Tron 2.27 – Multithreaded

Jet found Jade standing with the Section leader, discussing preparations to move back into the sector. She saw him coming and held up a finger to ask the Section leader to stop speaking while she waited for Jet to speak.

“Jade, what’s the status on the transport?”

“We’re almost ready to derez, my user. Program Alchemist has unloaded the shells and the Section leader is preparing to move out.” Jade said.

“Can this transport still leave?” Jet asked.

“Yes, my user. Is it necessary to re-load the transport with the shells?” Jade asked.

“No Jade, but I do need ask you some very important questions.” Jet said. Jade made the odd motion with her head that Jet was coming to associate with her waiting for input.

“Would the Sudo allow me to rez in a carrier even if you are not present?” Jet asked.

Jade seemed puzzled by the reason for the request, but answered the question only.

“Yes my user, you may invoke my privileges system-wide. If your location is connected to the system, then you may use the Sudo from anywhere.”

Although Jade’s answer was complete, the expression on her face told Jet she wanted to know where this logic was heading.

“Jade, I want you to leave us now and head back to Sector 12, while the rest of us head on to Sector one.” Jet said.

If a program could look shocked, then Jade definitely did not like Jet’s request.

“My user, if I have done something to offend you I am deeply regretful. Please do not send me away,” Jade briefly pleaded, surprising the Section leader who was within earshot.

“Jade, I think you misunderstand. I have something very important I need you to do and I think that you’re the only one who can do it.”

Jade still looked worried now, but it was a different kind of concern that reflected across her monochromatic features. Then she demurely looked down at the ground before looking back at Jet.

“What is it that you ask of me, my user?” she asked him.

“I need you to convince the Kernel to invade Sector one, and then to evacuate the entire system through it.” Jet said.

Jade was shocked by the request, her tone changing as she realized the request even as she responded to it.

“My user, I do not think you understand what it is that you ask,” Jade said,

Jet looked around and beckoned the Section leader to come closer.

“Section, you need to be aware of what is going on also,” Jet said.

“Sir?” he asked as he came close.

“Alright, I need to let you guys know exactly what’s going on here and why I came back to this world. Then you might understand how important it is for you to do what I’m asking.”

The Section leader waved his arm and a few other ICPs came over, although many were still out on patrol. Jet didn’t mind their presence – they would tell the others while the Section was busy.

Jet looked around at the hastily assembled group.

“The first thing you need to understand is what this world really is, and why it is threatened,” Jet said.

He looked around once more in case one of them wanted to interrupt him, but not one made a sound. They were waiting for Jet to continue.

“This world exists inside what users know as a computer. A computer is something completely different in our world to what you understand it to be.

“In my world, this computer is contained in a box, or a series of boxes, little bigger than an archive block.”

Jet paused as the looks of disbelief, confusion and surprise spread amongst those around him.

“And just as an archive box can be derezzed, this computer can be shut down. The users in my world are shutting down the computer which your world exists within.”

“What does that mean for us?” asked the Section Leader.

“It means that this world is going to be destroyed, completely and permanently.” Jet said.

“How can such a thing happen?” asked Jade. “How can users terminate their own creations? Have we done something to so displease them?”

“Not at all. The Datawraiths are users who have been fighting to capture programs for some time, right?” Jet said.

“Do you mean that Datawraiths really are users?” said the Section leader. “That explains why they’re so damn hard to kill, since they just seem to keep coming back.”

“They use a different method to access this world than I did,” said Jet. “So you can’t kill them. The best you can normally do is to slow them down.

“Anyway, the Datawraiths represent users who want this world for their own reasons, and I don’t know what their reasons are, so I can’t tell you, but it looks like they have set up their own world and are capturing programs to send there.”

The ICPs looked to each other.

“Do you mean to say the programs we’ve lost in Sectors one and two are still processing somewhere else?” asked one.

The Section leader held up a hand to silence him, then turned to Jet and asked “Well, we would be interested to know if our peer programs might still be processing somewhere else.”

“Possibly some,” said Jet,” But others would have been derezzed.

Jet returned to his story.

“The users who control the Datawraiths wanted to destroy this system within forty megacycles, and so I came here with two purposes in the time still available to me.

Jet paused a moment to make sure he wasn’t moving too fast then continued.

“But those users who wish to destroy this system must have considered the actions of my family and friends as a threat and are moving to destroy this system right now, with final failure to occur within half a megacycle.”

An ICP was about to ask a question, but Jet held up a hand to stop the ICPs interrupting.

“However there may be a way for programs from this system to survive.

“The users who control the Datawraiths have created systems where they transport captured programs.

“If we can locate the gateway to one of these systems and evacuate to that location, then it might be possible to save the programs of this system.

“It’s imperative that we locate and seize the gateway to this other system, and I believe it’s located somewhere within Sector one.”

The Section leader looked around at the ICPs. They didn’t move as they took in what Jet had said.

“Sir, if you knew this before, why didn’t you say something. I realize we’re on a need to know basis, and the Kernel doesn’t want a panic, but if something is this important, it might help if we knew what was going on.” The Section leader said.

“Section, this is the first time I’ve been able to put it all together and gain an understanding of what’s going on. It’s only now that I’m beginning to understand the seriousness of the situation. Even the Kernel doesn’t know what’s going on yet, and none of the users who created this world know either.”Jet explained.

