Chapter 15
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A triune One. One and three
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"Be careful" Neo whispers on Trinity's lips, just for her to hear, then kissing her.
He looks at Ghost as their eyes say the words they can't tell aloud. Their hands meet in a tight hold as the two men exchange a quick hug, patting each other's shoulder. It's a silent promise. And Ghost gives Neo another almost imperceptible nod.
"Be careful" Trinity says in turn on Neo's lips as he lies down on his chair.
"I love you" he just whispers on her lips "...both"
He closes his eyes as the jack enters the plug in his nape and Trinity's eyes meet Ghost's.
"Sister,"
She looks down and then up at him again. Her eyes move for a fraction of seconds on Neo, and on the two captains' bodies... their minds already inside the Matrix in a last attempt to have answers from an Oracle who every time told them just what they want to hear.
There's no time for afterthoughts, nor for second thoughts. The captains won't be out for long. And she needs to hurry up.
"Time to go" she just says as Ghost nods.
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There's a different awareness in Trinity as she meets her own mirrored image in the lucid surface of the elevator. Her digital image hasn't changed since she can easily control her own mind now, hiding her baby bump in there as she does in real life. She stares at the woman in a lucid form-fitting black vinyl suit and sunglasses. The awareness of what she's hiding doesn't make her feel weaker...she feels stronger instead... somehow empowered. Nothing's changed, and yet everything is.
She's not a tool. She's a part of the whole thing.
A triune One. One and three.
She can feel the power of that awareness.
"Is the code still encrypted?" Ghost asks as Trinity's eyes move on him from behind her black lens.
"There's something weird" she says as the elevator stops and the door begin to slide open.
"Is it good for us, or bad for us?" he asks tightening the grip on his guns.
"I think we're gonna know very soon"
The elevator door opens on a very sophisticated mansard, decorated in a nineteenth-century French style. An elegant chandelier, heavy red velvet curtains, baroque silver mirrors, candle holders on the inlaid furniture. Tones of ethereal string music, so different from the heavy metal one of their last encounter.
No guards, nor anyone who stop them on the door. It looks like the master of the house is somehow waiting for them, and it's even more scaring.
The Merovingian stands up from a refined sofa. He wears a long red silk robe and matching bedroom slippers. Once again his razor thin smile is like a surgeon's blade as he slowly walks toward them. His walking is almost hypnotic, fluent and light, making no noise except for the imperceptible swish of the silk robe grazing the Carrara white marble.
"Quelle belle surprise!" He smiles at Trinity, reaching out for taking her hand, giving her an old-style hand-kissing.
She freezes at first, at that unexpected move, but she doesn't pull away. She can feel the interaction of their codes, like a sizzling feeling running from her black glove along her arm. And yet she doesn't move. Her totally unperturbed features are betrayed only by her need of swallowing.
He looks at her from head to toe with as a lustful look sparks in his green eyes, his hand still holding hers as his eyes linger on the curve of her hips.
"Tu es une déesse, ma chère!"
...you are a goddess, my dear...
Again she stares at him, but her jaw clenches.
"à quoi dois-je l'honneur?" he asks again in his velvet French language as Trinity can catch a glimpse of the Merovingian's wife, stepping out from what surely is their bedroom. Sex and death squeezed into a black lace corset and garter belt.
" voulez-vous vous joindre à nous?"
... To what do I owe the honor? Do you want to join us?...
The French man lets go of Trinity's hand just to touch her arm with the back of his fingers, lightly, grazing her smooth black vinyl clothes from her forearm and up to her shoulder.
"A menage à trois? Oui, no?" His eyes so piercing like he's undressing her with his eyes and he moves even closer almost whispering in her ear this time "No need for your man to know. And... your friend can watch us. Or... joining us"
"C'est assez, Merv! Cut the shit!"
Trinity's tone is sharp like a blade this time, exactly like the quick move of her hand which pushes away the Merovingian's hand.
And yet he smirks to her again.
"Uhm... elle parles Français (uhm... she speaks French)," He moans like foretasting something delicious on the tip of his tongue "She's even sexier, n'est pas?" The Merovingian's eyes meet Persephone and she smirks in turn, than she gives a lascivious look to Ghost either.
"Quel dommage! What a pity!" He says then, taking a few steps back and sitting down on the sofa again as Persephone sits down in turn, crossing her legs sensually, her eyes still on Ghost.
Ghost just stands still there, at Trinity's side, like a bodyguard.
"I know why you're here," the Merovingian says with a bored tone this time staring at Trinity "I've survived Neo's predecessors, I will survive him too"
Trinity bends her head by side, like to better read his code, then she takes off her sunglasses. Her piercing blue eyes meeting with the green of his.
