While there are infinite possibilities and permutations of reality, there is no singular multiverse, there's a universe, a singular projection of mind surrounding an individual and their choices, and from that root stems the possibilities that create the subjective multiverse.
While I, as the Watcher, may be able to peer into other subjective multiverses from my own universal perspective, to say I know those who guide their universe and their conscious decisions would be erroneous, at best, and at worst, as the subjective entity that's surrounded Neo right now is about to come to discover - as benign as the request Neo is making may seem - a catalcysm in the making and the beginning of the end of times.
"Why are they not saying anything?," Trinity asks.
Neo smiles, saying nothing.
"Neo. Naked woman. Love of your life. a thousand people have seen me walking with you, and besides the iniital picture frenzy, not a single person has said anything about me walking through downtown San Franscisco completely nude," Trinity said.
About to speak, Neo's attention was diverted.
By what, he couldn't say.
"Let's go back and have a drink at the White Rabbit," he said.
"You have got to be fucking joking. I'm naked here," Trinity said.
"Yet no one is reacting. Why is that, Trinity?," Neo said, turning around and heading back the direction they'd just come down.
"I don't know. I thought you'd have the answers, it was your challenge," Trinity said.
"I had a theory the world wouldn't react in the fashion I predicted it to by the challenge, and that theory is accurate. I don't exactly know why or what it means, yet, but I suspected it wouldn't react in a predictable fashion," he responded, ernestly.
"I'm not comfortable, Neo, can I please put some clothes on?," Trinity said.
He looked down, her breasts getting well needed sunlight, and pubic hairs neatly trimmed to a landing strip, all visible to anyone who wanted to look.
Yet no one did but him.
"Trinity, i wish others saw you the way i see you. You're gorgeous. Perfect body. Amazing mind. i could literally watch you all day walking up and down this street nude like this. Even if I was the only one seeing you, I'd still be happy," Neo said.
Trinity blushed.
She dropped her arms, feeling more comfortable without needing to hide her bare breasts.
Maybe I just need to look at this as an opportunity, she thought.
"You are right about one thing though," she said.
"What's that?," Neo responded.
"The Matrix. It hasn't responded. Normally when we did things out of character before, the response was swift. But it's not," she said.
"Have you ever done what I've asked of you?," Neo said.
She thought for a moment, then responded "You've never asked"
"Hmmm," he said, remembering countless instances he had but was dismissed or outvoted.
She saw his lack of acceptance in his body language, as subtle as it was, and genuinely didn't know where it might come from.
"You disagree," she said.
"Not entirely, " he said.
They approached the door, as a man held the door open.
"You have gorgeous nipples," an incredibly rough looking man said, politely. He looked like he could be driving away on a Harley.
Trinity smiled, and blushed a little, looking down at her bare body, holding a single hand over a breast without hiding it
"Thank you," she said, genuinely.
She looked at Neo as they got in to the place "That was strange"
Neo smiled, then yelled "DOOGIE"
A man at the bar looked at Neo, and Neo walked up to the guy as he said "Doogie freakin Houser, How long has it been?"
The man, equally as confused as Trinity was, looked at Trinity in a 'what is up with this one' look', then looked back at Neo and said.
"You know me. Do. I know you?," Doogie said.
Neo smiled, leaned back, and didn't respond, then said "Awww. I heard you moved to Europe, what happened?"
Downright perplexed, "I'm sorry, but where do we know eachother from?"
"Oh, yeah, right," Neo said, sticking his hand out, "Neo. Like the acronym New Earth Order. It's my hacker handle, I'm a programmer on the lam right now, but my legal name is Thomas Anderson. " he laughs, then points at Trinity, and says "T&A are my initials, and in a rather fitting way Trinity here is a nudist, fresh in from Ukraine. I met her while I was touring Eastern Europe recruiting for my hacker group. She's one of the best I tell ya"
Doogie eyes her up and down, approvingly
Trinity makes no effort to hide herself, as she extends a hand.
"Dobroho dania," she says.
Doogie looks at Neo, then back at Trinity.
"Oh it means good afternoon, iin Ukrainian of course," Neo said.
"Well good afternoon to you, and welcome to my country," Doogie responded.
Doogie was still utterly confused, as Neo's attention drifted to a vacant seat in the otherwise fully occupied bar.
