They bring you into what that looks like a regal throne room. A figure wearing a cloak stands with his back to you, gazing down onto the courts. A thin man with gaunt features stands beside him, studying you. The Sentries leave, and the man in the cloak turns to face you. He’s wearing a helmet.
“Who are you?” you ask as he slowly circles you.
The man stops and removes his helmet.
You gasp. “Dad!”
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Time to end this party! You slip out your disc and hurl it at the booming speakers. There’s a fzzzzt sound, and sparks fly as they short out.
The only sound now is the DJ, who is still humming whatever was just playing. Apparently his headphones are still working, and the song continues running on his deck.
“This program wants to put an end to your fun!” Zuse declares. “He hates dancing! Music! Good times.”
You groan. What is he getting at?
“This man is—” you declare loudly, grabbing Zuse’s arm.
“The party king!” someone in the crowd shouts.
“Quit killing our good times!”
“That’s just what he wants to do!” Zuse shouts. “He is bent on destroying all pleasures! This is just the beginning of his oppression!”
The crowd’s growing ugly. The low murmur has turned into a rumble. They advance on you, pulling out their discs.
“No! No! He’s got it wrong!” you protest. “I’m not the one who—”
But it’s no use. They attack!
“Too bad. You had such promise as a competitive dancer,” Zuse says, just before you black out. Forever.
THE END
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We’ve been kept in the dark too long,” Clu continues. “All that we’ve known is not all there is. Fellow programs, our world is a cage no more. The key to the next frontier is finally in our possession.”
He gestures up at the bridge and all eyes follow, yours included. Your eyes grow wide. There’s your father’s disc, glowing inside an elaborate case. Cheers erupt from the crowd.
Quorra clutches your arm. “He’s going to use Flynn’s disc to travel through the Portal!”
“He’s getting out,” you say, “and bringing an army with him!”
“He’s surpassed me,” your father murmurs. Then he gives his head a sharp shake. “We have to stop him.”
“Are you ready to receive your command?” Clu thunders below. “Out there is our destiny!”
He brings one arm down in a dramatic gesture. Several banners drop to the floor, revealing mocked up images of Rectifiers hovering over major cities of the United States. The images shift to show the same pictures over Europe and Asia. Then they pull back to display Rectifiers surrounding Earth itself.
The one unchanging image is of the glowing blue portal. The way out of this world—and into yours.
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Okay, Dad,” you murmur, focusing on the mission. “Come out, come out, wherever you are.” You’re not really sure where to begin. The Outlands are vast, and you’re trying to find a single person. Needle, meet haystack.
Bartik and Veltor thought your dad might have retreated into the mountains in case Clu eventually invented vehicles that could go off-grid. You head that way.
You trudge across the dark and desolate landscape. The terrain is rugged, and you’re glad you stay in shape with all of your activities. Though as you get closer to the foot of a towering, jagged mountain range, you really wish you’d brought some mountain-climbing gear.
This is crazy, you think. How am I ever going to find him? And even if I do, it may be too late. Whatever Clu has in mind, it could already be happening. Bartik and Veltor both stressed that time is short.
Still, they felt strongly that without your father, there’s no way to rally enough support to overthrow Clu. An idea occurs to you. Could being the son of Kevin Flynn be good enough?
You wish you could ask Bartik and Veltor what they think. Man, why hasn’t anyone here invented cell phones? But they don’t exist. The decision is yours alone.
If you continue searching for your father,
TURN TO PAGE 115.
If you return to the city,
TURN TO PAGE 102.
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“I’ll give you one more chance to hand over your disc,” the Sentry orders.
“What do you want my disc for?” you ask. “Don’t you have one of your—whoa!”
Before you can complete your sentence he flings his disc. You duck and it returns to his hand. He speaks into a device on his wrist. “Rogue program. Derezz in process.”
“I don’t think so,” you taunt. “I’m not like other guys. I don’t derezz so easy.”
He flicks the disc at you again, and this time you execute a high leap and kick him in the face. You spin around as he’s recovering and race away.
You hurtle around the corner and run smack into another Sentry.
“Present your disc,” the Sentry orders.
You jerk your thumb behind you. “That guy took it! I’ve been robbed!”
“Describe your assailant,” the Sentry demands.
Oops. “Sorry! Dark. Didn’t get a good look! Traumatized! You know.” You start running again.
“That’s the rogue program!” you hear the first Sentry shout.
Two discs suddenly slice into you—one into your arm, the other into your leg. You drop to the ground, pain burning through you.
They hover over you. One of them raises his disc. Then it comes down, and there is nothing but…darkness.
THE END
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You stare openmouthed up at the ship. It seems familiar, but how is that possible? Then it hits you—it’s a giant-size version of your old night light. A vehicle your dad called a Recognizer!
