Bullets

Birthed Again

I woke up in a dark, cold room. I pulled the blanket closer to me. This was the first time I remember consciously waking up. It was more of a restless sick sleep. Like the sleep you get at night when you've come down with a common cold and can't breathe through one nostril. A fever dream. I looked around, on the other side of the room, across from me, was another body. Sleeping away. He wore a blue sweater, and grey sweatpants. So did I actually. I looked around again. And something caught my eye. On my hand was a cold dark...hole. They traveled all the way up to my arm. In my right arm was a device. I pulled it out, examining it. A long rod?

My hand reached back up to my shoulders which also had the buttons. Then my neck. And in the back of my head, where my brain should be, was the biggest.

I noticed movement across from me, and Thomas sat up suddenly. He looked at me, then at himself, and made the same discoveries as me. "This is weird." I whispered. Suddenly, the door opened.

"Morpheus what's happening to me?" Neo asked.

"What is this place?" I put in my own question.

"More important than what, is when."

"When?" Neo asked.

"You believe it is the year 1999, when in fact it's closer to 2199. I can't tell you exactly what year, because we honestly don't know. There's nothing I can say that will explain it for you. Come with me...see for yourself."

I stood, following Morpheus. We climbed up a ladder into the main deck. "This is my ship. The Nebuchadnezzar."

"This is the core. Where we broadcast our signal and hack into the Matrix." He said. I was awed by a circle of chairs that looped around. Each had a machine to go with it. "Most of my crew, you already know. This is Apoc, Switch, and Cypher. The ones you don't know are Tank, and his older brother Dozer." He said. "And the little one behind you is Mouse."

After a pause, I glanced back from my curious examination of the chairs. "You wanted to know what the Matrix is?"

I noticed the little one, Mouse walking over to me who Tank was helping set up. "Can I help?"

"Yeah...actually you can strap her down the rest of the way. Stay right here so you can hold her down."

"Hold me down? For what?!"

"Try to relax." Morpheus said as Mouse put a final belt over my torso. He pushed Neo and my heads into the rests."This will feel a little weird." Mouse was ready on my shoulder, when I pulled away from a strange feeling in my brain. It almost tickled.

We were in a bright white room. A chair, and a TV.

As Morpheus told us more and more about thw matrix, I found myself becoming more and more interested, intrigued but also afraid. I didn't like believing I wasn't in control. But the fact that...these machines ruled my life and possibly my every desicion. It was very unsettling. I could tell Neo felt the same way. But obviously, he felt stronger about the subject than I did. When we were out...and we took care of the sick Neo. My door opened.

"Hey, Morpheus is in the dining room. He wants to talk to you." Trinity said.

"Okay...thanks Trinity." I say as I stood. I walked put and she walked beside me. "I take it Neo didn't take the news well?"

"No, not really."

"I think it was too early for Morpheus to bring you guys into that. And all of it at once. It has to be disturbing."

"It really was. The mass amount of information, I'm sure it overwhelmed Neo."

"Well, here we are." She said. "Hey, I'll see you later, okay? Maybe if Tank is up to operate, I can show you some stuff." She said, punching my arm lightly.

"I'd like that." I say. "I'd like that a lot."

Morpheus was sitting at the table. "Natasha. I hope you're not mad at me."

"Why would I be mad at you?" I asked, sitting at the table across from him. He slid me a glass of water. "You only want the best for Neo and I."

"I know. I wasn't sure if it was the right time." He said. "I misjudged time, by alot. But...Natasha. I think Neo is the one."

"The one?" I repeated. He nodded.

"There's always been something different about him, I could never put my finger on it. That's why I found him."

"I was dragged along for the ride...right?" I said with a small smile. Morpheus looked offended by my statement.

"No...we were saving you. From the agents."

"Neo was captured because of me." I said, lowering my head.

"But that's not possible. We only tracked four agents."

"Four? There's three agents. Smith, Brown and Johnson."

Morpheus' eyes narrowed. "Are you an agent, Natasha."

"Morpheus. I don't know. If there were time...I could have tried to figure it out."

"Let's not worry about it right now." Morpheus said.

But I didn't take his advise.

~~~

"You think you're an agent?" Tank asked, spinning in the operator chair. "That would explain why you're signal is weird...is that possible...Dozer?"

"I mean, maybe?"

"Will you at least check it out next time I'm in the Matrix?

"Sure."

"Don't tell Morpheus you're doing this for me. He specifically told me not to worry about it."

"Your secret is safe with me."