Chapters:

1. Double Vision

He peered into the lab through the window set halfway up the door. His sister was working with a digital microscanner on the other side of the room, but her professor was nowhere to be seen.

He knocked quietly, hoping not to startle her, and she glanced up. A smile lit her face as she caught sight of him, and he put on his most plaintive expression. He saw her laugh, and she held up one finger. He nodded, gesturing over his shoulder to indicate that he would wait in the courtyard.

She waved in acknowledgement, and Andros headed out into the bright sunshine of a beautiful day. The kids playing tag across the way made him smile, remembering a day not so long ago when that had been him.

*And if Zhane has anything to say about it, that will be us again,* he thought wryly, wandering across the courtyard to the stone fountain in the center. He sometimes suspected his friend would never grow up.

Putting one foot on the edge of the fountain, he wondered if Zhane had finished his physics exam yet. If he got out early, Andros might not have time to spend with his sister after all. The two of them were becoming more than just good friends, and this warm day was exactly the kind that Zhane would love to take advantage of.

The weather was so good, in fact, that Andros had to wonder if it would last. It looked like spring, and it felt like spring, but winter had been reluctant to release its grip on the Keyota district this year.

*flash*

"You mean you *don't* know what you're doing?" TJ's voice demanded.

"I understand the theory," he retorted, struggling to coordinate the nav and pilot controls simultaneously. He shrugged off the springtime flashback to his home that the words evoked, trying to concentrate on the present. "It's just not something you get a chance to practice every day."

The Megaship shuddered violently, and he grabbed for the auxiliary nav console in an effort to stay upright. "Something's wrong," he said, before TJ could ask. "I think we're sliding into the wrong dimension."

"What!" The normally calm Blue Ranger sounded anything but. "What are you talking about?"

His morpher chimed, but he couldn't spare the concentration to glare at it. "TJ, talk to Cassie and Saryn for me, would you?"

He heard TJ signal Cassie, listening with considerably less than half his attention as TJ repeated "I don't know" in as many different ways as he could.

Even with DECA on the nav controls, Andros found himself hard-pressed to keep the Megaship on something resembling a sane course. The turbulent clash of one dimension on another was outside of the computer's scanning abilities, making maneuvering a risky operation for the most informed pilot.

Fortunately, the computer had no problem detecting realspace, and Andros suspected the only thing that got the ship out of the gateway at all was the fact that DECA was using the realspace signal like a beacon.

The coordinate reader sprang to life a split-second after the scanners went normal again, and he lifted his gaze to the viewscreen automatically. Safe--but how many of them?

"Ashley," he whispered, wishing she could truly hear him. "Please be all right..."

*flash*

He froze. On either side of him, Zhane and Kerone were forced to halt as well, and they stared at him worriedly. "Andros?" Zhane asked. "What's wrong?"

The strange name was still on his tongue, and it was the only thing he could think to say. "Ashley..."

Zhane and Kerone exchanged puzzled glances. "What?" Kerone prompted. "What's 'ashley'?"

"Who," he muttered. "Who is Ashley?"

"Right," Zhane said slowly. "Okay. Who is Ashley, then?"

He frowned, irritated at not being able to remember. "I... don't know."

She flung the curtain aside and burst into the room she shared with Karen. Mirine was there, talking to her roommate, and both looked up as she grabbed her backpack off the floor by the far wall and snatched a windbreaker from her bed.

"Where are you going in such a hurry?" Karen demanded, not moving from her lounging position by the window.

"Out," Cassie said over her shoulder as she darted for the door. "Have a good afternoon guys!"

She threw the curtain out of the way again and raced through the student wing, taking the stairs two at a time. She heard the roar of a jetcycle starting up as she flew through the door, pulling her windbreaker over her shoulders as she went.

Saryn tossed his helmet to her, smiling in welcome. She grinned back, securing the helmet and flinging one leg over the back of his jetcycle. "Ready," she said in his ear, wrapping her arms around his waist.

The jetcycle leapt forward, following the pavement as far as it led, and the packed sand after that. Finally even that rudimentary trail disappeared, and they sped away from the terraformed border into the untamed desert.

She hugged him tighter, feeling the empathic caress of his mind against hers. She smiled again as the wind tore past them, knowing how much trust it took for him to be able to do that.

*flash*

"You'll always be my phantom," she said lightly, not sure how far that warm look in his eyes might lead if she wasn't careful.

"Can you promise me that?" he whispered, reaching out to stroke her cheek.

The intent expression on his face didn't fade, and she caught her breath at his touch. "Yes," she breathed. "I promise."

This time he smiled, but before he could answer the Megaship lurched hard to the side, as though something had broadsided it without warning. The jolt was enough to momentarily shatter both her balance and her sense of gravity, and when the world righted itself again she found herself in his arms.

"If I didn't know better I'd think you were doing this on purpose," she said breathlessly. "How do you always know to catch me?"

"Holding you is instinct," he murmured, not loosening his grip on her.

She squirmed a little, reaching for her morpher without upsetting Saryn's embrace. "Good instinct," she whispered, signaling Andros.

She felt him kiss her hair gently even as TJ's voice answered in place of Andros'. "Hey, Cass--Andros is a little busy right now. Are you guys okay?"

"We're fine," she assured him, trying to keep the smile out of her voice as Saryn kissed her again. "What about you? What's going on?"

"I'm all right," he answered. "I'd be better if *I* knew what was going on. Andros is trying to bring us out of the gateway, but that's about all I can tell you."

"Is it supposed to take this long?" Cassie asked. Saryn's lips brushed against her forehead and she tilted her head automatically, repressing a shiver when he took the gesture as invitation.

She heard TJ sigh. "Andros says no, not usually. But I'd never even heard of this gateway stuff until today, so we'll just have to trust that he and DECA know what they're doing."

"They--they do," she said, unable to keep herself from stammering as Saryn kissed her neck gently. "We'll be all right, TJ."

He sighed again. "Yeah, I know. I guess I'm just worried about Carlos and Ash. I'd feel a lot better if I knew *they* were all right."

"They're... um--" She hesitated as Saryn's fingers caressed her lips. She kissed his fingers quickly, trying to remember what she was saying. "They're okay too," she murmured, lifting her gaze in an effort to catch Saryn's eye.

"What was that?" TJ asked. "Sorry; I didn't quite hear you."

His mouth claimed hers as soon as she looked up, his kiss tender but too insistent to refuse. She wondered briefly what had gotten into him, but it felt so good that she couldn't interrupt. She was vaguely aware of TJ's voice again before she let Saryn's hungry kisses overwhelm everything else.

*flash*

The warm, water-laden air of the riverside jungle wrapped humid tendrils of breeze around them both, tugging at their hair and stirring the sparkles on the ground at their feet. It was the sparkles that did it, catching her attention from the corner of her eye even before the sudden gust of fresh air registered.

She pulled away from Saryn abruptly, staring around them in surprise before her gaze swung inevitably back to him. "Did--did you see that?" she asked uncertainly.

"What just happened?" he demanded at the same time, searching her eyes for understanding.

She shook her head, somewhat reassured that he knew what she was talking about. "I don't know," she murmured. "We were... on a ship?"

"In a gateway," he agreed.

