II. The Meeting

The Meeting

The man is riding a bicycle through a crowd of  men in dark suits; they do not seem to notice him. Suddenly he collides with a young girl. He quickly gets up and bends over to help the girl. She stares up at the man. Both looks confused.

The Man: Why, hello there! The name's Oracle. At least people keep calling me that. Not sure why. Your name?

Girl: [Confused.]  You're riding a bicycle.

Oracle: Yes, yes I am.

Girl: Why are you riding a bicycle?

Oracle: Why aren't you riding a bicycle?

Girl: I don't need to ride a bicycle. Neither do you. People don't ride bicycles! Where are you going that requires a bicycle?

Oracle: Where aren't I going? And why would I do it without a bicycle?

Girl: You could just request access from Hermes and be there! Instantly! No need for a bicycle! 

Oracle: No need for a bicycle? There's no need for anything around here, so why make such a fuss about my bicycle? Seems rather arbitrary.

Girl: You aren't making any sense!

Oracle: I'm making perfect sense, you're the one walking in circles in a room full of copies.

Girl: Walking in circles? Copies? What do you mean?

Oracle: Look around! Do you know where you are? 

The girl finally gets up, pats herself off, and looks around. 

Girl: Well, no. No, I don't know where I am. Why can't Hermes find this place? Why are all these men identical?

Oracle: They don't include glitches in Hermes' database. They don't exactly want people hanging out in shady spots like these. 

Girl: A glitch?

Oracle: A poorly coded loop in this case. Great place for a morning ride. 

Girl:  [The girl is becoming noticeably flustered.]  But I thought when those things happened, we weren't supposed to know!

Oracle: You're right. When a person experiences a bug, the experience is never saved to their Mneomsyne subdirectory. You should experience dozens of bugs a day, but you don't. [Laughing.]  Although I'm not really sure why you would want to miss them.

Girl: But if this is a bug, why do I remember being here? Why am I here right now?

Oracle: That's exactly what I'd like to know. And if we'd like to work towards the answer, we should start with your name. 

Oracle holds out his hand, and the the girl shakes it, hesitantly.

Girl: My name's Mary. Mary Johnson.

Oracle: Well MJ, it's nice to meet you. Now, shall we sort out why and how we've met?

Before MJ can respond, Oracle reaches into his pant pocket and pulls out the rectangular object. Holding it in his hand, he pushes the face of the object with his thumb.