A Digital Frontier- Chapter Two
Status: Edited
Just as the actuary's last thoughts the night previously had been of Tron, so were his first. The ground felt unusually comfortable and Ram wasn't quite ready to get up, just as always. Doubtless Tron was already up and running, and he'd know, just as he always did, the exact moment of Ram's return to consciousness. Must be some sort of security program thing, what with all their scanning processes and intimate knowledge of the system. Tron would be telling him to get up any nanocycle now, maybe teach him something new that would ultimately end up saving his existence at some point during the Games.
Any nanocycle now...Ram didn't bother opening his eyes just yet. Tron had been becoming more taciturn and withdrawn with every passing cycle, and this was one of their few moments where they could talk and enjoy each other's company before some of Sark's lackeys showed up and spoiled Tron's mood.
The security program never made his smaller friend wait this long without saying something. Ram's eyes opened, taking in the tidy white room blankly for a moment before it all came rushing back. He was at Flynn's place, rewritten to adapt to a completely new system. Ram sat up and yawned, stretching and taking in his own unfamiliar circuitry. He ruffled his own curls, which he was actually starting to like now that he was getting used to them.
He felt a thousand times better than he had the previous millicycle. He was obviously still adjusting to his new coding, but now he felt less like a stranger and more like himself. Ram slid out of bed, pleased to find that this legs were supporting him now that he was back at maximum power, and he carefully remade the wrinkled sheets. He looked around the room curiously, gazing around with interest. He approached the mirror, a little surprised at the reflection that met his gaze. He prodded his rather large nose and tried to calculate what color his eyes were. After a few moments, he grinned at himself and nodded, watching his brown curls flop around with a laugh that was almost a giggle. He liked that face in the mirror. It was definitely still Ram and he nodded approvingly once more. Yep. That would work.
He explored the room for a little longer before growing bored. He pushed the door open and stepped out into the main area of residence. Flynn was nowhere to be found, so Ram took it upon himself to discover a little more about his surroundings. The room intrigued him, filled with all sorts of things he could only assume were digitalized versions of common User items. Ram skipped over to a shelf full of odd rectangles that opened up to reveal sheaves of squiggly symbols. He recognized them as letters, but Ram had never learned how to read this odd language. The actuary had only needed to know how to read binary and other mathematical code. As those were the only languages he had used to communicate with his User, learning to read another had seemed excessive at the time of his initial programming. Now, however, he was reconsidering. Maybe Flynn could teach him to read these confusing squiggles.
He wandered over to the hearth and crouched down beside it, curiously examining the odd data cylinders from which a visible flow of energy and data particles emanated. Yet the oddest part was that it seemed to give off heat. Ram reached out hesitantly to touch it.
A moment later he yanked his hand back with a yelp. The circuitry in his fingertips had turned bright red and throbbed painfully.
“Owwww,” he complained, sucking his hurt fingers and blowing on them lightly.
“Everything okay, Ram?” Flynn stepped in from outside where he'd been meditating, a slight frown on his face. Upon seeing the little actuary crouched in front of the hearth and cradling his fingers, however, he had to fight back a smile.
“It hurt me!” Ram exclaimed, scandalized.
Flynn couldn't help but laugh at the outburst. “It's a fire, man. It gives off heat. It'll burn if you get too close.”
He crossed the distance between them and gently took Ram's wrist, examining his burnt fingers. Interesting. He'd never seen a Program burn before. The circuitry in Ram's fingers glowed scarlet and he did his best to help, sending some Grid energy into the actuary's burns to take the edge off the pain. After a moment the User released his hand and Ram looked at it. His fingertips were still cherry red but the pain had faded.
“Thanks,” he murmured, examining his hand. Flynn's User abilities unsettled him a bit. It would take a while to adjust to that. While he'd always believed in the Users and their godlike powers, it was still unnerving to see someone he had once known and trusted do things that really should not be possible. Ram was hardly unfaithful or disbelieving. It was just that this was Flynn doing all this.
The dull thumping of boots on tile announced a visitor and the two looked up expectantly, Ram still wiggling his red fingers.
Curious to see what Programs in the new system looked like exactly, Ram took in the sleek black suit first, admiring how the design clung to the wearer yet still managed to look stylish. Much more stylish than the ones from the old system, anyway. The visible circuitry was very limited on this Program, only a few white spots here and there. The main feature of the suit, however, was the symbol across the chest: three horizontal squares, with a square coming down vertically from the center square.
Tron.
Caught up in his current objective, Tron hardly gave the actuary a glance before focusing his attention on the User.
