I was on the phone faster than most people can blink. My hand shook a little as the phone rang on the other end, and I stared at Smith, barely blinking. If I blinked he might disappear and then we wouldn't know where he was, which was only slightly worse than knowing he was lying on my couch.

Seraph answered. "Seraph! The Oracle, quick!" I hissed.

"Etna?" he asked, calm serenity never giving way. "A moment, please."

In the next minute I was babbling incoherently into the phone. Yet another trait of the scientific community: I could observe, calculate, and come to astoundingly accurate conclusions, but put me under the pressure of actually explaining to someone and I was useless. The Oracle understands things without human assistance though, and had no trouble deciphering what I was telling her.

Fifteen minutes later she was in my living room, having come the 2 blocks between our apartments escorted by Seraph and with Sati in tow. "Are you sure it's okay to bring her here?" I asked. "With...him, and all?"

Sati was looking at Smith with curiosity. She was entirely too close for my comfort, even laying one hand on his arm. The other clutched a bento box wrapped in a Hello Kitty kerchief. I don't know what she was looking for, if anything, but I knew that she, Seraph, and the Oracle all remembered precisely what I did; we'd all been part of Smith at one point. We'd all been copied over. I was a little abashed that such a small girl (program?) was entirely unafraid of the supine form on the couch, when I could barely bring myself within 3 feet. "He's not so bad, once you get to know him," she smiled.

"She'll be fine, dear," said the Oracle. "So this is how you found him, eh? Excuse me, Sati. Thank you, dear," she said, moving Sati to one side gently. She crouched low to look into Smith's face. Hand under his chin, she turned his head from side to side. She stood again, and turned to look at me. She stared at me for a moment, and I knew that look. She nodded.

"Oh please don't--" I started, but clapped my mouth shut at her raised eyebrow. One is careful in the presence of Oracles. I know I visibly winced though, just the same.

"He'll wake up soon enough. Be here when he does." I opened my mouth again, but she had that look again. She nodded again, firmly. "It was good that you found him, Etna."

I didn't like the way she emphasized "you". I looked desperately at Seraph, who gave me a little shrug. My mouth opened and closed. I really had nothing to say to this; what could I say? A little tug on my frayed denim jacket sleeve startled me into looking down. Sati was pressing the bento box into my hand. "This is for him." As the Oracle & Seraph were opening the door to go, she tugged harder. I dropped to one knee. "Tell him if he promises to be good, I will make the sky pretty for him." Her face went deadly serious as only the very young can do. "But he has to promise."

"I...I'll tell him," I stammered. I was still not grasping the idea that I had to interact with Smith on ANY level, much less elicit a promise from him to "be good" for a 7-year-old program girl. Sati was satisfied, though, and smiled at me. She left with Seraph & Oracle, the image of the child with her doting grandmother & uncle.

I looked down at the container of beef & broccoli still clutched in my left hand. One of my chopsticks had fallen out at some point. I put the whole thing on the table. It tasted a little like dust now, and it's not like I really needed to eat food in the Matrix anyway. Old habits die hard, and I had always liked the taste of food far too much to give it up. But things were a little overwhelming at this moment.

I re-arranged my recliner so that it faced the couch and plopped into it with my laptop. I'd planned on browsing the internet, maybe wasting a little time, but I found myself completely distracted by Smith. The program that had tried to end existence was on my couch. Most people would forgive me for being distracted.

I was human once, and I still have those habits. The man was a mess, and he was on my couch. I sighed at my own complete idiocy. I sighed all the way into the bathroom and back out again with the bowl of warm water & the towels. Somewhere between moving the coffee table and removing the jacket from the still-unconscious Smith, I began to mutter at myself.

"You've been in here for HOW long? You get out of breath, you blush, you sigh, you eat, and you TALK to yourself." I rolled my eyes at me. "And now you are washing non-existent dirt off a non-existent man so he can't get it on your non-effin'-existent couch." I dabbed & rubbed as much dirt off him as I could, and I must say he looked almost presentable by the time I was done. If he hadn't been wearing the battered remnants of an agent suit. I had turned to gather up the towels & now-filthy water bowl when his hand leapt from his chest where I'd laid it and wrapped its fingers around my throat.

"Who are you?" he hissed in a deep voice. Completely paralyzed with fear, I was staring at pure hatred in the form of a pair of impossibly blue eyes.