"I have no doubt about it" she replies in her firm tone, giving him a very teasing look "What I doubt is... are you ready to be an exile, Merv? You have... grace. You have... style. Do you think all of this will survive the purge?
She lifts her eyebrows, giving him a questioning look, then she runs her tongue on her lips at the fluttering of the Merovingian's code.
"None of Neo's predecessors chose not to go back to the Source," she says, "and this means that without Neo's code it would be impossible to correct the anomaly still running in the Matrix code. It will cause the extinction of Human race but, the minimum level of energy together with the bug named Smith will get the Architect to the only available option. Restoring the very original version of the Matrix. Which, translated in current speech is, my world will be destroyed, and yours either"
She pauses watching the power of her words on the Merovingian's code, despite his apparently unperturbed features.
"I'm ready to lose everything I love, Merv. But, are you ready?"
Her blue eyes pierce his again, then she glances at Persephone whose breasts, overflowing from a two-sizes too small corset, rise and fall, following her increased breathing rate.
"So think of it this way... we collaborate or everything is gonna being deleted. For both of us. Oui? No?" She teases, making fun of him like he did with her a few minutes earlier "Ce n'est qu'un business, mon cher"
He gives her an upset look while not even the French accent from her inviting mouth is enough to arouse him right now.
"I'm just a data trader. I have no access to the Architect's mainframe. I can't..."
Trinity's eyes move on Persephone, than on the Merovingian again.
"Then, give me the one who can"
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"Fuck, Sis" Ghost says as he enters the elevator behind Trinity "Did you really do it?"
Their eyes meet, as she puts her sunglasses back on.
"We're not done yet, bro"
And honestly now comes the hard part of it.
The elevator door slides open on a long corridor and what looks like a polite butler welcome them. And yet, it's not what she reads in his code. It's just one of the Merovingian henchman, someone ready to kill both of them at just a gesture of his master. She instinctively touches one on the guns on her belt, ready to pull it out at the first hint of danger.
It's like walking in a deserted hospital ward, everything is white and barren, somehow aseptic.
When they enter the room at the end of the corridor it's like entering a psychiatric ward... soundproof white walls, no furniture, except for a sort of cot against the wall.
The only dark thing in there is the long straight hair of the beautiful Indian woman sitting on that cot. She wears a long silk sari as white as the walls around her, so she almost disappears in there. White... in the Indian tradition, the colour of mourning.
Trinity turns to Ghost, silently asking him to wait for her on the doorstep as she enters the room instead.
Kamala just stands up.
... ... My wife is an interactive software programmer. She is highly creative.
"What are you doing here? You do not belong here"
Trinity nods, taking off her sunglasses so that her blue eyes meet the very dark ones of Kamala.
"I just want to talk"
Her tone is calm and firm at the same time. It would be harder if she couldn't see her code, but she does. And Kamala's hard tone is just a mask, it's just pain.
... I love my daughter very much. I find her to be the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. But where we are from, that is not enough. Every program that is created must have a purpose. If it does not, it is deleted. I went to the Frenchman to save my daughter.
As far as she still struggles with the idea of a Machine loving another Machine, she can clearly understand what she's going through now. She can read her... and somehow she can feel her.
... ... Love is a word. What matters is the connection the word implies.
... ... Can you tell me what you would give to hold on to that connection?
... ... anything.
... ... Then perhaps the reason you are here is not so different than the reason I am here.
They stare at each other, again like reading each other's code.
... ... Your life is the sum of a remainder of an unbalanced equation inherent to the programming of the Matrix.
... ... You are the eventuality of an anomaly that, despite my sincerest efforts I have been unable to eliminate from what is otherwise a harmony of mathematical precision.
"Do you realize Neo's not the only anomaly, don't you?" Kamala asks, breaking the heavy silence between them.
"I didn't till..." Trinity pauses looking down at the floor, or better at where her baby bump should be.
She looks up again at the Indian woman.
"For fifteen years I let myself being conditioned by the Oracle's words... I forgot that she's a program. She can't see me, she can see my code. And since she gave me her prophecy when I was just fifteen, years before meeting Neo, this means I am the first anomaly. Neo is the anomaly fitting mine"
Kamala nods, giving Trinity a sort of admiring look this time.
"You think you're the real One, then?" She asks as one of her eyebrow lifts.
"No. Neo is the anomaly that fits mine, that empowers mine. Exactly like I empowers him" she looks as Kamala stares back at her "Together we're not just 1+1, together we're powered to the square. Now, we are the quadratic equation that unbalances the original equation" Kamala swallows this time "I think it could be enough to break the system."
