Tron: Sacrifice Script

Episode Four: Risks, Part One

HEY, BECK." TRON said to him.

Paige stood by awkwardly as Tron talked to Beck. They both knew that Beck couldn't talk back, which made Paige feel even more awkward. She made herself busy, pulling new instruments, trying not to listen to Tron's one-sided farewell.

"I know this is crazy, and no, you cannot convince me not to go." Tron set his head against the cool surface of the metal plating of the tank.

"It should be me."

Paige paused in her work to turn her gaze to Tron.

He turned to her, and pointed at the tank.

"I," Tron pointed at himself, "should be in there. Beck doesn't deserve to be in this situation."

He pushed himself away from the tank, and put his hands on the examination table, leaning on his hands.

"He insisted on staying at the Garage." Tron shook his head. "I should have tried harder to stop him."

Paige bit her lip, trying hard to think of what to say.

"This is my fault he's here." Tron looked back at Beck.

"Have you found a way to slow his deresolution?"

Paige was relieved he changed the subject. Tron's guilt made her feel ten times as guilty.

"So far, all I can do is increase the plasma pressure, when the sensors I've modified detect the active destabilized points of his disc." She stretched a tablet and slid it across the table to Tron. "When those points lose their integrity, they affect the pixels' structure around them. At the current rate of degeneration, Beck will be fully derezzed in approximately three cycles without the plasma tank."

Tron made a noise of frustration, "That's not enough time."

Paige took the tablet back and suspended it in the space between them.

"I've isolated those weakened, damaged pixels to the point he can come out of the tank, by artificially strengthening his disc structures."

She brought up a model of Beck's disc. Tron saw there were no longer deep red margins on the image, but they were still pink.

Paige touched the weak points and expanded them, showing Tron the technology within the pixels.

"It is my theory," Paige started, "if all these points are neutralized, I can physically put Beck's disc back together."

"Do it."

"There is a catch." Paige took the tablet out of suspension, and decreased its size. "I honestly do not know if it will work. If I'm wrong, he could change. I would have no idea how to reverse that damage, or I could derezz him altogether. I just don't know all the possible risks."

Tron nodded. "Is there a limitation to how long you can wait on this?"

Paige shrugged her shoulders uncertainly, "I need to run more tests. I won't know until then."

Tron nodded. "I'll let Mara and Zed know they are to assist in rebuilding Beck's disc, but they must not be aware he is Beck. They thought he was Tron since the Repurposing Unit crashed."

Paige blinked and slowly nodded, "And you let them still think he's somewhere in hiding. I understand, but they are his friends, and he does need them."

"I know." Tron walked back to the tank. "We already agreed not to tell them of his identity before the Garage. If they know too much, too soon, it may complicate things."

Tron saw Paige nod again in the reflection of tank. He looked at Beck.

"Why is this so hard?" Tron whispered to Beck. "Why, after all this time, can I not handle this?"

Tron briskly turned away and walked passed Paige, and into the lift without a word to her.

Paige looked at Beck and put down her tools. She walked over to Beck and studied the program before her, touching the protective barrier just so she could feel the resistance beneath her fingers.

'What is so special about you,' she thought, 'that Tron is willing to switch conditions with you?'


Tron walked around the Observation deck in silence. They'd finally made accommodations for the Garage refugees, along with temporary clearance signatures. But only Tron had the proper codes to release himself from this sanctuary.

The main computer was set to show him updates on who enters what level, at what time. He had Mara and Zed conduct a test run to work out any glitches in the computer's system. Everyone was traveling up and down the lift while Tron was getting ready, making a racket that he blamed only on himself for bring them here.

'At least they are working around here.'

True, they were. Some programs found it necessary to build a Garage inside level five, the level for computer parts, byproducts, and other objects considered mere waste to Tron. The mechanics tinkered with the items they found, and came up with ideas to use them.

They rewrote codes, reprogrammed the deck, and built the work space, now dubbed "Able's Garage" to make themselves more at home.

Tron watched his once lonely, isolated residence transform into a growing, working environment.

"Perhaps, now at last, we can defeat CLU." Tron said aloud, sensing someone behind him.

He turned to find Zed.

"Paige has my full confidence and trust." Tron looked Zed in the eye. "Make sure she is well provided for within her needs."

