Los Angeles
Flynn's Arcade, upstairs loft

He'd been dreaming...first images of the Grid, which then transitioned to the games in the arcade, and one of them was beeping.
He was unable to figure out which one, so he walked from game to game, again and again, around and around the room, stopping, listening, seeking the source of that faint, high-pitched intermittent tone which was barely audible and infuriatingly persistent.
None of the games should be making that sound. Then he gave up and stood in the middle of the arcade, perplexed, frustrated, staring at the ceiling, closing his eyes, listening.

Kevin opened his eyes to stare at the ceiling again, which had apparently changed to a blurry field of pastel peachy orange with very faint flowers on it.

No, that was the bedspread.
It was covering his face.

He yawned, sighed, and then began trying to extricate himself from the copious miles of quilted cotton which covered him from head to toe like a cocoon and wrapped all the way underneath him.
...man!...
….how is it I manage to do this every time I lay down on a bed?...

Finally he got his arms free, and peeked his head out, yawning again and stretching, and then sitting up on his elbows. The muscles in his neck and shoulders complained, but not as badly as the muscles in his back when he sat up all the way.
...oh, holy God,...
...why am I so stiff and achy?...
...maybe because I'm old now...
...yeah, Flynn,...ya think?...

This was a wholly new sensation, and one he hadn't experienced on the Grid.
He decided to sit there a moment, and slowly ease himself into the concept of being awake.
However, it was then that he realized something was still beeping, a high-pitched annoying little sound, and it was the same one from his dream.
He decided to ignore it and sit there stretching instead.
Which lasted all of five seconds.
...man,...what the-..what IS that?...

He looked around the room barely awake and blinking. The digital clock was flashing 12:00. The microwave oven wasn't even plugged in.
He sighed, and climbed off the bed, slowly bending over to stretch his back and legs, and then he heard the beeping more loudly, emanating from the corner.
...aha...something over here...

But nothing was in the corner except his jacket, boots, and socks, all piled in a heap.
He sighed and scratched his head, raking his disheveled hair back and then grabbing for the boots. No, they definitely weren't beeping. He tossed them across the carpet, along with his socks.
Then he picked up his jacket, and there was the source. Jolting more to wakefulness, he suddenly remembered.
...the pager...the pocket...
...yeah, but why's it going off?...

He reached into the pocket and there it was. He looked at the screen.
Sam's number read across it. He pressed the button on the side, and the beeping stopped.
...why's he paging me now?...
...no, guess it must have somehow re-sent after we rezzed back here?...
...yeah, probably it...

He yawned again, tossing the pager on the bed, along with the jacket. He had no idea what time it was. The sun was definitely up, and he heard faint voices down in the arcade. He padded with bare feet over to the window, leabing over the couch and looking down into the expansive room below. It was full of machines, most of them with dust-covers on them, and he could see Tron and Quorra standing at one of the uncovered game machines, pointing at the graphics which flashed on the screen and talking. Clu was a few machines over, raising up the dust-cover.

Kevin leaned back away from the window to stand, and chuckled softly to himself.
...can't believe those old things are still going...
...that's pretty rad...

Grabbing his socks and boots, he shuffled over to the curved, modular couch and plopped down.
Something immediately beeped, with a strange muffled, electronic "ploink-ploink" sound.
...okay...that's weird...
...must be one of the games downstairs...

Bringing his leg up to rest across his other knee, he began shinnying his sock onto his foot, and then leaned back slightly, only to hear the electronic "ploink-ploink" sound again.
And this time he felt something solid behind his hip, which definitely wasn't a soft couch cushion. It felt more like a rock.
He shifted forward, reaching back behind him, and retrieved the small silvery bit model.
But this one wasn't the bit model he'd given Clu.
It was slightly larger, and had a tiny recessed linear crevice like an equator, which branched out into more tiny linear crevices in between several of its polyhedryl planes.

He stared at it. He didn't recall having a model like this one, and wasn't quite sure how it got here. Maybe this was what the bit model he'd given Clu looked like after it rezzed into the real world? That didn't quite seem right either – why would it's form change to something more complex?
He turned it over in his hands, and then happened to press one of the faceted planes.
The bit model went "ploink-ploink". His eyebrows shot upward, and he chuckled in surprise.
He pressed the plane again, and the bit went "zzhwonk".
One more press and it went "ploink-ploink" again.

He chuckled again, staring at it. He pressed it a few more times, getting a random order of sounds in reply. He decided the "ploink-ploink" sound must mean 'yes' and the "zzhwonk" sound was 'no'.

