[Clu is the perfect hound. He always does exactly as he's told. He was told there were stray units in this sector.
He wasn't told to expect company.
The circuit patterns, of course, are a matter of record. Allied unit. But the shock of recognition goes well beyond conditioning, down through the shreds of himself he was so graciously permitted to keep--brittle persuasion, piercing bribery, sharp jibes--and a sense that he knows this one, deeper than records, more closely than the impressive kill to conversion ratio.
The realization is jagged, painful and slow, and it refuses to leave.
He knows this program. From before. Designation: ]
Rinzler?
[Yes. That's correct, accompanied by a bright bolt of familiarity. Echoes of something almost warm.
no subject
He wasn't told to expect company.
The circuit patterns, of course, are a matter of record. Allied unit. But the shock of recognition goes well beyond conditioning, down through the shreds of himself he was so graciously permitted to keep--brittle persuasion, piercing bribery, sharp jibes--and a sense that he knows this one, deeper than records, more closely than the impressive kill to conversion ratio.
The realization is jagged, painful and slow, and it refuses to leave.
He knows this program. From before. Designation: ]
Rinzler?
[Yes. That's correct, accompanied by a bright bolt of familiarity. Echoes of something almost warm.
He'd forgotten what that was like.]