"What--"

"An interdimensional bridge," he said, before she could finish the question. "It can connect remote points of the universe in seconds. There are only a few known gateways scattered throughout explored space, and there is no record of how they came to be."

"I'm guessing none of them are on Elisia," she said, glancing around again. He shook his head. "No. How did we..."

"Get here?" she finished. "I wish I knew. The last thing I remember before that ship was being on your jetcycle, on our way here."

He nodded in silent agreement, and a word popped into her mind. "Phantom," she said suddenly, turning back to study him.

He frowned, but she saw the flicker of recognition in his eyes. "Why did you call me that?"

"It was your name," she said slowly. "Not the way Saryn is, but somehow."

"Yes," he confirmed when she paused. "That was what I felt as well. And you... you were a--"

"Ranger?" she said tentatively.

He nodded, not taking his eyes off of her. "A Ranger. I have always thought you would make a good one," he added smiling a little.

"But I wasn't Elisian." She tried to return his smile, but the thought troubled her. "How could we have been together?"

"We were not--as we are now." He paused, and she could sense him trying to catch and sift through the fleeting memories. "We were Rangers, both of us, but not for Elisia..."

A team name flashed through her mind with startling clarity, and she felt his sudden recollection too. They gave voice to the words at the same time. "Astro Rangers..."

It must be the sun. He had heard of people hallucinating from heatstroke. In the middle of games, even--he should probably thank his lucky stars that hadn't happened to him. Not during this game.

He gave his head a shake and kissed Tessa again, soundly, trying to erase the odd sort of waking dream from his mind. It was fading quickly, and he made no effort to hold onto it. This was his day, and he wasn't going to let anything ruin it.

"Hey," she said breathlessly, smiling up at him when he finally let her go. "Your teammates are calling you."

His teammates--her words had a strange double meaning there for just a moment, but then he grinned back at her and slung his arm over her shoulders. "Then let's go," he announced cheerfully, hauling his petite blond-haired girlfriend across the field toward the rest of team. There was nothing in any hallucination to compare to this reality.

2. Unforgettable

She tapped the lightglobe with her fingernail and it brightened obediently, illuminating the inside of the small domed tent with a gentle white glow. Rolling over onto her stomach on the sleeping bags, she peered over his shoulder. "Anything?"

"Astro Rangers," he said, pointing to the small screen on his portable datafeed. "They are a group of five Power Rangers; a single team defending two inhabited planets in the Kerova system."

"Never heard of it." She watching the working light appear as he tried to download the Rangers' profiles. "Network's busy tonight."

"So it would seem," he agreed. "Kerova is the outermost star system to which the League lays claim. The two habitable planets, KO-35 and RS-42, are colony worlds that have only the most minor of diplomatic ties to Eltare. They are self-sufficient and prefer to be left out of galactic politics."

"Weird names," Cassie commented.

The screen flashed a "network traffic overload" error at them, and Saryn grimaced. "You would think we could get the satellite system upgraded," he muttered. "It is not as though it would require extensive effort on Eltare's part."

She grinned. "Tell them no more immigrants until the system is upgraded. Say they're overloading our resources."

"I might," he said darkly. "It may be the most expedient way to remedy the problem." He reset the connection and made his request again.

"The Kerovan planets are named for their founders," he continued after a moment, apparently talking to the datafeed as it once more displayed a working light. "Kinwon Obekai led a group of thirty-five to petition for colonization rights in the Kerova system, and he was joined by Rayna Selmir and an independent group of forty-two colony hopefuls."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "You just knew that off the top of your head?"

He smiled. "No, of course not. I looked it up while you were retrieving the lightglobe."

She leaned over and kissed his temple. "Sneak."

"Am not," he replied automatically, just as the working light disappeared and the profiles of the five Kerovan Rangers appeared on the screen.

She gasped. "Saryn..."

She felt him stiffen beside her. "That's him."

The leader of the Kerovan team was a boy they had never met, yet recognized instantly. Andros of KO-35 smiled out of the screen at them, his Red Astro Ranger insignia visible on the corner of his grey flightsuit.

"What are you two lovebirds up to?" a new voice demanded, and the domed tent shook as Lyris grabbed one of the supports from the outside and shook it playfully. "It's too early to be in bed, even for you!"

"Nothing," Saryn said, scrolling through the other profiles quickly. He glanced at her, and she shook her head. None of them were familiar.

A second light illuminated the tent; Lyris' flashlight, from the silhouette that appeared on the wall. He shone the light on his blaster so that the weapon made a menacing shadow on the colored tent panels. "Tell me," he said, in a deep, mock-threatening voice. "Or I will be forced to enter and--"

A yelp ended his recitation and the light from outside flickered wildly before disappearing altogether with a quiet thud. "I hope you're going to pick that up, Jenna!" the Blue Ranger shouted. "Hey--" From the sounds of the scuffle that followed, the flashlight wasn't the only thing on the ground.

"Get him Jenna!" Kris' voice came from right outside their tent as well. Saryn cut the network link from his datafeed and was about to shove it under his pillow when the tent flap was flung wide open. "And what *are* you--Saryn! You're not supposed to have that here; you know the rules!"

They exchanged glances, and both turned to face Kris reluctantly. "He was just looking something up for me," Cassie said, but Saryn shook his head.

"For both of us," he corrected firmly. "It was important, Kris."

"Yeah?" she challenged, grinning. "Convince me."

"What's going on?" Jenna wanted to know, peering over Kris' shoulder. "Saryn... when are we going to convince you to leave that stupid datafeed at home?"

He sighed. "It was important," he repeated.

"We saw something," Cassie interjected, knowing they wouldn't get a moment's peace until they let the rest of the team in on it. "A place neither of us recognized, and people we've never met."

"What, telepathically?" Lyris' voice asked from the other side of the tent.

Saryn turned his head in his friend's direction, despite the fact that the tent's walls prevented them from seeing each other. "I'm not sure. Maybe."

"When?" Kris wanted to know. "And who?"

Saryn glanced at her again, and Cassie gave the datafeed a significant look. He called up the network link without a word and displayed the cached image of the Red Astro Ranger. "Him, for one. Earlier today, on our way here, we both were suddenly--somewhere else. I can not explain it properly; I only know that I felt as though I was... living someone else's life. And I knew this person, though I am sure I have never met him before."

"Me too," Cassie put in. "His name's Andros, and he loves someone named Ashley. Ashley and someone else were hurt, and we were all worried about them--us and Andros and... TJ."

Saryn gave her a startled look. "You remember more clearly than I."

She frowned. "I didn't, not until I started to say it. I think--I think maybe we should try to find these people."

He looked relieved. "I hoped you might say that. I would like to locate them as well, if only to find out what meaning there is to this... vision that we had."

"Wait just a minute here," Kris said, crouching down in the semi-darkness outside. "You're not going anywhere without us."

"No way," Lyris seconded from his position of invisibility on the other side of the tent. "No member of this team is taking off on some dream hunt without backup."

"It is not your responsibility," Saryn protested, thought she could feel his gratitude for their unquestioning support. "I would be remiss in my duty if I asked you to accompany us."

"We'd be remiss in our friendship if we didn't insist," Timmin retorted. He was somewhere near Lyris, if the sound of his voice was anything to go by. The prankster of the group, Cassie was always surprised to hear Timmin speak seriously. But there was no joking in his voice now.