Trinity's eyes pierce Kamala's.
"But as not human, on that time, the Oracle missed one other variable though. A very human variable, and for this reason something nor machines nor programs took into accounts"
"I can't follow you anymore"
"Of course you can't. But you can read me now, can't you? My code?" Trinity asks "There're not just me and Neo anymore, not just the two of us anymore"
Kamala's eyes widen... and she can read it in Trinity's code.
"A triune One?"
Trinity nods at Kamala's question.
"As soon as I became aware of my child's presence inside me I couldn't help but thinking 'what if I misunderstood? What if Neo wasn't supposed to be the One? Not really... ' "
... ... "The Oracle told me that I would fall in love, and that the man I loved would be the One. So you see? You can't be dead, because I love you."
... ... "You're tied to the One, Trinity. Intertwined with his life like never before. Your life will depend on him and his on you. You've made a choice which changed everything. Now you have to understand it"
"The prophecy she gave me... it can fit both Neo and my son. There's not one of them that I love more. So, what if my baby was supposed to be the One instead, not Neo?" Trinity touches her lower abdomen, even if it's perfectly flat in here, she knows her son is there "And in the right moment in which that thought passed through my mind, just for a fraction of second, my mind did the rest... the bare doubt was enough to do the rest. I felt like, if my son was supposed to be the One, I can't die in the Matrix till he's inside me. How can he be the One if he's dead?! It's just the hint of a doubt... but enough for my mind to make it real. It's awareness. It opened my mind, freed my mind completely. I did the same with Neo, and our baby did it with myself. I began to see the code, like Neo does. And... Neo didn't stop to be the One, we're the One together. All the 3 of us. It's power cubed. It's a third equation. A triune One. A Trinity. One and three, three in one"
"Shit!"
"Yeah" Trinity nods at Kamala's curse, giving her a piercing look "But it's not why I'm here. We're still only humans, none of us really have superpowers in the real world. No matters what we can do in here. So, I'm here because this is my last chance to meet my child" she pauses to stare at the woman in front of her "And for you to meet your daughter again, Kamala"
Trinity can read the effect of her words on the Indian woman.
Fear. Love. Hope. Human reactions in a not human being.
Trinity didn't think it could be possible, but...there it is... in Kamala's code.
"I can read you, Kamala. And right now... you're like a puzzle with a missing piece. I can still see the whole picture yet, but the missing piece will always be there, leaving you incomplete and struggling around what you've lost"
Trinity gives Kamala a sympathetic look "I know that feeling. I love my child with all myself" Trinity says "Both our children, they're all that we worth living for. I need him like you need Sati"
"What do you want from me?"
Once more Kamala's question is very direct. She's a machine after all.
"Fight for her" Trinity replies "Your husband is the Power Plant systems manager for recycling operations. You are an interactive software programmer. You can enter the Matrix mainframe. You can hack the system"
"I can't. We can't survive without the energies coming from humans beings"
Trinity stares at her.
"Human race in destined to extinction anyway. Energy shortage will mean restoring the original version of the Matrix, deleting every unnecessary program. Are you really sure you can hide Sati enough? Preserving her from deletion?"
Kamala doesn't reply, but Trinity can see it, the little fluttering of her code.
"We're different, and yet alike. We're mothers... This war began 200 years ago, maybe more. I wasn't there, nor you. Now we all want peace. It's not my world or yours. It's mine and yours, together. We need you, you need us. It's a do ut des. There's human beings who don't want to be freed, they didn't mind if the Matrix is not real...they're happy and fulfilled in their own needs and that's enough for them... so involved in the system that they're ready to fight to protect what they have there... to kill to be back there..."
Trinity's mind goes back to Cypher.
"Freedom is freedom just if you want it. We can't impose freedom. It has to be their choice. Staying or leaving. I know, in a way, it's the same for your race... as a program you should have just accepted Sati's deletion... what's not useful has to be deleted... it's the thinking-mode of a Machine... and yet... here you are... "
"You're saying we should keep the Blue Pills for our energy and let the Red ones free?" Kamala's eyes are fixed in Trinity's "...that machines should fraternize with human beings?"
Trinity's mind goes back to the sentinel in the turret... to the sort of purr against her skin.
"I'm saying it's not our choice. It's theirs" she says "The only way for peace is your world and mine meeting halfway"
Kamala stares at Trinity again.
"Why should I trust you?"
Trinity shrugs.