“Sorry, sir, I thought you might have more insight that us programs,” the Section leader said, chagrinned.

“Section, users aren’t that different from programs – you’re definitely made in our image.” Jet said.

“Sir, with some of the program’s I’ve encountered, it scares me to think that users could be like that,” said the Section.

“Well, given some of the users I’ve encountered, it scares me to think that programs could be like that too,” said Jet, getting a smile from some of the ICPs at a time they were obviously worried about their future.

“So what can we do about this threat to our system – how can we save as many programs as possible?” the Section leader asked.

“That’s the easy part,” said Jet. “First, we take Section one back from the Datawraiths. Then we take their gateways to the other systems, and we move to those systems from here.” said Jet, as if that was all there was to it.

“Begging your pardon, sir, but what makes you think that we’re going to be any safer in those other systems? What’s to stop the users you speak of from terminating those systems as well?” the Section leader asked.

Jet thought on it for a moment before he answered.

“Section, I don’t know if there even are other systems to move to, but if there is, then some users went to a lot of trouble to set them up, and to even more trouble to take programs from this system to those other systems and then to shut this system down.

“I’m guessing that those other systems are stable and safe and we can move into them.”

The Section leader was doing the talking for his men still, but Jet felt he was asking the questions he knew his men would.

“And then what do we do?” asked the Section leader.

“Then we find out more about those other systems and we keep changing our plan as often as necessary,” Jet said. “If the users who are tearing this system down have a reason as important as they must, then we need to find out what that secret is. With that, we may find the leverage we need to survive.”

The section leader dropped the butt of his LOL to the ground and leaned on it. He looked at nothing just beyond the barrel for a moment, then up at Jet.

“So what you’re saying is that this system is doomed, we might have a chance to escape to another system, but to do that, we have to take on and defeat the Datawraiths that pushed us out of Sector one, who turn out to be users who can’t be derezzed, so that we can decide how we’re going to stop other users from derezzing every last one of us once we get there.” The Section leader said bluntly.

Jet looked around. He had put his best spin on this story and the Section leader still managed to sum up the worst of it in a single sentence.

For a moment, he wondered if now was a good time to run, perhaps grab Mercury and Ma3a and hope that the Section wouldn’t lynch him for what he did. Jet locked down the thought – he didn’t have time for paranoia right now.

“Section,” said one of the Section Leader’s conscript ICPs, “I know that idea fails all sanity checks, except so does crossing a sector without support, taking on a larger Datawraith force and pushing them back. But we did that didn’t we?”

It was one of the ICPs Jet remembered Ma3a dragging into the pool barely with enough energy to stop from self-derezzing.

“Yes, trooper, we did do that and that doesn’t seem possible either.” Said the Section leader looking around at him.

“Then I’m with the commander. I don’t know what kind of user he is, but he’s got the heart of a program beating within that shell script.” said the conscript.

Jet nodded to the ICP that had shown confidence in Jet then looked around. “If any programs here don’t want to face the datawraiths, then I understand. You may return to Sector 12 with Jade – The General, and it’s no dishonor. You’ve already earned your honor just making it this far.”

The Section stood up and yanked his LOL into his arms with a move that both startled and alarmed Jet.

“Sir, I hope you’re not seriously suggesting any one of the ICPs under my command privilege would desert back to the hub after what you’ve just told us. You’ve led us this far, and I would appreciate it if you would consider us a part of your command until this is over, Sir,” said the Section Leader coming to attention.

Then a fraction of a cycle later, the remaining ICPs around the Section leader all came to equal attention.

“Sir, the trooper is correct. We should have perished slowly back in Sector three, if you hadn’t given us purpose. Three Sector Intrusion CounterMeasure Division at your command.” Finished the Section leader.

Then coming back to a more “at ease” stand, the Section Leader wandered directly over to Jet and spoke directly to his face.

“What are your orders, Sir?”

Jet smiled, then slapped the Section leader on the back, but he barely moved. “If ICPs were this tough last time I was here, I wouldn’t have made it!”

The Section leader did something like a smile at the joke, although he had no idea of Jet’s last visit, so didn’t get it.

“Jade, as for the task I have for you,” Jet began.

“Yes, my user?” she responded, although she was much quieter now.

“Jade, I need you to get the Kernel involved. More than that, you need to convince the Kernel to send assault ICPs and then immediately follow this with an evacuation of the entire system through Sector one within half a megacycle.” Jet said.

Jade’s expression changed.

“My user, I cannot speak for the Kernel, but if he evacuated the entire system and it turned out to be wrong, the resource overload would crash this system but itself. He will not agree to evacuate the system until he knows of these other systems.” She said.

“Jade, it may be that there are no other systems to evacuate to,” Jet said.

“Then he most certainly will not evacuate the system. At most, perhaps I can persuade him to send the assault resources you request, but even then, the system resources are low at the moment and I,” but Jet cut off Jade as she spoke.

“Jade, this system has reached its final cycles before being decommissioned. There may be no hope left to us but if it does exist, then we must seize it through our actions in Sector one.

Even if we do, there is little time to evacuate and I’m guessing half a megacycle isn’t enough time to fully evacuate this world.” Jet asked her rhetorically.

“No, you are correct my user. There is not enough time as it is.” She said back, quietly, demurely now.

“Then, Jade, I am counting on you to convince the Kernel. This is the one thing that I ask of you more than anything else.