“Flynn, I ran into Sam on his way back to the Portal and he mentioned that you—“
Tron trailed off as his eyes went back to the smallish Program beside Flynn. Ram was gazing up steadily at him, lips trembling slightly as he took in the face of his old friend. It was almost exactly the way he remembered it, the strong, almost stern set of the jaw, the dark, intelligent eyes.
But the scar! Horrible lines of damaged coding that stretched from beneath his ear and ran diagonally down the side of his neck before disappearing into his suit. A confused mixture of horror, sympathy, and ardent affection flooded his eyes and made it impossible to speak or even breathe properly.
Tron stared in disbelief at the little actuary, unable to fully comprehend. His gaze flickered to Flynn, questioning. The User nodded, smiling gently. He clapped the two on the shoulders silently and retreated back to his room. He had a feeling he was getting in the way of a reunion that had been fourteen hundred cycles in the making.
Both Programs watched him go before turning back to each other. Ram reached out hesitantly, fingers brushing lightly over the exposed data. Tron winced slightly but made no move to stop him, still watching his oldest friend in awed shock.
Unable to take the suspense any longer, Ram stepped forward and embraced the other tightly. A tiny almost-sob slipped from his lips and he buried his head in Tron’s chest.
Tron blinked, but then the spell broke and his arms wrapped around to hold the smaller Program close. His head dipped down to rest lightly on Ram’s, nuzzling the soft brown curls affectionately. He let out a contented rumble, a soft ‘rrrr’ing sound akin to that of a cat’s purr. Ram giggled a little and snuggled closer. Tron was here now and nothing else mattered.
Tron’s chuckle echoed that of his friend’s. User, it felt so good to laugh again. He breathed in Ram’s temporary “new Program smell” and sighed, purring happily.
At length they broke apart, both grinning in that silly way that better befitted earlier cycles.
“Ram,” Tron said contentedly.
“Hey Tron,” the actuary replied easily, bursting into a happy giggle.
Then they were hugging again, each one laughing like he hadn’t in ages. They were reunited again, the dynamic duo, and there was no way they’d ever be separated again. This time, when they pulled apart, Tron kept a hand on Ram’s shoulder. Ram wound his arm around the other Program’s extended arm and grinned. After being apart for so long, it felt good to keep the contact again.
“You’re back,” Tron commented, making Ram giggle again.
“I guess there’s perks to being friends with a User,” he replied.
“That there is.” It was so much easier to be Tron around Ram. The majority of his warring coding had been modified and adjusted to as close to his original programming as Flynn could manage, but parts of Rinzler simply could not be removed. Clu’s alterations had been in place for too long.
“Tron? Are you okay?” Ram asked worriedly.
Tron blinked again, recollecting himself and nodding. “I was calculating what things will be like now that you’re returned.”
Ram nodded. What would things be like now? Different, obviously. Flynn had warned him Tron wouldn’t quite be himself, at least, not exactly like the Tron he remembered. Ram was already starting to see that.
“You’re sure you’re alright?” Ram asked again as the silence stretched on.
“Better now that you’re here,” Tron replied truthfully. “Things have…changed, Ram. I’ve changed.”
Ram sighed a little. “Flynn mentioned that you’d be different.”
A brief flash of panic and pain flickered through the security program’s eyes and Ram frantically wondered what he’d said wrong and if he could take it back.
“Exactly how much did Flynn tell you?” Tron asked, his grip on the actuary’s shoulder growing so tight it was almost painful, yet his voice stayed calm and carefully controlled.
Ram winced slightly. “N-not much. Just that you’d been through a lot.” Ram hated himself for it, but right now, he was almost scared of his friend. “T-Tron is everything okay?”
Perhaps Tron saw that look on his friend’s face, for he quickly let go of the other’s shoulder and forced a smile that the Ram didn’t believe for a nanocycle. “Fine. I’ve just got to talk to Flynn for a moment.”
He turned on his heel and stalked away, leaving Ram confused and a little hurt.
**Scene Change**
It was only natural that Ram should want to hear what Tron suddenly needed to say to the Creator, so when Tron disappeared into Flynn’s room, the actuary followed to listen at the door.
He hesitated a long moment before it. Honesty and loyalty were programmed into him and was a natural part of his original purposes of serving at an insurance company. This, though, this felt like a violation of trust.
Still. He had to know. Tron was different and he needed Ram’s help. Somehow, deep in his CPU, he knew this. His programming was the way it was so that he could best help people. And no one, no one, was more important to him than Tron.
Decision made, Ram leaned in against the door and pressed his ear to it.
