TRON fanfic: The Oupost (9/?)
Jan. 30th, 2018 09:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skye_writerTitle: The Outpost
Author:skye_writer
Rating: T
Characters/Pairings: Tron, Original Characters, Sam Flynn, Ed Dillinger, Jr.
Summary/Prompt: No one knew where the virus came from. By the time they noticed it, it was too late. The Grid's factions put their differences aside and built a haven in the Outlands--the Outpost. Time passes; the Grid's programs survive. Then the Portal opens again, bringing Users back to the Grid, and what happens next may change their world forever.
Warnings: Brief strong language, discussion of genocide.
Author's Notes: Back just in the nick of time. I'm hoping to update Part Two around once a month. I'm still (sigh) in the process of finishing the fic, but Part Two is lengthy enough that I've got a fair amount of lead time. For those wondering, "prodromal" refers to the stage of infection just before the onset of symptoms and illness.
The shouts, the screams, the noise in the Council chambers was deafening. Rho stared up at her fellow programs, aghast at their reactions to the User Sam’s words. She could barely react to them herself.
An Iso still lived. An Iso could save them all.
And how many here saw the Isos as a stain on this system? How many had joined in the Purge, proudly turning in former friends for a shot at currying Clu’s favor? And now—
There was a whir in the air, then a crash so close to Rho that she flinched and screamed. She turned and saw a disc clattering to the floor. Someone had tried to—
More whirs, more crashes as the sentries knocked the discs away. “Get them to the bench!” Halix was shouting. “The bench!”
Suddenly a hand clamped onto the back of Rho’s neck and rushed her forward. She glanced back; it was one of the sentries. The others were staving off projectiles from the crowd above—discs, batons, glasses from the messes, even a beam katana. The Nameless had hold of both the Users, pushing them towards the barricaded stairs that led up to the Council bench. The Council members were already retreating into the office behind the bench; Rho could only assume that was there they were headed. Only Edis remained at the bench, calling for order but finding none.
The Nameless shoved Sam and Ed into the barricade, then slashed it open with his disc. He pushed the Users through the opening and up the narrow stairs that led to the bench. The sentry pushing Rho ahead hustled her in after them, and she hurried up the steps, all too aware of the open target they made on these stairs. Anyone could throw a disc and derezz her or Tron—The Nameless, she reminded herself sternly. She didn’t know what a thrown disc might do to a User, but it couldn’t be good.
They made it, but barely. Rho had just cleared the Council bench when a disc screamed in from above and lodged itself in the desk. Rho stared at it for a nano, then shook herself and hurried after the Users and the Nameless into the Council’s office. Edis, from the center of the bench, still called for order. She glanced back at him, but the door hissed shut behind her, cutting off his voice and the din of the programs’ fury.
“What the hell was that?!” Ed exclaimed. “What the fuck—” He was shouting at Sam, of all the programs in the room. Rho stared, too much in shock to care how it might look.
“I didn’t think it’d be like this!” Sam yelled back.
“What’d you think it’d be like?” Ed demanded. “You told me they’d killed her people. You didn’t say they’d try and kill us over her!”
“How was I supposed to know—”
“Calm down,” the Nameless said. “We need to—”
“Shut up, Alan!” Ed snapped. The Nameless flinched, but Ed hardly seemed to notice. “These last three days have been the longest of my life, working on your father’s pet project. You said this was going to be simple, but it’s been nothing but chaos on both sides of the screen. You’re practically CEO, you can jerk off with this place on your own time, but I have a job. And you are lucky I decided to give you six hours of my time tonight—which Quorra says is going to be two weeks in here? And they already hate us!” He gestured towards the door, but since Rho was standing in front of it, his hand waved in front of her.
He stared at her a moment, then shook his head. “Sorry. Not you. Them.”
“I didn’t know, all right?” Sam said quietly. “I didn’t know about the virus, and I didn’t think the Isos would still be a sore point with these guys.” He looked at Axel and the rest of the Council, who had been watching Ed’s diatribe uncomfortably. “Why is that, exactly? Quorra said the Purge was nearly a thousand cycles ago for you guys.”
