~Chapter Eighteen~

For Marbles and Ada, Saturday could not come fast enough. They had agreed on seeing the play in Happily-Ever-After-Ville and drove their roommates nearly insane from the constant lovesick chatter. But the day finally came for their romantic first date.

Marbles knocked on Melissa and Ada's door at around 10:00 A.M. She answered the door in a long cream-colored gown she had brought from home and had her hair in a half up-do.

"Good morning, my lady," he said addressing her with one of the pet names she'd been given.

"Good morning, my dear Marbles," Ada said curtsying.

"Are you ready to leave?"

"I am," she answered, "Just let me get my purse and we'll be off."

"Good morning Marbles," Melissa called from her study desk, "You look very nice today."

"Thank you Melissa," Marbles said to his sister.

"Alright I'm ready," Ada said as she came to the door with her purse.

"You two be careful alright?" Melissa warned as they got ready to go.

"Yes Melissa," Ada answered.

"Marbles," the sixteen-year-old said addressing her brother, "Make sure the cyber-coupe has enough fuel to last you the ride there and back."

"Yes, sister," he answered.

"And wear your seatbelts."

"We know Melissa," Ada answered.

"And drive carefully Marbles?"

"Yes," Marbles said impatiently, "Now can we please go? Mother?"

Melissa smirked at the comment. "I'm just looking out for you. Go ahead you lovebirds. Have fun."

"Bye Melissa," they said as they left.

"'Now can we please go Mother?'" Melissa said mimicking her brother, "I'm not really that over-protective, am I?"

She opened her locket and looked at the picture of their real mother.

"Well someone has to do that job right?" Melissa asked Eileen's picture as if her mother would answer back, "I promised I would look out for him. Now that you're gone."

The girl closed her locket and took a large bag out from under her desk. The afternoon before, Melissa had gone to Forever Forest and collected as much of the portal dust as she could into the bag.

"Alright first things first," she said to herself, "According to my calculations, the laser pointer on the Skwak Pad generates fifty cyber-watts of energy. So I'll need at least that much to activate a portal."

Melissa moved all the school stuff off her desk and replaced it with a small experimenting model that consisted of several wires connecting light to a small metal bowl which she placed a handful of the dust in. She adjusted the light to fifty watts and stood back. She watched as the dust began to glow and form into a swirling portal.

"It worked," she whispered in awe, "But now the question is how I can set it to a specific location."

Melissa grabbed her purse, which currently contained only portal dust and her Skwak Pad and moved closer to the portal, but not close enough to get sucked in.

"Maybe all I need to do is tell the portal where I want to go," she thought.

"Portal," she said feeling rather stupid, "Send me to Cybersite The Forest."

"Here goes nothing," she thought as she jumped in.

Melissa had almost forgotten the feeling of the vortex. It was much faster than she remembered and she flipped over several times. But the visual surroundings were exactly as she remembered. Within seconds she fell out of the portal and landed face first, again, on the ground of The Forest. The sixteen-year-old groaned as she got up and looked around, then gasped when she realized where she was.

"I don't believe it!" she said, "All I had to do was tell it where I wanted to go and it brought me here."

Melissa was glad to see that this part of her experiment had been a success. She couldn't wait to tell Marbles, Ada, and Archimedes. But she still had three other tests to run with the portals. Still, the teenager couldn't leave the Cybersite without reliving one of her childhood past times. The girl found a tall tree with blue leaves and started climbing up to the very top branches.

"I'm amazed that I can still climb as fast as I could six years ago," Melissa said to herself as she sat on one of the high branches, "Now if I had only brought my book with me, it would be just like old times."

"What old times?" a voice asked her.

Melissa turned around to see a small yellow cybird behind her.

"Oh hello," Melissa said waving to the cybird, "I'm sorry. Am I interrupting anything?"

"Not at all miss," the cybird said coming closer to her on the branch and holding out a wing, "My name is Bill."

"Melissa," the girl said shaking Bill's wing.

