Theories (Edward & Ellie)

[Ellie Langley]

Ellie spent so much time in Tron City that she was almost sure she would have rather lived there than Los Angeles. She knew there were hotels around the city where users and programs alike could stay, but she hadn't thought of booking one yet, always returning to her apartment with her findings once she was finished.

The Grid was a beautiful and miraculous place. Ellie couldn't express how thrilled she was that Sam decided to share this place with the world, and how willing most of the programs were to talk about their history, and just what made this place what it was. There were the exceptions, of course, the ones who didn't quite like users that much, so it was rare that Ellie chose to speak to any of them, unless she was feeling extra curious.

The college graduate wasn't pursuing any of her degrees in this new world, however. All the knowledge she left the University of California with had been thrown out the window, and even her knowledge as an occultist was being put to the test in this new place. The possible existence of other universes opened up immediately when Sam revealed what this place was, and just how someone could create something so divine over time...well, it didn't quite make sense to her yet.

Clutching a notebook, a pen tucked behind her ear, the witchy redhead walked down the streets of Tron City, not particularly in a hurry, but more engrossed in what she was examining. Every night for about a week it had been the same. She'd spend the equivalent of a couple days living off energy drinks and the adrenaline of her unanswered questions, before she'd head back to the real world and go over what she took notes on before crashing.

It's like everything I even thought I believed in doesn't make sense anymore. She thought as she walked along the sidewalk, hardly pausing to look where she was going.

ooc; If you wanted to take my suggestion seriously in the discussion thread, that they 'run' into each other, you have my full permission to say that happens. Some people consider it godding, I consider it moving the posts along, haha.

[EDWARD DILLINGER JR.]

Edward found himself walking against the traffic, he dodged and weaved around Users and Programs alike and now it was getting tiring. There was a lot less traffic when Sam first showed Edward the Grid, because back then there were only programs; Edward really liked the Grid back then. The programmer sighed and decided to take a break from the traffic, he walked out of the flow and propped himself against a building.

Edward pushed his glasses up his nose, crossed his arms, and stared out into the crowd and street. In the street, lightcycles and other vehicles flew by, some of them with obviously shaky movements and slow speed, which pretty much marked a User as its driver. On the sidewalk, programs and users walked in harmony, but other users stood scared and unsure of where they were and at least one other user was actually running through the crowd in an attempt to get back home in time.

It was obvious that the Grid wasn't safe and Edward had argued that but Sam pushed on to its release, sure they were able to make it so derezzed programs and users in the Game Grid were rezzed in the armory, but they couldn't do it for the rest of the Grid and the two didn't even know what would happen to a User if they derezzed here. If not just safety then what about privacy? All users that entered the Grid were assigned Identity Discs which recorded everything they did, said, and even learned. These were two big reasons as to why Edward wanted to shutdown the Grid, y'know, besides revenge. Maybe when word gets out that Sam pressed the release, he'd get fired and then Edward would be able to take control over the Grid project.

Edward looked down at his vest and was immediately disappointed. There was circuitry on it, along the collar and the sleeves, just like other clothes on the Grid. The circuitry itself was standard, everyone had to have it, but the color could be whatever and right now it was a normal blue like everyone else's. Edward took the Identity Disc off his back and pressed a button on it which caused a holographic interface to appear, he reached out and pushed a few buttons on the interface and spun it around a few times. In just a few short seconds Edward's circuitry was now red and in the next few seconds the color would change again. Feeling a tad happier now, Edward decided to brave the crowd again.

The programmer replaced his disc and quickly merged into the crowd, walking with a steady pace. He began his usual routine of maneuvering around the various pedestrians. Suddenly, Edward spotted something from the corner of his eye and his ear caught the sound it made as well. He looked up at a lightjet passing by, but he still kept walking. The inevitable happened and Edward ended up running into someone else, it didn't hurt, they hadn't hit their heads or anything, but it was still a shock all the same. "Oh sorry," said Edward, he turned towards the red-haired woman in front of him who he had crashed into.

[Ellie Langley]

Ellie had so much interest invested in this place. It was almost magical, and that word she rarely used to describe something. She didn't think of the dangers or the cons, only the pros, and what it could bring to the world that the users were already used to. She wondered, honestly, how long it had been since she entered the Grid this time, and tugging a bit at her simple circuitry shirt (the color was blue, as she wasn't too concerned with what color she was sporting there, for once, best to fit in), she felt someone bump into her, causing her to drop her notebook and her pen to become unbalanced and fall off her ear.