“Because the Isos tore this system apart,” spat Conin. “They came, and suddenly we were second best to the Creator. You’ve just confirmed what we always knew—they were a plague, a virus that would have wiped us from this system. Clu did what needed to be done in getting rid of them.”
Rho could only guess what Sam and Ed’s expression were, but going by their silence, she suspected they were stunned.
“They had no purpose here,” Atana said loftily. “Programs without Users, without functions? What good could they have done us? They cost us our Creator, and in so doing cost us the Grid.”
More silence from the Users. Then, Sam said slowly, “So… are all of you complete Nazis or is it just you two?”
Even Atana looked confused at this.
Ed sighed, then said, “They don’t know what Nazis are.”
“Yeah, I’m realizing that.”
“To rephrase: are all of you totally okay with the extermination of fellow sentient beings, or is it just you two?” Ed folded his arms, while Sam put his hands on his hips. Rho blinked, staring at the Council, unsure of what exactly was going to happen next.
Axel stepped forward. “My colleagues do not speak for me. I can’t say I ever liked the Isos, but the Purge was excessive and uncalled for.”
“Seconded,” Lider said from against the wall.
“Thirded,” Eckert added.
Atana, Conin, and Haibt said nothing. Atana even raised her chin a little in defiance.
Sam and Ed exchanged a glance. “Well—” Sam began, but then the door behind Rho hissed open.
Rho jumped and turned, almost lunging out with one fist—but the Nameless caught her arm, and Edis patted her on the shoulder. “It’s only me, Rho,” he said. He moved past her and the Users to sit at one of the large office’s desks. “The sentries are cleaning up the rabble at the moment. Halix had to call in reinforcements. I apologize for the outburst,” he added to the Users. “Rest assured the discs of those who attacked you have been collected, and the programs in question will be duly punished.”
“Punished how?” Sam asked.
“Work details, with either excavation or construction,” Edis replied. “We need more than a little help in those arenas as of late. I’m sure the Nameless and Rho have filled you in on our recent troubles.”
“Wait,” Sam said. “Are you just gonna pretend that mess out there didn’t happen? We told you our plan, and everyone went berserk.”
“Yes,” Edis said as he took a seat at one of the desks in the room. “We must hope they will come around.”
“Come around?” Atana scoffed. “I think the Outpost’s programs have made their opinion on this bit-brained plan clear. We have far more pressing problems to deal with, Edis, and you know it.”
“More pressing than the health and stability of the entire system?” Eckert asked sourly. “I agree getting rooms for the Xenon programs is a priority, but the virus still spreads, even in the Outlands.”
“Spreads slowly,” Haibt pointed out. “We wouldn’t even have a housing crisis if we’d left those refugees in the Outlands. A camp would have been safe enough for the few decicycles it would take to build accommodations for them all. And now the Users throw us into further crisis by saying an Iso is the answer to all our problems!”
“Not all our problems, Haibt,” Lider said. “Just the biggest one. The housing crisis is a problem, but it is one we are equipped to deal with. We have no tools to deal with this virus, and we haven’t from the start. And now the Users come, offering us a possible solution, and you three want to reject it out of hand? Because its origin might come from a program you consider a plague or a blasphemy?”
“You’re putting your opinions before the welfare of those you were chosen to represent,” Eckert said, moving to get into Haibt’s face. “I know those programs out there don’t like what they heard, but they’ll get over it.”
“What does this ‘vaccine’ involve?” Conin asked suddenly, addressing the Users. “An alteration of code? Or something else?”
“Our theory—” Ed started, but Sam put a hand on his arm, stopping him.
“We’ll tell you when you agree to keep Quorra safe,” Sam said. “We’re not here to listen to your infighting or your justifications for genocide. We’re not going to solve all your problems, just this one. If we can’t bring Quorra here to work on the vaccine and keep her safe—we’re leaving. The Portal’s still open; we’ve got plenty of time to make it before it closes. So tell us now: will you keep Quorra safe or not?”
