Neo found Trinity with Tank in the core, standing by the screens while the operator rummaged through a drawer containing disks. Tank pulled out one, holding it up to the light, and then saying, 'got it.'
Trinity wandered over to her chair, checking over the information on the screen, and then sat back. She said, 'Neo, can you insert the plug and then hit the enter button on the screen.'
Neo nodded, and gently inserted the plug into her bioport, careful not to cause her discomfort or pain. Neo sat and watched as the program started up, checking Trinity's mind and body for computerized faults. He walked over to the screens so he could see what was actually going on within the construct. Tank commented, 'you really are in love with our Trinity, aren't you?'
'Yeah,' Neo said shyly but fondly, looking at the decoded construct in front of him.
'So, how long have you guys been together? I mean it hasn't been a quick over night thang, that's for sure.'
'A while,' Neo admitted, 'we we're good friends after I was unplugged.'
'And now you're a lot more than just that,' Tank grinned.
Neo smiled and nodded to himself, not used to receiving this kind of attention.
'She's lucky that she's ended up with a guy like you, Neo, you'll be really good for her, everyone can see that, shit, even Cypher can see that, and trust me, when it comes to these kind of thangs he can't normally spot them even when they're staring him in the face.'
'I'm just glad that I'm in this relationship with her, she's really helped me a lot, and I just wanna help her now. She actually made me see who I really am, now I don't know how to thank her.'
'Take it from me, you've already done a lot for her and I know you'll end up doing more whether you want to or not. What I really want to know about you, Neo, is how you can do all this amazing shit. I mean, in all my years as working as an operator I have never seen anyone be able to do so much. I know it's mainly to do with you being the one, and the oracle probably told you that you'd be able to do it, but still it must take something in your mind to actually make you do this.'
'The oracle told me I wasn't the one,' Neo said feebly, trusting his life with Tank so feeling able to trust what was said as well.
'What!' Tank said, taken aback to say the least. 'I've never heard her get anything so wrong. Personally I don't see the joy in visiting some old woman who's gonna give you some fate that you can't change so you just have to accept, so I pity you that you may be going back again.'
'Why would I go back again? I though each person only went once.'
'Neo, no matter what she said first time round, you definitely are the one, and she's gonna have to give you a little talk about what that really means. She'll also be telling you how to handle Trinity, trust me, it took some time, but the she even managed to break our second in command.'
After a short while of no one saying anything else, Neo asked, 'how's she doing with the check-up?'
'So for she's fine, but you never know with these things until the very last minute,' Tank replied, bringing up Trinity's display on screen.
'What else could be affecting her if it isn't a bug?'
'To be honest, Neo, I'm not sure. We'll just have to see how things go. If the problem persists we may have to refer her to the hospital in Zion. I'm sure it's nothing too serious though, so don't worry yourself.'
'I just don't want her to be alone again if it does happen, I know that she won't willingly admit that she needs help.'
'That's one annoying thing about her, even if it's for her won good, she won't admit when she's in trouble. She thinks that we'll see her as weak, but of course we don't. She's the strongest woman I've ever met and nothing will change my beliefs when it comes to that. You can tell Trinity anything about herself, but something won't let her believe it, so she'll insist that it's not true. Like we've tried and tried to tell her that she is actually beautiful but she still won't listen.'
'Is that something to do with her past in the matrix?'
'How do you mean?'
'Well, if a child is brought up being told they are ugly, and then they're always going to believe that, aren't they?'
'I don't know much about Trinity's past, only Morpheus knows for sure, but that might be linked to it. You could talk to Trinity about it, she might not want to talk at first, but she'll soften with you eventually.'
'I'm not so sure about that…'
'Neo, she's head over heels for you man, of course she'll soften for you.'
'I just don't want to get involved with he past if she'd rather forget about it.'
'Or maybe she's never had an outlet to her past, someone who she can trust and talk to. Maybe she desperately needs someone who will listen and understand; someone like you. You think about that, Neo, and you might see what I'm talking about.'
Neo turned back to face Trinity just as her eyes opened and she looked around her as much as she could. Neo carefully removed the plug, and then undid the clamps on her feet, freeing her and giving her a hand up. She thanked him quietly, and then moved over to where Tank was sat, asking, 'what are the results?'
'You're one hundred percent completely clean, nothing wrong with you to do with computers or the matrix,' Tank told her.
Trinity nodded in acceptance, and then said to no one in particular, 'I guess I better go tell Morpheus.' She left the core, leaving Tank and Neo behind. Neo turned back to Tank, asking him, 'what shall I do now, I meant to have a shift but it didn't say what doing?'
'Ok, well, I'm going on a break, so you could take over the screens if you wanted I don't think anyone else is scheduled to do so.'