"Where we go one, we go all," Jenna reminded them, and Cassie saw Saryn smile a little.

"Very well," he agreed at last. "We will leave for KO-35 in the morning."

"Hey, Andros!"

Chin on his arms, Andros continued to stare straight ahead. Zhane pulled up a chair and sat down next to him in the nearly deserted cafeteria. "Come on, the exam couldn't have been that bad."

Andros looked up, a little surprised. "What? Oh... no, it wasn't." He returned to contemplating the wall on the other side of the table.

"Well?" Zhane demanded. "How did it go?"

Andros shrugged. "Fine."

"Andros, what's going on?" Zhane put his arms on the table and rested his chin on them, mimicking Andros' position. "Did that wall do something to offend you?"

Andros shook his head.

"Then what?" Zhane insisted. "Kerone said you were dull and broody all night. I tried to tell her that you're just naturally like that, but she wouldn't listen. Guess she was right."

Andros sighed silently. "She usually is."

"So what's wrong?" Zhane repeated. "Are you going to make me run through a list of all possible problems, starting with 'DECA reprogrammed her voice to sound like your mom' and ending with 'an evil monarch is threatening the entire universe and the Kerova system is first on his hit list'?"

Andros had to smile slightly at that. "It's that girl."

"It usually is *a* girl," Zhane agreed. "We're perfectly fine and then BANG! One word from a girl and it's mope-city for days."

Andros let out a breath of amusement. "No, it's that other girl. The one you say doesn't exist."

Zhane rearranged his arms, putting one fist on top of the other and resting his chin on them in his favorite thinking position. "Still wondering about that A-girl, huh?"

"Ashley," Andros told him, not moving.

"Right, Ashley." Zhane considered for a moment. "You say you saw her?"

"I didn't see her. But I know she was there."

"Right," Zhane repeated skeptically. "Okay. Say you're right. What are you going to do about it?"

Andros' morpher beeped, saving him from having to answer. He answered without lifting his chin, tapping the device with one finger and still staring straight ahead at the wall. "This is Andros."

"DECA's receiving a transmission that's coded only for you," Leigh's voice answered. "She won't let the rest of us listen to it. Do you want me to route it through your morpher?"

He sat up, staring at his morpher and then at Zhane. It couldn't be... "No," he said quickly, getting to his feet. "I'll be right there. Is Kerone with you?"

"She's in the lab," Zhane said quietly, and Andros nodded.

"I'll contact her if you want," Leigh answered, sounding curious.

"That would be great," Andros told her. He looked over at Zhane again. "Coming?"

Zhane scrambled up. "You bet."

They clasped hands, and Andros held out his right arm. Zhane touched his morpher, and swirls of red and white obscured Andros' vision for a brief moment. It was funny, but teleporting with Zhane was the only time he saw a color other than red in the teleportation stream.

The Bridge of the Megaship reformed around them, empty except for Leigh. Her Pink Astro Ranger insignia flashed in the bright lighting as she turned to greet them. "The signal's coming from the Elisian Rangers," she told them. "They're coming here."

"Here?" Andros stared at her, disappointed and startled at the same time. "What do they want with *us*?"

She shook her head, her spiked blond hair lending an air of confidence even in her uncertainty. Or maybe the confidence was always there, and it was the cause of her rebellious appearance rather than the result of it. Andros was never quite sure, but she had given up on conformity when they were still children playing on the swings and she had never seemed to want it back. "I don't know," she admitted. "But they sure want to talk to you."

"DECA," he said, glancing up at the ship's nearest camera. "Let us hear their transmission."

The viewscreen sprang to life, the blue-green sphere that was KO-35 replaced by the face of the Red Elisian Ranger. Andros frowned a little, suddenly wondering if that face was more familiar than it ought to be. Everyone knew Saryn of Elisia, but felt he had seen it--recently. More recently than he could account for.

"This is Saryn, Red Ranger of Elisia," the screen intoned. The voice, too, sounded different, as though it had the ring of familiarity to it. "I seek an audience with the leader of the Kerovan Rangers."

Andros gestured impatiently. "Do it, DECA."

DECA's camera flashed in acknowledgement, but he was too intent on the screen to notice. The image froze momentarily as the recorded play was interrupted by a live video feed, and then flowed into motion again. Saryn of Elisia looked up, regarding Andros through the intervening vacuum of space with a completely inscrutable expression.

"Andros of KO-35," he said at last, as though making a concession by pronouncing the other Ranger's name. "I am honored to finally make your acquaintance."

Andros straightened and gave a single nod, well aware of Zhane's and Leigh's eyes on him. The leader of the Elisian Rangers could have gone a lifetime without meeting him, and they all knew it. What could have brought Saryn of Elisia here, to the farthest reaches of the border? Why Andros? And why now?

"The honor is mine," he replied formally, and that, at least, ought to be true. "What can the Kerova system do for Elisia?"

"I do not come on behalf of Elisia," the other Ranger answered slowly. "I come for myself, and... for my companion." He gestured to someone offscreen, and a dark-haired girl stepped up to his side. She tossed her head back defiantly, the expression of someone who had oft been told she did not belong where she was. The expression of someone who didn't care.

Andros' eyes widened, for he knew that girl. He had never met her before, but he *knew* her. "Cassie?" The name was out before he could consider whom he was addressing.

The girl exchanged glances with the Red Elisian Ranger before returning Andros' startled stare. "Hello, Andros."

3. Unknowns

"What are you doing here on such a beautiful day?"

Ashley looked up at the sound of her boyfriend's voice, an involuntary smile spreading across her face. "I could ask you the same thing."

"Yeah, but I'd have an answer," he countered, leaning back against the console she had been working on.

She rolled her eyes. "All right," she said, taking a step back to give him room. "What are *you* doing here on such a beautiful day?"

"Looking for you," he answered promptly. "Come on, let's go to the beach or something."

She wrinkled her nose. "Can't. Matt asked me to catch up on the League reports."

"I'm sure he didn't mean today," Carlos objected. "Who'd want to be stuck in the Power Chamber on a day like this? Come on," he urged. "Let's get out of here."

She hesitated, but the offer was too tempting to pass up. "All right," she agreed. "Just let me finish the one I'm working on."

"Make me," he teased, folding his arms and making no move to step away from the comm console.

She smiled slyly at him, tilting her head up for a kiss. "I could be convinced," she suggested.

He put his hands on her waist and pulled her closer, and she closed her eyes. His lips gently brushed hers just as the staticky sound of teleportation interrupted them.

"Hey, guys!" Justin's perpetually cheerful voice lightened the quiet, solemn air of their command center with its sudden presence. "Seen the gossip channel today?"

Carlos kissed her once more before they drew reluctantly apart. Justin, rather than waiting for their answer, did something to the main screen and hopped up on the console beside them. "You should really see this," he advised, a grin in his voice.

"And now for our Power Ranger Watch," a commentator announced. Justin's news hookup had given them "TV on demand" months before the rest of Angel Grove, though at times like this Ashley wasn't sure it was such a good idea.

"Our top story today is the relationship between Ashley Hammond and Carlos Vargas," the commentator continued. "The two appear to have had a falling out over the past couple of days."

"No, I haven't been invited to Homecoming yet," Ashley image told one of the so-called "reporters", and the screen switched quickly back to the studio.