Zed nodded.

"She's found a possible route to stabilize, and prevent any more damage." Tron looked out at Argon. "If she requests your help, comply."

"Understood."

"Then why are you standing there?"

"Mara doesn't think you should go alone."

Tron smiled, "Mara is right, of course. I shouldn't go alone, but I will. I don't want anyone else to be derezzed for Tron, for me, or for this cause. The time has come to stop hiding, and start a full-forced rebellion.

"Where is Mara?"

"She's working out a nasty glitch with two programs." Zed said with a smile.

Tron looked at Zed, surprised.

"She's got it under control."

"I'm sure she does."

Tron turned to Zed, and put his hand on his shoulder.

"Tell Mara I said goodbye."

"Okay," Zed held out a recoder. "Just in case."

Tron took the recoder, nodding his thanks, and he walked to the lift. Time to go.


Paige had Beck's disc in her hand. She studied it closely, scrutinizing every signal jagged crater absent of pixels. She had her probes and computer monitoring Beck's every minute without his disc connection.

When she was done she pushed her free hand through the tank barrier, and slid the disc back onto Beck's back. She went back to her studying test results and procedures. She looked at Beck, out of habit at glancing at the tank conduit. She went back to her work.

It was strange to her. Being back in a clinic, after the last time she'd been in one.

She started a new test, simulating a new idea of building a filament around the disc. She watched as it went terribly wrong. She shook her head in frustration. She was running out of creative ideas to save Beck's life.

The only theory she had left was to try to rebuild Beck's disc.

Unless...

She worked out the codes to direct the computer to conduct a new simulation. She watched as the computer spread a filament around the unharmed portion of Beck's disc, separating it from the damaged parts.

She confirmed the computer to start the test sequence, and watched as the computer sped up the predicted cycles of safety to Beck's disc. As the time grew longer, and longer, she smiled. She let the test continue to run, as she went to the lift with the test tablet in hand.

If Tron was still here, she'd ask him to proceed with her test.

She came to the Observation deck to find it empty. Her clacking sound of her heels rebounded off the metal walls and reinforced glass of the observing window, stretching from one end of the deck to the other. She climbed up the staircase to the conference rooms.

"Paige?"

She paused after walking passed a room, doubled back, and peered inside.

Mara and Zed both looked at her.

Paige opened her mouth, but she couldn't make her voice speak.

"What's wrong?" Zed asked nervously.

"Is it Tron?" Mara asked.

"Yes."

At once their expressions changed from those of worry, to ones of utter sadness.

"He's fine, considering his conditions," Paige assured them quickly. "I need to show you something."

She held out the tablet, and Mara stood up instantly to receive it.

"Is the Renegade still here?" Paige inquired. "He should hear this, too."

Mara shook her head, saying, "He's just left to the beacon."

Paige nodded, and stood awkwardly as Mara handed the tablet to Zed.

"What you're observing is a test simulating a two-plated filament between the damaged parts of Tron's disc from the working portions." Paige pointed to the time count, which had predicted over ten XilaCycles of unaffected disc functions. "It is the best simulation, the best procedure we've had yet in healing Tron."

"The filament. What is it composed of?" Mara quizzed her.

"The test is set for using the same protective barrier as the plasma tank's, for the undamaged part of the disc, and the confining of brig's to hold fast the spreading damage. The filament simulators will be attached to the edges of his disc."

"Those barriers can malfunction." Mara counter argued. "What if it does?"

"The filament will only be used as a partition to protect the unharmed parts of Tron's disc. While it is activated, I want to remove the damaged parts to test and further evaluate a possible regeneration theory. It will be a temporary process, until I can discover how to fully repair his disc."

"That means changing Tron's code." Mara put in. "That is too risky."

"In our discs," Paige continued, "there is a memory file. It saves our code as a backup. If I can unlock that file, Tron will be restored."

"I don't know about this." Mara said.

"While the filament is activated, Tron can still function as before the incident."

"Will he be the same as before?" Mara questioned Paige.

"I do not know. I know so little on disc restoration, but I've been set with this task." Paige shook her head. "I won't know more unless this theory is authorized."

"There are still too many risks. You're holding Tron's life in your hands." Mara crossed her arms defiantly. "You're putting him at risk of deactivation. He is the soul of the revolt. If he is derezzed, we won't have a leader."

