#ask-alan-one

[computerwarrior]

❄️

First a thunderstorm and now a blizzard. Neither of those were completely unexpected, but the ferocity of them were.

Ark had been out in the Outlands on her light cycle, but the thunderstorm had rolled in and wrecked her plans. She had attempted to travel through the rain, but a lightning strike had hit way too close and knocked her energy out of whack, leaving her in the Outlands with no transportation but her own two feet.

With no choice, she started walking.

After some time, as she got closer to the mountains, a blizzard had started up. Ark kept trudging through the snow, but the combination of no ambient power in the Outlands, her energy still recovering from the nearby blast of lightning, and it taking more energy to keep her warm in the fierce blizzard, it quickly became clear that she was in a lot of trouble.

Her circuits were dull, an attempt at saving power, but she kept walking. If she was lucky, she'd hit an energy springs or a cave to replenish while she waited out the storm.

[computerwarrior]

"Hey -- hi. You okay? Are you lost?"

The program that stood before him was clad in a white skintight suit that had glowing white and blue lines in various patterns, the most prominent being four squares in the shape of the letter T on her chest. Despite the helmet obscuring her face, it was clear that she was a muscular female program.

Things had been happening, unusual things that she hadn't seen in a long time, so she had gone right to the source.

The only time that the beam of light had appeared on the Grid, was when the User, Flynn, had arrived. He had disappeared long ago, but had he come back to save them?

There had been no sign of anyone or anything out of place, so she had decided to investigate the access point.

The person standing before her had no glowing lines and, for the most part, didn't appear like any other program she had seen before. However, there was something familiar about him, though she couldn't place it.

Until he spoke.

His words cut right through her, while she picked up on his concern, what was far more important was his voice.

It was slightly different, but oh so familiar. Only one person had that voice, and that was Tron.

The question was, was this a strange version of Tron? Or...could it possibly be his User?

She couldn't take the risk, so she decided to play it safe, her helmet distorting her voice and obscuring how she really sounded.

"That depends. Are you?"

[3-inch-sam]

Apparently, as of the other day, your nickname changes depending on which name I actually mean.

Because I've pretty much always had to specify that I was talking about "Sam from Tumblr, the one who doesn't do things specifically to scare the hell out of me".

But lately, since you're using two names now (as far as I'm aware anyway), I've been alternating between them. And thanks to a friend's grandkids, my concept of you-as-James has somehow turned into "Jimmy Neutron, boy genius".

i hate this because i have two family members named Jimmy who are computer scientists but i love this because at least im somewhat reasonable thank you Alan

[computerwarrior]

Funny that you asked about nicknames, actually -- the protagonist of the book I've been re-reading is named Arkady, and I accidentally called you that in a conversation the other day.

She's a lot like you, though -- brave, determined, and clever. So it's kinda fitting, I think.

Ark tilted her head as she took in what he was telling her. At the complements, she beamed from head to toe, with both a smile and the brightening of her circuits.

"Thank you so much. I'd love to hear more about Arkady and the book she's from, if you don't mind." She always enjoyed hearing the stories from the User world, they were so different from the ones told here on the Grid.

[computerwarrior]

Since you were asking about random skills... As of the other day, I've apparently become decent enough with energy manipulation to turn an energy canister and a very small power cell into a lava lamp. I thought that was kind of neat.

Ark eagerly listened to what Alan was telling her. Some of it was familiar and made sense, but there was one thing that tripped her up.

"That's great! I'm glad that you've made so much progress working with energy. Though, what's lava?"

[computerwarrior]

re: dinosaurs: brontosaurus.

Ark quickly looked up what a brontosaurus was before she replied, "Oh, they're really neat, thanks! I like that they're tall and can see everything!"

[computerwarrior]

15. What's on your datapad? (i.e., what are you currently reading?)

Ark gave him a smile, "I was looking up some of the things from the book you gave me and reading more about them."

[computerwarrior]

🎁️

"I know it's a little late, and I didn't get a chance to wrap it, but... here." Alan smiled sheepishly, pulling a paperback book out of his bag. It wasn't very big, but it was decently thick, and obviously well-worn. "I got thinking about some of the stuff you've asked me before -- about the stars, and about some of the history where I'm from... This book's kind of about all of that at once, how it's all connected. And how it's not so different from here, I guess."

Ark wasn't expecting a gift, so she's surprised and delighted by Alan-One's present. He had shown her a book before, this one looked different, though they both had been worn. This one much more so.

She carefully takes it from him, treating it reverently. It's clearly been very loved, which makes it even more special than any other gift possibly could be.

Ark ran her hand over the cover as Alan-One told her what it was about, "That sounds amazing, thank you so much! I'm really looking forward to reading it." She genuinely meant it with all of her heart. She was going to do her best to absorb everything in the book, so that she could talk with him later about it.