Chapter 78: A Bit of a Problem

FINALLY particles stop emitting from the reactor core. That weird buzzing music has faded away, and all is quiet. Even the static has stopped emitting from your radio. You are shaken and exhausted from slamming the Proteus around like a pinball, and collapse back into your seat, panting.

Melvin is panting too. “Do… do you think it’s over?”

You both jump at hearing the radio. “I think you did it!” says the mildly excited Doctor’s voice, echoing through your ship and the hollow, silent reactor core.

“Great, Doc,” replies Melvin. “Now how do we get out of here?”

“In the back of one of those corner bonus rooms, you will find a hatch… now that the reactor is shut down, it should open when you approach.”

Having (mostly) collected yourself, you fly to the nearer bonus room, being careful not to collide with the walls of the narrow opening. Just like the Doctor said, there is a hatch on the far side, and as you slowly approach, it slides open. It is just big enough for the ship to fit through, and you cautiously guide the ship through it into the dark space beyond.

“Okay, Doc, we’re through,” you say into the radio.

“I’m going to extract you now.” You grip the console tightly as the ship tumbles through the now familiar swirling into the syringe. Things get brighter around you, and then brighter still. You feel the shaking that tells you that he’s running. He sounds almost jubilant. “Now that you have stopped both reactors, all that remains is to battle the super virus, and the city, perhaps the world, will be saved!”

“Sounds good, Doc,” you say through your exhaustion, while you examine your glowing green hands. “Melvin, was I glowing like this before?”

“No way. I think all the radiation from those reactors is getting to you.”

“Yeah. I… sure hope when the Doctor grows me back that I can return to normal.”

“Yeah…” says Melvin. “You sure have been a lot of animals today… a frog, a bear, a mouse, some kind of bug, and now a lizard.”

“Yeah.” The shaking has stopped, but everything is still very bright. You wonder what is taking the Doctor so long, and you pick up the radio. “Hey Doc, everything okay up there?”

His voice is no longer jubilant. “I… can’t get into Building 4.”

“What? Why not?” asks Melvin, irritated. “You got into the other three buildings okay.”

You hear beeping and booping sounds, followed by the harsh buzz of failed password entry. “I knew the supervirus would need the strongest security, so I hired ENCOM to make sure no one but me could get in. Since you cured my blood clots, my face now looks more normal, and I with both reactors shutdown, the system seems to realize the virus is in danger, and I can’t override the facial recognition system,” explains the Doctor.

You remember the Doctor’s terrifyingly swollen red face, and you wonder what he looks like now. “So… what do we do, Doc?”

“I… don’t know. Climbing the building won’t work… the roof entrance will have the same security. Every door and window is sealed up tight. Curse my passion for high security!”

“Ha, too bad you can’t inject us into the security system!” jokes Melvin.

“I know,” says the Doctor, “I mean, I have a portable digitizer, but for your matter to be digitizable, your ship would have to be less than 540 nanometers... and… and oh! Wait, it is!”

“Wait… what?” you shout, suddenly nervous.

“Yes… yes, this can work!” says the Doctor with quiet excitement. “Player, we don’t have much time. Defeating the Supervirus won’t be easy, and with the security lockdown, I’m pretty sure the system is going to deploy the virus into the atmosphere by midnight. The only way in is if you can break the security.”

“But… Doc, I don’t know anything about hacking,” you say.

“When you are digitized, it won’t seem like hacking. It will seem more like a… space mission. I will digitize you and the ship, and all you need to do is find the three security cores of the MCP, and shut them down.”

“What?” you say, bewildered.

“It’ll be like shutting down the reactor. I’m sure you can do it. Prepare to digitize,” he says.

“Wait, like Tron?” you exclaim, concerned.

“No, it’s nothing like Tron,” he replies as you and your ship are suddenly flooded with a blue light, and a scanning laser deconstructs your atoms, row by row.

Suddenly you awake, and things look very different. The ship is now bright yellow, and everything looks… digital. You aren’t in water any more, you seem to be flying. You are whizzing down some kind of digital highway made out of neon blue lines. Melvin, next to you, looks pretty much the same though, just a digital square. “Melvin,” you say, “this is just like Tron.”

“Is it?” asks Melvin, squinting out the window. “I don’t really remember that movie.” He looks at you. “Nice hat, though.”

You in the glint off of the windshield of the digitized Proteus, you catch your reflection. Your green skin still glows… but differently now, more evenly. Somehow you are wearing a purple shirt and yellow hat. You don’t remember those from Tron… maybe Melvin’s right… maybe this is nothing like Tron. You look into the distance, and see a massive structure. “Melvin, is that the MCP?”