The Section and I will access Sector one through the local loop and do what we can to prepare the way for the Kernel to arrive.

“Jade, I need those reinforcements and every cycle that a transport of evacuees doesn’t arrive is another transport of evacuees that won’t have a chance, with or without another system.

“I need you to do this for me, Jade,” Jet asked.

Jade closed her eyes then stiffened her posture now and looked directly into Jet’s face, her piercing green eyes almost glowing with resolve as she opened them once more.

“My user, I understand and I will obey. I will succeed or I will perish in the attempt.” She said.

“No Jade, if all is lost, then you must return with those you can muster and leave with us. I don’t want to lose you to this system shutdown.” Jet said quietly.

Jade smiled.

“Then I shall succeed for you, my user,” she said quietly, then leaning forward, she kissed Jet quickly and gently on the lips and pulled back, leaving Jet stunned and shocked.

“This is how you greet and say goodbye to program Mercury is it not?” she asked, then before Jet could respond, she turned around and spoke to the section before leaving.

“I will leave now – every cycle lost is a cycle that cannot be recovered. For the system, For the Programs, For the Kernel and for the Users,” she said, then walked immediately to the loading bay of the transport.

As she walked away, the Kernel lifted his arm to his chest, turned to follow her passage and repeated the last phrase. “For the Users, may your latency be low.”

Jet touched his lips briefly where Jade’s lips had been, then took them away, looking at them as if there might be lipstick on his fingertips, before he realized that that could not be the case in this world.

“Wow,” said Jet. “I’m glad Mercury wasn’t around when she did that.”

“Good point Sir, although a fight to the deresolution between the ladies might have been worth the cost of the kiss,” said the Section leader, but stopped when Jet shot him a glance.

“How do you know what a kiss is?” Jet asked the Section leader.

“There is a legend of a user greeting and farewell that has existed since the time of Tron – It is said that the user Flynn taught this technique to program Yori before he sacrificed himself to defeat the MCP.” The Section leader explained.

“The sly devil, he never told me about that,” said Jet. “Anyway, let’s”

“Sir, begging your pardon,” Interrupted the Section, “But is the General on a termination mission?”

“Section?” asked Jet.

“Well, sir, you may not be familiar with our customs, but the affirmation that the General just made is something we ICPs say before we embark on a particularly dangerous mission. I can understand if we said it, but I wasn’t expecting it from the General,” the Section leader explained.

Jet looked up at the packet transport as it began to move and wondered what Jade might have known that Jet didn’t - she wasted little time in getting it moving.

He reached up and touched his lips once more, realizing that Jade possibly didn’t think she was going to get through this, and for a brief moment, wondering just why Jade kissed him.

Questions about Jade walked their way through his thoughts, wondering if she perhaps had hidden feelings for him. It was something Jet might need to reconcile at some point, but for now, his thought flowed in turmoil.

“Sir?” prompted the Section Leader, waiting for Jet to say something.

“Yes, Section,” said Jet as his thoughts returned to the task at hand, “We’re going to prepare to move out. We’re going to be assault pioneers.”

“Assault Pioneers?” asked the Section leader.

“Yes, we need to make out way to Sector one, with due haste, and secure the terminus there to ensure that any of the Kernel’s transports that come in from the transit hub arrive safely.” Explained Jet.

“That makes sense, sir,” said the Section leader.

“Then prepare to move out, Section, while I take care of some business that I need to conclude before we go further.”

Jet walked around to Alchemist who was patiently waiting with the shells.

“User::Jet,” she said, a frown coming to her lips, “What would you have me do.”

“I’d like you to come with us, Alchemist. We’re moving to Sector one and we need to bring Alison with us so we can restore her to the real world.”

“You don’t need to ask, User::Jet. You have write access now,” Alchemist said.

“That’s another matter I need to discuss with you,” Jet said, stepping forward and holding out his hand as if to touch her, then stopping just before making contact.

“Program Alchemist, would you please provide me permission to return your controls to their original settings?” Jet asked.

“So you’re going to do what you said you would?” Alchemist asked, warily. She looked as if she didn’t believe him or expected him to ask for something in return.

“May I have permission to review the change I made earlier?” Jet asked.

Alchemist’s expression grew cynical.

“Are you going to ask me for something in return?”

“I will ask something of you, but after the permission is reset,” said Jet.

“You realize I will be able to deny your request after you reset the permission,” Alchemist pointed out.

“I am aware of that,” said Jet.

“Then the result of my decision is no longer important to your own mission?” Alchemist asked.

“Yes, without your assistance, I cannot complete one of my main objectives, but it’s not something I feel I should demand of you – it’s something that should be asked of you. That’s how it works in the user’s world.” Jet said, admitting his earlier error.

“Then I would be pleased if you would reset the permission,” said Alchemist.

Jet reached out all the way now and touched her then, held his palm against her shell, feeling for the access point.

Jet moved more smoothly into seeing her program this time as he again gained an insight then into her source code. The beautiful lines of perfect code were still there, but there was a searing loneliness and anger Jet felt behind it and Jet realized he could feel Alison’s pain for her sister coming through in the architecture.

Not wanting to intrude any further than that, Jet located the permission bit and flipped it, resetting his permission.

Pulling back out, Jet opened his eyes just before Alchemist opened hers and watched as her blue eyes opened freely this time. She looked to the side and her focus went as she appeared to be reading her code, checked that Jet had done only what he said he would do.