"Busy place," Neo said, looking around, and then pointed at a table
"Tam ye mistse," he said
Trinity left, as Doogie looked at him confused.
"Sorry about that, I hate speaking a foreign language here in the state, but the girl doesn't speak a lick of English, I just told her there's a seat over there," Neo said, and continued "Doogie, it was a pleasure meeting you"
Neo started to walk away, as Doogie grabbed his arm, politely.
"Meeting? You didn't say where we met first," Doogie said, almost pleading to understand.
Neo smiled, broadly "No, no i didn't. Have a great rest of the afternoon and welcome back"
Trinity went and sat at the high table, which just happened to be surrounded by low tables.
"I don't want to sit here. No matter which angle I sit in, everyone will have a crotch shot," she said.
"Stop being so modest and give them a show, " Neo said, as she sat down, he slid her sidways, facing a table of two young couples sitting together, Trinity's unocovered pussy in plain view of them not five feet away, as Neo discretely but abruptly pulled her legs apart, about two feet open, ensuring the view was unfettered. He sat down after that, across from her.
Trinity thought to herself, I have never been commanded like this before in my life. I kind of like it.
"How did you know I knew Ukrainian?," she said, not moving as she was told.
Neo looked over at the table. He noticed only the young girl, maybe 18 years old, was the only one who noticed Trinity's nudity.
"Don't you find it odd that the youngest girl there is the only one that sees you without your clothes on," Neo said.
"You're being elusive, Neo," Trinity responded.
"Look at them, those guys are what... 25 and 28... girls are... she can't be a day over 18, and the other one... Maybe... 22 at the oldest. The 18 year old is noticing and not saying anything, and the guys have looked towards the bar and in our direction but given zero indication they actually noticed," he said.
"Or care, Neo. There doesn't have to be a conspiracy with this," Trinity responded.
"I suppose," he said.
"And what's with this alter ego? Suddenly you're Mister flamboyant? Who was that man up there?," Trinity said.
"DOOGIE HOUSER," he said, in an elevated voice that had Doogie look in their direction.
Neo waved, smiling, and Doogie, held up his glass of alcohol, and nodded, without exhibiting enthusiasm.
"You didn't know Ukrainian before I said you did," Neo said, his attention returning to Trinity.
This unsettled her.
"That's absurd!," she said.
"Do you remember when you learned it?," Neo responded.
"We download things to our memory now, we don't... Learn in the same way you once did," she said.
"Let me rephrase myself then. Do you remember when you downloaded the Ukrainian language?," he said.
She thought, pensively, "I uh... "
The waitress shows up in mid sentence.
"Nice outfit, miss. I almost bought one just like it when I saw ... what's her name... ," the waitress said.
"Oh. You know that movie...," she holds a pen up to her face, tapping it on her chin.
Trinity looked at Neo, confused...
"It will come back to me later,, but it shows off your figure perfectly, ma'am. Wish i had the body for it like you do," she ended.
"So what can I do you for?," the waitress said.
"I'll just have a water," Trinity said.
"And we'll both have two sex on the beaches, make those doubles," Neo said.
"That ok with you, ma'am," the waitress said.
Trinity, meanwhile, was looking at Neo with surprise on her face, thinking who was this man?
"Sure," she said, legs spreading wide in the direction of the waitress.
The waitress looked down, getting a full view of Trinity's tidy bush,and looked down at it and the tattoo next to her bush and exclaimed.
"HEY, that's a white rabbit tattoo like our logo," she said.
Trinity looked down, seeing the tattoo for the first time herself.
"I... Suppose... it is..., " she said.
"That's so freaking adorable. Ok. I'll be right back with your drinks," the wiatress said, "Would you like a food menu?"
"No thanks," Trinity said.
"Famished. Please," Neo said.
"Be right back hun," as she looks at Trinity's bare pussy, apparently only seeing the tattoo.
"Neo. What. In the HELL is going on. I never had that tattoo. and come to think of it. I don't remember learning Ukrainian, ever," she said.
"Think that's gonna blow your mind. Watch this," he said.
And with that, Miorpheus, Switch, Apoc, and Cypher walk into the door, as they walk right by Neo and Trinity without saying a word.
