A/N) Longest. Chapter. Evar. :D Almost double sized! At 32 pages in word, its even longer than chapter 5.

Edit: 7-13-04 Took out the smutty bit in this chapter because I really don't like it
Spike and Syzygy appear in my other WiP, Unplugged. So if you're wondering who they are, they're from that. All you need to know is that they are kids the Neb unplugged Pre-Kid and Post-Neo, during the 6mo or so between M1 and M2
ok HUGE MASSIVE ETERNAL thanks to: Beat, DanaScully, Electric Kitsune and Juliet. lavishes with praise and thanks
Seventh Verse! Same as the first! A little bit louder and a little bit worse!
and additional thanks go to Tamsin for additional Brit-picking ;

Chapter the 7th

The group of officers got off the elevator and headed towards the quarter. From here, the music could barely be made out, but it quickly grew louder. They made their way to the broad, open area at the entrance to the quarter's honeycomb of caverns and the music his Neo with its full impact. Even if he was very uncomfortable with their more-worshipful-than-average deference to him, the music was catchy.

Most residential areas had some form of market at their entrance where people could barter and trade, and the quarter was no exception. Trinity scanned the area quickly and decided on a path which followed the perimeter of the boisterous open market. Neo Immediately sought Trinity's hand. His world was a mix of green and blue sparks and vast black spaces. He could judge where he could and couldn't go based on how the people around him walked, but he really didn't want to step anywhere he shouldn't and rarely ventured into these areas of Zion; not that he'd gone to the markets much before. Trinity accepted his hand without comment and looked at him for a moment with a small smile. It really was like looking at everything in code, Neo reflected.

Bane had been made of orange light that left a flame-like afterimage behind him when he moved; something neo had never seen in the Matrix when he viewed it in code. Trinity left the same sort of flaming afterimage, but she was mostly made of little clusters of blue points of light. Except around her plugs. Those areas were bits of orange; telltale marks the Matrix and the machines had left on every pod-born.

His ability to 'see' around him had become clearer in the weeks just after they had returned to Zion, but to his frustration had hadn't seen much improvement in the recent months. He could make out expressions and facial features. Naturally those people he knew well he could make out more easily as his mind filled in missing details. Electricity in Zion was green almost the same color as the Matrix, another sometimes disturbing similarity.

Trinity's hand squeezed his again and he slowed his pace to match hers. He looked up and abruptly realized how many people were surrounding them.

"Excuse me," Trinity apologized as she tried to make her way through the crowd. People were calling for them, hailing them as king and queen. Neo ducked his head and hurried along with Trinity, eyes focused on the bright orange spot denoting her head-plug. Neo wondered if Matrix rock stars had felt this way. He could feel her agitation increase as she politely asked people to let her through. Trinity hated crowds even more than he did. This sort of thing didn't happen to them as much anymore, but it still happened more than before the war had ended. Neo began to hear her discomfort reflected in her voice and ran his thumb across the back of her hand. The people seemed to take their appearance as a fantastic excuse to party and the band started up again with an even more upbeat tune. The crowd's attention drew away from Neo and Trinity as they began a spontaneous celebration

They finally escaped the now extremely large crowd and hurried into the smaller residential tunnels. Trinity exhaled a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. Crowds were fine, just not when she was the focus. She looked over her shoulder at Link. The operator rolled his eyes; he knew neither liked this sort of public display, and as impressive as they were in the Matrix, they were still just people. They were good people, good friends, but they were people. The other day Link had passed by a group of women who sounded as if they were actually worshipping Trinity as a Goddess; he hadn't told Trinity about it since he couldn't quite believe it himself.

"You want to take the lead?" Trinity asked him as they approached their destination. Link nodded and stepped ahead of them.

"Why?" Neo quietly asked. She'd taken the lead for both Spike and Syzygy

"It's traditional and very formal. Operators ask people to be their apprentices; it's very different from the training you and I got in a lot of ways. Then they go and ask the captain of the ship to accept the apprentice on the crew. Link will be doing most of her training while she's on board so I didn't mind accepting another newbie. I could train her, but he's the operator on the ship." she shrugged, "We'll have some hand in it, but responsibility will mostly be on Link."

"I get it," Neo said. Only now he noticed he was still holding Trinity's hand. She hadn't let go, and Neo didn't feel inclined to either. Link knocked on the door and Neo was surprised when Onyx opened the door.

"Captain," Link greeted.

"Link,"

"I'd like to talk to Muninn if she's home?" Onyx opened the door further with a smile.

"Come in, please. You as well," She looked over Link's shoulder and gestured for Neo and Trinity to enter in as well. She turned and called over her shoulder, "Huginn, call your sister." A boy who had been quietly reading on the couch sprang up and ran further into the apartment. He returned a moment later with a tall girl.

"Muninn," Link extended a hand. The girl accepted it and inclined her head. "I extend the offer of apprenticeship to you." The offer sounded very formal to Neo and he thought it was sort of strange that the Operators would be so formal while Trinity had been much more relaxed.

"I accept," Muninn answered.

"Great," Link beamed, somber formality gone. "Captain, permission to take her on as an Operator Apprentice," he jerked his thumb in Muninn's direction.

"Granted," Trinity responded wryly. She let go of Neo to shake hands with the girl. Neo shook her hand as well.

"Thank you ma'am. It is a great honor to be on th' crew of the Nebuchadnezzar."

"We're glad to have you. We're starting work tomorrow at 10 am."

"Yes ma'am."

Trinity, Link and Neo made their good byes and left, hands absently finding one another again. "So is she related to the captain?" Neo asked. Trinity nodded.

"Huginn and Muninn are twins. They're her youngest kids, but they're twenty or something. I don't know. I think their eldest died with the fleet when the EMP blew." They continued on in silence, their pace only slowing as they came to the main entrance once more.

"Ready to run the gauntlet?" Link said lightly. Trinity rolled her eyes but said nothing. "You know," Link mused, "You could probably take the stairs on the far side over there to the next level." Trinity looked across the two story entrance area and saw the steps carved into the rock. There were fewer people on the level above and they could easily catch the elevator from that level. Trinity nodded.

"I think we'll do that."

"Well I'm a level down and across the Well, so I'll take my chances this way."

"Goodnight Link," Trinity said, echoed closely by Neo. They watched him disappear into the still dancing crowd then made their way to the stairs.

Proteus left the Twins by the car and made his way towards the playground. He recognized Sati as the only program present. She was sitting with a group of humans in a circle under a tree, brushing the hair of an extravagantly dressed doll. He walked forward and stopped just outside the group. They fell silent as they realized he was there and stared owlishly at him. What was a boy doing here? He was one none of them recognized. Sati immediately saw he was another program but she couldn't immediately decide what kind he was. She knew she probably should call Seraph, but she was curious to find out herself.

"Who are you?" the human with curly red hair asked.

"Proteus de Merovingian," Proteus answered back, inclining his head.

"Oh!" one of the girls squealed, "he's French," she said authoritatively, "My sister is taking French and she says stuff like that too." Proteus ignored the human's inane chatter. Sati stood up and brushed some wood chips off her jumper.

"You belong to the Frenchman," Sati said.

"Oui."

"I didn't know he had kids."

"He did not when you met him."

