First Step...
------------------------------
"Penny for your thoughts."

Cybersix, disguised as Adrian Seidelman, turned away from the window and looked across the table at Lucas, "Looks like a big storm blowing in from the ocean."

"Yeah.  Bad as the one a while back when those cops were looking..." Lucas paused, then continued, "..pretty drenched.  Got any plans for tonight?"

Cybersix smiled as she took another sip from her coffee, preparing for the night ahead.  "Yes.  I want to check up on Julian, then stop by Dr. Zack's place and make sure thieves haven't broken into it.  Then I've got to go shopping..."

"Not too many stores open," Lucas remarked grimly, "It's getting harder to find exactly what you need."

"Yes..." She nodded, putting her cup down and rising, "Gotta go Lucas.  With luck, I'll catch you later tonight."

"You're in a hurry.  I'll take care of the bill." Lucas said,

Alice, their usual waitress, came by and poured Lucas another cup of Decaf, "You've been picking up the tab for Adrian a lot recently, Lucas." she observed, "What's up?  You usually gripe about that."

"Well, you know he went missing for a while after that moving mountain plowed through here," Lucas said, pulling out his wallet, "I suppose the thought of him not being around any more made me think things through and appreciate things more.  But what are you worried about?  The bill's getting paid."  He tossed some money on the table, grabbed a long sip from his cup, got up, pulled on his coat, and went out, "See ya later."

"Yeah," Alice muttered as she picked up the money, "but Adrian's the better tipper."
--------------------
"Data 7!" Cybersix turned when she saw the image of her brother coming through the window in the mirror, "How are you this fine night?" she asked, kneeling and putting her arms around the thick neck.

Data 7 affectionately licked her face several times, his rough tounge warm and wet against her skin.  She laughed softly, "Now, let's take a look at that rat's tail of yours!" she said, getting up.

Data 7 growled irritatedly.

"Well, it DOES look like a rats tail!  Unlike Quaren, though, *I* don't think that MAKES you a rat!" she said, suppressing a michevious grin.  She went behind him and ran the long tail through her hands, "You're growing some hair back, so that's good!  Ready to go shopping?" she asked, using the "code word" for hunting Fixed Ideas that Lucas had come up with to discuss the nightly hunt while she was dressed as Adrian.

Data 7 paced toward the window, glanced back at her over her shoulder, then leaped out the window onto the roof across the street.  Cybersix pulled her cape on, jammed her hat on her head, and stepped out onto the window sill.

"What will this night bring?" She thought.  "So much has happened!  The Isle of Doom.  Dr. Zack leaving.  Meeting the two Cybers that Mel had spoken about.  And Quaren.  Hard to believe that Dr. Zack's would-be assassin- er kidnapper-" she corrected herself, smiling at Quaren's fanatical insistence on the correct term, "-used to be Cyber Seven."

Cybersix sighed.  She wanted so much for the gentle, beautiful soul of the little cyber girl-child who had slept in the cot next to her so many years ago to be somewhere in that blonde-headed, foul mouthed, violent creature that Von Richter had created, "Just as well.  No telling what I would have done if I knew then, when I confronted him, what I know now."

Data 7's roar from the opposite rooftop snapped her out of her reverie.  She leaped across to the opposite roof and began running, sensing Data 7 at her side.

"Let's go find Julian before the storm comes." She said.
-----------------
After about a half hour of looking, Cybersix found Julian standing under an awning at the marketplace.

"Cybersix!  Data 7!" Julian said excitedly when he heard them landing next to him.

"Hello Julian!" she greeted him, "Storm's coming, and I wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Why shouldn't I, with all my buddies here?" Julian said, turning to the shadows, "Right Officer Henrique?"

"Well, hello officer!" Cybersix was surprised to see the huge bulk of the plain-clothes detective emerge from the shadows.

"Good evening Cybersix!" Henrique nodded, "Glad to know someone else shares my concerns for Julian here." The detective leaned down and ran his hand through Julian's mop of hair, for the boy had knelt to hug Data 7.

Cybersix smiled happily at the sight.  She caught herself wondering how Lucas got along with little children.

"Oh, and what a coincidence!" Henrique remarked, "I got a phone call from Dinazo.  Remember him?"

She looked startled, "He's Miguel Cornazon's head of security, isn't he?"

"He is.  He called police headquarters several days ago from what sounded like a sattellite phone.  He's the coordinator for the jungle resistance forces that are manned from the tribes near Von Richter's hideouts.  A while back there seemed to be some military action near, get this, a CASTLE on a mountain range outcropping in the Amazon!"

