Neo's Encounter with Sati
CONTINUED FROM HERE
Neo found himself in the kitchen of the Oracle, with its small table, its bright colours, its small window. Wearing a brown leather jacket over a white t-shirt, blue jeans and sports shoes, Neo was standing in the doorway. The pain of his awakening was gone and he could smell the overwhelmingly comforting smell of freshly-baked banana nut bread. But the Oracle was not there and instead, sitting on the counter near the stove, there was the young Sati, playfully munching on a slice of the bread, her feet dangling above the floor. She lifted her eyes from her piece of bread and looked straight at Neo.
"Hello," she said, simply.
"Hello," Neo replied. "You... You are Sati, right?"
"Yes. And you are Neo."
Neo smiled.
"That's correct." Looking around, he then started: "Where is... "
His eyes had laid on one of the kitchen chairs and his smile had instantly disappeared. Three neat bullet holes had pierced through the wooden back of the chair. There was no blood, no shell on the floor, and Neo instinctively turned around, scared.
" She is gone," Sati explained, as Neo turned his head back at her. "But you might meet her again."
"Is this... Is this the Matrix?" Neo asked perplexedly. "And who are you?"
Her smile had disappeared.
"I am a messenger, Neo. They need to tell you things."
"Who they?" Neo asked, somehow impatiently. "The machines?"
She nodded and continued: "You brought peace. The Matrix was reloaded. And they kept you alive. They need you."
"If there really is a truce, if Zion is still standing, and if the machines have retreated, then nobody needs me anymore."
"Peace means the absence of war," Sati said, pensively. "It doesn't mean stability. And the stability of the truce is threatened as we speak."
Sati had not the infantile tone of voice that Neo remembered from his encounter with her and her parents in the Mobil Ave station. But she seemed to know things that Neo needed to know.
"Many groups have formed in the wake of the truce. They fight. They keep creating anomalies, powerful anomalies. And the truce weakened the control mechanisms. They don't control things that well."
She paused. At that exact, precise moment, Neo felt like as if he knew what she was going to say.
"Smith is back."
The news fell on him like a ton of bricks. Had all the efforts, the fighting, the suffering, the deaths been in vain? His teeth clenched at the thought of Trinity's ultimate sacrifice and of Smith's irreverent disdain for human life.
"He is still not accustomed to this new Matrix, though" Sati continued, seeing Neo's inner frustration surface in his eyes. "You too will need to get accustomed to the new code."
"No, I am not going back," Neo started determinedly. "I am not going back into the Matrix. The war is over, and I am either going back to Zion, to Morpheus, or dying in Machine City. No need for me to get accustomed to any new code."
"But you don't have the choice, Neo."
"Is that a threat?" Neo replied, almost aggressively, knowing full well that he was not really talking to a child. "I am through with this. I know it, they know it."
Sati tilted her head slightly to the side: "Don't you want to see her again?"
Neo felt as if someone had punched him hard in the stomach before grabbing his heart and squeezing it like a lemon.
"How dare you..."
Sati had thrown a crumbled sheet of paper at Neo, and he caught it before he could finish his sentence. Unfolding it, he saw a blurry portrait of Trinity. On a wanted poster.
"She is in the city. And she is not a programme."
Would she really be alive? If the machines had the means to keep me alive, maybe they had done the same for her!
Neo looked back up at Sati.
"They can take care of you and heal you, Neo. You won't be in pain if you go back into the Matrix. And you can see her again."
What's the catch?
"But they need you. The control mechanisms of the new Matrix are weak against the ever-growing number of powerful anomalies. All these different groups are fighting and causing trouble. And Smith has brought his malfeasance with him from the previous Matrix. They are loosing control. They need your help."
Neo had grown accustomed to these false choices. He was at the mercy of the machines, weak and injured in a closed vat, back in Machine City. Now that the war was over, it was perhaps sensible to maintain the stability of the Matrix. If the machines had honoured their part of the deal, any human mind that became aware of the nature of the Matrix would be allowed to be freed without interference. If the Matrix was destroyed or heavily disturbed, the machines might decide to terminate the truce, terminate Zion.