Alchemist smiled then and Jet was about to say something when she suddenly and unexpectedly moved with a speed that Jet had not even seen Mercury move with.

Rezzing in a baton, Alchemist swept Jet’s feet out from under him, dropping him on his back. She followed up by dropping her knee into his chest and holding the baton directly under his chin, it’s tip glowing and crackling.

“I could derez you now, for what you did User::Jet, and you could not command me to halt. Do you understand that?” she asked.

Jet saw several ICPs running in from the side, but they stopped short as Alchemist shot a warning glance at them.

“Program Alchemist, I ask you to accompany us to Sector one to locate an external beam exit port for the re-assembly of Melanie,” Jet asked.

Alchemist gave Jet a questioning glare. “I threaten to derez you and you ask instead that I willingly submit now to your request?”

Jet swallowed.

“I ask it for your user – she is important to me and this is what she would want of you.” Jet said.

Alchemist froze into position while she considered his request. The ICPs had formed a loose group around her by this point, although the Section leader was still only ambling over.

“Then perhaps I should fear you, User::Jet, for even now I sense you are more powerful than I imagine,” she almost spat at him, while her voice remained low. Jet wondered if she was mocking him.

“You have nothing to fear from me, Alchemist.” Jet said, although the tension on his face was starting to show.

“Oh, but I do, User::Jet,” Alchemist said, except this time, there was no mocking tone to her voice, just respect. She removed the baton from Jet’s chin and stood up, taking her weight off him. She looked at the ICPs crowding around her now.

“Then I shall accept your request, for I believe my user would not permission an individual not worthy of her consideration, but be warned, this agreement is temporary until I have completed my mission to safely deliver my user, to this world or the next.”

Then Alchemist shot a glare back at Jet, “Do not assume that because my user trusts you, that I trust you.”

Jet got up and rubbed his shoulder as Alchemist stalked back to the shells to prepare for moving out. The ICPs got out of her way as she walked between them, barely acknowledging their presence.

The Section leader continued walking over to Jet. “Well, you certainly have a way with the ladies, although I’m not sure they all appreciate it.”

“Nice of you to notice, Section,” said Jet, rubbing his chin where the baton crackled nearby. The Section leader quickly got the ICPs back to the task of preparing to move out.

Jet walked back towards the control centre. As he approached, he realized Ma3a had been watching him.

“I guess you saw that then?” Jet said to her as he approached.

“I’m impressed. I didn’t think you would do the right thing until after this mission was over.” Ma3a said.

“I need the programs I’m with to trust me freely,” Jet said. “Otherwise, how can I trust them?”

Ma3a raised a wireframe eyebrow. “How indeed?” she reflected.

“Anyway, we’re moving out. Can you make sure Alchemist is ready to move out because then we’re moving to the local loop termination,” said Jet, who moved over to where he had left Simon.

He was still sitting where Jet had left him, although he appeared far less jumpy than he had when Jade was around. Mercury was standing to the side and holding his own weapon on him.

“Program Simon, we’re moving out. Program Mercury is going to provide you instructions and if you slow down, run, attempt to execute an escape routine or otherwise do anything she does not anticipate then she is going to compress you. Any questions?”

Simon looked up at Jet. “What if I need to pee?”

Jet almost said to hold it in, but caught himself. “I’m not familiar with that term. If you need me, ask program Mercury to call me.”

Simon nodded uneasily, but seemed to smile at the advantage he thought he had over Jet. Mercury also looked at Jet and nodded once, slowly, indicating she knew what he wanted her to do.

Jet walked back outside and waited for the Section to form with Mercury and her prisoner in place.

Then they moved out.

Several times on the way to the local loop, the scouts slowed, but no contact was made. For most of the journey, the Section Leader was quiet, but after a while, he started conversation with Jet once more.

“So what’s it like in the world of the users?” the Section leader asked.

“Kind of like it is in this world,” Jet said.

“Your world looks like this?” the Section leader asked, waving his hand as if to encompass what he was looking at.

“Not quite like this. There’s more color and detail to everything.” Jet said.

“So it’s a better place than this?” asked the Section leader.

“No, it’s just different. Actually I like this place a lot more.” Jet said.

“More than the user world?” The Section leader asked.

“More than the user world.” Acknowledged Jet.

The answer seemed to make the Section leader happy. He twisted as he walked to look back to where their purple captive was being led along by a blue warrior.

“So what’s the story with our Datawraith,” asked the Section leader, cocking his head in Mercury’s direction.

“Seems he is a datawraith of sorts,” said Jet. “But then again, not. He works for them.”

“Is he a user?” asked the Section leader.

Jet looked at the Section leader as if trying to weight the significance he was placing on Jet’s answer.

“Yeah, he’s a user. He’s with the ones responsible for shutting this world down,” Jet said.

“We could save ourselves a lot of time with a LOL, Sir,” The Section Leader said.

“He might have information we still need,” explained Jet.

“Understood Sir.” Said the Section leader.

The two walked along quietly at the centre of the Section as they continued on. As they approached the transport building that connected to the local loop to Sector one, the first signs of Datawraith presence was discovered by the forward scouts.

“Sir, we have a contact inside the building. Your instructions?” a runner who had moved back from the scout group asked.

Jet and the others moved behind cover as they considered the news.

“Is there any way to avoid conflict?” asket Jet.

“No sir,” said the runner. “We’ll have to engage them if we need to take the local loop.”

