Chapter 5: Life is a Information Superhighway, And I
Want to Ride It.
-
Tron had a lot of questions and he was certain the Users also had similar questions. He wasn’t quite sure what possession by a demon meant and he also wanted to know who Luduserus was and what kind of demon he was. All he knew about demons was that they were evil creatures that caused harm and misery to the User world.
“Is it me or is Cas taking a while,” Sam asked. He had changed to the simple outfit he preferred to wear when he slept.
“Must be hard to fry this guy,” Dean said as he crawled under the sheets. “Or he has something else to do, hard to tell with him.”
“It’s annoying when he doesn’t tell us everything,” Sam said as he turned off the lights that were hanging over the bed they shared. “We don’t know who Luduserus is.”
“We’ll talk in the morning.” Dean rolled over. “You better get some sleep yourself, Tron. We are waking up at exactly six in the morning tomorrow.”
“He can sleep in the car,” Sam said.
“But he is going to want to see where we are going. He’s going to want to see the terrain, everything that he can soak his eyeballs in before Cas takes him back.”
“I get to see the world,” Tron said as pulled back the sheets and covered himself up to his midsection with the coverings. “Or part of it at least.”
“The southwest,” Dean told him. “Very beautiful.”
Tron smiled at that idea. “Can you explain something to me? How does a demon possess someone?”
“Demon’s usually don’t have their own solid form here,” Sam explained. “They have to take over a body. They look like smoke and they fly into people’s mouths.”
“And the User’s true code is buried under this demon.”
“Exactly,” Sam told him. “We don’t like to hurt the people they take over, but sometimes we have to.”
“The people are innocent,” Tron said. He closed his eyes.
“Like you were,” Sam told me. “Like we were.”
Tron took a deep breath and exhaled as he waited for himself to go offline, or sleep as the Users called it.
-
Tron woke when he felt a hand grab his shoulder. His eye’s opened and he found himself staring into the upside down image of Dean.
“Never really see anyone’s lids go back like that,” Dean said. “Not the first thing in the morning.”
“Good morning,” Tron said as he sat up. “I think I saw Castiel earlier.” He remembered coming back online in the middle of the night. He sat up and saw the angel sitting in his chair, arms folded over each other and his eyes closed. Tron wasn’t sure if he was asleep or not.
“I am here,” Castiel said.
“Nice to see you have returned,” Sam said in a tone that betrayed his feelings that he wasn’t happy.
“I had to take care of the acolyte,” Castiel said as he grabbed one of the bags.
“Cas, if this guy was giving you trouble you could of asked for our help,” Dean said. He was pulling out shelves and patting his pockets.
“It was complicated,” Castiel said. “You would have only gotten in the way.”
“You are not going to explain to them?” Tron asked. “They are your friends and you are what Users pray to.”
“They don’t pray to me.” Castiel just stared at him with unblinking eyes. “There is something off about you.”
“Something is off?” Tron stared at his hands. They looked the same. He tried to look his body over. “What is wrong with me?”
“Nothing is wrong,” the angel told him. “There is just something, just slightly different.”
“Don’t scare him,” Sam snapped.
“Whoa, Sammy,” Dean said in mock surprise. “Somebody needs their liquid caffeine fix.”
“Yeah whatever.” Sam shook his head. “We’ll talk in the car.”
-
It did not take them long to get all of their bags into the trunk of the car and after that it took only a few nanos for Sam and Dean to officially check out. They stopped briefly at two places, the first was to get fuel for their car and the second was for more of the delicious User food.
“It’s called a Mcgriddle,” Dean explained as he handed Tron his breakfast sandwich. “It is one of the best edible inventions to come about.”
“Thank you,” Tron said and accepted his Mcgriddle, along with a small paper pouch containing a triangle of fried potatoes and a cup of coffee. He took a bite of his sandwich. His mouth was filled with an explosion of flavor. The bread used for the sandwich was made out of pancakes that had something like syrup added to them. He could also taste egg, bacon and cheese.
“How about that?” Dean asked. He was grinning in that friendly and proud way that reminded Tron of Flynn. Dean always seemed to grin like that when Tron tried a new kind of food.