"Well, guys, it looks like this is your chance," the commentator remarked. "If I was a few years younger myself--"

Ashley groaned, covering her face with one hand. "When will I learn to keep my mouth shut around reporters?" she demanded rhetorically.

Carlos made a sound that was suspiciously reminiscent of a chuckle, and she lowered her hand to glare at him. "Hey," he said hastily, "you know how hard it is to tell the gossip people apart from real reporters in a crowd. It wasn't your fault."

"The question should have been a clue," Justin put in, his eyes twinkling with suppressed mirth. "Although I noticed they cut out the 'But I don't see what business it is of yours' part of the sentence."

Carlos shook his head in mock-regret. "That was my favorite part!"

Ashley sighed, her glare half-hearted by now. They'd all dealt with worse, after all--there was no sense in getting bent out of shape over anything that aired on the "gossip channel". "You can laugh," she told them anyway. "You won't have guys falling all over you from now until Homecoming."

"That would definitely put a damper on my plans," Justin agreed unrepentantly, sliding off of the console and turning the screen off.

"Relax, Ash," Carlos told her. "We'll go out tonight, somewhere public, and everyone will figure it for the rumor it is. No one takes that stuff seriously anyway."

"Yeah," Justin put in. "Remember when I had a twin brother?"

"Or when they said Laura and Tommy had had a summer fling, and that was the only reason she got chosen to be a Ranger?" Carlos added. "This is nothing compared to some of the stuff they say about us."

Ashley ran a hand through her hair, smiling a little sheepishly at her teammates. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Sorry I overreacted."

"You've just been cooped up in here too long," Carlos said firmly. "Come on, let's go out and enjoy the sun."

The Power Chamber's long-range comm chime softly, concurrent with Justin's exclamation. "Hey guys," he called after them. "You might want to take a look at this."

"If it's gossip reporters from space, I don't want to know about it," Ashley informed him.

"No..." Justin frowned down at the long-range comm console. "It's Rangers."

"Really?" Carlos asked, his tone mildly curious. "Anyone we know?"

Justin shook his head. "No one I've ever heard of. There's two teams coming in, one from Kerova and the other from Elisia. Their ships are broadcasting the Border Alliance ID."

"Coming in?" Ashley repeated. "They're not just passing through?"

"They're on an approach vector," Justin said, doing something to the control panel. "And one of them wants to speak to us."

The image of a Ranger with dark hair and piercing blue eyes appeared on the main screen, startling Ashley until she realized she was watching a recording. "This is Saryn, Red Ranger of Elisia," the recording stated. "I seek an audience with the Ranger team of Earth."

The message looped, starting to repeat, and Justin muted it.

"From the Border, huh?" Carlos muttered. "That's weird. What does anyone on the Border want with us?"

Justin shrugged. "Beats me. We'd better get Matt."

Ashley lifted her left hand and touched her communicator. "Matt, Laura," she said, not waiting for them to acknowledge. "We need you guys in the Power Chamber."

"Trouble?" Matt's voice answered, almost immediately.

"Not yet," Ashley told him. "Some people want to talk to you."

"We're on our way."

A moment later two miniature waterfalls of light slid into the Power Chamber, dispersing to reveal the red- and pink-clad forms of Matt Larkin and Laura Two Winds. "What's going on?" Matt asked, joining his second-in-command in front of the comm.

Justin pointed at the long-range link, still chiming at regular intervals. "There's a couple of Ranger teams on their way into the system," he answered. "They acknowledged NASADA's ID check before they passed Pluto, but they aren't answering courtesy hails. They've been broadcasting this for the last couple of minutes."

He unmuted the main screen and pointed at it, and they waited silently while Matt and Laura listened to the automated broadcast.

"I've never heard of Elisia," Laura said at last, looking around for confirmation or enlightenment, whichever came first.

Ashley shook her head wordlessly, but Carlos agreed aloud. "Neither have I. All we know is that they're from somewhere on the Border."

"Well, let's hear what they have to say." Matt nodded to Justin, and the Blue Ranger reset the comm link.

The recording vanished, replaced by a realtime image of the Red Elisian Ranger. Matt straightened, giving the screen a formal nod. "I'm Matt Larkin, Red Turbo Ranger of Earth. How may we be of assistance to Elisia?"

"I do not come on behalf of Elisia," the other Ranger replied. "I and two others are on a personal mission. We seek an audience with two of your teammates, Carlos Vargas and Ashley Hammond."

Surprised to hear her name, Ashley looked over at Carlos. By silent mutual consent, they stepped forward to flank Matt. "I'm Ashley," she said, a little warily. "And this is Carlos."

The Red Ranger on the screen studied them for a moment, then gestured to someone they couldn't see. A girl with hair almost as long as Laura's stepped into the camera's field of view, taking a place at Saryn's side to which she clearly had sole claim. There was no doubt about what he meant when he introduced her as, "My companion, Cassie Chan."

Out of the corner of her eye, Ashley saw Matt and Carlos exchange glances. "Nice to meet you," Matt offered politely. "Is there something we can do to aid you in your... personal mission?"

The Red Elisian Ranger caught the eye of his "companion", and Ashley wondered idly if either of them could be as human as they looked. "Cassie Chan" was a vaguely Earth-sounding name, but she had long ago learned not to go by that. Still, it wasn't beyond the realm of possibility that they were from one of the other human-populated worlds--

"You do not recognize us?" Saryn asked abruptly, and Ashley blinked.

Matt looked over at her this time, and she shrugged minutely. "I'm afraid not," he said, careful to keep his tone level and friendly. "You have to understand that Earth isn't exactly mainstream in the League, and our Inquiran ambassador is on personal leave this week. If there's some reason we should recognize you, I apologize for our lapse."

"No, that is quite all right," the other Ranger replied, almost absently. "It is not you from whom we expected recognition, but your teammates. I wonder if we might meet with them... in person, as you say?"

Matt held his hands out and took a step back, clearly puzzled. "I don't speak for them."

Saryn's gaze switched to her expectantly, and she could feel Carlos' eyes on her too. When she glanced over at him, he mouthed, "Your call."

She wrinkled her nose at him. *You're a big help.* Looking back at the screen, she shrugged a little. "I don't see why not," Ashley said at last.

"You and your teammates are welcome here on Earth," Matt added pointedly, and she tried to stifle a smile. He was as protective as Tommy had been before him. Rangers or no, she knew he would rather have strangers here where he could keep an eye on them than have her and Carlos alone on an alien ship.

"Thank you," Saryn replied, as though it had been a formal invitation. "I look forward to meeting with you."

Matt folded his arms and looked around as soon as the screen went dark. "You two have friends you forgot to tell us about?" he asked dryly.

Carlos held up his hands as if to ward off inquiry. "I've never seen those people in my life," he declared. "They must have looked up the team roster to get our names."

"But why?" Ashley glanced over at Laura, who was wearing her usual thoughtful expression. "And why did they think we would know them?"

Laura didn't answer, though she did sense Ashley's eyes on her. She looked up and met her friend's gaze, shrugging slightly.

"I wonder what kind of personal mission could have brought them this far," Justin mused aloud. "The nearest Border system is six galaxies away."