“The it’s time to assault the position,” Jet said, “although I’d like a way to know what they’re doing before we move in. See if you can find a way for us to get close without being noticed.”

“Sir,” said the section leader, then moved out with the runner, leaving Jet by himself.

Jet turned, to see what the prisoner was doing just in time to see a sphere drop to the ground just ahead of Mercury.

“What happened,” Jet asked, as Mercury picked up the sphere and approached him.

“He was attempting an escape routine while you were discussing the situation with the Section leader. I think he recognized some of the primitives that make up this Sector,” Mercury answered.

“Can you keep him safe,” Jet asked, looking at the sphere in Mercury’s hand.

Mercury moved both the weapon and the sphere to her back, where they seemed to lock in place, shrinking into her shell. That was something he hadn’t observed before.

“I’ve appended them to my shell,” she said quietly.

Jet returned his attention to the objective, then moved forward to where the Section Leader was crouching, with Mercury following. As he approached, the Section Leader turned to him.

“We’ve spotted three datawraiths near the entrance and nearby so far, but we need a better vantage point if you want to get closer still, Sir” the Section leader mentioned to Jet.

Jet looked around. Around the back of the local loop building, there seemed to be some damaged primitives.

Moving as far to the side as he could, while remaining behind cover, Jet noticed these seemed to be the result of a damaged tower that had toppled onto the building. The bottom appeared fractured and Jet guessed it was caused by a delete instruction from a tank program.

He heard the Section leader come in behind him and pointed to the structure.

“How about up there, Section, we should be able to scout the location from the assembly area down.” Jet mentioned.

The Section leader seemed to consider it for a moment, then nodded. “It might work, Sir.”

Jet looked back to Mercury for confirmation it wasn’t a bad idea, since she seemed to know more about transport areas than he did. She nodded her head, encouraging him.

The Section leader then spoke after further considering the possible entry point. “It could provide a strategic advantage, I like that position.”

Jet led them around behind the toppled structure and while the ICPs with LOLs covered their exposed flank during the climb, moved up the toppled tower.

At the top, the view down into the local loop termination was clear and after a quick reconnoiter, the ICPs confirmed there were several Datawraiths inside the building.

“Eight,” said an ICP scout after checking with the others.

“What’s their distribution?” asked the Section leader.

“Six in the facility, two in the control room,” the ICP answered.

The Section leader absorbed this. “Sir, we can take this, do you want me to move?”

Jet looked around at the gaps leading down from the roof to the inside.

From the vantage point, they could just see inside part of the control room and Jet noticed something that appeared to look like a sphere of glowing energy. It had an interface with a single bit on the side, but the shape was unusual and made Jet think of the bombs in his own world.

“Mercury, can we get anywhere near the control room without being seen?” Jet asked.

“There is a gap between code segments that drops down to the control room,” Mercury answered.

The Section leader looked at her as she did so.

“No wonder we never caught you all those cycles.” He said, respectfully.

“Or perhaps it’s because I was so seldom in Sector three,” said Mercury.

“Section, can you prepare your men for assault?” Jet asked quietly.

“Sir, on your order,” said the Section leader.

“Good, wait for Mercury and me to take out the control room, Then move in and mop up the rest. They should be distracted by then and easier to eliminated. Keep six ICPs in reserve with the shell in case a patrol comes by.” Jet asked.

“Sir,” said the Section leader, then gave the other ICPs a hand signal to follow him back down the toppled primitive.

“Give me five cycles to get into place before you need us Sir,” he said as he left.

Once they had left and there was no sign their position was compromised, Jet turned to Mercury.

“Mercury, can you show me where the access is?” Jet asked.

Mercury tilted her head slightly and smiled. She moved over to what looked like a skylight and located a control next to a small forcewall that covered the opening.

“Back door access,” said Mercury, then rezzed in and drove her stunstick into the access panel, causing it to spark and fizzle. The forcewall flashed twice and vanished.

“Only lasts for a half-cycle,” said Mercury, and dropped into the shaft. Jet followed just before the forcewall rezzed back into place.

Inside the small access way, Mercury moved along silently, then dropped slowly down again onto a small circular plate that seemed to rest directly above a room that held two Datawraiths. She turned to face Jet and ran her finger vertically down her lips to let him know he needed to be silent.

Jet lowered himself down also and crouched. In the room beyond the panel they were on, on one side he could make out the controls that rezzed in the ship, although they appeared to be disengaged at the moment.

Through a viewing portal, Jet could almost make out some kind of craft on the beam, although it didn’t appear to resemble anything he recognized from this vantage point.

As Jet moved closer to where Mercury was indicating the Datawraiths were, he could overhear their conversation.

“I don’t think group six is going to be returning within the extended deadline, sir ” said one of the Datawraiths.

“Did we receive any reports from them,” asked the other, possibly a Datawraith officer, although from his appearance it was difficult to tell as they all looked identical to Jet.

“No sir, we sent them to collect the program retrieval group and after their runner confirmed they were investigating ICP movements, we lost contact. The scouts we send to investigate the long pool didn’t return either and there is no sight or notice of the PRG.”

The Datawraith that shounded like an officer walked across the room, moving into Jet’s.

“If the ICPs are moving, we need to cut off access to Sector one while we retreat,” he said after a while.

“Sir?” said the other Datawraith questioning.

“Specialist, we need to stop the ICPs from taking Sector one before we pull out,” he said.

