-
Tron ran through the back alleys if the system as fast as he could while carrying Janelle. He did not understand why coming in contact with an Identity Disk could have hurt her like that. It never harmed programs or other Users before. Then again she seemed different. She had abilities that Flynn didn’t possess. ENCOM’s Grid was also different from when he had left.
A horrifying thought entered his head. What if the same thing had happened to Alan when a disk was placed on his back? Was he lying somewhere in the corner in pain? There was no one with him to help him up or comfort him or try and heal him. They had to find him fast.
“Tron,” Legion cried from behind him. The merged mass of bits kept the pace with him. “Where are we going? What happened to Janelle? What hurt Janelle?”
“I think I did,” Tron said as he stared at her face. She looked like she was asleep. She did feel warmer than she had before and she was also dry
“Tron didn’t hurt Janelle on purpose?” Legion asked.
“No, not on purpose.” He didn’t hurt a User this time.
“Tron wants to make Janelle better?”
“Yes I do.”
“Legion knows where a spring is.” He pointed to the right. “Was Tron looking for the spring?”
“Yes I was,” Tron said. A pure healing spring would be what they needed.
“This way.” Legion spun around and ran off towards the right. “Follow Legion.”
While Tron did not trust this thing entirely he had no choice. He needed to find a Spring to help and heal Janelle.
“Legion, if you see any soldiers or Recognizers or tanks then duck and hide in the shadows,” Tron instructed. It would do them no good if they were discovered.
They were able to come across the spring in several nanoseconds. It wasn’t entirely smooth running. They had to pause and hide when Tron saw several soldiers marching in a straight line on the road above them. Tron wanted to simply take them out, to enforce the law. They were maintaining and order, but it wasn’t Clu’s order. He forced himself to snap out of that thought. Users came first and Janelle was a User.
There were few other programs near the spring when they. They were regular programs with minimal circuitry. All of them seemed to be just stretched out, some with their hands behind their heads, some seemed to be asleep and a few others were talking with each other. None of them took notice of Tron or Janelle. A few of them did sit up from where they were lounging when they got a good look at Legion.
“Are these programs friends?” Legion asked as Tron laid Janelle down next to the spring.
“Not friends,” Tron said as he got a better look at them. Not a single one of them was red or orange. “They are not enemies either. We leave them be. Legion, I need you to hold her mouth open. Please be gentle.”
“Legion will be careful.” The mass of bits gently held Janelle’s head and opened her mouth.
Tron cupped his hands together and lowered it into the spring and scooped out some of the glowing liquid. He brought it over to Janelle and let it trickle down into her mouth. He repeated until Janelle shook.
She sputtered and sat up. After she opened her eyes she smacked her lips together.
“You are going to need more,” Tron said as he brought her more. “Drink this.”
Janelle sucked down the liquid. Her eyes widened as she licked her lips and wiped her mouth.
“Janelle feel better?” Legion asked.
“Yeah,” the User said. “What is that?”
“Energy,” Tron answered. “Pure liquid energy.”
“It tastes like Seven Up.” Her eyes widened. “It has a flavor and I can taste it. I can taste it. I can taste.”
“It does have a nice flavor,” Tron agreed. Once he was certain that Janelle will be fine he was going to take a few sips himself.
“I can taste again.”
“Again?”
“I haven’t tasted anything since that daiquiri on the ship.” She closed her eyes. “It was the last thing I drank before I died.”
“Died?” Tron wasn’t sure he heard her right.
“I guess you can say my body derezzed.”
“Janelle not derezzed,” Legion said.
“My body has,” Janelle said softly. “I died five years ago.” She pointed to herself. “What you see is my spirit, my soul, or in other words I’m a ghost.”
“What are those?” Legion asked.
“They are all the same,” Janelle explained. “I guess you can say they are the true essence of a User. The body is a shell and the souls are inside. Souls are not solid. They, or should I say we are abstract, non-corporeal. We can go where we want.”
“Souls can walk through walls and fly?” Tron asked. Everything made sense.
“Yes. Out there in the Real World I was invisible and inaudible. It took a lot for me to appear when I want to and that was only for a few seconds.” Seconds took a long time but in the Real World they could be the same as nanoseconds. “I can see and hear, but I couldn’t taste, or smell, or feel. It also took a lot to move things or make myself look horrifying.”