“How would I know?” asks Melvin. He is looking in the rear view screen now. “But I do know the guys behind us look like trouble.” You glance at it and see two red and huge ships that look sort of like the letter M. A buzzing digital voice shakes your ship. “THIS TRANSPORT IS UNAUTHORIZED. STOP IMMEDIATELY OR FACE DERESOLUTION.” You seem to be in the grip of some kind of tractor beam. “Melvin, what do we do?” you ask as Melvin flits around desperately. Seeing no option, you bring the Proteus to a stop.

“EXIT IMMEDIATELY.” Says the voice.

You and Melvin hesitantly step out of the vehicle, and find yourself faced with four guards in red neon hockey equipment and carrying some kind of cattle prods. “THIS VEHICLE WILL BE CONFISCATED FOR THE GAME GRID,” says one. You step forward to object, and one of them stabs at your chest with the cattle prod, and you fall backwards into a deep pit, as you hear Melvin call “Noooooooooooo!”

Things go black… for a long time.

“Player… are you there? Hello?” you hear Melvin’s voice, and open your eyes to see a blurry smudge hanging in the air in front of you. “Come on, Player, wake up, we have things to do.” You groggily blink your eyes, and see Melvin in front of you. You seem to be in the bottom of a deep pit. Everything aches. “Melvin, where are we?”

“I’ve been flying around,” he says. “Everyone thinks I’m a ‘bit,’ and I’ve met lots of other bits who seem happy to answer my questions. That thing we saw was definitely the MCP. But we can’t get there on foot, we have to get the Proteus back.”

“How do we do that?” you ask, blearily.

“Well, first we have to get you out of this pit.” You look around, and the walls of the pit seem perfectly smooth. “Can we climb out?” you ask.

“No, but there’s an I/O channel not far from here, through this access panel,” says Melvin, indicating a small rectangle on the wall.

“Are you sure this isn’t Tron?” you ask.

“I’m positive,” says Melvin. You open the panel, and it seems to open into a large empty space. “Climb in,” says Melvin.

“I’ll fall!” you reply with some concern.

“You can’t die from falling here,” says Melvin. “Besides, it’s not too far, I don’t think.”

You may not be able to die, but your whole body, especially your head, are still throbbing from falling down that pit. You push yourself into the access panel, and fall down about thirty feet into a large, hollow room, landing on your feet. It is completely dark. Melvin flies down after you, and you see his glow from above. “See?” he says, “That wasn’t so bad. Now, across this room is an opening to the I/O channel.”

You face Melvin. “Are you sure this isn’t Tron? All the neon? The recognizers? The MCP? The ‘game grid?’ and now an I/O channel?”

Melvin rolls his eyes, not that he has any. “For the last time, this isn’t Tron! If this was Tron, one of those bits would have said something!”

You sigh, and take a step forward, and suddenly an enormous billboard lights up, blinding you with pulsing spectronium letters thirty feet tall reading…

TRON

Melvin blinks, and says “Then, on the other hand…”

“What is this billboard for?” you ask, shielding your eyes from the intense glare of the spectronium in the dark.

“Check the fine print,” says Melvin, and he’s right. On the lower part of the billboard, in smaller letters, it reads “This cycle only! See the amazing TRON battle challengers in the game grid!”

“That’s where we’re going,” says Melvin.

“What?” you say, surprised. “I thought we had to get to the MCP?”

“We do,” says Melvin, “but we can’t get there without the Proteus, and right now, the Proteus is in the game grid. But, come on, we can’t hang around here,” he says, heading over to the panel under the billboard.

You open it, and see the I/O Channel in front of you, surrounded by all kinds of weird digital entities, some sliding, some rolling, some flying. It’s a lot to take in.

“This is the way to the game grid,” explains Melvin. “See, each segment of the I/O channel is protected by a seven-bit key. If you can collect all seven bits, those flying star things, the channel will open for you, and you can fly up.”

“To the game grid?” you say excitedly.

“Eventually,” says Melvin. “But it’s many sectors away. I hope you like chasing bits!”

“How can I get up to the higher bits?” you ask.

“There are elevators,” says Melvin.

“That’s convenient,” you say optimistically.

“No, it really isn’t,” admits Melvin. “They only go up one floor, and then you have to cross the I/O channel to use the one on the other side.”

“What?” you say, confused. “Why?”

“I don’t know,” says Melvin. “Security, maybe? Anyway, go get ‘em! I’ll hang out here and watch for tanks.”

“Tanks?!” you say with some alarm.

“You're welcome. Anyway, good luck, and I’ll follow you up.” He looks at you. “Hey, with that yellow painter’s cap, this reminds me of that time we visited Dr. Frankenstein… but this time, you’re carrying bits instead of bricks!”

Place the Adventures of Tron cartridge into your Atari 2600. Set the left difficulty switch to b. Play until you score 30,000 points. Post a link to a video in the comments section of yourself completing the challenge.