7: THE SIGHT IS UNLOCKED

All is explained to her.

Some hours and another close call with Sentinels later, Mimic, Tiresias, Aerial and Sphere jacked back into the Matrix. The others garbed themselves exactly the same as before, and Sphere wore pale blue pants, tight T-shirt, boots and a jacket.

Sphere stretched, 'God, it really is cramped on board, isn't it? I haven't stretched like this since last time I jacked in.'

'Let's go,' said Mimic impatiently. 'The car's outside. I want a head start on any programs coming our way.' Tiresias caught hold of Aerial's arm and the group made their way downstairs.

The car journey passed without incident, although Aerial was feeling a little travel sick when they stopped. Sphere had been ready to ride shotgun if needed, but there had been no sign of any hostility, or a call from Phoenix. Mimic stopped the car a couple of streets away from the apartment block and they walked the rest of the way, Sphere gaining a wolf-whistle from a group of teenage boys who dispersed giggling when she looked their way.

The blind man seated on a battered bench nodded to Mimic as they passed. Aerial stared at him all the way to the elevator until Sphere twisted her head back around with one hand. Mimic pressed the button to call the elevator, and they boarded. The doors slid jerkily closed and the lift gave a lurch. Aerial nearly lost her balance, but Tiresias held her upright with a smile, 'Steady...'

There was a clunk, and the bottom dropped out of Aerial's stomach as the lift came to a sudden stop. Sphere's two handguns were in her grip in seconds. No one moved; all that could be heard was the unrelenting hum of the dull strip-light in the ceiling. Mimic swore. 'Bollocks.'

'My thoughts exactly,' muttered Aerial.

'What happened?'

'The lift's conked out.'

'Bollocks,' agreed Tiresias.

Mimic pressed the emergency button, but only static crackled over the intercom. 'Brilliant,' she murmured darkly.

'I'll see if I can get to the hardwires,' offered Aerial. Mimic nodded and moved away from the control panel. Aerial improvised a screwdriver with her nails and removed the access panel. The jumble of ancient wires sparked at her. Gingerly, she reached in and managed to touch two ends together. Nothing. She tried again, and the electronic number display went blank, and reset itself to G. 'Damn...'

She tried three more sets of wires without result. 'I think it must be the cables,' she concluded. Sphere knocked out a roof panel and climbed out. 'Oh, God! There's rats everywhere!' she called, her voice strangely echoing in the shaft.

'Just fix it, Sphere,' ordered Mimic.

'As you command...' They could hear Sphere poking around with the pulley, and then her cry of 'Aha!'. Presently there was another clunk, and the lift resumed trundling upwards. Sphere dropped back through the roof, a piece of rusty metal in her hand. 'It was jammed in the pulley,' she explained. 'Must have fallen off something else.'

'Let's hope that wasn't important,' said Mimic testily. 'Does anyone know which floor we're on?'

Aerial glanced above the door, 'Tw-- Oh shit, I reset the display!'

'Exactly.' Mimic flashed a disapproving look at Aerial. There was an uncomfortable silence, where Aerial hung her head and Mimic tried to mentally calculate the journey time.

'Stop it now,' said Tiresias suddenly. Sphere reached for the button, and the doors squeaked open to reveal a corridor.

'How did you know that?' asked Sphere, bewildered.

Tiresias shrugged. 'I just had a feeling.'

'A lucky feeling,' added Mimic, stepping out. 'Come on.'

It was a short trip down the corridor to the Oracle's apartment. They stopped outside the door, Mimic and Sphere standing behind Tiresias and Aerial. 'Shall I knock?' whispered Aerial.

'She knows we're here,' said Mimic.

As she spoke, the door was opened by a tall slim young woman, who greeted them with a smile. 'Aerial, Tiresias, Mimic, Sphere. Glad you could make it. Please, all of you, step inside.' Tiresias grabbed Aerial's arm again as they entered the apartment. The attendant showed Mimic and Sphere to a couple of seats in the hallway and directed Aerial and Tiresias through into the lounge.

There were seven children in the sitting room, two boys and five girls. One little Chinese girl was lying on her front doing calligraphy on some rice paper, watched from the sofa by a Chinese man, dressed in white mandarin jacket with a black vest. He stirred every so often, only to correct a stroke.

