C'mon, it's not like running away helped LAST time.

[keller_p4d]

I'm sorry, user. I said I wanted to start over, not offer myself up as some new system's scapegoat. And don't pretend this would end differently—I've seen how your experiments tend to run.

You know my function, and you know my work. Now take another look at that mess and tell me again how I'm supposed to fit in?

Comments

[generalissimo]

[are those red circuits he sees? are they? or is it just a trick of the light?]

I don't know who you are, program, but you certainly don't look like someone who would have trouble fitting in.

[keller_p4d]

[...yes, yes they are. That's also a very sudden freeze.]

General Tesler.

...you don't—

[She stops herself halfway. Don't give him any reason to ask questions. Just nod, agree, and get the glitch out.]

I... I'm sorry, sir. [Head lowers, though her eyes never quite leave the other program. Or his gauntlets.] I heard the system was... damaged.

[generalissimo]

[apparently his reputation precedes him. nice.]

No. Should I? [prowls stroooolls closer. not so fast, program. you can go when he tells you to. >3 ] So you're going to be new to this travesty of a system, are you? What's your designation?

[keller_p4d]

I was to be assigned to your command. Sir.

[Oh, she is not so happy with that prowling, though she knows better than to show it. Chin lifts slightly. Introductions are familiar, though she was slightly less terrified the first time around.]

KELLER_P4d. [A pause.] Syscheck editor.

[evolving_unaware]

[Yeah, your function and your work. About that.]

...just because you walked a particular path before doesn't mean you have to continue down it now. That's a lesson a lot of people here have learned.

Couldn't resist the icon. See keywords. :P

[keller_p4d]

[Eying you somewhat sharply, but the statement still gets a faint scoff.]

Spare me the speeches. I'm not interested in joining either of your sides.

I just wanted to do my work in peace.

Re: Couldn't resist the icon. See keywords. :P

[evolving_unaware]

...so did we.

[keller_p4d]

I didn't stop you.

Because philosophising about death is something Bytes do (at really inappropriate moments) ... orz

[letmetellyoumr]

It has occurred to me that Users, in their infinite wisdom, decide when our time is up. Aware of machinations beyond our understanding, they choose our purpose and how we are to best accomplish them.



I suggest you get used to it. :)

Thread interruption is with acct holder permission

[lifes_short_pop]

[Blink. Blink. Didn't he see Byte crash into the...Well, if Mercury could be restored...]

[Has he mentioned lately just how much of a headache this place can give him?]

Byte, two things. One, I don't think that's very comforting. Second, didn't running around with me teach you just how much Users don't know what they're doing?

[letmetellyoumr]

... I will concede to that last point ... but maintain that you are an anomaly.

[In other words: maybe you don't know what you're doing...]

[lifes_short_pop]

I'll be the first to admit that there are braver, stronger, and wiser people who Ma3a could have recruited. [Sam comes to mind...maybe not so much on the "wiser" part, though] Remember that Thorne was a User, too. And there were crazier people behind him.

[keller_p4d]

Clearly we've been running in different systems.

[Flynn? Not so much with the deciding recently. For anyone.]

[lifes_short_pop]

[winces]

No fun to have everyone chasing you. And I'm kinda with you on both Flynn and Clu. The Programs deserve better. Wish there was a third option open.

[keller_p4d]

[One eyebrow rises in a sharp line.]

The Creator's not involved. And I don't have issue with Clu's work.

[lifes_short_pop]

[Skeptical, but willing to listen and reassess based on new information.]

You don't? From what I've heard, he's pretty scary, and not very kind toward the other Programs. [Polite way of saying "rounding up random Programs for blood sport," "mass brainwashing," and "ruling through fear"] Maybe I heard wrong?

[keller_p4d]

[The other programs. Keller doesn't let her curiosity show, but that's the second reference, now. A hand comes up, unclips a small stylus from the front of her suit. She turns it over in her hand once, twice, as if absentmindedly fidgeting. The eyeroll, however, is entirely genuine.]

He's the system administrator. He wasn't written to play nice.

[lifes_short_pop]

I'll admit that the job isn't easy, and probably involves the kinds of decisions I hope I'll never have to make. I don't know how Ma3a manages it.

I've seen enough of Clu's methods to wonder if he really has the best interest of his system at stake, or is just scratching his own circuits at everyone else's expense.