Tron 2.33 - Battlezone

The fire from the tank programs continued into the surrounding area long after the Datawraith tanks were no longer able to track Mercury and Jet’s escape. Pulling up in an area he thought safe, Jet sat up on the lightcycle, then derezzed it beneath them.

Mercury let go of his waist and and moved to his side.

“Damn that was close,” Jet said, then turned to look at Mercury as she walked around in front of him, speaking very quietly.

“I thought I had lost you for a moment back there, Merc.” he said.

“Ma3a tells me you once lost me previously,” Mercury said.

“That I did,” Jet said. “But that was a long time ago.”

“I have no memory of that event,” Mercury said. “I remember transferring out to the sector zone where where Ma3a’s docking station was located with you and the next sequence I remember was after I was recompiled on the Datawraith mobile server.”

“I don’t exactly enjoy my memory of what happened in the docking zone either, so you’re probably better off for not knowing.” Jet said.

Now that it had been brought up, Mercury wanted to know more.

“What did happen there?” Mercury asked. “In the docking zone?”

Jet hesitated before he spoke. The Mercury that was there when Jet broke Ma3a out of the docking station ceased to exist, although some of her memories obviously transferred to the new Mercury.

“We broke Ma3a out,” said Jet.

“Ma3a said that you broke her out,” Mercury countered.

“Well, you waited for me in the background process,” said Jet. “And when Ma3a and I came out, you were defending the exit port from corrupt programs.”

“Then?” Mercury prompted.

Jet hesitated then looked into the eyes that brought him back across worlds and forced the words that didn’t want to come out.

“Ma3a and I transferred through the port and you didn’t follow. You were caught in the reformat of that sector.”

Mercury’s eyes seemed to absorb it all and remained locked with Jet’s. For a moment, Jet could almost feel what she was thinking in his mind’s eye. Did she question why he did not save her then? Was he telling her everything?

Then she looked away and back in the direction of the compound from which the occasional fire could still be seen, although it struck a long way from where Jet had stopped.

Mercury nodded. “You are correct, I think I prefer that I do not recall those events. Being caught in a reformat isn’t something I think I’d like to remember.”

“Like I said, It’s not something I like to remember either.” Jet said.

“Can a user be recompiled?” Mercury asked, still looking away.

Jet was surprised by her insight.

“Not unless it’s by a god,” Jet said.

“God?” asked Mercury.

“Kind of a user for users,” said Jet by way of explanation. “We don’t really know if they exist at all.”

“We talk to our users at terminals, or at least we used to,” said Mercury. “That was a long time ago. I know the users are real because my user communicates with me, but otherwise, sometimes it’s like they’re not there.

“But for many, there was no proof of users until Flynn came to save us from the Master Control Program.

“Although there are some programs who believe that the great user Flynn was just a program and not a user.” Mercury said.

“Come on, Merc, We need to get back,” said Jet.

Mercury smiled again, letting Jet know she was happy he was there with him.

“Did you find the information you were looking for?” Mercury asked.

Jet nodded slowly.

“I think so. I understand what they are doing I think, perhaps better than some of them.” Jet said.

“And is that important?” Mercury asked.

“A little, although the real question is why are they doing it. That’s something I haven’t figured out.” Jet said.

Mercury waved a hand. “So this destruction. Is it really necessary?”

“For them? Yeah, it is. It seems as though the Datawraiths have built a new system from scratch and created their own digitization technology, only I don’t think it works too well.

“I get the feeling that their own programs corrupt too readily and so they can’t create them freely as my Mother and Father did in this system.

“As a result, they come here where the programs have stable quantum states and take these applications and routines as seed material for their own world.

“That’s why they destroy so much here – They can’t just copy it – they need to move the data so it retains its quantum metadata. Once they do that, they can re-use the code.”

“That sounds horrific,” said Mercury. “How can they do that to this world. Don’t they understand what they are destroying?”