He laughed, and mused to himself out loud, "Rad!...the Grid's equivalent of a Magic 8-Ball toy..."

He was about to think of a question to ask it, when he heard footsteps on the stairs, and soon Clu was stepping up into the loft. He gave a cheerful grin at the sight of his creator.

"Hello, Kevin! You're out of sleep-mode now..."

Kevin grinned and nodded. "Yep,...must've slept a few good hours at least. Feels like I slept a ye-...a cycle."

Clu chuckled at the reference.
Then Kevin held up the bit model, and Clu's brows immediately raised. "There it is! I took it out of my jacket pocket before I went into sleep-mode, and must have dropped it."

Kevin grinned. "Yeah?...well check this out..." He pressed the plane and the bit model made the "zzhwonk" sound.

Clu's eyes widened, and he grinned. "What?...How did you make..." His voice trailed off and he walked closer, eyes narrowing in curiosity as he stared at the bit model.

Kevin shook his head, grinning. "I didn't make it, man. It just happened, when we rezzed in, I guess. I accidentally sat on it, and that's when I found out it made a sound."

He handed the bit model to Clu, who inspected it, fascinated. "I didn't really get a good look at it before..."
He pressed several planes, until he found the one that depressed and made the sound.
This time the bit went "ploink-ploink".

Clu looked at Kevin, and grinned ear to ear, then laughed.

Kevin sat back, chuckling too. "Yeah, I think that's its way of saying 'yes'...and the other sound is the 'no'...or maybe vice-versa. It does it in random order."

Clu stood pressing the plane several more times, and got two "ploink-ploinks" and four "zzhwonk's"

"There must be some order to it,..." Clu pressed the plane repeatedly, listening to which sound it chose each time.

Kevin looked at Clu, wondering how many more dozens of times he was going to doggedly press the plane trying to discern a pattern of order amidst the chaos, then he finally sighed and grinned, holding out his open palm. "Here, let me try..."

Clu handed him the bit, and Kevin asked it, "Is Clu going to drive me up the wall with you, bit?"

He pressed the plane... "ploink-ploink" . And then he smirked, nodded, grinned, and handed it back to Clu, chuckling.

"See? It said yes. Sounds about right."Kevin chuckled again, and began putting on his other sock.

Clu kept pressing the plane repeatedly and listening, until Kevin gave him a look, and then he stopped, looking a bit self-conscious.
Then he held the bit up to the light which filtered in through the window. "It's just really amusing, and, fascinating – this is what becomes of a bit from the Grid."

Kevin reached for his boots. "Well, it wasn't ever a real bit, just a solid model I rezzed. Had it on my mantel for quite a few cycles. Never made a peep."

Clu shook his head slightly. "Oh, no, this isn't that one...Tron has that one. This one was in my other pocket...I put it there when I found Alan. It was a real bit. It had been floating around and annoying him, and then it decided to annoy me."

He pressed the plane again several times. Kevin sighed, listening to the noises repeat. He raised an eyebrow sardonically.

"Can't imagine that thing ever being annoying."

Clu looked up again, then made a sheepish face and shrugged. "Oh. Sorry." He put the bit into his pocket, and sat down on the other side of the couch.

Kevin just chuckled again, and continued putting on his boots. "...'s alright, man. 'Don't blame ya...it's pretty cool."

The front door to the arcade opened, and Sam and Quorra came walking in. Alan was right behind them. He glanced at the shiny new deadbolt as Sam locked the door.

"Glad you did that...the old one was really irritating."

Sam nodded, a hint of seriousness passing across his eyes. "Yeah. Figured I should, all things considered. Need to get you and dad a key to it, though."

Alan gave a slight shrug, "No rush...we can get that done in the next day or two... " his voice trailed off as he looked up at the loft window, hearing Kevin's voice filtering down from upstairs, and he smiled. He still couldn't believe his old friend was back after all this time.

A few seconds later, Kevin came walking around the doorway from the stairwell, a half-eaten slice of pizza in his hand. He took a bite, then grinned when he looked up and saw Alan.

Alan chuckled and shook his head. "You eating cold pizza for breakfast...that's something I never thought I'd see."

Sam chuckled under his breath, walking past them and heading up to the loft.

Kevin nodded as he finished chewing the bite, then swallowed and pointed at what was left of the slice, a grin on his face. "Hey, breakfast of champions, man. Best pizza I've ever had, too. I was starving."
He glanced up towards the loft. "...besides,...it's not cold...microwave still works. And hey, there's plenty more up there."

