I'M SO SO SO SORRRYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!! I KNOW, two whole weeks!!! **Beats herself up so that everyone else doesn't have to** But everything's been so hectic lately! Everyone who's at least a sophomore in high school will know how much of a nightmare becoming a freshmen can be! What with getting your books, and orientation, and having to acclimate to a normal sleep schedule, and having absolutely NO time, and.... Anyway, I had wanted to get Trinity unplugged before school started, but that didn't work out. Oh, you don't care, here's the chapter.
***
Death and Rebirth
Chapter Six
Database
***
"Thank you," Trinity said quietly, taking the room key. She quickly made her way down the hall of the motel. It was a relief to be able to walk again - two hours nonstop on a motorcycle was just the trick to stiffen every muscle in a person's body.
She had rented a room in a little motel on the outskirts of Philadelphia. It wasn't much, but it would do just fine. And, more importantly, she could afford it.
She didn't pay much attention when she turned the key in the doorknob; when she entered the tiny room; nor when she leaned against the now-closed door, letting her helmet and backpack fall to the floor. Her mind was still in a state of shock - about everything. But all of it was real, all of it had happened. She really had almost been stabbed, she really had run away from home, and she was really going to go through with this.
Trinity picked her things up off the floor and took them over to the bed, tossing them there carelessly. She peeled off her vinyl gloves, then reached under the nightstand for the phone book.
***
Even for a library, this place was quiet.
It was set up in an old building; she could not guess what the original purpose for it had been. The outside was covered in classic red bricks, white columns on either side of the main entrance. Two sets of double doors led inside. On the right side of the small room between them was an elevator. To the left was a plaque, with "The Philadelphia Public Library" printed in gold letters. Below it were several names, presumably those of the group that had set it up. Contrarily, the inside was much more modern, and obviously renovated.
Trinity carefully moved past people in the front lobby, completely unnoticed. She made her way to the stairs in the center of the room, following the sign labeled "Computer Room" to the basement.
It seemed strange. Strange that, only hours before, she had been suggesting this very idea to Switch. It had been promptly shot down as cyber-suicide, of course, but that had not pulled the idea from Trinity's mind. She knew why it was such an absurd notion, of course: It was a government database, which made it all the more illegal to hack into. It was heavily guarded, employing the best in computer security technology. Furthermore, it was a feat attempted many times before; each one was a failure.
She wasn't exactly sure what made her think that she could crack the IRS D-Base, but her intuition overruled all logic. And thus, she found herself here, in the computer room of the Philadelphia Public Library, preparing to attempt the impossible.
She made her way to the far end of the room, to a computer in the corner. Of the few people present, all of them were using the computers up front. The one she would use was out of easy view, away from any prying eyes. She could easily work there for hours on end, and not a single soul would notice her.
She sat at the computer, glancing around as she dialed up the Internet connection. No one seemed to know she was there. Perfect.
Here we go.
***
In many ways, a skilled hacker was like a skilled burglar.
No burglar in his right mind would just go into a house without any kind of planning. It wasn't that simple, or that safe. It was the kind of thing that took careful consideration and preparation.
For starters, you had to know exactly what it was you wanted. Jewelry, money, whatever. Know which programs or files were necessary. Then, you find out which house it was in. Learn where something like that would be hidden. Simple enough. But then, knowing what you want and where you can get it is always the easy part.
From there on out, it was a much more complicated matter. You had to know how to get to the house without being seen; which trees and bushes would provide cover. Knowing where you could bounce a phone signal, which computers you could rout it through to cover your tracks.
Once you knew the lay of the land, there came the much more tedious process of studying the house. Study the architecture, where the doors and windows were located, the layout of the rooms. Ways to get in and out quickly. When it's residents would be home. It was a matter of finding out exactly where the weaknesses in the programming lie, and the best ways of exploiting them.
But, after that, it was just a matter of creating a plan, and executing it at the first available moment. Easy, right?
***
"Think she'll make it?" Silver slowly ran the old comb through her hair, while Phoenix sat next to her, pulling his sweater on.