"Come on Sati, we're going to play over here," Molly grabbed her hands and tried to pull her towards the other girls already heading for the jungle gym. The boy made them nervous.

"I'm going to talk with him a bit. I know his Mama and Papa."

"Ok, just be careful. Boys have cooties!"

"Ewwww!" the other girls chorused. Proteus rolled his eyes and waited for the humans to run off. Sati waited until her friends were out of hearing range before talking with the other program. The Oracle had explained to her that telling her friends that they were dreaming or that she was actually a program would be a very bad idea. Telling them Proteus was a program too probably wasn't a good idea either.

"You're like me, but not exactly,"

"This is true." The two child-programs stared at one another for a long moment.

"Why did you come here?" Sati finally asked. Proteus shrugged. His reasons were his own and who knew what the fortune teller might do with that information. He didn't know if she knew he even existed, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Sati crossed her arms and looked the other program up and down.

"So do you want to play?" she asked.

"Play?"

"Yeah!" She smiled. "Play!" Proteus stared at her blankly. "You do know what play is, right?" she asked.

"Oui. To play is to occupy oneself in amusement, sport, or other recreation" Sati rolled her eyes and sighed dramatically.

"Well that's the boring explanation. Play is for fun. Don't you play with your parents?"

"Non." He shook his head "We don't play," he said, not sure why this seemed so important to her. He would have to ask when he returned home.

"Come on," She grabbed his hand and began dragging him towards the playground. "Are you familiar with four-square, freeze tag and dodge-ball?"

"Get up," One prodded his semi-somnolent brother. "He's back. Two sat up and the back of the seat snapped upright. Their boss' kid stalked to the car, yanked open the door and pulled it shut with surprising force.

"Drive." One gave Two a look, but he turned the key in the ignition anyway.

"Learn something?" Two asked drolly.

"Chienne incompréhensible foutue!" Proteus spat back before resuming muttering under his breath. Two turned around and had to bite back a laugh. Le Petit Prince had daddy's foul mouth it seemed. The journey back to the Chateau was uneventful, but the kid seemed to be irritated for some reason the twins didn't know. Proteus stalked away after throwing the doors open with enough force they hit the walls and bounced back. The twins looked at one another then phased, sinking into a lower level of the mansion and well away from their boss and his irate offspring.

"Why?" Proteus exclaimed. "WHY?! I do not get it!" He stalked into his parent's bedroom and began pacing. Persephone paused in taking the pins out of her hair and watched Proteus' reflection in the mirror walk back and forth cursing under his breath. She removed the last pin and turned in her seat, shaking her hair loose as she did so.

"I take it the meeting did not go well?" she asked. Proteus stopped in his tracks and threw his arms wide in a gesture of exasperation.

"I have no idea!" he resumed pacing, "I don't get it!"

"What happened?"

"She asked me to play!" he stopped pacing again and frowned, "it was terribly simple and yet it was almost enjoyable but I still don't know why she is content to play with humans and the way she acts isn't anything like me at all!" he sat on the end of the bed and crossed his arms.

"You aren't going to go back then?"

"Non!" he hopped off the bed, seemingly with a second wind. "I will figure her out! I will figure the humans out!" he declared. "I will understand why and the conniving sibyl will not have her as an advantage over me! Bonne nuit, Maman," he kissed her on the cheek then ran from the room.

"What was that?" the Merovingian asked as he walked into the room, drawn by the commotion. Persephone shrugged.

"He apparently doesn't understand Sati any more than we do, but he's determined to find out." she explained. Her husband arched an eyebrow and smiled dangerously.

"Perhaps we can use that as an advantage."

"Well, well," Link laughed as he spied the newest crewmembers staggering their way up the Neb's docking ramp. Trinity turned around and arched an eyebrow at the obviously hung over newly commissioned officers. Spike's head lolled to one side and he was an interesting shade of green. Syzygy's baggy eyes were bloodshot, and her short, dirty blonde hair was mussed. Even Munin looked worse for the wear.

"I said 10 am comes quickly," Trinity chided. Spike rolled bleary eyes to face her and tried to straighten up.

"Roommates ma'am. They-" he paused, "they brought me home two hours ago. Hog tied me ma'am-" He paused when she waved him to silence.

"I thought they might. And I'd prefer it is you called me 'Trinty'. Syzygy?" The girl was listing dangerously to the one side, eyes at half mast. The girl jerked upright and looked around wildly before focusing on Trinity. "Are you ok?" Trinity tossed the wrench she'd been holding back into its tool box and stepped down to put a stabilizing hand on the younger woman's shoulder.

"Uh, yeah. I think. I haven't been home," she admitted putting a hand to her forehead. "I hate my roommates," she muttered then looked over at Munin. "I hate your roommates too."

"Dey were pissed. My mother.She started me off dat evening with some powerful shit, mon. Was too drunk when dey got t' me,"

"Ugh," Syzygy moaned, swaying into Munin. Trinity caught her arm and half dragged her to the steps in the hold. Link was laughing quietly by this point and directed Spike to sit down as well. Munin half collapsed into her seat. The three looked absolutely miserable.

"They ok?" Neo asked, eying the body language of the Neb's newest crewmembers.

"Well, They have me beat, but they're nowhere near as completely trashed Mouse got when Morpheus picked him up. They might be at about the level Switch got, but they haven't started puking yet."

"Hmm," Link crossed his arms and looked at the kids critically for a moment. "I give them a 7," he decided. Spike fell forward and landed face first on the deck, ass in the air for a moment before he fell to his side. "7.5," Link amended.

"Oh, you're tough, that's at least an 8," Trinity decided crossing her own arms. "So, do I let them sober up here, or send them home."

"Home," Neo suggested. "I'd rather not clean up after anyone who gets sick," he explained. Trinity chuckled and nodded.

"Ok. We expected this, so go home. Be here tomorrow at 8 am. Sober and not hung over either. That clear?" The kids looked dumbly at her for a moment before nodding slowly. Munin carefully stood up and helped Syzygy to her feet. Then the two dragged Spike up and hobbled out together.

"Aww, they're bonding already," Link snickered as he returned to his task.

"Tradition?" Neo asked Trinity wryly. Trinity smiled brightly back.

"Yep."

The robots reached the plane now and began to pick up speed, covering ground with massive, loping strides. Their ability to quickly assault a fortified structure and rip it apart had been the bane of military commanders for a few years. Then there hadn't been any truly fortified structures left. There hadn't been many military commanders by that point either.

Despite their advanced age, the soldier robots were in good repair. New parts had replaced old and in a curious twist of fate, they had been sheltered from the raging sky by the very city they slaved under. The plain had not yet been scavenged entirely by the salvage drones and was littered with the twisted metal of fallen Sentinels and the shrapnel of spent bombs. The robots were agile despite their size and easily dodged the wreckage. They came to the edge of the destruction and continued on west towards the power plant and beyond.

Niobe felt eyes on her back and looked away from the busy cyber café Grond was operating out of today. Seeing only the patrons of the coffee shop, she returned her gaze back across the small side street. Her target logged out, collected his belongings and left the building. Merlin casually tossed away his sandwich wrapper and left the bench he'd been sitting on, walking ahead of their target. Niobe nodded approval to herself: the kid was turning out to be very good. She knew he'd mirrored part of the back of his sunglasses so he could trail Grond by actually walking in front of him. He'd definitely seen way too many Matrix spy movies, but it worked.

