Chapter 83: Supervirus X-7

KA-BOOM! With a massive blast, the third power reactor explodes, and everything arounds you starts de-rezzing – first the shields, then the entire massive structure of the MCP. “NOOOO!” calls a massive voice. “YOU CAN’T DO THIS TO ME!”

“I’m afraid we did,” says Tron into the radio. “I’m sorry, MCP, but it looks like this is…”

You interrupt suddenly. “Oh, come on, Tron, can I say it?”

He smiles. “Sure, you earned it.”

You take a deep breath, push the microphone button, but Melvin beats you to it, blurting out, “END OF LINE!”

“Melvin!” you shout, and all of you are laughing. With zips, zaps, and poofs, the massive MCP is de-rezzing, and in moments, there is no trace of it.

The screen starts flashing: GAME AWARDS EARNED, and a tiny laser scans out a semicircular patch that reads “BEAMRIDERS”, and a medal with an “X” insignia on it.

“I guess you earned those, Player,” says Tron. The screen flashes again: EXITING MERGE MODE.

“I guess this is where we decouple,” he says, and points to a beam of light stretching up into the sky. “I think that I/O tower is where you need to go.”

“Where will you go, Tron?” you ask.

“I must fight for the Users. Farewell, Player!” he says, as his light cycle reforms around him, and he goes shooting off across the grid.

You steer the saucer toward the I/O tower, and as you watch Tron disappear into the distance, you say, “I should have warned him about CLU.”

“What?” asks Melvin.

But you don’t have time to answer, because the Proteus has entered the beam of the I/O tower, and it and you are filled with a glorious light, as you are carried up, and up, and up, and everything fades into a perfect whiteness.

“Player, are you there?” you hear the Doctor calling, and the ship is suddenly shaking violently in swirling blackness. “You did it! The security is down! I’m in the fourth building!”

You hear alarms and… lasers? In the darkness, you fumble for the microphone. “Doc, we’re here! Are you okay?” Everything keeps shaking.

You hear him panting. “I was able to get in, but the building knows that something is up. It keeps firing” (you hear the zap of a laser) “lasers at me. But I’m almost to the X-7 replicator!”

You hear a few more lasers, and feel everything shaking… you get the sense that the doctor has had to do some gymnastics… or… maybe the lasers got him? “Doc, are you okay?”

“Yes!” He says, and you feel the familiar swirling of injection. “Good luck, Player! If you can’t stop the X-7 virus, we’re doomed. But I know you can do it!”

Melvin sighs as the strange glowing virus appears in front of you. “Sometimes, I wish people didn’t have so much faith in us.”

The screen flashes: ENTERING ANTIVIRUS MODE, and to your surprise, the ship takes the form of a huge spiky ball, glowing with all the colors of the rainbow. The flight stick lets you go everywhere, and the laser system is clearly more advanced than anything you have yet encountered. You give a low whistle. “Melvin… are you looking at this?”

His eyes, not that he has eyes, go wide. The loading chamber is made of some kind of iridescent crystal. He climbs in, and you fire. What seems like a million laser bolts all fly out at once. You let go of the trigger, and Melvin is instantly back in the chamber, glowing like he’s made of spectronium. “SWEET MOTHER OF BUSHNELL!” he shouts. “THIS VIRUS DOESN’T STAND A CHANCE!”

“Don’t be so sure,” says the Doctor. “Antivirus mode is powerful, but the X-7 has already been replicating. You’re going to have to destroy many virus cells before we’re safe. Keep shooting the cell until its energy is depleted, and the Proteus will take you to the next cell. But be careful! The more cells you destroy, the stronger the viral defenses will become.”

“How many of these do we have to destroy, Doc?” you ask.

“According to this readout,” you hear him dodging a laser, “thirty.”

“LET ME AT ‘EM!” shouts Melvin.

“With all this firepower,” you think, “how hard can this be?”

Place the Spacemaster X-7 cartridge into your Atari 2600. Play until you defeat thirty viruses, indicated by three black rectangles on the bottom of the screen. Post a link to a video in the comments section of yourself completing the challenge.