-
“Hold the elevator,” Alan shouted as he raced towards the elevator doors that were closing. He did not have much time to grab the paper file from his office and then get to the morning meeting.
“Got it,” the young man said as he placed himself in between the elevator and the lobby.
“Thank you,” Alan said once he stepped inside. He had to lean against the back of the elevator to catch his breath. There was a time when he was able to race to the elevator and not need to catch his breath. There was also a time when would have been able to race up the steps. That time had long passed and Alan received the harsh reminder when he looked into the mirror and was greeted by his head full of fray hair.
“Don’t need to sweat it, Mr. Bradley,” the young man said while the other man in the elevator pressed some of the buttons.
“Adrian, how many times have I asked you to just call me Alan?”
“Several.” Adrian Dawson shrugged. He was in his late twenties, around the same age as Sam and Jet. He kept his blond hair cut and styled in a conservative fashion and was dressed in a slate gray suit with bright blue tie.
“Don’t keep trying,” the other man said. He was Robert Harper. He was about the same age as Alan with hair that was almost equally silver and light brown eyes. His suit was almost black. “Took him a while to call me Bobby.”
Alan smiled. “How are you both today?”
“Great,” Adrian said. “I may need to invest in a shotgun though.”
“You have robberies near where you live?” Bobby asked.
The younger man shook his head and smiled. “No. At Kathleen’s sonogram yesterday we found out the baby will be a girl.”
“Congratulations,” Alan and Bobby said at once.
Adrian’s smile faded. “We are going to name her Janelle.”
“Thank you,” Bobby said in sad tone as the elevator opened.
Alan exited along with Bobby and ran to his office. He could not help himself but to think of Janelle Harper. She was Bobby’s oldest child and she and Adrian were in love. After college graduation several of the students went on a cruise to celebrate. Janelle was accidentally knocked over. They were able to pull her out of the water but could not revive her.
Alan sighed as he opened the door to his office. He didn’t even acknowledge his secretary and immediately went for the file that was in the bright red folder on top of his desk. As he picked it up his eyes fell on his old air popper.
People had often asked why he kept using that thing. He had a small microwave in his office. He could just buy the bags, except there were no memories with the bags. The popper had been with him for nearly thirty years. He had it back when he was still a cubicle warrior. Alan munched on a bowl of the freshly popped snack while he worked on security programs. He often popped a bowl for when the kids made a visit. Janelle had lost her first baby tooth while eating the popcorn.
“After the meeting,” Alan told himself as he ran out of the office. He would make a nice bowl of popcorn and invite Bobby, Adrian and Sam to his office.
-
“And that in summary is the new security and anti-virus program,” Alan said as he finished informing the others of the board of what he and several others have been creating. The new program had simply called Guardian. It would protect several systems from viruses, malware, worms, pop ups.
“Wow,” Sam Flynn could not hide his enthusiasm. “I’m almost about to hide my dignity and ask how you did it.”
“Not to mention how he was able to do it all,” Edward Dillinger Junior asked in a bored tone. “Still writing programs at his age and is the head of the board.”
“We all wish we could be that multi talented,” Bobby said. There was no hint of mockery in his tone.
“Thank you,” Alan said as he sat down. He had to fight back against the urge to glare at Dillinger. The younger man had the same amount of arrogance as his father.
“Now about the profits of last month,” Sam said. He was trying. It had been only a week since he agreed to come and actually work at company. He did not do it half assed as many had thought. Sam threw himself into the company, showing his skills and the fact that he was able to walk in his father’s footsteps.
“Profits have gone up three percent,” Dillinger said as he grabbed everyone’s attention. “We of course expect it to rise ten times that amount when we release the new ENCOM Warrior.”
Alan wasn’t sure if he liked the fact that the company was also jumping on the wagon of a gaming system that follows the movements of the players. ENCOM used to be the first to release new ways of gaming, but the popular rival were first with their system and while Alan refused to admit that he bought one he did enjoy playing the sports games on that system.
A cool crisp breeze blew against Alan and over the table. It was surprisingly not strong enough to upset any papers, but enough to cause the pen that was closest to Dillinger’s hand to roll away.
“And furthermore,” Dillinger said as he tried to reach for his pen as it rolled even further from him. “Could somebody please close that window?”
“All the windows are closed,” Bobby said He was clearly trying to hide a smile. “Might be the air conditioning kicking up.”
“Or maybe it’s the ghost,” Karen O’Neil said as she held up her hands and made her fingers wiggle. Several people chuckled at her response.
“Ghost?” Sam asked. “This is a bit of office humor?”
“If you weren’t late to the party you might have heard about it,” Dillinger said.
“Don’t worry about it,” Alan said. He avoided having to glare at the brat by giving Sam an assuring nod. “I’ll tell you about it later.” Ghost or not something had embarrassed Dillinger and Alan was grateful.
-
“Poor little Junior,” Janelle said as she floated out of the boardroom and sank through several floors. “Served him right.” She hated half the members of the board, corporate dickery at it’s finest and Ed Dillinger Junior was the biggest dick of them all.