No, no one was hurt. No harm, no foul, but it was still surprising, she hardly looked up to the man that bumped into her before she was grabbing her notebook and her pen. "It's fine." She said simply, standing again and looking at the man in front of her with a smile. He seemed familiar, why did he seem familiar? He wasn't a program, she knew that much, she'd seen him outside of the Grid, in the user world...but who was he?

"...you seem really familiar, sorry, that's probably the weirdest thing to say at this point, but you do...I can't seem to place your face." Ellie scrunched her eyes, staring at him, before opting to finally ask the obvious question. "What's your name?"

Waiting on the man to answer, she examined him a bit more. Did he have something to do with Encom? That was all she could figure. She'd never really met any of Encom's employees face to face, well, save for Sam, but he didn't like to consider himself an employee. Tucking the pen behind her ear again, she waited to hear what he would say.

[EDWARD DILLINGER JR.]

Edward's vest now sported a purple circuitry color as it slowly changed over from red. In a few more seconds it would fade out to orange and then to a soft green color. Edward was proud of his programming, the vest chose a random color to display each time it was time to change it. For a moment, the programmer considered wether anyone thought that the color of the circuits denoted his current mood, sure it was possible to program it like some sort of mood ring but Edward didn't want people to think he was some sort of cliche.

Dillinger watched her pick up her articles, he felt a twinge of guilt. If he had known that he had knocked those things out of her hands, he would've asked is she was alright and he would've helped picked them up as well. The guild doubled when she stated that she was fine, Edward didn't know why but that choice of words just seemed so depressing to him. Part of him just wanted to walk away now and forget all about this, but he was interrupted. He folded his arms behind his back and angled his head down and his right ear towards her in order to hear her better.

"My name is Edward Dillinger Jr.," stated Edward, enunciating his full name. He wondered where she would've seen him before and his mind visited a couple of different possibilities. Maybe she was a new employee at ENCOM and she was here taking notes, it would explain the notebook. It was also possible that she was a journalist, which could've explained the notebook but it still didn't quite make clear of why she would've seen him before, his mind raced to think of any pictures he had taken for the press. Finally he thought that maybe she had seen an old photo of Ed Dillinger, his father, and was now mistaking the two, but that seemed unlikely.

[Ellie Langley]

The name rang a bell. Ellie paused for a moment, trying to come up with where she'd heard it before, when it clicked. Someone's name she'd heard Sam mention.

"You work for Encom, that's it!" She said, snapping her fingers, glad she figured out who this man was, why he seemed familiar. Of course, she wondered what he was thinking about her knowing his name and the general distinction of his face. He probably thought she was some kind of weirdo here walking around in the Grid. Not that she wasn't, but she didn't want to be perceived as any stranger than she already was. Smiling softly, she gave a quick laugh, her fingertips fumbling with her notebook. "Sam's mentioned you before, I think I may have seen you in passing, is all. He's a friend." She said, taking the pen from behind her ear and looking up at one of the buildings, jotting something down in her notebook before closing it again and replacing the pen.

"Apologies, I had to get down what I was thinking before I forgot it. It's nice to meet you, Mr. Dillinger, I'm Ellie Langley." She held out her free hand, attempting at pleasant conversation.

[EDWARD DILLINGER JR.]

"Uh, yeah I do work for Encom." responded Edward, meekly. He wondered where this conversation was headed and how she got her hair to be such a brilliant red. He thought for a moment about how good she would look with a pair of sunglasses, but then again most redheads went for the same look and Dillinger decided not to recommend it in casual conversation later. A strange thought considering the two had just met and already the programmer thought they would talk for a while or would see each other again.

Edward 'ah'd' in appreciation, so this girl was a friend of Sam. He hoped that was true and that she wasn't some kind of stalker, headhunter or even worse than that, some sort of assassin or kidnapper come to silence his technological contributions to the world. Nevertheless he decided to keep a little on guard, incase something did happen.

Now she was taking notes on the grid architecture, now Dillinger thought for sure that she was from another company. Why would she lie about being a friend of Sam though, why not just approach Edward directly and ask straight out, why here and not in the real world? Why did she play dumb earlier, if that was the case?

"Apology accepted and nice to meet you." said Dillinger as he shook her hand, albeit nervously. "Lets get out of the street before we talk anymore." said Dillinger as he cleared his throat, he gestured to a nearby building.

[Ellie Langley]

Ellie didn't even consider the fact she looked rather odd walking around with the notebook. She couldn't help but to be curious how this world stayed...well...working. Was it purely digital--or, did everyone see it differently? Did their consciousness show them what they want to see, work off their brain? There were so many theories of the place that ran through her head, and she tried to quiet them for a few moments to have a decent conversation with another human being.

