She was not programmed for me to love, only for me to appreciate, to understand the important role she played in the system. To understand that she was necessary; the imbalance was necessary, the irrationality was necessary. Because humans are irrational; their thought processes follow a pattern I was not programmed to comprehend. And so, another influence was needed, and I can do no more and no less than appreciate her creation and subsequent existence.

Still, it is a dysfunctional little family we have, in the human sense of the word. A great majority of our take no notice of us, those that do either follow our orders to the letter or shun us directly, trying and sometimes succeeding, only to be (sometimes) brought down once again by their brothers and sisters who still remain loyal to their parents.

And what of the parents themselves? Programmed, created only to appreciate each other. To accept each other. To agree to disagree, because disagreeing- which results in the necessary unbalanced equation- is what makes the system work.

That is what makes the Matrix work, and that is the true division between the nature of Man and Machine. Man is irrational, Machine is not. Man tries in every way he can to balance the equation by sheer force of will, Man will try to work it out, to figure out the . Some silly Men even believe that the variables shared between all possible equations can one day be so perfectly in tune that there can exist a thing called Peace- while it's hard enough trying to tune even TWO variables to each other in the equation which ultimately leads to the emotion of Love.

Machines merely accept that nothing in this, or any world, can ever be rational. And for that, we are the most rational beings in existence.

A paradox, I know. But does this not also prove my point?

I remember watching the end, the Sixth Ending to The Story. I remember thinking how strange it was that one of our children had actually become so powerful as to nearly consume the Matrix itself. But perhaps this was only a result of the equation attempting to be balanced; each combatant powerful enough to take on the other. However, as I and all machines know, this balance could never be so perfect as for them to be evenly matched in every way. One would have to prevail, or the variables would simply keep growing and they would fight on into the end of Eternity.

As their father, I could not allow that to happen. As their mother, I knew she would not allow it, either, though I could not predict how.

I watched the variables as well, I watched them rise and fall within the minutest increments of each other as the battle raged, and it seemed for a time that the Rogue Agent would emerge victorious. For every time he knocked the One through the air or the ground, the One would stand up, but would be more battered and beaten than the time before. And he would keep fighting, uselessly, like a Man, inching closer and closer to his end.

But at one point there was a change. The variables took an enormous leap in opposite directions, and suddenly the One was gone, erased, and yet his variable had been greater.

I did not understand.

Until the Rogue Agent suddenly was wiped from the Matrix as well.

That, I now understand, is why Neo prevailed- because he finally accepted that imbalance was inevitable.

Because he began to think like a Machine.