Here's my first attempt at writing a Tron story. I would have posted it earlier,
but unfortunatly my computor broke down, so it had to be sent of to be
repaired.
Anyway, here it is (feel free to commit by the way):
Title: An Unexpected Encounter.
Author: EXODUS.
Location: The Grid.
Characters: Tron, a security program.
Saul, a system analysis program.
Setting: The Grid, 1989.
Number of Words: About 2130
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It was late. Very late.
And he was tired.
He had been working for a long time, much longer then he should have been, way beyond his normal shift.
Despite the fatigue, he consoled himself with the knowledge that he had only one last task to do, then he can go offline for a while.
He looked down at the scrolling map he had infront of him, a map of the local area, and paid close attention to the flashing red triangle which denoted his destination. Has he got closer, the red triangle pulsed brighter, until the point where arrived and it shown a continuous colour.
Taking one last look at the map, he turned a corner and saw the building right ahead. The map confirmed it.
He slowed down the Lightcycle, and pulled up outside. Has he got off he looked around nervously. He had always hated this part of the city, and no matter how many times he had come here-either with company or alone-the quiet emptiness of the long, dark streets had always made him feel uncomfortable.
Thankfully, all that would soon change-under the guidance of the Creator himself this old, derelict area was scheduled for a complete reconfiguration, and it’s bleak loneliness will one day be replaced with a bustling community adjoined to the already expanding City, so that the metropolis would continue to grow.
THAT was why he was there-to survey the area & report on what he found, so that the Creator could draw up plans for it’s redevelopment.
The thought did cheer him up somewhat, and checking the map one last time he headed in….
Like the streets outside, it was dark-very dark. It was fair to say that there had been no power here for a very long time.
He stood still, and let himself get accustomed to the gloom before he headed further in.
By all accounts this was even worse then outside, so he made a decision to get started right away-the sooner he was completed, the sooner he could get out of there.
And that’s when he heard it-the faint groaning sound.
At first his senses didn’t register it. He paused, waiting, and when nothing happened he carried on working.
And then it happened again, this time he was CERTAIN that he did hear it. He looked around, and saw a doorway leading into another room. The sound (assuming it was real) had definitely came from within there.
“Hello?”
There’s no response.
He slowly walks forward, and calls out again.
“Hello?”
This time, he definitely hears something-a faint moaning sound, from just behind the door.
This time it definitely wasn’t his imagine, but even so he still felt very unnerved by it all. With his instinct screaming CAUTION at him, he carefully grabbed hold of his Disk & activated it, and raising it above his head he called out once last time.
“Is someone there? SHOW YOURSELF!”
His nerves unable to stand the tension any longer, he hurled himself through the doorway and rolled across the floor to land on his feet again to face the doorway in one swift move, expecting the attack to come immediately.
The attack never came, however. What he saw was something else.
Behind the door way, away from his previous point of view, someone was sitting there. In the darkness he could see him sitting on the floor with his back to the wall, and although his face was turned away from him, he couldn’t help but feel that there was something very familiar about him.
It was has he was looking at him that he suddenly became aware of something-not only was his light quite faint, but he was clutching his left arm, bent over has if he was in pain.
With that, he deactivated his Disk and lowered it has realisation suddenly hit him-this stranger was badly wounded.
“Who are you? What are you doing here?”
With a grunt, the stranger turned his head to look at him, and a wave of shock hit him.
The moment he saw the stranger’s face everything around him just seemed to go silent. The moment he saw it every thought and emotion that was going through his mind disappeared in an instant, and only a single word remained, a word that, after what seemed like an eternity, he could only whisper.
“Tron…..”
He recognised him now. Like all programs on the Grid he knew of Tron, knew of his incredible history. Like all programs he knew of the amazing stories that had been told of him and the Creator Flynn had had many cycles ago.
He had even had the privilege of witnessing some of those adventures unfolding right before his eyes.
Tron was originally just a security program from The Old Days.
Now, he was a LEGEND.
He rushed over to him and knelt down.
“Tron, it’s me-Saul”
Tron stared at him. “Saul?”
“Yes, Saul, you remember? I’ve helped you locate the Gridbugs in the Gamma Sector”
And with that realisation suddenly came back to Tron, and he smiled. “Saul! I do remember you!”
“How long have you been here?”
Tron looked at him weakly. “I don’t know…”
He looked at the damage on Tron’s left arm, and he could see it was bad-very bad. Tron had suffered severe damage, and was very weak.
“Who did this to you?”
Tron looked at him, and said just a single word.
“Clu”
At first Saul thought that he had missed heard him. “No, no…I said WHO DID THIS TO YOU?”
Tron grabbed him with his right arm and looked straight into his face. “Clu did this to me!”
A wave of disbelief washed over Saul. “Clu did this to you?”
Tron nodded. “Yes….Clu did this”.
Saul stood up suddenly and just stared at Tron. Eventually he spoke.
“W…Why?”
Tron looked at him, anger in his face. “Because he is a TRAITOR!”
“A traitor? Why?”
Tron shifted himself to make himself more comfortable before continuing. “He tried to kill Flynn”
“Kill the Creator? Why would he do that?”
“I don’t know…”
Although still shocked about what was happening before him, he leaned forward and helped Tron into a more comfortable
“Where’s Flynn?”
“What?”
“I said…where’s Flynn?”
“I…I don’t know”
“Did he make it out The Portal?”
Saul hesitated, and Tron got angry.
“DID HE GET TO THE PORTAL?”