"Not a chance. Why?" He turned to raise an eyebrow at her. "Do you?"
"Well..." Her voice faded off, at a loss for words. She twirled one of the brunette locks between her fingers for a moment.
"It's been tried before, but it's never been done," he said, in a slightly mocking tone. "Why would this kid be any different? And don't say anything about the One. You know as well as I do that the last time Morpheus thought someone was the One they tried to hack it. I don't think I need to remind you what a disastrous failure that was."
It was true. The agents got to him in the middle of the hack. They messed with his head so much that they couldn't possibly unplug him and expect him to survive in the real world.
"I know. But, to be horribly cliche and ironic, 'Third time's the charm.'" She smirked as Phoenix rolled his eyes. She put the comb down and reached across the floor of the tiny cabin for her boots. "And she's not going at it like the others were, you know? She's better than they were -"
"If you'll recall," he cut in, "'they' included you."
"I know. But she's not going about it like I did, like any of the others did. She's thinking this through. She's planning it out, figuring out exactly what has to be done. She's studying it, studying the computer system. She's figuring out everything she's going to do before she does it. And she knows how to hide. She's not a normal hacker, Phoenix."
"So I noticed. But all that means is she'll make a good Resistance Fighter." He stood up from the bed and walked to the door. "It doesn't mean she'll manage to hack the database."
"If you're so sure," Silver said quietly, challengingly, stopping him in his tracks, "then prove it."
He turned and narrowed his eyes at her. She was smirking at him. He smirked back and leaned his back against the door, crossing his arms. "A week, like always?" he asked mockingly.
"I was thinking two."
"All right, then." He shook her hand as she stood. "It's a bet."
***
Trinity took a deep breath to steady herself before she turned on the computer.
This was it. This was what she had been preparing to do for days. It would be no easy task, but she had confidence in her skills. It was all carefully orchestrated, every detail worked out in her head.
She had the entire day set aside for this. It was just after nine in the morning - the library had just opened. It didn't close until nine at night, so that was a good twelve hours of hacking. It would have been better if her energy had come from a good night's rest instead of coffee and adrenaline, but it would have to do.
She had barely slept the previous night. And her worries seeped into what little sleep she did get. She had been haunted by a number of dreams, all with the same common theme. In one, she would fail miserably at this hack, and have nowhere to go afterwards. Another, and she was caught just after she broke in. The third dream had been, seemingly, much more tolerable; but in truth, it was the worst. She had managed the job, but what she found gave her nothing. No information, no answers.
Trinity shut her eyes tightly for a moment, pushing all those thoughts from her mind. It would do no good to dwell on them. All she could do was hope that she could do this without being caught, and that, when she did, it would provide her with some explanations.
She snapped out of her daze when she saw that the computer was ready. She took one more steadying breath, then set to work.
***
The better part of the morning was spent simply routing the phone signal. She had chosen the computers she would use for this three days ago, when she had first arrived. Some were personal computers; some were business computers. She had bounced the call so in such an intricate and complicated way that it would take a person hours to trace. So, if nothing else, if she was caught, it would be a while before they figured out where to find her. By then she would be long gone.
Once she had gotten that done, reaching the IRS mainframe was the hard part. It seemed like it was nothing but endless firewalls and security blocks. No two were the same, and they all needed to be taken down one by one. Though, on the bright side, it was a long and repetitive task that replaced her fear and worries with boredom and annoyance.
***
"Sweetheart" said the librarian kindly. Trinity's head shot up, and she instinctively changed the screen on her computer. The woman was standing several yards away, so she couldn't see the screen. "We're closing in an hour, so you might want to start finishing up." She turned and walked back to her desk.
Trinity blinked hard several times, willing her eyes to focus on the far-away clock. About 7:55.
Eleven hours, she thought, massaging her temples. I've been working eleven hours, almost nonstop. This had better be damn well worth it.
She had gotten into the IRS mainframe a few hours back. Unfortunately, accessing any particular file required a number of access codes, none of them more than the Database.
