Cookies

Written by Anakin McFly

They were the best there were, the finest of their kind. Premium flour, butter, milk, eggs and chocolate chips went into their creation, as they developed from bits of dough to fully grown chocolate chip cookies to tantalise the most cynical of taste buds. Baked to golden crispy perfection in the Oracle's kitchen, they were, without a doubt, the best cookies in the Matrix.

The latest batch looked around in awe as they emerged from the warmth of the oven. What adventure would they depart on next? What brave foray into the mysterious unknown?

Gazing around them, the cookies marvelled at the transformation their bodies had gone through. They were now hard and firm, with a tinge of brown – so unlike the soggy messes they had been moments ago.

And, oh! They smelt so good! What, after all, can compare with the wondrous aroma of freshly baked cookies? Sniffing each other, the cookies sighed in bliss, basking in the warmth emanating from their bodies.

The Oracle placed their tray down on a hot pad, and the cookies filled the air with ultrasonic twitters of greeting. Engrossed in its daily meditation, the hot pad didn't say anything. As for the table, it didn't think too highly of cookies. Too many times had its spotless self been scattered with the remains of those buttery delights; by no means was it going to acknowledge their welcomes.

So the table merely grunted, and, sensing they were not wanted, the cookies soon quietened and kept their conversations to themselves.

"What's going to happen now?" asked an excited little cookie named Aty.

"Ahh... no one really knows, right?" Syran replied. "And that's the wonder of it all. Anything can happen next. Danger may lie before us. Perils may befall us as we embark on our journey through life. We can never know what lies ahead."

"Maybe we'll get put in shiny vacuum-sealed bags and sold for tons of money," Riel said dreamily.

"Really?" Aty asked. "Then what happens?"

"Nobody's ever found out," Riel admitted. "But I'm sure it'll be great!"

Tyan snorted disdainfully. "You've been spending too much time on the CMS," the cookie said, referring to the telepathic Cookie Messaging Service. "Chatting to all those stuck-up cookies from Famous Amos and Mrs. Fields and who knows where else... They've been putting ideas into your head. Foolish ideas, too."

"Then what do you think will happen?" Aty asked.

"Nothing good," was Tyan's reply. "All those cookies suddenly disappearing like that, never to be heard from again... It's fishy business, I tell you. Dream all you like; but I think you would have better reason to be afraid."

"No," Phael said defensively. "The Oracle loves us! She'll never let anything bad happen to us. We're her cookies, remember?"

"'Cookies need love, like everything does'," Sioe said, quoting one of the Oracle's many whispered phrases to them. "Yes... the Oracle loves us."

The others murmured in agreement, with the noticeable exception of Tyan.

"Fools," he muttered under his breath. You'll see how wrong you are. One day, you'll see."

"Aww... don't be such a wet blanket," Ekul complained in a whiny voice. "We'll be fine, I'm sure. I bet..."

A gasp from Riel stopped the cookie in mid-sentence. "Look!"

The cookies looked, and saw the Oracle's hand moving down upon them. Her fingers closed around Aty, and the little cookie was overcome with exhilaration as he was lifted off the tray.

"Bye everyone!" Aty yelled. "I go off to a better place!"

The other cookies bid him farewell, wishing him luck and a good time wherever he was going.

Only Tyan was silent.

After a short thrilling ride through the air, the Oracle placed Aty into someone else's hand and said something the cookie couldn't hear. Not that he cared. He was going places now! Life on the cookie tray was past; a glorious future was waiting for him.

Aty knew it. He could feel it, feel it with each figurative thump of his figurative heart as the person holding him walked out of the Oracle's apartment. He heard human voices talking... about him, perhaps? About his future? Aty strained to listen, but was unable to decipher the words of human speech.

But it didn't matter. He would find out soon enough...

Maybe he'd be put into one of those shiny vacuum-sealed bags that Riel had talked about. Maybe he'd get sold for tons of money, and put on display in a cookie shop. There would be bright lights shining around him. And every day, he could look out through the glass with the other cookies and see the world go by. Aty sighed in cookie-ish delight. He would make friends, and he would be happy, and maybe he'd see Riel and the rest again, and maybe he'd...

Neo ate him.

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