“I doubt it. Not all users have an appreciation for the work of other programmers. The biggest surprise was Dillinger and Gibbs Junior. Knowing that the former Encon CEO is in on this explains quite a few things I didn’t know.

“I really wish I could get that information back to my father in the real world, so that he understands how F-Con is behind all of this.”

“What is F-Con, Jet?” Mercury asked.

Jet realized his alien his ramblings must sound to Mercury at times. Although they could communicate clearly in words and other ways, the context of much of what Jet said would be lost to her.

“There was a company – think of it as an application made from many program – and it was called F-Con.

“The tried to take over Encom – another company, which Flynn, My father and even I worked for.

“It seems that Encom’s former chairman – head program - was Edward Dillinger – think of him as the nemesis of Alan1 and Flynn.” Jet started.

Mercury nodded. She could understand that.

“Then consider that another user – one who created parts of the Kernel, Jade’s user in all probability, is working with them.”

Mercury nodded, but asked a question.

“This other user is the Kernel’s user?” she asked.

“One of them, but what is important is that this user had permissions over the users Alan1 and Flynn, so could tell them what to do.”

“But others wouldn’t allow her to use those permissions the way she wanted to, so she cut a deal with Dillinger I think, to give him control of the system.” Jet said.

“It sounds like a Trojan application,” said Mercury.

“Yeah, just like a Trojan virus,” said Jet. “What I don’t know is why they built this other system to replace the EN511 rather than just taking the one we had – this world. Something even bigger is going on, and it’s obviously got to do with quantum technology.”

“This world can be annexed?” Mercury asked.

“Yeah,” said Jet.

“So they would rather destroy this world and derez all of its programs when they could just take it?”

“Yeah,” said Jet again.

Now the threat posed by events in the real world made more sense to her, Mercury could see how her future was threatened by this.

“That is what you need to find out then,” said Mercury.

“That’s what we’re trying to find out,” said Jet. “But I need to get out of here with Melanie first and then talk to my father. I think with what I’ve learned, he will know what to do.”

Mercury smiled, then suddenly pressed herself against Jet and held him close to her. Jet seemed surprised but instinctively held her close.

She looked up at him, her eyes unblinking and not looking away.

“I think that I am glad that you are here to save and protect us. Without the users, we would all become nothing,

“And that is something that I don’t want to happen to the programs of my world.”

Jet was about to say that he only came back to see Mercury and even then without considering what he would really do once he got here. The choice was taken away from him when the system was shut down.

Jet looked back towards the compound as a random tank delete shell came screaming in from the distance and landed close enough to see the damage it did to the surrounding area.

Jet let Mercury go and she released him and stepped back.

“Jet, We should start moving again in case they send a tracking party. Where do you want to go next?” she asked.

“Fastest route possible, back to the Terminus,” said Jet, handing her the remaining lightcycle primitive.

Mercury rezzed in the modified datawraith lightcycle.

Jet stepped over the back and in behind Mercury now, pressing himself against her back as he got himself in place.

“Then we’ll cut in just after we clear the zone of Sector one where the base ends – that should take us to the path being cut by the recognizers, but without a cover section, our speed will be limited.”

“Then before we go, I need to do something,” Jet said, then dropped his hand to the side of the lightcycle.

Finding the code was becoming easier the more he did it and within a moment, he found the routine he had disabled.

Jet made a couple of changes to the capacity of the data the lightcycle could transit and a slightly larger canopy rezzed in around them, still leaving the inside cramped, but at least large enough to allow them to drive.

“Will that improve our tracking speed?” Jet asked.

“That should be acceptable,” said Mercury.

As they sat there, another shell came in, this one on a direct line between the last shell that had struck nearby and where they had stopped.

The debris that it kicked up was still some distance away, but Jet realized something as he mentally tracked the line they were following.

“Mercury, they know where we are – this lightcycle must have some tracking code. Get us out of here now,” Jet almost yelled inside the cramped cockpit.

Then the lightcycle hummed as it came to life and Mercury engaged the drive.