"I saw you come in through the portal and I wanted to make sure you were alright," the cyboid continued, "I've always wanted to see a portal, but they're so rare ya know?"

"They may not be for very long," Melissa explained, "You see, I made that portal."

"You did?!" Bill exclaimed, "But I thought..."

"Yes they have only been known to be caused by nature," Melissa interrupted, "But years ago I accidently stumbled upon a cave full of portal dust and accidently made a portal. From that, I calculated that fifty watts of power were needed to activate the dust into a portal. I just ran the experiment today and that's how I ended up here."

"Uh-huh..." Bill said, not really understanding all she said, "How will you get back to where you came from?"

"I have more portal dust in my purse," she said showing Bill the purse she had kept in the pocket of her pink dress while she climbed up the tree.

"Wow!"

Melissa smiled and put the purse back in her pocket.

"So is that the 'old times' you were referring to?" the curious cybird asked.

"No," Melissa answered, "I meant how I used to climb trees for fun when I was little. Sometimes I would climb them as part of a game, but after my seventh birthday I mostly just read the book I had gotten while sitting on the branches."

The girl's smile widened as she thought back to that day.

Flashback

Seven year old Melissa Sara Benson climbed quickly up one of the trees in Forever Forest, Pompadoria with a pair of black binoculars hanging around her neck. She got about midway up the trunk and climbed to one of the branches on the left.

"Melissa Sara Benson, codename M.S.B," Melissa spoke in a spy-like manner as she used her binoculars to look around the forest, "Mission, protect Cyberspace from all evil."

She then positioned her hand so that it looked as if she were holding a communication device.

"So far I see nothing sir," she said as she continued looking around with the binoculars and shifted her gaze towards the river, "Nobody is trying to steal the power supply at the moment. I'll continue to stand guard here and take action if I see anything suspicious... Yes of course I'll notify you immediately."

"And it looks like Eileen Ruby Benson, codename E.R.B, has accomplished her mission of finding the birthday girl."

Melissa turned to see her mother standing next to the tree. She swung herself over so that she was hanging from her branch like a possum.

"Hi mom," she said as her blue pigtails dangled from her head.

"Happy b-day sweetheart," Eileen said, "I'm afraid you will have to come down from there if you want your present."

"Sir," Melissa said holding one of her hands into the previously-stated position again, "I believe my mission here is com...Aahhh..."

Melissa had lost her grip and fell off the branch. Eileen dropped the gift and caught Melissa in her arms.

"Thanks Mom."

"You can NOT hang from the branches like that, understood?" Eileen said. Melissa nodded yes as her mother placed her on the ground. "I'm not always gonna be there to catch you, so you'll have to learn to land right."

"Yes Mom," the seven-year-old muttered.

"Now," Eileen said picking up the wrapped package she had dropped, "Open it up, darling."

Melissa opened the gift. It was a copy of the World Almanac, something she had been begging for all year.

"Oh Mom! Thank you!" the little girl said hugging Eileen tightly, "I'll keep it forever!"

"You're welcome Melissa," Eileen said returning the hug, "Happy birthday. I love you!"

"I love you too Mom!"

End Flashback

"Ever since then I would read the book while sitting on the tree branches," Melissa explained, "But when my brother and I moved, our aunt forbid tree climbing. So I haven't done this in a while."

"You live with your aunt, now?" Bill asked, "Why?"

Melissa took a deep breath while looking down at her feet. "My parents are dead," she replied quietly, solemnly.

"Oh," Bill said even quieter, embarrassed that he brought up such a sensitive topic, "I'm so sorry."

"Its a long story," she said, shuddering at the memory, "I keep this locket with their pictures on each side."

She opened her locket and showed Bill the photos of Clyde and Eileen.

"You have your mother's eyes," the cybird said sweetly.

"Thank you," Melissa said smiling. She had always thought her mother was the most beautiful cyborg in all of Cyberspace.

