I was waiting on T.J. to get to school. When I finally spotted him, I could feel my heart racing. My name is Cheryl Glass, and this my friends T.J. Hubman. We’re good friends, and I’ve always wanted to be more than just friends.

“Hi Cheryl,” he said, “Sorry I’m just a little late.”

“It’s all right,” I said, “I just got here myself.”

“I haven’t seen Lucas or Bea yet,” T.J. said, grinning. “Last that I heard, they were an item.”

“They’ve always like each other enough,” I said, “It wasn’t very hard to notice the obvious attraction between the two. I bet that even Jackie could see it.”

Just then, Lucas and Bea walked up, holding hands. T.J. and I exchanged knowing smiles.

“Hi, guys,” Lucas said, “What’s up?”

“Nothing really,” I said. We walked to our different classes. After school, Bea was over at my house, and I was grilling her. “When did the two of you become an item?”

“The other night,” Bea said, “We were working on homework together and we ended up making out.”

I shook my head. “I knew the two of you were going to be an item eventually,” I said, “Heck, even Jackie, if he had been paying attention, could’ve guessed that.”

“It’s that obvious?” Bea asked.

“Oh yeah,” I said, “Is he a good kisser?”

“To quote you, oh yeah,” Bea said, “He’s a dynamite kisser.”

“I’ve always wondered,” I said, “He seems so quiet around girls, and I’ve heard the quiet ones are the best kissers.

“I don’t know about that,” Bea said. Just then, I noticed a watch exactly like Lucas’s on her watch.

“Did Lucas let you borrow his watch?”

“Huh? Oh, no. I liked his, so I got one just like it.” A chirping came from the watch. “Man, why now?” She raised her hand. “I’ve got to go. I’ve got something to do on my computer.

“I’ll come with you,” I said, “I want to know more about what happened.”

“No,” Bea said, “I’m actually going to meet Lucas.”

“Oh,” I said, “You want to be alone. I understand.”

“Thanks,” Bea said. She left. When she was sure no one was around, she hit the communications button on her ‘watch.’

“Go ahead, S-1,” she said.

“Gigatron’s put a virus somewhere in the cyber realm,” Samurai-1 said, “Servo’s here already. Digitize and help him search for it.”

“Right,” Bea said. She hit the main key. “Uplink: Spryte.” She digitized and entered the computer through her wrist computer’s cordless modem.

Servo was waiting for her. “Hi sweetie,” she said, “Now, how do we do this?”

“We’ll have to search each sector individually,” Servo said, “Until we find it.”

“Each sector individually? That could take forever, especially if we stay together. Who knows how many different sectors there are in the cyber realm?”

“I think its time,” Servo said, “S-1, have you found the candidate for the other powers?”

“I have for the Tinkerer powers,” Samurai-1 said, “I think you’re right on the situation. We need a third person to narrow the searching down more. I’ll go see if she’ll come.”

I was playing around on my computer when I was pulled into the computer. “I am Samurai-1,” a voice said, “You have been chosen to become Tinkerer, one of the four protectors of the cyber realm. Servo and Spryte are you team mates. Do you accept?”

“Servo?” I mused aloud, “Man. Of course I accept.” It was then that I noticed the armor I had on. It was like Servo’s on the show, except it was all red, while Servo’s was silver, red and a few other colors. Since I watch the show, I knew how to get to them. I flew through a tube nearby and found myself with Servo and Spryte.

“Tinkerer, I assume,” Servo said.

“Yeah,” I said, “Lucas?”

“I should’ve known,” Servo said, “Hi Cheryl. It seems that the chosen ones are the four of us. We should wait to bring in TJ. Only in an extreme emergency, agreed?”

“Agreed,” I said.

“Agreed.”

“Bea?” I inquired, “I can’t believe this. This is why the two of you wear those weird watches, isn’t it?”

“Yep,” Spryte said, “You’ll have one from now on, too. They’re miniature wrist mounted computers that store your powers and allow you to come to the cyber realm from anywhere, by cordless modem. Anyway, the reason we had to give you your powers is because we need a third person to help in searching for a virus somewhere in the cyber realm. And its Servo and Spryte here, all right?”

“Right,” I said, “Where do we start?”

“S-1, set up tubes,” Servo said, “Randomly pick where they end out, as long as we don’t go to the same place twice.”

“Right,” Samurai-1 said, “Done.”

“Right,” Servo said, “Let’s go.” We flew through a tube and started searching through cyberspace. About an hour later, we found it.

“Si-kyahh,” Servo called and threw himself at the monster.

“Cyber blaster,” Spryte called. She hit a glowing button on a gun that appeared in her hand. “Help Servo distract him, while I charge up my gun.”

“Right,” I said. I threw myself into the fight.

“Another one?” Jackie demanded, “How many of them are there? Who is that?”

“It’s called Tinkerer,” GigaTron said, “There are four of them. The last one is called ‘Smith.”

“At least now we have backup,” Jackie said, “Send in the second virus monster.”

“Done.”

Another creature came out of nowhere onto the battlefield. “Not another one,” I said, “I’ll take that one. Be careful, Servo.” He nodded and I threw myself at the new monster.

“Tinkerer,” Samurai-1 said, “Your weapon is the glaive. Call upon it.”

“Glaive,” I said. An ax like weapon appeared in my hand. “Awesome.” I tore into the monster. To finish it, I charged up the glaive and slashed the monster, destroying it.

“It’s charged,” Spryte called, “Move out of the way, Servo.”

Servo jumped away. Spryte fired the blaster at the other monster and destroyed it as easily as I had mine.

“All right.” We met up in the middle of the ‘room’ and gave each other high fives.

“Now,” I said, “How do I get out of here?”

“Simply say download,” Servo said, “S-1, set up the return tube to go back to my house. That okay with you two?” We nodded.

“Done,” Samurai-1 said.

“Download.” All three of us said it at the same time. We were sent spiraling through cyberspace and found ourselves in Lucas’s room.

“It’s your show, S-1,” Lucas said.

“Cheryl Glass,” Samurai-1 said, “As I said before, you are one of four chosen cyberwarriors. You will be known in cyberspace as Tinkerer. I will also occasionally ask you to update parts for me. That is your computer field, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is,” I said.

“Anyway,” Samurai said, “The watch like apparatus on your wrist is a low powered computer. To digitize, hit the main key on it and say ‘Uplink: Tinkerer.’ All it does really is store the information about your powers and lets you digitize from anywhere, using a cordless modem. Be wary of it. I have back ups containing your powers, but if its damaged, then it’ll be hard for you to digitize. Maybe impossible.”

“Right,” I said, “Who’s the enemy? KiloKhan?”

“No,” Lucas said, “Something calling itself GigaTron. It seems to be a basic model fashioned after KiloKhan, but its voice, and attitude, is from Galvatron, of Transformers infamy. Oh, and you can’t tell anyone about this. The war between us and him must be kept a secret.”

“Right,” I said, “Well, I’ve got to be heading home. Good night guys.”

“Good night Cheryl,” Bea said.

“Just digitize and use cyberspace to get back,” Lucas said, “S-1, open a tube leading to Cheryl’s computer.”

“Done,” Samurai-1 said.

“Good night Cheryl,” Lucas said.

“Uplink: Tinkerer,” was my only reply. I found myself in the main cyberspace ‘room’ in just a few seconds. “Download.” I found myself in my room even quicker.

“I’ve got to go too,” Bea said, “Good night sweetie.”

“Good night beautiful,” Lucas said. He gave her a kiss.

“Nice going away present,” she said with a smile. She hit the main key on her wrist computer. “Uplink: Spryte.” She disappeared.

Back