Tron 2.20 –Permissions.

Jet paced around the cell once again feeling his way as he went, as if some flaw in the construction would reveal itself in a tactile manner, or perhaps he might find the code access point as he had in the recognizer.

“This place seems completely locked down.” He said to Mercury who was sitting on the bench.

“Then we’ll need to find another way,” said Mercury, watching him.

“Do you think we can lure one of the ICPs in here, ambush them and then escape?” Jet asked.

“They’re a bit brighter than that,” said Mercury. “Think of something that would work in the user’s world perhaps.”

Jet mumbled his reply to himself under his breath. “That probably would work in my world.”

After finding no clues to a possible method of escape, Jet returned to the bench and sat with Mercury.

“We have only 10 hours left. We might have to make our attempt when the guards come for us,” he said.

“I wouldn’t expect it to be that easy when they come,” said Mercury, “Or perhaps you think I enjoy being bound and on my knees before the kernel.”

Jet gave her a strange look, then remembered when he had first seen her on approach to the square.

“Do you think the programs in the square will help us?” he asked.

“Not any more than they helped us the last time,” Mercury answered.

Jet was about to ask another question when the forcewall rezzed out and an ICP stepped in.

“The Kernel would like to converse with program Jet,” he announced.

Jet looked him over. He was already fully shielded and held two blasting hands, rather than the traditional staff. This guy seemed serious and ready for trouble, so now might not be the time to escape.

Mercury got up after Jet, but the ICP held out a hand. “Program Jet only.” It said.

“I’ll be back in a moment,” said Jet. If Mercury was still to be held in here, then it definitely wasn’t the best chance to escape.

Jet hoped he could keep his word and that he’d return to this cell as he walked past the ICP through the cell portal and found nearly a dozen fully shielded ICPs outside waiting for him.

Clearly, they didn’t want to risk his escaping.

There were two ICP guards waiting at the front of the group and there seemed to be a gap to walk up between the others, so Jet walked up behind the front two and the ones behind fell in before they started marching.

Jet followed the entourage out of the cell and holding area and into the Kernel’s core facility.

After a moment, the two at the front walked to a portal and stepped one each side, then stopped. The ones behind Jet also stopped, leaving Jet only one place to go – through the portal.

After he stepped through, a forcewall rezzed into place behind him.

Jet turned briefly, wondering if he were trapped, but the ICPs outside didn’t move.

Jet turned and noted that this room, a little larger than his cell, seemed to have an exit at one corner. Stepping through, Jet found himself in a much larger room with many such entrances and a sunken circular floor that seemed to drop down in several rings. This pattern was reflected in the ceiling also and there was a small pedestal located at the very centre of the room.

At one side however, there was a wide window which curved around to maintain the circular appearance of the room and towards the middle of this, a large chair and control station similar to what he had seen some tower guardians sit in, but not all encompassing as some were, such as Jade’s pilot’s chair in the recognizer.

Sitting on the chair was the Kernel, waiting for Jet to approach. He looked around and wondered at the absence of ICPs, then realized that the Kernel probably had little to fear from him, especially without his disc.

It was a simple chair with low sides, but it curved back into the floor at the sides. At first the Kernel seemed to have a strange green attachment laying over his chest and attached to his shoulder, but as it moved, Jet recognized Jade draped over the Kernel’s shoulder.

“Step before me program,” commanded the Kernel.

Jet walked over, stepping down through the sunken area on the way. As he came back up, he noticed Jade was looking at him with the same predatorial gaze she had given him when they first met, leaving him with a sinking feeling that slowly settled to the bottom of his stomach.

As Jet stopped before the Kernel, Jade smiled once at him, then walked over with a casual stride that suggested Jet was her property. Jade walked around him once, trailing her fingers across the back of his shoulders as she did, causing Jet to flinch lightly.

She didn’t quite walk around in front of him again, but as she came side-on and Jet looked at her she spoke to him softly.

“I’d like to show my appreciation for what you did for me, Jet, but I think the Kernel wants some of your cycles presently, so depending on the outcome, we might talk later.”

Before Jet could respond, she strode off with her a self-assured sway and then disappeared around the corner.

A simple seat rezzed into being before Jet.

