~Chapter Seventeen~

Marbles Benson felt like he was walking on air as he went back to his dorm. Ada liked him! She really liked him! And she had liked him longer than he had even liked her! Since the day they met in fact! And now they had just kissed.

Marbles walked into his dorm room and shut the door. He let out a contented sigh and slid down against the door in a dreamlike state, not even noticing his roommate staring at him with wide eyes.

"Marbles," Archimedes said snapping the fourteen-year-old back into reality, "What in the cyber-world happened to you?"

"Ada loves me," he said in the most love-sick voice one can have, "She told me. We kissed."

Archimedes smiled and nodded. "That's great news lad. I'm very happy for the both of you!"

"This is the greatest day of my life," Marbles said still half in a dream, "Nothing can possibly ruin this day."

"Did you finish chapter two of the Advanced Calculus workbook?" Archimedes interrupted.

Marbles love-struck expression suddenly turned into one of dread.

"I'll take that as a no," Archimedes said, reading the expression on his roommate's face.

Ada Lovelace glided to her dorm room in a dream-like state. When she opened the door, she saw Melissa standing at the entrance with a big smile spread across her face.

"Melissa!" the girl said excitedly as she closed the door, "You are never going to believe..."

"I know Ada," Melissa interrupted, "I just happened to be walking by when the two of you kissed."

Ada blushed slightly.

"Well," Melissa continued, "Aren't you going to tell me how this came together?"

The two sat on Melissa's bed as Ada told her everything that had happened. It was the typical teenaged girls conversation, complete with over-excited squeals and fast talking.

"I'm so glad you two are finally together," Melissa said as their conversation came to an end, "It should have happened eons ago!"

"Nothing could ruin this day Melissa," Ada sighed as she got up from the bed to go change into her pajamas.

"Not even that you have an 8:00 A.M class tomorrow?"

"Not even that," Ada answered, though she did wish she didn't have to be up so early tomorrow.

"Alright if you say so," Melissa replied, knowing that her friend would probably be complaining when the alarm wakes her up at 6:15 the next day. Ada took forever to get ready!

"So exactly what have you been doing since I was out there?" Ada asked as she walked out from behind the changing wall, "I know you were almost done with our data structures homework before I left."

"I finished it about five minutes after you left," Melissa answered as she got up and went over to her computer, "Between then and my history class I've been reading my copy of the World Almanac."

"Again?" Ada asked.

"Yes again," Melissa answered, "Its my favorite book. You know that."

"I thought Encyclopedia Brittanica was your favorite," Ada replied.

"Oh yes," Melissa said remembering that book, "They're both my favorite books."

"I don't know how you remember every last detail in those books," Ada said, "They're so long."

"Its just so fascinating, the real world," Melissa said, "Its so similar to ours, yet so different as well. And since there's currently no way to travel between the two realms, those books are the next best thing."

"There was some fantasy character that world wrote about that you're reminding me of right now," Ada said, "If I could just remember her name..."

"So," Melissa said changing the subject back to Ada's recent romance success, "Have you and Marbles actually decided where you'll be going for your first date this Saturday?"

"Not yet," Ada answered as she picked up a poetry magazine, "I was thinking, though, that I would like to go see a play they're having in Happily-Ever-After-Ville. They're doing it on Rapunzel. Or we could go to Aquarium for a submarine tour of the site. Which would you choose?"

"Well," Melissa began, "Knowing my brother, he'd most likely prefer going to Aquarium. But I personally would choose the play. Especially for a fairytale as romantic as Rapunzel."

"I suppose Marbles and I can discuss it tomorrow," Ada said as she turned the page in her magazine. Then, out of mere curiosity, she asked, "And what are you going to do this weekend?"

"I'm finally going to revisit that cave in the Forever Forest back at my home site," Melissa answered.

"You mean the one with the portal dust?"

"No the one with the pack of cyber-wolves," Melissa said sarcastically.

The girls were silent for about five seconds, and then laughed at Melissa's sarcasm.

