here we are with chapter 3... i hope you guys like the image i generated, just in case if you are wondering how things are going to turn out for this story, well there is going to be some interesting stories that were part of the matrix franchise i want to add to the story so i hope you will enjoy it.
Chapter 3:
The real world - Date: June 29th 2763
Carrie awakens as she begins to regain her sight, but it's a bit blurry, but she can still touch and feel things and begins to notice that there is something in her mouth and immediately tries to get back up on her feet, but can barely feel her legs, but can freely move her arms and notices that the top is very soft and is struggling to breath once she realized that there was something in her throat, struggling to breath she pushes her hand through the thin soft layer of whatever it was. Finally, she managed to emerge from the thin layer that covered the opening above her face. After she emerges, she notices the object that was in her mouth, it was some form of breathing hose, and she was already beginning to panic. She then tries to carefully remove the hose thing inside her mouth and was able to breathe… however she still couldn't move her legs for some reason, but her arms are still moving. She begins checking out her surroundings, but then she notices that there are some strange tubes attached to her body. Her arms and legs had tubes attached to them; she could even feel some on her back to the neck as well. Terrified and confused of what was happening, she then notices she had no hair at all and that she was covered in some kind of pink slime inside a strange pod naked.
It took a short while for her to realize she was not the only one… she then notices that all around her are people who are also inside pods too. But are somewhat sleeping, and they too had plugs on their bodies. It was then she realized that the pod she is inside in is hanging on a wall of a massive tall cylinder shaped tower and notices that there are more towers with millions of pods all over them and are conducting electric bolts of energy. Then came out of nowhere, a strange machine flew down and hovered in front of Carrie and used its massive arm to grab her by the neck. Carrie was struggling to get the claw to let go of her neck.
Then the machine begins unscrewing one of the tubes in Carrie's neck. She could feel it too, and it didn't feel comfortable for her at all. But after the plug in her neck was removed, all the tubes on her body began to come off too, and she could not feel her arms at all. Soon the liquid in the pod begins to drain out and Carrie is pulled in too.
Soon she is carried by a current of the liquid being drained from her pod through a tunnel like a pool slide at a water park, and was afraid of what this slide-like tunnel leads to. Soon she reached the end of the slide and fell into a massive underground sewer and could barely swim, but then another strange machine flew towards her and held on to her as if it was hugging her. The machine then gently lifted her from the pool of water and carried her down the tunnels and stopped in front of a strange, bulky shape. The doors then begin to open, and the machine carries her inside the ship and lays her on some kind of bed.
Carrie's eyes begin to hurt as she tries to see, but then someone walks up to her and says, "welcome… to the world." the mysterious man said to Carrie as she began to have a blackout.
It wasn't long afterward; Carrie was then brought into a medical room laying on a table with a blanket covering her upper and lower body, and she could barely even move a muscle, for she could still show little movement. Carrie thought of speaking and hoping that someone might reply to her, "am I in… heaven or…?" Just as she was about to ask, a female voice spoke. "No you're not dead, in fact... you are far from it..." the female voice said. Thankfully, the people who rescued her have started giving her medicines and using some form of acupuncture.
Carrie can still feel her eyes hurt a little, but she can also feel the little pecks from the needles and has no idea what is happening, "what are you doing" Carrie asked. The mysterious woman stood there next to Carrie and began explaining "your muscles have atrophied, we're in the process of rebuilding them, it might take a long while for you to get back on your feet and walk again." the woman responded. Carrie paused for a moment and asked her "why… why are my eyes still hurting, am I blind or something?" the woman then paused for a moment and then replied "your eyes hurt because you never actually used them… just lay back and try to relax… rest first and then you'll get your answers soon." the woman said as she returned to the progress of helping Carrie.
It was not long afterward, that the mysterious group of people managed to heal Carrie. They've finished rebuilding her muscles; Carrie's eyes have stopped hurting, and she can finally see again. She even started to sit back up and move again. Her surroundings were very different from where she woke up in; she was in some kind of room and was sitting on a one-person bed. Just before she got to touch one of the plug holes on her arm, a familiar face suddenly walks into the room; it was Verna.
Carrie immediately got up from the bed and ran over to her; "Verna, please tell me what is going on and what in heaven's name is happening to me?" she asked as she trembled in confusion and fear. Verna immediately placed her hand on Carrie's left shoulder, then gave her the "shh" hand-sign. Verna then spoke "I know you have many questions, but it's not 'what' its 'when?' you believed it's the year 2013 when it is in-fact 2763 presumably, unfortunately we honestly don't know…" Verna explained as Carrie took the time to absorb what she was hearing.
"2763?" Carrie repeated, Verna nodded her head and continued speaking, "I know this sounds complicated, but we have other important things to do right now. Please follow me?" Verna asks, as Carrie nodded her head and follows Verna down the hall.