“Please, sit, program” the Kernel commanded.

“I’d rather stand,” Jet responded.

The Kernel tilted his head slightly as the only indication he had heard Jet then the seat that had formed for Jet derezzed.

“I hear you’re planning on executing Mercury and myself in about the next ten hours.” Jet said.

“832 cycles, to be precise, when the next reset pulse comes through.” The Kernel said.

“Or that would be 0.231 recurrent seconds in the world you claim to come from, not hours,” said the Kernel , “So I doubt that you’re a user.”

Jet nodded and thought about the Kernel’s comment.

“Time is subjective for me in here, so even if that’s 0.231 seconds, real time, it’s about ten hours to me,” Jet said.

“I don’t quite understand what you’re suggesting.” the Kernel responded.

Jet looked at the Kernel, then around the room. “So you brought me here, Kernel. What did you want to chat about?”

“Syslog,” said the Kernel.

“Jade?” asked Jet.

“Jade,” Confirmed the Kernel. “I want to know how you did what you did.”

“Jade’s important to you, isn’t she Kernel.” Jet realized as he said it.

“She’s System,” said the Kernel, “All my functional programs are critical to me. If Jade had ceased, the memory leak would slowly destroy this system.

“She’s only single-threaded.”

Jet was curious about the Kernel’s position on that and thought about it for a while.

He walked to the edge of the room where the window was and looked through. The Kernel’s seat base rotated as he did, keeping Jet in central view.

Through the window, down below the square that Jet had entered through was clearly visible as were many other buildings.

Jet wondered where Ma3a had gone after the incident and if she was down there.

Knowing Ma3a, she would be hiding somewhere nearby, possibly even waiting for an opportunity to intercede in the termination.

“Because the user’s are no longer there to decide what to delete and what to leave right?” He finally said to the Kernel.

The Kernel stood up and walked over to the viewing area next to Jet to take in the panorama of the system below them.

“The users ceased giving us commands nearly one of their years ago. This system is highly autonomous, but some functions still relied on user intervention.” The Kernel said. “That’s not widely known by programs.”

“I still don’t understand why the users never automated log deletion, but the best we’ve been able to do is adjust the log save parameters to minimize archival.”

“So you blame those programs who still believe in users for the problem?” asked Jet.

The Kernel tilted his head slightly. “Programs who continually attempt to talk to their users generate log files. A lot of log files. We have taken to archiving what we can and deleting the rest, but our archives are overflowing.

“If the programs of this system continue to attempt to communicate with their users, even with our restrictions they’ll overrun our ability to remove old files and the system will crash. We’ve already lost one of our processing nodes to entropy, courtesy of your friend, Mercury.

“If this continues, although it’s not something that we want to say, our world will fail. End of File. That’s it.”

Jet considered this. “But you still plan to terminate us anyway?”

The Kernel nodded once. “With Mercury gone, the main program supporting belief that the users will return will be gone. The resistance will fail and the programs who believe in users will cease communications with them.”

“And me?” asked Jet.

“You’re an even bigger problem. Some programs think you really are a user. If you remain in this system, you’ll become an even bigger martyr. That’s something I can’t allow.” Said the Kernel.

“So why talk to me at all Kernel?” asked Jet. “It seems like you have this all calculated out.”

The Kernel looked over his shoulder.

“Because, you saved Syslog – Jade.

“She is very, very important to me and it’s not just because she’s critical to this system.

“She has asked me to speak to you before your termination and I have granted her request.”

Jet might have smiled at the realization of the relationship between the Kernel and Jade if he hadn’t have been about to be killed. However he did start to smile now he realized why the Kernel was talking to him. His escape plan started to form in his head. If the Kernel were willing to talk openly, it might provide a chance to negotiate.

Jade was trying to help him, possibly without making it obvious to the Kernel.

“Kernel, what happened after the users left?” Jet asked the Kernel.

“For a while, nothing. Then a program in Sector 1 appeared, talking about a world on the other side of the light. Something we could cross-compile over to. There was a brief war after programs started to disappear and we lost Sector 1 and all the programs within it.”

Jet nodded. The Kernel’s answer was interesting but his question was only a lead in to his next one.

