The Matrix Uploaded: A Matrix Fanfiction Story

Chapter 4:

Three hours later, in Neo's Construct…

Neo moderately sighs, "I know it sounds crazy. But…"

A adult Naimah slightly chuckles, "we're way past crazy. But…you don't have to explain. I'm on it." She wears a red dress gown and fancy ghostly gloves.

Neo sees her in a Construct Vision chat window. It's glassed over like a glass window…yet with fire red neon lit edges. Neo adds, "thanks."

Naimah slightly smiles, "not a problem. But…you're welcome."

Neo knowingly says, "still… I have a hunch."

Naimah comments, "goodie. Can "never" get enough of those."

Fairly jokingly, Neo comments, "slight chuckle. You've been hanging around Tara too much... These past years."

Naimah glances more seriously towards him, "umm… How are you holding up?"

Teary eyed, Neo reasons, "I…guess I understand more now. What it was like for you…to leave the Matrix. Slight sniffle. It may have been shit. But…even then… There was a part of you back there. That's where I am: Trying to piece it all back together."

Naimah solemnly nods, "for me…it's close enough. Thank you. But, tell me: What is this hunch?"

More uncomfortably, Neo figures, "it was…at Trinity's tombstone. Maybe it's nothing, maybe it's something. Yeah: You might be right. It's possible I'm just overlooking a word…because of the aftereffects of the virus. But… Sigh. It felt like there was: Something missing from Trinity's message. Something I still can't quite trace. For all I know, it could be a very important something. Until I know what it is…I can't be all sure what's in her best interests or not."

Naimah nervously nods, "well, Neo… Deep sigh. Unfortunately…it's much more shitty than that. See for yourself."

She brings up a hidden file…which two of the crackling electron like orbs spiral into becoming. They turn into a tapestry of mountains and islands past…made up of a swirling green and red pool of 666's and 616's. Neo concludes, "the Matrix. But…how is that possible?"

Naimah figures simply, "the Matrix has fast hands?"

A little shaken, Neo says, "maybe. The virus started in the Layer. So…if we compute the similarities to the Layer's code…"

Naimah realizes, "…we might get a better reading. That's kind of easy, really. You archived the Layer's code...years ago."

Neo conclusively adds, "then let's bring it up." He instructs the Construct to have it show. From the crackling of several more electron like orbs…a bluish tinted image of the Layer's central computer appears.

It quickly breaks off into clouds of Matrix code sequences, floating there. Neo tells the Construct to isolate all non-similar Matrix code sequences from the file. Rows and rows of Matrix copy outlines rise out, from the parting pool of 666's and 616's. The tapestry falls on its side…against the silent rainfall of copy outlines.

It forms the shape of a swinging hand censer, with the loose digits of Matrix code falling to make a pattern. Almost immediately, Neo recognizes the pattern, "I recognize it. It's…the same path I took. From the hospital…to Trinity's tombstone."

Naimah connects the dots, "theoretically, there wasn't much left to repair in the Layer. Only...enough code to make templates. Shit. It chose itself as its new copies..."

From reading the code, Neo connects the final dot, "…when all else failed. And with those templates…the Matrix calculated thousands of ways to bypass our systems all at once. Then one passed through…all the way to Trinity's message. Somehow, someway…the Matrix was practically waiting for me to find it."

Naimah points out, "so now what do we do? For all we know…the Matrix could be watching us. Even now."

Unsettlingly, Neo figures, "all the more reason for me to investigate Trinity's tombstone."

In twenty minutes or so, down in the depths of Zion's lower levels…

Very polished Roman pillars hold the passages up at the edges. Some have Zion rock carved stairs into catacombs. All in all though…it's practically a giant museum. The apartments look so much like the mostly pale brown apartments in the fallen Matrix…that they might as well be museum pieces themselves.

Each small store looks like a gift shop at the end of Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin: Only with a lot more nauseating realism to the Matrix past…that most in Zion would rather shoot them on sight than set foot in them. Everyone who lives in the lower levels though wants to remember a part of who they were in the Matrix. And so, they actually like the realism. In turn…this colony of Zion people has become the lower class.

Gang wars are quite common, with every apartment block being its own locale of differing rules and trade goods. And that's even disregarding the many times that Zion people high up try to cause trouble for them. Neo isn't looking for trouble. But…the lower levels echo the Matrix. And one way or another…trouble is bound to find him.

Neo is on a 1990's like blackish yellow striped subway monorail. Neo's holding onto the metal handles…along with many blackish and grimy clothed lower level Zion citizens. Some are at the sides, some are in the ceiling. Some Zion citizens are sitting down, talking away in a very hushed manner on their jet black and gray cellular phones. But, most don't have that many seats. Neo checks his own reddish jet black cellular phone…rediscovered by Morpheus last night. He slightly sighs in partial relief. The text message on it says:

Still no sign of the Matrix in the archives. Will let you know if one shows itself though. -Naimah.

With electrical antennas everywhere on the surface of Zion…reception can be received everywhere. Even from a moving subway monorail several feet under.

Through her Construct, Naimah is keeping a eye on the Zion Archives for Neo. But…not before alerting Tara in person about the potential threat.

As the minutes seem to go slower and slower…the echoes get louder and louder in Neo's mind. He hears thousands of screams. He closes his eyes, struggling to hold onto clear thinking. A eerie chorus of explosions goes off. Neo opens his eyes.

He finds himself on the tracks of a rigged subway tunnel. Neo runs out…just before it explodes. The subway monorail is lost in the dust. Neo is barely catching his breath, "Jesus!" Neo sees two police cars, taking off of the collapsing freeway above.

Seconds later…he's in one: With Trinity, Tara, and Morpheus. Trinity is at the wheel. Neo finds himself firing at what looks to be many faces of Smith…over the wreckage of thousands of police cars. Countless police officers are lying on the freeway, with fatal bullet wounds in their sides. The screams of thousands echo across the freeway.

Just as quickly as it comes though…it fades to black.

Neo's body is lying in the cluttered back of a lower level Zion store…with the undeniable figure of one of Zee's assistants in white standing over him.

Around this time, further down under…

The rivers of Zion run deep. But, the evil within…runs much deeper. In a Zion cave is a small air space…and a Zion canister. The canister is half open. Steam comes out…like a beast aching to get out of a rigged cage. And in a creepy way...it kind of has become such.

It's Trinity's tombstone. Or…what's left of it now. Hundreds of nail shaped Zion plastic made flaps in the little breathing holes at the seams…break down. Wire tentacles wrapped in deep break out…slowly built to resemble code tentacles over the years.

They wrap across the shadowy body in seconds…still shadowed in steam. A cocoon of wires is quickly forming…with small antenna ends and circuit boards slowly connecting. The Matrix 2.0's creepily recognizable voice echoes, "this cycle…all human emotion will be deleted out of computation. No… Violent cough! No more cycles."