"Zed?" Paige looked at the silent programs. "What do you think?"

"I think if the Renegade were here," Zed crossed his arms, "he'd give you the authorization. He'd tell you to do it."

Paige looked from Mara to Zed.

"Mara?" Zed asked her.

"The Renegade would confirm it, only because he is desperate for his mentor's life."

Mara stepped close to her, but Paige remained on her guard, unfazed.

"If anything awful happens to Tron on your part," Mara threatened, "I will personally derez you."

Paige said nothing, and backed away from Mara. She turned her back from them when she was clear from the conference room, now fully understood why Tron didn't tell Mara and Zed. If Mara was this defensive of Tron, how would she react if she knew it was Beck's life in her hands.


Tron deactivated his light cycle, out of fear of being discovered. The silence was unbearably unmoving and thick as an electrical storm.

He activated his dark suit with hardly any light circuitry, and held his disc at the ready as Tron traveled on foot to the sentry guarded entrances. He hid in the shadows until he saw an opening between the guard passing, and slipped through when the distracted themselves with their own conversation.

Tron hoped he'd have as good an opportunity coming back, as he ran lightly through the barrack-like storage containers. Once he cleared them, he headed to outskirts of Argon where the beacon was.

As he came closer and closer, he realized the city wasn't breathing. It was like everything, except the city, was derezzed, and he was walking through a cold, deactivated place that was just barely holding on to existence. He kept getting the notion to turn back, but he pushed the thought behind him and traveled silently near to the site that would be a trap, or a happy, nerve relieving meeting.

At last he found the beacon, disguised as a programming conduit.

Tron waited for a moment in the darkness as his senses peaked, taking in the environment of the deserted ally. His eyes never staying in one place too long, bounced from the tops of the buildings to the allies around the site. He detected no movement, not a single other program near the conduit, but he still wasn't satisfied. He waited a while longer, still searching with his eyes.

Then he sensed something behind him.

Tron acted at the speed of light catching a program at the neck with his free hand, tackling him down to the ground, putting his disc to the head.

Tron froze at the sight of the program in front of him.

"You were derezzed!" Tron whispered harshly.

"Hello, Tron." Cyrus chuckled softly, his eyes gleaming in the dimmed light of Tron's disc. "Nice way to greet an old friend."


Paige wiped perspiration from her brow, as she focused on sealing the simulators on Beck's disc. She'd run a series of procedure simulations to ensure she knew exactly what she was going to do. There wouldn't be any do-overs if she made a mistake.

With the last simulator firmly attached to the disc, she proceeded to operate.

She activated the filaments, and watched the tablet she placed, to show her exactly how it slithered under and over the disc's portions and separated them. She looked at Beck's systems, satisfied they were functioning under normal parameters for his current state.

She took up a light knife and activated it with a touch of a button. The light slipped easily enough under the damaged half of Beck's disc, and levered the knife downward, pushing the damaged disc portion up. She looked at Beck's systems again. They were running normally.

With the filament simulators confining the damage together, Paige lifted it clear of the working parts of the disc and set it to the side.

Suddenly, Beck's systems went awry, and the computer announced: "Subject destabilization."

The screens of her tablets went red, and Paige ran directly to the tank, she cranked the plasma pressure to an all-new high.

"Subject deresolution." The computer announced and an alarm sounded

"No," Paige shouted, "no! Come on, Beck!"

She went back to the examination table and snatched the disc. She shoved it clear through the tank's barrier and attached it to Beck's back.

All at once, the computer was silent, the alarm silent, the blinking red stopped, and the tank deactivated. Beck was expelled from the tank, and crumpled to the floor.

Paige stood horrified at Beck for a stunned moment, and instantly knelt to the floor to examine him. Before she could touch him, Beck's shoulders heaved, as he weakly pushed himself off the floor into a kneeling position with a soft groan.

Startled by his movement, reflexes took her hand away as his mask deactivated.

"Beck?" Paige squeaked, and worked to control her voice, as her shaking hand touched his shoulder, and she maneuvered around to face him. She cautiously tipped his chin up, so she could see him.

He looked the same as before, but when he looked at her it was like he'd never seen her before.

"Beck?"

He put a hand to rub his forehead, saying, "Where am I? Who are you?"