'What am I actually meant to do on a screen watch?'
'Hasn't anyone ever told you that?'
'No, never.'
'Well, as you know, we're searching for people to free from the matrix, so we watch the matrix using the screens. We mainly focus on the USA area, but we can see the whole digital world using these screens.'
'How do you know if someone has the potential to be freed?'
'They'll be different in some way. Normally they are hackers, they aren't attached to anyone, most cases are children or adolescents, they seem to be more knowledgeable than others, there is just something that stands out about them. Many spend ages on their own, and aren't very interactive with others unless necessary. They're just like you were, except younger.'
'Ok…'
'I'll send Trinity down to monitor you as you take your first shift. No doubt she'll help you more than I have.'
Neo smiled slightly, 'Thanks, Tank.'
'No problem, man.' Tank left the core, and Neo was soon joined by Trinity. Neo had already sat in the chair, getting used to the controls of the screen, picking up the basics very quickly. Trinity stood by his side, trying to reach across him to show him other things. He took her by surprise by lifting her up onto his lap. She gave him a weird look, and then smiled at him, continuing her explanation of the controls.
They sat like that for a couple of hours, sharing the shift. Neo learned a lot in that time, and although they hadn't found anyone who particularly stood out as a possible to be freed, they did spot a few to track for a while. Morpheus came down from the cockpit, smiling when he saw them sharing the chair.
He walked up behind them, saying, 'Neo, Trinity, you can go on a break now, shift's over.'
Trinity hurriedly got off of Neo's lap, pretending that she hadn't ever been on him. Morpheus couldn't help but smile, and decided to leave them before she embarrassed herself by denying the fact that she had been found sat on Neo's lap. Neo got up after Trinity, and then placed a hand on the small of her back, propelling her slightly to the exit as they made their way to the mess hall.
Mouse and Switch were there already, having just started their lunch. Neo and Trinity each go a tray of goop and a spork and sat with the other two members of crew. Mouse commented with a childlike smirk, 'you two looked nice and cosy together on the operator's chair.' He spooned another sporkful of goop into his mouth as he waited for either a reaction or reply from Neo or Trinity to his comment.
Neo blushed, gathering enough courage and saying, 'it was convenient at the time; it meant we could both reach the controls.'
Trinity seemed a bit surprised that Neo had actually said something in response, but she was glad that he felt able to reply to such comments now. It was good that he was settling in properly and getting used to the different situations that occurred within conversation onboard the Nebuchadnezzar.
That evening, Trinity entered her quarters, closing the door after her and heading straight to the back of the room. She bent down, gripping her fingers under a panel on the wall. She slid the metal panel up, locking it in place to reveal a door that lead into another room that only she and Morpheus knew about. She turned the wheel three times round clockwise and then pressed it into the door, causing the entrance to the room to open. This room was Trinity's, what could be called, office. It was a very simple room, with a large desk and a chair alike to the one in the core. There was one light strip on the ceiling which was powerful enough to fully light the whole room. All around the walls there were shelves, each with stacks of books, records and files on them. The desk was kept tidy, only having two files on it, along with her pens for writing. The only other objects were a laptop and a printer that was connected to it. Although many of the records were kept on paper, many more were stored on her computer, so she could easily send the information on to Zion.
Trinity hated having to write on paper, mainly because of the material it was made of. She missed the paper from back in the matrix, soft and white, pure and untouched, but here it was a dull grey synthetic material, rough to touch and unpleasant to write on. The ink wasn't pleasant either; it was a kind of mixture of earth and oil. It was easy to see why computer technology was preferred.
Trinity sat down on the chair at the desk, switching on the laptop and the printer, and whilst waiting for them to load, grabbing another file from a shelf at the back of the room, she began to flick through it. Eventually she pulled out a printed off sheet, with the past rota for the shifts on it.
She pushed herself away from the desk, sending her and the chair backwards so she could reach the small radio in the corner of the room. It used pirate signals to transmit radio stations from inside the matrix to the real world. They were rarely allowed on ships due to sentinel activity, but Morpheus had trusted Trinity with one, so bought it for her as a gift when she first became the second in command and took up all these new duties. The radio was plugged into a small socket in the wall, so that if there was the need for all power to be switched off, it would automatically shut down, as did her computer and printer, although the computer had been fixed with an immediate save so it would save all work before turning off.
Trinity tuned the radio into one of her favourite stations from back in the matrix. Keeping the volume down to a reasonable level, she started her shift rota, humming along to the music in order to maintain her concentration. She was only interrupted several minutes later by a rapping at her main door, which was opened and entered by Neo. Trinity called through to him, 'I'm in here at the back, Neo.'
