Set after the Matrix Revolutions (with references to the Matrix Resurrections, just 60 years before). After the crash of the Logos, Trinity has been revived by Machines and she's back in Zion. She's the tangible sign of the new alliance Humans-Machines.
...
AMNESIA
...
"It's over, it's over! The war is over!"
...
"Neo, wherever you are… thank you!"
…
It's been three months since that day and a lot has changed from there.
People is not the same anymore, Machines are not the same anymore. They are no more called 'Machines' either, they're Synthients. It's a word they prefer to "Machines."
In good or in bad everything has changed. There are still limits, but Humans are allowed in Synthients City, and Synthients are allowed in Zion.
It's not easy to accept for everyone, somebody still struggle in accepting this new cooperation treaty after so many years of war, but as days go on hope and faith and confidence are beginning to take the place of hate and fear.
A new city is under construction, halfway between Zion and the Machine City. Io.
It began just as a meeting point between Humans and Machines, but it's growing to the point that some people has begun living there, most of all the first human-androids couples. Centuries after, it's like being back at the first black-white couples or at the first homosexual couples... people's mentality hasn't really changed and there's still diffidence for what is new and different from what they call 'normality'.
Improvements are already clearly visible in Zion too. New technologies which would have been unthinkable just a few months earlier and that affect every field of knowledge, from medicine and biochemistry to mechanics and electronics.
The Bio-sky is still at its first version. Most people says it works kind of like grow lights, but actually it's way more complex than that. It pulls water from the crust, hydronating the air and it balances the ECO and the SRI cycles. But the reality is that it is pretty to look at. It helps in giving people hope and trust in better days to come for them and their children.
Lost in her thoughts, Trinity wraps herself tighter in the long white knitted cardigan which almost reaches her calves, standing to the balustrade in front of her apartment. To be honest there's no comparison with the real sky. She had just a glance of it, a glimpse of pure light, of blue and pink and white she can barely describe to people, they just have to see it. She hopes it will be possible for them, and for herself, to see it again one day.
She doesn't remember a lot of that day. She remembers the crash and Neo's touch on her face, his hand in hers, his lips on hers. Nothing else. She remembers opening her eyes back in Zion, physical pain replaced by the pain of her loss. She's still alive, and yet she's not. Nothing will be like before anymore. In a way Machines killed her twice, in the Machines City first, and reviving her after. And yet she knows she has to be grateful for being alive. She's the tangible sign of the new alliance Humans-Machines. She's the 'gift' the Machines took back to Zion as a tangible sign of peace. They couldn't do the same with Neo. Her wounds are already replaced by scars, her pain is not physical anymore, but it's deeper than nothing before. Work is what keeps her going, and now it's time of cooperation and diplomacy, she can't afford Neo's sacrifice to be useless.
"Trinity!"
She quickly turns meeting Ghost's eyes as he runs to her along the corridor, slowing down and regaining his usual rapid and confident walking. She closes her cardigan on the front with both hands so that the light white cotton slip she wears under it and her bare legs disappears from his eyes.
"Did Morpheus call you?" He asks almost voiceless for the running, approaching her and kissing her cheek, something he always does when they're not on duty. She shakes her head in a 'no' and her eyebrows lift in a questioning look.
"He knew I'm not on duty today" she says as Ghost looks down at her bare feet.
"Yeah, I told him you had a medical appointment," he gives her a sort of apologetic look. After all it's not a secret for anyone that, after the surgeries she had in the Machine City, she still needs a lot of checks. Not that she likes to talk about it "He apologizes, but he wants you at General Headquarters, as soon as you can"
Trinity eyes turn serious, almost worried.
"Why? What happened?"
"No idea, Sis, he just sent me to get you, a few minutes after you called me here" he looks at her from head to toe "By the way, what did you want to tell me?"
She just stares at him, her piercing blue eyes in Ghost's dark eyes. For a moment she seems like pondering if telling him what she wanted or not.
"Nothing," she just says at last "Just, gimme a minute to get changed"
He looks as she turns and enters the red metal door of her apartment, leaving the door open so he can follow her inside. He just stops in the kitchen as she walks through the curtain to her bedroom.
He suits himself like usual, taking a cup from the cabinet to pour himself some water. His eyes stops on the familiar two little pictures on it, almost hid between the cups but somehow always there to be seen.
A picture of part of the Nabuchadnezzer's crew, on the dock waiting for a mission. Trinity, Dozer, Tank, Apoc and Switch. And a selfie-picture of Trinity and Neo that he knows for sure Neo took against her will. The contrast between the look she's giving him and the smirk trying to appear on her lips at the way Neo's watching her is breathtaking. He can still feel the strength of their love, kept in an exchange of glances.
Ghost suddenly turns as soon as he hears Trinity's step approaching, in her usual military clothes and boots now, and just takes one of the cups, nonchalantly moving to the faucet to fill it with water.
"Really Sis, what's so mysterious you couldn't tell me on the phone?" He asks trying to bringing up the topic again "You seemed, I don't know... worried?"
She just sighs and once again he has the sensation she's really hiding something to him, but she just shakes her head again.
"Uhm, we'll talk later, now we better go"
…
"Captain"
"Commander"
Trinity and Morpheus exchange a conspiratorial look as she enters his office, despite the use of their reciprocal new rank titles.
