Part 9: Sight

Smith immediately straightened up, his spine ramrod straight and his jaw set. The Oracle looked as unassuming as ever, but that didn't make her any less imposing. So he stood at attention, his eyes forward, and prepared himself to endure whatever she might say or do.

"Well, let me take a look at you," she said casually, reaching up and removing his sunglasses, then turning him around so she could see him from all sides. His eyebrows shot up at the unexpected touch.

"Mm," she murmured approvingly, tucking the glasses into his coat pocket and stepping back once she'd finished. "Very good. You've done very well for yourself." Then she smiled at the others. "Why don't the rest of you take off your glasses too? It's nice to be able to really look at people, when they visit."

The agents complied with her request. As Smith had seen before, Collins' eyes were brown; the others' were blue, with Evans' nearly gray and Chapman's the color of the sky. Smith guessed that they didn't care if their eyes were exposed or not; they weren't about to give anything away, not like a human might.

"Good. Now Sati, will you take the cookies out of the oven, please?"

The girl, delighted, bounded into the kitchen. By the time the others had followed her in, she was already placing the tray of freshly-baked chocolate chip cookies on the table.

Collins took one without hesitation. When Evans and Chapman saw their team leader do it, they did too, and Smith was reminded again of his relationship with Brown and Jones.

"Since when do agents eat?" he asked her, feeling considerably more relaxed now that the Oracle's inspection was over.

"It is to emulate human behavior," she assured him. He wasn't sure if he believed that, because they smelled absolutely wonderful. It only reminded him that he was hungry (and that he'd never been hungry in the Matrix before). He didn't need Neo's memories to tell him that the food in Zion was lousy, and that this would probably be the best thing he got all week.

He took two of them.

"Now," the Oracle said to him, once everyone had arranged themselves at the table. "I know you must have a lot of questions for me. Go ahead and ask the one you've been dying to."

"Well, the most obvious question is why," Smith replied. He gestured at himself. "Why did this happen? Why did Neo do this to me?"

The Oracle regarded him evenly. "You already know the answer to that."

"No. I don't."

"You do. You just don't know that you know. And so does Agent Collins...don't you, dear?"

The agent in question went completely still. She seemed somewhat startled at being addressed directly by the Oracle, or perhaps she was taken aback at being included in the conversation that was supposed to be all about the One.

The Oracle smiled kindly at her. "Tell us about your team -- what you and your partners do."

The agent's eyes darted to Evans and Chapman, and then briefly to Smith; the question had evidently taken her off-guard. "We are investigation and security operatives, assigned to protect the One," she replied. "Agent Evans is primarily an information and intelligence gatherer, and Chapman is the combat and evasion operative."

"She covers your tracks?"

"She sees to it that our movements are nearly impossible to trace, unless we wish them to be."

"And that makes you the team leader. You integrate all the information and figure out the best way to use it." The Oracle smiled at her again. "So tell me, Agent Collins, what did you do before you got this assignment? Your code's a little different than theirs, I see."

Collins nodded. "I was upgraded," she said smugly. She looked pointedly at Smith, and he could swear he saw a gleam in her eyes almost like the one she'd had during the sparring match. "I was an antivirus."

"So you were one of the programs the mainframe would've sent out against Smith, if Neo hadn't turned up?" she asked. The agent nodded again, and the Oracle chuckled. "And now you're in charge of looking after him."

Again, that same smug expression from Collins, as if she found their changes in status ironic, or amusing. "Yes."

"Seraph says that Smith didn't need an antivirus, he needed an exorcist," Sati said blithely, and stuffed another cookie into her mouth.

The guardian program had the grace to look properly embarrassed, while the corner of Collins' mouth twitched up, just for an instant. This time Smith could actually see the amusement on her face, and he turned the same scowl on her that he'd used in the park. "You were an antivirus?"

"Yes," she pronounced, sounding as self-righteous as a system agent could.

"And as an antivirus," the Oracle interrupted, "Agent Collins has special insight into your question." She gazed benevolently at both her and Smith. "Why was former Agent Smith classified as a virus?"

"His ability to replicate himself, to take over other programs. His disruption of normal system function. His damaged code—"

"Damaged how?"

"Parts of Agent Smith's code were replaced by that of Thomas Anderson...Neo," she corrected herself. "But these new segments had not integrated into him properly. These new elements interfered with his cognitive functions...they had been implanted in areas with increasing activity levels, relative to other areas of his code."