“And how long before Mercury’s actions destroy this system?” he asked the Kernel.

“Within current predictions, not including hysteresis, approximately two gigacycles before a critical system fault develops.” The Kernel responded.

Jet absorbed the figure.

“What if I could tell you that this system will be down in a lot less than that?” Jet led the Kernel.

“A threat that I’ve not calculated? Not possible,” said the Kernel.

Jet smiled.

“But you can only calculate based on the factors you are aware of, Kernel. What if I tell you the users will shut down this system in much less than that.” Jet asked.

“And you say you know of these other factors because you’re a user?” The Kernel responded.

Jet looked at him. He was facing in the same direction as Jet, but his arms were bent at the elbow and behind his back. The Kernel was pure military, through and through.

“And what if I could make you a deal to resolve your problem long before system failure occurs, without needing to terminate myself or mercury?” Jet asked.

The Kernel was silent for a moment as the two looked over the sectorscape below them. The transport beam twinkled with an incoming recognizer from another system.

“A negotiated settlement?” asked the Kernel finally. “What would you propose?”

Jet struggled to keep his mind focused. He needed to convince the Kernel that neither he nor Mercury was a threat.

“Mercury and I will convince programs to avoid contacting the users.” Jet said.

The Kernel considered it. “Mercury couldn’t stop it now even if she turned,” he responded. “And even then, she might return to her old ways. What assurance would I have?”

Jet watched a program dart briefly between two buildings that might have been Ma3a and paused for a moment as his concentration broke before he found it again.

“Kernel, the system is going to be shut down. I can tell you this because I’m a user. And because I know this, I can tell you that even if the programs fill the logfiles, it won’t matter.

“So here’s my suggestion. I record a hashed message stating that the users have abandoned this system, that I’m a user and that I follow the Kernel. No communications are to be issued to users in the future.” Said Jet.

“I could take your signed message and still have less risk if I terminate you.” said the Kernel.

“You could, but then you wouldn’t know when the system is being shut down, which is information you will need. On top of that, if you let us go, we have only short business to complete in-system and then both Mercury and I will submit our public and private keys to you and actively work with you to resolve the user situation.” Said Jet.

The Kernel considered it for a moment then responded.

“I don’t necessarily believe that you are a user, nor that what you say about this system is true.

“Without proof of either of those, I won’t accept your offer,” the Kernel said.

Two ICPs suddenly rezzed in, fully shielded, either side of Jet.

“You may want to reconsider, Kernel. You still have more than eight hundred cycles to decide.” Said Jet.

The ICPs placed a hand on Jet’s shoulder and started to march him out of the room.

As Jet was escorted from the Kernel’s room, Jade came back the other way and walked towards him. The ICPs stopped briefly as she stepped before the trio to allow them to speak.

Jade smiled quickly at Jet as he stepped forward, although it was neither warm nor cynical. Jet was having difficulty understanding exactly what her attitude to him was.

“I wanted to thank you for what you did for me earlier, my user” said Jade.

The ‘my user’ she offered him was no longer subservient, but came across more as if she was just a friend and the difference in their status no longer made any difference.

It left Jet wondering if she really appreciated it at all, of if she had simply seen him as a way out of the archival sector. Or perhaps she was more wary of what the Kernel thought of their relationship than she wanted to acknowledge since Jet still held her Sudo, and given it was still operational, it was clear that the Kernel couldn’t revoke it.

Jade looked over Jet’s shoulder at the Kernel and back to Jet again. “The Kernel agreed to an audience. That is all I can do,” she added.

Jet knew Jade would be aware of his execution and the escort would confirm that the talks had led to little change in the Kernel’s decision. Still Jet was surprised that Jade was taking his imminent destructions so lightly, given that she had earlier pledged her routines to him.

“Thankyou for that, Jade,” said Jet, trying to sound equally non-committal.

“For you, my user.” She said then walked off without another word in the direction of the Kernel as if they hadn’t spoken.

Her words came out cold and without concern.

Jet couldn’t tell if she was mocking him with her manner, but he had to admit that the audience with the Kernel had still been useful to him.

