The Matrix's code rose and dropped constantly on the screen of the
operator's control panel. The code appeared normal to the untrained eye.
Lying sprawled on his panel, his arms cradling his head, was Link. He was
the newest addition to the Nebuchadnessar's crew, replacing Tank as the
crew's operator. The emerald encryptions' shadows danced along Link's dark
face... he hadn't slept in four days. The Sentinel activity was beyond belief
in that time. Morpheus had the prediction of a malfunction in the Machine
Mainframe that caused the Sentinels to riot, or they were just growing hell
bent on destroying The One.
Link's eyes twitched... then they reluctantly opened. No sooner did the lids so much as twitch, they widened in shock and surprise. The Nebuchadnessar's operator shot back in his seat, cursing out loud.
The code... the Matrix itself... something was unusual about it. The code wasn't normal. Rather than showering down the screen, it was shifting from one side to another. It hadn't been like that before. Link's arm reached up to the microphone and flipped a switch, turning on the overhead speakers.
"Hey Morpheus, you better check this out, man. Something's freaky with the Matrix. I repeat, something is seriously messed up with the Matrix!" he announced in a nervous, suspicious voice.
Neo's eyes opened almost instantly as Link finished the announcement. After hours of none-stop training, he was hoping to rest up for the day. So far, it wasn't working out very well. He pulled his face away from ebony strands of black hair that had belonged to Trinity. His hand slipped onto her shoulder and she received a slight shake.
"Trinity.... Trinity wake up." He whispered. The woman winced, then opened her eyes slightly.
"What's wrong...?" she groaned. Neo stood up and carefully pulled her to her feet.
"Link announced something. Maybe we should check it out..."
The ebony-haired beauty nodded her head and brushed back a few strands of her hair. She and Neo exited their room, noticing that Morpheus had coincidentally exited his room at the exact time. The three proceeded into the long, dark halls of the Nebuchadnessar, then entered the cockpit where an anxious Link awaited them. Before a word was spoken, a ringing was heard. Link switched on his earpiece.
"Operator... Captain Niobe?" he stammered, eyeing Morpheus in time to see a shocked look on the man's face. "Morpheus? You wanna talk to him? Yeah, he's here... hang on..." he removed his headset and handed it to the captain. "It's all yours, man."
Morpheus gave a nod, then slipped it onto his head, placing the speakers gently over his ears. "Niobe?"
Within the depths of the darkened sewers rested the Logos. To the average human wandering the sewers, the ship would have been nowhere in sight. He would be wandering in complete darkness, as if moving through a star-less, planet-less outer space. Then, he would hear a quiet yet vibrating humming from within the darkness of the sewer, sounding somewhat like an electric serge and giving the darkness a pulse. A faint, blue light would build up from within the darkness, and then he would see it, the Logos complete with heavy amounts of artillery and hovercrafts.
And from within the ship was Captain Niobe beside her best gunman and trusted friend, Ghost. She and her crew stood before the screen, gazing at the Matrix's bizarre code. She was nearly in a trance by the code before she heard Morpheus's voice.
"Morpheus, it's Niobe. Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" she questioned.
"Depends on what you're looking at..." Morpheus replied.
"Well if you're looking at the Matrix's code tearing up the screen..."
"You see it too, then..."
"Yeah. Has anyone been jacked in?"
"Not at the moment... I'm not sure if it's safe to try."
"There's only one way to find out..."
"Niobe?"
Niobe pulled the headset off of her hair and turned to her operator. From the Nebuchadnessar, Morpheus heard a female voice commanding, "start up the Loading Zone.". Morpheus couldn't say that he was surprised. Niobe was always such a daredevil, always the first to pull a dangerous stunt, always one to prove herself worthy of respect by doing the most dangerous of tasks. It did not surprise him at all when he heard her giving the commands to prepare herself to enter the Matrix. Yet he was also filled with concern... why had the Matrix's code change so dramatically?
"Niobe, you're not planning on going alone, are you?" he questioned, just as the sound of the headset fastening onto Niobe's head was heard.
"Ghost is coming with me. He's my best gunner, I'll be needing him." She responded.
"You don't know what might happen, Niobe. Suppose you're jacked in and you're surrounded by agents? What if there's a bomb set up ready to explode as soon as you enter?"
"Now you're just talking nonsense, Morpheus."
"I'm just saying you don't know what's in there..."