Maybe part of being so obsessed with learning about The Grid was because she wanted to see Sam again. Their past was an interesting one, and she almost held a bit of a grudge against him. However, she was pretty sure the most part of it was that her life was going no where fast. Working in a bar and doing Tarot Card readings on the side for extra cash? She wasn't missing much back in the real world.

Realizing she'd focused on another building, she turned her attention back to Edward, smiling softly. Honestly, he looked like a cute little geek with the glasses--they suited him well. She shook his hand, then her fingertips went back to tapping the notebook she held close.

"Lets get out of the street before we talk anymore."

"Right, sure!" She said, looking to the building he gestured to. She wasn't quite sure what it was, but didn't want to be in anyone's way, program or user. "So, Mr. Dillinger, do you spend a lot of time here? It's quite the...impossible Garden of Eden, I'd say. I mean," She gave a laugh, a light, airy one, still smiling. "Different dimensions, universes, altered states of consciousness...nothing I've ever studied adds up to this." For a fleeting moment, Ellie realized just how much more sociable she was when it came to The Grid. When she was here, she talked a lot more than she did in the real world, in her world. Maybe there was something more to it she wasn't addressing just yet. She made a mental note to come back to that later as they walked.

[EDWARD DILLINGER JR.]

"I guess you could say that I spend a lot of time here," said Dillinger as they crossed the street. "Just to make sure everything is running smoothly. And I do have some administrative duties of course." Edward slowly stroked his beard as she spoke of the Grid as if it was the best place in the world.

"Different dimensions, universes, altered states of consciousness...nothing I've ever studied adds up to this."

"Really?" Edward asked. "What do you mean by that exactly?" He turned his head to the side and stared at her for a moment. They were across the street now and close to the building which Edward had gestured to earlier. "Here, let me get the door." He stepped forward and approached the door, trying the door handle, but it didn't open. Edward reached to the right of the door and a keypad appeared next to it, here he put in a short code. Now the door opened for them, Edward held it open so Ellie could go in.

The interior looked like a hotel lobby. There was a counter to one side and across from it there was a rug with a small coffee table and around it two sofas on opposite sides of the table. "This was supposed to be a... hotel of sorts, it's not quite finished. We're planning on renting it out to any one who wants to have a party in the Grid," explained Edward.

[Ellie Langley]

Ellie smiled a bit. Of course, that made sense. He had to make sure the place ran smoothly. That was a stupid question for her to ask, but then again, no question was stupid. They showed a need for answers that weren't usually given. 85% of the time, curiosity was a good thing. "Right, I should have known that." She laughed, shaking her head.

When he asked what she meant about what she'd rambled on about, Ellie shrugged a bit, realizing that maybe she'd delved a little too deep into what she was interested in for her liking. More often than not, a few minutes into a conversation about her beliefs and she had a guy running. She nodded a thank you to Edward as he held the door open for her, and she walked in, still without answering his question just yet.

"It's almost unnerving, it being empty and so quiet. I haven't found a place here yet that's this quiet." She said, turning to face Edward. "Don't you think...well, let me rephrase that. How do all the programs feel about this sudden exposure? I've run into a few who aren't keen on it." she said, sitting on one of the couches and looking around.

Still, she'd avoided his first question. She hoped it wouldn't come back up. This conversation was nice, she didn't want it going bad.

[EDWARD DILLINGER JR.]

Edward followed and sat on the couch across from Ellie's, he nodded to her in agreement of the place being eerily quiet. "Well it's supposed to be a bit soundproof, so the people who stay here don't have to worry themselves about what is going on outside." He leaned back in his chair and stroked his beard at her second question, he kinda wished that she had answered his question earlier, so he figured that he'd ask about it when the conversation had progressed a bit.

"The Programs? Well, honestly... I think they have too much personality for their own good. I know some of them don't like humans at all - and I really don't think they should even have the capability of doing that - and I know some of them really like humans and would worship at their feet. So I think you'd have a ratio of seventy or eighty to twenty or thirty, with the seventy or eighty being the ones that like us. But, yeah, like I said earlier. I don't think they should even be capable of deciding whether to like or dislike us. They should either love us indefinitely or be completely neutral to us." Edward cleared his throat.

"Now, actually. It'd be really easy for me to just go access the grid files and change personalities around. However, Sam won't let me because it was his Father's original plan to have this own little world inside a computer that mimicked our world, and in our world you can't just change someone's personality by deleting a few lines." Edward scooted a bit forward to the edge of his seat and leaned forward. "Now while we're on that subject."