Three of the other four girls - one Caucasian with long, wavy, blonde hair, one African with pigtails, and one mixed race with long hair in one high ponytail - all watched a small television on which played a Disney animation. All of the girls wore what appeared to be school uniform. The two boys played chess in a corner, one Caucasian with a shaved head and plain robes, the other Japanese, also with his head shaved and flame coloured robes. The last girl, older than the rest and also Japanese, worked a laptop at the dining table.

The moment Aerial realised that the film was Alice in Wonderland was the moment the attendant called, 'Tiresias, the Oracle will see you now.'

Tiresias stood up uncertainly. Immediately, the little Japanese boy rose from his seat on the floor and took Tiresias' hand. He led him to the kitchen, and Aerial heard, 'Thank you, Akio.' Then something happened, like a bubble rising from a pool of water, and she couldn't hear sounds from the kitchen anymore.

Akio returned in silence and resumed his chess game. "The White Rabbit!" squeaked Alice from the television. Aerial was forcibly reminded of her own encounters with the rabbit hole, and was lost to her memories for a few moments.

She surfaced to the realisation that the mixed race child had asked her a question. 'Huh?'

'I said: Are you Aerial?'

'Yeah. What's your name?'

'I am Brigit. The girl with the pigtails is Sophia and the other one is Rhiannon.' She pointed. Her finger turned to the Chinese girl. 'She is called Kuan-Lin, and he is Seraph.' The girl with the laptop received the finger, 'She is called Kaede. The two boys are Akio and Luke.'

Brigit tugged on her hand, and Aerial sat down on the floor beside the little girl. 'Why are you here?' she asked, her soft dark eyes concentrating on Aerial.

'Because I was told to come.'

The other three girls crawled over and sat in a semi-circle around her. Sophia voiced a question, her speech careful with thought, 'Your code is strange. Like a mix of gold and green.'

'Really?' Aerial decided to test them. 'Does it change when I do this?' She concentrated and faded from view. The children did not flinch or show shock, but the Chinese man focused on her, his body tense. She could not decipher his look behind his sunglasses.

'Yes, it goes more gold,' replied Sophia. Kuan-Lin left her calligraphy and joined them as Aerial reverted to normality again, adding, 'I could see you. You became all green and see-through.' Rhiannon and Sophia nodded in agreement. Kaede exited the room quietly.

'How are you able to do that?' asked Seraph. Aerial instantly liked his soft speech.

'I'm not sure. No one's really explained it to me. My Captain thinks it's because of my "twin program", and to be honest, I think I believe her.'

Seraph studied her and shook his head slowly. 'You do not look like them.'

'They scare me...' shivered Kuan-Lin. The other four nodded fearfully.

'Stalemate.'

The two boys shook hands across the chess board and came over as well, Akio seating himself cross-legged on the settee beside Seraph. 'Who's "they"?' enquired Aerial.

'The Twins,' said Luke, his blue eyes wide. 'They came only once, and they were like wildcats watching baby rabbits.' Aerial took a moment to marvel at the boy's vocabulary and verbal skill. She was aware of Kaede slipping back into the room, Tiresias in tow. He sat at the table with Kaede and put his head in his hands.

She shook her head, 'No, my program is called Falcon. He's an angel. Well, sort of.' Again, Seraph studied her, his gaze making her flinch.

'He has wings?'

'Yes.'

'Where is he now?'

'I don't know. He tried to kidnap my friend, but we outnumbered him, seven to one.'

Seraph opened his mouth to speak further, but the priestess came back into the room. 'Aerial, come with me, please.'

Aerial stood and followed the woman through the hall and into the kitchen. A warm sweet smell entered her nostrils and she breathed deeply. A little rational voice at the back of her brain snickered nastily, Those biscuits don't exist you know.

'Hello Aerial.'

Aerial shifted her gaze and saw the object of so many rumours around Zion, the Oracle herself.

Frankly, she was unimpressed. 'You're the Oracle?'

'Yep. I know you find it hard to accept, but don't worry about it right now. So...' She sat down at the table and met Aerial's gaze. 'Are you ready for some heavy stuff?'

'Why ask, if you already know what I'm going to say?'

The Oracle smiled slightly, 'It would be a very dull conversation if I did that, wouldn't it? But since you agree, and you think you are ready for what I'm about to tell you, I'll just keep goin'.'

Aerial waited in silence.

The Oracle continued, 'The scheme of twining programs is everywhere. For a long time, we have wondered where the human Oracle was, and now, we have found him.'

'Tiresias is that Oracle?'