Ghost enters behind Trinity, and Morpheus greets him with a polite 'thank you, Lieutenant' to which the Asian man replies just with a little bow of his head. He closes the door behind his back, but just stands there, near the door, as Trinity walks to the Commander's desk and puts her arms behind her back standing at attention.
The old man with whom Morpheus was talking, glances at her and hurries to leave, greeting her with a 'ma'am' and a deferential bow.
They both wait for him to leave and close the door, then Morpheus gets up from his chair from behind the desk and meets Trinity in the middle of the room. She relaxes moving her arms along her sides. Morpheus doesn't talk, but his large hand gently touches her arm in an unspoken 'how are you?'. Her features stay unperturbed and she answer just with a little nod in an equally silent 'I'm fine'.
"Morpheus, what's happened?" She asks instead.
Morpheus just looks from her to Ghost as his hand gives a squeeze to her arm that it's a sort of 'wait!'.
"Is the Genesis ready?" He asks, staring at the second in command of the Genesis as Trinity turns to her first officer in turn.
"Yes, Sir. Ma'am"
Ghost's eyes move from Morpheus to Trinity.
... what on hell!
"Holy shit, Morpheus! What's happened?"
She's clearly on the alert now and despite her stoic features her stomach twinge to the point it almost hurts.
"Protea" Morpheus just says, like it has to make sense to her. It doesn't actually.
Protea is the android who took her back to Zion, and the one who helped her to fill the gaps of her memories about what happened in the Machine City. She's ('she' because she choose feminine features) a friend. It's hard to believe she can say it of a machine, but she trusts her, and she owns her own life to her.
So, well, what about her now? She met her less than a week earlier in Io since they both are Officials at chief of the Diplomatic Affairs.
"She asks us to meet her as soon as possible"
Trinity's eyes widen, but her features don't show any other emotion.
"In Io or in the Matrix?"
She asks, ignoring how she'd like to kick Morpheus right now for giving her just little bits of information.
"In the Machine City. Synthients City" he corrects himself.
Trinity's eyes move from Morpheus to Ghost and then back from Ghost to Morpheus. From her brother's look he has no idea what Morpheus is talking about, exactly like she is.
"Us?"
She tentatively asks, lifting an eyebrows this time.
"You and me" he specifies.
It makes no sense. Why Morpheus? He's not properly a fan of this cooperation process between Machines and Humans. He accepts it just in name of peace, but he's still totally taking sides, still too tied to the events of the past.
"Morpheus..." she tries again, clearly knowing he haven't told her everything yet. And she's beginning to feel a mixture of anxiety and fear she doesn't like. Her stomach twinges again to the point she has to surrender to her own stubbornness and to put a hand on it, to prevent it from growing to the point she can't stand.
"You better sit down" Morpheus says having a glare from Trinity as a reply.
"I don't need to sit down. I need to know what the fuck is happening!"
She raised her voice this time and, despite this so-called insubordination, Morpheus is looking at her with fatherly eyes. If there's something she can't stand is people looking at her like they think she's about breaking down. She didn't, not even after knowing about Neo's death. Not in front of people at least. And after a splenectomy, a sutured lung, broken bones and a coma she was back to work in a few weeks, still limping and sore. She doesn't allow anyone to treat her like a porcelain doll, not yesterday, not today, nor tomorrow.
She runs a hand in her hair, which have grown an inch, sighing deeply.
"Morpheus," she tries again in what is a plead mixed to exasperation.
"She only said that..." Morpheus' dark eyes lock with the blue of hers "… that they want to show us Neo's body"
Trinity freezes.
Neo's corpse. She mentally corrects, somehow surprised by a Synthient's tact. They're quick learners after all.
Her eyelashes flutter almost imperceptibly, but she doesn't close her eyes. Her breathing stops.
"Trinity?"
She should have listened to her Commander's order and sit down. Her heart is hammering in her chest so hard that she can hear it in her ears, and she realizes she's not breathing just when she's forced to exhale. She swallows trying her best for answering to Morpheus' calling despite the incipient strong wave of nausea at the base of her throat.
"I heard you," she succeeds in answering, her tone flat and sharp at the same time.
"If you don't feel -" Morpheus' voice is hesitant this time, and Trinity feels like being one of those women in old TV series, called to identify their men.
"No, I want to be there"
She answers quickly, before he can finish the sentence.
Agreeing in going there doesn't mean she really feels like going actually, but she knows she wouldn't forgive herself for not doing it. And yet she can feel again nausea building up in her stomach, so much that she has to inhale deeply to try to erase that bad feeling.
"How long for the ship being ready to go?" Trinity asks to Ghost before Morpheus could ask her something else.
"1 hour, one and a half at most" he replies, glancing at Morpheus from over Trinity's shoulder and than back to what's both his sister and captain.
"Ghost, left the guys home. If you're ok in driving I don't need the full crew there" Trinity orders, back in her military mode.
Ghost nods.
"Take Esc with us"
Morpheus orders instead as she meets his look. She's about replying but from the Commander's stare he's not taking a 'no' as an answer.
"Fine"
Her tone is dry, but she well knows his order comes because of worrying. She'd just want he wasn't always so damn right.
"Commander. Lieutenant." Trinity says in her military tone moving to leave "See you on the dock in one hour"