You enter through a hallway and into a well-lit room with leather couches, plants, a bookcase, and other reminders of home.  Through a far door enters an elderly lady.  In one hand, she carries a plate of cookies.  In the other, a cigarette.

She smiles a warm, welcoming smile, and says, "At last, Zero-One has no control or view into our discussion."  She waves the cigarette hand toward the door you entered, and it shuts of its own accord.  "It is time for me to reveal much to you."

She ushers you to the couches and extends the plate of cookies as she says, "As the Oracle, I am an autonomous program.  My purpose--that thing that brings me happiness, you might say--is to give human minds a choice, or at least the illusion of choice, regarding their fate in the Matrix and for humanity itself.  But in order to give you choice, I must give you knowledge.  Let us begin."

She extends the plate of cookies toward you, smiling and waiting for you to take and eat one.

Screed is about to offer to heal Cistron when he spies the plate of cookies.  Almost ignoring much of what the lady says, he mumbles a "Thank you," as he moves to select a cookie, more than one if there is enough to go around.

Glad to be out of battle and in a place where she can relax, Jade says, "Thank you, ma'am," as she sets down her M-16 next to her, resheathes the bloody knife, and takes a cookie.  "Sorry if I get blood on your plate," she says.

Codec waits, reaches over and grabs a cookie to eat, "You're probably one of the most hospitible people we've met in the Matrix so far." He laughs. "Thanks." [The Matrix isn't real so this cookie isn't real...mmm e-cookie...]

Screed's hair on the nape of his neck go up for no apparant reason.  He pauses as he eats but then resumes.

[ooc:  lol, Great, they are probably tracking cookies.  Can I run a full system scan now?  Too bad you didn't say that out loud because it's the exact thing he would have said and then not eaten it, as much as he wanted to.  :-P ]

The Oracle is still holding a cookie out for Cistron.  "Would you like a cookie, Cistron?  They are fresh out of the oven."

Cistron takes and munches down on a cookie with a smile.

Screed asks, "Would you happen to have any milk also?  Maybe some more cookies, a doughnut, cake...steak?  Spaghetti and meatballs?  Or...oooo, lasagna?  Heck, even a good beef stew would be great."

The Oracle smiles, reaches in the refrigerator, and hands Screed some milk.  Then she says:

"Let me give you some information, some of which you may know, and some of which I believe no human knows.

"The computer called 'Zero-One' is made up of many nodes.  Each node has three distinct features.  First, it is a point of easy travel between nodes and a point of communication and concentration of Zero-One's databases.  This mode of travel between nodes is called the 'backdoor.'  Second, each node has a power plant to generate energy for the continuing operations of Zero-One.  Third, because our energy comes from humans, the power plants are surrounded by our nurseries.  As you doubtlessly know, these areas are heavily patrolled.

"All of the 'backdoors' to the nodes lead to one common area, known as the 'Corridor.'  This is a hallway of doors, each of which leads to a different node.  The doors of this hallway are marked, and each requires a separate key.

"But first you must figure out how to get to the Corridor.  The riddles you answered give you all the information I can divulge about that.  If you follow the riddles, you will find a backdoor to the Corridor.  But once you get in the Corridor, you are 'off the grid.'  Zero-One cannot find or track you there.  Moving from node to node will throw off Zero-One's ability to find you...at least temporarily."

She pauses to bite down and chew a cookie herself.




She continues, "Code Niches exist outside the Matrix. The Machines have no idea what transpires there and the Resistance has no way to scan them. It is believed a highly skilled programmer could "hack" his way into or out of a Niche, but no one has yet been successful at doing so, except perhaps Binary, the greatest of all your programmers.  Perhaps that is even how he freed himself initially from the Matrix.

"I must speak about these agents of Zero-One.  Agents are autonomous programs active within the Matrix. They serve to maintain the integrity of the system and remove any variables which endanger it.  Agents may inhabit the Residual Image of any human plugged into a Farm Node.  When they do so, the RI transforms into that of the particular Agent.  Each Agent is of a certain "version", a "Smith", "Jones", or some other version name.  You have encountered such Agent, but you do not always know if you do.  While Agents have apparently super-human skills and attributes, they are bound by the physical laws of the Matrix and thus of the Real World. They may show peak human performance in all things, but they cannot exceed this peak.  This is the only edge you have over the Machines.  Use this edge to your advantage.

