And another chapter. Mild references to "The Time Traveler" in this, nothing too major, but if you don't fully understand what's going on, go refer to that fanfic. In fact, if you haven't read "The Time Traveler" yet, I recommend you do so, for I'm planning on revisiting that idea sometime in the near future.

2.

Discussions and Decisions

Inez studied the picture being displayed on the large screen where Motherboard was usually seen. "Any idea what that thing is?" she asked, gesturing to the crystal the two robotic henchmen had.

"No." Creech replied, her face sitting in a box in one corner of the screen. "In fact, I didn't hear all of their conversation. I was lucky to hear what I did."

"Lucky indeed." Motherboard said, her face sitting in another box in the opposite corner of the screen. "Had they any reason to suspect they were at risk of being overheard, they wouldn't have said anything."

"But naturally, they didn't." Digit said snidely. "Too dumb."

"Leave it to Buzz and Delete." Matt said, stepping up next to Inez to get a better look at the picture. "One thing is clear, though. Hacker's up to the usual again."

"Was there any doubt?" Jackie asked. "It's been awhile since we thwarted his last plan. Hacker had to start causing trouble again sometime."

"Yes, but it sounded like Hacker's been at this for awhile now." Creech added.

"Yeah, I got that impression too." Inez agreed. "If we knew what those crystals were, we might get somewhere."

"Maybe there's a pattern to all of this." Jackie thought out loud.

"Not that I can see." Motherboard said. "In addition to Tikiville, the Grim Wreaker has also visited Ecohaven, Poddleville, Sensible Flats, and the Forest since yesterday. Seemingly at random."

Creech was impressed. "Wow, you can do that, Motherboard?" she asked.

"She can now." Matt said, proudly.

"Which brings us to some good news." Digit said. "Yesterday, the Encryptor chip finally did it's thing and cured Motherboard of her virus. She can do lots of stuff now."

"And what's even better is that Hacker doesn't know yet." Inez added. "Meaning we can do things like track the Grim Wreaker without him knowing."

"That is good news!" Creech agreed.

"Unfortunately, Hacker is still out there, and dangerous." Motherboard interrupted.

"And is up to no good, it sounds like." Matt agreed. "We just don't know what."

"It's that crystal that's throwing us off." Jackie said. "If we knew what it was, that would answer quite a few questions."

"I am doing a search of my database to any matches to that crystal." Motherboard said. "So far, I have not had any luck. If any reference of it is in my database, it is nothing new."

"Well, that doesn't make any sense." Matt said. "If it was an old discovery, wouldn't we know something about it already?"

"Not necessarily, Matt." Dr. Marbles said, suddenly entering the room, a datachip in one hand. "Because Motherboard's right, those crystals are old. Very old, so much so, we've all forgotten what they are."

"So you know what they are?" Inez asked, as Dr. Marbles strolled past and inserted the datachip into a slot on Motherboard's controls.

"Yes indeed." Marbles said. "Because I realized the crystals are of Cyantian origin, and thus knew where to look."

"Cyantian?" Matt asked. "That makes twice Hacker has gotten a hold of Cyantian technology without our knowing."

"Yes, but this time it is not so surprising." Marbles said, as the picture of Buzz and Delete was replaced with a diagram of the crystal, as well as a column of scrolling data. "The crystals are Cyantian power crystals. A kind of battery that the Founders of Cyberspace used to power their technology. When the Founders left, the crystals were presumably left scattered all throughout Cyberspace, but until now, one was only found to date."

Marbles worked the controls for a moment, and an aging picture of a cyborg holding one such power crystal appeared. "Twenty years ago, Dr. Frederick Marbles discovered a Cyantian power crystal, but the crystal was long dead, so while the discovery was enormous, nothing much was learned from it."

"Dr. Frederick Marbles?" Jackie asked. "Is he related to you?"

Marbles nodded. "That's how I knew the crystal was Cyantian." he replied. "He was my grandfather, and at the time, he was the foremost expert on Cyantian technology. That expertise was eventually passed on down to me, but I've had seldom chance to use it."

Inez had been thinking. "Power crystals..." she muttered, "Could it be that Hacker's trying to use them to give him the ultimate recharge? A more permanent one?"

"I already considered that." Marbles said. "The calculations I made fell far short. It's doubtful that's Hacker's plan."

"Here's an idea." Creech said suddenly. "Maybe Hacker wants them to power something else altogether."

"I've reached that conclusion as well." Motherboard agreed. "Seeing that the crystals are batteries and are meant to be used as such, it is the most logical solution."

"But Hacker hasn't been thinking very logically as of late." Matt pointed out.

"And this all doesn't tell us very much." Jackie added. "We have a good idea how the crystals are going to be used, but not for what."

"For that matter, we don't even know how Hacker's finding these things so quickly and effectively." Inez said. "I mean, think about it. It's been many, many, years since the Founders of Cyberspace left, and we've only found one during that time, and that was twenty years ago."

"And obviously, in order to stop Hacker, we have to keep him from getting more of these things." Matt said.

"And only he knows where the next one would be." Creech added.

"Mother B, any idea where Hacker's going next?" Jackie asked.

"No." Motherboard replied. "The Wreaker's course takes within range of a dozen cybersites, and it'll be several hours before he reaches any of them."

"We can't just pick one and hope Hacker will arrive there." Matt said. "We need a better strategy."

"There must be some way for Hacker to be tracking these things." Inez reasoned.

"That is," Marbles said, a thought coming to him, "Unless he already knows where to look."

The Cybersquad looked at the doctor, realizing what he meant.

"Could he get there, Doc?" Digit asked.

"He was present when we found it." Marbles pointed out, "So it stands to reason."

"And it would explain a whole lot." Matt agreed.

"But the place was in ruins!" Jackie exclaimed. "How could he find anything of use there?"

"There had to be something." Inez said, "Because at the moment, it's the only thing we've got to go off of."

"Not to mention, we didn't really take the time to explore the place." Matt added, "So there could be something that would tell hacker what he wanted to know about the crystals somewhere."

"But it's been all locked up since we left!" Jackie exclaimed. "No one has been there since we were."

"True, but like I said, Hacker was present when we discovered it, so he could have enough information to get around it." Marbles added.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Creech interrupted, who was totally lost. "What, or where, are we talking about here?"

It was Motherboard who replied. "Cyantis." she answered.

"The lost cybersite of the Founders?" Creech asked, slightly surprised.

"Yep." Matt said. "Where else would you find such precise information about Cyantian technology such as power crystals?"