thisavrou | audio; march 7th

[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.

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And I’ve never seen anything else from him. [Anger, belligerence, triumph… it’s almost difficult for Alan to imagine Rinzler displaying such emotions. But he’s already learned in no uncertain terms that the way Rinzler behaves around him is not at all comparable to how he acts around other users -- there’s an entire person who Alan has never met, hidden behind that apprehension and abject obedience.]

He must have. I didn’t know who he was before Sam told me, but Rinzler seemed to know who I was the second he saw me. [Alan can still remember their introduction in the garden, the way the program had froze in place in Alan’s presence, how that characteristic rumble of his had grown so fractured and painful that Alan had initially believed the program to be injured.]

He even spoke, believe it or not. [Alan hadn’t known the action’s significance at the time, but by now he’s realized that it was likely the first time the program had spoken in a very long time.] He called me “user.”

....Hell. "User" is a technical term, for them. People who aren't programs. Programmers, especially. But he never speaks; I thought he couldn't.

[you might well be a different class of User for Rinzler, Alan, and family resemblance aside, he certainly doesn't see you as another double.]

This must be like learning you fathered a son who grew up without you. [it's a brutal way to put it, but Alan had talked about responsibility, and there's more than one kind. it's possible, too -- since so much is possible, apparently -- that Rinzler had met a different version of Alan, and that the fear is sourced in experience. no way to know that, though, without asking the program.

if there is something different, something special, about a program's writer, if Rinzler's whip-tight frame carries trauma along with corrupted coding, Alan's arrival might be his salvation -- or destroy him. and Alan is still catching up on lifetimes of new information, with Bel only a little further ahead. slowing their pace as they approach the bow of the ship, Bel watches the play of emotion on his face. is he up to it?]

[Alan nods. It’s a reasonable assumption to make. Rinzler has only spoken two times in his presence since he arrived here and each time had sounded painful. He doubts the program would push himself to that extreme very often.]

I wouldn’t know, but… I imagine that’s a fitting comparison. [And not one that hasn’t occurred to Alan since arriving here. He had created life without even being aware of it, only to have it stolen and corrupted without his knowledge, the result a stranger too scarred to even speak. It’s worse than knowing that he hadn’t been there; it’s knowing that someone else had stepped in and taken advantage of that absence to twist the program into something he wasn’t meant to be.

Alan follows to the bow, expression distant as he remembers his first day on the ship, how he had met Tron here on the observation deck and then Rinzler in the garden. Sam had been right when he said they were no longer the same program. But he was wrong about Rinzler; no matter how different the code, Rinzler is as much Alan’s program as Tron is. The alternative would be tantamount to conceding him to Clu, and Alan can’t allow that.]

I know I have a lot of catching up to do, but… I know I can still help him.

[he's open, he's trying... it's no guarantee, but he'll do.]

I don't know who told Rinzler that "user values" don't apply to programs, but I can't assume it's true. There was... an analogous case in my home universe. Involving clones. [twisted smile. maybe there was some subliminal cue that had triggered Bel's immediate interference in the fight between Tron and Rinzler; the two were identical in battle, except for the helmet and colors. there's no knowing now, though. it all happened too fast.

it's Bel's nature to report concisely and accurately, so the description of the fight that first day is scant on emotional details; no need to traumatize Alan -- a stretch in sickbay and the cut had healed up fine. the followup conversation had been more revealing, though Bel's chagrin is palpable when explaining that they'd started out with no idea of what Rinzler was.]

You might learn more from Tron, as far as he's come out the other side of whatever happened to them in there; just... [touches Alan's arm gently; lips quirk in a smile] Even if they were identical once, they're different people now. Congratulations, Mr. Bradley; you've got twins.

[[omu when the whole thing goes down it's gonna be awful ;a; ]]

[Alan listens in silence as Bel relates the details of Rinzler and Tron’s fight, and her conversation with the program afterwards. The fact that Rinzler had designated Tron as a “corrupted copy” is especially worrying -- the last thing anyone needs is the programs trying to destroy one another due to a perceived glitch. His expression grows even more troubled when Bel repeats Rinzler’s definition of Users: ”You use us.” It’s not an untrue statement and that’s precisely what makes it so disturbing. Alan had gone his entire life up until arriving on the Moira believing that programs were tools -- brilliant, complex tools, but tools nonetheless, to be repaired or discarded as necessary -- and, besides one Kevin Flynn, that’s what the rest of the world saw them as too. There’s a bitter sting to realizing that he himself is likely just as culpable for Rinzler’s belief that “User values” don’t apply to him as Clu is.

He realizes too how little he knows about Tron, how much the program has been keeping from him. How much they’ve all been keeping from him, in truth: Tron, Rinzler, and Sam, all of them swallowed up by the Grid and ripped out of it as different people, each in the midst of their own trauma, leaving Alan to piece together what happened from what fragments they’re willing to share.

What he has now is an incomplete picture, but it’s the only guide he has for how to proceed. He sighs and when he speaks, his voice is tinged with a doubt he usually keeps to himself.] I just hope I’ll know to do what’s right. For all of them.

[it isn't everything Alan needs to know by a long shot, but it's all Bel has to give him, and that he's taking it in without prejudgment is the best sign that could be hoped for. it's going to be a long road.]

...For all of them... Sam too?

[Alan smiles.] Of course. [He looks back at the stars through the observatory window, expression growing pensive.] Sam was actually on the Grid with them. In many ways, he’s known them longer than I have. [If only Alan could get him to open up about everything that had happened… but he’s already promised him not to press and he doesn’t intend to go back on his word.]

But you've known him longer, haven't you? Back on your Earth....

[is this the time to mention that Sam's been sleeping outside his quarters, camping out all over the ship? it'd be one thing if he'd been doing it for fun, but it... hadn't seemed that way when Bel caught him at it.]

audio; march 7th

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