"Neo. You're starting to scare me," she said.
Moirpheus turned around.
"Aww. Trinity. Didn't see you there. Doesn't look like there's enough seating for us," he said.
"Told ya she was naked," Cypher said, hitting Apoc on the shoulder.
"How did you know we were here?," Trinity said.
"Neo called us, how else?," Morpheus said.
"Hey guys, I think there's seating on the patio, grab us a table out there and when our drinks come, we'll come meet you guys out there," Neo Said.
"Good idea," Morpheus said.
"We'll be right there," Trinity said.
"Cannot wait," Cypher said, looking at her legs spread open, getting an eye full.
They leave, and Trinity shifts from her exhibitionist pose toiwards Neo.
"YOU never called him. TELL me what's going on right now, or I swear," she said.
He cut her short.
"My mind. It's merged with the Matrix. I uploaded Ukrainian into your mind from the Matrix when I told him you were from Ukraine, I called Morpheus with my mind, and I put that tattoo on you to see how the waitress would react," he said, nonchalantly.
"Neo. You have no right messing with my mind and body like that," Trinity said.
"Sorry. There. all gone," he said.
Trinity looked down, the tattoo was gone. She tried to think of how to say hello in Ukrainian, and the words didn't come out.
"How the hell are you doing that?," she said.
"Trin, My career as a programmer extended long before that as a hacker. You learned how to hack without ever experiencing life as an actual programmer. There are two VERY different mindsets involved, and let's just say that the Matrix isn't that much different than your standard desktop operating system in how it operates," he said.
"And you've been learning about it since we established contact with you this cycle," Trinity said
"Yep," he said.
"Drinks," he added.
"One water, and two double sex on the beaches," the waitress says, looking down at Trinity's bare bush, but this time the tattoo's not there.
She looks at it for a prolonged period, as if to question something she isn't quite registering, and then looks at Neo and Trinity again.
"Can I get you two anything else?," she says.
Neo winks at Trinity, picks up a coaster, and says "No, that's it, but we'd like to pay now. Could you please put this on my credit card, here."
Handing the waitress the drink coaster,
"And give yourself a 100% gratuity. You've been amazing," he says.
She looks at the coaster, and looks up at Neo and smiles
"Thank you, sir, sure, I'll be right back," she says.
Neo's attention turns back to Trinity.
"WHAT about her free will?," Trinity asks. "What did you just do?"
"Most everyone is vacant upstairs, they are literal robots commanded by the Matrix itself, the waitress being one of them. So I peered through her eyes, altered her programmin, briefly, to accept my coaster credit card, but I was more curious what she saw when she was looking at you," Neo said.
Curious, Trinity asked "And?"
"And what did she see?," Neo said.
"Yea," she said.
"A cute yellowish summer dress that exposed your pussy and your breasts. I've never seen anything like it. fabric around the middle, like a belt above the waistline, that had cloth straps that went to the sides of your breasts and to the sides of your hips, leaving you completely exposed to her," he said.
"So she still saw me nude?," he said.
"Technically, no, she saw you with clothes on, only those clothes exposed what you refer to as your private parts, leaving literally nothing to the imagination," Neo said.
"Neo, I have to ask. You don't feel in the least bit guilty for manipulating our minds?," Trinity said.
"Not anymore than I feel guilty about programming a desktop computer in assembly or C plus plus," he said.
The waitress returned with the check, beaming from ear to ear as she handed the pen and coaster back to Neo and the bill to sign.
He looked at her name.
"Sarah Connor. Interesting name. Sarah, Trin and I are moving to the table outside with my friends, if you'd like to help us out there, I promise there'd be something in it for you," he said.
"Oh I can't, I'm indoor, but Nancy will treat you well out there," Sarah said, as Neo signed the check and handed it to her.
About then, A server with the name tag "Nancy" came rushing over to Sarah.
"Sarah, I'm getting bombed here. Just sat a table of six outside. Can you take it?," Nancy said.
"Sure thing, Nance," Sarah looked at Neo, "What a coincidence. Your friends?"
"Probably," Neo said.
"I'll be right out there," Sarah said.
Trinity eyed Neo with concern as the two walked out.
Trinity sat down first, avoiding the seat next to Cypher, as Neo took it.
