Smith leaped from his chair, looking like he wanted to jump across the kitchen & strangle the Oracle, but she stood perfectly calm, smile never wavering. Watery sunlight filtered through my window, pooling in the floor around her. I wondered, distractedly, if she did that on purpose.
"Etna, dear, where is the package Sati brought yesterday?" I jumped at being addressed, then snatched Sati's Hello Kitty-wrapped package from the countertop and placed it on the kitchen table. "Oh good," said the Oracle. "Any chance of some coffee?"
My mouth worked soundlessly, but that was pretty normal around the Oracle. I began to rummage around the kitchen. In my house there was always a chance of some coffee. That was one human habit I had no intention of giving up.
"Have a seat, dear," the Oracle said to Smith, unwrapping Sati's package to reveal cookies. The Oracle rarely appeared without those cookies. I didn't mind, really; they were very good cookies. As I poured the coffee & brought sugar & cream to the table, Smith was obviously mulling over whether he really did want to "have a seat". Or possibly what he thought about being called "dear". Either was likely to my mind.
He did have a seat, and I sat beside him. I'm not sure why. At this point, he seemed less intimidating than the Oracle. He seemed to be fumbling with his coffee mug. I figured I'd take the same tactic I took with the toast; I put in a couple of sugars and no cream, the way I took my own coffee, then pushed it toward him. He looked at me with something like gratitude, then looked annoyed and scowled at me. Getting used to that particular combination of reactions, I grinned sheepishly & shrugged.
The Oracle was still smiling at us in that maddening way, eating a cookie & stirring her own coffee. Silence ensued, marred only a little by Smith choking on his coffee. He glared at it and added about 5 more sugar cubes. I resisted the urge to ask him if he would like some coffee with his sugar. I turned my attention back to the Oracle, who was still watching us.
"Well?" I asked her. "You obviously know something we don't. Like to share?"
She took a relaxed sip of coffee and looked over the rim of her mug at Smith. "You remember, don't you?" she asked, and he nodded, somewhat grimly. "You were everyone." He nodded again. "And every person you copied onto changed your code just slightly, adding their perceptions & memories into the giant equation that was you."
"But then Neo destroyed him," I pointed out. "Why is he still here?"
"Destroyed? No. Say, rather, that he contained him. Quarantined him back into one, single program, clearing him out of all the other spaces he'd infected."
"Getting him out of us," I mused. "Okay..."
"But getting us out of him wasn't so easy." Smith glared harder, as though he were on the verge of understanding something he didn't want to know. "You were a virus, Smith. You of all programs should know that some data is always changed during the removal of particularly nasty virus." She took another sip of coffee and gave him a look; clearly he was a naughty program who had yet to apologize for becoming said nasty virus. She continued. "Your first encounter with The One changed you. It allowed you to defy your programming and make autonomous decisions. And obviously to feel preferences." Smith seemed to be following so far, even if he didn't see the point in the conversation. He obviously wasn't used to conversing with the Oracle. I'm not sure she ever makes points. "At that time, you were not yet free of your original purpose, because The One still existed within the Matrix. Now, however..."
"Does that mean Neo is dead?" I asked her.
"Not necessarily, Etna," and she smiled enigmatically. "It just means that wherever he is, he is not inside the Matrix itself. And due to the bargain he made with the machines, he's not necessary anymore." She turned again to Smith. "Which means you are free of that purpose."
"Ergo, I am without purpose."
"Oh, no, Smith. Every line of code in this Matrix has a purpose, whether you know it or not." I couldn't help it. I chuckled bitterly. "Even you, Etna. It's my purpose to know these things." Again she regarded Smith.
"So it looks like you've got a choice, Mr. Smith. You can choose to adjust and exist here, and thus find your purpose, or you can choose to grace us with another of your spectacular instabilities." She sipped her coffee and sighed in satisfaction, as if she hadn't just been talking about Smith's attempt at destroying the known world.
Smith processed that information very quickly. I'd have felt like I'd been hit by a log truck. I know; I've been there. "I made the second choice previously. It did not seem to bring any benefit. I suppose I shall attempt the first," he said, almost laconically. There was that signature smirk I'd been expecting at any moment. I flinched involuntarily.
"Good!" the Oracle said, as though that settled & explained everything. "So I suggest you remain here with Etna."
"What's she got to do with this?" he snarled at the same time I yelped "Why me!"
"She is the only entity in the Matrix who has been through a semblance of what's happening to you. You could not have asked for a better guide." She dusted her hands off & finished her coffee. "I'd best be going. I don't want Sati & Seraph to burn the place down while I'm gone. A wonderful program, but the man can't cook." She leaned over to kiss my cheek, the way she always did. But she whispered to me. In "that voice". The bottom dropped out of my stomach.
"Leaving him with you will produce one of two ends, Etna. A lasting, prosperous peace for human and machine, or the destruction of everything as we know it. I believe that the opportunity of the former outweighs the risk of the latter." She patted my cheek & moved toward the door.
"But how..who...what do I do with him now?" I hissed at her, in a bit of panic.
"I'm sure you'll think of something, dear." The door closed.
I turned to the dangerously unstable program sitting at my kitchen table. He was sitting with his chin propped in his hands--a mirror image of what I'd been doing before. There was that eyebrow again. He was telling me the next move was mine. "Well, start guiding," the blue eyes said wordlessly. Great. What I needed at this moment, other than a very strong drink, was time to think.
"Do you watch movies?" I asked.