AN: YES! My computer is actually letting me access the internet! Yes, my fellow fanfic-ers, I actually had an excuse for not updating this time. Please, please forgive the wait and drop a review- let me know you're still out there!

In this chapter, we'll see Cindy making a little bit of progress on Goddard. Like I said before, there is a plot in here, under all the angst, heh. nd a cookie goes to anyone who can pointout th tworefrences in this chap. One of them should be easy...Thanks to all those beutiful-

Reveiwers:

penandsword1: Thanks! And, great guess with wedding bells, but not quite...

Spuffyshipper: Hey, that's a cool idea! I might use it for a one shot sometime, if you don't mind?

kingdom219: You said: "unless it goes with the ABCs". If you're meaning what I think you mean, you're on the right track...

OCEANLANE: Ah! A fellow Lost fan! Go Charlie! Go Charlie! W00t!

acosta pérez josé ramiro: As usual, a pleasure to hear from you! Thanks for the review. By the way, what is your native language? (Not that I can't guess...)

romancejunkie: Nice name, haha. Don't worry, you'll get your fill! Hang in there!

snowboarder9: Cool guess, but not quite.

crazybluephantom: Haha! In the meantime, here's another chapter, k?

RavenandBB4life: That's okay. I'll tell you eventually. Maybe. HAHA! (Coff)

Disclaimer: Memory of happiness makes misery woeful. -Unknown

Chapter 7

-Click-

With the metallic noise in her immediate past, she twisted her neck to face the directions once more. "Okay," she mumbled to herself, "The outer casing is assembled." Taking a moment to survey her handiwork, she smoothed her hand over the shell. It was cold- lifeless. The husk before her, she knew, was only a representation of what he had once been- alive. Would she be able to revivify him?

Standing now, she closed her eyes to feel the import of her stretching muscles. "It's a good thing," she mused, "That mom is gone. Not that she'd miss me." She allowed herself a sarcastic gargled noise- the laugh that went wrong. "No, of course she would- I'm in charge of the dishes."

As she swept up some stray bits of matter, brushing them into her hand, she thought for a moment on her friends. "Libby probably told everyone that I went with my mom on vacation- like I told her." She walked to the garbage, pausing above it to shake her head at herself. "I hate lying to her."

"Lying is a deplorable practice, Miss Vortex." Fred reprimanded, solemnly appearing by her side once more.

"Thank you, Fred." She remarked, sarcasm hidden just enough to avoid detection by the holographic companion. He walked through him to reach the operating table once more. "I don't suppose," She asked, over her shoulder, "You could tell me where to find a ¾ inch wrench?"

"Third shelf, fifth drawer from the bottom, second compartment, second on the left."

Following the directions, she guided her hand through the seeming maze of options. "Good memory." She commented.

"I am a computer, after all, underneath this brilliant A.I engine."

"I see," Cindy laughed, as she closed the drawer, "that you inherited that Neutron Ego problem."

"Ego problem?"

Cindy rolled her eyes. "Enter the denial. Nevermind." She sighed, as she arrived at the former pet, and reached for the directions. "Okay. Next. Page 247." Taking up her tool, she continued chatting, keeping occupied with the convenient distraction Fred afforded her. "So, Fred- are you hooked into the net?"

"Of course." He replied, watching intently as she carefully sorted through the remains.

"Check my e-mail, will you?" She asked, as she found what she had been looking for. "Ah! Part 57436.357. Way to name things for easy access, Boy Genius." she mumbled, finding comfort in anger.

"I am linked to the server- I am now entering your password."

"Okay-" Cindy mumbled once more, before looking up in surprise. "Hey! How do you know my e-mail address- and my password?"

Fred shifted uncomfortably.

"Frrrrred?" She asked, menacingly.

"Well, normally that is classified information, but if you must know, I was made with innate hacking abilities. I was programmed to be able to access any computer."

"Jimmy taught you how to be a hacker?" She asked, amazed.

"In a word, yes. It came to be very useful from time to time."

"Such as?" Cindy asked, taking the moment to wipe a bit of grease from her arm.

"Accessing lab footage 37854.674.35b4."

Cindy raised an eyebrow, but returned to her delicate work in wait.

"Computer!"

His voice shook her from her work- she dropped the piece of metal, twisting to the sound. Following Fred's holographic gaze, she tuned her eyes to the main computer screen, where Jimmy sat before them.

"We need to get that access code!" He cried, typing madly.

Cindy, shaken though she was, was able to guess at his age as he franticly looked from page to page of text before him, as the camera shifted to follow his actions. Her guess was affirmed as Fred paused the tape, Jimmy reaching for yet another button.

