Not Alone

by Abra
 
 

Part Two
 

Neo rubbed his eyes and squinted at the screen in front of him. He’d been sitting there for five hours now, watching the little green numbers of the matrix flash by, keeping a watchful eye on their enemy. It wasn’t easy. Ever since that dream, life had never been easy. It wasn’t even the fact that they were all working and fighting so hard for nothing, it was the secrecy. Neo was the only one who could understand what was happening to them; he was the only one who could see the disguise. The others continued their lives oblivious to the real truth and Neo couldn’t even bring himself to tell them. What good would it do anyway? What could they do?

He had decided to keep his mouth shut and carry the burden himself. If there was nothing they could do to get out, there was no reason for him to destroy all that they had fought their whole lives for. Just like all the people still inside the matrix, who didn’t have a clue about the world around them, he realised that they would be better off in ignorant bliss. Now it was his job to keep a straight face about it and keep their spirits up. No, he definetly wasn’t going to tell them.

It had been almost half a year since Neo had discovered the truth, and not much had changed. They had freed Mips now, and she was turning out to be an important asset to the crew of the Nebuchadnezzar. Even though she was new to this war, she had a determination like none Neo had ever seen before. She really hated the machines, and that was what kept her going. Sometimes he would amuse himself with the occasional clinches between her and Trinity, when the leader-instinct in both of them came out. It was never hostile, but still quite a sight to behold.

A hand came down on his shoulder and he jumped. The little startled cry he made even frightened Mips who was standing behind him, making her move her hand away.

"Oh shit Mips, you scared me!" Neo gasped.

She chuckled a bit before apologising. Mips was the only one on board the Nebuchadnezzar who didn’t hold the same kind of awe and respect for Neo as the others, but then again, she was the only one who hadn’t experienced the full extent of his powers. Even though she had been told his story multiple times, she didn’t seem to be able to fathom what had really happened. It must have seemed more like a myth or fairytale to her than reality, so she treated Neo exactly the same as she treated everyone else, which wasn’t always very well. Although it occasionally provoked annoyance from the others, Neo found it refreshing to be treated as a normal human being.

"That’s…that’s okay," he managed.

It had been a long time since he had really been startled, and he didn’t know what to make of it. Here as well as in the matrix, he could always sense things before they happened; he could feel people’s presence. No one could possibly sneak up on him, except now Mips had done just that. How was that possible? Could he be losing his powers?

Neo looked away from the monitor, straight into her eyes. Staring right back at him, the cold grey orbs gave him a sudden feeling of having his thoughts on public display. She stood there, for what must have been a few seconds but what seemed like hours, and gave him a blank look before she turned on her heels and left the room.

Just as she was almost out the doorway, Neo could have sworn he heard her mumble to herself: "Soon."

"Ok, are we ready Tank?"

Morpheus sat in his chair and waited to be plugged into the matrix. He was taking Mips and the others in for a practise run, as she still hadn’t become accustomed to actually being inside. Her work until now had been done from aboard the Nebuchadnezzar, getting into new sectors and leaving little "messages" from the rebels and such. Morpheus felt it was about time she got used to doing some tangible fighting, and he could tell that she was going to be good at it. At least, he thought, they had her destructive nature on their side.

He could tell she was looking forward to it; the little smile on her lips gave away her love for suspense and danger, as she lay back, took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Tank walked around the chairs and slid the data spike into the back of Trinity’s head first. Mips was the last.

Neo opened his eyes; puzzled. It was as if he had woken up from a sleep, a long dream that he couldn’t remember, and his head was aching slightly. Hovering above him was Mips, with the oddest smile on her face.

"What…what happened? Why aren’t we inside?" he asked her while she pulled the data spike out from his head. He couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous around her, she seemed so sure of what she was doing although she had only been freed two months ago and had never tried this before.

He sat up in the chair and swung his legs over the side. He had a quick look around the main deck, and almost overlooked the fact that Trinity and Morpheus were still jacked in, looking as peaceful as sleeping babies. Neo froze for a moment, then turned to face Mips. She was still staring at him, still wearing that eerie grin. Seeing the utter confusion on his face, she accidentally let out a little chuckle.

"Don’t worry Neo, they’re fine." she assured him. She began moving around the little semi-circle.

"They won’t know a thing."

"What did you do to them?!" Neo was raising his voice more than he intended to.

"Let’s just say they’re taking a little nap. I said not to worry."

Mips had hardly finished her sentence before they could hear Tank’s footsteps coming down the ladder from the control room. Both Mips and Neo turned to see him. Neo felt himself relax a bit, after all Tank had a lot more experience than he did. He could fix this. There was a metallic clang as Tank jumped off the last three rungs and hit the floor. He was staring at the ground, but quickly sensed the pairs of eyes fixed on him and lifted his head to meet them.

"What the…" he began.

"Tank, could you come over here for a minute," Mips said.

Even Cypher could fake it better, she thought.

Neo saw it happen sort of in slow motion, as if he was expecting it to happen. Perhaps he was. Tank was coming closer, just as Mips was raising her hand into the air. Her fingers snapped. Tank stopped.

Suddenly everything was silent. There were no humming engines, no monitors beeping, nothing. It took a moment for Neo to realise what was happening. He saw Tank standing in mid-stride, he looked over at the monitors and saw the code of the matrix standing still. Time, it seemed, was frozen.

To amazed to speak, and with his eyes nearly falling out of his head, Neo turned around to look at Mips, who’s unnerving smile had now turned into one that was seriously scaring him.

"Wha..what is this?!" he managed to gasp. She emitted a little giggle and looked at him with her head cocked slightly to one side.

