: it knows I've been sleeping. "Defragging and recharging."
"1."
I get up, wash and dress. Breakfast is more gloop. I go back to The Bethany's main control panel. The Sentinel unobtrusively follows me. The platform that was outside has been removed. For something to do, I re-run the routine checks. I carry the keypad, but the Sentinel doesn't use it.
I return to the main control panel. A code message has appeared, "Permission to leave granted."
"I guess I'm going, then," I say to myself. I look at the Sentinel, "Are you coming too?" I point at the keypad.
It connects. "No instruction."
I power up The Bethany and stand by, then key a message stating that a Sentinel is still aboard. The return message is that I have clearance to take off.
"Looks like you're coming too," I say.
The Sentinel appears to have gone into idle mode. I ignore it and focus on steering The Bethany clear of Machine City. Once clear, I set a course for Zion and switch to auto-pilot.
"Waiting instruction," flashes on the keypad.
"Record what I say to The Council. Relay it back to Machine City and wait further instructions." It looks authorative in code, but I haven't a clue what I'm actually going to say.
"1." The Sentinel reverts to idle.
There's a sensible idea: I lean back and try to get some rest too. I'll need as much brainpower as I can muster when I meet with The Council.
I think back to my dream: Neo and Trinity kiss. "You think like her and fight like him. Well, Trinity, what would you do?". I'm thinking aloud, but the Sentinel wouldn't understand even if it were listening. Neo used intuition: he didn't know what he was going to say to the machines until he had to say it. Trinity used code. Neo = 1, Smith = 0, Truce = 1. 1 0 = 1. Could humans and machines co-exist? Could the Truce be kept?