Alan had scarcely gotten far around the bend in the curved hallway when he heard the electronic swoosh of doors sliding open, and then footsteps echoing from up ahead around the next bend. There didn't seem to be any place to hide along the corridor, and so he did the only thing he could...he turned and ran as fast as he could, and as quietly as possible, in the same direction he'd just come from. That wasn't easy considering his legs still felt like lead and hurt like hell, but he really didn't have a choice in the matter.
He ran past the open doorway to his cell, then passed several more closed panels within identical shallow alcoves, which he assumed were also cell doors. Up ahead was the end of the hall, which seemed to dead-end into a wall. He stopped, panicking when he heard the echoed footsteps getting closer, and then he noticed that beneath the last of the alcoves up ahead was actually an open doorway to something. He ran to it, looking back behind him quickly, and then nearly plowed into the elevator doors which sat back only a couple of feet inside the alcove. And there didn't appear to be any sort of button to press, only a small black shiny panel on the wall.
...oops...
...well, this is disappointing...
The echoed footsteps were much louder now. Whoever it was had just rounded the bend and was coming closer. He didn't dare peek out to look. Instead he stayed absolutely still, his back pressed to the elevator doors, praying that whoever the footsteps belonged to wasn't planning on taking this elevator. Then the footsteps suddenly stopped.
...the open cell doorway...
...they're looking for me...
He inched his face close to the edge of the alcove, hoping to very carefully catch a glimpse, but then the footsteps started up again.
His heart pounded and he held his breath, listening to the echo.
...they're going away?...oh thank-
...no, wait...
...they're getting closer!...
...DAMN IT.
Well there wasn't much he could do now, except maybe grab the disk off his back, but then what if it was another one of the guards with the light staffs? It wouldn't be wise for him to startle one of them and be armed with a disk too. If he remained unarmed, maybe the worst they'd do is put him back in his cell.
He braced himself for the inevitable, and within a few more echoed footsteps was suddenly face-to-face with a very surprised...Jarvis?
The aide looked up, gasped and jumped back about two feet, having not at all expected him, or anyone, to be standing right there.
After having been quite startled, Jarvis composed himself, his expressionless demeanor returning. Alan could only manage a nervous, shaky gulp, not even sure what to say if he were to speak, and at this point, he didn't figure it would make much difference even if he did.
But Jarvis didn't speak either. He simply sighed, as if in thought, his eyes narrowing as he stared at Alan, considering him from head to toe, then looking him in the eye. After several very uncomfortable seconds, Jarvis looked casually to his right, then looked back at Alan, and finally spoke in almost a whisper, his voice clipped and his face still expressionless.
"Go. Now. While you can."
Alan's eyebrows shot upward, his jaw dropped, and his eyes went wide.
Of all the things the quirky, imperious aide could have said, this was not at all what he'd expected. Stunned, he cleared his throat, then stammered, "I-...wh-...uh,..I was, bu-"
"Shh!" Jarvis' staccato hiss and stark dip of the chin let him know his voice was too loud, and the aide glanced again casually around the hallway before looking back at him.
Alan's eyes remained wide as he absently gestured a gloved hand towards the small nondescript onyx panel beside the elevator doors, then finally managed a coherent word in the form of little more than a mouthed whisper.
"...how?"
The aide gave him a patronizing look, then pressed his hand over the panel and the doors slid open. And with that, he turned and walked back down the hall.
Alan stepped into the elevator, feeling more than a little stupid for not having realized it might be a motion-sensor switch. For some reason that had seemed far too simple for the Grid.
The doors closed, and he looked at a panel with only two buttons...G and A.
The "G" most likely meant "ground", but he wasn't too sure about the "A".
Matter of fact, aside from assuming he was somewhere within the same building where his other cell had been, he had no idea where that even was,...which was going to make this trek very interesting since he had no bearings, no destination, and no plan, other than to search for Kevin, Clu and Tron.
He pressed the "A", and the elevator descended. An electronic voice chimed from a small speaker on the wall, "Armory"...and when the doors slid open, he saw a room that he vaguely recognized - the vast room which looked like a cross between a hangar and a gymnasium, where the strange women in catsuits had rudely insisted upon stripping him down to his boxers, twice.
Nope. Not going there again.
