audio; march 7th

[alan_1]

[The recorded voice that addresses the crew through the MID is affable and slightly apologetic.]

Hello everyone. This is Alan Bradley speaking. I have a couple of questions for the crew, and I think I might as well use this opportunity to introduce myself to those I haven’t met yet: As I said, my name is Alan Bradley, and I’ve been assigned as one of the ship’s MID Technicians. I’m afraid I don’t have any particularly interesting abilities outside of computer programming, but that should be enough for me to do my job here. Some of you may have already met Sam Flynn, my godson from back home, as well as Tron and Rinzler, two, ah, programs that I’ve written. [Is that how he’s supposed to introduce them? It’s quite clear from the misgiving in his tone that he isn’t completely sure. He isn’t even certain he can correctly refer to them as two programs if you want to get technical, but explaining that would be far too involved for a simple introduction, so he’ll have to settle for the potential inaccuracy.] If you ever need to contact me, I’m always available at my personal inbox. [A slight chuckle.] I guess we all are since these things are strapped to our wrists.

Introductions aside, I was hoping someone could tell me who I should see about getting a new pair of glasses? Mine seem to have been lost as I was coming through the portal here. And seeing as my job on the ship will probably require spending most of my day staring at lines of code, I’d like to get a replacement sooner rather than later.

Speaking of my job here, I’m also looking for suggestions for programs people would like added to their MIDs, or improvements made to the interface. I’ll admit, the technology here is quite a bit more advanced than what I usually worked with back home, so anyone with more technological know-how is welcome to offer guidance: other programmers, engineers, AI… I’d be grateful for any advice.

Just leave a reply if you want to get in touch. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.

Comments

[alan_1]

[Alan listens with mute horror. Rinzler had tried to kill someone? Perhaps it shouldn’t come as such a shock given what Sam had told him about how Rinzler had been reprogrammed on the Grid, but given that the program hadn’t harmed Sam now that they were both off of the Grid, Alan had been under the impression that the most violent parts of his programming had been suppressed. But according to this man, that seems to be far from the truth.]

And he’s been targeting you in particular? Do you have any idea why?

[takeitslow]

I don't know! He tried his stabbing act in the first like, minute. I was just talking to the guy and he gets all serial killer on me. The second time, I guess he was still pissed about the first.

[It's not entirely accurate. Peter had done his fair share goading and had swung first the second time. But he doesn't think a few dog jokes are a good reason to try to kill someone.]

[alan_1]

[Alan sighs, clearly disturbed by this information. If Rinzler would attack one person unprovoked, there's nothing stopping him from attacking anyone.] Thank you for telling me. Do you know if he’s attacked anyone else on the ship?

[takeitslow]

I know he's threatened to attack someone else, but I'm not sure on if he's went through with it on anyone.

[alan_1]

I'll speak with him; hopefully I can prevent something anything that from happening again.

And I'm sorry you had to go through that.

[takeitslow]

You think speaking will fix it?

[Peter is not convinced.]

Don't. I'm fine. I'm more worried about else he's capable of.

[alan_1]

Seems like the most reasonable place to start.

[Peter’s not the only one.] Do you know who else he threatened?

[takeitslow]

Mmm. I honestly hope that works out.

[He sighs.]

I don't want to tell you. He found out who to threaten stalking people's conversations on these things.

[alan_1]

[That piece of information is equally alarming: Rinzler’s not just randomly targeting people -- he’s seeking them out maliciously.]

If you’d rather not tell me at all, I understand. [Alan realizes that he must occupy a less-than-trustworthy space as the man who had taken responsibility as Rinzler’s creator.] But my personal inbox is always open if you need it.

[takeitslow]

I'll keep that in mind. [Peter has no intention of using it. Even outside of who this man is to Rinzler, Peter's not going to be putting Wanda's name out there anytime soon.]

Just take care if it, okay? We don't need any more trouble on this ship.