She hated access codes. Loathed them to the depths of her very soul. It was a never-ending nightmare breaking through even one, let alone this many. But, if she was right, this was the last of them.
***
Silver couldn't keep the grin off of her face. She had expected as much from this girl, who was no older than she herself had been when she had attempted this same hack. She had not, however, expected the relative ease with which the task was accomplished.
Only four screens were presently displaying. The usual three that showed the Matrix coding; and one more was rigged to display what Trinity saw on the library's computer. A small box labeled "Password" appeared in the screen. "M8R1X0101" typed across it. She shook her head at that: the obsessed little freak. A moment later, the message changed to "Access Granted."
"Too easy," she muttered, smiling evilly to herself. "Just too easy."
She got up from the operator's chair and sauntered across deck, to the stairs leading to the lower deck. For whatever reason, the nearby door to the mess hall had been left open. She did her best to wipe the mad grin off her face before leaning against the doorframe.
"Aren't you on duty?" asked Dozer, being the first to spot her. The rest of them looked up towards her.
"Yes, I'll get back to that in just a minute. Phoenix," a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth as she spoke. "I just wanted to tell you that, love you though I do -" she found it impossible to keep a straight face, hearing her next words in her mind, "- you can be very arrogant at times, especially when it comes to things you know nothing about."
He raised an eyebrow at her. "What are you talking about?"
Silver straightened up, ignoring him. "And I must say, two weeks of decent sleep is just what I need."
Realization hit him, and he turned back around in his seat, grumbling angrily and incoherently. He avoided eye contact with anyone, opting instead to stare at the far back wall. His face was twisted into a childishly angry face.
Tank snorted quietly at the sight. "So what did you agree to this time?"
He folded his arms. "Like an idiot, I bet her two weeks of night shifts that the kid couldn't crack the IRS D-Base."
Silver ignored the looks of slight shot that went around the room. She moved to stand behind Phoenix, hugging him around the shoulders. "At least you're mature enough to admit when you're wrong."
He brushed her away when she tried to kiss him teasingly on the cheek, and stood up. "Come on," he said, walking out of the mess hall. "I want proof before I needlessly lose any rest."
"Needs his Beauty Sleep," Tank snickered under his breath, following.
***
Trinity fell back against her chair, taking a long moment to let everything sink in.
So this was what victory felt like. This was what it felt like to do the impossible. She brought her hand up to the back of her neck, massaging the stiffness from it. She stared at the screen a few seconds longer, then let out a little amazed laugh.
The cursor continued to blink in the corner, prompting her to type in a name.
A tiny, nagging fear from an unknown source suddenly gripped her. This was a choice, like so many others that everyone had to make in their lifetime. But she did not know what the reciprocations would be for this one. She could either leave now, and forget all of this... or she could finish what she had started. She did not know where each path would lead, nor which one she would prefer.
She hesitated, thinking. You never really knew where your paths would lead. Only in hindsight can you see how your choices change you. It was simply a leap of blind faith. It was walking from the light into the darkness, and you could only hope that, when you got there, there would either be solid ground to walk on, or you would be taught to fly.
She set her face determinedly. You'd better grow some wings, Trinity.
***
The seven crew members stood gathered around the terminals, watching them carefully. The screen that was rigged to their prospect's was still for a minute or two, as if it had simply been abandoned.
They waited anxiously, wanting to see what she would do. Then, slowly, "Morpheus" typed in the screen. A small message appeared: "Searching."
"And down the rabbit hole we go," said Morpheus, just above a whisper.
***
It worked... she thought, staring at her screen in shock. It really worked.
A data file had appeared on the screen, stats and information appearing below several blurry black-and-white pictures.
Her attention was closely held by the pictures, no doubt of Morpheus himself. She took in every detail of them and committed them to memory. Scrolling down the page, she found a profile.
Alias: Morpheus
Date Unplugged: 9.12.77
Date of Birth: 7.06.59
Ship: Nebuchadnezzar
Ship Rank: Captain, as of 23.07.71
RSI Description: Male. African-American. Brown eyes.