“It’s wonderful,” Tron said as soon as he swallowed. “But there are more important matters to discuss.”
“Luduserus,” Sam said as he unfolded the map. “We need to know everything about him. Dean, you are going to want to take a right up at this intersection.”
“Just get me to the highway bro,” Dean said before he took a sip from his cup.
“Luduserus is also known as the gamer,” Castiel said. “He enjoys games, plays all the ones that is known to man and some that are not.”
“Let me guess,” Dean said. “He’s a bit of a cheater.”
“He cheats, but he usually doesn’t need to,” Castiel continued in his explanation. “He is that good.”
“What does he bet on?” Tron asked.
“Souls,” Sam guessed.
“Souls are just one thing,” Castiel told him. “He also bets on weapons, treasures, tokens of knowledge, life energy, creative energy, human knowledge, humans, but souls are his favorite. That is how he build’s his army.”
“How did he get into a computer?” Sam asked. “Did he just fly in like you did?”
“First of all I did not fly into one. Most demons don’t know about the world inside and they are not able to get in. Luduserus was uploaded somehow and has found a way to contact his servants. Now he found a new source of games to play he is going to want to stay there a long time.”
“He’s never heard of video games before?” Tron asked.
“He once was challenged to a card game in Monte Carlo,” Castiel explained. “He never backs down from a challenge. His challenger was Jophiel.”
“Another angel?” Tron guessed.
Castiel nodded. “Jophiel was as good as Luduserus, but he was better at the game of baccarat.” He smiled. “He is the best baccarat player in the world to be precise.”
“Does he prefer his martini shaken and not stirred?” Dean asked.
“What does that mean?” Tron asked.
“I have no idea,” Castiel answered and stared straight ahead at the two brothers to see if they knew.
“Dean,” Sam said in a scolding tone and stared at his brother.
“Sorry,” Dean said and popped in a piece of potato cake.
“Even with Luduserus’s cheating, Jophiel was able to win,” Castiel continued his story.
“What were the stakes?” Dean asked.
“The lives of five mortals and the loser would have to be sealed in an amulet,” Castiel told him. “Luduserus was not the type that would go quietly. Jophiel had to rely on others. I was one of the others who helped seal Luduserus away.”
“When was this?” Sam asked.
“1968.”
Tron did not know the meaning of those numbers. He heard Flynn talk about dates in the same way. The last date Tron had heard was Nineteen Eighty Nine. He guessed this date was older than that and this demon had been trapped for a while.
“So who broke the seal?” Sam asked.
“I’m not certain,” Cas said.
“Now let me figure this out,” Dean said. “Someway and somehow this demon got out of his jewelry prison and was uploaded. He gets word out to his servants to pass out the code for the game.”
“And when people play it they get pulled in,” Sam concluded.
“I have an important,” Tron said after he finished his last bite. “How are we going to fight it?”
“That is what we are working on,” Dean told him.
-
The had driven for several hours. They had passed state borders, crossing from the one called Texas and into the one called New Mexico. After reading the state motto he had inquired about what had happened to the old Mexico. He felt foolish when Dean explained that it was still there and that they just named the state after the country.
“Like a backup file?” Tron asked.
“Not quite,” Dean said. “It was named in honor of the country.”
“I see. There was a city named after me in the Grid.”
“Wow,” Dean gasped. “A city?”
“Why didn’t you mention that?” Sam asked. “That is amazing.”
“I felt it was irrelevant.” Tron also felt like he didn’t deserve a city to be named after him. He felt honored when Flynn had told him what he was going to name the city after him. Honor was turned into shame when he remembered what he had done as Rinzler.
The guilt still weighed down on him when the sun had started to sit and the Impala pulled into a gas station.
“Not going to stop again until we hit the Arizona border,” Dean said. “Better unload and reload now.”
Tron had purchased a bottle of Sprite after he had finished using the bathroom and walked outside to the Impala. He didn’t see Castiel in the car, nor did he remember if he got walked in after them. Did angels need to use the bathroom?
