Fic: 'A Lullaby for the Nebuchadnezzar' (2/25)
Title: A Lullaby for the Nebuchadnezzar
Fandom: The Matrix
Character: Mouse
Word Count: 607
Prompt: From fanfic25, 5/16: 'Peaceful'.
Notes: None.
Summary: Some men dream when they are asleep. Some stay awake.
A Lullaby for the Nebuchadnezzar
The engines of the Nebuchadnezzar cast a soothing hum over the ruins of human civilisation. The world of organics, for the most part, was dead. All that remained now were the machines. The only scraps of humanity for hundreds of miles were resting, as comfortably as they could, inside their cabins.
Morpheus was asleep, dreaming of finding someone who could return the world to what he had always believed it could be. Trinity had spent a long night watching a man in the Matrix inching closer to her, and now he was treading, slow and deliberate, in her head while she slept. Apoc and Switch were curled up together. Tank and Dozer were playing cards in the mess hall. Cypher's dreams were occupied with food, and a city that no longer existed. And Mouse was chewing on his thumbnail, gazing wide-eyed at the code.
It never ceased to amaze him, the green characters that fell like snow and sounded like rain on glass making up an entire world inside people's heads. He'd been unplugged years ago, and every time he saw it, on a quiet night when the sounds of a ship settling were making him drowsy, he felt like he could fall into it. And when one could fall into it, one could check up on anybody they felt like. He could call up Sacramento and check in on those folks he used to think were his parents. Occasionally he thought about them, when he was missing the Matrix; wondered whether they missed their 'son'. He could drop by unnoticed on his high-school girlfriend, or the guy whom he'd had a disastrously unrequited crush on. There were billions of souls tied into this colossal program, and Mouse could watch any of them.
In the darkness of the ship, he could hear the door to the mess hall clank open, and the footsteps and voices of Tank and Dozer recede down the corridor. That was it - he was actually alone in the common areas of the ship. He rifled around on the desk. Somewhere, here, amongst all the discs that Tank had ordered by some esoteric system, there was an escape. He found it, holding it up in the dim light for verification.
Mouse bounded up the steps to the broadcast deck. He checked the disc once more to make sure that he wasn't about to inadvertantly load the 'Jump' program, and slid it carefully into the console. He climbed into one of the chairs, and readied himself for the click of cold metal at the base of his skull.
The first time, he recalled, plugging in was like having someone jamming a cattle prod between your eyes. Now, he was inured to it, and felt only a sharp tingle in his head. The rush of the experience made the destination even more soothing. Some people used the 'Escape' program to travel, to feel the rush of waterfalls in Brazil or hear the sounds of Indonesian rainforests. For Mouse, there was only one place he really felt peaceful. He would happily wait until everyone had retired for the night to experience this. It was worth it, he thought as the white infinity of the Construct faded around him.
The sun baked the hillsides into a golden brown. Mouse breathed in, slowly, feeling the cool air as it seemed to seep into his lungs. Before he closed his eyes, he could see the rippling shadows of clouds as they raced across the gently shivering cornfields. He leaned back, and rested his head in someone's lap, someone whose face he hadn't quite decided on yet. Mouse dreamed.
Fandom: The Matrix
Character: Mouse
Word Count: 607
Prompt: From fanfic25, 5/16: 'Peaceful'.
Notes: None.
Summary: Some men dream when they are asleep. Some stay awake.
A Lullaby for the Nebuchadnezzar
The engines of the Nebuchadnezzar cast a soothing hum over the ruins of human civilisation. The world of organics, for the most part, was dead. All that remained now were the machines. The only scraps of humanity for hundreds of miles were resting, as comfortably as they could, inside their cabins.
Morpheus was asleep, dreaming of finding someone who could return the world to what he had always believed it could be. Trinity had spent a long night watching a man in the Matrix inching closer to her, and now he was treading, slow and deliberate, in her head while she slept. Apoc and Switch were curled up together. Tank and Dozer were playing cards in the mess hall. Cypher's dreams were occupied with food, and a city that no longer existed. And Mouse was chewing on his thumbnail, gazing wide-eyed at the code.
It never ceased to amaze him, the green characters that fell like snow and sounded like rain on glass making up an entire world inside people's heads. He'd been unplugged years ago, and every time he saw it, on a quiet night when the sounds of a ship settling were making him drowsy, he felt like he could fall into it. And when one could fall into it, one could check up on anybody they felt like. He could call up Sacramento and check in on those folks he used to think were his parents. Occasionally he thought about them, when he was missing the Matrix; wondered whether they missed their 'son'. He could drop by unnoticed on his high-school girlfriend, or the guy whom he'd had a disastrously unrequited crush on. There were billions of souls tied into this colossal program, and Mouse could watch any of them.
In the darkness of the ship, he could hear the door to the mess hall clank open, and the footsteps and voices of Tank and Dozer recede down the corridor. That was it - he was actually alone in the common areas of the ship. He rifled around on the desk. Somewhere, here, amongst all the discs that Tank had ordered by some esoteric system, there was an escape. He found it, holding it up in the dim light for verification.
Mouse bounded up the steps to the broadcast deck. He checked the disc once more to make sure that he wasn't about to inadvertantly load the 'Jump' program, and slid it carefully into the console. He climbed into one of the chairs, and readied himself for the click of cold metal at the base of his skull.
The first time, he recalled, plugging in was like having someone jamming a cattle prod between your eyes. Now, he was inured to it, and felt only a sharp tingle in his head. The rush of the experience made the destination even more soothing. Some people used the 'Escape' program to travel, to feel the rush of waterfalls in Brazil or hear the sounds of Indonesian rainforests. For Mouse, there was only one place he really felt peaceful. He would happily wait until everyone had retired for the night to experience this. It was worth it, he thought as the white infinity of the Construct faded around him.
The sun baked the hillsides into a golden brown. Mouse breathed in, slowly, feeling the cool air as it seemed to seep into his lungs. Before he closed his eyes, he could see the rippling shadows of clouds as they raced across the gently shivering cornfields. He leaned back, and rested his head in someone's lap, someone whose face he hadn't quite decided on yet. Mouse dreamed.