-
Sam wasn’t sure why his father instructed Quorra and him to visit the Babbage Theater house. The place was within the large corrupted part of ENCOM’s grid. His father had insisted that it was one of the few safe places within the corruption and the one in charge, called Pollux, was very User friendly. His father’s description was an understatement.
Pollux was quite the program, very flashy and flamboyant, reminded Sam of the one called Castor or should Sam think of him as Zuse? Pollux said they were brother programs, created by the same User.
Quorra seemed to like him and Pollux was delighted by her, especially her enthusiasm for the plays and stories written by Users. He let both Sam and Quorra follow him to his private office and spent minutes talking. Sam wanted to talk about the resistance and the fight against the viral corruption, but to his chagrin both the program and Quorra wanted to talk about plays and playwrights.
Then their host was called away and Sam was certain he had heard Sylph mention other Users in their brief conversation.
“More Users,” Quorra said once they were alone. “I wonder who they could be?”
“I don’t like this,” Sam said. He stared at his drink in hand. “Remember what his brother did?”
“He’s not like his brother,” Quorra said. “Pollux is different. I think we can trust him.”
“Just because he is friendly, nice and shares some of the same interests as you does not mean he is trustworthy.” There were times when Sam admired her naivety. This was not one of those times. “He could have set up a trap for us. Those other Users might be corrupted soldier programs.”
“What if he is telling the truth?”
“There is that possibility but in this case we have to expect the worst.”
“We also should think that they might be actual Users,” Quorra said, her voice heavy with insistence. “One of them could be Adrian.”
“Adrian?” Sam blinked. As he thought about it did make sense. Adrian and Alan were the only others who were working with them. Alan knew about the Grid, but he thought they were just stories, but there was a possibility that he told Adrian and they both got the old laser working.
“Hello my other guests,” Pollux greeted as the door opened and his two guards stepped inside. “I brought other Users, perhaps you might know each other.” Pollux walked and in and was followed by three others.
Sam nearly dropped his glass when he recognized the first one. Quorra had just told him that one of the other Users might have been Adrian. He did not think of the possibility that Alan had come over.
“Sam?” Alan asked when he recognized them. “Quorra?”
“Alan?” Sam rose from where he sat. He noticed that Quorra also rose and was getting into a defensive position.
“It’s him,” Quorra said. “The enforcer, Rinzler.”
“Rinzler?” Sam asked. He did not look at the woman and instead focused on the third member of the group. The program looked like the younger version of Alan. The shape of the lights on his armor was the same as the ones on Rinzler.
Sam glared and removed the disk from his back. He ran up to Rinzler who just had his helmet reformed.
Something swept under Sam’s feet and he tripped. The second he stumbled on the ground he was forced onto his back and had the end of a staff pressed against his chest.
Sylph raised her leg to kick at Quorra and knocked her back.
“Stop,” Alan and the woman shouted.
“Stop, stop, stop, stop,” Pollux shouted and flapped his arms. “Wraith, Sylph, stand down. We do not fight in here. We do not attack Users.”
Sam took a deep breath once the blunt end of the cane was removed from his chest. He rolled over and sat up on his knees. He looked over to Quorra who was glaring at Slyph. He was then looking at Rinzler who was pinned against the wall. Wraith had grabbed one of his hands and went for one of her knives. Rinzler had blocked her attack with one of his disk’s.
“The hell?” the woman asked. Her voice was familiar.
“What were you doing, Sam?” Alan asked. He was standing in front of the woman who stood in front of Rinzler.
“What are you doing?” Quorra asked. Sam couldn’t remember the last time he had seen her that angry.
“What were you doing?” Alan repeated. “Sam, you just tried to attack us.”
“I wasn’t going to attack you,” Sam said as he pointed at Rinzler. Clu’s enforcer just stood there with his shoulders lowered. “I was trying to save you from him.”
“Tron is my program,” Alan said. “He would not attack us.”
“He’s not your program anymore,” Sam said and retrieved his dropped disk. He placed it on his back, never removing his eyes from Rinzler.
“Don’t you remember?” The woman asked as she stepped in front of him. “He’s a hero. Your father told us about him.”
Sam’s eyes widened and he jumped back. “Janelle Harper?”
“Is she a friend of yours?” Quorra asked. She was also poised and ready to attack. “Why haven’t you introduced me to her?”
“Cause she’s dead,” Sam answered and stared back at Janelle. She was the daughter of Bobby Harper, friend to both Alan and his father and they did grow up together. They didn’t hang out in the same circles and she did go to a different college, but Sam was still deeply hurt and saddened when she died. “Janelle, you drowned five years ago. I was at your funeral.”
“We all were, Sam,” Alan said. “She is real.”
“I’m a ghost,” Janelle explained. “I think I still am, not sure, but I was the ghost of ENCOM.”
“A ghost?” Pollux asked. He had gone over to his minibar. “You did call yourself a ghost before. Like the one in Hamlet?”
