Rachel bolted up from a bed and was greeted with metal and wires all around her. The only thing human other than herself was a girl with bleached blonde hair sitting on the edge of her bed. She looked a little older than Rachel, maybe around 20 or 21. "Relax," she said to a panting Rachel. "It's okay. Lay back down." Rachel did as she was told. Neither of them spoke a word until Rachel's breathing slowed. "Morpheus told me to wait with you until you woke up," the girl said, breaking the silence. "He didn't want you to have to go through this alone."

Memories of what she had been through flooded through her head. They were fragmented, but what was there was as clear as day. The hotel, the pill, the cat, the liquid. Then nothing. She could barely remember anything from before she talked to Morpheus. Something happened between her being in that room, and her ending up here. "How did I get here?" she asked.

"You don't remember?" the girl asked with a puzzled look on her face. Rachel shook her head. The girl shrugged her shoulders. "They say that birth is the most traumatic experience one will ever go through." She paused. "So traumatic, even, that the mind can't accept it and blocks it out of all memory. It's ironic. Te best thing that will ever happen is the thing you will never remember."

"What?"

"When is your birthday Trinity?"

"May third."

"Wrong. Your birthday was six days ago. For your mind, it was the worst thing that could ever happen to you. But it'll adjust. If the worst is over, things can only get better." With that, she stood up. She stood at the door and added one more thing. "You should get some more rest. You've been through a lot." Then, she opened the door and was gone.

Rachel laid back down and pressed her palms into her eyes. Her fingers rested on her hair. Or where her hair should have been. She ran her hands over the stubble on her head. Her hands made their way to the back of her head. Near the base of her skull, she felt cold metal. She traced her fingers lightly over it. The skin around it was so sensitive, that even with her light touch, she could feel pain shooting out from where the plug was. Rachel noticed that there were plugs all over her body. On her arms, back and above her breasts. Rachel started to lie back down when she heard the latch on her door open. She bolted upright and saw Morpheus in the doorway. "What's happening to me Morpheus?" she asked him.

"Come, I'll show you," he replied.

Rachel got up. The heavy boots she had on made a loud clunk on the floor as she stood. They started to walk down a hall in silence. Rachel broke it. "What happened during the last six days? I can't remember anything."

"You were born. In a sense. We took you to the medical lab and rebuild the muscles that had atrophied over the 17 years you were plugged into the Matrix."

"Plugged in?" Rachel asked. "What does that mean?"

"You'll find out soon enough." They had entered a large room. Crew members were standing by equipment. They all stopped and looked over at Morpheus and Rachel as they entered the room. "This is my hovercraft, called the Nebuchadnezzar. This room is the Core. And this is my crew. You know Jade," he said, pointing in the direction of where Jade was standing. He then pointed to the girl that Rachel had met when she woke up. "And I believe you've met Switch." Switch gave a small smile, and a nod. Morpheus then walked over to a man sitting at a chair in front of a mess of computer monitors. "This is Driver, our operator." He moved onto a girl. Her hair, like everyone else's was cut short, and was wearing a ratty, threadbare shirt. Rachel noticed that was what everyone on the ship was wearing. Including her. "This is Flare. She's the mechanic on the ship." He moved on to three men standing next to each other. He put his hand on their shoulder as he said their names. The first one was Exe, the weapons expert. The middle was Control, and the last one was Dozer, who dealt with the healthcare on the ship.

After Morpheus had introduced Rachel to the crew, he took her to the cockpit. Rachel looked out the window at the rubble that was the world. "What is this place?" she asked.

"This is the earth," replied with a hint of sadness in his voice. He gestured for her to sit in one of the chairs. They sad, and he continued. "Centuries ago, man made the machine. Designed to make life easier, they kept improving these machines; making them smarter and more advanced; making them more human. Eventually, the machines surpassed human knowledge and strength. Knowing that they were superior, they took over the human race. Humans made their last attempt to stop them. They blocked out the sun, and put an eternal storm in the atmosphere. What you see out there is their failed attempt to destroy the machines. They took humans and harnessed their energy for their own benefit. So no one protested, they put them in a dream world that looks exactly the way to old world looked like. But what humans don't know is that they're all here, and that what they think is real, is nothing but a dream." Morpheus noticed the puzzled look on her face. "I'll show you."

He and Rachel got up and she followed him to the Core. Switch sat her down in a chair. Morpheus had sat down in the chair next to her. "This is gonna feel strange, but relax," Switch said.

Rachel felt a dull pain as something pumped the plug in her had. When she opened her eyes, she was in a white place. There seemed to be no floor, ceiling, or walls. Morpheus appeared next to her. "This is the Construct. It's a computer program like the Matrix where we can load anything we want. If you've noticed, you're appearance is that of what you looked like before you were unplugged." A mirror had appeared in front of Rachel. Her hair was down to the middle of her back again. She had her jeans and sweatshirt on again. And she still had a line of puckered skin extending from her cheek to the corner of her mouth. She felt the back of her head for the plug, but it wasn't there. "It is what you believe it to be," she heard Morpheus's voice from behind the mirror.

"This isn't real?" she asked.

"Your mind makes it as real or as fake as you want it to be. But the truth is, you are still sitting in that chair on my ship." By then, the mirror had disappeared, and all that was left was Morpheus and Rachel standing across from each other. Rachel let out a sigh. Her life had been a lie up until six days ago. In a way, she was relieved.

Rachel opened her eyes and was faced with the crew members staring down at her. She felt something being removed from the back of her head. Exe helped her up from the chair. "Come on. I'll take you to you room."

"Thanks," Rachel said.

Exe opened the door to Rachel's room, and Rachel collapsed onto the bed. Exe sat down on the bed and rested his arms on his knees. He held something in his hands. Rachel eyed it, and he handed it to her. "You deserve to see what you really look like."

In her hand, Rachel held a rusty mirror. She looked at her reflection. Her hair had grown about a quarter of an inch. But what fascinated her was that she had no scar on her face. "It's gone," she said, looking up at Exe.

Exe let out a small laugh. He looked over at Rachel. "It was never there." He paused and got up. "Get some rest. You'll need it tomorrow. Trust me." Rachel put her head on the pillow as Exe walked out.

Rachel had never existed. A dream had given her that name. She wouldn't be controlled by a dream anymore. Rachel was dead. Trinity was Rachel no more.