Alan's eyebrow raised, and his eyes narrowed speculatively. He looked at his watch. Kevin knew he was considering it. He waved dismissively and nodded back towards the loft. "Oh, go on Alan. You've never turned pizza down a day in your life."

Alan smirked. "Well,... you're right, there. But it's only nine thirty..." and then he shrugged and started across the arcade towards the stairwell. "...oh what the hell."

"That's the spirit..." Kevin took another bite of the pizza, chewed, and then called back to Alan. "So, nine thirty huh. What day is it?..."

"Sunday..." Alan called back. Then he stopped and looked at his watch. "...December twelfth."

Kevin nodded. "...what year?"

Alan stopped, turning around, and he couldn't help but chuckle. It was the kind of question one rarely got asked. In fact, no one had ever asked him that before. Under the circumstances, it made perfect sense. He gave a wry grin. "2010."

Kevin's eyebrows raised. "Huh. Time does fly..." then he glanced at Alan, and the look on his face was a sort of detached amusement, as though it were someone else's life he were talking about.

"...I'll be fifty-three in six days."

Alan gave a slight nod, and a smirk. "Yeah?...Boo-hoo. I'll be sixty-one, this coming May..." and then he stopped, raising an eyebrow and grinning. "...wait – in six days?...that's right! ...the eighteenth!...well then we're just in time to have one heck of a birthday celebration for you, my friend."

Kevin chuckled, and gave him a wary look. "Yeah?...'last time we did that I talked to a lamp-post for five minutes and then almost got us beaten up in some dive..."

Alan laughed, thinking back,and gave a cynical smirk as he nodded. "Oh,...I remember. As I recall I was the reason we made it out of there alive. Had to do some fast talking to cool that guy's jets."

Kevin pointed at him, still chuckling. "Hey, ...you were the reason I smarted off to him in the first place."

Alan shook his head, laughing and pointing back with a smirky grin. "Whoa, no,... now wait a minute,...you're not putting that on me. Just because I made a comment about his manners did not mean you had to turn around and repeat it to him."

Kevin burst out laughing, and clapped his hands. "Yeah,...'suppose your right. But man, it was so true. And, the look on his face...it was worth it."

Alan shook his head again, still chuckling. Then he raised an eyebrow and sighed. "Second thought,...maybe a quiet little birthday dinner at home would be safer."

Kevin gave a slight wave of his hand. "Oh relax Alan,...besides, man, I'm not the same cocky guy I used to be. And kinda think my days of reckless abandon are well behind me anyway. By about two decades."

Alan nodded, still smirking skeptically, and the two chuckled for a few moments at the memory. Then Kevin shrugged and gave a small smile, his eyes softening. "But you know,...a birthday dinner at home would be really good...all of us...just, bein' together."

Alan smiled too, nodding slowly and meeting his old friend's gaze. "You got it." Then he turned around and walked back towards the stairwell.

Traffic was unusually heavy for a Sunday. Alan sighed, pulling a car to a stop behind a line of cars waiting to exit the freeway.

"Probably a wreck or a stall somewhere. Hope it clears soon, or at this rate it will take us an hour to get from here to my house - which is maybe a mile away. "

Kevin wasn't quite listening. He was still staring at all the vehicles around them, unable to get over just how much automobile design had changed over the past twenty years.
Just then, Sam breezed past them from in between the two lanes, with Quorra on the back of the Ducati, and then they went riding right up the exit lane, veering over in front of the first car in line just in time to turn left when the light changed. Kevin's eyebrows raised, then he frowned slightly and looked at Alan.

"Does he do that all the time?..."

Alan smirked and just shook his head. "Only when he's on the bike. Haven't seen him do it on foot yet."

Kevin exhaled and frowned. "Man,... splittin' lanes on this road?...even I wouldn't do that."

Alan looked at him, raising an eyebrow and smirking. "Right, papa Knievel,...because you'd have jumped the rail by now."

Kevin gave a mock look of indignance, and was about to retort, when a soft electronic "ploink-ploink" sound came from the back seat again. And then another. And then, a "zzhwonk".

Alan stifled a laugh. Not this again.

Kevin sighed. "Hey, Clu?...buddy,...mind if I see that bit?..."

Clu raised an eyebrow, and then slowly handed it over the front seat. Kevin took it, then very smoothly reached to tuck it into his jacket pocket. Alan eyed him without turning his head, knowing that if he did he would start laughing.

From the back seat, Tron turned to Clu, leaned over and spoke in a very low voice.

"See?... I told you he was going to do that if you didn't stop."

Clu shot him a glare, and then stared out the window, fuming. But Tron just shrugged, unfazed by Clu's glowering. "Well, so next time listen to me."