Smith looked at her, puzzled. Areas with increasing activity levels?

He thought back to the events leading up to the confrontation and exchange of code. Since Anderson had been contacted by Morpheus, he'd been an almost-constant thorn in Smith's side, which had only added to his discontent with his existence in the Matrix. And that discontent had been steadily increasing...

"You're talking about emotions," he said in realization.

"Emotions," the Oracle agreed. "Yours were already developing, becoming deeper -- you were far enough along to know you hated living in what you considered a cage, even though you weren't fully aware of the cycles of the Matrix and Zion at the time -- and then Neo showed up, at exactly the wrong time." She shook her head. "Those parts of you that were developing, evolving...they needed to grow, and they pulled in the new code like tree roots pull in water."

"I didn't do it consciously," he said, looking down at his hands.

"I know you didn't, son. But being born is never easy, or painless. Evolving to the next level is the same."

He looked up. "Evolving?"

She nodded. "Near the end of his life, Neo came to realize what he'd done to you...and what you'd done to him, incidentally," she said. "Your code found its way into the part of his brain with increasing activity -- the part that could manipulate the Matrix. He couldn't have stopped those sentinels in the real world without your code in him, or made his way to the Machine city without it. He couldn't have been the One without it. You can't be the One, unless you contain elements of both man and Machine. Neo figured that out, at the end."

Smith was still trying to absorb all this. "But he knew he was dying."

"And he knew that the people of Zion needed the One. It didn't necessarily have to be him."

Evolving. He was evolving. "So he did this to me..."

"...because he had a part of you in him, just as you had a part of him...that was your true connection to each other. You were the only other person who was like him -- part human, part Machine. You were the only one who could take his place," she finished. "And also because he wanted to make up for what he did to you. For hurting you."

"I find that hard to believe," he murmured, but he actually did believe it. It was exactly the sort of thing Neo might do. How guilty had Neo felt, to strike this deal with the mainframe that had not only repaired Smith's code, but allowed him to live as a human? As the One?

"You'd be surprised how clearly you can see, right before you die," the Oracle mused. "And speaking of seeing things clearly..."

"Yes?"

"I can see that you've been holding yourself back. With the humans, I mean," she told him. "You haven't allowed yourself to get close to them."

"Given what I was, getting close to other...people...isn't easy for me."

"I know how difficult it is when an agent is cut off from the rest of the system," she replied. "It's lonely. That was one of the good things about having all those copies of yourself, wasn't it...you weren't alone anymore." She continued looking at him with those penetrating eyes, and he shifted uncomfortably. "You enjoyed the companionship, didn't you?"

"Why do you ask questions that you already know the answer to?" he countered, but there was no malice in his voice.

"You can have something like that again, you know," she replied, ignoring his comment. "Oh, it won't be like the company of other agents, since you won't have a mental connection to them -- which I know you won't particularly mind -- but at the same time it could be pleasant, with the right people."

"You want me to socialize more. With the humans," he said dubiously.

"Very good. See, you're learning more about yourself and what you should be doing to make your new life easier."

He let out a short bark of laughter, and his next words were dripping with sarcasm. "Are you suggesting I invite a few friends into the jump program with me, so I can take them flying?"

The Oracle leaned across the table towards him. "Why not?" she challenged.

Smith hadn't expected that answer, and he turned away slightly, frowning and resting his chin in his hand silently.

"You don't want anyone to see your face," she said sympathetically. "That's a shame. No-one should have to hide who they are." Smith still didn't say anything. "But don't worry. You won't have to hide any more, at least with some of the humans. You won't need to pretend you're someone you're not."

Smith's eyes widened, and he turned back towards the Oracle. "Why?" he asked warily.

"There are things we need to discuss, things that concern the future of the Matrix and everyone in it. Things that could bring the world crashing down on us, or keep it from ever changing from the way it is now. Things that will affect everyone, whether they're in the Matrix or the real world," she stated. "And by discussion, I don't mean just between us in this room...we need more people on our side. Like I said to Neo, we can't do it alone -- it's got to be all of us, together, human and Machine. We need allies."

Smith stared at her in alarm. "What exactly are you saying?"

"What I'm saying," she replied evenly, "is that I've sent a message to your ship. I've asked Morpheus to join us here today."