More noises of Niobe laying down on something hard and metal were heard. "Well it looks like someone's gonna have to go eventually. And right now, that person is me and Ghost. Jack us in, Sparks..."
The line went dead. Morpheus narrowed his eyes, then pulled the headset off of him, tossing it back to Link. For a long time, there was a silence, and an angered yet determined pondering look on Morpheus's face. Link eyed the captain, and shifted his gaze towards Neo and Trinity, a look of pure confusion. Then, he noticed Trinity's sudden stare onto one of the chairs.
"Trin, don't..." Link stammered, just as Morpheus's eyes rested on Trinity's form moving towards the chair. Blinking and taken by her sudden reaction, Neo reached forward and took her by the wrist.
"Trinity, don't go in there. Not yet..." he protested. Trinity continued to move towards the chair.
"If we wait longer, there's no telling what may happen to them. Link, be my navigator. Once I'm in, tell me where they are." She stated, then rested herself in the chair.
Neo gave a slight glare, then shook his head. He stormed in the direction of another chair, only to have Trinity's iron grip grasp him by the wrist. The feeling he felt was as if he were split in half. In one half, it felt that somebody had hit the "off-button" on his legs, bring him to a halt. In the other half, Trinity's grip was so sudden and so strong that it nearly ripped his arm out of his socket, forcing him to stop before the ripping took place. Neo slowly turned, staring into Trinity's concerned yet hardening eyes, giving her a nod. Link reached behind her, and in a brief moment, before another thought of reluctance or fear had formed, she was jacked in...
Trinity's eyes widened. Almost instantly, her virtual appearance would have kicked in by now, yet this hadn't occurred. Not yet, at least. She was standing in darkness... total and complete darkness as if someone had slipped into the Loading Zone and gave it a coat of black paint. Before she could breathe a word, a strange, fuzzy, buzzing sound and look had formed on the blackness, and the encryptions and code of the Matrix formed, showering and completely surrounding Trinity's figure. Smaller encryptions slowly fell from top to bottom like snowflakes and planted themselves onto Trinity's body and her eyes, gathering together slowly, then exploding in green light, covering Trinity's frame in her black-leather pants, boots, gloves, trench-coat and sunglasses. The code then planted onto the slots on her arms, legs, head and back, erasing them completely from Trinity's vision. And just as the impossibly seemed to have limited barriers, the code began to shake. It happened once... twice... and then the code almost seemed to be swiped away... and when it returned...
The code was no longer green...
It was red...
"Oh my God..."
The red encryptions spiraled around Trinity's body, creating a miniature tornado of digital code, forming a virtual gust of wind causing her trench-coat and hair to fly and dance in the gust, before the encryptions abandoned her and planted themselves onto the screen, sliding from left to right, creating gothic, 18th Century architecture, then zooming like a rushing river, creating roads, alleys, and pathways, blasting upwards, forming a blackened sky. And finally, the last of the encryptions fell down towards the ground, taking the form of men and women alike, clothed in blue and green dresses and tunics. Trinity eyed her surroundings, then slipped off her sunglasses...
"What the hell...?"
Niobe scanned the area that had formed just before her eyes. The African American woman reached down her burgundy leather wardrobe and slipped out her Desert Eagles from their holsters, preparing herself for any sudden attack. At her side, Ghost held an M-16 along with a sniper- rifle strapped onto his back. The area before them was that of incredibly dark, gothic slums and crypts. The sky was filled with smog and mist, similar to that of their world, having once seen the surface of their planet and gazing at their blackened sky. A few small fires were planted here and there, possibly for homeless citizens, but they stood before an incredibly massive temple decorated with flags of all colors and baring strange crests.
"What the hell is this place?" she asked her partner, who merely rose and dropped his shoulders, indicating his clueless-ness. "I was afraid you were gonna say that..." She holstered one of her desert eagles and pulled out her cellphone.
"Operator..." came Sparks' voice.
"Good to hear you, Sparks. At least our connection's working. Could you inform us on where the hell we are?" Niobe questioned.
"I'm not sure myself, Captain. The code is getting more strange by the moment. I'm running a scan trying to locate you but I can't even see anything... not architecture, people, landscape... nothing." Sparks replied.
Niobe glared in frustration. "This is gonna be a real bitch. Sparks, keep scanning and try to find us. We'll be needing a navigator by the looks of this place. And try not to take your time, this place is anything but comforting..."
