Night at the Archives
Who: Clu 1 and Kleio
When: Several millicycles after they both rerezzed
What: Clu goes on a late-cycle data-gathering expedition
Where: Tron City Central Archives
Warnings: Shouldn't be any, really, but I'll update if that changes
Clu peeked around the corner of a building and out of the alleyway in who's shadows he was currently concealed, circuits consciously dimmed to make him less obvious. He couldn't quite manage the fully inactive-looking circuits that some modern programs could, but at least he didn't stand out quite as much, and the dimly-lit alleyway did the rest. He had been watching the archive building around the corner for some time, waiting for the fairly steady stream of programs that had been coming and going from it to thin out as it got to be later in the millicycle, wanting to avoid any... awkward situations, as he wasn't sure if word of his identity had gotten around just yet, and he didn't want to be mistaken for his brother by a program with faster combat subroutines than processing speed.
Having seen no one enter or leave the facility for the past 30 nanoseconds, he determined that it was time to make his move. He slipped out of the alleyway, rezzing up his facemask. Keeping a cautious eye and sensor out for any passing programs, ready to duck back into the nearest shadows if he detected any, he quietly moved along the edges of the walkways toward the archive building. However, once there, he didn't come in the main entrance; the most likely to be monitored, or to have some archive program or patron hanging around near it. Instead, he slipped partway around the building to a lesser-used side entrance that he had discovered while checking out the area the millicycle previous.
After slipping quietly through it, he realized why. The entrance emerged into a short corridior, leading to what seemed to be a few minor offices, a storage area for blank data hexes and other supplies, and a breakroom. A staff entrance, then. Well, whatever worked, he supposed.
After taking a quick look around, just to make sure he was indeed alone, Clu cautiously exited through the door at the opposite end of the corridor and into the archives proper. He derezzed his facemask and returned his circuits to their normal level of illumination; no reaon to keep his circuits dimmed in the well-lit archives, and the mask would only be a hinderance while he worked. Besides, there was no one in the immediate area to see him anyway.
Walking quickly -not running, that tended to draw attention from anybody who happened to be monitoring- across the empty lobby to a partially hidden datascreen, he then quickly ran a search for what he needed. General system history, as far back as he could find, plus data from the old Encom system if there was any. Easy enough of a section to find, and the screen helpfully pointed out a few data hexes in particular that might be particularly informative. He also called up a map of the archives itself, making careful note of the entrances and exits, as well as the places where restricted data was stored, so he could pay them a visit before he left.
If a program didn't know any hacking programs personally, they often found it mildly shocking how little the thought of what data they were strictly allowed to access crossed their processors, a fact which Clu had always found puzzling. Part of a hacking program's function, was, by definition, getting access to and utilizing data that technically wasn't theirs to access; it was just something they did. For a hacking program, what data was and was not off-limits was more of a risk/benefit analysis- how difficult would it be to get certain data, how much trouble would you be in if you got caught, how valuable or important the data in question was, etc.- combined with the hacking program's own personal morals and, of course, any orders they'd received from their User.
Clu, for his part, generally left any data that was a personal possession of a User or program alone unless he had permission or was ordered to access it. General data, however, like that stored in system archives? Wide open, in his opinion.
The sections he wanted to check marked on his internal map, Clu deactivated the datascreen and headed back out into the archive building's lobby. Moving along the walls and shelves where he could, and making his way quietly and purposefully through areas where he couldn't, Clu headed for the main history section first; it would be much easier to explain his presence there to any archive programs or late-cycle patrons if he were discovered. He encountered no one, however, and made his way there quickly, soon arriving at the section in question, moving along the shelves full of data hexes, heading towards the area where the oldest records were stored, figuring that the best place to start was at the beginning.
It was there, tucked away in a niche between two sets of shelving, that he spotted it: a little hologram of a program in a long, black coat with yellow circuit lines... and who had a very familiar face. Clu paused, taking a closer look at the little holo of what could only be his brother. He was posed in what, to the hacking program at least, was an overly dramatic heroic fashion. 'Well, you didn't have much of an ego, did you, brother?', he thought sarcastically as he looked around, spotting another such hollogram in another niche further down. He was willing to bet there were more of them scattered around the archives too, minature monuments in light to a program everyone would probably like to forget.
Or at least, would rather not see randomly peeking out of an archive niche at them. 'Well,' Clu thought, a smile slowly forming on his face as an idea formed in his processor, 'I can take care of the second one, at least.' He crouched down in front of the little holo, calling up its projection coding with little trouble and getting down to work. 'Archive programs'll probably thank me anyway. If they ever find out. Which they won't.'
He crouched there, smirking cheerfully to himself as he worked, deciding what he should change the little holos to show instead of his brother. An I/O Tower, maybe? So the programs around here might actually bother to find out what one was? Yeah, that sounded good. As his attention focused on the code he was working on, however, the hacking program forgot, for the moment that he didn't have Bit around to watch his back anymore...