Author's Note: The song at the end of this chapter is Only You by the Platters. I do not own it. I do own the words to Ada's poem.
And... ACTION!
~Chapter Nineteen~
Ada opened the door to her dorm room and saw Melissa at her desk, putting together some sort of device.
"Melissa," Ada said catching the older cyborg's attention, "You'll never believe what just happened!"
"What?" Melissa asked, stopping what she was doing for a moment.
"Marbles fixed the laptop!" Ada exclaimed.
"Marbles fixed the laptop?!" Melissa knew exactly which laptop her friend was talking about.
"Yes!" Ada said, her green eye gleaming with joy, "He insists that I helped him but it was Marbles who was truly responsible."
"Aunt Alexa will be thrilled!" Melissa said, "She had almost all of her wedding photos saved on there and was so upset about losing them."
"And what about you?" Ada asked, "How are your portal experiments coming along?"
Melissa smiled. "Part one is finished. I have confirmed that at least fifty cyber-watts of power are needed to activate the portals. And you'll never believe what you have to do to get to a set location."
"Oh I won't?" Ada asked.
"All you have to do," Melissa said, "Is tell it where you want to go."
Ada simply burst into laughter. "That's too funny for me to believe. Just speak to it like its a pet?"
"So you don't believe me," Melissa said in a rather annoyed tone, "I suppose I will just have to prove it to you."
Melissa took out her experimenting model and repeated the process she had used with the last portal. She quickly got over to where Ada was standing, so as to avoid being sucked into the portal before she was ready.
"Now where do you want to go?" Melissa told her friend.
There was only one place that Ada really wanted to go.
"Home," she answered.
"Portal," Melissa commanded to the swirling pinkness in front of them, "Take us to Ada Lovelace's bedroom at her home in Cybersite Helping Hand Land."
Melissa grabbed her slightly apprehensive friend by the arm and they jumped in. Ada, having never been in a portal vortex before, screamed hysterically the whole time as the girls were flipped over several times in the vortex. The portal spat the two out on top of Ada's bed back at home.
"H-h-how..." was all Ada could say as she looked around the familiar room.
"Now do you believe me?" Melissa asked smiling.
Ada nodded, too in awe to say anything.
Just then, the girls heard someone coming up the stairs.
"Hide under the bed," Ada mouthed to Melissa and the two did so as quickly and quietly as possible.
Right when they had made themselves completely hidden, Nanny opened the door to the bedroom. She could've sworn she heard somebody but there was no one there. She opened Ada's closet, nobody there. As the housemaid stood in the room, wondering if she was losing her circuits, Ada felt a sudden urge to sneeze. Melissa quickly held the girl's nose before any sound could escape. After Nanny left the room, the girls quietly got out from under the bed.
"Thank you Melissa," Ada whispered, "I'm sure she would've caught us if I had sneezed."
Melissa nodded in agreement.
"One question though," Ada stated, "How are we going to get back to the university?"
Melissa smiled and took out her purse that she still had in the pocket of her pink dress. She opened the small zip-lock bag of portal dust and gracefully sprinkled a handful onto the ground. She then proceeded to activate the laser pointer on the Skwak Pad and directed it at the dust. Another swirling portal appeared.
"Portal," Ada began, but suddenly had her mouth covered by Melissa's slim blue hand.
"I want to see if it can read our thoughts and get us there without saying a command," Melissa whispered.
Ada nodded nervously. "Is she insane? What will we do if we end up somewhere completely random?!"
Despite these thoughts she followed her older friend into the portal, which landed them in no place other than their dorm room.
"I don't believe it," Ada exclaimed, "It read our thoughts?"
"Correction Ada. It read my thoughts," Melissa said as she brushed herself off, "I know I'm the first cyborg to make a portal, but still I'm about ninety percent positive that they only respond to the commands of the cyborg that created them."
Ada smirked. "And why do you say this?"
"I've done my research," Melissa said dryly, "Several cyborgs have been accidently sucked into naturally-occurring portals. If anyone going in could have their thoughts read by the portal, they would not end up in random places. Think about it."
"You have a point there my friend," Ada said as she gazed upon Melissa's nightstand.
On the nightstand was a photo of a young Melissa with her mother Eileen, taken on the last Christmas she ever spent with her parents.
"You really miss her don't you?"
Melissa wasn't sure at first what Ada was talking about. She turned around to see Ada staring at the photo.
"I miss them both," Melissa sighed, "We saw more of my father since he worked from home, but I always felt closer with my mother. I always looked up to her."
"You have her eyes," Ada said still looking at the picture.
"That's the same thing Bill said."
"Bill?" Ada asked.
"A cybird I met at The Forest," Melissa replied, "That was where I commanded the first portal to go."
"Oh," Ada laughed.
Melissa's piercing blue eyes were still fixed on the picture.