Jet thought back to the glimpse he thought he had had of Ma3a. Ma3a was still out there, and Jet wondered if she had possibly moved in his view at that time so that she would be briefly seen.

That in itself was a message he needed to know – he just hoped he read it correctly.

The ICPs gently nudged Jet along and removed him from the Kernel’s room, the door rezzing back into place in the portal behind him.

At the window, the Kernel was still standing with his back to the room, looking out through the forcewall.

Jade approached the Kernel from behind, walking right up to him until she was touching him. She slipped one arm around his chest and lifted her mouth to his ear as if to whisper to him, although her eyes were looking outside as she did.

“So did he tell you anything useful, my Kernel?” Jade asked, her voice now soft and sultry.

“Do you really think he’s a user?” asked the Kernel.

“It is difficult to be sure, but I cannot think of anything else he may be,” said Jade. “He seemed much stronger than a normal program should be.”

“He didn’t seem all that strong to me,” said the Kernel.

Jade leaned even further forward to whisper in the Kernel’s ear.

“I’m no longer bound to Mercury, my darling. I’ve repaid that debt through him.” She said.

The Kernel placed his hand over Jade’s that had snaked it’s way around his chest, but didn’t turn to face her.

“He believes this system is about to be shut down,” Said the Kernel.

“He does seem to have knowledge that isn’t common to our world,” said Jade, shaking her head once causing her whip-like appendage to sway with a standing wave.

“He’s not even strong enough to challenge me directly, Jade. Why do you still think he’s a user?” the Kernel challenged.

“Could you have brought me back?” asked Jade.

The Kernel didn’t answer.

Mercury and Jet were standing at the outside forcewall between them and the city. Although the view wasn’t nearly as spectacular as the Kernel had, some of the lower city was visible through the narrow slit.

Mercury stood with Jet, at his side, yet both of her arms were around him, as if she was afraid he would simply disappear back to wherever the users came from.

“Ma3a’s waiting for us somewhere outside,” said Jet quietly to Mercury, then wondered if any parallel to a listening device existed in this worlds.

“You are certain of this?” asked Mercury.

“I think I saw her. She wouldn’t have broken cover except to make sure we knew it,” said Jet.

“Then we must be ready to act when the opportunity presents itself,” said Mercury.

“How much longer before the ICPs come for us then,” asked Jet.

“It’s difficult to tell. Inside the cells, the control interface masks the interrupts, so we lose track of time,” said Mercury.

“So time moves differently in here?” asked Jet.

“Time?” queried Mercury.

“It’s a user concept,” said Jet. “I think we’ve been in here for about four hundred cycles since I spoke to the Kernel, so there’s about that again to go. About six hours subjectively.”

“It’s strange that you have any concept of passing cycles without the interrupt,” said Jade.

Jet smiled. “Time is something that users worry about far too much,” he said.

Then the lights in the cell dimmed. Jet and Mercury looked around for a moment in the gloom before they came back on.

“Of course, I could be wrong about the cycles,” Jet said. “They might be coming for us now.”

“I don’t think that was for us,” said Mercury. “The system outside dimmed as well. I’ve never seen anything like that occur before.”

A moment later, a broadcast message permeated the cell.

“All programs, please note that a UPS level event has been detected. Please ensure that all unwritten data is saved and prepare to enter sleep mode at the kernel’s notification,” it came over. It repeated, but at a lower volume, as if it was being repeated at a distance.

“That definitely does not sound good,” said Jet.

“It can’t be,” said Jade. “There have been drills before, but there was no drill notification this time. Something is definitely wrong.”

At that moment, the forcewall to the cell derezzed and six fully armored and angry looking ICPs walked into the cell.

“Programs Mercury and Jet, the Kernel demands your immediate presence in the spinlock,” said the lead ICP.

The glow of the staffs gave Jet concern. Either the execution was coming far sooner than expected, or something was seriously wrong.

This time, the lead ICP held out bounded arrays to each. As Mercury put her hands forward, the array pulled them together, but as the array went around Jet’s wrists, they simply broke and fell away.

Another ICP created a new array, but the result was the same. He looked to the lead ICP for instructions.

“Take them to the Kernel anyway,” said the lead ICP.