And if he accepted, perhaps could he find out whether she was indeed alive...
"To preserve your presence inside the Matrix," Sati continued before he could even answer, "they have copied your residual self-image into three shells. One is a woman, Sarah Edmontons, who had been kept in a coma. She is awake, now, but she doesn't know that she carries that copy. They will delete that copy as soon as possible, now that you are awake.
The second is a young man who worked as a software programmer and unfortunately, he learned about that copy of your code within himself. It changed his appearance to look like yours, and infused some of your traits into his brain and personality. They hope to be able to delete that copy as well, in order to return that young man to his original self.
The third one is the shell you have now, which was that of this building's superintendent."
Looking at his hands and then at his face in the mirror hung on the wall, Neo realised that when entering the Matrix a few minutes earlier, he had materialised inside the shell of a brown-haired, older man. But his appearance was now slowly morphing back into the residual self-image he was accustomed to.
"They need you to act as their guardian within the Matrix, Neo," Sati said while jumping down from the counter and onto the floor. "And there's no time to loose. Come!"
Sati had walked up to Neo and grabbed his hand with her own. Pulling him as they walked across the Oracle's apartment, they reached a door adjacent to the living room. She stopped and turned to face him.
"This Matrix is different, Neo," Sati said, looking up from her small height. "You'll see things you have never seen before. You'll meet anomalies you wouldn't have thought possible. But you'll also discover that you have skills and powers beyond what you have ever experienced."
Sati opened the door behind which stood a bright wall of white light. Almost as a reflex, Neo looked back before facing the open doorway. He was thinking of his body imprisoned in that vat, weak and at the mercy of these machines he now had to trust in a weird twist of fate.
"They will take care of you while you are connected," Sati said, as if she had read his mind. "If you succeed in your role, they might be able to bring you back home, back to Zion."
Neo looked down at her, wondering whether he still had the strength, the will, the courage to stand up and fight, especially to defend the very system he had fought so hard to bring down. And whether he really had a choice.
I should go. For Zion. For Trinity.
Neo then walked through the bright wall of white light he was facing, leaving Sati and her banana nut bread behind.
CONTINUES HERE
Neo found himself in the kitchen of the Oracle, with its small table, its bright colours, its small window. Wearing a brown leather jacket over a white t-shirt, blue jeans and sports shoes, Neo was standing in the doorway. The pain of his awakening was gone and he could smell the overwhelmingly comforting smell of freshly-baked banana nut bread. But the Oracle was not there and instead, sitting on the counter near the stove, there was the young Sati, playfully munching on a slice of the bread, her feet dangling above the floor. She lifted her eyes from her piece of bread and looked straight at Neo.
"Hello," she said, simply.
"Hello," Neo replied. "You... You are Sati, right?"
"Yes. And you are Neo."
Neo smiled.
"That's correct." Looking around, he then started: "Where is... "
His eyes had laid on one of the kitchen chairs and his smile had instantly disappeared. Three neat bullet holes had pierced through the wooden back of the chair. There was no blood, no shell on the floor, and Neo instinctively turned around, scared.
" She is gone," Sati explained, as Neo turned his head back at her. "But you might meet her again."
"Is this... Is this the Matrix?" Neo asked perplexedly. "And who are you?"
Her smile had disappeared.
"I am a messenger, Neo. They need to tell you things."
"Who they?" Neo asked, somehow impatiently. "The machines?"
She nodded and continued: "You brought peace. The Matrix was reloaded. And they kept you alive. They need you."
"If there really is a truce, if Zion is still standing, and if the machines have retreated, then nobody needs me anymore."
"Peace means the absence of war," Sati said, pensively. "It doesn't mean stability. And the stability of the truce is threatened as we speak."
Sati had not the infantile tone of voice that Neo remembered from his encounter with her and her parents in the Mobil Ave station. But she seemed to know things that Neo needed to know.
"Many groups have formed in the wake of the truce. They fight. They keep creating anomalies, powerful anomalies. And the truce weakened the control mechanisms. They don't control things that well."
She paused. At that exact, precise moment, Neo felt like as if he knew what she was going to say.
"Smith is back."
