"How is she?"

"All right, I guess. She needs a lot of work, but then, they all do."

Sydney opened her eyes. "Is this heaven?" she croaked.

Someone leaned over her and smiled. It was Trinity. For the briefest moment, with the light shining down from above on her, she looked like an angel. "No. You're not dead. You're probably the most alive you've ever been, actually."

"My - why does everything hurt? Why do my eyes ache?"

"Just try and rest, 'mmkay?" Trinity smiled. "Everything will be answered soon."

Sydney closed her eyes with relief – it was far too much effort to keep them open. She was lulled back to sleep by the steady humming of something mechanical.

Sydney opened her eyes and found herself staring directly into a pair of brown ones.

"Holy shit!" the person yelled, and jumped backward. It was a young guy, perhaps a few years older than her, with curly hair and a needle in his hand. "I'm sorry," he gulped, "I was just- I just wanted- I'm supposed to give you your injection," he finally managed.

Sydney laid a hand over her wildly beating heart. "That . . . was a really shitty way of waking me up."

The guy looked affronted. "I didn't wake you up. You just . . . woke up."

Sydney shrugged.

"So, you're Switch?" Sydney paused a moment before answering. Was that really who she was? A tough, secretive hacker?

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm Switch." A tiny smile curved the corners of Sydney- no, Switch's mouth. Switch. She liked the sound of that.

The guy stuck out his hand. "Apoc."

Switch raised an eyebrow at him. Who shakes hands? she thought. But instead of looking embarrassed, he just held it out, waiting for her to take it. Giving a tiny shrug, the girl took his hand, gave it a firm squeeze, then dropped it.

"C'mon," Apoc said. "The captain will want to talk to you, now you're awake."

Switch got up off her bed, holding onto it for support. Her legs were shaky. She looked down and saw that she was dressed in rough, loose, woven clothes and boots made of strips of cloth. "This is a little primitive," she commented, sticking one foot in the air as proof.

"Of course it is," Apoc said, giving her a funny look.

Switch stopped dead. "You know, you people never exactly explained where we are, anyways. And what the hell was with the hallucinations?" Suddenly she was getting mad. It was her tendency when things happened she didn't understand. "Did you drug me up, then drag me someplace?"

"No, whoa, hold up." Apoc looked a little worried. "Listen, I know this has to feel weird for you, but you just have to trust me. Morpheus has the answers you want."

Switch noticed something weird. Her head felt cold. "What the . . ." Switch felt her smooth, bald head. They shaved me? She followed the curve of her head all the way back to the nape of her neck, and felt . . . it. Switch's legs collapsed under her. "Is this a cult?" she whispered. "You drug people up and kidnap them, shave them and stick metal holes in the back of their heads?"

"No! Oh shit . . . listen, trust me, please! Just stay right here, stay here, I'm getting Morpheus." Apoc turned tail and ran out of the room - more like a cell - leaving the door open.

Now's your chance, a tiny voice told Switch. Go now! The ghost-white teenager staggered to her feet and bolted out the door, wishing she had her knife with her. Her booted feet thudded rhythmically on the metal grating that was the floor. She came to a fork. Her panicking brain froze for a moment, then she dove left-

-right into the arms of a huge black guy. "Whoa there, girl, where you think you're going?"

Switch looked up at him defiantly, then burst into tears. He scooped her up, cradling her head gently in his arms. "Hey, it's okay. I'm Dozer. You're Switch, right, little ghost-girl?" Switch nodded, squinching her eyes part-way shut, trying to stop the tears from coming.

"You can cry, ghost-girl. Most do worse, you know. You seem strong to me." Dozer's voice was steady and soothing. "You healed so fast." He was walking back to the cell.

"Don't make me go back in there," she whimpered, then internally cursed herself for sounding like a petulant child.

"Don't worry, this has to be strange for you. Just stay calm." They were inside the cell now. Dozer lay the bald, weeping girl on the simple cot. Then he sat next to her and talked. He spoke about the people he knew, telling endless stories. Gradually, the feeling of panic subsided, and Switch drifted off to sleep to the sound of his voice.

Sorry it took so long to get this up... exams were making me crazy! but school's over now! YAY! so, i'll be able to update faster now.