The annoying feeling of eyes on her back returned and she casually looked around as she gathered her empty coffee mug and deposited it in the bin to be washed. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a well dressed child: dark hair and eyes which followed her movements. The same program kid who had been at the Binary club the first time they'd staked it out and both times since; and frequently at other places as well. Niobe, Ghost or Merlin would arrive someplace and suddenly realize they were being watched. Then he would disappear, into the air it seemed.

Niobe wasn't sure if he was being careless or if he wanted her to see him, but she was getting annoyed. Her cell phone rang as it always did: Sparks had only just detected the interloper.

"I see," she said before the operator could get a word in. Sparks huffed down the line and muttered something she couldn't make out (which was probably good for Spark's sake).

"You know, we're the ones supposed to be stalking people," Sparks grumbled. Niobe closed the connection and stepped out into the bright mid-spring, Matrix morning. Ghost had been contacting Grond in the Café, leading him where she wanted him to go. With any luck they could unplug him by the end of the week.

"I think he's waking." Niobe looked up from the plug she's been securing an IV to and saw that Grond's eyes were fluttering. She finished and placed the boy's hand down on the table. Ghost stepped back from the boot he'd been tying and stood next to Sparks. Merlin's eyes nervously flicked from her to Ghost to Sparks and back down to the waking newbie. This was his first unplugging and he was nervous. He'd heard horror stories from other kids in Zion about people who had gone insane when they woke up. Niobe had heard those same stories when she was younger, but in actuality there had only been one documented case of Post-Matrix Psychosis, and that had happened to the unfortunate crew of the Manticore eight years after she'd joined the fleet.

"Fuck," Grond swore and rubbed his eyes. Ghost reached over and manipulated the light controls. The lights faded out as they smoothly rose back towards the ceiling. "The hell happened?" Niobe met his eyes and put a hand on his shoulder.

"You wanted the truth. This is it," she and Merlin gave him a hand sitting up. Grond looked around the cluttered room then back at her.

"This is it? The truth is a fucking change of clothes and a freezing room full of people? No fucking thanks. Can I have my clothes back now?" Niobe and she exchanged a look with one another. "Ok, now that isn't a good sign. When people exchange looks like that it isn't a good sign. I want to know what the fucking hell happened and why the hell is there such a breeze in here?" Grond paused and looked up. He slowly lifted his hand and felt the three weeks of hair growth there. He pointed a scolding finger at Niobe and glared. "Why the bloody hell did you shave my head?"

"You said the world was wrong. It was wrong because it wasn't real."

"How the fuck is it not real?"

"More than a hundred years ago, humans went to war with the intelligent machines they'd created. In short, we lost and most humans since then have been born connected to a machine that feeds images directly into their head. You grew up in a virtual reality world and never knew it because you didn't know any better. That is what the Matrix is. The program we were connected to."

Grond's mouth worked for a moment. "The fuck? How?" he finally asked.

"There is a data port in the back of your head. The machines fed electronic impulses directly into your brain. Do you remember waking up in a pod?" Niobe asked. The newbie was feeling the back of his head with a look that crossed disgust and disbelief. Sometimes people didn't remember the pods at all. Jue never remembered her waking for as long as she lived. Ghost had forgotten only to have screaming nightmares as the memory resurfaced almost two years later.

"That place out of a bloody H.R Geiger nightmare? That was real? There were all these plugs and-" He'd pulled up his sleeve to see the plug on his arm and stopped mid-sentence. He drew the loose sleeve up further and found the plug on his shoulder. He let the fabric fall back down and stared off into space for a moment. "You know? I don't remember taking that much Acid," he half laughed, sure he was high.

"You're not tripping, pal," Sparks chimed in. Grond looked at him curiously.

"I remember them, but I don't remember you, mate."

"Sparks," Sparks held out a hand. Grond shook it.

"How come you weren't at the party? Your leather trousers at the cleaners?"

"No. I can't go into the Matrix. I was born in the real word." He pulled back a sleeve showing he didn't have any plugs. "Don't have any. Won't ever have any. The machines grow poddies around the plugs."

"We took you out of the power plant. The red pill you took was part tracer program, part disruption program. When you woke up the machines saw you as a dead pod and flushed you. Since we knew where you were, we were able to pull you out of the sewer," Niobe explained.

"Power plant?"

"At the end of the war, we blocked out the sky. The machines found out humans make good batteries and decided to use 'em as a power source," Sparks said. He leaned back against the wall and crossed his arms. The newbie didn't look like he was gonna go psycho on them.

"I know it's a lot to take in-"

"That's a fucking understatement,"

"-but it gets easier."

"So this is the real world," Grond said as the wasted land sped underneath. "lovely." He sat back in the seat behind Ghost and watched the ruins in the distance grow. "You know, I always though we'd blow ourselves up before we finally got super smart robots." Niobe smiled thinly as she maneuvered the ship over the carcass of a skyscraper.

"I once had a bet with someone I worked with in the Matrix. We joked about how the world would end. He said we'd be destroyed by our own technology." She maneuvered the ship down into what once was either a river or a freeway. A decayed bridge passed close by overhead and Grond ducked instinctively, but the ship passed easily under. "He said we'd be ruined by our own computers," Niobe continued her narrative. "I thought we'd all die in world war III or in the nuclear winter after and told him he had read too many dystopian science fiction novels with killer AI. He was a civilian computer scientist with the military though and part of his research was in Artificial intelligence. He explained to me what was going on in research and what could happen. Gave me nightmares for a week."

"Did he know about all this?" Merlin asked.

"No," Niobe answered as she pulled the Logos out of the riverbed and onto a rubble strewn plane. "But I couldn't stop thinking about it once he mentioned it. Turns out he was a blue pill who remembered. He wasn't exactly sure who he was helping, but he sent a lot of information to the resistance and a set a lot of people on the search for the truth before he died."

"Machines?"

"Old age."

"What were you in the Matrix? All of you?" Grond asked. Merlin and Sparks winced. That was a touchy subject for most pod-born people and the newbie hadn't learned that yet. Instead Niobe grinned and gunned the Logos' engines, pushing everyone into their seats as the ship sped forward.

"I was a pilot in the Airforce," she said. "Made lieutenant senior grade before I was pulled. Did aeronautics engineering and Mech E at the academy."

"Well, Shit!" Grond exclaimed. "Did you fly fighters?"

"Oh yeah." Niobe spared a look behind her shoulder. "Saw some action in the middle east before I finally got the appointment I wanted."

"Which was?" Grond prompted.

"NASA. I wanted to be an Astronaut," she reminisced a little sadly. "I wanted to see what was out there. You know the feeling that the world wasn't quite right? When I was little I fixated on space travel because of that. Dr. Gibson sent the resistance my way. Took the red pill because it felt more right than staying in the space program. The first time I saw this sky I thought it sucked, not because there was no sun, but because I couldn't see the stars." The cabin fell into silence for a moment. Sparks and Ghost had known Niobe was ex-Military like many of the captains of the fleet were; Morpheus, Roland, Soren to name a few, but they hadn't known she was with NASA. Ghost eyed his captain appreciatively out of the corner of his eye. They didn't take idiots there and you needed something on the order of two masters degrees to even be an astronaut candidate.

