I should warn you that I'll need to install some new code onto your Disc to make it possible for you to interact with the environment properly. I'll give you the code to look over before I do anything, or you can do it yourself.
[She lets him in almost immediately. There's already a cable connected to her dataport, looped around her neck and dangling down the length of her body like a scarf. She half-smiles, steps back to let him in and doesn't waste time on meaningless formalities..]
The code's on my laptop. Take a look.
[She nods at the computer on her coffee table between her sofa and armchair.]
[He's already got his disc off his back and in-hand as he strides over to the laptop. It gets pride of place at his right hand as he crouches down to sit on his heels in front of the computer; then he's got eyes only for the code, his growl kicking into high gear as he reads over the proposed alterations and checks them mentally against his own functions.
At last, he nods sharply and looks up at her, pointing to the disc, the laptop, then himself in sequence. If she's going to trust him enough to alter his own code...]
[She just nods. Go ahead, bro. She's reasonably sure that if altering his code for the worse was something he'd had in mind - although that would be a much more serious undertaking than a slight addition to his interface programming - then he would have found a way to do it by now.]
[There's a good bet due to the terrible physics of this place he'd accidentally his entire organs or something equally awful if he tried the adjustments he wanted, which is sufficient reason to keep him tame. (At least that's the public story.)
He shakes an interface cable out of a pocket, sets his disc to display mode, and gets to work. The relative brevity of the changes means it doesn't take him long, even with checking and double-checking, to get the code installed. He pauses, though, before disconnecting his disc, and beckons Tosh over with a wave of a hand to indicate the matched displays on the laptop's screen and in the air above the disc.
He wants a second pair of eyes on this. Not for a lack of confidence in his own abilities, but because here, on the Barge, any code glitch might prove debilitating at best or fatal at worst.]
[She looks it over carefully, combing through the code, taking longer than she needs to. There's no margin for error. Finally, she nods.]
You should sit down - once we start, both our bodies will more or less pass out. And connect your disc here. [She taps a port in a little external hub connected to her laptop.]
[Given that final approval, he slides down to sit on the floor with his back to the couch. The altered code he commits to his disc with a keystroke before rearranging the cable, plugging it into the indicated port. Then he seats the disc back in its place on his back, circuits flickering as the new code takes hold.
[There's only a moment's hesitation. She's tested the program on herself, quite thoroughly, but it's been impossible to test how Rinzler will interact with the program. 'Theoretically perfect' is still a distance from 'perfect'.
She sits back on the sofa.]
Running.
[A couple of keystrokes start the program, and for a moment everything is black and numb - the implant in her neck is flooded with data, overriding her nervous system and the evidence of her senses, filling the darkness with false information generated by a virtual landscape. And then she can see again. Everything around them is black, linear and flawless; there's light from the occasional circuit line running through the landscape, pulsing a soft green.
Slowly, carefully - acknowledging the unrealness of being able to move while her physical body is unconscious on a sofa - she straightens up, getting to her feet.]
Home, or near enough that it doesn't matter, and the first thing he does is place a hand against the ground to request the scenario code's local variables--not because it's important but because he can, for the first time in months. It's a sense he'd been missing for that long, robbed of his constant communication with the surrounding code, and he takes a long second to revel in it.
Then he pushes himself to his feet and looks at Tosh. The sense of Now what? is as palpable as telepathy; on the Grid, his inability to articulate himself had never been an issue.]
It depends on what you want to do. You can just use this place as a bolthole, somewhere a bit more...rational to come to when the Barge is getting to be too much, or...
[She swallows.]
Or I can generate a second body and divide your virtual code so that you can speak to Tron.
[He considers all of this, expression unfathomable as ever behind his helmet, not even the pace of his growl giving away his thoughts.
Do you think that's a good idea? and He is already here. and It would be better. all crowd on top of each other at once, the instant he's come to a decision. Reaching back over his shoulder, he slips his disc free and ignites it only long enough to pull it apart before offering one dormant half to Toshiko.
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Yes.
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[...]
I should warn you that I'll need to install some new code onto your Disc to make it possible for you to interact with the environment properly. I'll give you the code to look over before I do anything, or you can do it yourself.
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[He'll just decide which he wants to do once he's seen the code. There's a knock on her door shortly after his reply to her invitation.]
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The code's on my laptop. Take a look.
[She nods at the computer on her coffee table between her sofa and armchair.]
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At last, he nods sharply and looks up at her, pointing to the disc, the laptop, then himself in sequence. If she's going to trust him enough to alter his own code...]
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He shakes an interface cable out of a pocket, sets his disc to display mode, and gets to work. The relative brevity of the changes means it doesn't take him long, even with checking and double-checking, to get the code installed. He pauses, though, before disconnecting his disc, and beckons Tosh over with a wave of a hand to indicate the matched displays on the laptop's screen and in the air above the disc.
He wants a second pair of eyes on this. Not for a lack of confidence in his own abilities, but because here, on the Barge, any code glitch might prove debilitating at best or fatal at worst.]
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You should sit down - once we start, both our bodies will more or less pass out. And connect your disc here. [She taps a port in a little external hub connected to her laptop.]
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Nothing seems to have gone wrong. So far.]
Ready.
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[There's only a moment's hesitation. She's tested the program on herself, quite thoroughly, but it's been impossible to test how Rinzler will interact with the program. 'Theoretically perfect' is still a distance from 'perfect'.
She sits back on the sofa.]
Running.
[A couple of keystrokes start the program, and for a moment everything is black and numb - the implant in her neck is flooded with data, overriding her nervous system and the evidence of her senses, filling the darkness with false information generated by a virtual landscape. And then she can see again. Everything around them is black, linear and flawless; there's light from the occasional circuit line running through the landscape, pulsing a soft green.
Slowly, carefully - acknowledging the unrealness of being able to move while her physical body is unconscious on a sofa - she straightens up, getting to her feet.]
Reply
Home, or near enough that it doesn't matter, and the first thing he does is place a hand against the ground to request the scenario code's local variables--not because it's important but because he can, for the first time in months. It's a sense he'd been missing for that long, robbed of his constant communication with the surrounding code, and he takes a long second to revel in it.
Then he pushes himself to his feet and looks at Tosh. The sense of Now what? is as palpable as telepathy; on the Grid, his inability to articulate himself had never been an issue.]
Reply
It depends on what you want to do. You can just use this place as a bolthole, somewhere a bit more...rational to come to when the Barge is getting to be too much, or...
[She swallows.]
Or I can generate a second body and divide your virtual code so that you can speak to Tron.
Reply
Do you think that's a good idea? and He is already here. and It would be better. all crowd on top of each other at once, the instant he's come to a decision. Reaching back over his shoulder, he slips his disc free and ignites it only long enough to pull it apart before offering one dormant half to Toshiko.
Your choice.]
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I don't want to force this on you.
[Or on Tron, really. Although she's aware that if Tron has strong feelings either way, he'll make himself heard somehow.]
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You cannot force the willing. but You seemed uncertain.]
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