-
Alan stared at the scrap of paper in his hand and read it over again. All it said was Virus unleashed. Corrupt system. Despite that it was written similar to a child he took the warning seriously. He had sent out the memo via email and called everyone while he uploaded updates to the current antivirus software they had and tried to strengthen the firewall.
It had been too late. Whatever the virus was it had been loaded. Several programs were either erased or reformatted, many systems crashed and many more blocked. It took the combined efforts of Alan, Sam and Adrian to try to get something stabilized. They were only able to get one third of the LAN online and to keep it from being further corrupted. Whatever the virus was the security firewall was able to keep it from infiltrating the entire system.
Once the firewall was stabilized the next step was to see who had caused it. The note did not say. They tried to use tracking programs within the secured area and found nothing. They also tried to search within the infected area, but no matter how strong a program was it became either corrupted or it was deleted.
“Damn,” Alan said as he looked at the note. “I wish you can tell me who did this.” He ran his finger over the lines. They were faint as if the pen barely touched the paper and as he examined it further it looked less like a child’s writing but more like it caused the informant great pain to write it out. “Were you in a hurry? Did the people responsible hurt you or chase you away?”
A cool breeze tickled the back of his neck. He was certain the window was closed. It could have been the A/C kicking on, but it never hurt to check. As he walked to the window he heard something fall down behind him.
“What the?” Alan spun around and walked back to his desk as he heard a few beeps coming from the floor. His cell was open and lying on the carpet. When Alan picked it up he saw that Ed Dillinger Junior’s name and number was highlighted. What was going on?
His phone shook in his hand and buzzed. Someone else was calling him.
“Hello?” He answered it.
“Alan this is Sam. I have got an idea. It’s a long shot but meet me at the arcade after work.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I know of a way to get in,” Sam said.
“You are going to hack your way into ENCOM through the Internet? The Net has been blocked.”
“There is another way,” Sam said. “I’ve been informed of it on my last visit.”
“Last visit?” Alan had a vague idea of what the boy was talking about. Sam had mentioned going inside the system to a Grid world. It was too far fetched to believe it but Sam was serious, so had his father. Kevin Flynn had claimed that he got in. Sam siad that his new friend, Quorra had come from this Grid world, she certainly did seem to come into Sam’s life out of nowhere.
“Can’t explain now,” Sam said. His voice grew softer, as if he was afraid that someone might be listening in on the conversation. “Just get to the arcade as soon as you can. Adrian is also coming. He has another idea that might also work.”
“What is it that you exactly have in mind?”
“Can’t talk now. I have to go.”
“Sam, wait,” Alan spoke but he got no response. He turned off his phone. He wondered if he should call Dillinger and ask him if he called him recently, or tried to call him. Why else would the number be highlighted?” He shook his head and set the phone down. Now was not a good time. He would call him later. He had a lot of work to do.
-
Tron kneeled down when he saw another glowing crack in the side of the mountain. It was one of the biggest ones he came across. He mumbled a little prayer to both Flynn and Alan-One and rubbed his hands on the crack. He watched as it slowly smoothed away to normal rock
“Found another,” Flynn’s voice said. “Near the port of ENCOM.”
“Yori,” Tron said as he placed the new shard with the others. “I can see her again.” His smile faded. “She won’t want to see me, not after what I have done.”
“Don’t do this to yourself,” Flynn told him. “She will be ecstatic to see you.”
“I haven’t seen her in cycles. Much has changed. I have changed.” He hugged himself. “I might become Rinzler. I could hurt her.”
“No you won’t. You would never hut those you cared about.”
“I almost hurt you and your son.”
“But you didn’t. Your true self will always come out in the end.”
“We will save this world,” Tron said as he felt a new purpose.
“You and me buddy, but you should rest first.”
-
Alan allowed himself to sink down in the couch in Kevin’s old office. He could not believe what he had just heard. Sam said he was going into the system, he and Quorra both. He stared at Sam in disbelief.
“The Internet has been blocked off,” Adrian said. He had taken some time to change his clothes and was now wearing a Laker’s shirt, pair of blue jeans, and sneakers.
“There is more than one-way to get into ENCOM’s LAN,” Sam said. He had also changed clothes and wore an outfit similar to Adrian’s.
“Hacking in the old fashioned way?” Adrian asked.
