Disclaimer: The Matrix belongs to the Wachowski brothers. No profit is made and no infringement of copyright is intended.
A/N: Thank you to my reviewers, you keep me going! However, after this chapter I am going to be away for most of the summer. I will try to get a chapter up some time but I can't promise anything!
Chapter 3 – CuriosityTrinity had been sitting tensely on the edge of her bed for the past 20 minutes, fists clenched, eyes staring straight forwards. But she did not see the wall straight in front of her. Instead she was concentrating hard, willing the minutes to pass faster. Hurry, dammit. All those times when she had wished for more time, an extra second to mean the difference between life and death. And now it couldn't go fast enough. Life is strange, she reflected. Sometimes you're so sure you know what you're doing, others you're just running through the dark, hoping to hell someone else knows.
It was time. Trinity shot up from her bed, then stopped, resting her hand on the door. She mustn't appear hurried, must keep up her ice-cool demeanour. To everyone else, this was just a routine shift. Hell, it was a routine shift. But to her it somehow seemed vitally important. Taking deep breaths to slow her rocketing pulse, she waited. Then she opened the door; to reveal Apoc standing outside with his hand raised to knock. Giving him a serene smile, she glided past him into the corridor. She didn't look back, so she didn't see the curious look he directed at her retreating figure.
Reaching the Core, Trinity swung herself into the operator's chair with a movement honed from long years of practice. Her long fingers hovered over the keys. This was it. Time to solve this little 'mystery' once and for all. If there was an anomaly, she would find it. She was by far the best hacker on this ship, and one of the best in the fleet, and she knew it without boasting. She had 2 hours until Tank's shift. It was enough. With a deep breath, she began to type; fingers flying so fast they were barely visible.
Green code, scrolling lines of endless numbers raced down the screens, narrowing into a single row…
"Gotcha".
Ana Gardner, 15 years old.
Date of birth, 4th December.
Star sign, Sagittarius.
Height, 5"9'.
Date: 1st December
Address: 44, Sycamore Avenue, upstairs.
The girl lay on her bed, flat on her back with her arms flung carelessly to the sides. The sky outside was just beginning to show the pale rays of dawn, and it would have almost seemed as though she was asleep, if her eyes had not been open. They were emerald green, flecked with yellow, and held a look of intense concentration as she stared at the ceiling above. She lay completely still, and the only movement in the room was the gentle rise and fall of her chest as she breathed in and out. As the day approached, rays of sunshine illuminated the room, revealing hazy details that gradually became clearer and clearer.
The room was fairly large, and contained a chest of drawers, a dressing table and two wardrobes in a rich brown wood. The walls were white, with a deep green border, which matched the girl's eyes, and the bedspread she was lying on. A green and silver wind chime hung from the ceiling, and slowly a breeze began to ruffle the curtains and create gentle chiming noises. But still the girl did not move, or look around.
Back in the Nebuchanezzer, Trinity stared at the screen with narrowed eyes. What was she doing? The girl had not moved for a full 6 hours, yet Trinity could see from her code that her brain was working fast. Very fast. Her neural patterns were faster than any Prospect Trinity had ever seen, and she had seen a lot in her time. But that still didn't account for something different in her code. There was something there, almost imperceptible. With a small sigh, Trinity decided that the girl was not going to move any time soon. After a short pause, in which her eyes gained a far-away look, she began to type again. She wanted to find out as much as possible about this girl.
It was 7:15, Matrix time. Finally, Ana rolled over and out of the bed with a fluid movement. Running her hands through her long brown hair with a distracted motion, she began to dress in a pleated black skirt, white shirt and green tie. When she had finished she twisted her hair into a bun, and sat down in front of the dressing table. All of this was done in complete silence. She stared into the mirror. From outside, she looked perfectly calm and collected. Inside, it was a completely different story. Her thoughts were spinning so fast she felt dizzy.
It had begun about 2 weeks ago. If someone had asked her, she could not have explained what it was. It was a feeling deep inside, of something. Something wrong, or different. It would last for a few hours, then go away. But then the next time it would be stronger. It was building up, every time. Recently, she had felt like she was almost on the brink of discovering something wonderful, when suddenly it would disappear again and she was left feeling unexplainably empty.
She had told no one. They would have thought she was crazy, or told her to see a doctor.
"But it's not like that," she said aloud. "This is different".
She shook her head suddenly, as if mentally berating herself. This was stupid. She had to be going crazy. What she was thinking wasn't logical, it didn't make sense. But somehow everything seemed clearer when she had 'the feeling'. Like she had been looking at the world through frosted glass, and now it had been taken away and she was seeing it for real, for the first time.
Every night she came home from school, did her homework, helped cook the dinner, took the dog for a walk, went for a run. Lately she had been running until late, anything to make her tired enough to sleep. But every night she lay awake, mind turning incessantly, trying to make sense of it all, reaching for some conclusion.
Gradually the rest of the family awoke, and the house filled with movement. Her mother's voice came floating up the stairs, calling her to come down for breakfast. With a deep breath, Ana stood up, swinging her bag onto her shoulder. Time to face the world for another day.
A/N: I know this chapter is a little bit slow, but I felt the need to do some explaining. There will be a lot more happening in the next one, I promise!