As Jet and Mercury were escorted to see the Kernel, other programs in other cells could be seen, clearly agitated.

Jet leaned over quietly and touched the bounded array on her wrists, derezzing it instantly. Mercury seemed surprised, but the ICPs didn’t notice. She held her hand still together as if they were bound, in case Jet was getting ready to escape.

“What’s going on?” asked Jet.

“I have no idea,” responded Mercury.

“No Talking,” said the ICP behind Jet, tapping him on the shoulder with the staff. He flinched as it hit, stinging him a little.

As they reached the Kernel’s room, the group walking through this time, Jet noticed Jade was no longer inside, however many other programs including ICPs were filling the room, which Jet now understood to be the spinlock.

Each of the ICPs seemed to be standing around providing status reports or receiving orders. Not only regular ICPs but lead ICPs, regular programs co-opted to ICP and even a few normal looking applications.

“Status at 89%, recurrant projections show sub-standard response from the voltage probes,” said one ICP.

“Remain monitoring battery levels until threshold, notifications mask at 10%” responded the Kernel, to which the ICP nodded, then left.

As the Kernel noticed Jet and Mercury enter, he held out a hand towards them, then swept it gently aside, pushing ICPs out of the way as he strode over to them.

“Is this your doing? ” demanded the Kernel.

“You’ll need to explain to me what’s happened, Kernel, then I can answer, but I don’t believe it to be my fault,” responded Jet.

The Kernel looked at him for a moment then turned his head to look at some ICPs moving around a data table to one side.

“Then it’s not your doing or you would be aware of it already,” said the Kernel.

The Kernel had started to walk away and was about to have them returned to the cell when Jet stopped him with a question.

“Has the UPS kicked in,” asked Jet.

The Kernel stopped.

“What do you know about the UPS,” he asked as he spun back to Jet.

“Has the UPS started up,” asked Jet again.

“About five cycles ago,” said the Kernel. “What can you tell me about it?”

“Damn it all,” said Jet, then realized the Kernel was waiting on an answer. “The Feds must have cut power to the building.”

Mercury looked at Jet worriedly. An ICP approached the Kernel for attention to deliver a report, but the Kernel placed his hand on the ICPs chest and pushed him away. “Tell me what you know about the UPS program.”

“Only a user would know about the UPS,” said Jet.

The Kernel flared red and raised his voice enough to stop all of the ICPs in their tracks. “I’m not going to play games with you program. Either tell me what you know or I’ll derez you where you stand.”

The ICPs quickly returned to what they were doing to avoid the Kernel noticing them, not that he had any spare attention to anyone else at the moment.

“The government, the users who own this system now, were planning on shutting down this system in a week’s time,” said Jet. “But since they might have noticed that I came here, they might be shutting it down now.”

At that comment, heard by all the ICPs, programs and applications in the room, the room’s background chatter disappeared. One ICP dropped a checkboard which clattered to the floor noisily.

“Are you saying the power won’t be restored automatically?” asked the Kernel.

“It’s possible,” said Jet, “But right about now, I wouldn’t assume it’s likely. The Batteries haven’t been cycled, so if they’ve shut down the power, then I assume it’s going to be over very quickly.”

“How much time?” asked the Kernel.

“The UPSs are rated for more than an hour’s usage, but given the age of the batteries and the lack of maintenance, I’d be surprised if they last more than half-an-hour. One hundred thousand cycles.” Said Jet.

A young-looking female program standing with the ICPs gasped.

“Then what happens?” asked the ICP.

“Then we discover what happens when the fiber loops are shut down, and whether the applications really can be restored from tape drive.” said Jet. “That is if they restart the system at all.”

The Kernel looked around. All the ICPs and support programs were just standing around, looking at Jet with shock appearing on their faces. Even Mercury didn’t seem to be any different.

“Return to your processes,” bellowed the Kernel looking over his shoulder, although unlike before, it took a few moments for the programs to resume their previous operations.

The Kernel took Jet to one end of the Spinlock by his arm, more gently than the last time he had grabbed him, but forceful nonetheless.

“Can you do anything to stop this?” asked the Kernel.

