Shout to all my boss boys - Rerouting || Tandem Writing || PSL

[amirrorbrightly]

"Come on, man. I've got 14.12 micros to get from downtown Alpha sector, to the site in the Outlands."

Clu wasn't even really looking at Jarvis as the taskmanager kept pace, flicking various adjustments and scheduling changes through his datapad while they walked. Jarvis wasn't a fan of even putting that much delay on possible productivity, but he was even less a fan of lightcycles.

Really, what Clu needed to focus on was transport between the central, old city, and the colonies budding along the main highway between Tron City, and the Sea of Simulation. It was getting more vital the closer the system got to true integration of the populace, especially since partitioning between distance and bad communication wasn't an excuse that Clu was willing to put up with.

So, this millicycle, the sysadmin was scheduled to inspect the work being done to expand the bridge connecting Tron City's plate to the grounded subsidiary plate. It had been something of a controversial undertaking since it was to be the first of three identical super-structures that were designed to connect the old city with direct veins of light and transport into the outlands. The idea was to keep a pathway that would be safe for ground-based transports to go to and from the cities without running the risk of losing power or connection speed to the energy-leeching Outlands.

"As you say, sir. I still would advise taking the offered transport--"

"[pause] Jarvis. The nearest Recognizer wing is a half a sector in the wrong direction, and I've got a baton right here. Relax, [ClrAll] and we'll meet you on site."

Clu was about finished with this discussion, and it showed in the mostly friendly slap to Jarvis' shoulder. It was a good thing the taskmanager was so efficient at his job, because sometimes he drove Clu right up the wall. As it was, Clu had his baton drawn, and cracked before Jarvis could get another word in edgewise.

...Which, unfortunately, left the four Blackguard that were assigned to shadow Clu during the inspection scrambling to catch up.

Clu's laugh was rendered a little tinny behind his helmet, but he didn't wait for anyone to catch up. It had been entirely too long since he'd been able to actually ride through the city at street level, and there was a certain amount of disconnect when viewing the city from a Recognizer.

Clu was pleased to hear the whine of another 'cycle's motivator catching him up, too. Rinzler, at least, wasn't left scrambling in Clu's wake, and that alone was a point of obscure pride for the admin.

Rinzler was integrating nicely with his new tasklist, and though he was far and away more suited to Security work than a large percentile of even Clu's personal Blackguard, learning how to function as part of a team never quite meshed with Rinzler's functions. Clu wasn't terribly surprised by that, Tron had been originally written to run independently, but it did mean that Rinzler struggled with the simpler parts of Program society. The simple things that most programs did without needing to allot specific processing space to - greetings, social interactions, things between friends - became an obvious problem for Rinzler. It showed in the way other programs didn't seem to know what to do in his presence, which in turn brought about awkward moments of pseudo-avoidance, which became a minor destabilizing effect and that meant it was Clu's business.

But, there wasn't much that Clu could directly do about the minor friction. That had nagged at him at first, because he knew from experience that subtle friction between programs ( especially programs particularly close to the top tier hierarchy ) could evolve into real conflict if left ignored.

The only solution Clu had found was to just let Rinzler's tasklist reflect that distancing. Solo missions and moving between the various subsets within the Security Suite to both learn their strengths and weaknesses and then optimize each one so they worked better with the whole was proving very effective. It still left Rinzler as something of an outsider, though, and Shaddox' notes suggested letting Rinzler shadow Clu in between calls would at least keep the newly reclaimed program from idling.

So, it wasn't strictly necessary for Rinzler to be shadowing Clu again for this particular project, but Clu was actually glad for Rinzler's presence. Even if Rinzler's stilted verbal output tended to make Clu's staff uncomfortable ( snarky comments against the sysadmin made to his face was too taboo ) Clu would at least appreciate a program that wasn't afraid to tell Clu exactly what he thought.

...Even if it also meant that rapport tended toward bickering pretty often, too.

Comments

[unrectified]

Necessary or not, Rinzler didn't mind his sudden addition to the inspection group. Yori was occupied at Portal Control, and while he probably had enough tasks in queue to fill this most recent free shift, none were particularly high priority. Including Clu's repeated hints that he should socialize more. To Rinzler, that particular concern didn't even rate "problem"—he was exactly as (a)social as he wanted to be.

Besides, Rinzler was fairly sure Clu didn't get to talk. Helmet angled in a silent countdown as the admin emerged to street level, Jarvis acting as a particularly noisy attachment. Half a micro? Less. The security program shook his head with silent amusement at Clu's conversational exit path—or the immediacy thereof.

Given its predictability, his baton had been out and ready since Clu exited the building. Red-orange lines traced out a wireframe, vehicle rezzed beneath him, and Rinzler hit the streets with a burst of speed. The rest of the security detail wasn't as quick to respond. Or possibly they'd expected their admin to give warning.

They'd learn eventually.

The streets were relatively uncrowded for Alpha sector, and Rinzler idly wondered if Jarvis had put someone on traffic redirection. Not necessarily a bad plan, given how Clu preferred to drive. Rinzler leaned forward, weaving around a half-stalled transport as he came up alongside the gold-lit cycle.

"Jets would be faster."

[amirrorbrightly]

The speed and thrill of jets may be fun in it's own way, but Clu had more trouble with being completely without the fixed point of ground transport. He could fly, and fly well, but some of his fondest memory files consisted of the thrill of racing through the city he'd built with no restraints.

But just for that comment, Clu edged his lightcycle close enough to make a feint at colliding with Rinzler.

"But not at much fun, man."

At the last second, Clu turns his lightcycle at a near-90 degree angle, intending to cut Rinzler off as he took the corner. Mounting the pedestrian section meant that Clu had to swerve to avoid two stunned programs standing at the crosswalk. He waved to them as he went streaking by, grinning at the stupefied expressions on their faces.

Moving away from the main road of Alpha sector meant running past traffic diversion, and seeing more of the usual crowds. The wide sidewalks are bursting with orange, white and green streaks but Clu didn't take his eyes off the wireframe map laid over his vision with the recommended route added. Well, he does a little, but only to find shortcuts that will help him gain more of a lead. Is he imagining things or is Rinzler actually using better course correction than he was?