He was about to get into the car when he saw something skipping along the ground near the bushes that separated the perimeter of the gas station and the building next store. In his brief time in the Real World he had encountered some animals. Dogs barked at him, cat’s stared at him. He seen birds flying from tree to tree, but this was the first time he came across a creature like this. The creature was the size of a cat with a long snout, long pointed ears and a segmented tail. It was covered in what looked like flat stones and as it moved it made a click clack sound.
“Tron?” Dean was right behind him. “What’s wrong?”
“What is that?” Tron asked as he pointed at the odd creature.
“Hey an armadillo,” Dean said in a slight impressed tone. “Haven’t seen one of those in a while.”
“Armadillo,” Tron repeated the name. He liked the way it sounded as it rolled off his tongue. “It looks like they are made out of stone.”
“It’s a shell covering them,” Dean explained. “They are flesh and blood underneath.”
“The shell is like an armor.” Something clicked in his head. “Now I can see where the arm part of their name came from.”
“It’s a Spanish name. I think armor came from the French and both have a Latin base.”
Tron nodded. That did seem to make sense. Users were always good at coming up with proper designations. He took a sip from his soda and turned around when he heard two people approach them from behind. It was Sam and Castiel.
“What’s wrong?” Sam asked.
“Nothing,” Dean told him. “Tron just saw an armadillo for the first time.”
“Oh.” Sam nodded. “They are pretty neat.”
“Father was quite creative with all of his creations,” Castiel said.
“Your father created armadillos?” Tron asked.
“He created the Earth, the heavens, all the planets, the universe.”
“Your father is what the Users would call the Creator,” Tron said and he thought of Flynn. He was the creator of the Grid. The programs looked up at him as if he were a god.
“My father has gone by many similar names,” Castiel said and nodded.
“Let me get this guy,” Sam said as held what looked like a small camera up to his face. He pressed the button and there was a click sound and a flash.
“Whoa.” Dean spun around to face his brother. “When did you get one of those?”
“I got one at the convenience store two stops ago,” Sam explained. “You said you wanted Tron to see everything. I thought I could grab some visual memories for him.”
“Thank you, Sam,” Tron said to him.
“Nice thinking bro.” Dean clapped his hand on Sam’s shoulder. “Get some pictures of the sunset.”
“I’m on it,” Sam said as he walked around. He took a few pictures of the setting orange sphere and the pink and purple sky.
“I really don’t deserve this,” Tron muttered to himself as he followed the two brothers and angel to the car. Why him of all programs was brought out here? There were other security programs who were as skilled as he was. Why didn’t Castiel grab one of them? He still couldn’t understand what had set him apart from all the others. Was it because he was seeking redemption? Was that the reason the angel brought him out?
“Hey, Tron are you all right?” Dean asked.
“I’m fine,” Tron answered. “I’ve just been thinking.”
“We were a little worried,” Dean told him. “You weren’t talking.”
“Cas said more than you,” Sam added.
“I only said three words,” Cas said.
“Those were three words more than Tron,” Sam pointed out.
“I was just deep in thought,” Tron said. Another wave of guilt fell over him. These Users who had taken them in, bought him clothes, fed him, given him shelter and transportation and taught him how to function in their world were worried about him. He had no idea how long he was deep in thought. “I did not mean to worry you.”
“Not worried,” Dean assured him. “Just curious.”
“Tron, you should roll down your window and look up,” Sam suggested.
“Why?”
“The stars are clear out here,” Castiel answered. “Your world is dark, has clouds and rain, but no stars.”
“Flynn wanted make stars for the Grid,” Tron said as he rolled down the window. He stuck his head out and looked up. The sky was filled with silvery white sparkles. Some were larger than others and a few didn’t actually twinkle, but it was beautiful, endless beauty from one horizon to the next.
“What do you think of that?”
“There are no words to describe the beauty,” Tron said. “Can I have a picture of this?”
“Sure,” Dean pulled the car over. As soon as it stopped all four of them stepped out. “Take a picture of the sky, Sammy.”
Sam tilted his head back and used the camera to take a picture of the sky.
“Thank you,” Tron told his new friends, yes. At this time he certainly thought of them as friends.
-
A/N: The title comes from the song “Life is a Highway” by Tom Cochrane and the Information Superhighway which is another term for the Internet that was used back in the 90’s.