Almost as soon as the lightcycle surged forward, Jet twisted his head as the area lit up around him, a tank shell striking almost directly where they had been, ripping up sections of the debris and scattering it further.

“That was a little too close,” said Jet.

But then they were out of range again as Mercury showed Jet just how fast the lightcycles could be pushed through the debris.

He was glad he wasn’t following her this time.

Mercury’s assumption about the section of sector recovered from the Datawraith by the recognizers was correct. Shortly after Mercury cut back inland towards the line between the compound and the Terminus, they came across the clearing where the recognizers had removed the debris and prepared the way for the Kernel’s assault on the Datawraith base.

Once in the open, Mercury sped up and Jet was able to briefly adjust the tracking routines of the lightcycle to improve their upper speed limit a little more, although he also found that lightcycles had a theoretical upper limit when he nearly caused it to derez underneath them at speed as the components became temporarily desynchronized with each other.

He tried to find the section of code that had allowed the Datawraith to track them, but whatever it was, it was well embedded or obfuscated. Either way, it was only their speed that was going to save them.

Fortunately, even with the upper limit, with the speeds Jet was still able to coax from the vehicle, they were not long in reaching the Terminus base where the Kernel was preparing for the assault.

Approaching the Terminus base, the lightcycle sped through the open terrain towards the line of now stationary recognizers that were waiting above the tank array that the Kernel had established. It was cramped inside the cockpit with both of them and despite her petite frame, Mercury was still considerable bulk in the primarily single-seat craft.

Jet’s grip around Mercury tightened as she suddenly slipped the back wheel out, while heading directly at the Kernel.

Jet swallowed hard thinking they might hit, but the Kernel didn’t even flinch as the lightcycle almost carved two channels in the ground with its wheels.

Finally, Mercury brought the lightcycle to a sliding stop just about a foot in front of the Kernel, who was had been walking ahead of the tanks like a general inspecting his troops before the cycle started directly at him.

The now slightly bulbous canopy at the top of the lightcycle derezzed as the Kernel looked at the program and user with a slight annoyance.

“I suggest you remove your vehicle, Program,” said the Kernel to Jet. “Before the advancing line derezzes it.”

Mercury made a motion with her hand over the steering bar and derezzed the lightcycle back to it’s primitive.

“Kernel, there’s something you need to know,” Jet said.

The Kernel stood there motionless for a moment simply staring at Jet.

“Out with it then, Program, I don’t have until the next interrupt to wait,”said the Kernel.

Mercury swung her legs out of the remaining frame and stepped to the side of the lightcycle. Jet released one side of the control bar and felt the remaining vehicle derez around him.

“They have tank programs also,” Jet said. “And lots of them, each with a more recent revision of targeting system than your own.”

The Kernel looked back to his own tank programs.

“And how many units does the enemy have?” The Kernel asked.

“I counted sixty four,” said Jet. “Preparing to close once you enter the main base.”

The Kernel paused for a moment.

“We still have a four to one advantage,” the Kernel said.

Two hundred and fifty six tanks, thought Jet. They had seemed plentiful when he had sped through them, but he had not counted them. He looked from side to side and realized they were sixteen wide, which probably meant sixteen deep as well.

“And they may be able to generate more,” said Jet.

“We’ve remounted this sector read-only,” said the Kernel. “They can’t produce any more until this is over.”

Jet looked around.

“Are you sure you can take them?” Jet asked.

“Out of the way, Program, we have a battle to begin,” said the Kernel, then made a sweeping motion with his hand as if sweeping them from the cleared area, then marched back towards a gap between the tanks barely wide enough to fit him.

“Kernel, they have some kind of weapon also, something called a tanksmasher,” Jet called out. “You need to be wary of it.” Jet called.

The Kernel stopped for a moment then looked over his shoulder at the two.

“Do you have any functional specifications on this weapon?” The Kernel asked.

“No, but it’s a tower located near the out of band connection that the Datawraith use to access this system.” Jet called.

The Kernel seemed to consider this then nodded once, turned and spoke as he marched.