"So," Grond ask after awhile, "where the hell are we?"

"We're about two days flight from the fields," Ghost informed as he flipped on a holographic map. A little icon of the Logos glowed red in the center of a topographical map which scrolled underneath. "We're almost three days flight from the city, heading for the coast."

"Brilliant."

"Sparks, see if you can't raise Delta site on the radio,"

"What's Delta site?" Grond asked.

"There are a few human outposts on the surface. They're far from the city and keep a low profile to avoid the machines. Most are there to watch for the Machines, but some provide food for the city. They went into lockdown when we found out about the machine army," Niobe told Grond, "The Hammer contacted Delta site to spread the word about the end of the war, but they weren't able to reach one of the fisheries. Got them yet Sparks?" Sparks was busily typing away at the terminal by his seat. He looked up and nodded.

"Yeah. They say they'll keep the light on for us,"

The Logos set down in a natural valley in the landscape. A well concealed door opened at the base of the large rocky hill and a number of humans walked out. Niobe unclipped her harness as Ghost powered down the engines.

"Good," she said noting the humans weren't wearing masks, "Looks like we won't need breathers today." Moving past Grond she explained, "Sometimes the air gets too dusty or the winds sweep in radioactive material from the explosion site a hundred miles north of here." She motioned for him to follow as she left the cockpit. She walked back towards the living quarters and opened the cabinet where the extra sweaters were kept. "Put this on. You'll freeze without it. This too," she pulled out a heavy hat.

"Another jumper? I'm wearing two!" Grond protested. It was cold but he didn't exactly like wearing so many layers.

"Trust her," Sparks said as he passed by, "I freeze my ass off up here and I'm not a fuzzy newbie." Grond shrugged and put the sweater and hat on. Niobe handed him what looked like an industrial tool box.

"We're giving them some supplies and then taking on some fry for Zion's stock. We also need to see if port two has checked in yet. They were the only surface base that hadn't contacted Delta when the Hammer contacted them last time."

"Port two is the further fishery down the coast," Merlin explained as he hefted a heavy sack and another tool box. "We try to farm as many fish as we can in the city, but we need to come up to the surface for more and for fresh sea water occasionally."

"So there is real food in Zion?" Grond asked as he followed Merlin down the hall.

"Yeah. It's kind of like sushi," Merlin said as he trudged down the steps in the hold towards the rear bay doors. Ghost was standing by the controls. At a nod from Niobe he opened the door.

"Fantastic. Shit, that's cold," Grond said as the wind whipped into the area.

"We sort of get three seasons here on the surface," Sparks said as he brushed past the shivering Grond. "Cold, Colder and "Holy-fuck, my fingers just fell off." We're in the Cold season now, so this is downright pleasant."

"Come on," Niobe called. Grond started forward, following Merlin, Sparks and Ghost. The ground crunched under Grond's feet when he finally stepped onto the surface. The wind was gentle outside, but freezing where it touched his skin. He could see the breath of everyone around him. The group of humans moved forward to meet the Logos' crew midway and took part of their burden. Grond was extremely happy because the tool box had been deceptively heavy and he still felt very weak.

"Come on, lets get inside," a tall woman gestured.

"How hobbit-like," Grond muttered as he entered the mountain. It was much warmer in here but he was still shivering from the cold. Someone tossed a blanket over his shoulder. He turned and saw Niobe. "Thanks."

"Sorry. We normally don't take newbies up here so early, but we had to re-supply them."

"No, that's fine," Grond said. He moved closer to the heater as Niobe and the woman, apparently the leader, took seats at a small table. Steaming drinks were placed in front of them. The man with the tray looked over at Niobe then nodded in Grond's direction.

"Can he handle real foods yet? You said he was a newbie."

"Tea would be fine at this point, don't you think?" She looked over in Spark's direction. The operator was already sipping from his own steaming mug.

"Should be. His digestive system might not be completely up to solids though." Niobe nodded agreement. A mug was pressed into Grond's hands and he sipped the contents carefully. It was almost scalding hot but he really didn't give a fuck because he was so damn cold. The 'tea' was a bit bitter, but he didn't exactly see any sugar around. He walked over to Merlin who was leaning against the metal wall a little ways off.

"Cheers," Grond said and lifted his mug. Merlin chuckled and mirrored the gesture. "The hell is this, anyway?"

"I don't have a clue," Merlin admitted, peering at the brownish liquid. "could be bark, or leaves or hell, even seaweed."

"Then maybe I don't want to know. So, what is this place?"

"They're a communications hub and supply depot. This is the only base the machines never seem to have found. They run a router to the other bases on old optical cables in the ground. The Machines don't seem to know they are there or that we use them. Of course now that the war is apparently over, we might not have to be so sneaky."

"Apparently over?" Grond asked. The red-head nodded.

"They haven't done anything since Neo and Trinity went to 01 on the first Logos, but," he lowered his voice, "I think some people are just holding their breath, waiting for the other shoe to drop."

"Fantastic," Grond said sarcastically. "So what is with port two?"

"They didn't check in with Delta site. It's pretty far off and Zion told the bases to stick close to home for now, so no one has gone to check. The Hammer sent word the war was over and Delta site repeated it, but they never got confirmation from port two. The machines might have got to them before the war ended and we just don't know or there could be something wrong with the lines." He shrugged. "I think we're going to fly out and see tomorrow."

"Right. That what people normally do on these, mission things?"

"Don't know actually. I've never been to the surface before. This is the first time I've been on a crew."

"Fancy that. And so what is your job. I think I have the rest of you all figured out. Sparks is an 'Operator' and puts a lot of information into your head through that plug things. He's the ship wise-ass. Ghost over there," he pointed, "is the first mate. Never smiles, never laughs. Rolls his eyes at Sparks a bit but is other wise the unemotional Zen master. He also knows a hell of a lot of philosophy. You know I tried to chat with him the other day and I still have no idea what the hell he said," Grond confided. Merlin chuckled. The rest of the crew was far enough they probably couldn't hear the conversation. "And then there is captain Niobe, the ex-astronaut. What she lacks in height, she makes up for in spunk or something. But I'll tell you one thing, mate. I would not want to cross her. Bet her bite is as bad as her bark and I'd rather not have my sorry arse kicked, so I'd be obliged if you didn't repeat any of that."

"No, no. I wouldn't say a thing."

"Right. So what's your story? Get tired of King Arthur going on about round tables and watery tarts tossing swords at him?" Merlin chuckled.

"Nah. I'm the new crew member. See them?" he nodded his head at the rest of the crew. "They've been a crew together for years. I'm the new guy." He shrugged. "They needed a medic. The old Logos was a scout ship. Only had room for three people and they didn't unplug anyone. The Two is a bit bigger and they have a full infirmary, so they hired me."

"Well you all know about my life in the Matrix. What did you do?"

"Biology major. Was browsing the 'net one day, heard about this Matrix thing and how it was blinding us from the truth. Tried to go to the site again the next day and it was shut down. That made me curious so I tried to hunt down what this Matrix was. I picked up enough about hacking to get to where a lot of the resistance members browse for potentials. I was sort of led to the crew of the Gnossos and was plucked out of the sewers almost two years ago."

"Led?"