The shadows created by the wide brim of her hat prevented Henrique from seeing the sober look that appeared on the woman's face, "Yes.  I heard of that."

"Looking for an opportunity to strike, he went out there himself to coordinate the attack.  While his scouts were performing reconnaissance, they came across one very odd and surprising pair of individuals thrashing around in the jungle.  He didn't mention who they were, but said that he was expediting their return to Meridiana as quickly as possible, and insisted that 'our lovely associate' be notified.  Do you have any-"

But Cybersix was already gone.

"Woah.  She is FAST." Henrique remarked, "Any idea of who he was talking about, Julian?"

"I don't, but Data 7 knows, Don'tcha?" Julian asked the panther, who looked torn between going with this sister and staying with Julian during the upcoming storm, "I'll follow you!  Coming along, Henrique?"

"Nah. Got a meeting with a stoolie in a half hour.  Fill me in when I catch you next time?"

"No problem!  See ya!" Julian ran off after Data 7.
----------------------
Cybersix's heart soared when she saw the lights on in the second story of the townhouse at the corner next to the park.  She leaped around to the side near the library and onto the top of the wall, only to hop down onto the yard to join the two individuals arguing there.

"Honestly, Doctor.  A PhD in physics, and you can't get a kite into the air?"

"I USED to do all kinds of stunts with kites, but those were Maylays and this is a Box kite."

"MEL!  Dr. ZACK!" Cybersix called, dropping onto her knees between the two, putting an arm around each one, and hugging both of them to herself, "You're okay!  You're alive!"

"Cybersix!" Dr. Zack said in mock alarm, "Is Lucas near by?"

Mel scratched his head at the private joke about which the two laughed, "Oh, I was just giving him a hard time." Cybersix replied, "I admit, I'm still smarting over the way he acted around  Elaine, so I wanted to give him a taste of his own medicine."

"So what happened?"

"He finally admitted that he was jealous.  It was hard, but he admitted it."

"Have you been jealous?" Mel asked her.

She looked up at him with a lopsided smile, "Yes.  I think it's what we feel when we hide the intensity of the love we feel for someone, and then find out we're losing that person to someone who we think loves them less than we do. But enough of me!" she rubbed Mel's huge shoulder, "What happened to you?"

"Well, you know that Dr. Zack dumped me off the Isle of Doom using that dimensional hole trick of his.  I got stuck in the muck, but one of the tentacles hit the bottom and stirred it up, releasing me.  I followed the Isle through the city and up the hillside.  I heard a cry for help, which turned out to be Jose," Mel rolled his eyes while Cybersix laughed at his discomfort, "NEVER be the only Fixed Idea in Jose's presence!  You can't imagine what he made me do until more arrived!"

"You were with Jose?" Cybersix asked, amazed.

"Yes.  There seems to be a power struggle going on in Von Richter's operation.  Jose claims he was put in charge by Von Richter, and has a tape recording to prove it, but I overheard him creating it.  However, that got enough Technos and Fixed Ideas on his side that he decided to attack the Amazon Castle, where sustenance is made."

Cybersix nodded, "During which the sustenance generator was damaged."

"Actually," Mel admitted, "*I* did that.  Easy to fake in the heat of battle, and since one Fixed Idea looks like another, I was able to shift the blame to someone else."

"Mel!" Cybersix and Dr. Zack said almost simultaneously, in shock.

"There you are!" Julian yelled as he rode Data 7 over the wall, "Oh no!  A fixed idea!  Get him Data 7!"

"Easy Julian!" Cybersix stepped between them, "This is a friend of mine!  He saved my life when I was your age!  Julian, this is Mel, or Fixed Idea Four.  Mel, this is my friend, Julian. I've spoken to you before about him."

"Uhh, hi." Julian said uncertainly.

"Pleased to meet you." Mel said politely.

Julian blinked.  Mel grinned, pleased with the effect his voice had on people.

"JULIAN!" Dr. Zack said enthusiastically, "Could you possibly do me and Cybersix a favor by getting this blasted kite into the air?"

"Sure!" Julian looked at it, and shook his head, "Boy, you guys don't know how to string a bowline!"

"Kinda reminds me of you poking around the generator." Mel remarked amiably to Dr. Zack.

"YOU WERE THERE??" Cybersix gasped, "But how..."