“You can say that,” Janelle said.
“How exciting.”
“Exciting?” Alan repeated and glared at him. “She’s a friend of ours and you think it’s exciting that she is dead?”
“She did not get to see her dreams come true,” Rinzler said in a soft tone. It was eerie how much he sounded like Alan.
“I did not mean to offend,” Pollux said as he held up his hands. “I meant the phenomenon of an actual ghost here.” He pulled out several bottles. “I am quite sorry.”
“You should apologize to Janelle,” Rinzler said.
“I am deeply sorry if I said anything to offend you, Miss Janelle,” Pollux said.
“It’s okay,” Janelle told him. “The subject matter of disembodied spirits is pretty fascinating.”
“Do you seek revenge and need the help of the living?” Quorra asked. Sam had seen her read some of Shakespeare’s work.
“It was an accident,” Janelle said as Pollux handed her a glass of glowing liquid and three spheres on a stick that glowed in the colors of pink, orange, and yellow. “I just watch over those that I love.”
“Everyone sit and talk,” Pollux said as he handed both Alan and Rinzler their drinks. “Discuss amongst yourselves. This place is safe and secure.”
“It isn’t with him,” Quorra said as she pointed at Rinzler.
“I will stand,” Rinzler said. He had his helmet removed again
“We will watch him,” Wraith said as she and Sylph stood on either side of Rinzler. “Your friends trust him.”
“Because he is a friend,” Janelle said as she sat down. “He protected me.”
“You’re a ghost,” Sam said after he took another sip from his drink. “And you are the one that has been haunting ENCOM. Why were you haunting us?”
“She wasn’t haunting us,” Alan said. “She’s been watching over us.” He took a drink from his glass.
“I only haunt jerks,” Janelle explained. “Like that one security guard, Jackson.”
“Tall guy with the tinted glasses?” Sam asked. He did not like that man. “I know who you are talking about, he is an ass.”
“He’s a bit tough, but not that bad,” Alan said.
“You don’t understand. He’s the guard that always gave me a hard time when I just came to visit the company, not my yearly check in but actual visits to see if you wanted to have lunch or something, Alan. He didn’t even let up when I actually started to work. He keeps on giving me that look as if I was something he spat up.”
“Always complained when he had to cover someone’s shift,” Janelle added. “’Your kid’s sick again? Aren’t you feeding him right?’”
“He does that?” Sam asked.
“Yeah,” Janelle nodded. “Also took bribes from some of the higher ups.”
“Wait,” Alan cut back in. “He’s been doing that?”
“Uh-huh.” Janelle nodded her head.
“You probably have got a lot of dirt on people,” Sam said.
“What are you doing, Pollux?” Quorra asked.
“Hmm?” Pollux was seating in a chair with a glowing pad placed on one knee. He was writing something down on it with a stylus. “Just writing your dialogue. I want to keep it real with User characters in my play.”
“If you want good dialogue and witty banter you should look up Joss Whedon, and J. Michael Straczynski.” Janelle suggested.
“Thank you,” Pollux said and made another note.
“One of those she pulled pranks on is responsible for all of this,” Rinzler said. He was leaning with his back against the wall. He kept staring down, or at Alan. “He created Osiris and his dark guard.”
“Who?” Sam asked as he looked at Rinzler. Alan’s program refused to look him in the eyes.
“Junior,” Janelle said and slurped down her drink with much gusto. She popped once of the glowing spheres in her mouth and closed her eyes as if she were ecstasy.
“Ed Dillinger Junior?” Sam asked. He wished he could say that he was shocked. Junior had told him the past was in the past, but there were some details that Sam didn’t like. Junior was cold to him and to Alan. Sam wasn’t sure if he could put any trust in Ed or rely on him.
“We have to find this Osiris then,” Quorra said. “We’ll derezz him and then we turn Ed over to the authorities.” She paused and blinked her eyes. “I said it wrong? He just gets fired?”
“Hacking is a crime,” Alan told her. “We will report him if and when we get proof.”
“What about him?” Sam asked as he pointed at Rinzler.
“He’s working with us,” Alan said. “He’s on our side.”
“Rinzler attacked us the last time we came across him. He enforced the rules of our enemy.”
“His name is Tron.” The older man glared down at him.
“Alan, I know you created him, but he isn’t the same.”
“He is on our side,” Janelle said. “I trust him, Alan trusts him. Your father trusts him.”
“I shouldn’t be trusted,” Rinzler said and earned confused looks from the guards. “I was the enemy. I nearly killed the son of Flynn. I hurt him.”
“Even he knows what he is.” Sam recalled when he was in the arena, facing off against Rinzler and the program had cut him…and then Rinzler stopped and addressed him as a User. Somewhere inside Rinzler, the old Tron had existed. Now this enforcer was going by Tron again. “Then he looked at dad, remembered everything and fought against the enemy.”
