Never took this road before

[firefixit]

Who: Fire and whoever finds her
What: Fire has just rerezzed to the Grid and needs a few things explaining
When: Before this End of Line post
Where: An unstable area on the outskirts of Tron City
Warnings: None for now, will update if that changes

Comments

[yorisearching]

Most programs had moved out of this sector after the last influx of gridbugs, but the repair work was slowly progressing back toward the outskirts. Specialized construction programs did most of that, but with so much recovery to do, Yori had volunteered as one of many programs taking detailed and up-to-date note of the damage.

The others in her group were still some way back, though, and Yori was scowling at one particularly crumbled section as she waited for them to catch up. Glitches and gridbugs and stubborn programs, she'd been an idiot to try that job alone.

Faltering footsteps from an unexpected direction caught Yori's attention, her expression lightening to curiosity. A tired program didn't automatically mean a new arrival, but it was a pretty fair chance. "Need any help, there?" she called.

[firefixit]

Fire was in no condition to turn down help, and somehow she instinctively trusted the woman's voice. The concern was clear, and if whoever it was had seen her, knew she was a blue-circuit, and was still offering assistance, then odds were good that the offer was genuine.

"Yes . . . please, help me," she called weakly, staggering towards the other program. She was very pretty, Fire noticed absently, with a finely coded face and beautiful long blonde hair. And, to Fire's relief, she wore the blue circuitry of those who would rather have the User in charge than Clu. She was too exhausted to wonder if it might be a trick. "I . . . what happened?"

[yorisearching]

Anyone might be tired without being new, but that note of dazed confusion was a more definite sign. Yori shifted the various structural analyses to low priority and turned a reassuring smile toward the other program. "You're safe now," she promised. "Things probably seem different. I'll explain once you've got enough energy to process straight."

Most of the construction group carried sealed packets of emergency supply, in case of accident, now that such things were not reserved for Clu's forces. Yori detached hers from her armor and held it out. This wasn't quite an emergency, but they were a long way from a functional source. Yori could usually recognize a rerezzed program by now, and this one needed the energy.

"I'm Yori," she added. No questions yet. Putting paranoid programs on their guard never worked out well.

[firefixit]

Fire hesitated before taking the pack. Such things were for Clu's forces, but the rebels occasionally managed to locate a few emergency packs. Still, she needed the energy too badly to reject it.

"Thank you," she whispered, ripping the pack open and drinking thirstily. The fresh energy coursed through her circuits, bringing her back up to something near normal functioning. While she was still low, she wasn't in any immediate danger. Her circuits brightened.

"My name is Fire," she told Yori in a more normal voice. "Could you please tell me what's happened? The buildingis have deteriorated, and I don't know where my - my friends are." She'd substituted 'friends' for 'team' at the last minute, still wary of openly identifying herself as a rebel.

[yorisearching]

"It's a longer story than you expect," Yori warned. But she judged
Fire well enough recovered to hear the short version. Most of it was good news, after all, unless Yori missed her guess about this one's sympathies. She gave the present-date cycle. "If you remember being derezzed, that's probably accurate, nothing is wrong with your memory. A lot of programs are reappearing, from all different times. I don't know whether your friends are here yet, but I'm sure you'll find them."

Yori wasn't going to ask for the friends' names, either. She hadn't forgotten how it felt to be interrogated for that kind of information.

Her smile turned a touch fierce with triumph, as she added, "The important thing is, Clu's not in charge anymore. There are Users on the Grid again, and Tron is running the Arena by the proper rules."

[firefixit]

Fire blinked and shook her head when she heard the date. Surely she'd misheard? Her visual circuits had been blurring before she'd drunk the energy - maybe her audio receptors were still having problems. Then Yori went on to reassure her that remembering being derezzed was normal. Programs from different times

[yorisearching]

It was a lot to process, and the complications never seemed to end. Yori smiled ruefully. "And that's only the easiest part to explain. No need to dump everything at once, though. Things are stable enough for now, you have as much time as you need."

Fire would have to ask about Tron. Yori hoped her flinch hadn't been visible. "I don't think Tron wants to talk about the details," she said, honestly. "I'm just glad he's here at all."

The version of Tron answering to that name while still wearing Rinzler's helmet and armor was evidence enough of the connection that it was kind of an open secret now, but it was Tron's story and not hers. Even if the name had become more of a collective noun than she'd ever expected. "Though that's one of the complicated bits," Yori added, in case the other program had noticed the flicker of pain. With some complications she was unwilling to explain, but more than complicated enough even in simple form.