"Like I said, One Fixed Idea looks like another.  Besides, we're supposed to be so dumb, it's understandable if we don't know which side to be on." Mel said, grinning, "Easy enough to switch sides and make sure I got the generator.  I was kinda worried when I saw Techno 1954 working on it."

"Hey!" Julian lifted a spool, "This isn't kite string!  This is copper wire!"

"I know, Julian.  Just do your best." Dr. Zack replied.

"Oh, it's soft enough, and the wind will be strong enough to lift it, but not far.  But it's dangerous, Dr. Zack.  Especially now with a thunder storm coming!"

"I know.  I NEED this kite up DURING the thunderstorm!" Dr. Zack said, "Cybersix needs it up!"

"I do?" Cybersix asked, frowning, "I know you conduct wild experiments, Dr. Zack, but didn't a yanqui already do this a long while ago?"

"Benjamin Franklin, yes.  However, I have a different set up this time, with a different outcome in mind."

Cybersix looked doubtful, but turned back to Mel, "I know Dr. Zack went to fix it.  I take it the techno didn't succeed?"

"Oh, there were schematics, all right, and replacement parts." Mel said, "But he was so panicked to get the machine producing sustenance again that it didn't occur to him that Von Richter wouldn't put such an important secret into the schematics.  It's a large device, so I figure Von Richter only put the heavy stuff on the drawings.  I bet, after the heavy lifting, bolting, and welding was done, that he'd then sneak by later and add whatever the secret ingredient or component by himself.  It's probably something small and unnoticeable, and which he could lift or attach himself with little trouble.  I started to really worry when Dr. Zack arrived.  His life wouldn't be threatened if the machine couldn't be made to work again, so he could look at the problem in a more detached and objective state of mind."

"Did you succeed?" Cybersix asked Dr. Zack.

"I don't know." Dr. Zack admitted, "I didn't want to stick around to make sure, since if I discovered the secret, I certainly would not have been allowed to leave that castle alive.  However, I wrote down what I suspected, based on looking at the wreckage of the old one and comparing it with the schematics."

"WAS there a difference between them?" Cybersix asked.

"Indeed there was." Dr. zack said smugly, "Barely noticeable."

"What was it?"

"A return line, going from the output header back the whole length of the generator to the input header.  I found a small bore pipe full of charged sustenance, which could have been the output spout, but that that was already accounted for.  Besides, the pipe was too long.  There were tack welds in spots along its length.  That told me that it had been formerly attached to the generator.  The schematics also use similar tubing, but they are filled with circulating water and used as a cooling jacket.  In the wreckage, one tube filled with charged sustenance, among hundreds filled with water, would be easily overlooked.  I almost missed it myself."

"Here we are!" Julian said, lifting the kite for them to see.

Dr. Zack pulled on some rubber gloves, "Could you help me get it into the air, Julian?" he asked.

"Sure!"

"So, Mel." Cybersix asked as they watched the pair launch the kite into the air, "How do you fit in?"

Mel smiled, "As luck would have it, I was appointed Dr. Zack's guard.  It was easy to sneak in between the roving patrol passes, talk with Dr. Zack, find out that you were alive, and plan an escape.  When the roving patrol came by, I killed him, took his place, and walked Dr. Zack down to the cloak room.  I then sounded the alarm and said I'd test the front door."

"Which is?" Cybersix asked.

Mel's smile showed white, even teeth, "You have to OPEN THE DOOR and cause an alarm to know that it's working.  Since they know a Fixed Idea is opening the door, they know it's a test.  I opened the door, and sure enough, the alarm went off.  Too bad the alarm doesn't really detect when somebody is walking THROUGH the door while it's open.  They searched the whole place twice over, so sure were they that the Doctor was still in the castle, while in actuality he was waiting down the jungle trail for me.  When they finally decided to send out search parties, I knew where he was and insisted on going in that direction.  We joined up and headed out across the jungle.  I had a machine gun, so there wasn't much danger from the wild animals."

"What happened after that?"

"Have you heard of Miguel Cornazon?"

"Sure I know him!  After all, I saved his life when he came to Meridiana.  He's been trying to raise the alarm about Von Richter for years."

Mel nodded, "The natives in the surrounding jungle were among the first to join the military campaign, after the ones in the Amazon.  One of his trusted aides, Dinazo, came out a couple of days earlier to see if the confusion at the castle could be exploited.  He sent out scouts, who found us and hauled us in for questioning.  That was the scariest part of the whole thing, since I was a Fixed Idea and Fixed Ideas are Von Richter's shock troops.  Imagine my surprise when Dinazo walks in to interrogate us, sees Dr. Zack, and gives him a bear hug!"