**Scene Change**
“Flynn, how could you do this?” Tron fumed, glaring angrily at the User.
Flynn raised an eyebrow. “Tron. I brought him back for you. You need a friend who understands you. That will help you. You needed Ram.”
“This isn’t about me!” Tron shouted, pacing back and forth. “It’s about him! He might have understood me before, but not since he derezzed, and certainly not now. How can I even face him after what I’ve done? How can I tell him?”
Flynn tolerated the Program’s anger silently and without moving. “I know this is hard on you, but—“
“Hard on me, Flynn? On me? Have you thought about Ram at all? He looks up to me! He respects me! If I tell him, it’ll destroy him!”
The Creator sighed heavily. “Listen, man, I’m sorry you feel that way.” His voice grew firm. “But Ram’s stronger than he was before, and you aren’t going to be able to move past this without someone there for you all the time, someone who cares about you. I can’t do that because of the other duties I have to the Grid, but Ram can. It’s in his programming.”
“I can’t hurt him like this,” Tron murmured, sinking down to sit on the bed beside his old friend. He slumped forward, head in his hands. “What I’ve become…I can’t let him see that. Just the look on his face when he saw my scar…I don’t think I can do that to him.”
Flynn put a reassuring arm around the security program’s shoulders and squeezed lightly. “Don’t worry about it, man,” he said gently. “You’re Tron again. Not Rinzler. That’s your past, and I know how strong you are. You can do this. It won’t be easy, but you can do it. We both know Ram well enough to know that he’ll never give up on you.”
“But can he forgive me? I’ve…Flynn, I’ve…done horrible things. If I can’t even forgive myself, then how can I expect him to?”
**Scene Change**
Ram had listened enough. He pulled away from the door and sunk down into a sitting position, contemplating. What was it Tron had done that he thought Ram couldn’t forgive him for? Ram would always forgive him, didn’t he know that? Tron meant so much to him. As the Champion of the Game Grid, he’d protected his little friend and taught him everything he knew about combat. Granted, Ram wasn’t half as good as Tron was, but the things that he’d learned had kept him alive . He and Tron had nurtured their faith in the Users together, kept each other going when it seemed like the torment would never end. He trusted and admired him above all other Programs.
Tron knew all that. How could he not? So what was it that he’d done that he was so afraid of telling Ram?
Just as the actuary's last thoughts the night previously had been of Tron, so were his first. The ground felt unusually comfortable and Ram wasn't quite ready to get up, just as always. Doubtless Tron was already up and running, and he'd know, just as he always did, the exact moment of Ram's return to consciousness. Must be some sort of security program thing, what with all their scanning processes and intimate knowledge of the system. Tron would be telling him to get up any nanocycle now, maybe teach him something new that would ultimately end up saving his existence at some point during the Games.
Any nanocycle now...Ram didn't bother opening his eyes just yet. Tron had been becoming more taciturn and withdrawn with every passing cycle, and this was one of their few moments where they could talk and enjoy each other's company before some of Sark's lackeys showed up and spoiled Tron's mood.
The security program never made his smaller friend wait this long without saying something. Ram's eyes opened, taking in the tidy white room blankly for a moment before it all came rushing back. He was at Flynn's place, rewritten to adapt to a completely new system. Ram sat up and yawned, stretching and taking in his own unfamiliar circuitry. He ruffled his own curls, which he was actually starting to like now that he was getting used to them.
He felt a thousand times better than he had the previous millicycle. He was obviously still adjusting to his new coding, but now he felt less like a stranger and more like himself. Ram slid out of bed, pleased to find that this legs were supporting him now that he was back at maximum power, and he carefully remade the wrinkled sheets. He looked around the room curiously, gazing around with interest. He approached the mirror, a little surprised at the reflection that met his gaze. He prodded his rather large nose and tried to calculate what color his eyes were. After a few moments, he grinned at himself and nodded, watching his brown curls flop around with a laugh that was almost a giggle. He liked that face in the mirror. It was definitely still Ram and he nodded approvingly once more. Yep. That would work.
He explored the room for a little longer before growing bored. He pushed the door open and stepped out into the main area of residence. Flynn was nowhere to be found, so Ram took it upon himself to discover a little more about his surroundings. The room intrigued him, filled with all sorts of things he could only assume were digitalized versions of common User items. Ram skipped over to a shelf full of odd rectangles that opened up to reveal sheaves of squiggly symbols. He recognized them as letters, but Ram had never learned how to read this odd language. The actuary had only needed to know how to read binary and other mathematical code. As those were the only languages he had used to communicate with his User, learning to read another had seemed excessive at the time of his initial programming. Now, however, he was reconsidering. Maybe Flynn could teach him to read these confusing squiggles.