“I call for an emergency vote,” Axel said. Atana opened her mouth to protest, but Axel cut her off. “Yes, this is an emergency. The fate of the whole Grid hangs in the balance.” Atana shut her mouth, but glared at Axel. Axel continued, “On the subject of bringing the Iso called Quorra to this Outpost, and allotting sentries and programs for her protection, I vote in favor. Council?”
“I vote against,” Atana said proudly.
“I vote in favor,” Lider said.
“In favor,” Eckert added quickly.
“Against,” Conin said.
“Against,” Haibt agreed.
All eyes in the room fell on Edis. He stared over his steepled hands, as if lost in thought. Then he sighed a little. “I derezzed more Isos than I can remember, during the Purge. I was only a lieutenant, but my work in the Purge saw me elevated to commander. I… I never suspected one of them might have escaped. When you…” He trailed off, then sighed again. “I’m set in my ways. My first thought was that I could finish what Clu started. But he’s gone, isn’t he?” He looked to the Users. Sam nodded once, very slowly.
“This system has changed,” Edis continued. “This virus threatens our very existence, and my first thought is how I can destroy our last hope in defeating it?” He shook his head. “But this system has changed. And I have, too.
“I vote in favor.”
Rho let out a breath she didn’t even know she’d been holding. There was still hope. If Edis, the last of Clu’s generals, could put aside his leader’s directives, then maybe there was a chance after all. She hadn’t liked him for the longest time, but the last few decicycles had changed them both. If he could change, if he could act in the best interests of the Grid and its programs, then he was worth following.
“Bear in mind,” Edis said, looking across the room at the three dissenting programs, “that if we hear of your inciting violence against these Users or the Iso, you will be punished. Am I understood?”
The three murmured their assent.
“To business, then,” Edis said. “What does your plan entail, Users?”
“Our theory,” Ed began again, “is that Quorra has an immune system equipped to fight the virus. Our plan is to infect Quorra and see to it that she survives the infection. Her immune system will then have the antibod—” He paused, taking in the confused expressions around him. “Her immune system will have learned the virus’ code and know how to fight it off when it reappears.”
“We’re hoping we can find and isolate this part of her code and copy it,” Sam continued. “The copies would be used to give the whole Grid and every uninfected program Quorra’s immune system and its memory of how to fight off the virus.”
“You would augment us with Iso code?” Axel asked.
“Heresy,” Atana hissed. “Our Users designed us byte by byte, and you would have us be subsumed by the randomness of Iso code? They have no Users, no rhyme or reason to their existence! Are we to suffer the same fate?”
“I don’t know,” Sam said, shrugging. “But I’ll let you in on a secret: us Users don’t know why we exist, either.”
Atana’s expression grew so outrageously scandalized that Rho almost laughed. By the time she clenched her jaw and repressed the urge, Atana was already making her way out of the office. As the door to the corridor hissed shut behind her, the Nameless said, “You shouldn’t have antagonized her like that.”
“I don’t know, given that she’s in favor of genocide and all, I’m surprisingly okay with it,” Sam replied.
“She might make you regret it, User,” Axel said.
“We’ll burn that bridge when we get to it,” Sam said, almost cheerful. “There’s one more thing.”
“And what would that be?” Conin asked. “More surprises for our unwitting citizens?”
“Ed and I need to go into the Outlands,” Sam said. “We’re going to build an I/O tower so we can communicate with Alan, the guy we’ve got on the outside. We’ll make it the new Portal output, too, so when Quorra comes through we won’t have to go to the city to get her. Is that all right?”
“Permission granted,” Edis said with a wave of his hand. “Nameless?”
“Sir?”
“I think—yes, I think we’re going to name you the Users’ personal security detail, if you have no objections?”
The Nameless shifted where he stood, but otherwise didn’t move. “May I ask why, sir?”
“We know we can trust you,” Axel said simply. “You’ve never been beholden to anyone, not even me. You do your job thoroughly and well. I’m confident you’ll be able to keep the Users and the Iso safe for as long as they’re here. The basic sentries assigned to their detail will be loyal to the Council’s wishes, but any additional security will have to be screened by you as well. Is any of this a problem, Nameless?”
