Ninth Cycle

[bostrumite]

[Alan Bradley]

So. Tron talked about a lightcycle he and Clu had modded to work out here. You wouldn't happen to have that around, would you?

--And can you ride?

[/Alan Bradley]

[People Who Went On The Last Expedition]

I heard you all rode a "train". [He sounds like he's unfamiliar with the word.] What was powering it? Steam? Is its

Comments

[Gibson]

[is0latedthinker]

I do.

I haven't tried to ride it - only got as far as talking about it with you and Tron.

Action

[is0latedthinker]

Flynn's motorcycle in the User world.

Only a few minutes?

Action

[bostrumite]

Nice. I've heard he's really good, but I haven't seen him play.

Usually you don't need longer than that. The arenas are pretty small.

Action

[is0latedthinker]

They were both always on that thing. [Leaving Alan worried sick, especially about Sam.

Alan nods.] Only so much space available on a computer, even one made by Flynn.

Action

[bostrumite]

And let me guess. Playing "frisbee"? [The two most popular Games.]

Exactly. Memory is a premium - closest thing to currency we have.

Action

[is0latedthinker]

[He shakes his head at that one.] No, I can't say Frisbee was that popular with them. [Though Flynn had certainly used the description of Frisbees to mean identity discs.]

So you did have something like that. What did you use it for?

Action

[bostrumite]

Really? It's what people always ask me.

Upgraded capabilities, mostly. A custom bike like mine's not easy to come by.

Action

[is0latedthinker]

It's similar, I'll admit that.

Where did you scrounge up bits and bytes to begin with?

Action

[bostrumite]

Me? Trades for energy work. Anyone can get them, if they look hard enough. Me, I found it easier to do what I was good at, and let other programs do the hard work.

Action

[is0latedthinker]

The ones who are programmed to do it, you mean.

So for everyday things it was unnecessary?

Action

[bostrumite]

Or anyone who has a talent for it, whether it's their primary function or not.

As long as you have energy, you have all you need--and it's available for free in Tron City. It's much more valuable for those of us who want to live independently, of course.

Action

[is0latedthinker]

How much downtime do programs get? [Is that what happens when control-alt-delete is necessary for unresponsive programs?]

Ah, so those in the Outlands colonies.

Action

[bostrumite]

The User was pretty fair when he designed the Basics, so it's usually two millicycles on, one off. [Or about a third of their time for downtime - since they don't really need sleep, they have a fair amount of time to pursue their own interests.] We ISOs follow that, more or less.

Like mine. My talent is energy - sensing it, manipulating it, helping convert it to useable portions. Very handy, really.

Action

[is0latedthinker]

I wonder how exactly your time compares to ours - yours goes by much faster, of course...

Right - you helped to find energy for your colony, you said.

Action

[bostrumite]

I'm not sure. A millicycle is about two-thirds of a day, though - so about three for a day and a night.

Exactly. You can't have programs live anywhere for long without energy.

Action

[is0latedthinker]

[Alan nods.]

Users, either, but not the same form of energy. [He starts to slow down a little - his body's starting to complain, not used to this.]