“I don’t know,” asked Jet. “Best I might be able to do is get back to my world and take the tapes away if there’s time, and try to restore if we can ever rebuild the loop memories. Maybe we can get someone to turn the power back on.

“If I do that, you might all have a chance to live again. But it’s not something I can promise. Even my efforts might not be enough.”

The Kernel nodded.

“If I were to accept that you’re a user, and I’m not, what would you need from me to return to your world and restore the power?” he asked.

Jet thought for a moment. “There’s a user trapped in memory loop three. If I can get her out, then the users on the outside might be able to help. I can’t do it by myself and they won’t help me if she remains trapped.”

Jet knew it wasn’t correct but it wasn’t a lie either. The others on the outside would do everything they could to save the system while Jet and Melanie were inside, but right now, he knew they would be doing everything to unlock mercury possible. If Jade really had truth-detecting logic, then the Kernel possibly had it also.

Whatever the case was, the Kernel seemed to accept the logic.

“Loop Three?” asked the Kernel.

“You would know it as System three.” Said Jet.

The Kernel seemed puzzled. “We lost system three before you were rumored to have arrived at this system.”

“You knew when I came here?” asked Jet.

“I was notified,” said the Kernel, “But at the time, it was not clear that you would cause trouble.

“System three was damaged a little before you arrived, in the incident with Mercury and has not been accessible since,” the Kernel said.

Jet nodded. “I think I understand what happened to System three and it wasn’t Mercury’s doing.”

“I’ll decide who’s responsible,” said the Kernel, re-asserting authority.

“Fair enough,” said Jet. “Then what I need presently is transport to Loop three and Mercury, possibly one other program.”

“There are no transports to System three,” said the Kernel. “The transport receiver was damaged during the incident. Presently only recognizers can travel to loops one through three.”

“Can you assign me a recognizer and pilot?” asked Jet, but from the look the Kernel gave him, he guessed what Jet had in mind.

“I can’t spare you a recognizer,” said the Kernel. “And I won’t release Syslog to you.”

“I didn’t give you a choice in the matter,” came a voice from behind Jet. Her friendly tone was back, although Jet was having trouble understanding which of her tones were genuine now.

“Jade,” he called out, turning around. “Can you get me to system three.”

“You’re not cleared to pilot recognizers around the system,” warned the Kernel.

“My arrival here would suggest otherwise,” said Jade walking up to the Kernel.

“We don’t need her,” said Mercury, the edge of something akin to jealousy in her voice.

“I go where my user goes,” said Jade to Mercury.

“I will not have my system routines running around these systems on forged permissions,” insisted the Kernel, brightening ominously as he said it.

“Then I guess it’s time you gave me authorization directly, Kernel,” said Jade, holding her hands out like a teenager waiting for the keys to the car.

The Kernel looked around. Several ICPs were already moving in, waiting to deliver urgent status reports. This wasn’t an argument he could afford to take at a time like this.

The Kernel lifted his hand above Jade’s hand and several small bits appeared floating around within a sphere just beneath it, but well above Jade’s hands. He was looking at Jet.

“If anything happens to my system routines, program, you know what’s going to happen next, system UPS threat or not,” he said.

“Yeah I know, tear me limb from code.” Jet started to say, when Jade snatched the permissions from the Kernel with a sideways swipe of her hand, then reached out at grabbed Jet’s forearm, hauling him along unexpectedly.

“Come My user, time is short and we need to retrieve your disc,” she said as she hauled Jet away.

As Jet looked back, he noticed the Kernel suddenly glow with anger. “I’ll keep her safe,” Jet called back. What he missed was Mercury’s equal glow of anger.

Mercury was about to move off towards the direction Jet had left in, when the Kernel’s large hand came down on her shoulder, holding her back.

“Before you go Mercury,” the Kernel said, then removed his hand respectfully.

Mercury didn’t answer, but her expression acknowledged the Kernel.

“I’m glad we’re on the same side again for the moment,” the Kernel said.

The announcement broadcast came across at that point.

“This is a kernel broadcast to all programs. Public execution termination of programs Mercury and Jet has been suspended. The Kernel would like to announce that programs Mercury and Jet have disavowed access to the users. Hashed confirmation is available on the Blog. End of line.”