The sound of teleportation cut off further speculations--not that is was getting them anywhere anyway, Ashley thought. Four flashes of light illuminated the room, with two distinctly different teleportation styles. Only then did she remember the second Ranger team, to whom none of them had spoken yet, and she figured that accounted for the two red teleportation streams.

It did surprise her to see Cassie Chan emerge from the white flash; White Rangers were not common, but she had assumed Saryn's companion was a member of his team. Saryn shed the red glow at her side like a cloak, even more imposing in person than he had been onscreen, but Ashley's eyes slid across them to the other two arrivals.

Red and gold sparkles fell away from the unknowns in an effect much like the Turbo Rangers' own teleportation. A boy with oddly striped hair and a gold locket stood where the red light had been. Beside him was a girl with a matching locket and identical eyes, who looked too fragile to fight anyone yet carried herself with an air of confidence that reminded Ashley of Matt somehow.

Matt stepped forward then, introducing himself again for the benefit of the locket-wearers. "I'm Matt Larkin," he said, his gaze shifting from one Red Ranger to the other. He held out his hand to indicate each of his teammates in turn. "This is Laura Two Winds, and my Second, Justin Stewart. You seem to already know Carlos Vargas and Ashley Hammond."

Saryn nodded once but offered no explanation. "I am Saryn of Elisia," he said, pausing to glance at his companion.

"I'm Cassie Chan," she filled in smoothly, as though she had expected the pause. "It's nice to meet you."

"We are joined by two Rangers from Kerova," Saryn continued, and Ashley shifted her gaze back to the other two.

She was disconcerted to find the Red Ranger staring at her, but she did her best not to show it. The girl nudged him and he blinked, taking a quick breath. "Uh--I'm Andros," he said, stumbling a little over the words. "And this is my, uh, sister, Kerone."

Kerone smiled as though there were nothing out of the ordinary. "We're honored to meet you," she told them. "I've never been to Earth, and it's nice to see someplace other than the Border for a change."

She spoke primarily to Matt rather than Ashley, for which Ashley was grateful. Saryn's attention was now focused politely on Kerone, but when she snuck a look at Andros she found him still staring at her.

She looked away quickly, trying not to roll her eyes. Carlos was going to just love him.

4. Summoned

"What do you mean, you *saw* us?" Carlos demanded impatiently. "How could you have seen us?"

"I don't know," Cassie admitted. "We had this--vision. The six of us were on a ship, his ship, and it was in trouble." She pointed at Andros when she said "his ship", and he shifted a little.

"What kind of vision?" Carlos insisted, shooting an irritated look in Andros' direction. If that Ranger didn't stop gazing wistfully at his girlfriend, he was going to get seriously annoyed.

"The kind that can not be explained in words," Saryn interrupted, giving him an icy look. His expression said plainly that if Carlos didn't stop hassling *his* girlfriend, he wouldn't stop at annoyance.

"Wait," Ashley interrupted. "You just said 'six'." She looked at Cassie questioningly, and the other girl nodded.

"There's one other person we haven't been able to find. We think he's from Earth. His name's TJ."

"TJ who?" Carlos asked, trying to even his tone out a little.

"We don't *know*." Cassie's voice rose in exasperation. "We didn't get a list with everyone's personal information on it. He was the Blue Ranger; that's all I know."

"No," Andros said suddenly, and everyone turned to look at him. "I mean, yes, he was the Blue Ranger," he amended, a faraway look in his eyes. "But he didn't start out that way."

"What do you mean?" Cassie asked, frowning a little.

Andros was silent for a moment, for once contemplating the floor instead of Ashley. "He was the Red Ranger," he said at last. "He became the Blue Ranger after he joined the Astro Rangers."

"I thought you were the Astro Rangers," Ashley put in skeptically.

"We--we are," Andros said, stammering as he met Ashley's gaze. "But we were different... in the vision."

"It was a different team with the same name," Kerone explained, giving her brother an amused look. "There are only five people on our Astro team, and Andros is the only one from the real team who was also on the vision team."

"Something had happened to you," Andros muttered, looking at the floor again.

Kerone frowned. "Like what?" she prompted curiously.

He shrugged, not looking up. "I don't know. You weren't dead, you were just... gone."

The room was quiet for a moment, and Carlos folded his arms. This blushing, inarticulate kid was the leader of his Ranger team? *They should have put his sister in charge,* Carlos thought.

"So this team that you... saw," Ashley said at last. "Saryn, Cassie, Andros, me, Carlos, and--TJ?"

Cassie nodded. "Those were the Astro Rangers."

Carlos saw Ashley bite her lip thoughtfully--something she almost never did. Andros must be making her uncomfortable. He wished they could hurry this meeting up. He didn't see what the point was, and even if Ashley was ignoring him, he'd be happier when Andros was back on his own planet.

"And the rest of you recognized each other from this vision?" Ashley continued slowly.

Cassie and Saryn exchanged glances. "We have known each other for some time," Saryn answered. "But we both recognized Andros as soon as we saw his picture, and all three of us remember a similar vision."

"One that involves us," Ashley murmured, her puzzled gaze seeking Carlos out. "I don't get it. If this is all true, why don't we remember it too?"

Saryn stiffed noticeably. "I am not in the habit of fabricating stories."

Cassie put a hand on his arm. "Look, I know it sounds weird, but it feels important. I don't know why, but I think the six of us must have some connection to each other."

*Yeah, you're all mentally unstable,* Carlos thought uncharitably.

Ashley seemed to consider that. "Well," she said at last. "Let's try to find TJ, then. You said you thought he was from Earth, right?"

Carlos looked at her in surprise. Was she actually going for this, or was she just trying to get them out of here as quickly as possible?

"Yeah," Cassie agreed eagerly. "And I think he had to be from around here... Andros is right about the Red Ranger thing. If he was a Ranger for Earth before he was on the Astro team, he must have lived near here."

"Everything else was different," Saryn reminded her quietly. "There is no reason for that one thing to parallel our world."

"But we have to start somewhere," Ashley declared, turning to Justin. "Justin, can you get into the high school's records from here?"

"You mean can I break into them?" He looked offended. "Of course I can. You want me to look up TJs?"

"Yeah..." She frowned as she trailed off. "You're sure you can't remember a last name?" Ashley asked, her gaze flickering across the visiting Rangers.

Andros just shook his head, not meeting her eye, but Cassie and Saryn turned to stare at each other. Neither moved for several long seconds, while Ashley and Justin and the rest of the room waited on their answers. Finally, Cassie's eyes slid shut and Saryn turned his intense gaze on Ashley. "Carter," he said, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Carter?" Ashley repeated softly, staring back at him and apparently oblivious to everyone else in the room.

He nodded once. "TJ Carter," he said, more firmly. "That is his name."

She glanced at Justin, who flashed a thumbs-up in their direction and returned to the computer. Carlos watched Saryn's expression soften as he turned back to Cassie. He reached out to stroke her face with one finger, cupping her cheek in his hand as her eyes fluttered open again.

"I'm okay," she breathed. Her voice was almost inaudible, even in the unnatural stillness of the Power Chamber.

"I'm sorry," he whispered back, just as softly. He was completely focused on her, and all of the authority that had seemed to flow through him before was gone. He was just a boy, begging forgiveness from the girl he loved and praying she didn't hold whatever he had done against him.