"Same reason why I'll trust you. No choice. Cooperating and fighting against the system which controls us both... against a common enemy... for our future, for the future of our children"
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Trinity's eyes opens back on the Neb, meeting Ghost worried eyes, then Morpheus and Niobe's standing behind her brother.
... shit!...
"Soldier, "
"Sir"
Her paleness turns off Morpheus' words in his throat. It's like watching a father after discovering his daughter took his car without asking, destroying it in a car accident. So angry that he would hit her... and yet fury disappears as soon as she's back home, injured but alive.
Trinity closes her eyes inhaling deeply, her features tensing at an incipient cramp in her lower abdomen. She inhales and exhales again, focusing in breathing and in not letting her mind to panic.
She pushes herself in a sitting position, then standing up. Her balance still unsteady as light sweat appears on her forehead. Her eyes silently asking (...pleading...) Dozer to stay out of this.
... ... "Trinity, you can't."
... ... "Let's put things this way, Doz. Would you risk your life for Jaden and Pearl?' He stares at her, then gives a nod. 'Yeah,' she nods in turn 'I'm risking mine for my child. If I succeed I'll save his live and the life of your children. I have to try"
... ... "but if you go in a labor now, I won't be able to save your child instead. An hovercraft is not equipped for a preterm baby. Last time you enter the Matrix we barely took you out alive" ... she looks down and then up again...
... ... "I can stand the training program. I can stand that too"
... ... "You can't know it"
... ... A sigh. She knows he's right, and yet, once more, she has no choice...
She exhales slowly, straightening her back. But it's clear she can't stand at attention like code requires.
"I don't know if I'm angrier because you risk both yours and Ghost's life or because you disobeyed orders, Lieutenant. It's not independence of mind. It's mutiny. What's the hell it's happening?"
Morpheus would go on but his eyes move on the sweating on Trinity's forehead, her face so pale like all the colour has been drain from it. A part of him want just to yell at her. She's a determined woman, resolute, fearless either, but not reckless, nor irresponsible. He's angry, but even more he's somehow disappointed, like someone who feels almost betrayed by whom he trusted more. He just wants to lose his renowned composure and to yell at her. Like to an unruly child. And yet, he notices how she closes her hands in fists. It's clearly not because she's preparing herself for a fight, even just for a verbal fight, she's keeping them from trembling instead. She tries to put them behind her back, in her military standing pose. But once again she can't keep a perfect straight stand at attention pose. He doesn't know what's wrong with her, but she's clearly whatever but fine right now. Probably about to pass out once more, like the last time she entered the Matrix.
Trinity's lips part like to answer Morpheus' question but she closes them again soon after. Piercing blue eyes in dark eyes. She want to tell him that it's true, that she was in charge and she ordered to the entire crew to obey her orders against their Captain's back. And yet it wasn't a mutiny. She's loyal to him like she's always been. To him and to Zion. She never was untrustworthy, nor disloyal. But she can't... fully aware that if she opens her lips to talk she won't be able to form a single word. She can feel her own fast pulse increasing as she holds her breath in an attempt of not moaning, dark spots appearing in front of her eyes.
"I rephrase. You're a fucking stubborn idiot, Lieutenant"
She doesn't reply, but this time her eyes close for a moment and she loses her balance, hurrying to reach for the nearer furniture for support. Morpheus' arm is around her waist before she can see it coming.
"C'mon"
Trinity's knees gives up as soon as she loses the focus on her muscles. Morpheus holds her tighter and glances at Neo's body.
"Where's Neo?"
"Almost there" Tank says, giving in turn a quick worried glance to Trinity.
"You have to lie down" Morpheus says, gesturing something to Dozer. If it was everyone else he would have just scooped her in his arms, but he knows her well enough to give her the chance to try to reach her quarters on her own legs.
He helps her to sit down on her bed and to lie down. She hears his 'I'll be right back' and just nods, not opening her eyes though.
... ... "but if you go in a labor now, I won't be able to save your child instead. An hovercraft is not equipped for a preterm baby. Last time you enter the Matrix we barely took you out alive" ...
She does her best to push away Dozer's words from her mind.
She just needs to focus, to tell herself she can do this. '... c'mon Trin, just breathe in, breathe out... it's panic, just panic...' She can tell it from the numb feeling in her fingers '... c'mon, relax... ' And yet, the tension in her belly grows... her breathing gets fast '... c'mon Trin, don't, don't panic... just breathe...'
"How far along are you?"
Trinity's eyelids suddenly open at the unexpected voice coming from her door. Blue eyes meet hazel eyes and they stare at each other. Niobe's eyes are almost dark green now.