“Then I’m sure we’ll discover it’s operation once we engage them.” He called.

Pointing to a tank, the Kernal began bellowing orders without further delay.

“ICPs, Move these system utilities out now,” called the Kernel and the first wave of tanks surged forward, forcing Jet and Mercury to jump in line with the Kernel to avoid being run over.

Jet watched as a tank thundered past, then another until sixteen sets of the array moved past, then walked after the Kernel.

As the tanks moved on, Jet noticed just two tanks remaining that hadn’t moved yet, which had been at the rear of the formation. The Kernel walked around behind one, then entered. The tank moved out moments later and three chevrons appeared on the front, rezzing in as if denoting that this tank was the commander.

“I don’t think he cares that he’s walking into an ambush,” Jet said.

“We need to get back to the compound once the fighting starts and take the out of band connection, Merc, or we’re lost.

“And it’s critical that I take Melanie back to the real world.”

Mercury looked off towards the still busy Terminus then back at Jet. For a moment, she seemed distracted and didn’t look like the Mercury that Jet knew, then she was back again.

“We nearly didn’t get out. Trying to get back in now that they know we’re coming may not work.” Mercury said.

Jet paused for a moment, thinking about the strange look she just gave him, then got his mind back to the task at hand, pushing back all the thoughts that kept trying to rush in every time he took a moment to contemplate his situation.

“I think we’ll get our chance during the fighting, Mercury. These guys have ICPs and other support, but in the end, the Datawraiths are people and they think like people. They’ll concentrate on whatever is the biggest threat.”

“You seem to know the users well, Jet” Mercury said. “But then, you are of their world.”

Jet was confused again by the changes he was suddenly noticing in Mercury.

“You already know that,” Jet said, surprised. “But you always knew that, didn’t you?”

“Since I received notice from Ma3a to rescue you from the Game Grid? Yes.” Said Mercury.

“Is something up, Mercury?” Jet asked.

Mercury looked at Jet and the unsureness that he had seen when she asked about the sector where she was reformatted came back.

“What happens to you when you go back?” she asked.

“I guess I take your user back to the real world, then we’re done.” Jet said.

“And you will stay in the real world?” Mercury asked.

Jet paused then realized where she was headed with this. He was closer now to the end-game.

The out of band connection might mean safety for Mercury and the other programs, but it also meant that Jet would return to the real world with Melanie – her user.

Jet had been chasing Mercury and a way back into this world for so long and so hard that he had never really considered what he wanted to do past that point.

Now he started to realize that all he really wanted was to be with her.

“Then, if I can find a way, I’m coming back to you,” Jet said.

Mercury smiled a little.

“But we still need to find a way out of here or we all derez and no amount of compiling is going to save any of us then,” Jet added.

Mercury didn’t say anything, but Jet knew now what she was worried about. Without knowing their future at the moment, he didn’t know what to say, so he let it go unsaid.

“Anyway, we need to find out how Ma3a and Alchemist are going with their preparations to move the shells into the compound as soon as it’s secured.”

Mercury suddenly looked past Jet, her eyes narrowed momentarily then she nodded in the direction over Jet’s shoulder.

“Jet, why is one of the tank programs still there?”

Jet turned.

“Isn’t that the Kernel’s tank?” he asked.

“He passed us already,” Mercury said.

Jet started walking over to the tank, slowing as he approached. Moving around the back, he noticed that the hatch was down and inside, a familiar green program was sitting inside at the console completing checks.

“Jade?” Jet asked.

“My user,” came the immediate response. “Are you ready to proceed into the formation that is penetrating the Datawraith base defenses?”

Mercury came around the corner. Jade’s eyes briefly flicked to her and then back to Jet as she waited for an answer.

“I need to check on Alchemist’s progress,” said Jet.

Jade shook her head.

“Ma3a and Alchemist have completed preparations to move the shells,” said Jade, coming to her feet, her heels clacking on the flat floor inside the tank, each little step striking the ground like a shockrod in miniature. She walked to the end of the tank and looked in the direction of the Terminus.