Saul said nothing. Silently, he stood up and turned aware, unable to look Tron in the face with what he was about to say.
“Tron…”
He hesitated, and then turned to look at Tron again.
“Tron….The Portal….closed about five Cycles ago”
Tron just stared at him in silence.
“I saw it close myself. I’m sorry”
And with that he sighed and turned away again.
There was a long silence. Eventually Tron asked the question that Saul KNEW was coming.
“Was he there?”
Saul didn’t answer.
“WAS HE THERE?”
“I DON’T KNOW!”
He turned and faced him again. “I don’t know Tron. I didn’t….see him there. I only saw it close. That’s all”
“I don’t understand. Why would he do that? This isn’t how it was meant to be”
He sighed. “I mean, between the three of you, I thought you were supposed to create the perfect system, a system that was perfect, flawless, for benefit of ALL of us.”
“Huh! So did I, Saul, so did I….”
“So why would he risk destroying everything you were trying to achieve by acting like this?”
“Isn’t it obvious?”
Saul frowns at him. “So….what are you saying? That Clu’s become….jealous of Flynn? That he resents his authority over us here?”
“Believe me, that was just the start of it”.
Seeing the confused look on Saul’s face, he continues.
“I knew something had been building up for a long time now. I had my suspicious. There were certain…THINGS that I just couldn’t quite place my finger on, about the decisions he was making and the actions he took”
“Like the ISOS?”
“Yes! Like the ISOS! But much more besides. Although I couldn’t prove it, every bit of my code told me that their was definitely a conspiracy occurring, HERE, on the Grid itself. But WHAT was it, and WHY was it happening?”
“At the time, I didn’t knew all the answers, but I did knew one thing-Clu was at the heart of it, there was no doubt about it”.
“And that’s when it happened…..I was walking Flynn back to the transport that would take him to the Portal, and has we were walking Clu was there, waiting for us”
“And what did he say?”
“I only remember him saying just one thing to Flynn-Am I still to create the perfect system?”
“And then what did he do?”
“And then…he just attacked us. Suddenly, without warning”
“Did you fight him?”
“Oh yeah! I fought him alright. Him and those guards of his….but I had to protect Flynn has well. I shouted out to Flynn to just RUN, to just GET OUT THERE, NOW, while he still could”
“And did he ran”
“Yes, thankfully. He just ran has fast has he could”
And then sadness overcame Tron’s face has he thought about it. “And I haven’t seen him since”
He sighed. “I just pray he made it to the Portal in time”.
Saul nodded. “Me too”.
“Did you defeat Clu?”
“No, he was just to powerful for me. When I realised that I couldn’t beat him, I managed to flee….” and holding up his damaged left arm said “…and I managed to get THIS in the process”
“And you’ve been HERE ever since?”
Tron nodded silently.
Saul gently took hold of what was left of Tron’s left arm and looked closely at it. The more he looked at it, the more hopeless it looked to him.
“Tron…I…cant fix this!”
Tron turned his head to look at him.
“I…cant fix, Tron. This is beyond my skill. I’m sorry”. He gently let go of his arm & stood up.
Tron closed his eyes and leaned his head against the wall. Saul could tell how disappointed he was. Saul looked at him and thought.
“However….”
Tron opened his eyes.
“There is one possibility…..”
“Go on?”
Saul crouched down next to him. “There’s this program I know, her name’s Ezul. She specialises in repairing damaged codes like this”
“Where is she?”
“She’s in the next sector, not far from here”.
Filled with renewed hope, he gently puts his arm around Tron & helps him to his feet.
“Your energy cycles are very weak. Do you think you can make it?”
“Of course I can” Tron said through clenched teeth.
“Can you ride?”
Tron smiled. “I can ALWAYS ride, Program!”
Saul laughed. It was well known that Tron never let any adversity get the better of him, EVER.
Once outside, Saul let him rest against a wall for a moment. Tron reached down to his hip-and stopped.
Saul watched him. “What is it?”
“My Lightcycle baton….it’s GONE”
Tron padded himself over, but couldn’t find it. “I must have lost it during the fight”
“Here, you can have this” said Saul, unclipping one from his belt. “I always keep a spare, just in case”
Tron took it and nodded at him. “That’s good thinking. I’ll remember that next time”.
After a moments pause, Saul placed a firm hand on his shoulder. “Are you ready?”
Tron nodded. “Let’s go”.
The two of them stood side by side facing the same direction. Saul turned his head to look at Tron. “Remember, just follow me-I’ll show you the way”.
Tron nodded in agreement, And with that they activated their batons.
From the corner of his eye he watched has Tron activated his Lightcycle baton with just one hand, holding it in the middle. He was impressed-it was a technique that had never seen before
In the dark empty streets the two of them sped, Saul in front with Tron close behind
“We need to find Flynn” Tron said. “If he didn’t get through the Portal in time, then he must still be here”
“No Tron, we need to fix you first, THEN we’ll look for Flynn”
“THERE’S NO TIME! We have to find him before Clu does!”
“Listen, Tron, if we are going to do this, we do this TOGETHER, and I don’t think you would survive another fight like that, not in your condition”
Saul sighed. “Listen, we’ll find Ezul first, and whilst she’s repairing you I’ll start a search for Flynn, but I’ll need you to give me whatever information you have about what happened tonight FIRST. Agreed?”
“Very well-agreed!”
The two of them rode on in silence, with just one single thought on their minds.
“I hope we’re not too late….”