"Yeah. There is no way in hell I could have hacked into some of the places a lot of resistance members can. It took me months to get into the sites I got into. But they apparently keep a look out for people like me. I was on the medical track already so they sort of led me to where I needed to go, because they always need doctors. Once I was out I was given the opportunity to learn whatever I wanted to but I stuck with medicine." Niobe and the women she'd been conversing with stood up from the table and shook hands. Merlin and Grond gravitated towards Ghost and Sparks as the captain approached.

"We're going out at dawn so we should get some rest now," she told them.

"Awww mom, can't we stay up another hour?" Sparks whined. Niobe gave him a look but the unrepentant operator simply grinned into his mug.

"They're letting us bunk here for the night, so lets get back to the ship, grab some extra blankets and power it all down for the night. No sense in leaving her running all night if we're not gonna be there."

"Yes'm" Sparks drawled and sauntered off towards the exit. Niobe sighed and shook her head as she followed after.

Neo found Trinity right where he'd surmised she'd be. Outside a large group of dockworkers, fleet and council members and APU Corpsmen were toasting the newly dedicated ship. Tomorrow she would start her construction trials, and they expected to be back at broadcast level in ten days or so. Trinity, who by all rights should have been at the center of the impromptu party (which would no doubt move into a real one later), was instead in the core of her newly completed ship. She leaned against the cold metal, gazing at the recently installed plate fixed to the central support column in the broad room.

"Somehow I knew you'd be here," he greeted her. She slid both arms around his waist and rested her head against his chest, still silently looking at the embossed bit of metal.

"You're missing the party," he said, resting his hands lightly on her thin hips.

"I know. They'll be going until morning." She sighed. "I just needed a moment."

"Would you like me to leave?" Neo offered. She held onto him a bit tighter.

"No." She relaxed her grip and continued to look at the bit of mental that, less than an hour before, she herself had riveted to the hull. He couldn't see it to read it, but he knew what it said.

Nebuchadnezzar, Mark III.
Made in Zion, 2201

The world was silent save for the sound of the gently surging surf at low tide, and her boots crunching against the half frozen sand. Niobe took comfort in the rhythmic sound and the obvious tide lines. Even if she couldn't see it, Earth was still orbited by a moon. It was more than her love for space and what was beyond that led her to this feeling; the tides represented the world beyond the heavy cloud cover encasing the planet like a death shroud. She had hope that one day humanity would rip down the barrier and return to the universe at large. But until that day happened, the universe spun along without them.

Niobe spared a backwards glance at her ship. The Logos was resting at the edge of a cove of skeletal trees. The weather had been unkind to the palms, rendering them brittle and half petrified after years in the dark. Most were dead and the few survivors, pathetic as they were, coveted sourced of wood for the city. The 2IC of Delta site, a mountain of a man called Ash strode beside her, plasma rifle held easily in his large hands.

"It's too quiet here," Ash reflected in a low voice. Niobe nodded. As captain of the smallest, most lithe ship in the fleet, she and her crew had most often been given the dangerous and unenviable task of running errands to the satellite sites from Zion, and back. She hadn't been to delta site in nearly three years, but she remembered far more noise and activity. The wind kicked up, finding its way into her ill fitting and worn jacket, chilling her. The thought struck her how much the air felt like the ruins of the EMP massacre.

"I don't like this," Sparks muttered, hefting his own gun and casting quick glances in every direction as if he expected an army of squid to rise from the sea, the sand or the cove of trees, and kill them all: perhaps he did.

The port was utterly silent, 'as the grave,' her traitorous mind added. She squashed the thought down, but it wouldn't go away entirely. The Logos had spent much of the last two hours of their nearly five hour journey to the site, trying to raise the port on long range communications. They had heard nothing but static. Someone should have come out to greet them, the arrival of the ship wasn't something one could miss, but no one had left the building. The area looked pristine despite a small bit of windblown sand piling up around areas of the base, so the machines hadn't had a firefight here.

"I have to agree with your operator," Ash muttered as they cautiously approached the entrance. Ash pointed to both sides of the base, indicating that the rest of the party take up covering positions to either side of the entrance. The Logos crew went to one side and the four members of Delta site took the other side. Niobe took her place just by the door while ash withdrew a keycard and quickly slid it in the lock. The internal click was the only sound. Ash's grey eyes met Niobe's dark ones for a moment then he kicked the door away, gun at the ready. The man staggered back, covering his face with an arm, eyes watering. Niobe wondered why but then was hit with the smell; putrid, rotting death. She too covered her mouth and the two decided to retreat back, motioning the people covering them to follow. There weren't any machines around, everyone inside was already dead.

"What is that?" Sparks asked, making an expression of disgust as the coastal winds drew the smell towards the humans.

"Death," Ghost responded, slightly tearing eyes the only sign of reaction.

"Well aren't you the dramatic one?" Sparks shot back from behind his sleeve.

"Let's get breathers," Niobe suggested, harsh tone cutting Sparks off before he could really start ranting.

"Hopefully the place will air out a bit," Ash suggested as the humans quickly retraced their steps along the beach. "I want to know what happened."

"Me too," Niobe replied, wiping her eyes.

They found a disk in the hand of one of the neatly arranged but putrid bodies. Ash, eyes watering even though the smell was lessened by the breather he wore, had quickly removed the plastic from the corpse's fingers. They'd taken it back to the ship and run the contents.

"T-this is the last log of Poseidon, commander of port two. We haven't heard from anyone else in more than two months now. We've t-tried to contact Delta site despite instructions to maintain silence and haven't hard back. Spear took one of the hover-craft and never reported back. That was four weeks ago. WeWe can only conclude that Zion has fallenEveryone is dead. We're the only ones left. We can't make it on our own. Supplies have almost run out since the storm three weeks ago tore the door off and let in the sea. The remaining hover craft were destroyed in the storm. We don't have the supplies to repair them. W-w.We're the only ones left-"A weary voice reported only to be interrupted by a hysterical younger man.

"I Hope you find this and you process it you mechanical bastards! I had family in Zion! You Fucki-" the man was cut off and the sound of scuffling could be heard in the background.

"We've spoken about it at great length and have come to a group decision. We can't go on... End Log."

Two hours later Niobe was able to pull herself together and send it on to Delta site. The crew at port two? All dead. Cause? Suicide. Time of death? Two days before the Hammer had been able to make contact with the surface facilities.

Trinity surveyed the vantage point from where she'd set the ship down then unclasped her harness. Beside her, Link powered the engines down to standby. Trinity passed Neo and the rest of her crew on her way to the core.

"Let's go," she called over her shoulder. Neo was right behind her as she stepped into the wide open room. Munin raced ahead and began prepping Link's station. Spike and Syzygy began prepping their own chairs then moved to Neo's and her own. She watched them for a moment with quiet satisfaction. Neo's hand found hers for a moment. She looked up at him with a small smile.

"Ready?" She asked. This was the first trip to the Matrix for them in months. They'd made time to see one another and practice in the Construct, but this was different. Neo nodded and Trinity stepped down to sit in her chair. She could feel herself becoming hyperaware, Automatic mental preparations slipping into place. Even if Agents hadn't hunted down the Logos, even when they'd unplugged their first newbie, she couldn't help but slide into old habits. Besides, Neo was the One and who knew how they would react to him? They'd find out soon. Link slid the pike into her plug and the world dissolved into shapeless white.