“There is another Grid,” Quorra said. She was the only who remained standing. She was also the only one who wore shorts. There was something off about her. She seemed to be curious about everything, things that a young woman her age should `1know about. He remembered what Sam said about her, but that can’t be true. It just can’t.
“What are you talking about?” Adrian asked.
“A more secure Grid,” Quorra answered. “It’s still being repaired, but it is safe from infection. We get in there and go through a port.”
“So pretty much hacking in the old fashion sense,” Adrian said with a nod.
Sam held up his hand. “Yeah pretty much.” It looked like he was not going to try and explain the new other world to Adrian. He tried with Alan and that fell flat.
“And you have this secure grid,” Alan asked. He stared into Sam’s eyes, half wondering if the boy was going to continue with his belief of downloading himself into this other world.
“We do,” Sam answered. “Quorra and I. We can get in through there.”
Alan nodded. “What is your plan Adrian?”
“You remember that Guardian we were working on?” Adrian asked as he looked at Sam.
“Yes I do,” Alan nodded and decided to explain it to Quorra since she was the only one out of the loop. “It’s a different kind of anti-virus software. One that can bypass most problems that an infected system might have, get inside and repair the damage, fix the corruption and repair the system.”
“I know I can get inside, bypass any way of blocking me, upload the software and guide it through,” Adrian added
“Sounds good,” Sam told him.
“There is one problem,” Adrian said. “I’ve tried to do it earlier from my terminal. Whatever that has been uploaded had some form of recognition program. It knows me and my password. Everyone in my office has password protected terminals.”
“Does anyone have a terminal without the need for a password?” Quorra asked.
“None,” Sam said as he let out a defeated sigh. He was right. Nearly all of the computers at ENCOM had password protected systems. The only ones that weren’t were no longer in any use.
“There is one,” Alan said. “In the old laser lab.”
“That one hasn’t been in use in nearly ten years,” Adrian said. “I can upload the files from my flashdrive to a CD but not to anything older.”
“It can take a disk,” Alan said. “I’ll go with you and show you how to work it.”
“You think it’s safe?” Sam asked. Alan knew what was the cause of worry in his voice. His father had told Alan how he had destroyed the Master Control Program by going inside the Grid through that laser.
“No stargates or magic portals are going to appear,” Alan said as he stood back up.
Adrian stared at them as if they were both nuts. “What are you guys talking about?”
“Nothing, kid,” Alan said as he clapped his hand on Adrian’s shoulder. “How long will it take you to transfer the files and get back to ENCOM?”
“About an hour.”
“Quorra and I will log in to our Grid in an hour,” Sam said.
“I hope this works,” Alan said as he headed out of the office.
-
“Flynn?” Tron asked as he neared the barrier that separated ENCOM from Flynn’s Grid. “Are you there?”
“I’m here,” Flynn answered. “For now.”
“For now?” Tron asked. He looked up and saw the clouds and lightening. His view was temporary cut off by a small cloud of bits as they flew over his head. “What do you mean?”
“Sam is helping us,” Flynn answered. “I have to guide him. When he returns I will go with him.”
Tron nodded. “I remembered the directions, but what if he resurfaces?”
“Think of those who you care about, those you love. They will keep the beast at bay.”
“I will keep him down,” Tron said. “I will succeed.” He continued on until he reached the wall where the port was. He placed his hand against it to activate the command, but as soon as he touched he felt a shock.
“What was that?” Flynn asked.
“I don’t know.” Tron scowled at the wall. “I’m going to try again.” He placed his hand against the doorway again. There was no shock the second time. It just felt cold. “It’s closed.”
“How?”
“I do not know. Something is wrong in the ENCOM LAN.”
“Don’t tell me something has happened on the outside,” Flynn said. “Sam.”
“Alan-1,” Tron gasped.
“Jack, Bobby, Samantha,” Flynn rattled of the names of several other Users that Tron was not familiar with.
“Yori.” Tron gritted his teeth and smashed is fist against the wall.
“We or you will get inside.”
“There is no stopping me.”
-
“Ha!” Alan nearly shouted as he got the computer up and running. “This thing still works after all.”
“I’m surprised no one recycled it to someplace like Best Buy,” Adrian said as the EC 7 appeared on the screen. “A number seven. When did those come out again?”
“Ninety Eight,” Alan answered as the computer screen had finished loading up and he and Adrian both stared at a simple teal screen with several icons. He used a mouse to move the arrow over the ENCOM LAN icon. “As to answer your question I think a lot of us thought we were still going to use it, at least for inventory purposes.”
