Let's Play Find the Author Avator! Need a Hint? Check my profile! (This was written roughly two years ago…as a result The avatar is a bit..different from the author as she is today…although she still has her share of STFU moments)
It was a busy morning, as far as Zion days went. Cian had been jacked into the Construct since 05:00, bringing in three ships, but her work wasn't over quite yet. The morning's last ship was on approach to Gate Three to dock, and it was up to her to bring them safely through.
Typing the pass codes in as fast as she was able, Cian just needed the entrance codes from the hovercraft just outside the docking bay. After she had seen them safely inside, she could go home. She might even be back early enough to see her girls home from school today. The thought lit up her face as the necessary codes appeared on the screen ahead of her. Smiling, she cleared them to dock at Docking Bay 4.
"Nebuchanezzar, you're cleared. Welcome home."
Nexus stepped out of the Peregrine for the first time, awed at the sheer size of the docking bay. Trans stepped out behind her, following her gaze. He smiled at the look of wonder on her face. "If you think this is impressive, wait till you see the city."
Nexus barely seemed to hear him. "This…this is all underground? This is huge."
"Four miles underground, actually," a voice spoke up behind them. Nexus and Trans looked behind them to see Aiglos stepping out, carrying his gear. "We're close to the earth's core, since the sun's rays haven't actually reached the surface for over a century. This is the next best option for warmth." Aiglos walked past them, as if his words signified something that was no longer of any consequence.
Nexus shook her head. "I still can't get over that part," she murmured. "It's so easy to believe that you're just inside some VR game when you're plugged in. But when there's no sky?" She looked down at her boots, embarrassed.
Trans looked at her sympathetically. "I know. It sucks." Nexus smiled slightly at his eloquent choice of words. "Most of us try not to dwell on it too much, I think. That kind of thing will eat you alive if you let it."
An awkward silence hung between them for a moment. Looking around, Trans ventured for a new subject. "So. Skylla mentioned that you had a brother here..."
"Yeah," Nexus said. "I can't be entirely sure, but he seems to have the same story as everyone else here. Y'know, does some hacking, and then disappears into thin air." She shook her head ruefully. "I had the FBI up my ass for three weeks for wrecking his hard drive. They thought I did it on purpose. At least I thought it was the FBI back then because they all had the same first name; Agent." She said the last word with emphasis, still avoiding Trans' eyes, which had widened in surprise, then in understanding. She paused, then suddenly laughed harshly in her recollection. "What is it?" Trans asked. Nexus had an enigmatic quality to her; the more he learned about her, the more mystified he became. "I just remembered what it was that convinced them that I was just a stupid little kid at the time." This time she looked Trans straight in the eye and said with pride. "I tried to rush an Agent and punch him in the groin." Trans stared at her in shock, trying to register her words. He finally found a response. "Were. You. Insane."
She looked back at him with the same level of gravity. "Well…I was only eight at the time, so technically yes, but I at least I made myself look dumb enough for them to bugger off." She shook herself out of her funk. "At least Medea let me in on the joke. Our little Stevie has a flare for getting people pissed off at him, doesn't he?" She grinned. "I was thinking of a surprise introduction of the banzaii variety." She heard a snort of laughter behind her, and turned to see Koi, who was attempting to hold in hysterical laughter. Nexus looked at her quizzically, though Trans seemed to chuckle at this as well. At this moment the rest of the crew can out of the craft to see this little scene.
Koi gasped for breathe. "Little Stevie, oh man…he's never gonna live that one down," she said as the battle to contain her laughter was slowly but surely lost. Skylla, Loki and the captain, first watched this amusedly, joining her as the laughter slowly infected them all. Even Medea had to smile as she turned her head just in time to see the crew of the Solaris exiting their ships, shooting quizzical and envious looks in their direction
Nes looked over at the sound of laughter coming from the direction of the Peregrine crew, pursing her lips in slight annoyance. Anyone could see that the Peregrine crew was closer than most families, and she envied them for it. On the Solaris it mostly felt like a job; Worm was not a cruel captain, but he upheld their ranks and treated them accordingly, distancing himself from his crew. He hadn't always been like that- a few years back she could remember Worm as a quirky and vibrant being. Yet the year several of the crew had been killed the year he had been made captain. He had built a wall of coldness around himself since then, shutting out those who had tried to get close. Of course, the fact that his grief over the loss had spurned him to act so damned rashly back then had not won him any gold stars with the other ships. In fact, this appeared to be the first time in a while that none of the Peregrine crew had shot her a poisonous look upon arrival.
She looked a little closer. Looked like they had a new recruit. Nothing out of the ordinary of course, now that the One was present in their forces. There were so many minds being freed these days that the council would have trouble keeping track of them all soon.
