Tron Legacy - It's Your Call - Initiate Sequence (16 page)
Read Tron Legacy - It's Your Call - Initiate Sequence Online
Authors: Carla Jablonski
Tags: #Fiction - Young Adult
I
t looks as if no one ever patrols here. Broken glass and twisted metal litter the streets. A bitter wind howls through the crumbling buildings, cutting right through you. You want to get off the streets, warm up, and think. You duck inside an abandoned building.
Your eyes adjust slowly to the dim light. You don't know what used to be made here, but no one's been there in an awfully long time. Dust covers all the surfaces, and rusted machinery looms in the darkness like fossilized dinosaurs.
You find a spot that's out of the cold draft and sit. You hold your head in your hands, trying to put all the pieces of what you know together. Which isn't much. Least of all how to get yourself back home.
A sudden movement catches your attention. You're pretty sure someone just raced across the room and through a door on the left. Then you hear talking coming from the room on the right. Clearly, you aren't alone.
Should you find out who just ran through the spaceâand why they're in such a hurry?
TURN TO PAGE 95
.Or do you want to find out who's talking and what they're talking about?
TURN TO PAGE 99
.
F
inding your dad could take forever. And time is of the essence. Somehow you have to unite the rebels. Then, maybe your dad will come out of hiding voluntarily. But you need Bartik's help. You make your way back to the dilapidated shack Bartik uses as rebel headquarters. You arrive during some kind of meeting.
“You're back!” Bartik crows as you step through the door. Then he looks puzzled. “You're alone?” His expression darkens with sorrow. “Was heâ¦dead? Or did he refuse to come with you?”
You glance around the room full of fierce-looking men and women. For one second you consider lying to them, telling them that he didn't want to come. But that won't help the cause. So you take a deep breath and tell them the truth. “I realized by the time I found him it could be too late.”
There's a general murmur of confusion and discontent. You hold up a hand. “Most of you don't know me,” you say. “I'm Sam Flynn. Kevin Flynn's son. And I want to help overthrow Clu.”
Now the room goes silent. You really hope you didn't make a big mistake.
Your jaw clenches and you hold your breath as they all stare at you. Bartik approaches you slowly. You prepare yourself for an attack.
C
ool!” Alex cries before Bartik can respond. “Rescuing Kevin Flynn. I'll be famous forever!”
“Slow down, kiddo,” you tell him. “You'll be doing no rescuing. We need to get you back home.”
Alex's eyes widen in fury. “No fair! You wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for me.” His lower lip trembles as if he's about to cry.
“Hey, I'm not going to just send you packing,” you tell him. “I need you to be my backup on the outside. In case something goes wrong.”
He studies you suspiciously. “Really?”
“I swear,” you say. “Your mission is critical.” You find Alan's business card in your wallet and give it to Alex. “The minute you get home, call this guy. Tell him everything. He'll find a way to take out Cluâjust in case we don't.”
“The mini must go?” Veltor asks. He seems disappointed.
“We try to protect kids,” you explain. “Otherwise they don't become adults. Now, how do we get him out of here?”
Bartik and Veltor exchange a look. “We're not sure,” Bartik admits. “But the rumor is that Kevin Flynn came and went through the Portal on the island.”
“So let's get to the Portal,” you declare.
“We can't go with you,” Bartik explains. “It's off the Grid.”
You shrug. “That's where you said my dad is. So first I deliver Alex. Then I find my dad.”
Y
ou can't leave your dad here. You've just found him again, and now you understand why he didn't return. You're sure you can get him to leave with you after a good night's sleep. The Portal has to stay open that long, right?
The next morning you wake up and find your dad doing yoga. Quorra is sipping tea and gazing out the window. Everything is so quiet you feel as if you should tiptoe.
“It's all right, Sam,” your father says without looking at you. “Don't worry about making noise. It's all part of the experience.”
“Can I talk to you?” you say.
“We're talking now,” you father replies.
“I mean with us both right-side up.”
“Don't limit yourself, man,” your father says. But he gets out of his pose and sits in a lotus position.
“We really have to get out of here,” you say. “There's a whole lifeâa whole world waiting for you outside. And for me.”
“The world for me is the world within,” your father says. “Inner space. So it doesn't matter if I'm in this safe house in the mountains of the Outlands or if I'm in the middle of the biggest city in the United States.”
“It matters to me!” you exclaim, exasperated. You get up and stalk away from your dad. Otherwise you worry you might grab him and try to shake some sense into him.
W
ithin minutes you've left the club and entered a subterranean level. “Your dad invented Tron?” Alex asks as you walk. “Why didn't you say so? He's like a total rock star!”
“I didn't think you were old enough to know who he was,” you say, glancing at him. “He's beenâ¦gone, for a long time.”
“I read all about him,” Alex gushes. “Do you think he'll give me an autograph?”
“If we find him,” you say. You follow Bartik and Veltor into a dilapidated shack with blacked-out windows. Bartik lights a small lamp, which casts everyone's face in shadow.
“I know why I'm looking for my dad,” you say to Bartik as you settle into a rickety chair. “Why are you?”
“You really don't know?” Bartik asks. You shake your head. Then he launches into a story that makes your head swim. How your dad created this whole world, but one of his creations, Clu, managed to overthrow him. That Clu turned the place into a totalitarian nightmare where programs are hunted down and killed if Clu deems them “imperfect.” And that there are signs that Clu is plotting something new. Something big.
“Which means now is the time to be rid of him. Once and for all,” Bartik says. “If we can bring your father out of hiding, I know he'll be able to rally legions of programs to our cause.”
“Do you have any idea where he is?” you ask.
Veltor sighs. “We suspect he's gone off-grid. Where no programs can go.”
“But I can,” you point out.
W
hen you finally stop falling you find yourself in a strange landscape. It's very dark, except for occasional flashes of crackling light that trip across the blank terrain. Far in the distance in one direction is what looks like a massive city, and far off in the other direction you can see bursts of brightly colored lights on the horizon.
“We're in the computer!” Alex bounces around as if he's got springs on his feet. “I did it! I really did it! This is awesome! This is bigger than awesome! This isâ”
“Would. You. Please. Just. Simmer. Down?” you say. Your brain feels like it's melting, and a crowing, hyper kid isn't helping. “You're just jealous because I figured out how it worked and you didn't!” Alex brags.
“You having fun yet?” you say sarcastically. “Because you may have gotten us into this place, but now what?” You gesture broadly. “There's nothing to do out here but watch some flashes of light.”
Alex frowns, and then his eyes well up.
Sheesh. “Hey, I didn't mean to upset you.”
The kid flops to the ground. “I mess up everything!” he wails.
