FILL: “Through a Diamond Sky” Part 8 (In progress) allronix1August 26 2011, 21:11:49 UTC
Clu wasn't exactly pleased to be stuck on an overglorified escort mission. There were still far too many imperfections in the system; half-finished settlements, traffic bottlenecks, and a never-ending onslaught of gridbugs to chase out of the system. If Shaddox could not fend for himself, then he wasn't worth his resources. Still, Kevin was “User,” and that status accorded respect. He could not understand how his User's sentiment fit into the greater picture of a perfect system, and it really wasn't his business to know. He had his directives, and would follow. So far, sympathy was a tolerable imperfection on the part of his creator, but Clu hoped he would overcome it with future upgrades.
Right now, he had his orders to find Jordan-User “something to build or something to shoot.” They were in his command center, and he was showing her the layout of the city on the largest overview he had.
The more he seemed to explain, the more she seemed to retreat into silence. It was only after he had gone over an explanation of the entire traffic layout without so much as a word from her that he stopped himself.
“Jordan?” he asked.
“Oh,” she said. She was distracted, much like Kevin could be when he was listening to the necessary system reports. “Sorry. Thank you, Clu. You've been very informative.”
“Informative, but you're still processing something else,” he pointed out. “C'mon. What is it?”
“You're just...a little unsettling, is all,” she admitted. “You have his face and his voice, but I could never picture him getting this excited about city planning.”
“It's what I was designed for. 'Create the perfect system.' Your counterpart created me because he has to be in his 'real' world, attending to whatever it is he has out there.”
“He runs two businesses - a Fortune 500 company and a hell of an arcade. He's also got me and we have Sam. He would be a busy man even without this whole new world to manage. Then again, he's very bad about saying 'no' to a challenge.” She shrugged. “I'm just as bad.”
Clu put his hands behind his back and assessed Jordan for a picosecond. Certainly, she was quite attractive. He had been made in his creator's image, and with many of the same preferences. “Is it true that Users don't know their functions or have directives?”
Jordan scowled. “I'm not sure what you mean?”
“See this city, this system? Every Program in it has a directive. Mine is to build a perfect system. Yori's is to run that tower, repairing and maintaining the system. Tron's is to fight whatever a User tells him to fight. Everyone has a place and a function here, from building to entertainment.”
She looked out over the city. “Oh, that? Well, Kevin's right about that. We don't know what we're designed for. We don't even know if there's a higher power designing us at all. If there is, we haven't heard from him. I guess that's why I went into the Army. It took me a while to figure out what I was good for. By the time I got out, I had some college credit and a talent for drawing buildings. Seemed logical enough to get a degree and get paid for it.”
“So, no directives. No explicit functions spelled out for you. How does your world even function?”
She smiled wryly. “Sometimes, I wonder that myself.”
Clu took a step toward her, giving her another appraising look. “Now that you are here, though, what do you think about all this?”
Right now, he had his orders to find Jordan-User “something to build or something to shoot.” They were in his command center, and he was showing her the layout of the city on the largest overview he had.
The more he seemed to explain, the more she seemed to retreat into silence. It was only after he had gone over an explanation of the entire traffic layout without so much as a word from her that he stopped himself.
“Jordan?” he asked.
“Oh,” she said. She was distracted, much like Kevin could be when he was listening to the necessary system reports. “Sorry. Thank you, Clu. You've been very informative.”
“Informative, but you're still processing something else,” he pointed out. “C'mon. What is it?”
“You're just...a little unsettling, is all,” she admitted. “You have his face and his voice, but I could never picture him getting this excited about city planning.”
“It's what I was designed for. 'Create the perfect system.' Your counterpart created me because he has to be in his 'real' world, attending to whatever it is he has out there.”
“He runs two businesses - a Fortune 500 company and a hell of an arcade. He's also got me and we have Sam. He would be a busy man even without this whole new world to manage. Then again, he's very bad about saying 'no' to a challenge.” She shrugged. “I'm just as bad.”
Clu put his hands behind his back and assessed Jordan for a picosecond. Certainly, she was quite attractive. He had been made in his creator's image, and with many of the same preferences. “Is it true that Users don't know their functions or have directives?”
Jordan scowled. “I'm not sure what you mean?”
“See this city, this system? Every Program in it has a directive. Mine is to build a perfect system. Yori's is to run that tower, repairing and maintaining the system. Tron's is to fight whatever a User tells him to fight. Everyone has a place and a function here, from building to entertainment.”
She looked out over the city. “Oh, that? Well, Kevin's right about that. We don't know what we're designed for. We don't even know if there's a higher power designing us at all. If there is, we haven't heard from him. I guess that's why I went into the Army. It took me a while to figure out what I was good for. By the time I got out, I had some college credit and a talent for drawing buildings. Seemed logical enough to get a degree and get paid for it.”
“So, no directives. No explicit functions spelled out for you. How does your world even function?”
She smiled wryly. “Sometimes, I wonder that myself.”
Clu took a step toward her, giving her another appraising look. “Now that you are here, though, what do you think about all this?”
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