“What happened?” Alan asked as he looked at his program. “What happened to you?”
“Taken and repurposed,” Quorra answered. “Clu turned him into Rinzler.”
“Like he was brainwashed?” Janelle asked.
“That’s the same thing I guess,” Sam answered. The Janelle he remembered wasn’t into computers or programming. She still needed some things translated into User-speak. “He was brainwashed and deadly, he still is.”
“No.” Janelle scowled at him.
“Yes I am,” Rinzler said. “Rinzler surfaces at times. When I was fighting in the arena I fought to not kill but to disarm, but as the game wore on I grew more fierce more like what Users would call an animal.”
“You see?” Sam pointed at the program. “We can’t trust him.”
“Sam, stop,” Alan snapped at him.
“Alan, come on-“
“Whatever you are about to say next better not be trying to convince me to give up on him.”
“He wasn’t himself,” Janelle said. “He’s got some issues yes, but who doesn’t?”
“Programs don’t,” Sam told her.
“He’s more than just a mere program.”
“He is with us,” Alan said. “If you don’t want to trust him then-“
“No one should trust me,” Rinzler said.
“And you stop that.” Alan turned to point at him. “You are Tron. You do not give up on anyone, not even yourself. I made you to be stronger than this. Now stop slouching, stand up straight and do what Kevin told you to do and knock off that unnecessary angst.”
Rinzler was stunned. He looked like no one had talked to him that way before. He blinked twice and stood up tall.
“I’m sorry, Alan-One,” he said.
Wraith stepped away from her position. “Jor is calling me.” She nodded at her sister Program and her employer before she left the office.
“Sam.” Alan turned back to face him. “As I was saying before, if you don’t want to trust my program then fine. You do your own thing with Quorra. You two will continue fighting the infection on your own. Janelle, Tron and I will try our own method without you.”
“You can’t mean that.” Sam couldn’t believe Alan would give him such an ultimatum. Alan was like a second father to him and now he was favoring his crazed program over him.
“I can and will.” That look in his eyes was serious. He really would break up a potential team for Rinzler. “Please, Sam, give him a second chance. He was your childhood hero. How many chances have Lora and I given you?”
“Several,” Sam sighed as recalled the multiple times that Alan and or Lora had to bail him out of some form of trouble.
“We are not each other’s enemies,” Janelle said. “Stop this bickering.” She placed a hand against her head. “The living.”
“She’s right,” Quorra said and set her empty glass down. “We don’t know how long the firewall will hold. We have to settle for a truce. We need to form an alliance.” She stared at Rinzler. “His glow is like ours and not red.”
“Such a character,” Pollux said as he continued to jot down notes. “A hero of legend. He gets attacked, turned into a pawn of the enemy. Something makes him good again and he is wracked by guilt.”
“Not cool.” Janelle glared at him. “Tron is going through inner pain and you are just using it for your play.”
“I am sorry,” Pollux said as he set down the stylus. “My social graces should be at optimum level.” He set the pad down and stood up. “Please accept my apology.”
“I accept,” Rinzler said.
“Perfect.” Pollux brought his hands together. “Now who wants another drink?”
“No time,” Sylph said in an alarmed tone. “Wraith just contacted me. The Black Guards are at entering the theater along with one of their commanders.”
“How do we get out of here?” Sam asked. He studied Pollux’s face to see if the program would do something to help or if he was going to betray them like his brother.
“There is an exit to the basement,” Pollux said in a serious tone. “There is a door down there that will lead you through the underground. Follow us.”
Sylph and Pollux lead the way out of the office and down a hallway to a different door. The door opened to reveal stairs down.
“Sylph, I need you to stay here.” Pollux instructed.
“I have to protect you,” Sylph insisted.
“We have to protect the Users. I need to show them where to go.”
“Yes sir.” Sylph nodded.
Pollux walked down the stairs. Sam was the second to go and once he reached the bottom step he looked up to see that he was closely followed by Quorra, and then Alan, Janelle and finally Rinzler.
The basement was like a storage room with several boxes stacked up onto each other. Pollux lead them through a maze of the boxes until he reached a wall.
“It’s a bit of a tight fit,” Pollux said as he tapped the wall. A three-foot high opening appeared on the bottom. “Then again, I always did like a good squeeze.”
Sam watched as Alan crawled through first and the rest of the group followed, leaving Sam and Rinzler.
“Come with us,” Sam said. “We don’t know what they will do to you.”
“Don’t worry young User,” Pollux said. “I can manage. I always have. They won’t think of trying to find this entrance.” He turned to Rinzler. “Look after them, Security Program.”
“I will,” Rinzler said.
Sam stared in Rinzler’s eyes and saw a mixture of concern, determination and sadness. He said nothing as he crawled through the entrance. He still wasn’t sure if he should trust Rinzler or not, but he did look back to make sure Alan’s program followed them behind.
-