Another (depressing) Tron idea
I've got another slightly depressing Tron plot idea that I thought up last night, forgot, and just now remembered.
I've seen plenty of fics in which a digital character dies and is restored through backups and such, but you can't do that to humans. I did recently read a fic in which Jordon, Kevin's wife, gets onto the Grid and later dies in the real world (canon) and so is never able to return, but she doesn't really have a strong connection to the digital world.
What if, User of Users forbid, Sam died in the real world, perhaps in the middle of restoring the Grid to its former glory? What would the programs think, waiting for their User to return, not knowing he can't? What if in his will, then, Sam left instructions to Alan that in the event of his confirmed death, not just disappearance (in case he got trapped the same way Kevin did), he was to go to the arcade and access this computer, and enter a specific code message meant for a certain program. (Tron of course, because he's too badass to die.) And the joyful shock of hearing from his user after so long is tempered by the mourning for the loss of Sam. Would Alan understand what he was doing, typing that in, or would he just be honoring Sam's last wish and then shut down the computer? Or perhaps get curious, like Sam did, and get himself accidentily digitized for the first time.
It's an interesting, if depressing, thought.
I've seen plenty of fics in which a digital character dies and is restored through backups and such, but you can't do that to humans. I did recently read a fic in which Jordon, Kevin's wife, gets onto the Grid and later dies in the real world (canon) and so is never able to return, but she doesn't really have a strong connection to the digital world.
What if, User of Users forbid, Sam died in the real world, perhaps in the middle of restoring the Grid to its former glory? What would the programs think, waiting for their User to return, not knowing he can't? What if in his will, then, Sam left instructions to Alan that in the event of his confirmed death, not just disappearance (in case he got trapped the same way Kevin did), he was to go to the arcade and access this computer, and enter a specific code message meant for a certain program. (Tron of course, because he's too badass to die.) And the joyful shock of hearing from his user after so long is tempered by the mourning for the loss of Sam. Would Alan understand what he was doing, typing that in, or would he just be honoring Sam's last wish and then shut down the computer? Or perhaps get curious, like Sam did, and get himself accidentily digitized for the first time.
It's an interesting, if depressing, thought.