“But Sir, if we’re pulling out, can’t we leave a basic transport for them? Order a new transport from base? What threat can the ICPs offer if we’re pulling out?”

“If the ICPs come after us, Specialist, then we’ll need to fight a rearguard action, which may involve leaving assets behind. Whatever we leave here will go down with the Encom building, so we need to ensure that we get as much out as possible. We can’t do that if ICPs are slowing us down.”

Jet peered over the edge. The specialist the officer was talking to seemed very agitated.

“Sir, I know the official line is our bodies are back at the base, but Ted never really came back after he the ICPs killed him in this sector – we’re too far away to re-integrate here. If we leave our own behind they’ll come back as drooling idiots or worse. We need to get back to Sector one where.”

His officer cut him off there.

“Lock it down, soldier,” said the officer, snappily. “This is no different from any other warzone. Just because it’s a different environment, do you really expect that it’s any different from the other places we’ve fought? At least here we have a chance we might return without corruption. That’s better than we get in the real world.

“These guys aren’t junior tech’s like you, their seasoned veterans. They just don’t miss deadlines and we know they encountered ICPs in Sector three. The standing orders are destroy all ICPs on contact, since they can move freely through this system and we can’t.

“We got all the live programs we need now from Sector one and two and some from three, but this place is coming down now and we can’t wait for them”

The younger Datawraith seemed to stiffen.

“Yes sir, your orders?”

“Prepare the transport to move out and get that logic bomb in here primed to take out the main transport hangar. I don’t want anyone following us from this sector,” said the officer.

“Sir,” said the younger Datawraith, then walked out of the control centre, the officer following him.

Mercury leaned over to Jet.

“I wonder what that was about?” she asked.

“They were discussing pulling out, but I’ve got a bad feeling about that energy device – I think it’s intended to destroy this port,” he said.

“You understand the communications protocol they use?,” Mercury said.

“Yes, why?” asked Jet.

“Because it all sounded Datawraith to me,” she said.

Jet wanted to ask her why he could understand them and she couldn’t, but now wasn’t the time. The Datawraiths clearly wanted to cover their tracks.

“We need to secure the control room so they can’t prime the logic bomb,” said Jet.

“What’s exactly is a logic bomb?” Mercury asked.

Jet thought back to his time writing them at high school.

“Self-replicating code – I don’t know how it will work in here, but I’m guessing it will stop us from getting to Sector one if they activate it, so we need to keep the Datawraiths away from it.”

Jet moved to the edge of the panel and dropped, and found himself standing directly before a Datawraith who had been quiet during the conversation and not visible from the panel they had been standing on.

Jet was as surprised to see the Datawraith as the Datawraith was to see him, although the Datawraith recovered quickly and was already lifting a blaster to fire on him when Mercury came down hard on him, dropping him to the floor and pinning him before she struck with the baton, derezzing him before he could shout a warning.

The advantage was quickly lost however when another Datawraith came to the door just in time to see his friend being derezzed with Mercury standing over the top of him, although as the second Datawraith brought his blaster to bear, Jet got his disc away, derezzing him in the doorway where he stood.

This time as Jet caught his disc, he just held it, looking at it, realizing he had probably just killed another person for the first time. The Datawraiths it seemed had an issue getting back to the beam from this Sector.

Suddenly all the other Datawraiths they had derezzed on their way came to mind.

Outside, several Datawraiths realized what was happening and began to fire into the control room. A stab of purple energy came in through the open doorway hitting Jet in the chest and damaging him slightly, but he didn’t respond. Mercury grabbed him and pulled him aside, pushing him behind cover even as she returned fire from the downed Datawraith’s blaster that she had recovered.

“Contact in the control room,” yelled a Datawraith from outside, and the entire detachment of Datawraiths began to move in on Jet and Mercury.

Jet what’s wrong? Mercury yelled.

The Datawraith that called the warning moved to find an angle he could shoot through the door at the two, and turned to aim at blaster at Mercury when a LOL beam struck him directly between the shoulder blades.

The first shot itself wasn’t lethal, it’s impact only knocking the Datawraith forward as his armor code absorbed much of the energy, but several other shots came in directly after it, each knocking him further over until the last one made it through and derezzed him even as he fell.

“Fall back,” called out a voice that Jet recognized as the officer’s. “Get to the transport and return to Sector one.”

Jet came to his senses and crawled to the door. As he looked out, he saw the ICPs moving in fast, under the Section Leader’s instruction, taking down another Datawraith that was running towards the transport even as they moved in.

The entry hatch started to close on the transport as two Datawraiths made a final leap for it, the ICPs shots scattering around them, leaving concentric rings of effect as they hit the transport, but did little damage.

The transport immediately began to move as soon as the hatch closed, moving slowly at first, but then accelerating as it cleared the building.

Jet didn’t watch it leave, however. He just stood there looking at his disc.

The ICPs cleared the rest of the terminal then assembled outside the control room, waiting for orders from Jet however Jet’s attention still seemed elsewhere.

“Jet, what’s wrong?” asked Mercury as she realized he was still unfocused and not himself.

“I always thought the Datawraiths would simply drop back into the real world once derezzed, but the two we heard talking were discussing that they don’t always reintegrate when they’re this far away.” Jet managed.

“What does that mean?” asked Mercury.

“It means when we kill them in this sector and sector three, that sometimes they die.” Jet said.