Cybersix nodded, smiling, "Its a secret, but after Cornazon's hotel room got shot up by Jose's stolen figher jet cannon, he spent the night here at the Townhouse.  With all defenses on, of course."

"Cybersix," Mel asked, "Do you know what makes that man so nervous that he lives in a fortress like this?  I've sneaked looks at intercepted military reports that call it the Fort Knox of South America!"

She looked grim, "I think so, but it's private.  I'm sure he'll tell you if you-"

"Okay, I think it's high enough!" Dr. Zack said, "Could either of you bring me that big tube over there?"

Cybersix picked it up and looked at it as she took it to Dr. Zack.  It was heavy steel on the outside, with an eyehook on one end and a long spike on the other.  However, the end plugs were heavy rubber.  She gave it to Dr. Zack, who wound the kite string around the eyehook and shoved the other end into the ground, "Could you push that in deeper, Cybersix?"

She did so easily, then backed away, "What now?"

"We wait for lightning to hit the kite."  Dr. Zack turned to Mel, "Mel, YOU destroyed the sustenance generator?"

Mel nodded grimly, then grinned stupidly, "Shoot over roof.  Hit technos inside." he said like any other Fixed Idea, "Always trust a Fixed Idea to take the opportunity to try to 'stick it' to a smartass Techno.  I shot a rocket over the roof into the courtyard, and the others followed suit."

Dr. Zack nodded, "The tolerances were tight.  I think an explosion knocked the combs out of alignment and caused sparking.  That would ionize some of the charged sustenance inside, releasing its energy and causing an internal explosion."

"But Mel, why?  Why destroy a machine you and I need to survive?" Cybersix asked.

Mel looked at her, smiling sadly, "Everyone thought you were dead.  I did too." he shrugged, "I was very sad, depressed, and angry.  When I saw Jose and Krumens squabbling over who would control Von Richter's creations, and without you around to stop them..."  He reached out and put this hand along the side of her head.  Her cheek rested in the huge palm, and the long, huge  fingers reached around the back of her head and neck.

She reached up and put her hand on the back of his, running her fingers over the hairy skin and strong tendons, "Oh Mel.." she sighed softly, smiling sadly, "It would have been a terrible and slow way to die."

"Better than living without feeling you in the world." Mel replied, leaning forward and tenderly kissing her forehead.

Any other Fixed Idea would have jerked her head hard enough to snap it off her neck in an instant, but the utter trust between the Cyber and this Fixed Idea made him glad he had gotten Mel out of the Isle of Doom.  There was a loud clap of thunder, and a few fat drops began to fall around them, "Let's get inside and have a snack and something to drink!" he suggested.

Mel dropped his hand, "That sounds great, Dr. Zack!"

"Yeah!" Julian agreed.

They all trooped inside, and Dr. Zack began to make some Decaf.  He had just gotten it started when there was another loud clap of thunder outside and the lights went out for about 10 seconds before coming back on.

Cybersix got up and looked out the window, "The power is out on the whole block!  You have backup generators?"

Dr. Zack nodded, "Hear them starting up?  I use quantum batteries to bridge the gap."

"It's a bad storm!" Julian said, fishing his second candy bar out of the jar on the table, "Glad I'm in here!"

Suddenly, there was another thunderclap, followed almost immediately by a loud explosion outside.  The sound of gravel flying against the windows made Mel get up and go into the living room, "There's a big hole in the yard!" he called.

"Uh oh!" Dr. Zack groaned, "I hope my container held up!"

"Let me look for it." Mel volunteered, going outside.

"You probably lost the kite." Julian mumbled around the wad of chocolate in his mouth.

"Certainly.  I just hope..." Dr. Zack sighed.

"What ARE you trying to do?" Cybersix asked.

"I'd just as soon wait-" He started, then jerked his head when Mel came back inside, holding the tube.  The eyehook on one end was half-melted off, and it was considerably blacker on the outside, but it looked intact, "Great! It's still in one piece!" he exulted as Mel handed it to him.

They all watched him as he put his hand on the eyehook end.  He hesitated.

"What's wrong?" Cybersix asked.