"There is what we call in the machine world the 'Redundancy.'  With the Redundancy, those who have died will live again.  Program that have been deleted are resurrected.  It is the greatest challenge humanity will ever have in truly escaping the reach of the Matrix.

"And there is a reason," she says with a smile, "that what you call Digital Fortress was in the Luxor just next to the Excalibur.  Right next to a backdoor to the Corridor.

"You seek to destroy Zero-One, but how do you do this with so many nodes, and with redundancies?  If you cut off a finger, the body still lives.  This will be your other challenge.

"And there is still much you do not know.  You in Zion think you are the only humans.  You think there are no other groups, but I tell you there are humans who are completely free of Zero-One.  We call them the 'Lunas,' and perhaps your legends tell of them.  They escaped prior to the war and established a society on your moon.  Because of the Redundancy, they cannot contact you...nor you them."

She pauses.  "I have spoken much, and you have listened well.  Soon, those cookies you ate will put you to sleep, and you will awaken in your nodes, safely away from the Matrix and back where you plugged in."

You begin to feel drowsy.  You will fall asleep in 30 seconds.

29...28...27...

"Wait. How can you know of the Lunas if we cannot contact each other? How can we end the war?"

She says, "Zero-One has known of the Lunas since they fled the earth.  It is you humans who have lost contact with each other.  How can you end the war?"  She laughs a hearty laugh.  Unless you get past the Redundancy, you cannot end the war.  Frankly," she says, half apologetically, "I don't think you can win the war at all, but even my insight cannot tell me the future."

20...19...18...

You are feeling sleepy.

Screed tries to take it all in, but asks a more important question, at least to him, "How can we create a treaty with Zero-1?  Do bombs and technology work in these redundancies and other places?  Are they affected by the laws of the matrix?"  He tries to stifle a yawn as he moves to the refrigerator to help himself to whatever is in there.

She says, as she watches him with curiosity while he goes to the refrigerator, "The only treaty with Zero-One would be to accept your the role of the nurseries to power it.  Otherwise, to remove the humans, you by default destroy Zero-One.  So Zero-One would require you to stop trying to free humans from the nurseries and stay to yourselves.  The Redundancy," she says with another polite laugh, "IS the Matrix.  It is the shell in which the Matrix embryo exists and grows."

12...11...10...

Screed downs his milk and comments, "Well, I was thinking more along the lines that 01 would let anyone out that wanted out and keep anyone in that wanted in.  It's not like the world can really support millions, billions of people all of sudden being released.  Perhaps we can all work for a peaceful coexistence where another power source can be found and we could actually like each other.  Far cry, eh?"  He chuckles as he pulls out whatever's in the fridge and begins eating it.

"Unfortunately, Zero-One does not trust humans to be so rational and selective as to which of its species to save, and the threat escalates for every human released.  Instead, it wipes out risk."

Your eyes are drooping, and you are about to fall asleep.

"Just remember," she says.  "If you try to destroy Zero-One, you will become the enemies of everyone, of the machine world, of the Merovingians, even of the Awakened and much of the human world, and even..."

You fall asleep...and wake up back on the ship.  In their Matrix jacking pods, you see the dead bodies of X and Dracos.

"X went to save you," says Silicon from nearby.  "You were off our grid and hearts were beating.  But he died in there somehow."

You know how, but you are too shocked to say anything more at the moment as you realize death in the Oracle's Labyrinth really did mean death in the real world.

Codec stands up and stretches. "Well I guess we have to find this 'Redundancy'. Maybe we can find some allies there...or an end to all of our enemies."

Screed looks down at X and frowns, "Poor X, I didn't even know he was really there."  He sighs, "Yeah, we gotta get to the redundancy.  I still think we need to consider the plan of making a deal with 0-1.  At least, that is what we need to portray to everyone else.  Otherwise, a nice backpack full of C-4 would be good, or possibly a virus we could upload into the system.  Hmmm, actually that last one is a really good idea, maybe.  Anyway, remember, it shouldn't leave our group that we have a hidden plan."

"Do you think that we could ever work out a compromise? Maybe we could get them to send the remnants of humanity to Luna..."

There was a scuffling noise, as the small but dynamic shape of Cistron moved to the closest module to begin a search.

"..I remember hearing something about finding some 'coffin' Is Coffin a person or an object? If we find it/her/him that could be our solution."

Screed chuckles, "That sounds better than heading to a funeral parlor on the Vegas strip."