Tron: Adagio
By: Shadow Chaser
Author's Notes:
This story covers the entire comic, Tron: Betrayal, and flashbacks from Tron: Legacy itself. The scenarios of the game Evolution are not mentioned in here as I did not play the game. All characters are not mine, they belong to Disney.
Story:
Recognizer
As a specialized security program, Tron did not need rest like some of the other programs. He had been created to completely sustain himself on the energy liquids and always keep his passive senses on alert for any disturbance within The Grid, but he did occasionally like just sitting in the small lounge in the corner of the End of Line club watching the comings and goings of programs who needed to relax or even meet with others. A program by the name of Pollux ran the club, providing needed sustenance and the occasional recreational and exotic sustenance to his patrons.
When he had first entered the club, Pollux had been a jittery program, immediately recognizing him, but Tron had ignored him and left him alone. He had learned from Flynn and from his time in the old system that as long as the exotic sustenances did no harm to others, he would let it slide. This was a place for programs to relax and he wanted to be treated like any other, albeit on a more passive scale.
The isomorphic algorithm program shown to him centicycles earlier was on his mind. Flynn had said that she had chosen her own name, Ophelia, and he had done nothing to usher in her existence in the Sea of Simulation. Flynn had said she was harmless to The Grid and even called her a miracle, but Tron wanted to make sure that she was not a threat to The Grid itself. Too many occurrences have been happening lately and the situation with the gridbugs had gotten worst.
Sector 113 where the aquifers were, had fallen a few cycles ago to a massive gridbug attack and it was only after days of combating it with at least two units of Guards with him that they were able to beat the gridbugs back. He had immediately erected a shield and Shaddox had started to quickly rebuild the aquifers. Clu had also added his own designs, giving the aquifers some needed firepower to ward of any future attacks. The effort had left Tron a bit disgruntled so he had taken to the Arena to work off some of the tension he had felt.
That was just centicycles ago, before he had been called by Clu to meet at Central Control and discovered the existence of Ophelia. He tilted his drink back, staring into its soft glow; Ophelia was housed in Sector 105, completely rebuilt after the initial gridbug attack and fortified with an advance shielding program that Flynn had designed himself. His passive senses sent a warning to him that the patrons in the club were shifting; something had changed. Letting his drink rest back onto the table with a quiet clink, he made no abrupt movements as he could feel a sudden shift in the mood of the club. Casually looking up, he let his hands rest near his sides in case he needed to draw either his batons or his disc, he saw what had made the patrons shift.
Ophelia herself had arrived at the club.
He was surprised, but did not show it outwardly, masking his own reactive code under a few layers of self-encryption. He watched her as did all of the patrons, Pollux included. They stared at her in open wonderment and whispered to each other as she passed by, a naïve look about her. She had a hesitant smile on her face, but her eyes showed no fear. Instead, they showed a hunger of sorts for knowledge, for learning and observing.
So this was what an isomorphic algorithm was, Tron thought as she made her way across the club, the music still blaring, but many of the patrons had forgone dancing and relaxing to stare at her. At first glance she looked like any other program, but Tron subtly flicked on his search parameters and found that her lines of code were completely different. In fact, he could barely see her code at all – as if she was shielding him somehow.
He found this disturbing and challenging at the same time.
"Kevin Flynn himself said it was rude to scan the codes of others," Tron was startled from his processes as he looked up and saw that she had stopped directly in front of his little private corner. "But then again, it is your job to do so, isn't it, Tron?"
"Ophelia," he greeted, gesturing for her to sit down as the rest of the patrons resumed their processes, thought some were still staring at her. He was not surprised that she knew who he was – after all, every program imported into the system or created from the Sea by Flynn were given basic knowledge that included his duties as The Grid's security enforcer.
"I tapped into the network after Kevin Flynn found me and learned about who you are. I knew that you were probably going to see me to ascertain the origins of my nature so I decided to find you instead."
"How did you know I was to find you?" he asked, curious.
"I did," she gave a small shrug, a polite, but confused expression appearing across her face. "Just like I can tell you that I cannot reveal my code to you. I do not know why I cannot, but I know that I cannot. Clu had tried to scan me when I first emerged from the Sea."
Tron mentally switched off that part of his security protocol, deciding to take her for her word. She must have noticed the flashing change in his eyes as she visibly relaxed and her smile grew. The inability to figure out the Iso's code must have made Clu frustrated, but Flynn did not seem concerned by it, but rather was quite happy about it. That trust extended to Ophelia was enough for Tron; he trusted Flynn to know everything about The Grid, including the surprising appearance of a new and uncreated program – after all, he was the Creator.
