Chapter 4: A journey into the past

I sat on the bench and looked at the lights and displays as they suddenly came alive. I started to move but it was to late. The room seemed to darken and I began to glow. Suddenly there was a pain! Sharp, penetrating pain straight into my head, it run out and went through my body. It felt like white hot knives slicing through my limbs, it was over and I sat in the dark.

The surrounding darkness began to get lighter. Suddenly I was outside in full daylight. The being walking past me looked almost reptilian. I was intrigued and started following him. He walked to one of the Home Trees and entered. I was surprised when I reached out and my hand went through the door. I hesitated and then just walked through the door.

I stood on the stairs and glanced down to see the Tron heading down. I followed and he led me down a long tunnel and then down a winding stair. After going through an arched doorway he turned to face me, “Follow and watch, I will teach you what you want most.”

That surprised me because I thought this was just some type of recording. I nodded and the Tron turned to walk towards the far end of the warehouse. I glanced at the work station and followed him. He stopped beside what looked like a long thin crate and opened it easily. Inside lay what looked like a gleaming rifle with a couple of dozen small ovals.

He touched the butt of the rifle where I saw a slight depression, “This is where the power charges go. Each charge is good for one hundred releases.”

I glanced at the rifle and he picked up one of the small ovals. He slipped one into the rifle and turned to start walking. He went through a doorway and lifted the rifle to point at a target a little way down the tunnel and to the side. He pressed a small stud on the left side and a holographic site appeared above the barrel. When he fired there was not much noise but the target appeared to just shatter.

He nodded and walked back into the warehouse with me following. He pushed another button on the side of the rifle above the loading slot and the oval came back out. He set the rifle back in the crate and closed it. Above the crate on the next shelf was several smaller crates and he took one down. In it was a small compact weapon I thought was a pistol.

It looked light and slim but I thought I would still be able to use it. The oval power charge went into the butt of the pistol and again he walked to the tunnel and showed me how to use the pistol. After putting the pistol away he walked to the other side of the warehouse and pressed a glyph on the wall. The wall seemed to slide back and then move to the side.

Inside the new room was something I never suspected the Tron had. I saw racks of what looked like short winged gliders. He pressed a button and one on a lower rack slid out. I watched as he carefully went through what was plainly a start up sequence. Nothing happened and he turned to a crate along the wall. From the crate he pulled out what looked like another oval power charge.

Except this one was a little bigger than my fist. I watched as he pressed a hidden button and a section between the wings slid open. He dropped the oval in and closed it before going back through the sequence. This time the glider actually lifted off the floor and he showed me how to lay on top of the wing and guide it. When he reached out and touched me, it was like a spark ran through my body.

The next thing I knew I was on the glider approaching a wall. It split and disappeared just before I crashed into it and I was flashing up a steep tunnel. Suddenly I was in open air and opened the throttle wide. I was swooping and turning as I sped through huge trees with hanging vines. These were tree I had never seen here on the colony planet.

The speeding birdlike bats that followed screamed and I knew that if they caught me, I would be killed and eaten. I rolled the glider and spiraled around a huge tree, flashing through hanging vines. At the last minute I straightened out and passed under a fallen tree before looping and turning the glider. The bats fell behind as I dropped towards the ground and pressed a blue button.

A wide opening appeared and I went down through it into a steep sloping tunnel. I slowed as I approached the other end of the tunnel and came out in the warehouse. I slowed more and came to a stop before sliding off the glider. I shut the glider down and walked to the other end of the warehouse. I sat and the holographic display came up. I touched an icon and it grew to display the information about that item.