"It's all right," she promised quietly, her voice regaining some of its strength. The color began to tinge her face again, and she smiled at him. He smiled back, the first time Carlos had seen such an expression on his face.

Then Saryn looked away, taking in the rapt attention of their onlookers. His smile vanished, the stern look settling back onto his features, and the spell was broken. Carlos gave his head a shake, pulling his attention away but still not sure what had drawn him so strongly into the moment.

"Bingo!" Justin exclaimed, not seeming to notice the tense quiet of the room behind him. "TJ Carter, eighteen years old, a baseball player at Sanborn Regional. Is this the guy you're looking for?" he asked, projecting a picture up onto the main screen.

Carlos could tell from Cassie's swiftly indrawn breath that it was.

"That is him," Saryn agreed. "We must speak to him."

"Whoa," Carlos said, holding up his hands.

Saryn looked at him. That was it, didn't say anything, didn't do *anything*, just looked. Carlos tried to suppress a shiver. There was a disconcerting echo in those eyes, if you looked long enough.

"Look, no offense," he said, tearing his gaze away and plunging ahead, "but you guys sound a little bit... odd. I mean, have you listened to yourselves? You're tracking down people you saw in a vision for a reason you don't understand? What kind of sense does that *make* to you?"

"It feels right," Andros answered unexpectedly, his eyes resting on Ashley again.

Carlos frowned at him, taking a step closer to his girlfriend. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Carlos, wait," Ashley said, sliding her arm through his. "Maybe we should go along with this, just for a little while. Let's at least try and track down this TJ person, okay?"

Her expression pleaded with him to trust her, and he sighed. She knew he couldn't resist that look. "All right," he agreed grudgingly. "We'll try and find TJ. Justin?"

"Baseball diamond," Justin said over his shoulder, anticipating the question. "He's alone."

"Thanks Justin," Ashley said gratefully. "We'd better go before he leaves--" She looked at the others, hesitating.

"We will accompany you," Saryn said, before she could continue.

She looked at Carlos uncertainly. "I'm not sure that's such a good idea... He's going to be freaked out enough to have members of his own Ranger team show up suddenly; it might be better if we explain what's going on and then bring him back here."

"It is our interest," Saryn objected, but Matt cleared his throat before he could go any further.

"And it's our planet," the Red Turbo Ranger pointed out. "We're here to protect the people of Earth, not frighten them out of their wits. You'll wait here while Carlos and Ashley invite him to the Power Chamber."

Saryn didn't look happy about it, but he didn't protest further.

"Ready?" Justin asked, turning to face them.

He glanced at Ashley, and found her looking up at him. He nodded, and Justin touched the control panel to his left. The world sparkled emerald green, and he could feel the sun on his face before he even opened his eyes again.

He felt Ashley take a deep breath at his side. "You were right," she murmured. "It *is* too nice a day to be inside."

"Told you so," he said, scanning the field. "So what's this all about? Why are you so insistent that we find TJ?"

"Because he doesn't know them," she answered immediately, surprising him. "He couldn't possibly recognize them, but if what they're saying is true, he will anyway. Aren't you the least bit curious?"

"I didn't think of it that way," he admitted, his eyes focusing on a lone figure hunched on the bottom tier of the bleachers. "Yeah. Now that you mention it, yeah, I guess I am."

"Then let's go," Ashley said determinedly, starting across the field.

There was no doubt that the boy in question recognized *them*, but then, most of the world would have recognized them. He didn't say anything about any visions, but he also didn't question the fact that there were "people who would like to meet him" back at the Power Chamber.

That might have had something to do with the fact that he was too dazed to do much except mutter "yes" or "no" when they spoke to him, of course but they didn't have time to let him get over his shock. Ashley's curiosity, once piqued, was as impatient as it was insatiable, and Carlos just wanted to get the whole thing over with as quickly as possible.

So they found themselves back in the Power Chamber not long after they had left, with a dazed and extremely confused visitor in tow. Carlos couldn't help feeling a little sorry for him as he looked around the room in complete bewildered awe--they had let news cameras into the Power Chamber once, and only once, but otherwise visitors had been strictly banned. And now TJ had been selected, almost at random from the populace, not only to see the famous command center but also to play guinea pig for a group of crazy aliens. He'd probably be in therapy for weeks after this.

Or maybe not. As he turned in a slow circle, taking in his surroundings in as much detail as he could comprehend, his eyes settled on the two Rangers from Kerova. His reaction was quite possibly the last thing any of them had expected.

TJ tensed, his hands coming up in an instinctively defensive gesture, and he glared at the girl. "Astronema! Andros, get away from her!"

Andros and Kerone exchanged startled glances, and Kerone took a step forward. "I'm Kerone," she began, keeping her voice even and soothing. "I'm pleased to meet you, TJ Carter."

TJ froze, staring from her to the Turbo Rangers and back again before abandoning his defensive posture and straightening uncomfortably. "I--I'm sorry," he apologized, shrugging sheepishly and giving her a boyish grin. "I don't know what got into me. For a minute there, you... you must have reminded me of someone else."

"But you recognize her?" Cassie said, stepping away from Saryn. "And Andros?"

TJ's gaze tracked inevitably toward hers, and the flicker of familiarity on his features was unmistakable. "Cassie?"

She nodded slowly. "Yeah."

His eyes slid past her to Saryn, and his voice was noticeably cooler this time. "Phantom."

Saryn frowned, and in the second before he replied his hesitation was obvious. "So it would seem," he said at last.

TJ flinched, lowering his gaze and putting his hands to his head. "No," he muttered. "It wasn't *real*..."

"TJ?" Cassie asked worriedly.

He jerked his head up, staring into her eyes. "How do I *know* you?"

5. Beach Club

The evening sun played across her dark hair as the breeze stirred it loose from its ponytail, tugging it in different directions and wisping small strands into her face. Staring out across the water, she didn't seem to notice, and the faraway look in her eyes made him wonder.

"Do you miss Earth?" he asked at last, following her gaze out over the vastness of the sea. Who wouldn't miss this, after all? So different from the harsh sands of his own homeworld, her planet was green and lush even here in this place that she called "desert". A desert next to a body of water so wide he couldn't even see the other side--it was almost inconceivable.

"Yeah," she said with a smile, turning at the sound of his voice. "But not enough to leave Elisia."

"I would not wish you to stay somewhere you were unhappy," he said reluctantly, knowing that was untrue. He wanted her to stay with him forever, no matter what other people or places laid claim to her.

Her smile turned into a gentle laugh, and she reached out to put her hand over his. "I could never be unhappy while I'm with you," she told him. "You know that. Earth is just the place where I was born--home is wherever you are."

He smiled, content with that reply. "And as long as I am with you, I am also home."

"Am I interrupting?" Jenna's voice asked from behind them.

He looked up, his smile coming to rest on the team's weapons expert. "Not at all. Please join us."

"Thanks," Jenna said, flashing a brilliant smile at them both. She slid into the chair next to Cassie at a table meant for four, and he noted with amusement that she positioned herself so she could see the ocean out of the corner of her eye as well. "I love your planet, Cassie. It's beautiful!"

Cassie laughed, and the happy sound chased off the lingering air of solemnity that hung around them. "I can't take any credit for that, but I think so too. I'm glad you all finally got to see it."