Kevin glanced at Alan. Both of them were having a tough time suppressing a laugh at this point. This was like having two kids in the back seat. Tron of course being the slightly older one.

Finally traffic moved just enough for them to make the light, and Alan turned onto the street, slowing down and then getting stuck in another line of cars.
Tron sat up, looking out the window, then pointed at a couple of teenagers who were sailing down the sidewalk fast on inline skates, darting in between groups of pedestrians.
Clu sat forward too, staring, admiring the expediency with which they zoomed effortlessly down the sidewalk navigating obstacles.

Tron's voice was excited and urgent. "Those Users have wheels on their shoes! That's what we should have! Then we wouldn't have to wait! Maybe we can get them somewhere around here?..."

Clu nodded enthusiastically in agreement.
Then the two programs looked at Alan and Kevin anxiously, as though they expected all of them to seriously consider abandoning the car and pursuing this strategy right then.

Alan didn't want to laugh at his program, but he just couldn't help it. For some reason this was just funny, because Tron was so very serious about it. Alan spluttered, choking back laughter and then looking out the window. Kevin planted his face in his palm, his shoulders shaking with silent laughter. In a moment he grinned at Alan. "This one's yours, man..."

Alan shot him a look, still suppressing laughter. "Thanks Kev."

Tron blinked, staring at both Users in the front seat with confusion. He didn't quite understand what they were chuckling at. He thought it was a terrific idea.

Alan cleared his throat, the smile still sneaking its way onto his face as he spoke.

"Well,...Tron,...those are called skates – the shoes they're wearing. While that is a good suggestion,...uh,...we can't really leave the car right here. Besides,... it's not as easy as it looks to skate on those things. We'd have to practice quite a lot to get as good as they are."

Kevin grinned, and crooned under his breath, "Good job,... Alan."

Clu glanced at Tron, and they both shrugged slightly, looking a bit smug. Then Tron proudly remarked, "I bet we'd do better than you think."

Kevin chuckled. "Yeah,...you two might. But the two of us would end up in a hospital."

Tron's brows furrowed and he quirked his head, giving a strange look. "A hospital?...what is that?..."

Kevin and Alan's minds both went to the same place at the same time.
They quickly glanced at each other, suppressing laughter again.
Perhaps it was just the surreality of the whole situation, or their already desperate need to laugh, or maybe it was the fact that they'd never before been presented with such a nearly perfect intro to a line from one of the silliest and yet most memorable comedy films they'd ever seen together back in the day...Airplane. What else.
But for whatever reason they both got the same thought, and, it just had to be said.

Alan only managed to get the first few words out shakily, "It's... a big building,...with...lots of patients..." before they both just finally burst into fits of laughter, howling in the front seat until each had tears in their eyes.

Tron and Clu stared at them, completely baffled and dumbfounded. Then they looked at each other with the same expression.
At least this was one thing the two of them agreed upon - there was certainly a whole realm of bizarre User behavior which they didn't at all understand.
Like for instance, the loud persistent beeping noise coming from the User vehicle behind them, and from the one behind that one, with the User who was yelling "Hey!" followed by some indeterminate exclamation.

Alan looked up quickly, stifling his laughter somewhat and giving a sheepish expression when he heard the honking, then saw that the light had changed to green and traffic had moved ahead. Some driver was yelling irately. He threw the car into gear and drove forward, giving Flynn a smirk and a shrug. Ordinarily this would have infuriated him and elicited a scowl, yet instead he was chuckling under his breath. He didn't know what it was, but just being around Flynn always seemed to make him automatically just a little more carefree.

Kevin looked out the window, filled with nostalgic remembrance as they turned into the familiar subdivision.
Whereas so much in the world had changed during his two decades on the Grid, this hadn't.
The neighborhood looked the same.
The street looked the same.
The lawn looked the same, except the grass had grown back over the spot where he'd worn it down to dirt by parking the Ducati there.
The house looked the same, aside from having been painted a different color.

Alan pulled into the driveway, and Kevin looked at the house.
He recalled vividly the last time he'd been here...the night he'd come barreling up those steps and practically leaned on the doorbell, hardly able to wait for Alan to answer the door before he burst in and started going on and on about his discovery...the miracle that was going to change everything and would turn everything as we know it onto its head. For him, it did just that. The rest of the world went on without him. The miracle was that he was back now.

"Well,...finally made it." Alan's voice jarred him back to the present moment.

With a wistful smile Kevin got out of the car, opening the back door for Clu while on the driver's side Alan was opening the door for Tron. Then they all four walked up the familiar stone walkway to the front door.