Orders: Due to rank as captain, subject is to be taken alive and turned over to Authorities.
Subject is highly skilled in weaponry and hand-to-hand combat. Portrayed to the public as a terrorist; considered to be the most dangerous man alive. Discovered Matrix while searching through files at a government college internship Subject shows significant relationship with First Officer.
Captain.... Captain of what? What exactly did 'ship' mean? Trinity read the words over again. But they were direct, simple. They meant what they meant, whatever it was. But 'Nebuchadnezzar,' she noticed, was a link. She clicked it.
***
DATA FILE
Nebuchadnezzar
Sister Ship: Logos
The crews of the Nebuchadnezzar and Logos are composed of the most skilled members of the Resistance. Cue to their exceptional fighting abilities, members of the crew are rarely killed or seriously injured. They have been known to enter the Matrix of their own free will in order to assist fellow resistance fighters. The two ships are responsible for contacting the majority of individuals released. As they are notoriously difficult to capture, they are to be regarded as the most significant threat to the Matrix.
***
Trinity fell back in her seat, running her hands through her hair in shock.
It was common belief among hacker circles that the Matrix was nothing more than a myth, a fabrication created for some unknown reason. Some believe that it was a practical joke made up for laughs. Others thought it was a ploy used to track down and arrest hackers, as many who went looking for it were never heard from again. As for the ones who did believe in it, they had never found a shred of solid proof to back it up.
Even Trinity herself had had doubts as to whether it really existed. She had often wondered what she would do, what would happen if she found out that none of it was real. All those thoughts and possibilities were now wiped from her mind. She had solid proof that it was real. She knew the truth.
And yet, she thought, scrolling further down the page, it was one old question answered, and a thousand new ones asked. She knew that it was real, as was the resistance to it, but beyond that she was in the dark. What did they mean, "enter the Matrix"? What was it? Exactly what were these rebel fighters doing that was such a threat to it?
And speaking of fighters.... Below the ship's profile was Morpheus' file again, and below his were four others.
***
First there was a woman named Niobe. She was the second-in-command, presumably the one mentioned in Morpheus' profile. From the sound of it, she was an incredible athlete, and was skilled with weapons, hand-to-hand combat, and 'acrobatics' whatever they meant by that. She had discovered the Matrix when she heard about what had happened to Morpheus during his internship, which she had, for a short time, held. She had followed his tracks and found him.
Next was a woman named Silver. She was four or five years older than Trinity. She had a knack for swords and combat. She was labeled simply as 'Fighter', and had, apparently attempted a break-in of the IRS D-Base herself. She was listed as having a possible relationship with the next person on the list, Phoenix. He was also labeled as a fighter, and, like the others, was proficient with weapons and straight-forward fighting. They had also listed him as skilled with 'jumps.' Nothing was listed on how either of them discovered the Matrix.
The last on the list was Apoc. Trinity recognized the name from somewhere, but she couldn't place it. He wasn't more than a year older than she was. His most prominent skill seemed to be weaponry, and not as much in hand-to-hand combat, like the others.
They don't sound like any terrorists I've ever heard of.
Trinity scrolled back up the page, searching for anything she may have overlooked. Back near the top, she noticed a small note below the ship's name.
Most recent activity within the Matrix: Washington D.C.
Trinity stared at this for a brief moment.
"Ten minutes, Sweetie," said the librarian, come to tell her that they were closing.
"I know," she responded curtly. She wasted no time in shutting down the files in the database. Remembering her promise to Switch, she stopped short. She quickly created one more file, and labeled it with her hacker alias. She wrote a single sentence within it:
Hacked the IRS D-Base.
She smirked as she finished exiting the computers and recalling the routed phone call. She knew that it wouldn't take them long to figure out something was amiss, once they found the new file. She also knew that she could very possibly be committing suicide if they had any way of connecting her Amelia and Trinity. But it was worth it. She had promised Switch. And besides, she had to leave something for the media to have a field day over.