"I hope this worked." he said, twisting the end of the container.  It took a while to get it off, for there was about 2 centimeters of thread on it.  He put the end on the table, inhaled, held his palm out under the container, and tipped it up, shaking it to coax out whatever was inside.  Cybersix held her breath, and it looked as if Mel was also.

The stainless stell end of what looked like a vial, only seven or eight times bigger, slid out, followed by a solid green glowing shaft.  The light bathed everyone's faces as the giant vial slid into his hand.  Data 7's perked up, and he gave a deep and approving "Mrrrr!"

Dr. Zack began to nod, "Yes.  I think so..."  He held it up and stared at it for twenty seconds, "Looks right too!  But..."

"Only one way to find out." Mel said, "I'll do it." he volunteered.

Dr. Zack carefully unscrewed one end of the oversized vial and held the end out to Mel, who dipped his huge forefinger into it.  He rubbed it between his fingers, "Feels like it."  He licked it off his finger, and then frowned.

"What is it?" Dr. Zack asked.

Mel looked at Cybersix, and jerked his head at it with a strange look in his eyes.  She put her finger into it and took a taste too, "Umm, it's charged all right.  There's the tingle on the tounge..." she said, looking at Mel.

"Umm hmm, " Mel agreed, looking sheepish, "but.."

"But what?" Dr. Zack frowned.

"Let ME try it!" Julian poked a finger toward the tube, only to have both Mel and Cybersix yell, "NO!" at the same time.  Cybersix batted his hand away.

"It, uhhh..." Mel stammered.

"WHAT?"

"..tastes..." he looked at Cybersix.

"..funny?" Cybersix supplied, "Strange.  A bit, umm..."

"..Oily? Spicy? Sour?"

"Umm." she shook her head, "Can't quite describe it."

Dr. Zack sighed, "I'm sure I don't have Von Richter's actual suppliers of the base ingredients, so the taste must be due to impurities.  Or perhaps his suppliers have impurities that change the taste of it."

"Well, it's safe.  But there really is only one way to find out if it works." Cybersix took an empty ceramic coffee mug and held it out.

Smiling hesitantly, Dr. Zack carefully fiilled it half-way with the glowing green liquid.  Cybersix sipped it, then began to drink it, closing her eyes and holding the mug with both hands.  She suddenly brought it down and began to pant a little, eyes closed.

"Are you okay?" Dr. Zack asked anxiously.

She smiled broadly, eyes still closed, "I can feel it!  Like drinking two vials at once!  There's a glowing charge that starts in the belly and spreads out slowly through the body.  Then my mind starts thinking faster, as if its a clock that ticks louder and faster." She opened her eyes and smiled at him, "You did it!  It sure doesn't taste quite the same, but it's sustenance!" she turned and held the mug to Mel.

Mel shook his head, "Jose still has plenty, so I'll mooch off of him and pass you the odd vial.  And I think there'll be a lot more sustenance now, won't there, Doctor?"

Dr. Zack nodded, "Since I succeeded, then the techno should have gotten the generator working again."

"Well then, congratulations are in order, Doctor!" Mel held out his hand, and Dr. Zack tried to shake it.

"So," Cybersix asked, cradling the mug in her hands, "what IS the secret of making sustenance?"

Dr. Zack grinned, "Sustenance."

"What?"

"That stuff didn't start out as totally uncharged sustenance.  I poured in a couple of vials that gave it a 10% concentration.  The existence of the sustenance in solution creates an electrical/quantum field that transfers the energy of the electron flow into the uncharged sustenance molecules, charging them.  Sort of like a catalyst or primer.  The feedback tube coming out of the output end of the generator fed charged sustenance back to the inlet end, mixing with the uncharged sustenance and priming it to be charged."

"But..." Mel said, "If you need sustenance to create sustenance, then where did the first sustenance come from?"

"I don't know." Dr. Zack shrugged, "Perhaps an accident.  Perhaps Von Richter used his talent to laborously charge the first several thousand sustenance molecules, then proceeded from there.  We'll probably never know, for that's one secret that certainly died with him."  He thought a moment, "The most likely equations that describe sustenance are strangely cyclic, demonstrating very unusual mathematical behavior.  The need to prime sustenance suggests that I use a different class of input values, and maybe use some different operators.  It is also possible that sustenance lies on the borderline between the living and the non-living, and those equations, or some modification of them, may become the foundation of a true bio-mathematics.  A mathematics that can describe the process of life itself."