"Not enough"
She would have wanted her voice to come out stronger than just that weak whisper, but she knows it's enough that she didn't answer just with a moan instead.
And Niobe nods at that so vague answer from the first officer of the Neb.
She knows why she's so diffident, so distrustful. She watches as she closes her eyes again, clearly keeping back a moan this time, through clenched lips.
"I know you don't trust me. But I'm not Commander Lock's informer,"
"It's not about you Niobe... but I can't afford him to -"
Her breathing get laboured again, and again she keeps her breath preventing herself from moaning. She just swallows instead.
"He won't know. Not from me at least" She can feel Niobe's hand touching her arm inviting her to turn and rest on her left side, facing the metal wall instead of her. Niobe answers Trinity unspoken question before she could say it out loud "Something about decompressing some sort of vein to give more blood to the foetus. Something I heard of. Ask Dozer for more detailed news, I'm just a Captain," she says as Trinity's eyes stare at her, following her instructions though "And anyway if Lock wants to know more about his fleet he'd better move his ass from his fucking chair and bring it in here sometime"
A smirk appears on Trinity's lips this time, but she has to hold back her breathing again. She closes her eyes again, but she can hear both Dozer and Morpheus hurrying through her bedroom door.
"Trinity, just breathe and relax"
It's Dozer's voice and she knows there's no point anymore in trying to hide it. Niobe got it by herself. Morpheus is going to know one way or another. She doesn't stop Dozer's hand from lifting her sweater to check her this time, not bothering anymore about the too many eyes looking.
She doesn't meet their eyes but she's clearly aware their eyes are on her baby bump. She's at least six months pregnant, maybe more.
Her hand covers her eyes as Dozer's hand moves on her abdomen. She tries to move on her back as soon as Dozer finishes his check, but he prevents her from doing it, so she turns just her head to meet Morpheus' eyes.
"I know I should have reported about my condition, Morpheus..." her voice trembles, clearly struggling to speak but doing her best to try anyway. She exhales, "I couldn't afford it..." Another inspiration followed by a long expiration "I take full responsibility for my choice. Reprimand me. Confine me. For my omission and my disobedience to specific orders. But, please, trust me now. What I did..." she stops, closing her eyes and biting her lip to prevent from moaning. Her breathing stops in her throat for a moment, then she exhales again trying to control her laboured breathing.
"Trinity, keep breathing"
She inhales deeply, ignoring Dozer's warning.
"...what I did... it's a last desperate attempt for the war to end"
Morpheus' hand finds Trinity's arm, watching Dozer as he injects a vial in Trinity's plug, then connecting a drip. He knows this Trinity. The one ready to risk whatever she has for what she believes in. For someone she loves. It's esteem, respect, trust.
"Can you just follow an order for once, Lieutenant? Just breathe and try to relax" Morpheus says, his voice is teasing and reassuring like a parent "I trust you, Trinity. I always did"
She doesn't answer as she feels his hand holding hers.
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When she wakes up an hand is still holding hers, but a different hand. Not Morpheus this time, but Neo's. The drip inserted in her arm is empty now, sign that she slept a few hours at least. She hisses in pain as she tries to move a little, but this time it's just a mild cramp from her stiffened muscled, for having been in the same position for too long. She doesn't know where Niobe's trick came from, but she feels fine now. Her free hand immediately moves on her belly and Neo's hand moves on top of hers over there.
"The baby's fine. And you too"
Her eyes meet his. He can see concern turning in relief. And she gives a little nod.
"No sign of a preterm labor," he says answering the question he knows she doesn't have the gut to ask "You had an anxiety attack."
Another nod.
"What did they tell?"
"Er, Morpheus is still wondering how you almost reached your due date without him having noticed you're carrying a baby. He said something about either you being indecipherable or him being an idiot. Just as a confirmation he asked Niobe how she guessed it and she just gave him a rolling of eyes, like it was the most obvious thing. Sparks wildly grinned at me for having made him win a big bet about knocking you up before the end of the war... there's a huge wager around the fleet apparently. Tank glared at me, he bet that if I did it before the end of the war you would have just cut my balls, and my balls are still on, for your delight. He has it in for Dozer for his appeal to professional secret"
A little smile plays on her lips, but she holds Neo's hand tighter at the look in his eyes, despite his attempt to lighten things and play down.
"I shouldn't have let you go in there"
"It's not your fault. It's been my choice"
Their eyes painfully meet again.
"We risked our baby's life, Trinity"
"We risked, to give our baby a life, Neo"
Choice.
And yet once again choice feels like an illusion. The Merovingian's words ring in their minds.
... ... Choice is an illusion created between those with power and those without...