"She used to sing me to sleep at night," Melissa said, becoming quiet again, "Sometimes, I can still hear her voice."

The teenager's eyes began to water. It had been so long ago, but she still remembered them well. Bill perched on Melissa's shoulder and nuzzled her consolingly.

"What's your aunt like?" Bill asked.

"She's wonderful," Melissa said, beginning to smile again, "And she has so many funny stories about the trouble she and my mother got into as children."

Melissa and Bill continued talking for hours, quickly becoming great friends. But soon Melissa realized that she had been there too long and had to get back to her work.

"I'm afraid I have to go back now," Melissa said sadly as she jumped from her branch down to a lower branch, continuing the process until she was on the ground.

"Come back and visit anytime," Bill said following her.

"I will," Melissa said, "It was lovely to meet you."

Melissa took a handful of portal dust from her purse and placed it on the ground as she activated the laser pointer on her Skwak. Within seconds of it hitting the dust, another portal formed and sucked her in immediately.

"Incredible," Bill said watching the portal close.

Marbles and Ada parked the cyber-coupe and took a seat up front at the small outdoor community theater in Happily-Ever-After-Ville.

"Isn't it a beautiful day Marbles?" Ada said as she looked up at the clear sky.

"It is my lady," Marbles replied, "But not nearly as beautiful as you are."

Ada blushed and covered her face with her fan. "You are too sweet my dear Marbles."

Just then Cinderella the third came onto the stage to introduce the play.

"Thank you for attending our production of Rapunzel," the fairytale-based cyborg said, "We ask that you turn off all cellular devices during the performance. No cameras or flash photography is allowed. Please enjoy the show."

The play lasted about an hour and a half and included song and dance. There were several times where the couple would exchange loving glances, thrilled that they were finally together. Once it was over, the two headed back to Cyber University.

"It was so romantic, wasn't it?" Ada said as Marbles drove through the sky.

"It was indeed Ada," he said smiling.

"I absolutely adored Rapunzel's singing voice," Ada continued.

"Yes," her boyfriend agreed, "She has quite a range."

The two were then silent for a while, not really knowing what else to say.

"What shall we do now Marbles?"

Marbles thought for a moment.

"Do you want to continue with trying to fix that old laptop?" he asked.

Ada laughed. "My dear Marbles! We've been trying to fix that old thing for eons! Are you sure you want to continue with it?"

"I'm positive Ada," the young cyborg answered, "I believe that I'm very close to finding a solution.

"You've been saying that since you first started working on it Marbles," Ada pointed out, "But yes I would love to help you with the project."

"Then we shall go up to my dorm immediately," Marbles said as he parked the cyber-coupe behind his dorm building.

The two entered Marbles' and Archimedes' dorm room. On Marbles' study desk was the now eights years retired laptop.

"Where is Archimedes?" Ada asked noticing the room was empty.

"He told me he was spending the day in the library. He wants to research more on the real world Archimedes."

"Ah," Ada said, "Another child named after their parents' Earth hero, I take it?"

"Affirmative," Marbles said.

Ada laughed. "Well, anyway, let's get to this project...again."

Marbles really was close to finding a way to fix the laptop. He had, over the past eight years, read every book about computers that he could get his hands on, and this past Thursday, he read his text book to find the very last thing he needed to come up with a method that would undo the hot liquid damage. Within an hour of tweaking and repairing, Marbles and Ada were able to use their knowledge and their theories to finally fix the laptop and have it running as if there never had been a spill at all.

"You did it Marbles!" Ada exclaimed, "You've finally found a way to fix hot liquid damage!"

"I didn't do it Ada," Marbles said smiling, "We did it. I couldn't have gotten this far without you."

Ada smiled and kissed her boyfriend on the cheek. "Thank you old chum."

I know speaking to the portal to tell it where to go sounds dumb, but it lines up canonically with Digit telling a portal he wanted the kids. Anyway, please review. Reviews are my life force. As Digit would say:

See ya in Cyberspace!