He wandered over to the hearth and crouched down beside it, curiously examining the odd data cylinders from which a visible flow of energy and data particles emanated. Yet the oddest part was that it seemed to give off heat. Ram reached out hesitantly to touch it.
A moment later he yanked his hand back with a yelp. The circuitry in his fingertips had turned bright red and throbbed painfully.
“Owwww,” he complained, sucking his hurt fingers and blowing on them lightly.
“Everything okay, Ram?” Flynn stepped in from outside where he'd been meditating, a slight frown on his face. Upon seeing the little actuary crouched in front of the hearth and cradling his fingers, however, he had to fight back a smile.
“It hurt me!” Ram exclaimed, scandalized.
Flynn couldn't help but laugh at the outburst. “It's a fire, man. It gives off heat. It'll burn if you get too close.”
He crossed the distance between them and gently took Ram's wrist, examining his burnt fingers. Interesting. He'd never seen a Program burn before. The circuitry in Ram's fingers glowed scarlet and he did his best to help, sending some Grid energy into the actuary's burns to take the edge off the pain. After a moment the User released his hand and Ram looked at it. His fingertips were still cherry red but the pain had faded.
“Thanks,” he murmured, examining his hand. Flynn's User abilities unsettled him a bit. It would take a while to adjust to that. While he'd always believed in the Users and their godlike powers, it was still unnerving to see someone he had once known and trusted do things that really should not be possible. Ram was hardly unfaithful or disbelieving. It was just that this was Flynn doing all this.
The dull thumping of boots on tile announced a visitor and the two looked up expectantly, Ram still wiggling his red fingers.
Curious to see what Programs in the new system looked like exactly, Ram took in the sleek black suit first, admiring how the design clung to the wearer yet still managed to look stylish. Much more stylish than the ones from the old system, anyway. The visible circuitry was very limited on this Program, only a few white spots here and there. The main feature of the suit, however, was the symbol across the chest: three horizontal squares, with a square coming down vertically from the center square.
Tron.
Caught up in his current objective, Tron hardly gave the actuary a glance before focusing his attention on the User.
“Flynn, I ran into Sam on his way back to the Portal and he mentioned that you—“
Tron trailed off as his eyes went back to the smallish Program beside Flynn. Ram was gazing up steadily at him, lips trembling slightly as he took in the face of his old friend. It was almost exactly the way he remembered it, the strong, almost stern set of the jaw, the dark, intelligent eyes.
But the scar! Horrible lines of damaged coding that stretched from beneath his ear and ran diagonally down the side of his neck before disappearing into his suit. A confused mixture of horror, sympathy, and ardent affection flooded his eyes and made it impossible to speak or even breathe properly.
Tron stared in disbelief at the little actuary, unable to fully comprehend. His gaze flickered to Flynn, questioning. The User nodded, smiling gently. He clapped the two on the shoulders silently and retreated back to his room. He had a feeling he was getting in the way of a reunion that had been fourteen hundred cycles in the making.
Both Programs watched him go before turning back to each other. Ram reached out hesitantly, fingers brushing lightly over the exposed data. Tron winced slightly but made no move to stop him, still watching his oldest friend in awed shock.
Unable to take the suspense any longer, Ram stepped forward and embraced the other tightly. A tiny almost-sob slipped from his lips and he buried his head in Tron’s chest.
Tron blinked, but then the spell broke and his arms wrapped around to hold the smaller Program close. His head dipped down to rest lightly on Ram’s, nuzzling the soft brown curls affectionately. He let out a contented rumble, a soft ‘rrrr’ing sound akin to that of a cat’s purr. Ram giggled a little and snuggled closer. Tron was here now and nothing else mattered.
Tron’s chuckle echoed that of his friend’s. User, it felt so good to laugh again. He breathed in Ram’s temporary “new Program smell” and sighed, purring happily.
At length they broke apart, both grinning in that silly way that better befitted earlier cycles.
“Ram,” Tron said contentedly.
“Hey Tron,” the actuary replied easily, bursting into a happy giggle.
Then they were hugging again, each one laughing like he hadn’t in ages. They were reunited again, the dynamic duo, and there was no way they’d ever be separated again. This time, when they pulled apart, Tron kept a hand on Ram’s shoulder. Ram wound his arm around the other Program’s extended arm and grinned. After being apart for so long, it felt good to keep the contact again.
“You’re back,” Tron commented, making Ram giggle again.