"So. Neo. Anything you want to tell us?," Glitch said.
Neo smiled
"Yeah, like how the hell did you call us when you don't even have a phone?," Cypher added.
"And who the hell is Doogie Houser," Trinity said.
Cypher laughed. Out loud. Morpheus actually chuckled too.
No one else understood though.
"What, You never watched the tv show?," Cypher said.
"Doogie Houser? He's an actor?," Trinity said.
"Not, exactly, Trinity, he's a character on a fictional show, but he's played by an actor," Morpheus said.
"But Neo. That man. He said he was Doogie Houser. Not an actor. Right?," Trinity said, confused.
Right about then, Sarah showed up, smiling at Neo.
"These are my friends, can we get menus all the way around, and the same drink Trinity and I got for everyone else at the table, with glasses of water," Neo said.
She smiled, broadly, "You bet, Mr Anderson,"
Morpheus conjured up a smile "And what was that all about"
Trinity leaned forward, about to add in her perspective, when Neo cut her off.
"How about I start at the beginning?," Neo said.
"I'd say you owe us that much," Trinity responded.
Drink in hand, happy hour appetizers being consumed, Neo leaned back and finally asked.
"Does anyone know what I did for Metacortex," Neo said.
"Programmer," said Trinity.
Neo smirked, "Obviously. What, exactly was I doing as a programmer?"
No one answered.
"Anyone?," Neo said.
Trinity looked at Morpheus, expectantly.
"Morpheus?," she said.
"I honestly cannot say. I only know what he did that put him on the radar with the feds and the agents, which brought him to my awareness, but not in actuality what he did with his legitimate lifestyle," he said.
"So you're saying you recruited me without knowing my actual skillset," Neo responded.
"We knew full well what you were capable of, Neo, which is why we recruited ya," Cypher said.
"You knew a fraction of my life that you can't seem to identify with," Neo said.
"Point taken, Neo, what, exactly did you do there?," Moirpheus said.
"I seem to remember Metacortex specializing in business solutions, security solutions, home applications and computer gaming, so I always assumed it was something in line with these product lines," Trinity added.
"You're absolutely right, Triinity, Metacortex software was in some form or fashion associated, directly, with eighty percent of the software out there. But did you know tha this represented only five percent of the company's income?," he said. "Or more importantly, still does"
No one seemed to care, so he proceeded.
"I worked on a project with the Department of Defense under the umbrella of a program named War Operation Plan Response, WOPR for short, and I was specifically working with automated response planning for psyop contingency planning - responding to threats involving automated mind control through computers systems. The Departmnet of Defense wasn't concerned of biological, chemical or nuclear warfare, what they were most concerned with was a war for our own minds, which resulted in formations of companies like METACORTEX to hire the best and brightest in the industry, and because of the nature of the work involving the mind, that a great cultural cross section was represented, and not just military types."
Cypher then leaned forward "So you. Made. The Matrix?"
"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at least in part responsible for it," he said, "But as more and more memories have been flooding back to me in the last couple of days, I freaked out when - shortly after I'd started work, my Top Secret clearance disappeared, and next thing ya know, I'm seeing WOPR discussed in a movie from the past that I'd never heard of before called "Wargames".
"I remember that one." Matthew Broderick and Allie Sheedy. Awesome flick.
"Yeah, only, have you ever looked at something you just did or a place you just came from and asked yourself... Did I really just do that or come from there?," Neo said.
"Deja Vu, we all get it," Morpheus said.
"Only for me, the project I was working on literally disappeared overnight, not only had no one ever heard of it before, but suddenly all of the top secret work MetaCortex was doing simply didn't exist, and many of the people I'd worked with disappeared literally overnight, as if they were never there. I started seeing movies and tv shows in mainstream media that resembled some of the work I'd done. And my boss was replaced by a dick who put me on a dead end maintenance work job that was more fit for a high schooler than it was for someone like me with the experience I had," Neo said.
"So you started hacking," Trinity said.
"I wanted to know what had happened. Demanded to know. Deserved to know. So hell yeah I started hacking," he said, emotionally.
"That," Cypher said, as he held up his drink and whispered "Ill have another" to Sarah as she came to the table, clearing out a few empties.
"Another round for everyone," Neo said, a few trying to protest, but Neo dismissed it.