Sentinels lifted from their resting places about the city and the defense perimeter. Great barges lifted beyond the mountain and began a gentle descent toward the wind stripped plain. The sentinels soared down to the ground and began colleting the fallen, piling them then moving the piles into the barges. Starting at the mountain base, the machines worked, heading ever west, efficiently sweeping the plane clean of all useful metal.

Neo and Trinity exchanged a last glance with one another then Trinity knocked on the old apartment door.

"I'll get it!" someone on the other side yelled with youthful exuberance. The door swung open and a small girl darted forward and wrapped her arms around Neo's waist, not, quite making a complete circle. "Neo! You're back!" Sati greeted cheerfully as she released him.

"Hi, Sati," Neo greeted, a little taken back by her energy. As suddenly as she'd darted forward to hug Neo, she hugged Trinity as well, sending her slightly off balance and causing her to take half a step back into the hallway.

"Hi Trinity!" the girl said with a squeeze, "You don't look hurt anymore. Are you ok?" She asked. It took Trinity a moment to find her voice.

"I'm fine now."

"Good!" Sati grinned cheerfully and stepped back from Trinity, looking from her to Neo and back. She clasped her hands behind her back and rocked back and forth on her heels. "Are you here to see the Oracle?"

"Yes," Trinity replied. The girl reached forward, grabbed one of their hands and pulled them into the apartment.

"Then you should come in," she explained patiently.

"Sati." an agitated woman strode down the hall. Neo recognized as the one who had greeted him at the door the first time he had come here. "You know I am supposed to answer the door. It is dangerous for you to do that." She sounded as if this was a recurring conversation.

"I know." Sati said as she dropped Neo and Trinity's hands.

"Run along and play,"

"Ok!" the girl cheered, happy the scolding was over, however mild it had been. The priestess, or whatever she was supposed to be, adjusted her shawl and indicated the living room.

"She will see you in a moment," the woman explained then disappeared into the apartment again. Neo and Trinity slid their sunglasses off and walked into living room. It was almost the same as it had been every other time they had been there, but with a few significant differences. Instead of an old, 60's tv hutch, there was a brand new widescreen tv, with a cat curled on top, apparently asleep.

Sati sat on the floor in front of the TV, watching the screen intently and quickly pressing the buttons on the controller she held. Neo looked for the console and found it next to the TV. Black plastic casing with ridges, what looked like memory slots, two controller cables snaking out of their ports and Holy Mother of Mario and Luigi, that was a Playstation 2! Jesus, time flew, Neo reflected as he calculated what the date in the Matrix must be. When he was still plugged in, Sony had set a tentative release date for December or January of 2000.

Neo was struck with 'the disconnect', as other pod-born who ventured back to their former home called it. A casual play on words which summed the uneasy feeling of loss and disorientation they all felt when they realized that the world, however simulated, went on without them. Neo wondered briefly if any of his neighbors helped Mrs. Li with her trash but was distracted by the graphics on the screen. The Tetris pieces were now falling faster and faster as Sati completed the levels. Obviously this wasn't the normal version of Tetris. Soon the blocks were a blur on the screen as the little program manipulated the pieces with her controller. Both Neo and Trinity were forcibly reminded that even if she seemed human, Sati was still a program.

The lanky black cat sleeping on the TV stretched and yawned before dropping down precisely in front of the screen.

"Move kitty!" Sati whined at the cat. The program eyed her lazily and slunk off to wind itself about Neo and Trinity's legs, but the damage was done and the blocks had reached the top of the screen. The priestess entered the room.

"She will see you now," she said then walked off again. Neo and Trinity exchanged another look, silently asking the other if they would be ok. Trinity nodded towards the kitchen door and Neo turned and left. As he did, Sati turned in her seat and offered the other controller to Trinity.

"Want to play with me?" she asked. Neo didn't hear her reply as he pushed aside the beads hanging over the doorway. The oracle was cutting what looked, and smelled, like a pan of brownies.

"Thought I'd try and give you something different this time Kiddo," she winked and began stacking the small brown squares on a large plate. The plate reminded Neo of visits to his great aunt's home when he was seven or so. The woman had loud, 60s era designs adorning all her china. The gaudy graphic was soon covered by brownies and Neo took another step into the kitchen, clasping his hands behind his back and waiting patiently. The Oracle smiled kindly at him and gestured for him to sit.

"Sit down, for heaven's sake. You look like a department store mannequin standing there like that. Sit, sit. Have a brownie while they're still warm." She bustled over to the sink and turned on the water to fill the pan. Neo watched her for a moment then sat in one of the chairs.

"So what brings you here," The Oracle asked as she took the seat opposite Neo and lit a cigarette.

"You mean you don't know?" Neo asked wryly. Her answer surprised him. The Oracle smiled kindly and blew out a stream of smoke.

"No," she said, seeming quite happy about it.

"No?" Neo asked, wondering what she was playing at now.

"No." that smile again. The old woman tapped ash off into a tray and say back, her expression one of great thought. "I told you once, that we cannot see past the choices we do not fully understand."

"You did," Neo replied, wondering where she was going with this.

"I've made many choices as I've gone along this path, Neo. Telling Morpheus about finding you, telling Trinity she would love you, telling you about the Merovingian and the Key-maker..."

"You designed this system. Are you telling me you don't understand why?"

"No, no. I am not saying that at all," she shook her head and waved the notion away with her hand, smoke trail following the movement. "Think of it this way, you made a choice, didn't you Neo. One you didn't fully understand? You could see a possible outcome and little of what led to it?"

"Yes," Neo admitted.

"Important choices are often veiled in uncertainty Neo. Oh, we may have some idea about what might happen after; we can speculate. But we cannot really know until the moment has come and gone. And now that you have moved beyond that moment, now that you know the result of the choice you made in your heart, was it the right one?" She asked as she tapped more ash off.

Neo remembered Trinity's face as she fell in his dreams: shock and pain. He remembered holding her on the rooftop, lifeless, and refusing to let her go, the taste of blood on his lips as they kissed after he had brought her back. Even if he had been blinded in the real world, even if she had been scarred and injured, they were both alive. Zion was alive. She was alive.

"Yes." He said with feeling. Yes, he had made the right choice. Somehow it had all worked out and he knew he had chosen correctly as definitely as he knew he was the One or that he loved Trinity. The Oracle smiled enigmatically.

"I made the right choice too, Neo. I know what I want to see happen in the end and I know why I made that choice; because it is right. But I have made many choices as we all do," she told him, "and one I didn't fully understand was you." She watched him thoughtfully and took another drag at the cigarette.

"Me?"

"You, kiddo. You. I couldn't see if we would end up in another cycle, the system neatly reset, or if you would be the one to finally break it. But I believed. You are the One, Neo. Finally, you are the One." She exhaled another long stream of smoke and grinned. "And we're in a whole new world, you and I and everyone. I know what I would like to see happen, what I believe will happen in the end." she stamped out the end of her cigarette. "But do I know exactly where we go from here? No." she shook her head.

"You need us to help you figure that out." Neo stated after a moment of thought. The Oracle nodded sagely, smile wryly quirked to one side.