"I don't know how computer savvy you are, Ellie, so I'll explain something. Um, an algorithm is by definition a process or set of rules to be followed in calculations or other problem-solving operations. So for instance, when you use a calculator, you're seeing an algorithm at work. Now, when Kevin Flynn was first designing this place, he created an algorithm with the help of CLU and Tron, or so I've heard. That algorithm was designed to sort of, random generate a personality and the result, is in fact, most of the programs you see around you. Those programs are called Basics or Basic Algorithms"

"Now that algorithm is a bit complex but the output is relatively simple and easy to change. The real trouble in my opinion are the programs called ISOs or Isomorphic Algorithms. Isomorphic is, again, by definition, corresponding or similar in form and relations. Now Flynn named them Isomorphic Algorithms because their programming is actually about as complex as our own DNA. The worrying thing about them is that they weren't designed by Flynn but just -happened- to appear, I don't know the full story myself. Did Sam tell you anything about it?"

[Ellie Langley]

Ninety percent of what Dillinger tried to explain to her made no sense. Ellie acted as if she understood, however, nodding a lot and smiling, given that was the automatic response to anything she didn't understand. While the computer language was a little over her head, his definitions helped, and she began to pick it all apart in her mind as he spoke. Isomorphic Algorithms? That was amazing. This entire world was amazing, and Ellie didn't realize how much she had to learn with it still.

"Huh?" She realized he asked her a question, and then realized how lost she was within the conversation. Straightening up, she shook her head. "Sam and I...don't talk as much as we used to, so no. I never really heard anything about this world from him personally. I was drawn to it as much as the next person, and when I realized how many theories scientists had about different worlds and ways of life and organisms were being proved wrong, I had to check it out for myself. I spend so much time here, it's a little ridiculous, but it all enthralls me. You've all created something beautiful, and amazing." Ellie said, looking around the building, then back to Dillinger.

"I'm," She paused, then sighed. "...honestly, this never goes over well when I speak to people, but I'm an Occultist, by nature. I believe in things unseen, the paranormal, fate, I do Tarot readings for extra cash, and different dimensions and universes have interested me since I was a child, growing up in Salem. This place is like the accumulation of years of dreams. It's a little hard to explain." She seemed rather embarrassed to admit all this, and sank down a bit into the couch.

[EDWARD DILLINGER JR.]

Edward stroked his chin as she spoke. He knew what she was talking about; the programmer had tried his best to stay up to date on news articles and reports that related to the grid. When she said that she spent an amount of time here, he thought about telling her about the grid's time dilation effect and how that all worked. He decided against it, already having lost her with his earlier explanation. Dillinger was glad to hear that she was enjoying some of his creations, though her statement counted pretty much everything in the grid, which was still mostly Kevin's design.

The whole occultist thing threw Edward off for a moment, thinking that she was saying that she was a witch or something, but then he remembered the definition of the word and calmed down. It was enough to cause the programmer to lean back into the couch though. Then came the talk about "things unseen", paranormal, fate, tarot cards, and then different dimensions and universes. It was understandable though, especially if you were to grow up in Salem.

Dillinger began to speak "Well..." Edward took a deep breath to pace himself, "I understand what you're saying. I mean if you believe in supernatural things and all your life you don't really find anything to support it (he guessed that she didn't find anything, after all the supernatural didn't exist to him) and then all of the sudden, there it is. However," he paused and went back to the edge of the couch.

His hands moved as he talked now, in ways that emphasized his points. "However, the grid isn't exactly supernatural. I mean, everything here can be explained. Well, we'd need some time with the ISOs, but everything else sure. Digitation technology has been around for the past few decades, it was just that no one thought it was safe to try on a human. Flynn was just the guy who was crazy enough to do it. Of course, he did perfect the necessary programming to safely digitize a human, but that's besides the point."

[Ellie Langley]

"No, I realize it can all be explained away," Ellie started, shaking her head. She'd worded everything wrong, but that was normal. She had a hard time fitting how she thought of things into daily conversation, she was never much a conversationalist. Thinking on how to word it correctly, she made a bit of a face, tapping her fingertips on her knee absentmindedly.

"I mean that...comparing it to the grand scheme of things, the possibility of other worlds that never exited until Kevin Flynn designed this one. You know, as you said it, was crazy enough to do it. Some aspects of things that happen here can appear paranormal at times, but I mostly do my research to see if there really is anything that can't be explained away. I haven't found anything yet, but it hasn't ceased to amaze me either way."

She smiled softly, brushing her hair back from her face as they spoke, then gave a bit of a laugh. "This has got to be the most intelligent conversation I've ever had in my life. I have to admit, I feel a little intimidated by your knowledge. You've got to be a genius of sorts."