Maiar and Thorn came out behind her, each shouldering their personal belongings in a packsack, with little Tangerine bounding up behind them. The eighteen year old hacker had been unplugged for three months now, and she had all the energy of a manic puppy. She was capable of being serious, of course, or Worm could not have tolerated her presence. Personally, Nes didn't mind her much at all. Ship life could be pretty monotonous, and the kid had a bit of a tendency to shake things up just a bit.
Tangerine saw the laughing crowd as well. "See that? Would it kill you guys to do something like that for once?" she said wistfully, directing her comment at the two in front of her.
"It might. Do you really want to find out?" Thorn snapped. He just wanted to get to his room and sleep. He had been up for the last thirteen hours moving through sentinel and Zion's defense systems, and he figured it was owed to him.
Worm exited the ship then, head, down and fighting sleep. He had grown in the last twelve years. His gangly seventeen year-old frame had become taller, and had widened across the back, and his angular jaw was set in a way that made people think twice before approaching him. His wheat-coloured hair had been allowed to grow out to touch his shoulders, covering his plug and held back with a simple band of cloth.
The nearby laughter cut through his headache like a knife, causing him to jerk himself up out of his funk, furiously scanning for the noise that had aggravated his aching head, his eyes resting on the crew of the Peregrine. Typical.
The group began to move away from the ship when Tangerine stopped suddenly, causing Worm to nearly run over her. He cursed, dropping his bags, but the girl didn't notice. "Oh, wow," she breathed softly. "Is that the One?"
Ness looked up to see the crew of the Nebuchanzzar deboarding their ship not fifty feet away.
The group quieted down as the Solaris crew stopped at the sight of the Neb. Trans looked expectedly towards Nexus, about to enquire if she was going to do it or not, but Nexus had disappeared. He looked behind him, noticing that Loki was absent as well.
Koi noticed him watching and indicated towards the other crew. "Keep watching. It's all in motion," she said with a grin.
Trans regarded the Solaris captain for the first time in his relatively short time of being unplugged. He just looks like her, he thought to himself.
Nexus and Loki moved up behind them, unnoticed by the distracted crew. "That's him alright," she whispered to her companion. Loki simply nodded; the resemblance between brother and sister was actually quite striking. It was an interesting thing to witness in the real world, where humans were grown in pods and heredity was an uncertain thing.
Worm was at the back of the group, looking tired and annoyed at the sudden stop. Nexus stepped towards her brother while Loki hung back. She stood less than a meter away when she said quietly, "Mr. Emerson, so nice to see you again."
Worm seemed to freeze at that, irrational fear clawing to get a foothold in his brain. He had only heard that name spoken once since he was freed, and he had never wanted to hear it again. However, they had left the Matrix outside in the tunnels where they could achieve the proper broadcast depths. Swallowing hard, he turned to face this new assailant- only to be faced with a newly unplugged girl whose light hair was barely a fuzz on her head, standing nearly a foot shorter than him.
She also looked somehow familiar. She managed a small smile. "Hi Steve. Or should I say Worm now?"
Worm simply stared at her for a moment. He found his voice after a moment. "Eva."
The girl shook her head. "Nexus." She narrowed her eyes at him. "Do you have any idea how much shit I was in for that little magnet stunt of yours?" Worm's stony expression fell away as he suddenly found sometime very interesting about Nexus's shoes. Loki observed that he was smiling slightly.
The rest of the Solaris crew suddenly noticed the presence of this new person.
Tangerine chose to state the obvious: "Hey, it's the newbie!" Nes seemed to chuckle at this. Subtlety was not a gift that Tangerine seemed to possess. It was at this point that she noticed the similarities between her captain's face and the face of the girl in front of him. "Well I'll be damned."
At the same moment the Peregrine crew deemed this to be an opportune moment to join this reception as they made their way over.
"You said you were gonna do banzaii!" Trans called over as he sidled up to the group. Nexus made a face at him as Medea laughed softly. Worm looked at his new-found sister. "She put you up to this?" Nexus shook her head.
"Where's Aiglos?" Nes asked Skylla. She was also a Zionite, the Solaris' operator. Skylla rolled her eyes. "Oh, he's just being sociable. You know him." She said in a biting voice. The two women laughed together.
Nexus glanced over at the crew of the Neb and her eyes grew wide. Worm saw this and followed her gaze over to a woman with dark hair moving away from the Neb. She had a regal poise, though she seemed to be unaware of it. Nexus looked at Medea. "She's from the Neb?"
Medea nodded. "Yes, Nexus. That is her."
Nexus looked back at the woman in awe. "I saw her when I was inside." she said softly. Only Skylla and Worm caught her words.
At that moment a boy of about Tangerine's age can streaking past. "HEY NEO!" The man walking next to Trinity looked back and seemed to wince slightly, though Nexus could not say for certain.
"Here it comes," Skylla said gleefully. The group seemed to chuckle as a unit and moved towards the third crew, eager to catch the show.