Tron: Deliverance

MESSAGE IN QUEUE

Sam looked up at the sheer rock face that was the base of his dad's hideout. He had to admit, of all the places he had pictured his father in the years he was gone, this was not one of them. Having finished their inspection of the outside of the hideout, Sam gestured for Quorra and Gem to follow him inside.

"Lets give the rooms inside a once-over. Ive been trying to keep out of Allen and Jet's way but there's really not much left to see out here"

"How does one access the sub levels?" Gem, Harmonia or whatever her name was asked, her voice a low murmur. Sam hesitated to answer the question. Even though he honestly believed her when she said she was on their side, having her around was still a bit awkward. Their rocky history was now compounded with the fact that she was apparently and old friend of Quorra's.

"There are no sub levels. The ground entry is the lowest point" Quorra answered simply.

"Then why does the energy shielding extend so deep into the ground?" This pulled Sam up short. He skidded to a stop to fix Gem with a curious stare.

"Run that by me again?"

Gem straightened under his scrutiny. "The energy shielding and its depth is consistent with a sub-level or bunker. I was wondering why it would be designed such a way if there was no such underground level"

Quorra cocked her head, her brow drew down. "I lived here for many cycles. I would have seen an underground level"

Gem shrugged "It was merely an observation based on the available data"

Sam stroked his chin, pondering the idea. Why would his dad build the sanctuary that way? What would he have been protecting? "Would there be a way to examine the Grid under this structure?" Sam voiced his last question out loud. "How about it Aunt Lora, you back online yet?" He found himself looking upward, like he was talking on the phone. He heard a yawn on the other end.

"Good morning Sam, Ive just been running over the data you collected yesterday in the Sea. Several anomalies I couldn't quite suss out. On the other hand I can run a scan on the base layer of the Grid under Flynn's hideout" He heard a clacking of keys.

"Ooooookay so there is SOMETHING under the structure. Couldn't tell you what. Everything gets all garbled once you go down a few feet. Its definitely not the bedrock of the Grid though because that reads differently"

"Interesting" Sam mused.

They started walking into the lowest level, basically the garage.

Sam lead the way into the elevator, looking around. For what he wasn't really sure. Then Quorra gasped. She nudged Sam out of the way then huddled down near one of the walls. She seemed to be scratching at something with her fingernails. Then suddenly a panel slid to the side, maybe a foot wide and a foot long. Behind it was a single button. An arrow pointed down. Quorra looked at him, her face troubled.

"I...I haven't seen this before. There was never a control panel since it only went between the two floors. But the panel in front of this was half pulled back. Like Flynn left it open" She hesitated, then pressed the button. With a groan the elevator started to go down, below the base level.

"Hey Aunt Lora, I think we found a way down below the structure" Sam commented.

"Ok....Be...be...care" Her voice was broken up with static.

"It must be the shielding combined with us going below the surface" Quorra said, her eyes wide with amazement. The elevator descended for about a minute before shuddering to a stop. The door opened to a pitch black space. Hesitantly, Sam stepped forward, and the floor lit up in bluish white. The space wasn't large, not even as big as the main room upstairs. At the end of the room was a desk with several blank screens. Along the walls were some blacked out tubes reaching from the floor to the ceiling. Energy canisters maybe?