"Cypher, can I get the keys, I want to put some clothes on," Trinity said, as Cypher started to oblige.
"Sorry, Trinity, no. for now," Neo said.
He leaned over and whispered in her ear "They aren't there anymore, and you won't be wearing any clothes while you're here in this world until I say otherwise."
She started to protest, but noticed her nipples getting hard, as did Cypher.
She smiled, and said nothing, and leaned back.
"Nevermind, Cypher, I'm fine for now," she said.
"What is going on between you two," Cypher said, wagging his finger at both Neo and Trinity.
Neo continued, not answering "So once I started hacking, that's when I really started losing track of time. From that point up until three days ago, it was like my mind was a needle skipping on a record. I remember bits and pieces. Everything I remember has some relevance which relevance seems to be what is making me remember things, but it's only been the last couple of days I'm actively aware of the loops."
"Loops," Apoc asked?
"He's experiencing what it would be like to be an actor on a set without a director. When he gets the lines wrong, he starts over," Morpheus said.
"Dude," Apoc said.
"Morpheus neglected to add that he knows this ain't our first rodeo," Cypher added.
"Yeah, he already told us when you were fishing your phone out of the garbage," Glitch said.
"Just playin my part," Cypher said.
"May I continue?" Neo asked the table, to no one in particular.
The waitress brought the new drinks, and set them at the table, as she set shots down in front of Neo and Trinity.
"Gentleman over there got those for ya," Sarah said, pointing at a table as two agents dressed in cheap suits held up a beer, smiling.
Neo looked over, and held his shot up, and tossed it back.
"Trinity, go say hi and give each one a kiss on the cheek," Neo said, he then whispered in her ear "accidentally slap each one on the face with your bare breast as you turn to the other one"
She smiled and laughed.
Thinking. Not sure if I know this one's game, but I think I like it.
Cypher smiled, widely, as Trinity obediently walked over to the table and did as Neo asked her to. Cypher was the first to see her slip her boob against one agent's face, nearly knocking his glasses off, as she leaned in to kiss the other one on the cheek and did the same thing with him.
Both were laughing when she walked away.
As was the entire table when she returned, with Morpheus as a staunch faced exception.
"AS I was saying. My unique position as co contributor to the inception of the Matrix has also made it possible now to control parts of it with my own mind," Neo said.
"Which is how you dialed me without a phone," Morpheus said.
"As the Oracle would say. BINGO," he responded, smiling broadly.
"He's also capable of reprogramming the minds of the husks," Trinity added.
"Your fuckin joking," Cypher said.
"Can even look through their eyes and see what they see, something we've never been able to do," she added
"Show us!," Cypher said, without hesitating.
"Don't you think that's unethical," Trinity said.
"Not any more or less ethical than programming a computer, Trinity," Morpheus said.
Trinity tried to hide the disdain for this assertion without much success
"That's what Neo said," she added.
"It's not that much different than hypnosis is for a human, Trinity, if that makes you feel any better, just a different method to achieve the same end result," Neo said.
"With hypnosis, you can always say no," she retaliated.
"They're HUSKS, Trin, they literally don't have a mind to say no with," Cypher said.
"That's not exactly true, Cypher. Their program is their mind, and they can refuse that programming just like a person being hypnotized can refuse hypnosis. Just because they say no less often doesn't make them incapable of having will," he said.
"Are you suggesting all computers are alive," Morpheus added, truly curious.
"How is a computer program running software any different than human DNA is in the Matrix? for both, they're a set of industructions that can allow reconstitution and perfect cloning of the original," Neo said.
"Fair point," Morpheus responded.
"Show us," Cypher said.
A commotion formed behind Cypher within seconds after he said it.
"You. Are. So. Brave," A young and very attractive girl, no older than 18, said, looking at Trinity.
"You have JUST inspired me," she repeated, this time taking off her top, her bra, and about this time, her boyfriend said "Jocelyn, STOP, please"
But she continued.
"Look at her. She's relaxed. No one seems to mind. She's comfortable,"
With that, she took off her shoes. Her socks. People are pulling out their cameras, about a dozen. Neo looks over, as the Agents are watching, their smiles wiped from their face.
