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[alan_1]

You've reached Alan Bradley. Leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can."

Comments

[warandpeace]

I'm sorry about Rinzler's difficulties.

[He doesn't know how much Alan has invested in him, but he knows it's something. And there's so much of this that's not fair.]

I was teaching him not to kill. He was learning. I'm sorry I didn't move sooner. I was being selfish. Preoccupied with my own matters. I owed it to him to do better.

[alan_1]

You don’t need to apologize. What happened wasn’t your fault. [If anybody should be held responsible for Rinzler’s behavior, it’s Alan. He had known what was at stake, even acknowledged the possibility (now the certainty) that Rinzler wouldn’t be able to overcome whatever violence had been written into his code. Yet he had still failed to act, paralyzed by his own doubts, and now two people were dead on account of his mistake.] There’s nothing you could have done to stop it.

[warandpeace]

I believe him when he says that he was provoked. In both cases. He handled it badly, very badly. That much is obvious. He likes to fight. But he didn't want this.

I know for certain.

[It's different from Huey, who didn't care. Rinzler is still a threat, but not out of conniving manipulations. He was forced back into a role that he's genuinely been trying to resist.]

[fight4theusers]

Alan-1.

We should speak. Soon.

[alan_1]

[Alan knew this conversation would come sooner or later. He bites down the instinctive urge to defend himself, to tell Tron that so much of the speculation on that network post is wrong. He didn’t want to lobotomize Rinzler. And he hadn’t.

But with all the harm he had ended up inflicting anyway, such a defense would feel hollow. He’ll provide answers -- not arguments.]

We can speak now, if you’d like. Where are you?

[fight4theusers]

[Tron's in his quarters, but he doesn't particularly want to meet Alan there.]

The library. [He can be there in a few minutes.]



[[OOC: Shall I start a log for them?]]

30/04 - Audio; Encrypted

[beautifulspaceraptor]

Spirits, Alan, what did you and Alice do?

audio; private

[alan_1]

I repaired the damage to his code. [The answer is curt and far too weary.] Only the physical damage. Nothing else.

text;

[whoami]

[ Sam is cagey at the best of times. But with all of the uproar this is causing his voice feels very much like a drop of water to the ocean. So it's not a question about veracity, Sam staunchly believed that the Alan he knew couldn't have done what he was being accused of, it's just a question about location; ]

Where R U?

Re: text;

[alan_1]

[Alan had seen Sam’s comment on Tex’s network post. Seeing him insist, wrongly, on Alan’s innocence had stung more than all the rest of the crew’s hostility combined.

But as hurtful as Alan knows the truth will be, Sam deserves to know what really happened.]

Moro Deck, room four.

[trap_factory]

[Prometheus is... Some part of him feels like he just won the lottery, struck the jackpot. It's wonderful watching people tear each other apart over this. Prometheus regrets having that last trip down to Del Pascia, if only because he missed the stupendous opportunity to watch this first hand.

... Yet--

The text message that Alan gets is simple and to the point]

So did you do it?

audio;

[alan_1]

You’ll have to be more specific. [It’s not all frigid evasion. Did he forcibly repair Rinzler’s code? Yes. Did he alter anything about the way Rinzler thinks? No. He could say as much, but he’d rather have Prometheus ask his own questions -- that at least might shed light on why he’s asking, which Alan needs to know before he gives him any amount of detail.]

6/4

[whoami]

[ Whatever Alan happened to be doing at the time this message would appear over it. It would appear in stereo if Alan happened to be using the laptop since the same message was sent via phone and MID. ]

Look at the crew roster. Now.

audio; private

[alan_1]

[Alan does happen to be on his laptop at the time and gets the same troubling message on both it and his MID. It isn't not hard to pick up on the urgency behind the words and he immediately opens the crew roster on his MID with a frown. It’s been updated since last month; not surprising given the influx of new arrivals. Alan had only given the updated listing a cursory glance before, but now he scrolls through the names with care, searching with a growing sense of unease for the reason behind Sam’s message. It doesn’t take him long to find it.

And if they can see Clu’s name on the roster, then the reverse is also true.]

When did you find out about this? Has he tried to contact you at all? [Alan tries to put his racing thoughts in order, biting down hard on the angry, bitter panic that wants to rise to the surface. He doesn't let it show. Clu is a danger to everyone here, most of all to the people he cares about, and Alan can't afford to let himself be compromised.] Do Tron and Rinzler know he's here?

DELIVERY

[mailcall]

On the morning of July 16th, Alan will receive a copy of Kevin Flynn’s book Structure and Dynamics in Advanced Computer Programming: Existing in the Digital Realm. (Back cover). The book contains philosophical, technical, and speculative ramblings about computer-user interfacing, including seemingly hypothetical scenarios involving the “digitization” of organic life. An example page can be seen here.

May 4, after TOD's post

[notglitching]

[Rinzler wasn't on the asteroid for long. Rinzler might have had a strange awakening; Rinzler might have felt, just briefly, a sick, unpleasant churning in a gut he doesn't have. But Rinzler hadn't ingested any food. Rinzler hadn't accepted any edits from that place. Rinzler couldn't have, on either count. And for all his uncertainty about procedure, he doesn't truly consider anything that happened there a danger to himself.

The same doesn't apply to everyone.]


Status?

[alan_1]

[The question was exactly the kind of thing Alan was hoping to avoid in the wake of the of the message posted to the network. The broadcast has left him shaken enough without dealing with concerns and inquiries from others, no matter how well-intentioned.

He rereads Rinzler’s one-word message a second, then third time, wondering how he should respond. He hadn’t told Rinzler about the procedure to cure his migraines, but he hadn’t made any secret of his presence on the asteroid either. And Rinzler must at least have suspicions if he’s sending this right after that broadcast.

Alan sighs to himself as he reaches for the keyboard. He hasn’t experienced any other adverse symptoms since the nightmare. And he will report to a testing station as advised. But in the meantime, if there’s no evidence of anything actually wrong with him, then there’s no need to give anyone undue cause for worry.]

Fine, as far as I know.

text; private

[themiracle]

I need to speak with you. It's extremely urgent.

[ Alan would know what to do. What should be done. ]

text; private

[alan_1]

[This doesn’t sound good. Alan half-wonders if Rinzler had attacked the program again. Though if that were the case, he’s expect her to mention repairs, not just “speaking.”]

I’m in R1 at {address}. Can you make it here or should I come to you?

text;encrypted; Sept 11th-ish

[notglitching]

Ally requesting code check.

[The most straightforward and utterly un-noteworthy of calls.]

text; encrypted

[alan_1]

[Straightforward, yes. Un-noteworthy remains to be seen.]

Which ally?

[And then:]

Is there any damage?

[gridfather]

Hey man, come down to the barter block. There's something I want you to see.

[alan_1]

[It’s been some time since Flynn first arrived on the station and Alan’s still getting used to him being so… present. After decades with no contact and then hearing of his death, just getting a message from his very-much-alive friend still feels like a miracle. Alan can’t quite shake his smile as he responds.]

On my way.

[He's not sure what Flynn could be planning to show him. Perhaps an update to the recently released ACE project they'd been working on?]

Do I get any hints?

text. backdated tooo before step 3 of current plot

[systemsecurity]

[Congrats Alan, for being the physically closest User he feels has a reasonable handle on things.]

Please recommend a helpful deity.

text;

[alan_1]

[Alan doesn’t know what he was expecting when he opened the message from Anon. All he knows is that it wasn’t this.]

For what purpose?