He pressed "G". And the doors slid closed.
A moment later, the electronic voice chimed again, "Grid level..."
He raised his eyebrow with a sardonic smirk.
...ah, of course. How silly of me. Grid-level, ground, same thing...
It was going to take him a while to get acclimated to this place.
The elevator doors opened, and he cautiously stepped out into a dimly lit hallway which he discovered arched around in a circular fashion just like the one upstairs. Towards the farthest end of the corridor that he could see, was some sort of large door. He reasoned that perhaps this was some sort of service entrance, because that's what it looked like.
He quickly headed towards it, looking around as he quietly slipped along, but the huge corridor was empty, with no sign of any sentries, nor any programs at all. The place was deserted and so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
Upon reaching the large door, which he noted looked a lot like a very sleek garage door, he stood looking up at it, then scanned all around for some sign of how to open it. Finally he spotted one very small panel which was mounted high above the door and angled out from the wall slightly. It had to be some type of long-range motion sensor, because only a giraffe could have reached it.
He quietly looked around, stood beside the door, and tried to position himself directly beneath the panel, then after looking around the corridor again, he waved his arms at the sensor.
Nothing.
Then he stepped wide and moved side to side, while waving his arms.
Nothing.
Then he stood on tiptoe, stepped wide, and moved side to side, while waving his arms.
Still nothing.
Except that had made his calf cramp up again.
He bent over to grasp his leg in pain, swearing softly before he'd even realized he'd uttered a word. "Damn!"
And then the door slid smoothly upward. Apparently the sensor was voice-activated, unless for some reason 'damn' was a magic word on the Grid.
He stood up straight, looking through the open doorway at what appeared to be yet another sort of corridor, though much more shallow and dimly lit.
...huh. Well. Interesting...
He glanced around again, then limped through the open doorway into the next corridor, quickly realizing it wasn't a corridor but a sort of a ramp. To his right side just past the doorway was a wall, and to his left the ground sloped down for about twenty-five yards and led around a corner. He could hear a slight hissing, interspersed with a very soft intermittent tap-tap sound, but a look around the small corridor didn't reveal anything which could be making the noise.
Then he noticed that as he walked down the ramp the noise got progressively louder.
...some sort of machinery?...an air-ventilation system?...what?...
When he reached the bottom of the ramp he turned the corner, and discovered what the noise was.
It was the last thing he expected to see here – rain.
...rain?...on the Grid?...wait – rain in a COMPUTER?...
On the up-side,...he'd made it out of the arena structure to the Grid, and far more easily than he'd expected, thus far without being discovered and/or apprehended.
On the down-side,...apparently it was raining, he had no umbrella, and was clad in a lighted suit full of circuitry.
If he stayed there, he'd likely be discovered sooner or later, but, it if he walked outside into the rain, what would happen to him then? Would he fry instantly? He didn't know...he had no frame of reference, because, in his reality, or at least in the one he'd left to come here - the one which actually followed the laws of physics - rain and computers did not mix.
Then it occurred to him - this wasn't real water. It was only a simulation.
...use your head, Alan....
Of course. A simulation. After all, the buildings which he could see through the downpour weren't frying, and they were all trimmed in lights. Everything was trimmed in in lights.
In fact it was all the most magnificent looking thing he'd ever seen, really. And the glistening simulated rain only made it that much more magnificent.
He smiled, and stepped out onto the walkway, laughing when the rain didn't even make a sensation as it fell onto his skin.
...this is amazing!...
Just then he caught sight of something out of the corner of his eye which made him flinch, something up in the sky. He looked, and through the shimmering mist of tiny drops which fell he could see a very familiar shape gliding along over the tops of the buildings in the distance.
...Space Paranoids...the Recognizers!...
...that's exactly what they are!...
Then of course he realized that's exactly what had picked him up outside of the arcade, or at least, the place which looked like a very ultramodern version of the arcade.
And he wasn't sticking around to let it pick him up now...the streets and walkways were deserted, and he'd be spotted very easily standing right where he was. Sheer adrenalin propelled him and he darted across the walkway, ignoring the agonizing ache in his muscles as he ran across to an adjacent building, then ducked into the alcove at the front entrance. He plastered himself up against the wall, remaining very still, and waited.