Yes, I'm still here.

Yes, I'm still writing.

No, I don't own the Matrix.

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Chapter 6: Things Get Weird

I couldn't truthfully say that I actually remember anything between meeting Morpheus and waking up on a strange bed in a strange room looking like a porcupine.

At first I naturally assumed I was dreaming – the location was unfamiliar and I don't usually wake up full of needles, but I seem to recall seeing Morpheus and him saying something very piquant about me waking /from/ a dream, not /in/ a dream. And anyway, I could sense Hannah lying near me without even looking, and knew I was safe as long as we were still together.

I do have some recollection of events prior to that, but it's so hazy I'm not at all sure I can trust my memory. I remember accepting a red pill, which I know now must have indeed taken place, although neither Hannah nor I expected to wake up anywhere apart from a hospital ward after taking a drug given to us free by a total stranger. Stupid, really, the things people will do when bribed with information. In our case, I think we were told that before we could find our brother, we had to find the truth.

In fact, my first proper memory aboard the Nebuchadnezzar was being run through the Matrix simulation and training programmes. I find it kind of ironic that my first legitimate memory of the real world was in fact just another simulation.

What I was being told at the time I blankly accepted; it was too strange to really understand. I don't think I would have believed anybody apart from Morpheus trying to solemnly tell me that the entire world is a computer programme into which every single person in existence is plugged, but there's something about the conviction in his face when he's being serious that would make me believe anything he said. The full implications of what we were shown didn't really hit either me or Hannah 'til afterwards.

I remember lying awake on a bunk bed staring at a metal ceiling, trying to figure out where I was – if I knew at all. I wasn't even convinced I knew /who/ I was any more. Morpheus had mentioned something about potential that could only be unlocked once your mind was freed, and this threw up all kinds of questions about what exactly the Matrix could control. Hannah and I spent more long hours than we care to remember having unspoken conversations about whether we thought it could control your personality, your actions, your decisions, and how those things could be affected by your physical capabilities.

Mind you, it was better than moping around aimlessly mourning my beautiful dreads. The concept of the Matrix and the real world mostly shocked and confused me, but losing all my gorgeous hair was just /rude/.

And yet it was in this dazed, sleep-deprived, self-conscious state that were shown our brother.

oOoOoOo

We didn't even know he was on the ship; he was in the far corner of the chairs, hidden in shadow most of the time. No-one had even mentioned him since we'd arrived; we assumed he was somewhere out in the real world and we were on our way to wherever he was (we hoped), but since we hadn't even had it properly explained why they had gone to all the trouble to free our minds, we didn't know what to expect. So you can imagine our surprise when Link turned the lights on and we realised who it was.

As it happened, we were just asking Morpheus about why we were there when it happened.

"So…apart from our own good," Hannah was saying, "how come you went through the whole thing of freeing our minds? I mean there must have been something in it for you. Some kind of quid pro quo."

Morpheus smiled. "You're nobody's fool, Artemis. There is something we need you to do," (here I noted his use of the word 'need' instead of 'want'), "but it's not so much for your benefit as for your brother's."

"What?"

He sighed deeply and turned to Link, who was moving around the chairs adjusting wires.

"Link," he said, and nodded his head in the direction of the dark corner. Link seemed to understand exactly what he meant, and reached over to flick a switch. A bright light above the furthermost chair flared into action, to illuminate Tom's sleeping form.

We froze. Keep in mind that we hadn't seen him for half a year, had been told he was dead, and hadn't truthfully expected to see him ever again, despite all the promises we had been made by Trinity and Morpheus. And suddenly, without warning, there he was. About 3 metres away.

I could feel a lump coming up in my throat. Hannah usually talks for both of us, she could talk for Britain if she wanted to, but all she could do then was stand and stare. I could hear the thoughts floating around in her head as she tried to form a coherent sentence, but nothing would come.

After a long silence, for once, I was the first to talk.

"Is he in the Matrix?"

Link bowed his head.

"No," said Morpheus, very quietly. "We don't know where he is."

"What? How can you not know?" Asked Hannah, finding her voice again. Morpheus and Link exchanged a meaningful glance as Hannah and I both rushed over to our brother.

Hannah was about to try and talk to him, but the sight of his face again made us both stop, mesmerised. Morpheus came quietly up behind us.

"Neo disappeared a week and a half ago."

We turned.

"A week and a half?" Asked Hannah. "I thought you guys had search programmes and shit, how can you lose someone for a week and a half!" I put my hand on her arm to try and calm her down, not that I blamed her for getting angry – I was too. They finally let us see Tom and then tell us that actually they have no idea where he is. Fantastic.

"I was with him when it happened, but I can hardly remember anything," said Morpheus, his voice still quiet.

"Was it to do with those agent people or whatever you call them?"

"We don't know. We don't think so because he's still alive and calm; Agents would have killed him, or if not they would still be fighting."

"It's so weird," muttered Link.

"But…I don't get it, what can /we/ do? I mean you guys are masters of the whole programme-simulation-computer thing, if you can't do anything what do you expect us to pull off?" We looked at Morpheus expectantly. He cleared his throat.

"We have been in contact with a hacker who claims he can help us find Neo. However, he said he was also looking for you two. We don't know what he wants you for, but we intend to track him down and find out what he knows without giving you over."

"Oh good," said Hannah, sarcastically. "So you're using us as bargaining, basically?"

We each raised an eyebrow at him, and folded our arms simultaneously. He smiled, almost laughing.

"No, there's more to it than that," he said, walking over to the computers. "For one thing, you would never let us use you for our own ends."

"Damn right!"

"And besides, don't you want to help him now that you know?"

"Well, yeah, but…"

"Good. Come and sit down here. If you're going to help, there are some more things you need to know."