“I guess there’s perks to being friends with a User,” he replied.
“That there is.” It was so much easier to be Tron around Ram. The majority of his warring coding had been modified and adjusted to as close to his original programming as Flynn could manage, but parts of Rinzler simply could not be removed. Clu’s alterations had been in place for too long.
“Tron? Are you okay?” Ram asked worriedly.
Tron blinked again, recollecting himself and nodding. “I was calculating what things will be like now that you’re returned.”
Ram nodded. What would things be like now? Different, obviously. Flynn had warned him Tron wouldn’t quite be himself, at least, not exactly like the Tron he remembered. Ram was already starting to see that.
“You’re sure you’re alright?” Ram asked again as the silence stretched on.
“Better now that you’re here,” Tron replied truthfully. “Things have…changed, Ram. I’ve changed.”
Ram sighed a little. “Flynn mentioned that you’d be different.”
A brief flash of panic and pain flickered through the security program’s eyes and Ram frantically wondered what he’d said wrong and if he could take it back.
“Exactly how much did Flynn tell you?” Tron asked, his grip on the actuary’s shoulder growing so tight it was almost painful, yet his voice stayed calm and carefully controlled.
Ram winced slightly. “N-not much. Just that you’d been through a lot.” Ram hated himself for it, but right now, he was almost scared of his friend. “T-Tron is everything okay?”
Perhaps Tron saw that look on his friend’s face, for he quickly let go of the other’s shoulder and forced a smile that the Ram didn’t believe for a nanocycle. “Fine. I’ve just got to talk to Flynn for a moment.”
He turned on his heel and stalked away, leaving Ram confused and a little hurt.
**Scene Change**
It was only natural that Ram should want to hear what Tron suddenly needed to say to the Creator, so when Tron disappeared into Flynn’s room, the actuary followed to listen at the door.
He hesitated a long moment before it. Honesty and loyalty were programmed into him and was a natural part of his original purposes of serving at an insurance company. This, though, this felt like a violation of trust.
Still. He had to know. Tron was different and he needed Ram’s help. Somehow, deep in his CPU, he knew this. His programming was the way it was so that he could best help people. And no one, no one, was more important to him than Tron.
Decision made, Ram leaned in against the door and pressed his ear to it.
**Scene Change**
“Flynn, how could you do this?” Tron fumed, glaring angrily at the User.
Flynn raised an eyebrow. “Tron. I brought him back for you. You need a friend who understands you. That will help you. You needed Ram.”
“This isn’t about me!” Tron shouted, pacing back and forth. “It’s about him! He might have understood me before, but not since he derezzed, and certainly not now. How can I even face him after what I’ve done? How can I tell him?”
Flynn tolerated the Program’s anger silently and without moving. “I know this is hard on you, but—“
“Hard on me, Flynn? On me? Have you thought about Ram at all? He looks up to me! He respects me! If I tell him, it’ll destroy him!”
The Creator sighed heavily. “Listen, man, I’m sorry you feel that way.” His voice grew firm. “But Ram’s stronger than he was before, and you aren’t going to be able to move past this without someone there for you all the time, someone who cares about you. I can’t do that because of the other duties I have to the Grid, but Ram can. It’s in his programming.”
“I can’t hurt him like this,” Tron murmured, sinking down to sit on the bed beside his old friend. He slumped forward, head in his hands. “What I’ve become…I can’t let him see that. Just the look on his face when he saw my scar…I don’t think I can do that to him.”
Flynn put a reassuring arm around the security program’s shoulders and squeezed lightly. “Don’t worry about it, man,” he said gently. “You’re Tron again. Not Rinzler. That’s your past, and I know how strong you are. You can do this. It won’t be easy, but you can do it. We both know Ram well enough to know that he’ll never give up on you.”
“But can he forgive me? I’ve…Flynn, I’ve…done horrible things. If I can’t even forgive myself, then how can I expect him to?”
**Scene Change**
Ram had listened enough. He pulled away from the door and sunk down into a sitting position, contemplating. What was it Tron had done that he thought Ram couldn’t forgive him for? Ram would always forgive him, didn’t he know that? Tron meant so much to him. As the Champion of the Game Grid, he’d protected his little friend and taught him everything he knew about combat. Granted, Ram wasn’t half as good as Tron was, but the things that he’d learned had kept him alive . He and Tron had nurtured their faith in the Users together, kept each other going when it seemed like the torment would never end. He trusted and admired him above all other Programs.
Tron knew all that. How could he not? So what was it that he’d done that he was so afraid of telling Ram?