“No, sirs,” the Nameless replied. “Thank you.” He turned towards the Users. “If you’ll follow me.”
“Lead the way,” said Sam.
The Nameless exited through the door Atana had taken moments before, Sam and Ed following close behind him. Rho knew the corridor that led to this office was off-limits to ordinary programs. She could only hope the Nameless could keep the Users safe when they entered the public areas. Hopefully the sentries had calmed everyone down enough that they would leave well enough alone.
“General,” Rho said, stepping forward. Edis, who had watched the Users go, looked at her. “Is there anything you need me to do, or am I free to go about my business?”
Edis exchanged a glance with Axel, then looked back at Rho. “I can’t think of anything at this very moment,” he said. “Come to my office in two hundred micros. I think we will have a message for Atana. Hopefully she’ll have calmed enough by then to accept it. Otherwise, you’re free to go.”
“Yes, sir,” Rho said. She nodded at Axel and Edis, glanced uncomfortably at the other Council members, then exited by the same door the others had.
As she walked down the white, silent corridor, she thought about what she had heard and seen this last millicycle. She’d been sent on a secret mission to retrieve the Users, but all the chaos had happened here in the Outpost. Her fellow programs seemed to have roundly rejected the Users’ proposal for their survival. An Iso survived, but Rho wondered if Quorra would survive her return to the Grid. She had every confidence in the Nameless’ ability to keep her and the Users safe, but she wondered. Atana, Conin, and Haibt were utterly opposed to the Users’ plan, and it was clear they’d stacked the audience with their supporters. Could they also stack the sentries’ ranks, fill the security details with their followers? Would the Nameless have no one to turn to but himself, leaving his charges vulnerable to attack?
Stop worrying, Rho told herself, stopping at the door that connected the corridor to the public areas of the Outpost. She paused, trying to calm herself. The Nameless would have a handle on things. He was Tron, after all.
She just hoped the Users’ and the Iso’s presence would stabilize the Outpost, rather than fracture it further.
Author:
skye_writerRating: T
Characters/Pairings: Tron, Original Characters, Sam Flynn, Ed Dillinger, Jr.
Summary/Prompt: No one knew where the virus came from. By the time they noticed it, it was too late. The Grid's factions put their differences aside and built a haven in the Outlands--the Outpost. Time passes; the Grid's programs survive. Then the Portal opens again, bringing Users back to the Grid, and what happens next may change their world forever.
Warnings: Brief strong language, discussion of genocide.
Author's Notes: Back just in the nick of time. I'm hoping to update Part Two around once a month. I'm still (sigh) in the process of finishing the fic, but Part Two is lengthy enough that I've got a fair amount of lead time. For those wondering, "prodromal" refers to the stage of infection just before the onset of symptoms and illness.
PART TWO: PRODROMAL
CHAPTER NINE: THE AFTERMATH
The shouts, the screams, the noise in the Council chambers was deafening. Rho stared up at her fellow programs, aghast at their reactions to the User Sam’s words. She could barely react to them herself.
An Iso still lived. An Iso could save them all.
And how many here saw the Isos as a stain on this system? How many had joined in the Purge, proudly turning in former friends for a shot at currying Clu’s favor? And now—
There was a whir in the air, then a crash so close to Rho that she flinched and screamed. She turned and saw a disc clattering to the floor. Someone had tried to—
More whirs, more crashes as the sentries knocked the discs away. “Get them to the bench!” Halix was shouting. “The bench!”
Suddenly a hand clamped onto the back of Rho’s neck and rushed her forward. She glanced back; it was one of the sentries. The others were staving off projectiles from the crowd above—discs, batons, glasses from the messes, even a beam katana. The Nameless had hold of both the Users, pushing them towards the barricaded stairs that led up to the Council bench. The Council members were already retreating into the office behind the bench; Rho could only assume that was there they were headed. Only Edis remained at the bench, calling for order but finding none.