"After we've heard so much about it I can't believe it's taken this long," Jenna agreed, leaning back and draping one arm across the back of her chair. "Maybe we should stay for a few days so you could show us around."

He looked at her sharply, but she stared idly out at the water, avoiding his gaze.

Cassie glanced at him briefly before shaking her head. "I'd love to," she admitted, "but you know the treaty talks start the day after tomorrow."

Jenna shrugged a little, still gazing out at the ocean. "Actually, I was just thinking about those. Eltare put those off for almost two weeks last year, if I remember right."

"Thirteen days," Saryn muttered, a flash of annoyance surfacing at the thought. "It disrupted trade negotiations with several Border planets and put crop rotation behind schedule throughout the northern hemisphere."

Jenna made a noncommittal sound. "I remember. You know, it would really be a shame if you were unavoidably detained here on Earth. Significant personal matters, League relations, that sort of thing."

Cassie put her chin on her hand and followed Jenna's gaze. He could see her doing her level best not to smile. "It would be a shame," she said thoughtfully. "Things like that happen too often, really. In fact, that sounds almost familiar."

"Mmm," Jenna agreed. "It should. Tobin's 'significant personal matter' held up the routine talks last time with no explanation or apology at all."

He tried to frown at them, but he didn't have the heart. "I am sure the Eltaran Rangers had a justifiable reason for the delay."

"Oh, you are not!" Jenna exclaimed. "You want revenge too, admit it!"

"It's not like it's going to screw up *their* crop rotation," Cassie pointed out mildly.

He glanced over at the Red Turbo Ranger, leaning over Laura's shoulder at a nearby table. "I am not entirely convinced we would be welcome here for an extended period of time," he murmured. He hadn't meant to say it aloud, but Cassie turned to regard the Turbo Rangers as well.

Laura and Justin were hunched over some sort of electronic game, paying no attention to the rest of the "Beach Club". The rest of the people at the hangout were, to a great extent, ignoring them as well, which Saryn had been warned was somewhat unusual. In fact, one of Matt's greatest reservations about the evening had been that the "alien" Rangers were unprepared for the public interest they would receive.

As far as Saryn was concerned, that fear had been unwarranted. He found Cassie's people to be both friendly and courteous. They seemed perfectly willing to let him and his teammates have relative privacy in such a public location, and there had been nothing to offend even hot-tempered Kris since they arrived.

Of course, he acknowledged, it was possible that some of their apparent discretion was due to the distraction provided by the Kerovans. Andros' teammates were unwilling or unable to blend in, and the attention didn't seem to make them at all uncomfortable. In fact, watching their antics, he wondered if some of them were enjoying it.

"It isn't Matt I'd worry about," Cassie said at last, returning his focus to the Turbo Rangers. "But I don't think even Carlos would ask us to leave. I'm still technically a citizen of Earth, and you're all Rangers. What can they say?"

"It is not Ranger policy to outstay one's welcome," he reminded her gently.

Jenna shook her head, her blonde curls dancing with the exasperated gesture. "One person's jealousy isn't a reason to pack up and leave. And it doesn't have anything to do with us."

He sought out the Green Turbo Ranger with his eyes automatically. He found Carlos and Ashley still seated at their own table, near their teammates but separate. They were talking quietly, both pointedly ignoring the commotion the Kerovan Rangers were causing on the other side of the Club.

"I wish I could remember more," Cassie whispered suddenly.

He glanced over to find her watching at the two Turbo Rangers. He nodded without a word, knowing what she meant. Ashley and Carlos seemed wrong to him too, but he couldn't remember why or how. All he knew what that Ashley and *Andros* did seem right--and the Red Astro Ranger obviously felt it too. The boy was incapable of speaking a single sentence around her without stammering.

"What's this with Andros and Ashley?" Jenna asked, careful to keep her voice low. "Why does he blush every time he looks at her?"

"They were together, in the vision," Cassie murmured, sweeping her gaze across the rest of the Club. She paused when she found Andros, sitting alone in the sand just above the high tide line. "Only I think... she was chasing him, instead of the other way around."

She looked at him for confirmation, but he only shrugged. "I do not remember enough to say."

"He obviously does," Jenna remarked softly, gazing down the beach. "That must be hard, to know something like that and not be able to say anything."

"Oh, he could say something," Cassie said with a sigh. "It just wouldn't mean anything to her."

"And that is worse," Saryn offered, not sure why it mattered so much. It did, he felt that, but he didn't know why. "It might be better if he had forgotten the vision as well, the way she did."

Cassie gave him a thoughtful look. "So you think they forgot?"

"What else could it be?"

"Maybe they didn't see it at all," she offered. "I know," she added when he frowned, "it seems strange, but can you really imagine forgetting something like that?"

He hesitated, but he couldn't and she knew it. "No," he admitted at last. "I can not."

"I'm going to talk to him," Jenna announced suddenly.

He gave her a surprised look, and all he could think to say was, "Why?"

She shrugged. "I don't know, really. Why not?"

He had no answer for that, and he and Cassie watched her get up and make her way through the tables toward Andros.

*Are you sure you're okay?*

He smiled a little, watching the sinking sun play across the water. His friend's comforting mental voice was reassuringly familiar in a strange environment, an anchor in the midst of this sudden upheaval. *Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks.*

*Sure?* Zhane pressed, from his position at the Kerovans' table. *You're being dull and broody again.*

He snorted quietly. *I don't feel like turning myself into a public exhibition for the shock value, thank you.*

He could hear the amusement in Zhane's thoughts when he spoke again. *I think it's funny. Who'd have thought there was a planet that didn't believe in same-sex partners?*

*Just because they're backward doesn't mean we have to make a scene about it,* Andros retorted, inexplicably irritated by his teammates' attitude.

*You just don't want that A-girl to think you're strange,* Zhane told him. His tone was more accusatory than amused this time.

He didn't answer, not wanting to admit the truth of his friend's words. It hadn't taken Leigh and Rill long to notice the predominance of opposite-sex partners at the Beach Club, and they had started asking questions. Ever since someone had told them that Angel Grove was a mostly "straight" city, the girls had been hamming it up like never before.

Normally, their lack of inhibition didn't bother him, though he knew he was one of the most reserved members of the team. As far as he was concerned, public outrageousness was their department, and they were good at it. But here, now, he found himself wishing that they could be just a little bit subtle for once.

"Hi, Andros," a voice said from behind him.

He tried not to jump. "Do you like sneaking up on people?" he asked, keeping his eyes focused on the water.

"Actually, yes," the Elisian Ranger answered, dropping to the ground beside him without being invited. "But you're facing away from everyone, so it's hard *not* to sneak up on you."

He didn't answer.

She craned her neck and remarked, "You're friend's coming over."

*Bored already?* he asked, not bothering to speak so the girl could hear. He wasn't feeling very polite right now.

*Yeah,* Zhane agreed unrepentantly. *Kerone and Kaeth left to study, and I have nothing to do.*

"Hi," Zhane said aloud, crouching down next to Andros. He nodded to the Elisian Ranger. "Nice evening."

"It is," she said, a smile in her voice. "I'm Jenna. It's nice to meet you."

"I'm Zhane," his friend answered, sounding just the slightest bit surprised. "Same here."