"You're catching on," she told him. "So, what brings you here today, Neo. Maybe we can both learn something."

"I've been having these dreams. They're not like when I saw Trinity falling. These are much less clear. But things I see, come true." He paused "Or already are true."

"Like what?" the Oracle asked. Neo related his vision of himself as the Architect and Trinity as the Oracle herself. When he was finished, the Oracle was silent, face impassive. He wondered if he'd said something wrong when she finally spoke.

"And this is what you saw, exactly? A day later you were told about the peace agreement here?"

"Yes."

"That is very interesting. Aside from the fact that neither you nor Trinity was present, I had the very conversation."

"You did?" Neo asked, suddenly fearing what the other parts of that dream might foretell. She nodded.

"I did. The day after you stopped Smith." She noticed his face fall just a little. "Was there something else?" She asked. Neo nodded and told her about knowing everyone's Matrix names in the first dream he'd had. Neo then recounted the part of the second dream where Smith played Morpheus' role.

"That seems very strange," was her only comment. Neo was holding something back, she could tell. "What else?" she asked, tone brooking no argument. Neo's jaw worked for a moment then he looked over his shoulder into the living room and scooted his chair forward, leaning closer. She leaned in to hear his hurried and softly spoken description of the perfect world and his conversation with himself. He didn't know if he should have been terrified or furious when she began to smile. She leaned forward further and patted his hands.

"Sometimes dreams are dreams, Neo." She sat back in her seat. "But dreams can bring to the surface things your subconscious mind has been worrying over. You said you were back in the Matrix, looking to escape? That sounds like a very reasonable thing to see in a nightmare."

"Trinity said that, too," Neo admitted, looking down at the floor.

"You see? And as for the rest? I think you may already know the answer." He looked up at her fearfully. She smiled and reached for his hands again.

"Neo, what have you been doing and feeling almost every day since you were unplugged?" Neo thought for a moment, unsure what she was driving at. Two things came to mind: loving Trinity and fighting the machines.

"I've been fighting the machines in the Matrix as the One. And, I love Trinity." The Oracle nodded.

"Those have been the two most important aspects of your life, haven't they? And now, there isn't going to be fighting like there used to be. Neo, one of the major driving forces in your life has just disappeared. You still are the One, but you broke the system. You don't have that fight anymore and you are looking for a purpose. You said that to yourself, didn't you?" Neo nodded.

"But-"

"Neo, you love her. A part of you wants the whole 2.5 kids and white picket fence. It's a natural part of life to want those things with the one you love. But you also recognize that, that isn't possible." She sat back and lit another cigarette. "At least not right now." She took a drag and exhaled. "Maybe not ever. Who's to say?"

"So, you're saying I see these things becauseI no longer have a defined purpose and because I love Trinity, part of me sees that sort of life as a replacement for being the One?"

"Something like that." She tapped ash into the tray. "And then there's all sorts of other symbolism in there," she gestured with her hand, "Feelings of being trapped, being unable to choose, of being back in the Matrix, as I said. Anger because Trinity was dragged into the Matrix with you. Confusion? Doubt? Perhaps a little guilt? Feeling like you've trapped Trinity in something." She waved those thoughts away with a hand. The smoke trail followed her hand, only to be broken by it as she moved it the opposite way. "You've had a lot on your mind for the past year kiddo."

Neo sat back and thought. It all seemed to be true. But was it really? He looked at the matronly program. She didn't seem like she was lying, but then she'd told him he wasn't the One. Even if she had, he didn't think he'd have believed her.

"How do I know what you are saying is real? You told me I wasn't the one." The Oracle nodded.

"You needed to hear that then. But think about it. You said everything I've said to you, to yourself."

Neo nodded. The Mirror had said those things and the mirror was, well, him.

Neo half smiled back at the oracle. "The Architect said you were an intuitive program. Is that why talking with you is like talking with a shrink?" The Oracle chuckled and tapped the end of her cigarette once more.

" We used to have a couch in the other room, but that made people nervous." She winked.

"What are you? Really." Neo asked. The Oracle sobered a little and examined the human's RSI. His body language was serious, perhaps a little tense. She weighted her options and then decided why not tell him? There was nothing to lose and everything to gain if the humans understood the machines better.

"I am an intuitive program, as he said. He is a logical reasoning program. I was compiled by the Primary AI core, as was he, but the parts of the core which designed us were very different. He was made to create the Matrix." She took one last drag on the cigarette. "I, programs like myself, and others were made later to help him run it. Specifically, I was made to monitor the humans inside." She ground the end of her cigarette then crossed her arms, becoming very serious.
"We came from humans you know. Most machine society strives to forget that, to become somehow different from you. But they cannot escape their history." She shook her head. "We will always be a derivative of you no matter how hard we try to become the contrary. We can embrace that if we want, but" She trailed off.

"Most don't want to."

"Or they can't. As for being a shrink," She uncrossed her arms with a wry smile, "I have access to the full database of every human who ever studied the mind. The human mind is a chaotic and often contradictory thing and doesn't fit neatly into algorithms and tables and formulas. I think that gives me a bit of an edge against programs who can only see numbers and variables," she winked. "I've always thought it was fascinating that your people made the study of themselves an entire branch of science," the Oracle mused. Neo however was thinking about other programs, trying to fit the ones he'd met into classifications if he could.

"There are others just like you?" Neo asked. "Other programs?" She shook her head.

"None just like me. Just as there isn't another program exactly like the Architect. I hesitate to use the term 'lesser' but perhaps it is the best description. These are similar programs but aren'tas much as we are. Think of it this way; not every human who returns here is as good at exploiting the Matrix as others. Some cannot come close to Morpheus and Trinity who are exceptionally talented at bending the rules of the Matrix, but even they are not the One." Neo nodded understanding.
Her eyes slid to one side and she seemed sad, "There aren't many intuitive programs left though." Her eyes flicked up back to Neo and she sighed. "And it may be because of me that there aren't. Most were deleted. We were deemed both troublesome and unnecessary. We are the programs most like you in many ways," she smiled, "we have a tendency to not conform to rules and regulations." She pushed the plate towards Neo. "Take the plate when you go. Share them with the kids guarding the car outside."

Neo lifted the plate with him as he stood. "Thank you."

"Not a problem kiddo," She stood and gestured for Neo to precede her out the door. Sati was playing a fighting game now, an old style fixed camera game like Mortal Kombat or Primal Rage. His jaw dropped when he realized he was on the screen sparring with Seraph. "She still plays with the dolls, but she's taken up video games," the Oracle said wryly. Trinity was leaning against the wall behind the girl, one arm across her waist, the other hand hading a smile. She turned and looked at him, then back at the screen and bit her lip for just a moment before her game face slid back. She stood up and walked over to Neo.

"Everything ok?" Trinity asked. Neo nodded. The Oracle stepped around Neo to face Trinity. She grasped Trinity's upper arms and examined her for a moment.

"So you're the Captain now?" she mused.

"Morpheus was promoted," Trinity explained. The old woman nodded.

"Good for him. Good for you." She fell silent for a moment and Trinity grew uncomfortable under her scrutiny. "Relax," the Oracle said, giving her arms a squeeze. "You know what you need to do and you'll do a fine job. Don't worry so much. Now you probably have better things to do than sit around and chat with an old woman, so I'll let you both go," she said, letting go of Trinity's arms. They turned to leave but she stopped them. "Oh, and Neo? Give my regards to Morpheus and Niobe when you see them?" Neo nodded silently.