***
It seemed that, with every big question that you somehow managed to answer, a thousand more were asked. It seemed that, although she now knew that the Matrix was real, she still had no idea what it was.
She stared around the tiny motel room, no more than a bed, TV and desk. She had everything packed in her bag, her motorcycle keys and helmet in her hands.
She didn't know what the Matrix was. But she knew that Morpheus and the others did. Her best hope of finding them, and, ultimately, her answers, was in Washington. So, despite the fact that it would be the early hours of the morning by the time she got there, she checked out and left, ignoring the worried looks and concerned questioning of the man at the check-out lobby.
***
Switch pulled a cereal bowl out of the cupboard. She walked over to the tiny pantry in the equally tiny kitchen of her family's apartment. She pulled out the cereal, and took a spoon from the drawer on the way back.
"Hey!" sang Billy, dancing around her with a quart of milk. "Why have you been so grumpy lately? You're no fun!"
She snatched the milk away from him, leaning down so she could look - or rather glare at - him in the eye. "None of your business. Go eat your breakfast."
"That Evil Eye thing doesn't work on me, ya know," he said smartly. It didn't. It was a look she had learned on her own, completely separate from Amelia's, yet no less intimidating - to most people. Her seven-year-old brother, on the other hand, had grown up with it, and, sadly, had grown immune to it.
"Don't I know it," she retorted. "Go eat."
He stomped off grumpily into the living room. Switch sighed and poured her milk. Trinity had left, what? Four, five days ago? And she had heard nothing. She had been promised word on where she was and what she was doing, how things were going. Her mind barely registered the sound of the TV being turned on in the living room, tuned in to the news. A thousand terrible thoughts and scenarios had plagued her mind. It wasn't like her best friend to simply break a promise -
"And in our top story of the morning, the rules of the virtual world were re-written last night as the impossible was accomplished. According to federal officials, a hacker going by the name Trinity-"
Switch stopped short. She couldn't have... she wouldn't have....
"- has managed to crack the IRS database."
Switch rushed out into the living room, forgetting the cereal waiting to be eaten.
"Although the logs detailing activity within the computers were erased, officials were able to recover the trail of this hacker. We have been told that he has accessed a number of files on various terrorists...."
Not waiting to hear the rest, Switch grabbed her backpack from the back of the breakfast table chair, racing for the door.
"Kelly!" her father called after her. "Kelly, where are you going?"
"School."
"What about your breakfast?"
She slammed the door shut, not answering the question.
***
She fumbled around for several seconds, searching her backpack for keys. She finally fished them out, and slowly inserted them into the doorknob.
"You need to get some ice cream or a Happy Meal or something, Kelly," Billy said, with all the tact of a child. "Then you'll be happy and you won't be all mean like you have been."
"Shut up. I'm just a little worn out studying for finals." She opened the door slowly, quietly, calling herself a liar in her mind. She had nothing to worry for with finals. She aced nearly everything without even trying, so they wouldn't be a problem. The problem was that she now knew exactly how suicidal her friend was.
When she had gotten to school, she had found David waiting against her locker. He had been doing that for the past couple of days, wanting just as much as she to find out what had happened to Trinity. She had dragged him into one of the classrooms without a word, and turned the TV to CNN.
David had stated all the obvious things, the same things Switch had told Trinity. It was the most illegal thing you could do with a computer. It wasn't one of the dinky little city rosters, listing all the local residents and their addresses. The kind she had originally hacked to try and find her mother. It was dangerous, and there was no telling what would happen if they figured out the person that went with the alias.
She entered the apartment quietly, her little brother silenced for the time being. She barely made a sound when she closed the door.
"No," she heard faintly from the dining room. "She just said Amelia was busy studying for finals."
It was her mother's voice, and it caused a horrible sickness to settle into her stomach. She didn't know how she knew, but she instantly realized that they had connected her friend to the hacker.
"Billy," she whispered, trying to grab his shoulder and pull him back out the door. "Billy, come on -" but her searching hand touched nothing but air as he ran out into the dining room.