The Nameless shoved Sam and Ed into the barricade, then slashed it open with his disc. He pushed the Users through the opening and up the narrow stairs that led to the bench. The sentry pushing Rho ahead hustled her in after them, and she hurried up the steps, all too aware of the open target they made on these stairs. Anyone could throw a disc and derezz her or Tron—The Nameless, she reminded herself sternly. She didn’t know what a thrown disc might do to a User, but it couldn’t be good.
They made it, but barely. Rho had just cleared the Council bench when a disc screamed in from above and lodged itself in the desk. Rho stared at it for a nano, then shook herself and hurried after the Users and the Nameless into the Council’s office. Edis, from the center of the bench, still called for order. She glanced back at him, but the door hissed shut behind her, cutting off his voice and the din of the programs’ fury.
“What the hell was that?!” Ed exclaimed. “What the fuck—” He was shouting at Sam, of all the programs in the room. Rho stared, too much in shock to care how it might look.
“I didn’t think it’d be like this!” Sam yelled back.
“What’d you think it’d be like?” Ed demanded. “You told me they’d killed her people. You didn’t say they’d try and kill us over her!”
“How was I supposed to know—”
“Calm down,” the Nameless said. “We need to—”
“Shut up, Alan!” Ed snapped. The Nameless flinched, but Ed hardly seemed to notice. “These last three days have been the longest of my life, working on your father’s pet project. You said this was going to be simple, but it’s been nothing but chaos on both sides of the screen. You’re practically CEO, you can jerk off with this place on your own time, but I have a job. And you are lucky I decided to give you six hours of my time tonight—which Quorra says is going to be two weeks in here? And they already hate us!” He gestured towards the door, but since Rho was standing in front of it, his hand waved in front of her.
He stared at her a moment, then shook his head. “Sorry. Not you. Them.”
“I didn’t know, all right?” Sam said quietly. “I didn’t know about the virus, and I didn’t think the Isos would still be a sore point with these guys.” He looked at Axel and the rest of the Council, who had been watching Ed’s diatribe uncomfortably. “Why is that, exactly? Quorra said the Purge was nearly a thousand cycles ago for you guys.”
“Because the Isos tore this system apart,” spat Conin. “They came, and suddenly we were second best to the Creator. You’ve just confirmed what we always knew—they were a plague, a virus that would have wiped us from this system. Clu did what needed to be done in getting rid of them.”
Rho could only guess what Sam and Ed’s expression were, but going by their silence, she suspected they were stunned.
“They had no purpose here,” Atana said loftily. “Programs without Users, without functions? What good could they have done us? They cost us our Creator, and in so doing cost us the Grid.”
More silence from the Users. Then, Sam said slowly, “So… are all of you complete Nazis or is it just you two?”
Even Atana looked confused at this.
Ed sighed, then said, “They don’t know what Nazis are.”
“Yeah, I’m realizing that.”
“To rephrase: are all of you totally okay with the extermination of fellow sentient beings, or is it just you two?” Ed folded his arms, while Sam put his hands on his hips. Rho blinked, staring at the Council, unsure of what exactly was going to happen next.
Axel stepped forward. “My colleagues do not speak for me. I can’t say I ever liked the Isos, but the Purge was excessive and uncalled for.”
“Seconded,” Lider said from against the wall.
“Thirded,” Eckert added.
Atana, Conin, and Haibt said nothing. Atana even raised her chin a little in defiance.
Sam and Ed exchanged a glance. “Well—” Sam began, but then the door behind Rho hissed open.
Rho jumped and turned, almost lunging out with one fist—but the Nameless caught her arm, and Edis patted her on the shoulder. “It’s only me, Rho,” he said. He moved past her and the Users to sit at one of the large office’s desks. “The sentries are cleaning up the rabble at the moment. Halix had to call in reinforcements. I apologize for the outburst,” he added to the Users. “Rest assured the discs of those who attacked you have been collected, and the programs in question will be duly punished.”
“Punished how?” Sam asked.
“Work details, with either excavation or construction,” Edis replied. “We need more than a little help in those arenas as of late. I’m sure the Nameless and Rho have filled you in on our recent troubles.”