Slowly coming over the access grid that supported the incoming transports, visible as it cleared to top of the ramp, was a large slow lumbering transport plate that looked like a tank without a turret.

On the top, looking quite out of place like two enormous chimneys, were the shells and standing next to one like a guardian, which she was, was Alchemist while Ma3a, floating slowly over the driving hatch as if suspended with one hand held palm-open towards the vehicle controls, appeared to be driving the transport over.

“Where did that come from?” Jet pondered out aloud.

“From the Kernel, for the User Jet, to allow more effective access to Sector one and to complete his mission, in recognition of his re-establishing contact with Sector one.” said Jade.

“The Kernel said that?” Jet asked, incredulously.

Mercury looked surprised also.

“Actually, his exact output was the quicker he leaves the system, the better” Jade said quietly.

“That sounds more like the Kernel,” said Mercury.

“So I mentioned that you were going to be here for considerable cycles due to transportation limitations, and he allowed the resolution of a transport module for the shells.” Said Jade.

Then after a short pause, as it all sank in, Jade added, “And released me to serve my user until he had returned to his world.”

Mercury’s face changed once more at the comment, then she looked away so that Jet couldn’t see her.

“Jade, thankyou, you have been an excellent negotiator,” Jet praised.

“Yes, Quite,” said Mercury, still looking away.

“I am glad that I please my user,” Jade said demurely, quite out of character for her appearance.

Jet looked at the platform as it approached.

“Will it take all of us?” he asked.

“No,” said Jade, “So the Kernel granted that I may transport you and your companion program into the Datawraith base, although he did say that he may want to question you once there about any aspects that he feels you may have knowledge of.”

Jet looked back at her, clearly impressed.

“Very, Very good, Jade. You’ve really earned my respect today, and although I didn’t get to say it before, I’m really grateful that you managed to return to us so quickly. You have no idea how badly we needed you to arrive.”

Jade almost blushed at the compliment. She looked at Mercury whose expression seemed to harden even as Jet praised her, then away from both, back into the tank itself.

“I’ll prepare to reaccess the Kernel’s array once the shells are clear of the Terminus.” Jade said.

Jet walked just to the side of the tank and waited as the shell transport came over to pull into a two-vehicle formation behind the tank.

“Did you find what you wanted?” Ma3a asked Jet as the vehicle came to a stop, floating up slightly, then down at an angle as she disengaged herself from the transport controls.

Jet smiled.

“Some of it,” he said. “How is Melanie?”

Alchemist looked over at Jet. “User Melanie is still processing.” she said.

Jet nodded. “How is the processing going?” he asked.

“Data loss due to quantum instability, four point two percent.

“Attempted recover of missing data through correction algorithm in process.

“Overall Process 97% complete.” Alchemist reported.

“Then she’s almost ready to go back to the real world?” Jet asked rhetorically.

“Yes, user::Jet. Once quantum instability is corrected, she will be able to return through the digitization system back to your world.” Alchemist said.

“That’s good,” Jet said, then taking one more look around, turned to Ma3a.

“Ma3a, is there anything holding us back from moving out?” he asked.

“All preparations are complete,” said Ma3a.

Finally, Jet turned to Mercury.

“Mercury, let’s finish this. Time to take out the remaining Datawraiths and save the programs of this system.”

Mercury turned to look at Jet and again for a moment, Jet saw that distant look, then it was gone.

“Let’s go rewrite some Datawraith header,” she said.

“Yeah that’s it,” said Jet, noticing that the other programs around him seemed to approve of the comment. Then walked into the tank to join Jade, followed by Mercury.

“How does the turret work?” Jet asked, looking around as the ramp came up. Inside the tank, there were three columns covered in circuitry, surrounding a seat with a set of controls and a viewport.

“Turret access howto?” queried Jade. “You use that seat in the centre of the tank application.”

Jet seated himself at the centre position and instinctively moved his hands forward to the control position.

“Hey, this is just like Meltdown,” Jet said.