"Mommy, Dad, we're home!" he yelled happily.
Steeling herself, Switch followed. Her shock at seeing three men in black suits and sunglasses was only half-faked. One sat across the table from her mother and father; the other two stood behind him and to either side.
She stared between them for a few moments, as her parents turned around to look at her.
"What's going on?"
"Kelly!" her mother cried frantically, getting up from the chair. "Why didn't you tell us that Amelia ran away?!"
Switch stared her squarely in the eye. "What good would it have done? Her dad and the school were already handling it."
"Miss Miller," said the man at the table. "We would like to speak with you about your friend Miss Harper. Please, sit down." Neither his face or his voice showed any emotion. It wasn't like when Trinity did it - with her, you could always detect a sliver of emotion, if you knew her. This held none.
She let her backpack slide to the floor and moved purposefully to the chair her mother had vacated. Her face almost dared the men to challenge her. She said nothing when she sat.
"Miss Miller -" Switch cut him off.
"Would you please take off your sunglasses?" she asked harshly. "I like looking people in the eye when I talk to them." You couldn't be Trinity's best friend for six years without picking up something on reading people.
He obeyed mechanically, then spoke again. "Miss Miller, I'm sure that you're aware of the immense hack of the IRS database that took place last night. Committed by a hacker named Trinity."
"Difficult to miss." She held him with an unwavering gaze.
"We have reason to believe," he said monotonously, skipping the small-talk, "that Miss Harper and Trinity are one and the same. We were wondering if you knew anything about this."
Switch stared him in the eye for several long moments. "So you think my best friend is a felon?" she finally asked, calmly.
"It's our job to believe that. All of the evidence points to her."
"Does it now?"
"Yes."
"Hmm." She leaned forward, glaring at him slightly. "Well, I can assure you, Amelia had nothing to do with yesterday. She only left because she was almost stabbed and was about to get expelled for acting in self defense. She's no hacker."
"Do not misunderstand us. If you were to confirm this for us, if there is anything you know, you will be granted immunity for your help. No charges would be held against you for anything you might have known in advance. However, should you choose to tell us nothing, and we find out later that you were lying...." He let the implied consequences hang in the air between them.
"I've been her best friend for six years. We knew every detail of the other's life. Believe me, if Amelia were a hacker, I would know. She wouldn't keep something like that from me."
"That's very touching, Miss Miller. However, I must impress upon you the severity of the situation. Your friend was tracked down to a motel in Philadelphia, and at the city library, where the hack was traced. I'm merely trying to tell you that all of the evidence we have points to her."
"And I'm telling you," she said, her voice growing ever angrier, her eyes reflecting it, "that you're wrong. Amelia had nothing to do with this."
He was beginning to loose his patience with her. "Miss Miller, I'm going to ask you one more time. You can either tell us the truth and make this easier on everyone, or we can handle this in a way that you will very much regret."
"Really? Those are my options?"
He did not respond.
"Well then, let me tell you your options." Her eyes iced over, but there was a slight smirk on them. "You can either take what I have to say at face value...." The smirk vanished; hatred filled her eyes, and it was directed at the three men in their overly-pressed, pristine suits. "Or you can go to hell."
"Kelly!" her father scolded, but she didn't pay him any attention.
"And I'll tell you something else." Her words now carried a lethal edge to them. "Even if Amelia was Trinity, and even if I did know about it, I sure as hell would never tell you."
"Miss Miller -"
"I think it's time for you to leave now," said her mother, stopping the war of words in it's tracks. She moved toward the table as her husband stood up, showing that he agreed with her.
The three men stood and went towards the door silently, followed by Switch's parents. She herself stayed where she was, her thoughts racing a million miles an hour.
"We're very sorry to have disturbed you, Mr. and Mrs. Miller."
***
Hmmm.... Little bit of a Memento moment there. Oh well. The next chapter will be Trinity unplugged! I think you'll find it quite interesting.
R+R!! :)