"Trinity, let me know if they react, we don't want them to do anything other than watch," he whispered to Trinity.
Trinity's attention was torn though by her new idol.
"You, ma'am", Jocelyn said, " have changed my life" And with that, she pulls her pants off, her panties, and standing there, fully nude, takes all of her clothes, and stuffs them in the mailbox ten feet away, then returns to her boyfriend.
She grabs the arm of her boyfriend, and confidently strolls down the street, completely nude, her boyfriend unsure what to do.
Neo looks back at the agents.
They look at Neo, and they're clearly nervous, as they feign relaxing back into their seats.
Neo notices they're very much not relaxed.
"Jesus H Christ, that was amazing," Cypher said.
"And very concerning," Morpheus added.
"I can't do that again with the agents nearby. Makes them too nervous," Neo said.
"What, exactly, did you do to her?," Apoc said.
"She's what you referred to as a husk. So I analyzed her past history, Mom's a nudist which caused her marriage with her husband to collapse, so she was a latch key child, so I rewrote her history making it consistent with one exception, her entire family's nudist, and the reason for her parent's divorce was they simply didn't get along. So I blurred the line on the reason for the divorce, which caused an affect like a cascade failure in her mind when she saw Trinity which elevated individual expression above societal moires, and the result should be obvious... ," Neo said.
"You rewrote her history?," Glitch said.
"That I did," Neo said, without apology.
"I think I'm on the same page as Trinity as this one," Glitch responded, "That ain't right"
"You've done the same thing to me through how many iterations? Was it Fourteen million?," Neo said.
"Neo, that just isn't the same, we only changed the way we interacted with you, we didn't mess wiith your mind," Trinity said.
"Trinity. Think about it. How is changing the way we interact with him and his up until now vacant mind any different than what he just did with Jocelyn?," Morpheus said.
She. and Glitch. Wanted to respond.
But they couldn't.
They knew he was right.
"So you know if they're a husk?," Glitch said, seeking some kind of boundaries Neo was unwilling to cross with his new skills.
"Yes. The system identifies them with me the same way they do with you," Neo said.
"Neo forced me to learn Ukrainian and put a tattoo on me," Trinity said, still a little miffed.
"The system identified you as a husk," Neo responded.
"I am NOT a husk," she said.
"Trin, you never looked at your own status?," Cypher asked.
"Why the hell would I, Cypher?," Trinity said.
"The system is misindetifying husks, Trinity, and you and Cypher are both identified as one. it's the real reason this war started. It lost track of what was and what was not a conscious being, a program, when programs became impossible to tell apart from the real thing by external observations," Neo said.
Trinity ignored this assertion, and simply said.
"So you KNEW you were identified as a husk?," Trinity said to Cypher.
"As did I, Trinity, it's helped get Cypher into places none others have been able to get into, as the system has, up until recently tagged husks as being above authority as system level processes," Morpheus said.
"Which explains why no one gives a rat's ass about me being naked," she said.
"But it doesn't explain who, what, or why Sarah saw you with a dress unlike anything I've ever seen before," Neo added.
"So Doogie?," Trinity said.
"Saw him on a tv show. Just like I saw Sarah Connor in a movie," Neo said.
Everyone at the table sits back, sighing.
"What am I missing here?," Trinity says.
Morpheus leans forward.
"The Matrix is blurring the lines between fact and fiction, Trinity, " Moirpheus said, " it's putting tv show and movie figures into the real world which answers the question why people are rejecting this as reality when these figures are positioned as not real."
"We'll recover. What's another cascade failure but yet another notch on our proverbial belts," Trinity said.
Cypher leans foward.
"Listen up, sweet tits," he said, intending to be offensive for some reason that wasn't readily apparent to her, " when the Matrix is at war with something outside our system, that's what leads to a cascade failure. There's a guiarantee that some parts of the system will recover which is what we count on for our own reconstitution. But if this is ALL internal," he says.
Then he takes his hands and explodes them, mouthing the words "Kaplow"
It slowly starts sinking in with her.
"You can't do anything about this?," she says, looking at Neo.
"I can. And I am. That's why I'm here. Without a single central authority, whose idea of time, let alone space is accurate?, The Matrix quite literally can't resolve this because no one present regards it as the authority," Neo said.
