Part 2: Strange Attractors

There was a definite spring in Smith's step by the time he reached the bridge. He was looking forward to going back into the Matrix, and not just to get away from the paperwork. Every time he went back was a chance to feel like himself again; to run faster, jump higher than any human ever could. To fly. He was always happy to receive a call to meet with the agents…the agents, who appeared to be the topic of conversation just as Smith arrived.

"Which one is Evans again?" their engineer Jade was asking.

"The one with the dark hair in the twisty thing," Link replied, with a brief wave to Smith.

"The French braid," offered Kid.

Link raised an eyebrow. He liked to tease. "Oh? And how did you know what it was called?"

"A girl in my homeroom used to wear her hair like that," he explained. Then, seeing Smith, he smiled. "Hello Neo."

"Hello, Kid," Smith replied graciously. No-one had ever really admired him before, so he wasn't as embarrassed as Neo by the boy's hero worship. It was because of his bravery during the attack on Zion that Kid had been allowed to serve -- in a limited capacity -- on a ship, even though he was still underage. Kid didn't know who he really was, of course; the only ones here who did were Morpheus and Link.

They'd decided early on that they had to tell Link. The ship's operator had been there when the Oracle contacted Morpheus, and it was only a matter of time before he started noticing the anomalies in Neo's code. To his credit, Link had taken it better than they'd thought he would. He'd had what Link colorfully called his 'initial freak-out', but then he'd settled back down and seemed to accept Smith for what he now was. He was a lot better than Morpheus had been…probably because he'd never fought an agent before. But for now he was the only other human who knew. They wanted to keep this to as few people as possible; the more people who knew who 'Neo' really was, the more likely it was for someone to try to kill him.

Even the agents had expressed their concerns over this. Collins had forbidden them from telling anyone else without her express permission, plus additional confirmation from the Oracle.

"All right," said Jade, her brow wrinkling delicately as she tried to put faces to names. "So if that's Evans, then…"

"Chapman's the blonde, and Collins has the brown hair and brown eyes."

Link threw Kid an odd look at that. "You noticed her eyes?"

He nodded eagerly. "She's the only one of them with brown eyes," he said. "They're a lot easier to tell apart than the male agents, because their hair's not all the same."

"Yeah, you'll never see one of the male agents with hair like Link's," chuckled the engineer. "Although…if I was being chased by an agent with hair like Link's, I think it'd make me run a little faster."

Even Smith had to chuckle at that, as he slid into the chair beside Morpheus, who seemed to approve of the good-natured banter. "Hello, Morpheus."

"Hello," the other man replied evenly. Smith wasn't surprised at the indirect greeting; Morpheus never called him Neo. Not directly. It was only when he was speaking about Smith to someone who didn't know his secret that he referred to the One as Neo. Smith didn't really mind. It was enough that Morpheus hadn't told Lock who he really was.

"You picked the perfect time to come up, in the middle of this fascinating discussion," Link said.

Smith shrugged. "It's got to be more interesting than convection patterns in the troposphere."

Morpheus looked at him with some sympathy. "Another report from Evans?" he asked.

Smith nodded. No-one had ever gotten through one in a single sitting. "She's very knowledgeable on the subject, though. I can tell she did a lot of research just to prepare it."

"I know." Morpheus looked thoughtful. "Evans seems very knowledgeable about more than just atmospheric science. She's also quite well-acquainted with human society within the Matrix, more so than Collins and Chapman."

"Evans is always scanning for anything that might be useful to us, so she must pick up a lot of extra information along the way," Smith replied. "She's very thorough, just like Collins said." A typical new agent, he thought to himself. Overeager and overzealous, especially in the pursuit of their duties; just like he and his partners had been so long ago. Just like he'd been in the pursuit of Neo. "Why are they so interested in my security team?" he asked.

Jade turned to him. "Well, you have to admit this is a first-time thing," she said. "This is new and different, agents that aren't trying to kill us."

Kid nodded. "We can ask them things."

