Meat n' Greet

[cityship]

The rest of the crew assembled on the Observation Deck to meet the latest editions to their numbers. After the revelation that their worlds are gone, many of them are even more eager to see people they knew from home.

Several people are set up near the doors to provide the new people with omnicoms and comm rings. New crew-mates might see a tall

Comments

[freethesystem]

Look out, meatcrew, you have a new AI on the loose and ready to ki....kindly assist you in any way he can

[short_changed]

Ed was near Tron when he booted up and jumped for a moment. Then realizing that it was an AI, or at least he figured the way his body was all grey and blue, he rounded about on him and grinned. "Hey, you're a computer-guy right? I'm Ed Elric."

He seemed harmless enough and despite crazy!Stacy, he figured that no one would actually be stupid enough to let a hologram of a nutbar AI loose on Obs.

[freethesystem]

"Pleasure to meet you, Ed." No siree, there wasn't a line of corrupt code in this program! His job was to help the Users day in and day out.

"I don't know if any of you reactivated me, but is there anything in particular I can help you with? My access to the main program's needs is limited."

[short_changed]

"Well if anything, someone did," said Ed casually as he nodded at Tron. He could get the vibe that this guy was eager to help.

"Ah just wondering if you needed aid on updates or something. I'm no computer expert, but I figured you needed someone to talk to." added Ed.

[freethesystem]

But who was it? Tron would have to investigate that later. Was the main AI responsible? Questions, questions If the other programs appeared he would search for his answers.

"That would be very helpful, thank you. The information I've gleaned from the system is incomplete---I'm aware of the number of AIs that serve you and their basic functions, along with traces of some damage along the way, but nearly everything else is restricted information. If there's a memory bank, I can't access it." He looked rather frustrated. It's difficult to do his job when he doesn't know what needs to be done!

"Could you tell me about the crew's situation and the status of the other programs? I don't need detailed information, there are other sources for that, but even a starting point would speed things up."

[short_changed]

"Let's see," said Ed, thinking about that for a moment. "A few missions, botched shore leave, ah, well most recently there was some kind of mission that got us touch with command or something like that. Looks like we passed their test and they're helping us. I didn't participate, had other things on mind but you could probably update yourself with one of the command guys or the council."

Ed shrugged. "Me, I'm just a alchemist doing his thing."

[freethesystem]

Tron nodded. That meshed with the information he knew so far. "I'll find out from the others what help they're providing."

Alchemists weren't typically in the company of programmers, so he didn't know much about that particular occupation. "What thing would that be?" asked the program, that curious look on his face again.

[re_engineer]

And the person he caught...may not actually look too different from what Tron's used to. All armored up, Angie was mostly just missing the circuitry.

"Status report?" She glanced over, raising an eyebrow. "I'm pretty sure I could find one for y--" She cut herself off, taking another look, her eyes going wide. "Oh." Another moment. "You're Tron, aren't you?"

[freethesystem]

Oh, help was appreciated! Tron was just noting how remarkably similar to a program she looked when that expression appeared. As far as he knew, it was a symptom of random surfacing of memory. Was she all right?

A moment later, when she addressed him by name, he nodded. "That's me. Did you find my filename dormant in the system?"

How else would she know? User films weren't a concept that even Flynn had had time to introduce.

[re_engineer]

Oh God, it really was Tron. Angie was trying hard not to geek out because, well, it was incredibly cool. She'd never even thought about seeing what other AI programs Stacy might have lurking. Then again, maybe he was only able to appear now because of something that had been fixed.

Which didn't take long to filter through her mind before she smiled. "Not exactly. I know about you from my home world. Umm. Well, sort of." Argh, how to explain this.

[freethesystem]

Tron knew at least that much---the Users were gathered from different worlds (there were many worlds! That had been awe-inspiring information in itself) and charged with fighting the Ohm.

"Then you're from the User world I was programmed in? Did you know Alan One?"
Oh, if only.

[re_engineer]

"Only in that I had a major crush on Bruce Boxleitner when I was a kid." She'd have blushed if her skin were out in the open. Though the metal at her cheeks did go up a degree or so. "Umm. No, I'm not from the world where you were created. In my world, the fight against the Master Control Program from when Flynn was downloaded into the Grid? That was a movie."

[freethesystem]

That name, of course, was completely unfamiliar to him. "Who was Bruce? Was he related to Alan?"

Strange. He revered his programmer so highly, but in the end the two knew so little about each other. Program and User, creator and servant, two lines never crossed until Flynn's misstep into the Grid. It had all started to blur.

More immediately, he had other questions. "This 'movie' would be a stored memory of the events? I'm afraid I've never encountered the term in context."

[re_engineer]

Angie grinned slightly. "Bruce Boxleitner is an actor. He played Alan in the movie." A glance over him. "He also played you."

Good thing she was pretty much over that childhood crush, right? Yeah.

"And yeah, it...sort of is?" She bit her bottom lip, considering. "Well, you know the explanation we have for why we were all brought here, right? Because our stories spread across the galaxies, not just from our world but to worlds around them as well? In mine, that was how your story was told. Through a movie." A pause. "Well, there was a book and some video games as well."

[freethesystem]

Tron tried to process the concept in the Grid's terms. They didn't have company plays at the club or anything, but they did have stories. The Users were considered mythological by most of the programs, weren't they? Something in their coding hinted that they were out there, but it took contact to learn that they were truly helping them on the other side. Was it really reversed? Were the programs the legends now?

"Forgive me, it's a lot to process," he said to fill the void after a minute. "The actors were...presenting a story, and it was passed down to you." Yes, that was the explanation he would settle for. Made enough sense to settle his curiosity circuits.

"Then you know what I was created to do. My purpose here seems to be to address the malfunctions in your ship's programming."

[re_engineer]

"Close enough." And, really, it was. If that was the best way for Tron to understand it, then that was the explanation Angie could go with.

She grinned at the rest. "Well, from what I've seen, you'll have your work cut out for you. We all have."