You can’t ignore the truth anymore. The map, the city, the sea. You have known all along. You’re inside the world your dad invented. Could this be where your dad went all those years ago? Could he still be here?
You can’t think about that right now. You have to figure out some way to get Alex back.
The Recognizer is moving slowly out over the Sea of Simulation. It must be cruising around looking to snatch up programs. You wonder why it didn’t grab you—unless it was because you weren’t as close to the sea as Alex. Perhaps you need to get closer.
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Silence. Darkness. Nothingness. Until…You float, your mind a blank, through a stream of luminescent data.
Then…you’re back at the arcade, your head down on the computer console. You sit up and blink. Was it all some kind of crazy dream?
“Whatcha doing, kid?” you hear a voice behind you. “Knocking on the sky…?”
You turn and gaze at your dad. He’s standing in the middle of the room with Quorra. She has a completely amazed look on her face.
“Yeah,” you say, getting up. “And listening to the sound.”
You can’t stop the grin from spreading across your face. “We should get out of here,” you say. “This lady’s never seen a sunset.”
You go upstairs to the arcade floor, the others close behind. “I should reopen this place,” your dad says. “I kinda like these old-school games.”
“Yeah,” you agree with a laugh. “It’s hard to imagine a pinball machine trying to take over the world!” Together, the three of you walk out…into a brand-new day.
THE END
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No way do you trust a maniac driver in a mask! “Not a chance!” you shout and turn to run.
You hear the vehicle vroom after you. And Clu now heads straight toward you. They’re boxing you in! Was that their plan all along?
“Get in!” you hear behind you. “Now!”
Clu is barreling down on you. At
the very last moment you fling yourself to the side—and Clu smashes right into the car that’s chasing you!
The crowd goes crazy. You use the distraction to do a somersault off the platform to the game grid below. Then the platform below that. You don’t care where you’re going—you just go!
You’re panting hard when you finally find a way out of the stadium. You stop to get your bearings. Up ahead you see a bridge that leads into a city. All around you are other stadiums. Kind of what you imagine an Olympic village to be like. Neither option seems very safe. But you know you can’t stay here. The Sentries are probably already looking for you.
Take the bridge into the city ON PAGE 120.
Seek shelter in one of the nearby stadiums ON PAGE 19.
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You fling yourself at Rinzler. He parries your tackle and judo flips you. You slam onto the bridge, the air knocked out of you.
As you struggle to your feet you see Quorra leap into action. She pulls out her baton, and a grappling hook shoots out. She uses it to swing herself under the swaying bridge past your dad and Rinzler. She flips up beside you and helps you to your feet.
Rinzler draws his discs and stalks toward you and Quorra.
You feel an enormous shudder and are horrified to see that the bridge is retracting from each end! A gap is widening in the center of the bridge.
“What’s happening?” you shout over the roaring winds.
“The bridge does this when the Portal is about to close,” your father shouts back. He’s staggering toward the ever-widening gap. Rinzler still stands between you. You clutch the bridge rail to keep from being tipped over into the infinite chasm below.
Rinzler whirls around to face your father again. “You’re never getting out, Flynn,” he snarls. You’ve got to do something. The Portal will close any minute, and you’ll all be trapped here! But what?
Do you use your disc to try to derezz Rinzler? Your aim has to be perfect or you could hit your dad. TURN TO PAGE 97.
Do you use Quorra’s grappling hook and try to bypass Rinzler, grab your dad, and get back before the Portal closes? Complicated, but it could work. TURN TO PAGE 89.
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Trying to escape sounds like a really good way to get killed. And you are pretty sure you don’t want this guy bossing you around. You carefully extract yourself from the huge guy’s grip. “Sorry. I’m not much of a joiner.”
The mountain of a man steps back and glares at you. “You will regret that.” Now you get nervous. You’re trapped in a small cell with a guy who takes up most of the space in it.
“You know, on second thought—”
You never get to finish your sentence. The man’s enormous pawlike hand suddenly grips your throat. “You know too much,” he hisses into your ear as he lifts you off the ground. “And now we could never trust you. You must be eliminated.”
You struggle, wriggling and kicking, but it’s no use. The giant is just too strong. The world spins, and then everything goes black.
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You’ve got to take out Rinzler or the Portal will close and trap you all here forever.
“Look out, Dad!” you shout. You grab your disc and hurl it at Rinzler’s head. He smacks it with his baton, and it careens back at you. You lurch to the side to avoid being sliced by the whirling disc.
Unfortunately, your dad and Quorra both lunge the same way, and the sudden weight of all three of you tilts the already precarious bridge. All of you topple over the side…and into the yawning chasm below. This is your…
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You are whisked away to a sparse chamber, where you are outfitted by a group of four beautiful and identical Sirens. You’re impressed by the form-fitting armor they give you, but you are worried. Why would you need to wear armor? You shudder, remembering that the nervous dude would rather fling himself to his death than play.