“Wait,” Sam said. “Are you just gonna pretend that mess out there didn’t happen? We told you our plan, and everyone went berserk.”
“Yes,” Edis said as he took a seat at one of the desks in the room. “We must hope they will come around.”
“Come around?” Atana scoffed. “I think the Outpost’s programs have made their opinion on this bit-brained plan clear. We have far more pressing problems to deal with, Edis, and you know it.”
“More pressing than the health and stability of the entire system?” Eckert asked sourly. “I agree getting rooms for the Xenon programs is a priority, but the virus still spreads, even in the Outlands.”
“Spreads slowly,” Haibt pointed out. “We wouldn’t even have a housing crisis if we’d left those refugees in the Outlands. A camp would have been safe enough for the few decicycles it would take to build accommodations for them all. And now the Users throw us into further crisis by saying an Iso is the answer to all our problems!”
“Not all our problems, Haibt,” Lider said. “Just the biggest one. The housing crisis is a problem, but it is one we are equipped to deal with. We have no tools to deal with this virus, and we haven’t from the start. And now the Users come, offering us a possible solution, and you three want to reject it out of hand? Because its origin might come from a program you consider a plague or a blasphemy?”
“You’re putting your opinions before the welfare of those you were chosen to represent,” Eckert said, moving to get into Haibt’s face. “I know those programs out there don’t like what they heard, but they’ll get over it.”
“What does this ‘vaccine’ involve?” Conin asked suddenly, addressing the Users. “An alteration of code? Or something else?”
“Our theory—” Ed started, but Sam put a hand on his arm, stopping him.
“We’ll tell you when you agree to keep Quorra safe,” Sam said. “We’re not here to listen to your infighting or your justifications for genocide. We’re not going to solve all your problems, just this one. If we can’t bring Quorra here to work on the vaccine and keep her safe—we’re leaving. The Portal’s still open; we’ve got plenty of time to make it before it closes. So tell us now: will you keep Quorra safe or not?”
“I call for an emergency vote,” Axel said. Atana opened her mouth to protest, but Axel cut her off. “Yes, this is an emergency. The fate of the whole Grid hangs in the balance.” Atana shut her mouth, but glared at Axel. Axel continued, “On the subject of bringing the Iso called Quorra to this Outpost, and allotting sentries and programs for her protection, I vote in favor. Council?”
“I vote against,” Atana said proudly.
“I vote in favor,” Lider said.
“In favor,” Eckert added quickly.
“Against,” Conin said.
“Against,” Haibt agreed.
All eyes in the room fell on Edis. He stared over his steepled hands, as if lost in thought. Then he sighed a little. “I derezzed more Isos than I can remember, during the Purge. I was only a lieutenant, but my work in the Purge saw me elevated to commander. I… I never suspected one of them might have escaped. When you…” He trailed off, then sighed again. “I’m set in my ways. My first thought was that I could finish what Clu started. But he’s gone, isn’t he?” He looked to the Users. Sam nodded once, very slowly.
“This system has changed,” Edis continued. “This virus threatens our very existence, and my first thought is how I can destroy our last hope in defeating it?” He shook his head. “But this system has changed. And I have, too.
“I vote in favor.”
Rho let out a breath she didn’t even know she’d been holding. There was still hope. If Edis, the last of Clu’s generals, could put aside his leader’s directives, then maybe there was a chance after all. She hadn’t liked him for the longest time, but the last few decicycles had changed them both. If he could change, if he could act in the best interests of the Grid and its programs, then he was worth following.
“Bear in mind,” Edis said, looking across the room at the three dissenting programs, “that if we hear of your inciting violence against these Users or the Iso, you will be punished. Am I understood?”
The three murmured their assent.
“To business, then,” Edis said. “What does your plan entail, Users?”
“Our theory,” Ed began again, “is that Quorra has an immune system equipped to fight the virus. Our plan is to infect Quorra and see to it that she survives the infection. Her immune system will then have the antibod—” He paused, taking in the confused expressions around him. “Her immune system will have learned the virus’ code and know how to fight it off when it reappears.”