It had been nearly five years since she came to ENCOM. She mostly came because she followed both Adrian, her father and Alan Bradley. She had watched them while they worked and grew to know their co-workers. There were some she liked and some she hated. Those that she hated she played pranks on, harmless of course, but it brought smiles to the others.
Janelle had no idea why she hadn’t moved on from both the company and into some final resting place unless ENCOM was that, but she had no idea why. She was never really interested in corporations or writing programs so it wasn’t exactly Heaven and it couldn’t be Hell because she was not in any form of torment, boredom yes, torment no. There also the matter of those that she had cared about, not everyone was smarmy jerk. Her father wasn’t one, Alan wasn’t, nor was Adrian or Sam. They were amongst the people she loved or liked.
Janelle hovered near her beloved Adrian. They met when they were both freshmen and Berkley. They fell in love the following year. After they graduated they talked about moving in together. He would work at ENCOM where he had been interning for a couple of years and she would go to veterinary school.
That was before the fated cruise. She was half drunk and just wanted to stare that the stars. Nobody knew that someone else who was a whole lot drunker than she was tripped while dancing and crashed into her, sending her over the side. She was a decent swimmer but the impact of the water had her struck her unconscious.
Janelle was not angry that Adrian had moved on. She wanted him to be happy. He was a good man and he deserved someone special and Kathleen was perfect. She was one of Janelle’s closest friends. She was smart, pretty and had one of the kindest hearts. Kathleen became a schoolteacher for children with mental and physical disabilities.
She watched with a bit of curiosity as Adrian and his team work on Guardian. Alan had come up with the idea and the framework, but it was Adrian and his team who worked on it, with Alan’s help of course.
After watching her former lover at work she floated through the labs to make sure no one would get hurt. It took a lot to move an object, but she did what she could to prevent accidents. There wasn’t much to do except to make sure a few things didn’t get knocked over and listen in to some gossip. She had noticed that some were working with the large laser that was in one side of the lab.
“I wonder if that meeting is over,” Janelle said after an hour and floated back the boardroom. There were only two people in there and they were cleaning up. “I guess I’ll check on everyone.”
She decided to start with Alan and finish with her father since she would spend the longest time with him. She liked Alan. He was always friendly to Janelle when her father brought her and her siblings to the office. She would join Sam, Jet, and a few others with the dry erase markers on the board or play games on the computers. She remembered when they played puzzle games like chess, and moved on to Tetris and later on to Carmen Sandiego. They also hung out together at company picnics and ENCOM employee days at theme parks or when one of their fathers threw together a barbecue.
Alan was a good man. He was a great father and he did not allow himself to be corrupted by the mighty green dollar. He was smart and easy on the eyes. That man aged slowly and gracefully and even though his hair had all gone gray, Janelle still thought he was attractive. He was the first man she crushed on when she had first gone through puberty.
“Stop that,” she chided herself as she neared Alan’s office. Alan was about the same age as her father, she was in love with Adrian, and she was dead. What was it called when the dead fell for the living? Reverse Necrophilia?
Alan was not in his office but the air popper was in the middle of making popcorn. Janelle had to smile. The man certainly loved his popcorn.
“Alan?” Junior’s voice was heard on the other side of the door.
“What does he want?” Janelle floated closer to the door.
“I want to ask you something.” Junior opened the door and stuck his head inside. He glanced around the office and smiled. “Let’s see what you have been working on.”
Oh Hell no. Janelle used everything in her mind over matter abilities to close the door on him. When she heard the knob turn she placed her transparent hands over it and concentrated to keep Junior from opening it again.
“Edward?” Alan asked from outside.
“I was looking for you,” Junior said. “I wanted to speak with you privately about a few things.”
“You just wanted to know what big thing he is working on so you can steal it,” Janelle said. She did not have to care about being discreet or quiet. No one was able to hear her.
“Can it wait an hour?” Alan asked. “I’ve already made arrangements to meet with Bobby, Sam and Adrian.”
All four of them were going to be together? Janelle did not have to float around the offices at all.
“I also heard the popper and was going to ask if I could have some popcorn,” Junior said.
“Probably going to steal some without asking,” Janelle said.
“Yeah sure,” Alan said and entered his office. He grabbed a small paper bowl and put a little more than just a handful of popcorn it and handed it to Junior.
“Thank you,” Junior said as he walked away.
Alan closed the door behind him and sighed. “Anything to get rid of him.”
“I hear you,” Janelle said.
“I almost wish there was a ghost and he would go haunt him.” Alan sat down and turned on his computer.
“Mr. Bradley, your wish is my command.” She would check back on the group later after she had a little bit of fun with Junior.
