Tron Legacy the Junior Novel - Alice Alfonsi [25]
“It’s a reeducation chamber,” Kevin said in horror.
“And Quorra’s going to wind up like one of them if we don’t save her,” Sam pointed out. They had to do something. Now.
CLU STOOD ON THE rectifier’s hangar deck. He was about to address his elite Black Guard when Rinzler interrupted. Annoyed by the distraction, Clu faced his enforcer. He was surprised to find that Rinzler had a prisoner.
“Where’s your disc?”
Quorra’s silence was his answer. Clu touched her cheek with a gloved hand. “Where is Flynn?”
She still said nothing.
“Never mind. I have something special in mind for you.” Clu pushed Quorra aside to address Rinzler. “Take her away. And find them.”
Rinzler seized Quorra’s arm.
“I’ve seen what users are capable of,” Quorra cried. “You don’t belong with them, Clu!”
Clu ignored her furious charges. When Quorra was gone, he composed himself and ascended the podium. rumbling cheers from his elite Black Guard greeted Clu. He began to speak.
“Together we have achieved many things,” Clu said. “We’ve built a new world. Created a vast and complex system. Maintained it. Improved it. rid it of its imperfections!”
Rousing cheers greeted Clu’s words.
“Not to mention rid it of the false deity who sought to enslave us…” Clu paused and smirked as he raised his eyes skyward. “Kevin Flynn, where are you now?!”
Hidden away, Kevin heard Clu’s cry. He was dying to answer his treacherous creation. But he remained silent. He knew they had to stay hidden if they wanted to continue living.
Unfortunately, the more Clu talked, the more difficult it was for Kevin to listen. Clu’s voice sounded like his own voice. Clu’s face looked like his own face. But the words that echoed up from the hangar were not his words or his thoughts. They were twisted conclusions from a corrupted mind, full of arrogance and hatred. They had nothing to do with Kevin’s vision…
Or did they? he found himself wondering. After all, I created Clu. Is some part of me like him?
“There was a time I believed this was all there was, all we were capable of,” Clu declared as he continued to lecture his troops. “But I’m here to tell you that you’ve been kept in the dark too long.”
Clu raised his hands. “Fellow programs, let there be no doubt. Our world is a cage no more. The key to the next frontier is finally in our possession!”
Clu gestured to a point a few decks above where Sam and his father hid. A light appeared, illuminating the ship’s bridge. Kevin’s disc was up there. Clu had mounted it on a high-tech pedestal as if it were a sacred object.
The disc was glowing. Active. ready to lead Clu and his army through the portal and out into the real world.
“Unlike our selfish creator, I will make Flynn’s world open and available to us all!” Clu bellowed. “In that world, our systems will grow. There our systems will blossom!”
Clu raised his hands over his head. “Together, we have changed this world. Together, we can change the new world, too. So I ask you. Are you ready to receive your command?”
The massive Black Guard army nodded in unison. “Yes!”
“Maximize efficiency,” Clu commanded. “rid the new system of imperfection! rid the new system of the users!”
Cheers erupted from the Black Guard. The vibrations were loud enough to shake the catwalk under Sam’s boots.
Sam exchanged a horrified glance with his father. rid the new system of its users, Sam thought. But “users” are humans.
Clu wants to rid the world of people!
“WE HAVE TO GET YOUR DISC!” Sam whispered, feeling almost frantic now. He pointed above them, to the shining object displayed on the ship’s bridge.
“No,” Kevin quietly replied, refusing to even look at it. “We must beat Clu to the Portal. You can shut him down from the outside.”
But Sam pointed out the army assembled below them. “Even if I make it out, by the time