The news fell on him like a ton of bricks. Had all the efforts, the fighting, the suffering, the deaths been in vain? His teeth clenched at the thought of Trinity's ultimate sacrifice and of Smith's irreverent disdain for human life.
"He is still not accustomed to this new Matrix, though" Sati continued, seeing Neo's inner frustration surface in his eyes. "You too will need to get accustomed to the new code."
"No, I am not going back," Neo started determinedly. "I am not going back into the Matrix. The war is over, and I am either going back to Zion, to Morpheus, or dying in Machine City. No need for me to get accustomed to any new code."
"But you don't have the choice, Neo."
"Is that a threat?" Neo replied, almost aggressively, knowing full well that he was not really talking to a child. "I am through with this. I know it, they know it."
Sati tilted her head slightly to the side: "Don't you want to see her again?"
Neo felt as if someone had punched him hard in the stomach before grabbing his heart and squeezing it like a lemon.
"How dare you..."
Sati had thrown a crumbled sheet of paper at Neo, and he caught it before he could finish his sentence. Unfolding it, he saw a blurry portrait of Trinity. On a wanted poster.
"She is in the city. And she is not a programme."
Would she really be alive? If the machines had the means to keep me alive, maybe they had done the same for her!
Neo looked back up at Sati.
"They can take care of you and heal you, Neo. You won't be in pain if you go back into the Matrix. And you can see her again."
What's the catch?
"But they need you. The control mechanisms of the new Matrix are weak against the ever-growing number of powerful anomalies. All these different groups are fighting and causing trouble. And Smith has brought his malfeasance with him from the previous Matrix. They are loosing control. They need your help."
Neo had grown accustomed to these false choices. He was at the mercy of the machines, weak and injured in a closed vat, back in Machine City. Now that the war was over, it was perhaps sensible to maintain the stability of the Matrix. If the machines had honoured their part of the deal, any human mind that became aware of the nature of the Matrix would be allowed to be freed without interference. If the Matrix was destroyed or heavily disturbed, the machines might decide to terminate the truce, terminate Zion.
And if he accepted, perhaps could he find out whether she was indeed alive...
"To preserve your presence inside the Matrix," Sati continued before he could even answer, "they have copied your residual self-image into three shells. One is a woman, Sarah Edmontons, who had been kept in a coma. She is awake, now, but she doesn't know that she carries that copy. They will delete that copy as soon as possible, now that you are awake.
The second is a young man who worked as a software programmer and unfortunately, he learned about that copy of your code within himself. It changed his appearance to look like yours, and infused some of your traits into his brain and personality. They hope to be able to delete that copy as well, in order to return that young man to his original self.
The third one is the shell you have now, which was that of this building's superintendent."
Looking at his hands and then at his face in the mirror hung on the wall, Neo realised that when entering the Matrix a few minutes earlier, he had materialised inside the shell of a brown-haired, older man. But his appearance was now slowly morphing back into the residual self-image he was accustomed to.
"They need you to act as their guardian within the Matrix, Neo," Sati said while jumping down from the counter and onto the floor. "And there's no time to loose. Come!"
Sati had walked up to Neo and grabbed his hand with her own. Pulling him as they walked across the Oracle's apartment, they reached a door adjacent to the living room. She stopped and turned to face him.
"This Matrix is different, Neo," Sati said, looking up from her small height. "You'll see things you have never seen before. You'll meet anomalies you wouldn't have thought possible. But you'll also discover that you have skills and powers beyond what you have ever experienced."
Sati opened the door behind which stood a bright wall of white light. Almost as a reflex, Neo looked back before facing the open doorway. He was thinking of his body imprisoned in that vat, weak and at the mercy of these machines he now had to trust in a weird twist of fate.
"They will take care of you while you are connected," Sati said, as if she had read his mind. "If you succeed in your role, they might be able to bring you back home, back to Zion."
Neo looked down at her, wondering whether he still had the strength, the will, the courage to stand up and fight, especially to defend the very system he had fought so hard to bring down. And whether he really had a choice.
I should go. For Zion. For Trinity.
Neo then walked through the bright wall of white light he was facing, leaving Sati and her banana nut bread behind.
CONTINUES HERE