-
Junior had his back facing the door when Janelle walked through the wall and into his private office. Junior had a few of his personal items on the desk. There was that purple slinky he liked to bounce back and forth in his hand. The ENCOM Tag-a-long and a couple games for it was placed next to a book on Egyptian mythology
He had a small phone in his hand against his ear. It did not look like a company phone either. Janelle wasn’t sure who he was calling. She had overheard practically everything gossip wise and Junior was not married, divorced yes, but not seeing anyone. He could be speaking with his ex about alimony or something.
There was the possibility that he had a new girlfriend and was talking to her. Hard to believe there was some woman out there who would enjoy his royal smarminess. Junior did have some things going for him. He was good looking, he was smart, he had money and he did ham it up and go into ultra clown mode when the kids came around on field trips.
“No dad,” Junior said. “The plan is in full motion.”
“What plan?” Janelle asked.
“Dad, dad slow down,” Junior continued the phone call. “I do respect Kevin Flynn. He did have some great ideas. Just several board members with their integrity and that Sam Flynn. He does his little stunts and then one day he decides to show up to work here and most of the people here roll over and let him get away with murder.”
“Poor baby got his thunder stolen?” She floated closer to the brat and thought extremely cold thoughts.
“I’m not going to do the dirty deed myself,” Junior said as he wrapped his arms around himself and shivered. “I have someone on the outside.” That did not sound good. “Gave him everything to bypass security and upload it into the system, and I will be the only one to fix it. Don’t worry. We will take the company back.”
If Janelle was able to breath she would have let out a loud gasp. Junior was paying someone to download a virus into the system so he could become the big boss at ENCOM? She had no idea how that was going to work, but she knew she had to get some sort of warning out to her father, or Adrian.
Damn it, how was she going to be able to do that? It would take too much out of her to call someone. There was no way she could direct someone to listen in on the call and even then it would have been too late. She could take a pen and write out the message, but it would take a long time and by then the virus might have been downloaded, but she still had to try.
-
“I think I forgot the napkins,” Alan said as he stared at his butter coated fingers. “I’ll go grab some paper towels from my bathroom.”
“What about project Guardian?” Adrian asked as he grabbed another handful of the snack food.
“I’ll let you explain it to Sam and Bobby.” Alan ran to his office bathroom and grabbed a handful of the tan paper towels and came back as Adrian was explaining how it worked like a biological vaccine.
“It attacks what has been corrupted,” Adrian continued. “And it cleans it out. It also sticks to what hasn’t been affected and it keeps the virus from attacking it. Just like most antivirus it will prevent more viruses from attacking and it will of course need to be updated.”
“Sounds good,” Sam said. “I can’t wait to see the prototype.”
“My team and I will have it finished in an hour.” Adrian grabbed one of the towels and cleaned off his fingers. “I better get going back down there. Thanks for the popcorn Mr—Alan.”
“I should be getting back to my office,” Bobby said as he cleaned his fingers. “Thanks for inviting me.”
“Don’t mention it,” Alan said. As soon as the door closed he turned to Sam. “How are you holding up?”
Sam shrugged. “First week is always hard.”
“I’ve seen Ed Dillinger Junior give you a hard time.”
“I can see why. I’m the new kid who just waltzed in her and is already climbing to the top.” He rubbed his forehead and ran his fingers through his hair. “I still am amazed how dad was able to do it all.”
“You need to give yourself some time. Your father wasn’t able to do it all in one day.”
“No, but when he was my age he created Space Paranoids and several more games.”
“You don’t have to compare yourself to him. Your father never jumped from helicopters.” He gave the youth a reassuring pat on the shoulder. “Why don’t you go back to what you were working on and relax.”
“Thanks.” Sam stood up and cleaned his hands and left.
“Back to work.” Alan went through some papers and wanted to secure them together with a paperclip. He reached for the jar, but they have been moved to the far corner of the desk. “Who moved these?” He picked it up and noticed a scrap of paper underneath.
-
Tron stumbled as he walked along the path that only he could see. He kept hearing Flynn’s voice to urge him on and to give him direction. The direction kept on changing. With Flynn’s guidance he would work on repairing part of the Grid that was broken or destroyed.
He had seen the son of Flynn and the last ISO also work on the Grid, but he kept his distance from them. He could not show his face to them, not after what he had done. He would keep his distance and continue on trying to repair what he can on his own.
Tron sat down. He needed to rest. He thought about hitting another club or bar and having a few drinks and try to ignore Flynn telling him to not wallow in misery.
“We are close to finishing this part of ground,” Flynn’s voice was heard.
“I need rest.”
“Take your time.”
“I need something else,” Tron said as he put his head in his hands. “I need to fight for them. I need to fight.” He felt a powerful surge inside him as he watched a few programs walk around. Some of them were breaking the rules, Clu’s rules. He had to enforce them. “I have to enforce the rules.” His voice took on a growl. “Restore order, make it perfect.” He felt his helmet form around his head.
“Don’t do it,” Flynn told him. “Who do you fight for? Who do you protect?”
“The Users.” Tron felt a surge go through him. He stared at his lights and watched as it flickered from orangeish red to blueish white. “I was becoming him again.”
“I’m not going to let that happen. You will always be Tron.”
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