“It’s easier here?”
She nodded. “Things are different here. I can’t explain it.”
“Did derezzing hurt Janelle?” Legion asked.
“No.” Janelle smiled at him. “It didn’t hurt.”
“Would it be rude of me if I asked how it happened?” Tron asked.
“No it wouldn’t,” Janelle said and sighed. “We were on a large ship. The post graduation cruise for us Berkley students. Class of 2005.” She held up her fist. “Whoo.” She lowered her hand. “I needed this drink for a toast. We were toasting our futures. The man I loved, Adrian, he was going to start working for ENCOM. My friends Kathleen and Heather were going to get teacher certifications and I was going to continue my education for Veterinary school.”
“School for veterinaries?” Legion asked.
“Veterinarians,” Janelle corrected. “They are like doctors but for pets, animal companions for Users.”
Tron nodded. He knew what animals and pets were thanks to Flynn.
“To the future,” Janelle said and held up her hands as if she were holding a glass. “May all our dreams come true.” Tears had formed in her eyes. “After the drink we danced and I saw the sky. I just wanted to get closer to the edge so I can just stare at the stars and wish and dream.”
“Did you lose your balance?”
“Not quite, there were other more rowdy and more drunk people on board. One lost their balance and bumped into me. It was enough to send me over. Cruise ships are pretty tall and the surface of the water was hard enough to knock me out. They hauled me out and tried to resuscitate me. I watched from outside my body, but they couldn’t bring me back.” She brushed away her tears.
“Janelle’s dream never came true,” Legion said sadly.
“My friends did,” Janelle said. “Adrian is climbing the ladder at ENCOM, Kathleen is teaching children with special needs and Heather is teaching English to high school students while she tries to get published. My little sister graduated from Cal-Arts and is working for a digital animation studio and my little brother is at Yale.”
“Do you miss them?” Tron asked.
“I was always able to watch over them up until two years ago,” Janelle answered. “Then I somehow became tethered to ENCOM. I didn’t cry when I died. I only cried when I saw everyone that I loved had cried. They were all at my funeral and I try to watch over them, now I can only watch those that work at ENCOM.”
“We both help the Users. I fight for them.”
“I watch over them.”
“You watch over Alan?” Tron asked.
“Of course. I watched over them all. I help the good and I scare and prank the bad ones, but I made sure everyone was safe and no one got hurt.” Her eyes widened. “I can tell Alan that Ed Dillinger Junior is behind this. We got to find him. We have to save him. I failed to keep him from being sent here but we can save him.”
“I will not fail him,” Tron said. He would not betray or fail another User again. “We have to be strong.” He kneeled back down at the edge of the energy spring and drank from it. He looked up to see that Janelle and Legion were also drinking.
-
Sam could not believe he was going to take a Sailer past the firewall and over the sea to the corrupted area. He and Quorra should have stayed in the Codebreakers club and waited for the mysterious Arc. Many of the programs in the free area had mentioned that he was the one who was recruiting programs that were willing to fight back and have them join his group of freedom fighters.
The only reason why Sam hadn’t sought out this guy was because his father told him to go to the corrupted area. They were to join up with a friend of Sam’s father. He had no idea who this friend was.
“Sailer is coming into dock,” Quorra said as the simulation was coming into view.
“Not a whole lot waiting to board it.” He noticed there were only a few workers at the platform, waiting to anticipate the travelers.
Several programs stepped off and were being infiltrated by the platform workers. They were asked several questions and had to give several passwords before they were able to continue on.
“It’s our turn,” Quorra said once the last program stepped off and walked passed the firewall security. “Excuse me, we need to ask permission for passage.”
“I’m sorry but no one is going to the corrupted area,” one of the platform workers said.
“We are,” Quorra told him. “We have to get into there.”
“Why would you want to?” The second worker asked.
“To fight the system,” Sam answered. “We are going in to fight whoever decided to set up camp in there.”
“Are you crazy?” The first worker asked.
“No I’m a User, but then again that’s probably the same thing.”
“A User?” The first worker asked. “Here?”
“Everyone is claiming to be a User these days,” the second worker said.