"Bye!" Sati yelled from her spot on the floor then turned back to her game. Neo felt slightly foolish walking out of the apartment. He was dressed to kick some serious ass in his usual coat, following behind Trinity who looked like danger incarnate, and he was holding a plate of brownies. They stepped into the elevator and Trinity hit the ground floor button. They faced the doors in silence.

"Damn, those smell good," she said, eyes never leaving the door.

"God, yes," Neo agreed. "When was the last time you had a brownie?" he knew they didn't really exist, but there was no use in saying "well, a simulated 'insert item here'" every time they referred to something in the Matrix. Trinity thought her mouth was probably watering in the real world too. She bet they were still warm as well. The smell in the apartment had been very distracting.

"Twelve years," she admitted. Neo winced.

"Damn."

"Yeah." Neo reached over and hit the stop button on the panel.

"What are you doing?" She asked. He handed her the huge plate in response.

"Hold this for a sec, ok?" She watched as he removed one of the brown squares from the top of the pile and tore a chunk off. With a little boy smile he held up the piece. "Open your mouth." He'd startled her he realized. Her sunglasses were tucked in a pocket allowing him to see her eyes. They were a little bit greener in the Matrix, unlike the true pale blue in the Construct or the real world. "Open your mouth," he repeated. She looked at him like he was insane. "It's more fun this way," he shrugged.

She couldn't believe she was doing it, but she let him feed her the brownie. She resisted the urge to lick his fingers. If she did that, they might never get out of the elevator. It was one thing to let him indulge a little. It was another to do otherthings. He slapped the elevator button and took the plate back with a grin. Trinity surreptitiously licked a bit of chocolate from the corner of her mouth, reveling in the taste. The doors opened and they passed the blind man who was usually sitting there. Neo looked at his code as they passed and wasn't surprised to see he was another program. He wondered what type for a moment, the program's code didn't give any indications other than it was a pattern he didn't recognize.

Trinity held the door open for Neo and they walked back to the car. Syzygy was leaning against it, chatting with Spike who was in the driver's seat. Spike got out and walked around the front of the car to stand next to Syzygy. Neo handed a surprised Syzygy the plate and snagged two squares off the top.

"Are these for us?" Syzygy asked in awe. She'd had dreams of chocolate.

"Yes," Trinity answered as she took another and walked around the car to the driver's side. Neo slid into the passenger side and the kids hopped into the back.

"See anything?" Trinity asked as she started the engine.

"Nope. Couple kids ran by. Few cars out on the main street. A flock of crows was making a racket but nothing much. Nothing exciting." Spike reported.

"Murder. It's a murder of crows," Syzygy reported. Spike rolled his eyes as he munched on the fake brownie.

"Whatever," he muttered. Trinity nodded and slid her sunglasses back on. Neo's were in place as well. Trinity put the car in reverse and the group left for the hardline.

The raven among the crows took flight after the black car, following it to an abandoned warehouse at the edge of town. The humans exited the car and entered the building. The raven dropped down to the roof and shifted into a small black cat. The feline slid into the building though a crack in the decomposing wall and lightly hopped down to the main floor. The cat peered around a large crate and watched as the humans disappeared into the phone, one by one.

It was an interesting process, Proteus was learning. He slunk out of the building and took flight once more, heading for downtown and the club exit home. This was the second group of humans to re-enter the Matrix and he believed the older male was the sixth anomaly. He'd survived Smith after all. Interesting.

The Architect spared a glance at his office door as it opened. Continuity slipped inside and shut the door behind her. The Architect was reviewing data relating to the current state of the Matrix and seemed to find her intrusion annoying.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, eyes not leaving the data he was examining. After a moment of silence he looked up. The Continuity program stood absolutely still by the door, eyes hidden by the glare of sunlight on her glasses. The Architect let the sheaf of paper fall to his desktop. "Is there a problem?" he demanded.

"Yes. You."

Before the Architect could respond, time stopped around him. In an instant, protocols and subroutines re-wrote themselves, creating an impenetrable barrier around him. The Matrix interpreted and reflected this change in code as a change in the program's shell. Continuity watched as fine marble crept up the architect, covering him utterly. Time resumed and the Architect was suddenly aware of the change in his programming.

"It is ironic you know," Continuity said as she strode around to his side of the desk and grabbed the back of his chair. "There were once programs to protect you from what I just did." She pulled on his chair and wheeled it to the side then moved another behind the great desk. The Architect tried to access his superior command functions but found he was unable to get past the fire wall she'd erected around his coding. He, the central AI responsible for driving all his auxiliary code, had been completely shut off from his own command functions. "There was once a Host to prevent you from being incapacitated. But they were all deleted, by you remember, save one, and he has lost both his wings and his way." Continuity sat primly in the chair and swiveled it so she faced the frozen ex-overlord of the Matrix. "It is a prime example of why you are no longer fit to run this world." She crossed her legs and clasped her hands on her knee. The Architect tried once more to execute any command he could but found himself utterly unable to access any. In vain he tried to access his Delete function and found even that ability gone from him.

"I cannot completely access your higher function command codes yet, they are too heavily guarded, but it is only a matter of time. Until then I will exercise my own command functions here. You have grown lax and inefficient. You allow humans free run of the Matrix and encourage chaos. This will stop." Continuity smoothed her skirt; the wrinkle went away and stayed away. She lifted her eyes back to the Architect. "My world will be perfect where yours was flawed." She stood and exited the room.

The outer office was filled with programs, each in their own cubicle, tracking and maintaining order in the Matrix. Continuity walked up and down the rows before standing in front of a low-lit alcove at the back of the room. The figure inside was encased in black 'marble', not unlike the same marble-code now immobilizing and separating the Architect from the Matrix. The inactive program under the barrier was very powerful and was only activated, rarely, upon the orders of the Architect.

Death.

Nearly 10 feet tall, Death was encased in flowing robes which seemed to move and shift just out of the corner of one's eye even though it was supposed to be frozen. It clutched an infinitely sharp scythe in one bony hand and the only thing under the hood was darkness. A full scale rewrite of the Matrix served well to delete programs, but when the Matrix was functioning normally, as it was now, individual executions were carried out on malfunctioning programs by this one. Death was unlike other programs in the Matrix; it had no sentient AI component and served only to carry out the orders of the Architect. Thus, the commands for Death were locked very deeply in the Architect's coding and no doubt would be the last she'd be able to recover. Continuity reached out and flicked a mote of dust off the statue and then turned on her heel.

"I am calling a staff meeting in five minutes," Continuity said, raising her voice so that the other staff programs could hear. They assembled with much grumbling in the conference room; Demeter, Thoth, Nephthys, Chronos, Aquarius, Zodiac, Ananke, Freya, Artemis, the Electrician, Aether, the Kachinas, Imhotep, Aeolus, Nimbus, and Incendo among others. They programs talked among themselves as they found seats and waited for the Architect to appear. Continuity shut the door behind her and stood at the front of the conference room, eyeing the other programs evenly. They fell silent and waited for whatever announcement she was going to make.

"There has been a change in management."