"I know she and my father are watching over Marbles and I. I just wish I knew what she thinks of me now," Melissa said as she blinked away her tears, "Would she be proud of me?..."
"I guarantee you she is," Ada said softly.
Melissa continued to stare at the photo, her cyborg equivalent of a heart breaking yet again. She never liked to cry about this topic in front of anyone, especially her family. She had promised herself that she would remain strong for Marbles, for Alexa, for everyone. Still, her brother and aunt could secretly see right through her.
"Melissa?" Ada asked apprehensively, "You always act like a mother to everyone. To Marbles, to me, to everyone you love. Don't get me wrong, we all appreciate it and its one of the reasons we love you so much. But I was wondering if... is one of the reasons you do this, with Marbles specifically, because... because you are afraid to lose us too? Or because you are trying to make up for your mother not being here anymore?"
Both questions could simply be answered with a 'yes.' But the sixteen-year-old had never realized this. And it was this sudden realization that finally made her crack. Melissa turned to her friend and nodded, knowing what would happen if she opened her mouth to speak.
"Melissa," Ada said staring at her friend who was shaking from the emotional torture within her, "You don't have to hold back. Just let it out."
With that the emotional pain overwhelmed Melissa. She collapsed onto the floor in a ball, an ocean of tears falling from her eyes as she sobbed hysterically. Ada, knowing there was really nothing else she could do, sat down next to the trembling teenager and held her in a tight hug.
"You are one of the strongest cyborgs I know Melissa," Ada said consolingly, "I hope you know that."
And she continued to hug her friend tightly until she literally cried herself to sleep. When she finally did, Ada carried Melissa to her bed and laid her there, for Melissa was so light that even a younger female cyborg could lift her with ease. Ada sat at her desk and wrote a poem.
"She puts on a smile so nobody sees
The pain that she refuses to set free
She's been through much and is afraid
But despite it all she is so brave
Her knowledge is vast, her soul is pure
There's nothing this girl can't endure..."
With the case of the coffee-damaged laptop finally solved, fourteen-year-old Marbles was now focusing on his next project, improving the Skwak Pads. As he was studying the inner parts of the device, Archimedes walked into the dorm.
"Hello Marbles," he greeted, "How was your date with Ada?"
"It was wonderful Archimedes," Marbles replied, "And you'll never believe what Ada and I did afterwards."
"Well?"
"We've fixed the laptop!"
"Oh that's wonderful news laddie!" the fifteen-year-old exclaimed, "I'm sure your aunt will be happy to hear it!"
"Affirmative," Marbles said, "She had quite a few of her wedding photos and there were several home videos she had meant to show Melissa and I."
"Why wait?" Archimedes asked, "You have access to it right now."
"True," Marbles said.
Pushing the disassembled skwak to the side, Marbles opened up the laptop and clicked on the videos folder. The first one he clicked on was only a few seconds long. It was of the man he knew from pictures to be his late uncle screaming while being chased by an angry goose while Alexa laughed behind the camera. Marbles found himself laughing as well. His aunt had told him this story many times, but to see it was something else entirely.
"Still think they're cute, babe?" Alexa said from behind the camera before the video cut off.
Marbles continued to click on various video files. Most of them were only a few minutes long of similarly funny scenarios, but he eventually came to a group of videos titled "Karaoke Night." One of these videos had his mother's name in parenthesis, piquing his curiosity.
He clicked on the video which showed an unfamiliar room and several strange faces chatting and laughing. At the end of the room was a karaoke machine, which a young brunette woman walked up to. As she turned around, Marbles recognized, again due to photos, that it was his mother.
"I'd like to dedicate this song to my wonderful Clyde," she said, picking up the microphone as several guests awed.
The chords of an electric guitar filled the room and Eileen began to sing.
"Only you can make this world seem right
Only you can make the darkness bright
Only you and you alone can thrill me like you do
And fill my heart with love for only you
Oh, only you can make all this change in me
For it's true, you are my destiny
When you hold my hand, I understand the magic that you do
You're my dream come true, my one and only you"
At this point, a bluenette man walked up to the karaoke area and took Eileen by the hand. She stared adoringly into his eyes as she continued to sing.
Oh-oh, only you can make all this change in me
For it's true, you are my destiny
When you hold my hand, I understand the magic that you do
You're my dream come true, my one and only you"
On the last 'you,' Eileen playfully poked the man's nose.
"Aw, ain't that sweet?" Archimedes said, "And what a lovely voice she has!"
Marbles didn't respond though, too entranced by what he'd heard. Indeed the singing was lovely, but it was also familiar in a way he couldn't quite put his finger on. He had heard the singing before.
If only he could remember where...
Go listen to this song if you haven't heard it before. Its flipping beautiful! I hope this chapter was entertaining. Please leave a review if you liked it. You have no idea how excited I get over just one single review. As Digit would say:
See ya in Cyberspace!