“Meltdown?” asked Mercury.

“Video game, Encom computer systems, 1982. Present version, Beta, 0.78. Unreleased.” Said Jade.

Jet looked over at her surprised.

“You can tell all of that just by hearing the title?” Jet asked.

Mercury seemed very surprised, especially as she had only just learned what Encom was.”

“Logged build version information, my user. A function you gave to me.” Jade said.

“I gave to you?” Jet asked.

“My user gave to me,” said Jade.

“Ahh, your user, possibly another user,” said Jet, “But yes, you are correct. Flynn created these games long before I was born – compiled by my mother and Alan1 that is, but in a user sense – and this was never released. The idea was that you drove around a tank program and destroyed other tank programs. Another company came out with something similar called Battle-something before Encom released it, so Encom focused on Space Paranoids at the time.” Jet said, then realized it all went over the heads of the programs around him.

“Anyway, I think I can use this. It seems just the same as the prototype at Flynns.”

Jet looked through the visor and saw a view of the world around him. He swiveled the controls to get a feel for the speed of the tank’s turret movement.

He looked up as the tank started moving forward, then almost got out of his seat as the columns started rotating around him.

“Is that supposed to happen?” he asked.

“What?” asked Mercury, now seated just outside of the spinning section, while Jade sat on a seat that rotated around Jet as he sat.

“The columns moving around me?” he said, then from the look on Mercury’s face, assumed it was.

“Don’t worry about it,” Jet said, then returned to looking through the visor. As the turret swiveled, so did his chair, but it was difficult to determine which was swiveling more – the columns or his chair.

Moving the turret around to look at the shell transport, Jet saw Ma3a driving, lifting her other hand to him briefly for a quick wave. Alchemist didn’t seem too impressed looking back, then Jet realized she was looking down the tank barrel, so quickly swiveled it away.

The tank moved faster than expected, although nowhere near the speed of a lightcycle and definitely nowhere near the speed of the modified lightcycle Jet had improved upon.

After a while, the other tanks in the group came back into view, heading down the full width of the corridor created by the recognizers. Several recognizers accompanied them, hovering to either side of the path that they had already created.

Looking to the front, Jet saw the array of tanks slowly getting closer and realized they were going faster than the rest of the Kernel’s group.

“Shall I merge with the command array?” asked Jade as they approached. Jet could see they were aligned with a missing place in the back of the last line.

Jet considered it for a moment, then answered.

“No Jade, maintain separation from the main group at present level,” he said.

“Affirmative, my user,” said Jade, then slowed slightly to match the pace of the Kernel’s group in front of her.

Jet swiveled the turret to the back, this time avoiding pointing it at the transport, shells or Alchemist. Ma3a waved again and a slight smile seemed to break Alchemist’s face. Jet smiled too as he realized he was slowly learning.

“Approaching Datawraith Directory,” said Jade.

Swivelling back to the direction they were heading in, Jet noticed that the forcewall of the Datawraith compound that he had seen when he and Mercury had reconnoitered the base earlier.

Jet pulled his head back from the display for a moment, his thoughts coming in slowly as he waited for something to happen.

“You know, I think I might have an idea of what the Datawraith are doing here,” said Jet when Jade interrupted him.

“Incoming shell,” she called, then as Jet returned to look through the viewing scope, saw as the tank array compress on either side to create a path between the two halves and allow the shell to harmlessly slam into the ground, although it did tear up the newly formatted path.

“Slow to increase distance to main array,” called Jet, as he saw the recognizers close in to the front of the array in preparation to clear the last of the rubble and open the path to the base.

In the distance, Jet noticed a dozen more shells arc up on their way over to strike at the convoy.

“I guess this means the fight has started,” said Jet, lurching to the side as Jade corrected her path to avoid one that was apparently coming their way.

“How do you know which way to go?” Jet asked.

“Pre-emtive prediction algorithm,” said Jade.

Jet smiled. “Even for a user, there are some surprised in this world.”

Next: Chapter 2.33 – Signal Injection