'Bingo. The Exile known as Falcon is the same for you. However,' the Oracle's gaze turned on her. 'Your connection is much deeper than the template function normally allocated to this type of link.'

Intrigued, Aerial took a seat opposite, inadvertently mimicking Falcon. The Oracle sighed, 'To put it bluntly, kiddo, you are well on your way to becoming Merged.'

'What?'

'I told you it was heavy stuff. The files that make up Falcon and you are becoming shared all the time. When the Unique Identifier is merged, you will effectively die. Both of you will be blended together, like Hermaphroditus and Salmacis.'

Aerial, unfamiliar with Greek mythology, tilted her head in confusion. 'If you had visited the Merovingian, you could have seen an example of it for yourself,' the Oracle said wistfully. 'Poor Tiger…'

'Who?'

'Never mind. Fundamentally, your only way to stop this is to have the shared codes corrupted or removed. You received two sets of shared files, yes?'

'Yeah... I could see and hear stuff clearer, and then I could split myself and go invisible.' The implications of this were making Aerial's head spin.

'All right, roll up your sleeve.'

'Huh?' Aerial complied, slipping out of her jacket. The Oracle stood up and went to a cabinet, taking down a bright green case. She returned with what looked like an ordinary first aid kit. She opened the container, and rummaged around inside. The lid was upturned facing Aerial, and she couldn't see what the Oracle was doing.

'If we can successfully corrupt at least one of those files, you'll be okay. This won't be pleasant, sweetie.'

'What are you going to do?' asked Aerial worriedly.

'The only thing I can do. I'm giving you a virus.'

'What?!'

'Don't panic. It's nothing too serious.' The Oracle emerged from the case holding a small syringe. Aerial drew away. The Oracle smiled faintly again, 'Ah, you're afraid of needles.'

'Just... be quick.' Aerial shut her eyes and looked away. She felt the Oracle's warm touch on her forearm, and then there was another concentrated area of pain at her elbow, not dissimilar to the pain she had experienced in the dojo. She felt light-headed. 'Shiiiit...'

'There. All done.' The Oracle withdrew the needle, and Aerial withdrew her arm. 'You were very brave, honey. I can see that took a lot out of you, but I'm afraid it'll get worse before it gets better.'

Aerial opened her eyes and clutched her elbow. 'What do you mean?'

'Well, you have a virus now.' The Oracle returned the kit to its cupboard and shut the door with a small click. 'You'll be feeling well again in about three days or so. Here, take a cookie.' She offered Aerial a glass plate. Aerial pressed her arm to her side and used her good hand to select the smallest one. The Oracle treated her to a full smile, 'Now, we'd better see about unlocking Tiresias' potential.'

Aerial followed the Oracle back through to the living room. The old woman clapped her hands twice, 'Okay kids, I'm gonna need your help here.' The assorted children all stood up and gathered around her. All except Kaede, who still worked her laptop. Seraph studied Kuan-Lin's writing absorbedly, as though this was nothing of interest.

'Tiresias, would you come over here, please?' Again, the little Japanese boy Akio went to him and caught his hand, leading him over. Aerial stood behind them awkwardly; Tiresias knelt to reduce his height.

'Right. I want you all to put your hands over his eyes.' Tiresias was surrounded by six pairs of helping hands; the children divided themselves equally, three to each side of his face. 'Now concentrate. You know what to do.'

The Oracle stood back as six pairs of eyes flickered closed. Aerial concentrated as well, and saw a faint aura flowing up the skinny arms and onto her friend's face. She felt sweat forming on her brow.

As one entity, the Potentials lifted their hands. Tiresias shuddered and wobbled slightly. Akio caught his arm again and steadied him. Tiresias opened his eyes. 'Should… should anything have happened?' he asked hesitantly.

'No,' answered Akio, 'You are unlocked now. You will be able to see the choices, if they show themselves to you.'

Aerial realised the other children were staring at him. 'You spoke…' said Brigit, wonder in her voice. 'You've never done that before.'

'It looks like you've unlocked him as well, Tiresias,' whispered Kuan-Lin.

Akio turned his gaze on all of them, lingered on Aerial for a few seconds more, then turned around and sat beside Seraph again. He picked up a book from the coffee table and immersed himself in it.

A/N:: Shameless stealing of the anti-social-Potential idea from Dark Puck's 'Legacy'– I'm sorry! Read it, it's much better than mine. Go.
Major plot twist coming up. Be warned...