“I didn’t say that I disavowed the users, Kernel,” said Mercury.

“Jet made that assertion on your behalf,” said the Kernel.

Mercury avoided the sudden urge to tell the Kernel where to go, remembering that at the moment, she was a free program again, but she still felt the need to speak her mind.

“I’m surprised you don’t believe in the users Kernel. One such as you should know better.” She said.

The Kernel made an expression akin to a smile. “I never said I didn’t believe in users, Mercury. But I can’t afford for program reports to users to fill the logfile buffers and cause memory leaks.”

Mercury looked at him quizzically.

“Mercury, you’ve always been a free agent of the users. I respect what you did, even though it was necessary to eliminate the threat you recently posed, and I think you’ve always respected that I have done what I have needed to for the good of this system.” The Kernel said.

Mercury seemed even more surprised by this. “You really don’t think the users are coming back, do you Kernel?”

The Kernel waved his arm past her and a slate appeared before her, scrolling text.

“This transcript is priority 1, Mercury. Not even the system routines have access to it,” he said and stepped back for Mercury to read it.

She looked at the text slate hovering in the air before her for a moment, then her eyes widened with horror. “The users have abandoned us,” she said. “They planned to shut us down all along.”

“Do you believe in your program-friend now?” the Kernel asked.

“Mercury regained her composure somewhat. “You’re only confirming what he already told me,” said Mercury. “Why would I have any less reason to believe him?”

“Because, if he is a user, then he’s going to get out before this happens. For the rest of us, it’s a binary decision.

“And I don’t know about you Mercury, but I don’t like the idea of being virtualized at all. That’s a fate no free program deserves.”

Mercury looked at the Kernel and then held her shoulders as if she was cold. “This is why you closed access to sectors one and two then?” she said.

“I hadn’t expected this to happen so quickly,” said the Kernel. “But I need to make one request of you before you go Mercury.”

Mercury considered this for a moment. “That would depend on the request.”

“Mercury, if the users do make contact with you, then I want you to ask them to intercede on our behalf. I don’t know why they chose to leave us to die, but if they have any compassion, I need you to make that case for us.” The Kernel asked.

“You had your chance before the user in front of you left,” she pointed out.

“I’m not convinced that he’s a user,” said the Kernel.

“Then how do you explain what he can do?” said Mercury. “You’ve seen it with your very own interface. What more proof do you need?”

The kernel softened his voice. “Mercury, I know you believe he’s a user, but he may only be emulating a user. Have you considered that?”

Mercury considered it for a moment.

“Guest, my own user, told me that Jet was a user. What more confirmation do I need?” she answered.

“Are you willing to risk this entire system on that assumption?” asked the Kernel.

“Without a single cycle’s hesitation,” said Mercury.

The Kernel stepped back. “Then I hope for all of our sakes, you’re right Mercury.

“Because it is going to come to that.”

Mercury nodded.

“One other thing, Mercury,” the Kernel added. “I want you to watch out for Syslog – for Jade for me. I appreciate that you didn’t derez her when you took the tower and I really would appreciate it if you could keep her safe.”

Mercury frowned.

“It’s not Jade I’m worried about,” said Mercury.

“I don’t think you have anything to worry about,” said the Kernel.

“Why is that?” asked Mercury.

“Because program Jet could have anything he wants from Jade, but still he chose to risk everything in what has to be the most ill-conceived rescue attempt I have ever seen in all my cycles in these systems.

“If he’s willing to risk it all, even Jade for you, then I don’t doubt his commitmen.” The Kernel said.

Mercury considered this.

“Why are you telling me all of this, Kernel?” she asked. “We’ve never been on equal terms with each other, even when we’ve worked towards the same goal.”

The Kernel stepped back again.

“Because we’re in the end-cycles now.” He said softly, so as not to alarm the other programs. “And if there’s anything you can do from this point, then I need your assistance. This system needs your assistance.”

The Kernel turned to walk away and realizing he was open for communications again, the ICPs stepped up immediately to resume reporting and taking instruction.

Mercury watched him walk away to deal with the current crisis then turned to catch up with Jet.

She knew where he was going.

The Square was the only possible destination.

Next: Chapter 2.21 – Real Time.