“I’ll prove it.” He turned to Quorra and held out his hand. “Q, I need you to show them what I’m made of.”
“You know I hate doing this to you.” She removed the disk from her back and grabbed his hand. She cringed while she used the sharp edge of her disk to cut his finger. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be.” He fought back against revealing that he was in pain. “It’s fine.” He turned back to the platform workers and held up his bleeding finger. “See?”
Both workers stared at Sam’s finger as a drop of blood fell from it.
“Well I’ll be,” the second one said. “An actual User.”
“Can we have passage?” Quorra asked.
“Sure,” the first one said. “Just watch yourself. I’d never forgive myself if something happened to a User over there.”
“Don’t you worry,” the second one told his coworker. “Users are the only ones who can save us now.”
Sam smiled as he and Quorra stepped aboard the Sailer. He sure hoped that worker was right.
-
Osiris leaned back against his chair as he reviewed the visuals from ENCOM’s security system. The image on the screen showed the two men in the laser lab. The younger one was sitting there, typing away and insulting him. The other was standing over his shoulder, not one had noticed that he had ordered several programs to turn on the laser.
“Halt.” He raised his hand as he gave the command for the screen to freeze. That was when the temperature had started to drop. He hadn’t given the order for the temperature to plummet and the Users hadn’t altered it either. “Proceed.”
The visual continued. The laser had turned on. The older man had turned around. At the last second he pushed the younger one out of the way and was the one who became digitized instead.
“Stop again,” Osiris commanded when the older man was struck. The man was illuminated but he wasn’t alone, he couldn’t see if two Users were brought inside. “Go back frame by frame.” He watched as the screens changed until he saw what he was looking for. He saw the highlighted figure of a woman, almost a green silhouette.
“Master,” Regor ‘s voice was behind him.
“How are we at cracking through the protected border?” Osiris asked.
“Not so well,” Regor said. “The firewall’s security has increased recently. No one can get through.”
“And the portal to the laser?” Osiris still wanted to bring that other User in and have him run around the games as punishment.
“Every time we try to go back there is always some resistance.”
“Same orders as before.”
“Attack, derezz and those who survive we rectify.”
“Precisely,” Osiris confirmed with a nod. “I may have found something, if what you said about the female User is true.”
“Master even if you capture her you won’t be able to reprogram her. She is a User.”
“There is always a way to change the scheme and alter the mood,” Osiris said. “Users can become corrupted.”
“I have the full name of the other User,” Regor said. “His name is Alan Bradley.”
“That information should be useful,” Osiris said and turned to another panel in his throne room. “Bring up the information on the User Alan Bradley.”
The screen brought up the image of the man that Osiris brought over. Facts appeared instantly. They revealed where the man was born and what year, when he joined ENCOM, who he married and about their son.
“I brought him in,” Osiris said an amused tone. His User will be pleased.
“We might see his program in there,” Regor said.
“Program?” Osiris blinked. “What Program?”
“There was a program with the girl. He looked like Mr. Bradley but younger.”
“Younger?” Osiris turned back to the screen. “Show me an image of Alan Bradley when he first started to work at ENCOM.” When an image of a much younger Alan Bradley appeared he turned to his minion. “Is this what he looked like?”
“That is him.”
Osiris nodded and turned back to the screen. “Show me the first programs that he created.” He read the names. “Program called Tron. Show me him.” The image showed a program completely clad in white armor and glowing blue circuitry. “So that is how they used to look.”
“That is him,” Regor said. “But not like that.” He pointed to the four pixels on the Program’s chest. “He has that, but just on his collar.”
“I see.” Osiris read on. “He fought for the Users, a warrior. He fought against and helped destroy the MCP and left megacycles later around the User date of 1983.”
“He is back. No doubt to fight against you, Master.”
“That remains to be seen. We should keep an eye open for him.”
“What is your further command sir?” Regor asked.
“I want you to proceed to the Arena,” Osiris commanded. “Let me know when they have arrived.”
“As you wish, Master.” Regor said with a bow.
“Welcome back, Tron,” Osiris said. “This isn’t your home anymore.” He turned back to the visuals. “Show me the security images through out the building.” He sat back down in his chair. “Where are you hiding little User?”
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