"Of course the cave with the portal dust," Melissa continued, "Something else I've been thinking about with these portals, after I've tried to find a way to make remote controlled portals, and after I've found a way to program computers to make portals, I have one last thing I'd like to experiment it on..."

"Well?" Ada said, waiting for he answer.

"I'm wondering," Melissa said, nervous that her idea would sound stupid, "I'm wondering if I can do more than just read about the real world. I want to see if its at all possible to open a portal connecting Cyberspace with the real world."

Ada's eyes widened. "That'd be amazing Melissa! But is it really necessary? I'm sure it would be a great adventure, but when would we actually need such a skill?"

"Well you never know if our world could be put in a situation where we would require the assistance of the real world's citizens. And besides, I would like to step into that dimension, if only for a split second."

"But what if someone sees you?" Ada argued.

"If I can control the portals correctly," Melissa said, "Then I can pick a place where nobody will see me."

"Well... if you're absolutely sure of this..." Ada said, uneasy about her friend's idea.

"Like I have been saying for years," Melissa replied, "I must first find out how much energy is needed to create a portal and then work from there to determine how I may use the portal to go to a specific location."

Ada nodded in agreement when she thought of something.

"You know," she began, "Neither you nor Marbles ever told me what the portal vortex was like..."

"Well, Marbles doesn't remember the portal ride at all," Melissa said, "And I passed out upon landing in Control Central. However I was conscious while we were in the vortex. I remember that we seemed to have been travelling at the speed of light. We were flipping over several times in the vortex just from the immense gravitational pull of it. There were all sorts of numbers and data floating around within it. It was scary, since we had no idea where exactly we would end up. But at the same time it was... incredible."

"Wow," Ada said, "Well you better figure out the portal controlling formula quick. I want to ride one!"

Melissa laughed. "I'll do my best Ada."

"Marbles, I thought you already finished yer homework," Archimedes said as he watched his roommate pour over a text book on product design.

"I did finish. I even did an extra chapter of the advanced calculus workbook," Marbles said looking up from his book for a moment, "I'm just reading this to see if it will help me with a project I've been working on."

"You mean that old coffee-damaged computer Ada's mother couldn't fix?"

"Not that one at the moment," Marbles answered, turning a page of his textbook.

"Well you haven't told me of any other projects."

"Its not something I spend nearly as much time on, that's why," Marbles replied.

"Well what is it?" Archimedes asked.

"Do you remember the CC communication device I was telling you about?" Marbles asked.

"Ah yes!" Archimedes answered, "Skwak Pads they were called right?"

"Yes," Marbles answered, "I was analyzing them over the summer and based on my observations, along with what Melissa has told me about... that night, I've come to the conclusion that the device could use some improvement. I would like to invent an updated version that has a better signal and possibly downsize it to one cyber-foot in length, as opposed to the original one and half cyber-feet design."

"I see," Archimedes said, "Do you think you'll show the updated version to Mr. Williams if its a success?"

"Absolutely," Marbles answered, "The more I can do to improve our society, the better."

Archimedes laughed. "Determined are we?"

"Well," Marbles said, "I may not remember what happened that night. But what I do know is that my real parents aren't here right now and had it not been for that portal, Melissa and I would not be alive right now. Until she has figured out the method to controlling portals, the cyber-government will have to stick with communicating during emergencies, meaning they need to be able to communicate from any point. So they must be able to have a better signal."

"Then I wish you luck with your design lad," the pyramid-shaped cyborg said.

"Thank you Archimedes."

"Say Marbles?" Archimedes asked.

"Yes?"

"Have you thought about where yer going to take Ada this Saturday?" Archimedes asked.

"I have," Marbles answered, "The recent news is that Happily-Ever-After-Ville is putting on a play of Rapunzel, one of Ada's favorite fairytales. I'm going to ask her tomorrow if she wants to go."

"Sounds good lad," Archimedes said, "Say do you think you could help me with this Calculus problem for a moment?"

Marbles got up from his desk and went to Archimedes' desk.

"Which one?" he asked.