"This is my ship, the odyssey. It's a hovercraft" Verna said as she climbed up the ladder to the main deck, "up here is the main deck." Verna explains as Carrie takes in her surroundings, though it may be a bit cold, but the structure of the interior was a dark but an incredible sight to behold which left Carrie speechless as her eyes were wandering off all around the deck. There were big computer screens, cables all over the place with few red lights blinking. Then Verna began to introduce her crew to Carrie, "this is my crew, well, some you may have already met." Verna said as she points to a woman with long brown hair wearing a green jacket and jeans. "This is reva." Verna introduces the woman before resuming introductions of each person one by one. "Hello Carrie, nice to meet you." Reva said as she extends her hand out to Carrie. Carrie nervously shakes it and says, "hi, nice to meet you too." Carrie said as she smiled. Then Verna pointed to another person, one Carrie was familiar with... it was the same young man they call aiden and the person who warned her "most people call me tracer, but you can call me aiden." aiden said while greeting her again. Next was a dark-skinned man with short brown hair and goggles, "my name is linux." linux said before verna got the oppertunity to introduce him. verna then resumed her introductions "These are our pilots rudder" Verna said pointing to the first pilot, who appeared to be a blond short-haired Mexican. "And this is Silvia." Verna said as she placed a hand on the shoulder of a silver-haired woman who was wearing a white shirt and dirty grey jeans. then suddenly something caught Carrie's eye, it was some form of robot resembling a humanoid that seems to slide along with its head tentacles and looks like it uses its legs as arms tipped with huge claws. as it entered the main deck and approaches the group, it notices Carrie and she suddenly screamed in terror, and everyone looked at her in surprise. the group tries to calm her down "Carrie its okay, he's with us." aiden said as Carrie stood still frozen in shock, "he?" Carrie asked with fear in her voice. "we're very sorry about that... we should have told you... this is what we call a synthiant, he was a machine scout called a runner, but we found him on the surface sitting alone near a campfire." aiden explains as Carrie slowly calms down. "anyway we just call him 'runner'" aiden said as the synthiant stared at Carrie.
Carrie felt her heart pound in her chest as 'runner' slowly approaches her and gently touches her forehead with its own. Carrie can already feel it vibrating as if it were like a cat purring. She then realizes that the synthaint was comforting her and calmed down. "don't worry, he won't harm you. you'll get used to it." aiden said as Carrie looked at him and then back at runner, "thank you" she whispered, and the synthiant then backs away from her and returns to stand by verna. "okay, now that you've met everyone, let me explain what's going on." Verna said as she walked over to the captain's chair. "now, you want to know about the matrix and why you never heard of it." verna asks , and Carrie nods her head. "then please lay down here?" verna requested as she shows Carrie some kind of chair. Carrie then lays down on the strange chair feeling curious about what is going to happen. "this might feel weird..." verna warns her as someone inserts a plug into the back of Carrie's head. she squeezes her eyes shut as she feels the needle was inserted into her head.
Meanwhile Inside the loading program
finally when Carrie's eyes open, she finds herself in what appears to be an empty white room, to her it seemed like there was like nothing there. Carrie looks around and sees verna standing next to a red leather chair with a tv sitting in front of it. "this is what we call the construct. It is our loading program. We can load anything from clothes, to equipment, to weapons, to training simulations. Anything we need." verna explains as she sits down on the red leather chair. "so what do you think?" verna asks as Carrie stands up and walks over to her. "I guess I'm glad I'm not dead." Carrie replies while feeling uneasy about what is happening around her. "well, I'm glad to hear that." verna said as she resumes speaking "i know its very hard to believe, as you can see the clothes are different, plugs on your body and head are gone. your hair has returned." verna said as Carrie suddenly looks at herself and sees that she is wearing a pink t-shirt with green shorts, she even feels her hair has returned.
Carrie's fingers trembled as she reached up to touch her hair, the strands soft and familiar beneath her touch. "This is what we call residual self-image. meaning, it's a mental projection of your digital self." verna said as carrie walks over and touches the leather chair. "Is this even real?" carrie asked, feeling unsure about her surroundings.
Verna gazed at Carrie with a mixture of empathy and understanding, her eyes reflecting the weight of the truth she was about to reveal. "Reality is a complicated concept, Carrie," Verna began, her voice soft yet firm. "what is real, how do you define real? If you're talking about your senses, what you feel, taste, smell, or see, then all you're talking about are electrical signals interpreted by your brain." verna said while explaining to carrie Carrie's mind swirled with confusion, trying to grasp the concept of reality as Verna's words echoed in her head. She hesitated before speaking, "So... everything I've ever known, felt, or believed was just... signals in my brain?" Her voice wavered with a mix of disbelief and apprehension as she looked at Verna for reassurance.
Verna's expression softened, understanding the overwhelming weight of the truth on Carrie's shoulders. "I think It's time you know what the matrix is, carrie." verna said as she held a remote in her hand then she turns on the television and sat in the red leather chair. "this is the world that you know." verna said as carrie stared at the t.v. screen and sees scenes of herself and others she knew. Carrie's eyes flickered with a mixture of disbelief and curiosity as she watched the scenes unfolding on the television screen. Her heart raced with each familiar face that flashed before her, each memory evoking a wave of emotions that she struggled to contain. The room felt stifling, the air thick with tension as Verna resumed speaking "the world as it was in the early 21st century. it exists now only as part of a neural interactive simulation that we call the matrix. Except this version is a simulation loop of a horror movie based on a fictional horror story named after you. this version of the story is from the 2013 film." verna explains Carrie's mind whirled with a storm of emotions, each crashing against the shores of her consciousness with relentless force. Confusion mingled with disbelief, weaving a tangled web around her thoughts as she grappled to make sense of Verna's revelation. "you been living in a dream world, carrie." verna said as she turned off the television and stood up. "this is our world. as it exists today." she said as carrie notices that her surroundings start to change and take the appearance of a cold barren wasteland of ruin cities, there were human bones scattered on the roads, the oceans were dried up, and dark stormy clouds covered every inch of the sky, not even a single spec of sunlight can penetrate it. Carrie's heart pounded with the realization that this was the harsh reality she had been thrust into. "this is the desert... of the real." verna said as the sound of thunder and lightning sounded. to carrie this reality was a total nightmare, a cold, dead, decaying, sunless wasteland.
To be continued...
now here is a little information i want to add before i resume working on the next chapter, you see the robot runner in questioned is the same one from the animatrix series and yes im also using some of the information of the second rennasonse.
