> Yeah, I thought this too, but everyone else tells me the Oracle is the "mother" of the Matrix. I thought that when the Architect refers to the "mother," Neo asks if that was the Oracle, and I remembered the Architect saying something like, "Hardly." Everyone else seems to tell me I'm misremembering. Could you post that transcript or e-mail it to me? I'd appreciate it.

According to my transcript, the Architect's response is "Please", and if I remember correctly, his tone implies the "Hardly" that you remember. In any case, here it is.

Architect: Hello Neo

Neo: Who are you?

Architect: I am the Architect. I created the Matrix. I have been waiting for
you. You have many questions and although the process has altered your
consciousness you remain irrevocably human, ergo some of my answers you will
understand and some of them you will not. Concordantly, while your first
question maybe the most pertinent you may or may not realize it is also the
most irrelevant.

Neo: Why am I here?

Architect: Your life is the sum of a remainder of an unbalanced equation
inherent in the programming of the matrix. You are the eventuality of an
anomaly which despite my sincerest efforts I have been unable to eliminate
from what is otherwise a harmony of mathematical precision. While it remains
a burden deciduously avoided it is not unexpected and thus not beyond a
measure of control. Which has led you inexorably here.

Neo: You haven't answered my question.

Architect: Quite right. Interesting, that was quicker then the others.

Neo: Others? (What others? How many? Answer me)

Architect: The Matrix is older then you know. I prefer counting from the
emergence of one integral anomaly to the emergence of the next. In which
case this is the sixth version.

Neo: Then there are only two possible explanations, either no one told me,
or no one knows.

Architect: Precisely, as you are undoubtedly gathering the anomaly is
systemic. Creating fluctuations in even the most simplistic equations.

Neo: Choice, the problem is choice.

Architect: The first matrix I designed was quite naturally perfect; it was a
work of art, flawless, sublime. A triumph equaled only by its monumental
failure. The inevitability of its doom is apparent to me now as a
consequence of the imperfection inherent in every human being. Thus, I
redesigned it, Based on your history to more accurately reflect the varying
grotesqueries of your nature. However I was again frustrated my failure. I
have since come to understand that the answer eluded me because it required
a lesser mind a mind less bound by the parameters of perfection. Thus the
answer was stumbled upon by another, and intuitive program, initially
created to investigate certain aspects of the human psyche. If I am the
father of the matrix, she would undoubtedly be its mother.

Neo: The Oracle

Architect: Please, as I was saying she stumbled upon a solution whereby
nearly 99 percent of all test subjects accepted the program as long as they
were given a choice, even if they were only aware of the choice at an
unconscious level. While this answered function it was obviously
fundamentally flawed thus creating the otherwise contradictory systemic
anomaly. That if left unchecked might threaten the system itself, ergo those
that refuse the program while the minority if unchecked would cause an
escalating probability of disaster.

Neo: This is about Zion

Architect: You are here because Zion is about to be destroyed. Its every
living inhabitant terminated, its entire existence eradicated.

Neo: Bull****

Architect: Denial is the most predictable of all human responses. But, rest
assured, this will be the sixth time we have destroyed it. And we have
become exceedingly efficient at it. The function of the One is now to return
to the source allowing a temporary dissemination of the code you carry
reinserting the prime program after which you will be required to select
from the matrix 23 individuals, 16 female 7 male, to rebuild Zion. Failure
to comply with this process will result in a cataclysmic system crash
killing everyone connected to the matrix. Which, coupled with the
extermination of Zion will ultimately result in the extinction of the entire
human race.

Neo: You won't let it happen, you can't. You need human beings to survive.

Architect: There are levels of survival we are prepared to accept. However
the relevant issue is whether you are ready to accept the responsibility for
the death of every human being in this world. It is interesting reading your
reactions. Your 5 predecessors were by design based on a similar predication
a contingent affirmation that was meant to create a profound attachment to
the rest of your species facilitating the function of the One. While the
others experienced this in a very general way your experience is far more
specific, Vis a vie love.

Neo: Trinity

Architect: Apropos, she entered the matrix to save your life at the cost of
her own.

Neo: No

Architect: Which brings us at last to the moment of truth, wherein the
fundamental flaw is ultimately expressed and the anomaly revealed as both
beginning and end. There are two doors, the door to your right leads to the
source and the salvation of Zion, the door to your left leads back to the
matrix to her and to the end of your species. As you adequately put, the
problem is choice. But we already know we you are going to do don't we?
Already I can see the chain reaction the chemical precursors that signal the
onset of an emotion designed specifically to overwhelm logic and reason. An
emotion that is already blinding you from the simple and obvious truth, she
is going to die and there is nothing you can do to stop it. Hope, it is the
quintessential human delusion simultaneously the source of your greatest
strength and your greatest weakness.

Neo: If I were you, I would hope that we don't meet again.

Architect: We won't.

> Stephen

Don