One of the Sirens removes a luminescent disc from a container and stands behind you. She inserts it into a sheath in your armor. The disc hums and glows. “Mirroring complete,” the Siren states. “Disc activated and synchronized.”
“What is that?” you ask.
The Sirens look confused by the question.
“I’m new to this whole”—you gesture broadly—“this whole scene.”
“The disc holds all of your information. It is who you are,” one of the Sirens says. “We all have them.”
“He is different,” another Siren states.
“You’re ready,” a third Siren declares. “Proceed to games.”
“Games? What am I supposed to do?” you ask.
“Survive,” the fourth Siren says. You stare, open-mouthed, as they melt into the walls and freeze into statues.
“S-survive?” you stammer. What kinds of games are these?
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Zuse leaps up onto the bar and starts dancing across it, like an old-fashioned vaudeville performer doing a soft-shoe number. A spotlight shoots out of his cane, marking your every move. “Behold the Son of Flynn!” he cries. “Behold the son of our maker!” All the guards are now focused on you. Another disc spins across the room right at your head when—
Clack! A disc flies in from the opposite direction, deflecting the weapon away from you. You spin around and see Quorra striding through the club!
You race to her, ducking through the crowd, trying to put programs between you and the Black Guard. Maybe they won’t be able to aim as effectively with so many distractions and obstacles.
Quorra does a double take when she sees Zuse dancing on the bar. The disappointment on her face is obvious. “Come on,” you urge her. You know seeing her old mentor Zuse acting like a cartoon is unsettling, but now is not the time.
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“Third call for winks on the upper level,” the new guy shouts at you. “Move it. Or it will be your hide!”
You’d better get on this winks problem. Even if you have no idea what the problem is! All you can figure is that “winks” are seriously important here.
You find a box labeled winks. You don’t even bother to check inside. You just grab it and rush upstairs. You come to a sudden stop at the edge of the game platform.
You’re at a tiddledywinks tournament and in charge of keeping the winks flowing. Who knew something this boring was part of your dad’s cool digital world!
The tournament may not really last forever—but it sure feels that way!
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From where you’re standing you don’t see any way back to your world. The stretch of land you’re on is desolate and almost desertlike. You have a feeling you’re not going to be able to get back home unless you find the missing arcade. At least, that’s your theory. For all you know, there could be exits and entrances all over the place.
“Come on!” Alex says, grabbing your arm and tugging hard. “What are you waiting for?”
He’s right. And then it hits you. Something amazing has just happened: you somehow ended up inside a world created by your father. You’ll worry about getting back home later. You rack your brain, trying to remember the map on your dad’s office wall and on the console. Alex pushed on the Outlands—so that must be where you are now. Then that should be the main city, you reason, looking to your left. And those lights are coming from the Sea of Simulation. Whatever that is.
So which way do you go?
Do you head for the glittering city ON PAGE 119.
Or do you check out those amazing bursts of light at the Sea of Simulation ON PAGE 37.
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Your father’s face is full of sadness. “I tried to come home. But the way out—the Portal—closed on me.” He takes in your confused expression. “As a fail-safe I’d set the door to open only from the outside and only for a limited
time. It closed on me. That was the last night I ever saw you.”
“You mean I can’t just go back out the way I came in?” you ask nervously.
“’Fraid not,” your dad says.
“The Portal,” you press. “It activated when I came in, right? So it’s open now.”
“For a time, yes.” Your father nods. “Not for long.”
“So what are we waiting for?” you declare, standing up. “Let’s get out of here!”
“The moment Flynn’s on the Grid,” Quorra says, speaking up for the first time, “Clu will stop at nothing to obtain his disc.”
“My disc is everything,” your dad explains.
“So that’s it? We do nothing? We just sit here?”
“It’s amazing how productive doing nothing can be,” your father says.
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“I’m not sitting around here until some plan magically presents itself,” you tell Quorra. “If he refuses to save himself, then I will save myself.”
“How?” she asks.
“I’m going through the Portal. Clu wants my dad’s disc—not mine. Clu had it and handed it right back. I’m getting out. I’ll find Alan, and we’re going to figure this thing out from the other side. It may be Clu’s game here, but in my world, he’s gone in one keystroke.”
You seem to have gotten Quorra’s attention. She studies you intently. “I can’t do anything until I’m out,” you continue. “And I can’t get out unless someone gets me to the Portal.”
You watch her. Will she help you?
Her expression is unreadable. “I really think you should consider your father’s wisdom,” she says. She turns and leaves. Looks like you’re on your own. You’re going to get out of here, or die trying. You just hope it’s not the second thing….
Tron Legacy - It's Your Call - Initiate Sequence Page 6
