In an instant, the electron world of the Matrix opens up all around me, like a fractal flower opening up in my mind. I haven’t done anything other than slot the cable and I realize there’s nothing between me and the computer systems that make up the Matrix. No cyberdeck, no workstation, no terminal running the ASIST transformation algorithms to take the electronic ones and zeroes making up the worldwide information network and turn them into images and sensations the human brain can perceive and understand. There’s just me and the machine. Somehow, I’m doing it all myself, making sense of the flowing electrons in my head. There’s nothing but my mind and the Matrix, together like one.