He would only realize later that the reasonable tone had done it. Somehow, the offer of what he needed in a rational, measured cadence just--found that last button and pressed it, the big red one on a guidance system that needed two keys and a flip case.
Because it was his fault. It was all his fault. Data did not lie. Something in the calm, measured layout of facts: Clu had sworn--not to Tron, not to Flynn, not even to himself, whom he had set above his own Creator--but to the System: It will be perfect. I will make it perfect.
And instead he had nearly shattered it. Programs could lie, all right. Clu sure had, first about being pleased to welcome the ISOs into Tron City, then with the upgrades to help Jalen--then came the navi-bit surveillance rigs to improve System through traffic, and not too much later, the first of the antiviral sweeps.
All of it had worn the name of law and order, but all of it had been something else entirely. Bits of like nature flocked together, didn't they, and he'd drawn such stalwart lights as the great and noble General Tesler, fearless Dyson, sweet, gentle Pavel. Even Castor. Even Zuse.
There was no avoiding it. The truth was the truth was the--
He'd been straining mightily to hold a lid on something volcanic, bright, bitter rage that drove him forward clean as gasoline sparked through pistons. He was angrier than he'd ever been--except once, Flynn's own disc dumped from his hands by that rolling clash of shoulders with Tron himself.
And then as now, Clu's next move was the same: grab, and smash.
He slammed into the hacker and kept going, pinned them both flat to the wall.
"No way, man," a snarl right in his ear. He only just managed to cancel an impulse to bite, every line of him thrumming, past furious, shamed and stinging. "What is it with you legacy models? So afraid of a game with stakes."
"How about this?" Laughter bubbled up, ugly, unfit, not within spec. He swallowed it down by force of will, a heady, nasty thrill pulling through his circuits, certainty and something else climbing the mains. "The Games stay just the way they are, only, if you help me, Rinzler doesn't get to play with you."
i have an order for walling here, is that right?
Because it was his fault. It was all his fault. Data did not lie. Something in the calm, measured layout of facts: Clu had sworn--not to Tron, not to Flynn, not even to himself, whom he had set above his own Creator--but to the System: It will be perfect. I will make it perfect.
And instead he had nearly shattered it. Programs could lie, all right. Clu sure had, first about being pleased to welcome the ISOs into Tron City, then with the upgrades to help Jalen--then came the navi-bit surveillance rigs to improve System through traffic, and not too much later, the first of the antiviral sweeps.
All of it had worn the name of law and order, but all of it had been something else entirely. Bits of like nature flocked together, didn't they, and he'd drawn such stalwart lights as the great and noble General Tesler, fearless Dyson, sweet, gentle Pavel. Even Castor. Even Zuse.
There was no avoiding it. The truth was the truth was the--
"No," low down, hard, a strangled cough. Then, louder, "No. No!"
He'd been straining mightily to hold a lid on something volcanic, bright, bitter rage that drove him forward clean as gasoline sparked through pistons. He was angrier than he'd ever been--except once, Flynn's own disc dumped from his hands by that rolling clash of shoulders with Tron himself.
And then as now, Clu's next move was the same: grab, and smash.
He slammed into the hacker and kept going, pinned them both flat to the wall.
"No way, man," a snarl right in his ear. He only just managed to cancel an impulse to bite, every line of him thrumming, past furious, shamed and stinging. "What is it with you legacy models? So afraid of a game with stakes."
"How about this?" Laughter bubbled up, ugly, unfit, not within spec. He swallowed it down by force of will, a heady, nasty thrill pulling through his circuits, certainty and something else climbing the mains. "The Games stay just the way they are, only, if you help me, Rinzler doesn't get to play with you."