a_perfect_end | [DISCONNECTED] Mailbox [IC]

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thisavrou

[DISCONNECTED] Mailbox [IC]

[he got it to beep just like a tape-fed answering machine]

Greetings!

Recently-deposed Grid management and complaints department.

You know what they say: if you can't say something nice, lay it on me. Do your thing at the tone!

Threaded | Flat

On the morning of July 16th, Clu will receive a copy of Kevin Flynn’s book The Digital Frontier: Mapping the Other Universe (Back cover). The book contains philosophical, technical, and speculative ramblings about computer systems and programs, ranging in content from brilliant to slightly deranged. An example page can be seen here.

[It's been nearly half a cycle since his permissions list expanded. Since Rinzler asked for the most crucial part of what he wanted; since Clu gave in to the inevitability of change. Rinzler is never going back to factory settings, and he'll never forget what that promise cost or for how long.

Still, careful is a tricky line to walk, and most days, Rinzler stays well on the safe side of it. He reports whenever ordered. Provides whatever data Clu might ask. Not everything he does, not always or anymore. But Clu has access to his disk, and acting past his function isn't half the violation that it used to be. Certainly, it hurts less.

All the same, some choices aren't precisely Rinzler's to make. Especially with the consequences so unclear.

The emergency broadcast went out to all TABs. Certainly, Clu doesn't need the ping that flags the post to his awareness, lacking even the window dressing of a word. Rinzler doesn't think it needs them. The uncertainties are obvious; the questions implied. Is Clu reporting in? Should Rinzler? Does his admin have orders for him on the subject?

Or is this another decision category that necessitates an us?]

[It takes Rinzler a while. Longer than it should? Maybe, but contact is so rarely his to initiate. The ISO was a special case, as was the virus before it. This time...

...he waits until he finds his copy. He waits until it's wiped for good. He waits a little longer. Rinzler spends no small amount of time hovering outside Clu's door, only to find it empty when he finally dares scan. But his contact on the TAB stays live. He's still here. The threats are gone. If Clu hasn't made contact, it has to be because of choice—and Clu's choices are paramount.

Two more days. Finally:]

Request update.

[The message comes in the middle of the night, without warning or preamble. It’s not the kind of news that should ever come through text and yet there it is, straightforward and brutally concise.]

Flynn is dead.

Threat observed.

Stealth capabilities.
Four hands.
Strength limited to user metrics, no observed weaponry.
Derezzed immediate instance; additional numbers unknown.

External render: user with black eyes.

[So. Familiar.]

Your status?

[ A note shivers in the air, the quiet hum of a plucked string. He's not precisely sure where Clu's gone off to- asking through the network feels, somehow, impersonal.

~~Why does that suddenly matter?~~

The location? query is polite, warm by old, old habit. Alright, he gives. Where are you, man? ]

Threaded | Flat

DELIVERY

May 4

7/25 or thereabouts

text;

Immediately after Alan's call

ping;