“Does die mean that they derez from your world also?” she asked.

“Yes,” Jet said simply.

“That sounds like a good thing to me,” said the Section leader.

“Don’t be so inconsiderate, Section, they’re still from his world,” said Mercury.

The Section leader went quiet and took a step back then looked away as Mercury glared at him. Mercury looked back at Jet once the Section leader looked away.

“Jet, they’re Datawraiths, they terminate programs all of the time. They would terminate you without so much as a redundant calculation.” she said.

“They’re from my country – my System. Fighting them makes me a traitor,” Jet said, then looked up into his lover’s eyes to see confusion. This was a hard and violent world and Jet had no lifeline at all, as did the Datawraiths. He might be a traitor to his own, but his own were guilty still of far greater crimes against programs who were clearly intelligent beings.

“I guess that means that the Kernel in the user’s world may not appreciate what I did,” Jet said, translating the concept.

Mercury smiled. “I know that feeling, but sometimes you still have to do what you know is right.”

The finality of his actions in the real world were starting to dawn on Jet. Even if he did get out, it would never be the same real world to Jet that it had been before he came here.

Regardless of his reasons for coming here, he had chosen to break his own laws at that point and that was when he chose to leave the safe path be had followed for so many years and take responsibility for his actions.

He felt embarrassed he had not previously considered what those responsibilities were. Realizing what he needed to do next, Jet walked over to the rez-in controls for the local loop.

He started to activate the sequence when he noticed the Section leader moving towards the logic bomb.

“Don’t go near that, section. It will destroy this place if it activates.” Jet warned. The Section leader moved back a respectful distance from it.

Jet continued to work the control then brought the Sudo to the interface area. “I really hope Jade’s still with us,” Jet said, then activated the control.

At first little happened, then a series of lines outside let Jet know the transport process was underway.

Jet stepped back from the console and walked out into the hangar to watch the process once more.

The lines moved silently as the packet transport rezzed in, the process seeming far more detached than it had the first time, when Mercury had taken him to the top of the building to share it with him.

He looked around and found she was standing next to him, but she wasn’t running him out of the area this time. Jade wasn’t here and the ICPs were looking up to Jet alone at the moment to lead them now she was gone.

Ma3a was just coming through the entrance with Alchemist and the shells presently, now they had secured the area. ICPs were moving into defensive positions even as their transport assembled, being careful so as to cover the others if any other Datawraiths appeared.

This world had seemed like a game to Jet for so long, but now he was starting to understand it’s deadly and unforgiving beauty. Like all soldiers, he was coming to terms with the truth of his situation and understanding he had responsibilities now not only to himself, but those around him.

The process completed and Jet walked over and activated the ramps for Alchemist and Ma3a to move in the shells. Alchemist looked Jet in the eye this time as she loaded the shells, but there wasn’t the usual distaste and anger in her expression that he had come to know when she looked at him. Nor was there any affection, but she did not look away this time. She was simply accepting that he had previously done what he had and that now she was honoring her agreement with him.

Ma3a noticed change though and smiled slightly as she pushed the shells up the slight incline, next to Alchemist.

Once the shells were loaded onto the transport, the ICPs moved in, covering each other even now as they did so, then Jet closed the hatch and walked to the control room. Through the forcewalls at the front, he could see the beam extending out of Sector two as it headed for Sector one – their destination and final confrontation with the Datawraiths.

Several other programs walked into the bridge area behind Jet, each moving to the side somewhere out of the way.

He held the helm briefly then let it go.

“Section, do you have any programs that can pilot this transport?” Jet asked.

The Section leader scratched his head. “No Sir, I thought you were a pilot.”

Ma3a overheard the conversation and stepped up to the helm.

“That was a rather significant oversight, Jet,” she said.

Jet placed his hand against the control panel. He started to feel for the code that made this craft move when Ma3a’s hand gently removed it.

“I can pilot this transport,” said Ma3a.

“You’re a pilot?” asked Jet, surprised.

“You must be ex-system,” said the Section leader.

“No,” said Ma3a. “Just some old routines that came with my base program. There was a time before we were controlled that this was a free system and programs could fly from one sector to another without requesting permissions from the Kernel.”

She stepped up to the helm and moved some controls and the transport began to move.

“Just how old are you Ma3a?” asked Jet.

“I remember a time when there was no Jethro Bradley in the user’s world,” said Ma3a, quietly enough that only Jet would have heard clearly.

The comment made Jet think of his mother briefly. So much that Ma3a did had that effect. He knew the rumours of his mother being a part of Ma3a weren’t true, but she was her program and Jet knew that much of a programmers personality was often reflected in the programs they wrote.

“This won’t be a long trip,” said Ma3a. “The next sector is quite close, so we’ll be there in about eighty cycles.”

Even before the transport had cleared the terminal, Jet addressed the section.

“ICPs, take this time to rest if you can. I don’t know what’s waiting for us when we get to Sector one so take the time while you can.

“Section – Are you able to set up a briefing as you did for Sector two?”

“I’ll get on it right away Sir,” said the Section, and the red contingent of their party shuffled out of the bridge.

After a moment, only Ma3a, Alchemist, Mercury and Jet were left on the bridge.

“Jet, do you wish to debrief on what we gained from the user?” Mercury asked.

Jet had almost forgotten he had asked Mercury to see what useful information she could get from him as they talked.

