Tron: Deliverance

SYSTEM CRASHED....FILES RECOVERING

Waking up from being unconscious was different than waking up from sleep. It was like being a computer rebooting after a power outage as opposed to a manual restart. There was no gradual upward slope from sleep to wakefulness. All Alan had was fear, and pain shooting across his entire body. He wrenched his eyes open with a gasp. Trying to breath, trying to think. But nothing was starting right. Noise pounded in his ears, but he couldn't bring anything into focus. He groaned and gripped his chest.

God, his chest hurt. Scratch that, EVERYTHING hurt. His head was a close second to the chest though.

"Dad! Dad can you hear me?" A familiar voice cut through the stimulus bouncing around his head. He managed to focus, found Jet's face in the dim room.

Jet? What was Jet doing here? Where was Lora? Where was he?

"Son? What? What happened?" He tried to look around but pain shot through his neck, the muscles there seizing. OK, looking around was out.

His heart thundered with the disorientation. Everything felt wrong, jarred, out of place.

"Dad, its OK. Calm down OK, you're safe, you're alright" Jet said soothingly "Hey mom, dad's awake" He said that last part like he was speaking over a phone.

Alan fought to focus on Jet, slowly the pieces of his memories started to settle into place. He rubbed his eyes, trying to get the pounding in his head to lessen and give him space to think.

He was in the Grid. This fact was confirmed by Jet's glowing clothing and the pristine darkness of the walls around them.

They were in Argon. They had been on the command bridge. He and Jet had been talking. An alarm went off. Then, things got spotty.

"What happened Jet?" Alan croaked.

"You collapsed. How ya feeling by the way?" Jet asked, his carefree demeanor a bit thin. His eyes were too tired for his upbeat tone to be believed.

"Everything aches" Alan grimaced.

"Ah, that makes sense" Jet said mildly.

"Alan! Are you OK? please tell me you're OK!" A high pitched voice snapped in his ears. He flinched and gripped the side of his head.

"Please be quiet sweety. My head hurts" Alan hissed.

"Sorry" Lora said in nearly a whisper "How are you though? How is he Jet?" She directed her question to their son. Alan watched as Jet skimmed through the contents of a disc, his disc.

"Hes looking a lot better, I think the work we did let him wake up. Tell Rachel she's a genius"

"I know I'm a genius, Jet. But its good for you to admit it" Another feminine voice came over the link. This one less familiar but husky and soothing. Alan blinked, trying to place it, unexpected as it was.

"Rachel Kleinberg?" Alan asked, his throat still scratchy. He coughed, trying to clear it.

"In the flesh!" Rachel said with a soft, friendly chuckle. "Your family called me in to advise on your condition"

"My condition huh?" Alan asked. He blinked a few times. The pain hadn't really lessened but he was able to take better stock of his surroundings, his brain seeming to catch up to its regular processing speed. He and Jet were alone in what looked like a small apartment. It had a bed, a few chairs and a door.

"Yes" Rachel answered, there was shifting on the other end "Now I'm not there to physically examine you but Id like you to answer some questions for me and Jet can handle examination. First off, rate your pain for me. Scale of one to ten"