"Well Neo, I should think you’ve been wondering what this is for quite a while now, am I right?" she replied, gesturing to the ship around her, which in it’s paused state seemed too surreal to be the world that Neo had called his home.

A wave of shock hit him. How could she possibly know about that? How could she know that he knew? The shock was ebbing away, and fear was taking it’s place.

"So I don’t see why any of this should come as a surprise to you. You’ve seen it all before, in the matrix, so don’t be so damned shocked to see it now."

For a minute or two he sat in silence trying to regain a sense of control of himself and process what was happening. He took a breath and decided to go with it.

"Alright then. Maybe you can explain to me what’s really going on and why I’m involved, Mips. Or whoever you are."

"Who I am? Well I don’t think that’s very relevant, do you? I think what matters is that I’m here now to enlighten you. You’re important to us, you see. You need to know the truth."

"Tell me."

"Yes Neo, you see, your mind has the potential to help us a great deal. You were able to see through the matrix, which is supposed to be impossible for a human being."

"So you’re saying I’m not a human being or what?"

"Not entirely."

Neo was taken aback by the remark. Not human? He had meant it sarcastically.

"Don’t think I’ll fall for your bullshit."

"I really don’t understand your hostility."

"You…you don’t understand? You enslave the whole fucking planet and kill anyone who has the nerve to do anything about it, and you don’t understand my hostility?! I would think someone smarter than a human being would be capable of comprehending that, even if you are machines, and…"

"Oh shut up Neo. I’m here to explain, not to listen to you unload on me." She waited for a moment, making sure he had understood that she was in charge. When he looked at the floor and didn’t protest, she continued.

"Now, over the last few months, we’ve led you to believe that your reality in fact was another layer of the matrix."

Neo’s eyes shot up at her.

"Led me? You mean…"

"Yes. It was all your imagination. Or rather, our imagination, if you could call it that. Right now, you’re lying in your bed on the Nebuchadnezzar in a state of coma. And you have been for the past three months. Your friends are getting quite worried. Giving up hope, perhaps."

Neo was having trouble taking it in. Another massive lie.

"But how?"

"Well it really wasn’t that hard. You, like everyone else who has been produced for the matrix, have a brain that is part machine. Every time you enter the matrix, you’re trusting your brain to a machine, Neo. Once we had located you, it was no problem to feed you any impulses we liked. Of course, the finding was the hard part."

"There is no second matrix? You mean, you’re in control of the real world too?" Neo was getting increasingly worried. However, he was more comfortable with this person than he would have been with any of the imposing agent figures. Still this, thing, had something different over it. This wasn’t a computer program like them. It was more than that.

"In control, no. Soon, perhaps. Who knows. That’s where you come in. You see, we believe that our two races should be able to find an agreement."

It was a machine. There could be no doubt. He had never seen one before, it was a lot different from what he had expected, of course, he had always pictured them as looking like the agents. This was a dream though. Neo had to keep reminding himself that this whole scenario was not taking place, and that Mips would be the same person she had always been when he woke up. If he woke up.

"Why do you think we should want to make an agreement with you? You destroyed the Earth and enslaved the entire human race, you motherfuckers. I don’t think very many people will want to give you a second chance, me included."

"We are not the enemy, Neo. We never wished to harm anyone, and so far we’ve made no attack. We defended ourselves, that’s all."

"Defended yourselves? You mean you didn’t start the attack?"

"No. You humans got nervous, and wanted to destroy your creation. We had to sustain ourselves. But we can’t live like this forever. We believe the best thing is to reconcile."

She had a point. All this information was so overwhelming. All of his ideas had been turned upside down in a matter of minutes, and suddenly his motivation to kill the enemy had been turned right at himself. But could he believe them? Couldn’t this just be another trick to mess with his mind now that Morpheus wasn’t around to help him?

"Neo, listen. We know you have trouble believing us, but there is nothing more we can do to convince you now. We are going to wake you up now, and we’ll contact you at a later time. What you have to understand is that you cannot tell anyone about this until we have given you further briefings. We don’t want to become hostile, but it is up to you to decide whether you want to force us to be. Remember we can get into your mind whenever we want. Bye for now."

Everything went white for a moment, Neo felt like he was standing in the construct. His head was hit by a violent pain, and he winced and closed his eyes.

When he opened them again, it was much slower. It hurt a bit. At first he couldn’t really see anything, but gradually he recognized the wired ceiling above him. The noise of the engines was back.

He was in his room.

Very very slowly, he sat up in his bed, testing his muscles to see how much he could withstand. Even though they ached a bit, he was able to get up and open the door. God, he thought, this was almost as bad as finding out about the matrix in the first place. But if there was one thing he had learnt, it was never to be surprised by the unexpected. It seemed that here, more than ever, anything was possible.

There was the familiar sound of fingers flying over a keyboard coming from upstairs, and Neo rushed as fast as was possible up the ladder.

Trinity was sitting there by the monitors, looking suddenly a lot smaller than he remembered. She didn’t immediately react to his presence, probably thought it was Tank or Morpheus. It wasn’t until he spoke that she noticed him behind her.

"Trinity…"

He could see the wave of shock hit her body and she sat up straight as a rod. Her head spun around so fast he was worried she might hurt herself. Her face, it was so pale. Old.

"Neo," she whispered. For a second or two, that was all she could utter. "Oh my God…"

The sight of her made him want to cry. Rushing over to her, he grabbed her in his arms and held her.

He was going to need their help, but he still didn’t know how to explain it to them. He didn’t know if they would believe him. Now that life was pretty much back to normal, the whole incedent seemed like it had never happened. Well then again, it hadn’t.
 
 
 

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