Smith smiled. For having had agents chase him off the roof of a building, Kid seemed to have overcome any lingering fear of them. "Yes, but they don't have to answer."

"Can't you tell them they have to answer?" asked Link curiously.

"No, it doesn't work like that." Oh, if only it were that easy. "They're supposed to provide security, not do whatever I tell them."

"I still don't trust them," muttered Boyce -- their medic and longtime husband of Jade. "I've had too much experience with agents; I've stitched up too many good people and lost even more for me to believe they'd ever come over to our side willingly."

"The Machines seem determined to keep the truce," Morpheus said. "Trust can be difficult, I know, but the Oracle herself is one of the people behind the treaty. She's always been on our side." He glanced at Smith. "And if she says we can trust them, we can."

"Not all of us have your unwavering faith in the Oracle, Morpheus," said Boyce. "Or in these agents that are supposed to protect Neo."

"But since we can ask them things, we might as well take advantage of it while we can," Link interrupted, hoping to forestall another argument about safety. "What sort of things did you want to know, Kid?"

"Oh, I don't know," the boy replied offhandedly. "I was just wondering if agents were…you know, like normal people, physically."

"Not really." Smith knew he could answer some of their questions about system agents without giving away that he used to be one, which would keep his more curious crewmates from pestering Collins. "Agents are much stronger, and faster…"

"I didn't mean like that," Kid said. "I meant on the outside."

Smith blinked. "Well, an agent's outward appearance is meant to blend in with the human population at large, so it really depends on the part of the Matrix you're in," he replied. "Where you lived, they wear suits, like Collins and her team. And except for the agents that have come online in the past few years, they all have auburn hair." He paused. "Does that answer your question?"

Kid shook his head. "If you had an agent standing next to a human being, and you didn't know which was which, would you be able to tell who wasn't human?"

Smith was a little confused now. Morpheus didn't look like he was able to offer any help, so he turned to Link, who was smiling. "I think he's asking if they're anatomically correct," the operator replied.

Smith stared dubiously at Link and then at Kid, whose face was now beet-red. "Yes," the ex-agent pronounced. "Yes, they most certainly are…but I wouldn't recommend asking Collins, Evans, or Chapman to prove it."

"If you're that interested in girls who don't exist in the real world, why don't you visit the woman in the red dress?" Link suggested, still grinning.

Even Boyce was smiling. "I think he's a little too young for that."

"Just because you were allowed to come on this ship, it doesn't mean you're old enough to do everything," said Jade knowingly. "Our own son is a year and a half older than you, and even he's not allowed to do that."

"C'mon, guys," moaned Kid, whose face had (impossibly) become even redder. "I wasn't asking because of that -- I just wanted to know if an agent could ever look and act enough like a human to pass as one. You know, like the Oracle and Sati do. They're programs, but they don't act like they are, and if I hadn't known better I never would have guessed either of them wasn't human. I was wondering if an agent could ever be that way."

"Why do you ask?" said Smith, his voice carefully neutral.

"It's just that I noticed, with Collins and Evans and Chapman," he said, as the color began to fade from his cheeks. "When they first started working with us, they seemed almost like robots. Really mechanical. But now they don't, not as much. I mean, they still talk like agents, just not so much like agents."

"They haven't been interacting with humans for very long, so they haven't had much time to practice their social skills," Smith replied, with an inaudible sigh of relief. "Collins was the first of the three to be activated, and she hasn't even been online for a year."

"Lovely, they're the AI equivalent of toddlers. With really big guns," sighed Boyce.

"Speaking of which," said Link, with a quick look at the monitor in front of him. "I think it's about time Neo and Morpheus got ready. We don't want to keep the girls with guns waiting."

"Neo?" Kid asked hesitantly, as they and Link stood up.

By now, Smith had become almost an expert at reading human facial expressions. "Don't worry," he said with a smile. "I won't tell Collins and the others you were asking if they were anatomically correct…no matter what the reason was for it."

The boy's mouth fell open in protest. "Neo!"