"In the centicycles that have passed since my emergence, I have learned so much of this place, this world. I hope you do not think ill of me that I have started improvements to Sector 105 and the housing complex there."
"Improvements?" Tron raised an eyebrow, surprised. He had thought Shaddox would have thought of everything a program needed to live in Sector 105.
"Yes," she leaned forward, her smile eager, "the codes there could use some improvement for energy consumption and the aesthetics of the buildings would be modified for extra stability-"
"Would this affect the security parameters installed around Sector 105?"
"I believe so," Ophelia's eager smile died a little and Tron felt a twinge of sympathy for her. She had looked so happy to present him with the ideas.
He quickly made his decision, "Don't work too fast or else you will attract the gridbugs. Sector 105 has been a problematic sector early in the development of The Grid. I will stop by with a squad of Guards later this cycle to reinforce the security protocols there to make sure you and the other programs living there will be safe."
"You mean my brothers and sisters?"
"There are more?"
"I-I hope so," she suddenly looked shy; "I don't want to be alone."
Tron reached out and patted her gently on her hand, "Flynn welcomes anyone and everyone to The Grid. The other programs will readily accept you for who you are."
Her smile was back in an instant, "Kevin Flynn said so as much. Thank you Tron." Getting up, she gave him another quick smile before hurrying out of the club, once again drawing the stares of all of the patrons before they returned back to their business.
However, Tron realized that the mood, including the lighting in the club had changed since her departure. What were once dark hues of blue was now just ever so brighter and the patrons all seemed to be in a more jovial spirits. Could one Iso have so much influence on the other programs or was it Ophelia herself?
A beep on the table where his drink sat made him look down to see a command line summoning him to Central Control. Downing the rest of his drink, he got up and headed out of the club, taking the elevator down to the ground floor and immediately headed to Central Control via his lightcycle. He arrived milicycles later and hurried to the control room.
Just as he entered, Tron abruptly stopped a frown on his face. The projector in the middle of the room was lit, displaying the eerie image of a Recognizer from the old system. Clu was standing in front of the projector, one hand occasionally flicking the image in circles, his other one plugged into the projector itself. He must have been reviewing the data he had received from Flynn when he had been created.
"What do you think Tron?" Clu asked, his voice conversational.
"For what?" he replied.
"A more efficient way of getting the programs to their designated sectors if they are found in a restricted section?"
"There are no restricted sections in The Grid," Tron replied flatly. He disliked Recognizers, seeing them as a holdover from the old system and related too much to the MCP and Sark. Why Clu was looking at the plans for one made him a bit angry.
"I'm designating Sector 113 where the energy aquifers are as a Restricted Section," here the image of the Recognizer disappeared, replaced with an overall map of The Grid and highlighted was Sector 113, "so we would know first hand if the gridbugs or any unsavory...data...enters it and tries to sabotage the aquifers."
"Why? The aquifers should be open to all programs to take the nourishment they need-"
"That is why there is a data system to bring all aquifers to the housing projects and businesses to the rest of The Grid," Clu overrode his protests before closing the map and bringing up the Recognizer's image again. "Tron, think logically-"
"I am," he shot back.
A mirthless chuckle from Clu made his frown grow deeper, "The Recognizer would make things easier for you and the Guards to transport anyone back without having to escort them on foot or by lightcycle."
"We haven't needed escorts," Tron replied.
"The perfect system will have its flaws, you'll see," there was something that Clu was not saying, but he could not discern what it was until it hit him; Clu's comment when Flynn abruptly left again after showing him the recording of Ophelia's emergence from the Sea. He had said that something new had appeared on The Grid and Flynn still left for the outside world, leaving him to wonder what was in the outside world that took his attention away.
"Is this about Ophelia?" he asked.
"No, no," Clu looked at him, a smile on his face, "it most certainly is not. I am just ensuring the security and safety of The Grid itself." He clapped him on the shoulder and for a split nanocycle Tron wanted to shake the program's hand off of him, but quashed the thought just as fast. "Tron, the Recognizers would greatly help you. You worry too much."
Tron thought differently – he felt he did not worry enough.
Author's Notes:
A little bit about the time conversion in this chapter; according to Tron: Legacy, time passes differently in The Grid than in the real world. However, in the digital world, there is a semblance of time so I did real world naming conversions to apply to The Grid's unique take on time.
Nanocycles = Seconds
Milicycles = Minutes
Centicycles = Hours
Cycle = Day
I'll add more if there needs to be more, but so far these are the naming conversions. Hope this helps!