[firefixit]

Fire was still a little too out of it to notice Yori's flinch, but she could tell that Tron wasn't a subject the other program wanted to discuss. "Guess I'll have to find something else to work on, then," she said, half to herself. It had been so long since she'd worked for anyone but the Resistance that she was having to dig the memories of the old days out of deep storage. "Maybe I could start by fixing up this place."

She looked up at Yori, clear-eyed and finally starting to process properly again. "Is all the Grid like this, or is the damage limited by area?"

[yorisearching]

"Most of the residential sectors are in better repair," Yori assured Fire. "But in sectors where there was too much damage to hold much population--there's been gridbug trouble, and you know how these things go. With no one to warn or defend a place, the building doesn't last long." She made a broad gesture in the direction of inhabited sectors. "I'm actually with a construction team, though I've gotten a little ahead."

Yori paused. One of the volunteers was a former Sentry, still in orange circuitry but willing to put the Grid's wellbeing above orders that had ceased to be relevant. Ril wasn't one to start hostilities, but letting Fire run into him had all sorts of potential for disaster.

She smiled ruefully at Fire. "We'd be glad for the help, but--there are still things I ought to explain first."

[firefixit]

"A construction team!" Fire brightened up at that, literally. "Looks like I fell into the right place, then."

While Fire isn't a construction program, her skills complement that kind of function. She can either fully repair something, or run a temporary patch that will stop a building from coming down on someone's head until they're ready to demolish it. The former takes a lot longer than the latter, and if they want to rebuild instead of just repair, the second option would be more useful to them.

"And you think those things might make me change my mind?" Fire guessed, noting the hesitation in Yori's tone and the skirting of the issue. Fire tended to prefer to barrel straight through the middle of things. "Go on, tell me."

[yorisearching]

Yori shrugged, her own smile growing warmer at Fire's resilient spirit. "I don't know about changing your mind, but certainly things that anyone ought to have more than a microcycle to adjust to. Especially after being derezzed

[firefixit]

"Oh, I'm nowhere near adjusted," Fire said ruefully. "But I'd rather concentrate on work and let things sink in gradually, rather than have nothing to do but think."

The news that the Grid was more or less at peace was welcome, although hard to compute. Though she'd always reserved her active dislike for Clu, rather than his followers, she had been fighting them for centuries. The abrupt cessation of hostilities was a little difficult to process

[yorisearching]

"That's perfectly understandable," Yori agreed to both the desire to work and the escape clause. "I can give you directions or take you wherever you want to go, if you need to get away

[firefixit]

Fire blinked. "Programs from parallel, non-networked Grids are appearing here? That shouldn't be possible." She shook her head, but in an attempt to clear her processes rather than in negation. "Then again, I should be long derezzed, so I'm not going to say what's possible and what isn't any more."

She glanced down the street, hoping to catch a glimpse of Yori's team, but saw nothing. "Until they get here, did you want some help? I can scan whatever building you want to work on and tell you where the errors are, if you like. My first primary function was to repair buildings damaged in Gridbug attacks." Her programming had been expanded considerably since then, of course, but it was always pleasant to return to her original task.

[yorisearching]

"I never would have thought all this was possible either," Yori agreed, raising both hands with a half-humorous look of surrender. "But even the Users don't know how it's happening. So we just try to patch the Grid up the best we can, meanwhile."

Which included physical repair, of course, battle damage and gridbug decay; but Clu's damage ran far deeper than the destruction of property.

Yori walked a few steps backward toward the coordinates where she'd left the construction team. "I was doing a quick survey, to mark any change or danger since last time, but it would be better if we headed back to the construction area. More efficient when everyone's working together. I'm designed for analysis more than repair, anyway, although to be honest buildings were never my specialty." She grinned, and indicated the direction. "Coming? They'll start thinking gridbugs got me if I stay away too long."

[firefixit]

"Love to!" Fire grinned back, happily following Yori and her directions. "It's good to know that I'll have something to do here."

Even on passive scan, she could sense the damage to the buildings around her, and the repairs that had been done. There had been some good work there. However, it seemed that most of the structures around here had at least partial damage.

"Buildings may not be your speciality, but you and your team look like you're doing very well so far," Fire said thoughtfully, her attention only half on their path. "And don't tell me you're 'just' analysis. Analysis is a vital part of the repair process. Can't fix it unless you know what's wrong, after all."