“We’re hoping we can find and isolate this part of her code and copy it,” Sam continued. “The copies would be used to give the whole Grid and every uninfected program Quorra’s immune system and its memory of how to fight off the virus.”
“You would augment us with Iso code?” Axel asked.
“Heresy,” Atana hissed. “Our Users designed us byte by byte, and you would have us be subsumed by the randomness of Iso code? They have no Users, no rhyme or reason to their existence! Are we to suffer the same fate?”
“I don’t know,” Sam said, shrugging. “But I’ll let you in on a secret: us Users don’t know why we exist, either.”
Atana’s expression grew so outrageously scandalized that Rho almost laughed. By the time she clenched her jaw and repressed the urge, Atana was already making her way out of the office. As the door to the corridor hissed shut behind her, the Nameless said, “You shouldn’t have antagonized her like that.”
“I don’t know, given that she’s in favor of genocide and all, I’m surprisingly okay with it,” Sam replied.
“She might make you regret it, User,” Axel said.
“We’ll burn that bridge when we get to it,” Sam said, almost cheerful. “There’s one more thing.”
“And what would that be?” Conin asked. “More surprises for our unwitting citizens?”
“Ed and I need to go into the Outlands,” Sam said. “We’re going to build an I/O tower so we can communicate with Alan, the guy we’ve got on the outside. We’ll make it the new Portal output, too, so when Quorra comes through we won’t have to go to the city to get her. Is that all right?”
“Permission granted,” Edis said with a wave of his hand. “Nameless?”
“Sir?”
“I think—yes, I think we’re going to name you the Users’ personal security detail, if you have no objections?”
The Nameless shifted where he stood, but otherwise didn’t move. “May I ask why, sir?”
“We know we can trust you,” Axel said simply. “You’ve never been beholden to anyone, not even me. You do your job thoroughly and well. I’m confident you’ll be able to keep the Users and the Iso safe for as long as they’re here. The basic sentries assigned to their detail will be loyal to the Council’s wishes, but any additional security will have to be screened by you as well. Is any of this a problem, Nameless?”
“No, sirs,” the Nameless replied. “Thank you.” He turned towards the Users. “If you’ll follow me.”
“Lead the way,” said Sam.
The Nameless exited through the door Atana had taken moments before, Sam and Ed following close behind him. Rho knew the corridor that led to this office was off-limits to ordinary programs. She could only hope the Nameless could keep the Users safe when they entered the public areas. Hopefully the sentries had calmed everyone down enough that they would leave well enough alone.
“General,” Rho said, stepping forward. Edis, who had watched the Users go, looked at her. “Is there anything you need me to do, or am I free to go about my business?”
Edis exchanged a glance with Axel, then looked back at Rho. “I can’t think of anything at this very moment,” he said. “Come to my office in two hundred micros. I think we will have a message for Atana. Hopefully she’ll have calmed enough by then to accept it. Otherwise, you’re free to go.”
“Yes, sir,” Rho said. She nodded at Axel and Edis, glanced uncomfortably at the other Council members, then exited by the same door the others had.
As she walked down the white, silent corridor, she thought about what she had heard and seen this last millicycle. She’d been sent on a secret mission to retrieve the Users, but all the chaos had happened here in the Outpost. Her fellow programs seemed to have roundly rejected the Users’ proposal for their survival. An Iso survived, but Rho wondered if Quorra would survive her return to the Grid. She had every confidence in the Nameless’ ability to keep her and the Users safe, but she wondered. Atana, Conin, and Haibt were utterly opposed to the Users’ plan, and it was clear they’d stacked the audience with their supporters. Could they also stack the sentries’ ranks, fill the security details with their followers? Would the Nameless have no one to turn to but himself, leaving his charges vulnerable to attack?
Stop worrying, Rho told herself, stopping at the door that connected the corridor to the public areas of the Outpost. She paused, trying to calm herself. The Nameless would have a handle on things. He was Tron, after all.
She just hoped the Users’ and the Iso’s presence would stabilize the Outpost, rather than fracture it further.