With that, Niobe cut off her connection, then brought out her gun out of her holster. Turning to Ghost, she nodded and headed towards the temple.
'This is gonna be one hell of a day...' she thought to herself as she and Ghost approached the doors of the temple.
Link's eyes twitched... then they reluctantly opened. No sooner did the lids so much as twitch, they widened in shock and surprise. The Nebuchadnessar's operator shot back in his seat, cursing out loud.
The code... the Matrix itself... something was unusual about it. The code wasn't normal. Rather than showering down the screen, it was shifting from one side to another. It hadn't been like that before. Link's arm reached up to the microphone and flipped a switch, turning on the overhead speakers.
"Hey Morpheus, you better check this out, man. Something's freaky with the Matrix. I repeat, something is seriously messed up with the Matrix!" he announced in a nervous, suspicious voice.
Neo's eyes opened almost instantly as Link finished the announcement. After hours of none-stop training, he was hoping to rest up for the day. So far, it wasn't working out very well. He pulled his face away from ebony strands of black hair that had belonged to Trinity. His hand slipped onto her shoulder and she received a slight shake.
"Trinity.... Trinity wake up." He whispered. The woman winced, then opened her eyes slightly.
"What's wrong...?" she groaned. Neo stood up and carefully pulled her to her feet.
"Link announced something. Maybe we should check it out..."
The ebony-haired beauty nodded her head and brushed back a few strands of her hair. She and Neo exited their room, noticing that Morpheus had coincidentally exited his room at the exact time. The three proceeded into the long, dark halls of the Nebuchadnessar, then entered the cockpit where an anxious Link awaited them. Before a word was spoken, a ringing was heard. Link switched on his earpiece.
"Operator... Captain Niobe?" he stammered, eyeing Morpheus in time to see a shocked look on the man's face. "Morpheus? You wanna talk to him? Yeah, he's here... hang on..." he removed his headset and handed it to the captain. "It's all yours, man."
Morpheus gave a nod, then slipped it onto his head, placing the speakers gently over his ears. "Niobe?"
Within the depths of the darkened sewers rested the Logos. To the average human wandering the sewers, the ship would have been nowhere in sight. He would be wandering in complete darkness, as if moving through a star-less, planet-less outer space. Then, he would hear a quiet yet vibrating humming from within the darkness of the sewer, sounding somewhat like an electric serge and giving the darkness a pulse. A faint, blue light would build up from within the darkness, and then he would see it, the Logos complete with heavy amounts of artillery and hovercrafts.
And from within the ship was Captain Niobe beside her best gunman and trusted friend, Ghost. She and her crew stood before the screen, gazing at the Matrix's bizarre code. She was nearly in a trance by the code before she heard Morpheus's voice.
"Morpheus, it's Niobe. Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" she questioned.
"Depends on what you're looking at..." Morpheus replied.
"Well if you're looking at the Matrix's code tearing up the screen..."
"You see it too, then..."
"Yeah. Has anyone been jacked in?"
"Not at the moment... I'm not sure if it's safe to try."
"There's only one way to find out..."
"Niobe?"
Niobe pulled the headset off of her hair and turned to her operator. From the Nebuchadnessar, Morpheus heard a female voice commanding, "start up the Loading Zone.". Morpheus couldn't say that he was surprised. Niobe was always such a daredevil, always the first to pull a dangerous stunt, always one to prove herself worthy of respect by doing the most dangerous of tasks. It did not surprise him at all when he heard her giving the commands to prepare herself to enter the Matrix. Yet he was also filled with concern... why had the Matrix's code change so dramatically?
"Niobe, you're not planning on going alone, are you?" he questioned, just as the sound of the headset fastening onto Niobe's head was heard.
"Ghost is coming with me. He's my best gunner, I'll be needing him." She responded.
"You don't know what might happen, Niobe. Suppose you're jacked in and you're surrounded by agents? What if there's a bomb set up ready to explode as soon as you enter?"
"Now you're just talking nonsense, Morpheus."
"I'm just saying you don't know what's in there..."
More noises of Niobe laying down on something hard and metal were heard. "Well it looks like someone's gonna have to go eventually. And right now, that person is me and Ghost. Jack us in, Sparks..."