Cautiously Neo approached the secret entrance to Trinity's office, and stood in the doorway, taking a long look around the room before asking, 'what is this place?'
'This is my office, it's where I try to get all my paperwork done in order for our ship to remain in use and be granted access to enter and leave Zion, and other things as well. I bet you didn't know that seconds in command had to do more than just boss inferiors about,' Trinity replied, tilting her head to look up at him.
'I should probably leave you to do your work, I know it's important,' Neo said, 'I just wanted to say goodnight before I went back to my quarters.'
Trinity nodded slowly, and then suggested, 'you can stay here if you want. You could sleep in my bed and I'd join you later.'
Neo seemed to agree, having spent many other nights in Trinity's room, holding her as she slept. He said, 'ok, do you mind if I get some clean clothes and have a shower?'
'Of course, feel free to do what you want. I'll be finished with this in a couple of hours, so I'll try not to disturb you later on.'
'Thanks,' Neo said timidly, and then left Trinity to it.
She continued her work, trying to fit everyone into different shifts that were fair and manageable for each person. She also had to take into account at what point in time where they would be on the journey back home, as it was important for either Dozer or herself to accompany Morpheus in the last stretch to the gate. Also, time had to be allowed for sparring and training, plus for sleep patterns to adjust. Now she also had the added difficulty that she didn't want to be constantly away from Neo. It made matters complicated; she knew that she and Neo worked well together and that it would do them good to spend time together either training or resting, but also at some point they would need their own space, time when they were on different shifts. It was like that with most of the crew, but no one as much as Neo and herself; you couldn't have two people spending too much time together with shift timings for the simple reasons that their connections with others may be broken but their attachment to one strengthened, while working like this everyone needed to be able to trust everyone. Some had more of a bond with others, like Tank and Dozer because they were brothers, or Trinity and Morpheus because they were in a very close father daughter relationship, but each person needed to be able to trust everyone else on board with their life, it was the only way that they could operate properly and effectively. One other problem was fitting in her own paperwork, meaning she would have to cut down her own shifts, something that she didn't intend to do.
Later that evening, once the rota was completely sorted, she printed it off twice, and then silently made her way through her main room. Neo was asleep on her bed, tucked under the covers, leaving room for her to join him. She stopped and knelt down, looking at him for one moment, before kissing him and proceeding to leave in search of Morpheus.
She knocked on the door to his quarters, and waited for a reply. There was a squeaking sound as the wheel was turned on the inside and the door slowly swung open. Trinity told him as he stood in the doorway, 'I've got the shift rota finished.' She handed one of the sheets over to him, keeping the other to post up the next morning in the mess hall.
'Thank you, Trinity,' Morpheus replied, and then upon seeing how tired she actually was, he asked, 'are you ok?'
'I'll be fine,' Trinity said.
'You should get some rest, or take a break. Where's Neo?'
'He's asleep in my room, but I can't stop now, I've got to send off some sheets tonight, else it'll all just backlog.'
'Don't stay up for much longer, you understand?'
Trinity nodded and made her way back to her quarters. Neo was awake when she got back, sitting up on the bed waiting for her. He grabbed her hand and pulled her down to sit with him. Neo positioned himself behind Trinity, placing small kisses at the back of her neck. She tried to complain, 'Neo, I've got work to do, I don't have time…'
'Trin, just relax first, then I'll let you go, ok?' Neo said, pulling her overtops off, leaving her in her tank top. He gently massaged her through her tops, working out the tenseness in her muscles. Her eyes closed softly, and she let herself fall back slightly into Neo's touch. Slowly her tiredness overwhelmed her, and she drifted off to sleep in Neo's arms. Neo carefully laid her down, taking off her boots for her, and then covering her with blanket as he held her.
The next morning Trinity awoke to find herself in bed with Neo, her office door still wide opened. She never left her office opened, and that's when the memory hit her, she hadn't done the work yet. She quickly prised Neo's hands off of her, getting up and finding her tops and boots, shoving them on in a hurry and then getting back through into her work area. She sat down at her desk, opening various files on her laptop and getting to work immediately.
Under an hour later, Neo appeared in the doorway once more. Trinity said before he had time to get a word in, 'No, Neo, leave me alone, you didn't let me work last night so I have to work now.'
Neo wasn't bothered to argue with her, so he just left her to get on with it, heading to the mess hall. Morpheus asked when Neo entered, 'where's Trinity?'
'She's working and refusing to leave,' Neo told him.
'Didn't she get the work done last night?' Morpheus queried.
'No, she fell asleep so I put her to bed.' He blushed upon seeing Tank smirking obviously.
Cut off the chapter short because I couldn't really be bothered to continue this bit, it didn't seem to be going anywhere. I still hope you enjoyed it.