"4 years ago, June the 7th."

"He was thirteen."

"Correct. Having crippled the computer systems of NASA, a villainous person had hacked into the main core and started taking over the systems- starting with the missile guidance systems."

"I remember that- didn't Jimmy get a medal from the president?"

Fred nodded. "Yes. Jimmy used my prototype core model to access the hacker's own computer- although he ended up only being able to buy time."

"Mmm." She nodded, closing her eyes to hear once more the remainder of the story.

"Then, using his recently finished advanced tracing system, he finally found where the scoundrel had been hiding out- in a shack in southern Nevada. It wasn't easy-"

"Nothing ever was, when you're dealing with Jimmy Neutron." She said, nostalgia creeping over her like the cold hands of a ghostly past. "But he saved the world, again. Thanks to his computer, no less."

"That is true in a sense. However, a computer is only as smart as is programmed to be. But, in any case, yes. He most certainly saved the world- starting with Newark, the first intended target."

She nodded. For a moment, she soaked in the silence, ignoring the admonitions from her brain to return to work.

"Miss Vortex?" Fred asked.

"Yes?" She returned, eyes remaining closed.

"You have mail."

She sighed, intending an refreshing breath, but it did little to soothe her memories. "Okay." she finally assented, grasping a tool and starting on her work again, "Read to me, Fred- who from?"

"LibsterbopUltra23-"

"Libby. next?"

"hmfomt2562"

"Karen. Skip."

"2526245nsgx469dvs.etr"

"What?" Cindy asked, raising her head to voice her confusion.

"I said 2526-"

"No, no-" Cindy interrupted, dusting off her hands and turning to face him. "I heard you."

"Then why did you request a repetition?"

"I didn't-" She paused, searching for an explanation suitable for educating the artificial life form. "Sometimes when humans are confused, we say 'what'."

"Ah, yes. Then, how shall I answer?"

"Just...I don't know." She admitted. "Sometimes, Fred, I don't understand why humans do things. Let me see that address."

Pulling herself into the chair before the keyboard, she gazed up at the screen. Sure enough, the pervasive address loomed above her- unfamiliar numbers and letters taunting.

"This doesn't make sense." She unarticulated, not low enough.

"May I help clarify something, Miss Vortex?"

"Well, it's just that I haven't gotten Spam since-" She stopped herself short, as the flood of memories washed away the present.

Present.

The word twisted and turned in her mind, and like so many English words, its double meaning shook her. "When I was 14-" She said, talking more to herself than to the holographic personage beside her, "He fixed my computer for me. When I got it back, of course, he had tweaked it out with all sorts of extra prototype programs- like 'Spam B Gone 4.6'. Funny thing is- I never asked him to fix it in the first place."

Fred listened silently as she continued, held in the trance of her nostalgia.

"I had been complaining at school about how my computer had crashed- I was going to throw it out, and he asked if he could have it." She attempted to swallow the lump in her throat, and failed. "I said sure, as long as it was broken, he couldn't possibly make it worse, like he usually did."

Fred tilted his head.

Cindy nodded at him, smile upon her face that was sadder than any frown. "I know: I was a real jerk to him when he was-" She stopped, unable to direct her tongue with the worsening blur in her eyes.

Finally, she spoke once more, not bothering to wipe her eyes, instead, blinking them shut. "Anyway, two days later, I went to walk outside, and there, on my doorstep, was my computer, with a note: "Try Me". So, I hauled it up to my room- it worked like a charm." She smiled, lighter now. "Every time I booted it up- there was that goofy Neutron symbol he had to plaster all over everything."

She lost control now, and returned again to the place in which she had become accustomed- the tears fell down as she held her hands to her face.

"I haven't been able to turn it on- since he-" Her voice broke over the words, "since he-"

But she was unable to finish. The fleeting thought crossed her mind- "the pain is too much." But there was no one to ease it, no one to notice the nineteen year-old non-genius lab intruder, twisted in pain that came from her heart- but a flickering hologram. "And a hologram," she reminded her subconscious, "can't hold you. It can't…" she thought now, pulling the hair from before her eyes in resignation, "raise the dead."

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AN: AWWW... (ahem) okay, clue time!

One of the reveiwers said they didn't have a decoder ring...but I'll bet you do! The object you need to crack the code is a common household object.

Go back to the last chapter and reveiw the clues at the end, and think...common household object...numbers...rings abell...

Come on, guys! I know you can do it!

Peace out till next chap.