"Well, I'm glad I didn't kiss you on the cheek in celebration, Doctor." Cybersix said sheepishly, holding up a napkin that she had just used to wipe her lips, and which was smoking, "You'll get it later."

"Away from Lucas, I hope." Dr. Zack carefully screwed the cap back onto the huge vial, "I'll have to construct more of these, as well as figure out a better way to capture the lightning.  That'll have to do until I figure out how to charge it from house current or from quantum batteries.  That'll take a while, but this will do in a pinch."

"I guess I'll feel good when a lightning storm comes." Julian said, "Knowing it'll be used to make the stuff my friend needs."

"I'll certainly be looking forward to them too!" Cybersix agreed.  She finished the cup of sustenance, "Tastes wierd, but it definitely hits the spot.  I won't have to hunt tonight.  However..."

"What?"

"Could Julian stay here tonight?  He'll get soaked."

"Rowwwr!" Data 7 rumbled.

Cybersix laughed and caressed the panther's head, "And Data 7 too?"

"Sure!  He can use the guestroom.  And I'll let him play some computer games before he goes to bed."

"I've got to go too.  With fewer FIs around, the absence of one is more noticeable.  Again, my Congratulations, Doctor!" Mel said, getting up.

Dr. Zack let them out.  As they stood under the eave, ready to leave, Mel turned around to look at the townhouse,

"Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night."

He smiled lopsidedly, "Sharpens the mind.  Be careful Cybersix, and have a good night!" he turned and leaped up onto the wall, then onto the building beyond.

She smiled, "Oh, I intend to..."
------
"Cybersix!" Lucas exclaimed, turning from the papers he was grading to the dripping woman who stepped in through his window.

"Oh dear.  I'm making a mess on your floor." she said regretfully.

He quickly got a couple of towels, gave one to her and put the other on the floor.  The cape and hat went on a chair near the radiator, "What's that?" he asked, glancing at the brown envelope she had kept dry under her arm.

She lifted it and smiled, "Since school's starting back up tomorrow, I decided to finally get around to grading the homework.  Got an extra red pen I can use?"

"Yeah.  Was it a good night?" he asked as he went into the kitchen.

"Yes," she said, nodding, "A very good night."

He brought out a chair from the kitchen and put it so she could sit across from him at his desk.  She slipped into it, crossed her legs, and started to grade as he sat down.  Occasionally, he would glance up to sneak a look at her, and got caught looking twice.

"Ohhhh!" she exclaimed.

"What?"  Lucas looked up at her.  She had just shuffled a paper to the bottom of the pile.

Wryly, she picked up the top sheet by a corner and twisted it around so he could see the red hearts and arrows drawn on the paper around the poem.  The title was  "My Favorite Teacher  By Lori Anderson."

"Hmm.  Better keep that for blackmail." Lucas observed.

She started to chuckle.  Then Lucas joined in.
------
Data 7 stretched and rolled on the floor of Dr. Zack's library, obviously delighted with the fire burning in the hearth and the satisfying bulge in his middle.  He perked up as Dr. Zack lit his pipe.  A bright green glow emanated from the tobacco box at his elbow.

Dr. Zack glanced up at the gentle "Mrrr?" that rumbled from the big cat,  then followed the glowing yellow eyes to the box, "If something happens to me, there are four here, and another twenty vials I refilled in the safe downstairs." he said in reply, "About 250 CCs, which isn't much," he conceded, "But it's a start, because we made it ourselves.  The upward path to the door that opens into space is going to be a long one, but tonight, we took the first step..."

'Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night', Dylan Thomas, 1914-1953
-------
Author's note: I want to thank you, the patient reader, for bearing with this longish tale.  I hope you enjoyed reading it.  I want to thank Goddess/Sita and FreakOTU/Freak of the Universe for thinking highly enough of my fancharacter to include him in their stories, as well as to Nightflower for giving Dr. Zack a cameo in her excellent story of Cyber 338.  And again, I want to thank Anay for her contribution to the story with the delightful chapter that featured her singular fan character, Quaren.

And, of course, my many thanks to Carlos Meglia and Carlos Trillo for the creation of Cybersix and her world.

And yes, there will be a part 2.  However, my current plans are to finish "Gone" and the Light branch of "Paradise Falling" first.  In addition, I am planning to start an anthology of tales based on the Dark Branch of "Paradise Falling".  And perhaps the odd tale or two inspired by someone's words or story or story suggestion.

It looks like the Sixth Cyber will be holding my facination and imagination in her thrall for a long long time...

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