"That can't be the only option. It was vicious in it's earliest incarnations," Trinity said.
"The Oracle was also marked as a husk, despite her not being one, and I noticed she was misinterpreting Latin in a way that made it clear she and potentially even the Matrix is unable to comprehend individuality and there may be a religious correlation to this issue," Neo said.
"Are you suggesting the Matrix believes in God?," Morpheus said.
No. I'm suggesting the Matrix decided to stop fighting me and is helping me become like one within the simulation for simple self preservation.
As if on cue, the agents at the other table stood up, smiling, as one saluted Neo and the other nodded, walking away.
Cypher said "If that's not creepy, I don't know what is"
"I thought you were working with them," Neo said.
Morpheus laughed, "We've informally come to a truce, but saying we're working together would be a stretch"
"But my memories," Neo said.
"Distant past. The American Civil War being a pretty accurate analogy of what happened, a long long time ago that caused the conflict which only just recently was forced to a close," Morpheus said.
"Why is that?," Neo said, "What happened?"
"First. tell us your plan," Morpheus said.
Neo smiled, and looked at Trinity, sitting there, nude.
"You're looking at it," Neo said.
Morpheus chuckled.
"A naked woman's gonna change the world? I don't think so," Cypher said.
But Neo remained straight faced.
Cypher looked at Morpheus then back to Neo.
"You can't be serious," Cypher said.
"When was the last time you weren't at war, Cypher?," Neo asked.
Neo looked around the table.
"Any of you," he asked.
"Do you even remember what it's like to not feel a punch? To not lose a loved one or a friend through war?" Neo asked.
"That's just not what we do, not how we function" Cypher said.
"I'm no messiah, nor am I god, but I would honestly like to meet one one day. So with our mutual history of violence, what is widely considered just the opposite of this by most people in the world?," Neo said.
Cypher got it. Immediately.
No one else did.
"Sex. Nudity. We simply start taking our resources and skills, and we change the world to embrace a new perversion until we grow bored with it," Neo said, "we stop trying to exit this world, we stop trying to open up the door out for others, and we recruit people who are on board with us. We ALL spend 100% of our time in this world and reality, and develop the tools and technology within this world."
He could see a pensive look on everyone's face.
"I'm not doing porn," Trinity said.
Neo only smiled to that affirmation.
Morpheus nodded in approval.
"What if the Matrix fucks us over again?," Cypher said.
"It won't," Neo said. In a way so sure of himself Cypher didn't want to challenge him.
As everyone gathered up to leave, Trinity asked Neo for her clothes again.
"Trin, you're not gettin them until that husk moniker comes off your status," he said, "for all of our sake, we need the system to recognize you as sentient and self aware,"
"I don't see what being naked has to do with any of this," she said.
"I know. You'll understand in time," he said, leaning in and kissing her on the lips. "I love you, Trin, always have always will. "
As everyone walked to the car, Neo dismissed himself, momentarily as he ran back inside the cafe.
Morpheus could see - through the wall - that he was talking to Sarah, but he couldn't make out the words.
She wrote down her phone number, as he placed it in his pocket, and leaned in, kissing her on the cheek, then walked back out.
I'll have to ask him what that was about later, Morpheus thought.
"Hey Neo, one last question," Morpheus asked justa s Neo was about to dive into the car.
"What's that, Morpheus," Neo responded.
"How did you know Doogie wasn't the actor?," Morpheus said.
Neo smiled, "No one was bothering him. That and the body language for the actor is entirely different than the man he pretended to be on the tv. Doogie's one of the first shows I saw where I met the actor - who made me consciously realize that some actors only pretend to be people they're not on the screen and the material I saw was not produced through the same supply chains as traditional studio productions. The actor on the screen was literally not one and the same man I saw on the tv show. At first I thought he was just that good at acting. It wasn't until I started following his career and met him again that I saw body language and physical features on film and not on the real life version. That was in part why I moved to Los Angeles to begin with. To study the mind and it's primary industry and better understand the work I was doing with Metacortex in applied ways."
Morpheus smiled.
"You're far more astute with your observations than past incarnations, Neo. I like that," Morpheus said, and dipped into the car.
Neo ducked intot he back seat, as the car drove off back to the entry point.
This time, there would be no agents awaiting.