The line went dead. Morpheus narrowed his eyes, then pulled the headset off of him, tossing it back to Link. For a long time, there was a silence, and an angered yet determined pondering look on Morpheus's face. Link eyed the captain, and shifted his gaze towards Neo and Trinity, a look of pure confusion. Then, he noticed Trinity's sudden stare onto one of the chairs.
"Trin, don't..." Link stammered, just as Morpheus's eyes rested on Trinity's form moving towards the chair. Blinking and taken by her sudden reaction, Neo reached forward and took her by the wrist.
"Trinity, don't go in there. Not yet..." he protested. Trinity continued to move towards the chair.
"If we wait longer, there's no telling what may happen to them. Link, be my navigator. Once I'm in, tell me where they are." She stated, then rested herself in the chair.
Neo gave a slight glare, then shook his head. He stormed in the direction of another chair, only to have Trinity's iron grip grasp him by the wrist. The feeling he felt was as if he were split in half. In one half, it felt that somebody had hit the "off-button" on his legs, bring him to a halt. In the other half, Trinity's grip was so sudden and so strong that it nearly ripped his arm out of his socket, forcing him to stop before the ripping took place. Neo slowly turned, staring into Trinity's concerned yet hardening eyes, giving her a nod. Link reached behind her, and in a brief moment, before another thought of reluctance or fear had formed, she was jacked in...
Trinity's eyes widened. Almost instantly, her virtual appearance would have kicked in by now, yet this hadn't occurred. Not yet, at least. She was standing in darkness... total and complete darkness as if someone had slipped into the Loading Zone and gave it a coat of black paint. Before she could breathe a word, a strange, fuzzy, buzzing sound and look had formed on the blackness, and the encryptions and code of the Matrix formed, showering and completely surrounding Trinity's figure. Smaller encryptions slowly fell from top to bottom like snowflakes and planted themselves onto Trinity's body and her eyes, gathering together slowly, then exploding in green light, covering Trinity's frame in her black-leather pants, boots, gloves, trench-coat and sunglasses. The code then planted onto the slots on her arms, legs, head and back, erasing them completely from Trinity's vision. And just as the impossibly seemed to have limited barriers, the code began to shake. It happened once... twice... and then the code almost seemed to be swiped away... and when it returned...
The code was no longer green...
It was red...
"Oh my God..."
The red encryptions spiraled around Trinity's body, creating a miniature tornado of digital code, forming a virtual gust of wind causing her trench-coat and hair to fly and dance in the gust, before the encryptions abandoned her and planted themselves onto the screen, sliding from left to right, creating gothic, 18th Century architecture, then zooming like a rushing river, creating roads, alleys, and pathways, blasting upwards, forming a blackened sky. And finally, the last of the encryptions fell down towards the ground, taking the form of men and women alike, clothed in blue and green dresses and tunics. Trinity eyed her surroundings, then slipped off her sunglasses...
"What the hell...?"
Niobe scanned the area that had formed just before her eyes. The African American woman reached down her burgundy leather wardrobe and slipped out her Desert Eagles from their holsters, preparing herself for any sudden attack. At her side, Ghost held an M-16 along with a sniper- rifle strapped onto his back. The area before them was that of incredibly dark, gothic slums and crypts. The sky was filled with smog and mist, similar to that of their world, having once seen the surface of their planet and gazing at their blackened sky. A few small fires were planted here and there, possibly for homeless citizens, but they stood before an incredibly massive temple decorated with flags of all colors and baring strange crests.
"What the hell is this place?" she asked her partner, who merely rose and dropped his shoulders, indicating his clueless-ness. "I was afraid you were gonna say that..." She holstered one of her desert eagles and pulled out her cellphone.
"Operator..." came Sparks' voice.
"Good to hear you, Sparks. At least our connection's working. Could you inform us on where the hell we are?" Niobe questioned.
"I'm not sure myself, Captain. The code is getting more strange by the moment. I'm running a scan trying to locate you but I can't even see anything... not architecture, people, landscape... nothing." Sparks replied.
Niobe glared in frustration. "This is gonna be a real bitch. Sparks, keep scanning and try to find us. We'll be needing a navigator by the looks of this place. And try not to take your time, this place is anything but comforting..."
With that, Niobe cut off her connection, then brought out her gun out of her holster. Turning to Ghost, she nodded and headed towards the temple.
'This is gonna be one hell of a day...' she thought to herself as she and Ghost approached the doors of the temple.