“Inventory of things long forgotten,” Adrian said as he slid into the chair. He glanced over his chair to the direction of the digitizing laser. “That’s got a be an OSHA violation.”
“Haven’t used this thing in years,” Alan said as he brushed his fingers against the glass screen of the laser, expecting to remove inches of dust. “I wonder if someone found another use for the thing, recently.”
“Great.”
“It’s no longer operational, completely offline.” He checked and made certain the switches were off. They were indeed turned off. The thing was still mounted and plugged in but it was off.
“Still doesn’t inspire confidence,” Adrian said as his fingers flew across the keys. “Okay, now it’s asking for a password.”
“This still can work,” Alan said. “This virus is set to block the codes of the up to date systems not what we used back then.”
“You wouldn’t know what it was?”
“Type in Y-O-R-I-L-U-X-O.”
Adrian typed in the words. “Huh,” he said in disbelief when the main landing page for the LAN appeared “It still works.”
“Haven’t changed anything.”
“Now it’s saying Hello.” Adrian sat back. “I wonder if I should say hello back.”
Alan shrugged. “Couldn’t hurt.”
“Hello User,” a voice came through the speakers. It sounded like it was altered, too deep to be a normal human’s voice. It caused Alan to jump.
“Whoa.” Adrian made his chair scoot back. “Where did that come from?”
“Identify yourself, User,” the same deep voice asked before.
“Identify yourself,” Adrian said. “Who are you and where in the building are you?”
“I am not in the building. I’m within the system.”
“Somebody thinks they are funny,” Alan said and tried not to sound as worried as he felt. He felt like a part of history was about to repeat itself.
“My name is Doctor Dawson,” Adrian answered as he typed away. “Your main system is not feeling well and I’m going to give you some medicine.”
“I am not infected.”
“Then why are many files and programs being deleted and or corrupted?”
“A new order.”
“Who’s order?” Alan demanded.
“My order. My Users and creators gave the order. I am to be in charge. This will all belong to them.”
“Another Master Control Program,” Alan muttered under his breath.
“More like some form of Malware that thinks it’s charge,” Adrian said as he continued to type. “Or some joker pretending to be an A.I.”
“I am not Malware.”
“Then what do we call you?” Adrian asked.
“Lord and Master.”
“Okay, Foamy it is then.”
“Who created you?” Alan asked.
“I will not answer,” the program said.
“Come on, Foamy,” Adrian said. “Level with us. Who’s your daddy?”
“I will not disclose that information. The answer is secure.”
“Maybe we will find out when we erase it,” Alan said.
“You will not erase me.”
“Wanna bet?” Adrian asked.
“I do not make bets,” Foamy said. “Stop.”
“You are getting close,” Alan said. “Keep at it.”
“I cannot allow this to continue,” the program or joker said.
“Too bad,” Adrian said. “Once we are done here we will find out where you are located bud.”
“You cannot find me. I am within.”
“Adrian, careful,” Alan instructed. “This thing could be a program.”
“Naw. I read about that Master Control Program you once had problems with. It started small but people kept adding more and more to it, took years to get it to where it was a pain in the butt.” Adrian paused in his typing and pointed at the screen. “What we are dealing with is an actual person. I’ve surfed the web long enough to recognize trolls, hackers and other jackasses.”
“You have a point. Unless they created the program a long time ago and are just now uploading it.”
“Still human. You did say artificial intelligence? That means there has to be some form of intelligence.”
“You will not get away with insulting me,” the distorted voice said.
“Sorry, Foamy, did I hurt your widdle feelings?” Adrian asked. The room felt suddenly cooler.
“Are you trying to distract me?” Foamy asked. “No matter how much you lower the temperature you will not stop me.”
“You are not doing this?” Adrian asked.
“Don’t let him distract you,” Alan said. “Keep at it.” He felt a deeper chill brush at the back of his neck. It almost felt like fingers, ice-cold fingers. He turned around.
The laser had been turned on it. It was fully operational and focused on Adrian. The glass had filled with a bright blue-green light.
“Adrian, look out!” Alan shouted and he pushed the chair with Adrian in it out of the way. The last thing he saw before everything turned dark was a flash of light and the outline of what appeared to be a woman.
-
A/N: As you can see there will be cliffhangers at the ends of some chapters.
The EC 7 is similar to Windows 98.