“Yes, what did you find out?” he asked.

“Not that much. He’s unwilling to speak at length, even when prompted,” said Mercury.

“That figures, he is employed by some pretty nasty people. Anything useful in the much?” Jet asked.

“Mainly just words, phrases. He mentioned he had bills to pay,” she said.

“So do we all,” Jet said, then when Mercury cocked her head to one side trying to understand, he added, “User humor. What else?”

“He also mentioned that they needed the programs from this system to seed their own – apparently it lacks the intelligent programs of this system.”

“That’s a surprise,” said Jet. “I wonder if that’s been related to F-con all along. Perhaps there was more to the merger than I realised. Any more on that?”

“No,” said Mercury.

“He didn’t say too much more that made any sense. He did once mention he needed to get back to Echelon,” she recalled.

“Echelon,” said Jet, lifting his hand to his chin unconsciously as he did so. “I heard Flynn mention the same thing. I wonder what it has to do with this?”

“You are familiar with that term?” asked Mercury.

“It’s a surveillance system that my government – the user Kernel – uses to monitor users who communicate with each other over distances.” said Jet.

“I guess now we know who’s behind F-Con, but I don’t have the slightest idea why. Was that it?”

“That was all, Jet, except he did mention another term that seemed to bother him when he realised he said it. I think he felt this term might derez him.” said Mercury.

“What was the term?” Jet asked.

“Dillinger” said Mercury.

The name hit Jet like a blow.

“Dillinger?” Jet said slowly and repeatedly to himself. “Dillinger is mixed up in this. That explains some things I think.”

“Is that important information?” Mercury asked.

“Very important, Mercury. It might explain a few things, such as why F-con had such an interest in Encom, although it could also be a co-incidence. Any more?”

“No,” Mercury said. “Did you want to spend some time together on this trip?”

“Synchronising? I’m not sure that we have the time at the moment.” said Jet, then realised his Faux Pas as he saw Mercury glare.

“I think you’re expecting a little more that you’re entitled to,” she said.

“Sorry, it’s just that, I, Ah,” Jet stammered, then he realised Ma3a was chuckling quietly behind him.

“I was thinking of just some time alone together,” said Mercury, an annoyed look on her face. “But I guess all male programs think alike. Anyway if you have somewhere else you need to be...”

Jet was embarrassed, so simply smiled and left. He found the Section leader in the briefing room.

Inside the Section leader had established a view of the Sector. On the table, it appeared as a large triangle.

The scale of the sector was truly huge and the area appeared to be twice the size of Sector 2.

“Sir, we’ve located archival information on the Sector, and the last known information on the sector is here.”

Jet looked down at the shapes and paths represented in the detailed map. He could see the local loop termination and the hub terminus, which were quite close together located on one side of the triangle.

“Somewhere there, Section, is another communications beam that we don’t know about,” Jet said.

“Yes Sir, and we’ll look for that once we get there, but in the mean time, I’ve asked some of the more senior ICPs to come and look at ways we can defend the Terminus.”

Jet nodded. Two ICPs came in, both coming to attention as they saw Jet, then walking over to the Section leader as he called them.

Too embarrassed to face Mercury at the moment, he sat through the briefing and planning session. By the time Jet heard Ma3a’s voice throughout the transport, the Section leader had several ideas about defending the Terminus.

There was an edge to Ma3a’s voice when she announced they were approaching the Sector 1 docking facility that put a sense of urgency into Jet to get up to the bridge with due haste.

As he arrived, he noticed several ICPs were standing around the forward forcewall and looking out at what he assumed was the Sector. Jet walked over and found a gap between them and took a look for himself at what they were looking at.

Sector 1 lay directly ahead, but it wasn’t the same Sector 1 he had seen on the briefing table with the Section leader. It was completely different.

Sector 2 had been a ghost town, with the occasional damaged building.

Sector 1, by comparison, was a war zone.

Up ahead, the huge wall that surrounded Sector 1 was damaged or even destroyed in locations, leaving buildings and blocks to scatter through the gaps and onto the grid below.

Buildings the size of skyscrapers were shattered and laying across other structures and some buildings were little more than huge mounds of rubble. Energy itself blinked sparingly across many structures giving the city a dead appearance.

“I heard the city was damaged in the early fighting,” said one ICP as they looked at the devastation before them. Even the terminating building was badly damaged in some areas, but appeared functional.

“The Datawraiths really destroyed our world,” said another.

“Jet,” called Ma3a quietly.

Jet tore his view away from the destruction and walked over to the helm. Ma3a didn’t say anything, but simply pointed.

Jet followed the path of her finger and realised she was pointing to the damaged terminal for the local loop. At first he tried to look for damage like he had seen when they came first into Sector three, but it still seemed more intact than that terminus had been, even if the rest of the Sector was in ruins.

Then Jet noticed what she was referring to. Still sitting on the beam and blocking their way was the docked Datawraith transport that had left Sector 2 ahead of them.

“Oh hell,” said Jet, realising they would collide with it as they entered the terminal.

“This is going to get rough,” said Ma3a. “I think you need to assemble the troops, because we’re coming in hot and we’re going to derez pretty quickly once we’re in.”

“And I imagine the Datawraiths are going to be waiting for us?” Jet asked rhetorically.

“And who knows what else.” Said Ma3a.

Jet swallowed hard at the thought.

Next: Chapter 2.28 – Resource Hungry.