He had left the gathering by the tables to be alone, not to be surrounded by more pointless conversation. Slightly exasperated, he pushed himself to his feet. "I think I'm going to head back to the Megaship."

"Andros, wait," Zhane said quickly, holding out his hand. "I'm coming too."

Andros grabbed his friend's hand and hauled him to his feet, feeling slightly guilty at doing this to Jenna. She had only wanted to be friendly, but he just wasn't in the mood. Still, he couldn't just leave. "I'm sorry," he said awkwardly, giving her an apologetic look. "I guess I just don't feel like talking right now."

She shook her head, unruffled. "That's all right. I won't pretend to understand, since I don't even understand what *my* teammates saw. But I do think--you probably can't run away from something like this."

He looked at her in surprise, then shook his head. "I'm not running away," he muttered, his fingers clenching on Zhane's.

Jenna shrugged, turning to look out across the water again. "Good night, Andros."

He exchanged glances with Zhane. His friend rolled his eyes, and the irreverence made him feel better. His lips quirked, and he held out his free hand. Zhane triggered the morpher on Andros' left wrist and the world washed away into familiar and comforting swirls of white-tinged red.

6. Afterimage

She was lying down. On the beach? No. Too light. A whisper of a breeze came through the window and she trembled, curling closer into herself in an effort to ward off the chill. But it was warm, not cold...

She blinked slowly, realizing that it was a mattress she felt beneath her. The lightness was that of morning, not the ethereal grey twilight that had lit her dream. Her dream... she wasn't sure she wanted to remember, but she couldn't help it.

She and Carlos had been running from something. There was something they didn't want to know, but she had no idea what it had been. Then Andros had been there, the strange alien Ranger who had left for his own planet the night before, and they were still trying to escape. And then she had been alone--

She sat up abruptly, not liking the way he had snuck into her dream like that. Not that it had been a particularly good dream to start with, but she wished he hadn't had to come and ruin it the rest of the way. What was it with him, anyway?

She got out of bed and frowned at her bureau, wanting to get away but not wanting to take the time to dress. She pulled on her clothes impatiently, trying not to think about the images that weren't fading as quickly as they should from her subconscious mind. Yesterday she had been relatively certain the rest of the universe was insane and she was normal. Now she wondered if maybe it wasn't the other way around.

Justin had left TJ's hastily compiled profile in the Power Chamber's extensive database, offering as rationale only that "you never know". Now she was glad of it, for as insane as she might turn out to be, at least she knew it was possible that she wasn't the only one.

As she knocked on his door, though, she couldn't help wondering if that was any excuse. This was undoubtedly weird. She turned and looked down the street while she waited, trying to convince herself not to just take off again. If there were any answers, she wasn't going to find them on her own.

The door clicked open behind her, and she heard a girl's curious voice ask, "Can I help you?"

She turned back, a little disconcerted to find someone other than the baseball player she had met the day before standing there. Before she could say anything, though, the girl's eyes widened and recognition dawned on her face. "You're--Ashley Hammond! Wow! This is so cool!"

Ashley tried to smile. "I'm, uh, looking for TJ Carter?"

"You are?" The girl looked even more startled than she had at first, if such a thing was possible. "Right, of course you are." She backed away from the door, her eyes still fixed on Ashley. "Wait one sec."

She looked about to turn away, but then she froze. "Wait, what am I thinking! Come in!"

Ashley managed to chuckle, stepping through the door carefully. "Thank you."

"Here," the girl said, backing hurriedly through the living room onto which the front door seemed to open. "Have a seat--can I get you anything?"

"Just TJ, please," Ashley answered, sitting gingerly on the edge of a loveseat.

"Right." The girl looked a little chagrinned, but it didn't seem to slow her down in the slightest. "I'll be right back."

She took off, disappearing down a hallway to the left, and a moment later Ashley heard her pounding on someone's door. "TJ! Hurry up and get out here; there's someone to see you!"

Ashley didn't catch the reply, but she did think to glance at the clock by the door. It was only eight-thirty. She probably should have waited until a more decent hour, but she couldn't exactly leave now. She was being forcibly reminded of why the team had so few friends outside of each other.

She got to her feet as TJ finally stumbled into the living room, dressed in jean shorts and a striped shirt that hung haphazardly over his tall frame. He looked a little sleepy, and she couldn't help feeling guilty for rousing him for such a trivial thing as her own reassurance. "Hi," she said awkwardly, not sure what to expect from him.

A friendly smile lit his face, as though he had known her for years and wasn't at all awed by her. "Hey, Ashley," he answered, putting a hand over his mouth as he yawned. "What can I do for you?"

She smiled back, a little surprised by his apparent familiarity. "Well... it's sort of hard to explain, actually."

"What isn't?" he agreed amiably. "Do you mind if I get something to eat?"

"No, not at all." She followed when he motioned to her, and found herself being led in the same direction the girl had taken earlier. They walked into an airy kitchen, windows open and the comics section of the newspaper spread out on the table while the girl pretended to read it.

"Beat it, Ali," he told the girl, clearly stifling another yawn.

She frowned at him, carefully avoiding Ashley's gaze. "Why? I was here first!"

"This is important," he answered, going over to the sink. "Go read the funnies somewhere else."

She sighed loudly, but she gathered up the paper and left without further protest.

"Want something to eat?" TJ asked over his shoulder, and Ashley couldn't help but remember that she hadn't had any breakfast.

"I don't want to be any trouble," she began.

He just laughed, pulling open a cabinet and removing a couple of plates. "It's no trouble, Ashley. Toast? Cereal?"

"Toast sounds really good," she admitted.

He opened another drawer and studied the contents for a moment. "I'm afraid we don't have any regular bread. Is cinnamon okay?"

"Sure, of course." She had no idea what cinnamon bread was, but she felt guilty enough for barging in with no explanation without demanding her own kind of breakfast, too.

He put two slices of bread in the toaster before going over to the refrigerator. "Juice?"

"That would be great," she said sheepishly. "But you really don't have to--"

"Hey, I said it wasn't any trouble and I meant it," he said, smiling over his shoulder at her. "Orange or grape?"

"Orange juice sounds good," she answered, wondering who drank grape juice with toast.

She watched him pour it, wondering how in the world she was going to bring this up. He let the silence linger while he put the juice on the table and retrieved their toast. He slid one plate across the table toward her and twisted his chair around to face away from the table. Swinging his leg over it, he sat down and reached for his juice. "So what's up? Have a seat."

She pulled out the chair across from him and sat down slowly, watching him gulp his orange juice. "It's... it's about that vision that you had."

He set his juice down and swallowed, nodding once as he picked up his toast. "That weird hallucination after the game, right. I'm still trying to get my mind around the idea that people from other planets saw the same thing."

"Yeah," she said, frowning. "Doesn't that seem... strange, to you?"

He snorted. "Strange? That's a hell of an understatement. Bizarre, freakish... I can't think of a strong enough word for it, really."

"So does it bother you?" she persisted.

He just shrugged. "I guess. A little. But what can I do about it? I'm not a Ranger; I'm just a regular guy who happened to see the same thing as some aliens. I live here, they live a million light years away--it's not like we're ever going to run into each other again or anything."

She frowned again, wondering if she could be so blasé about it in his place. "So you're not curious about it?"

He seemed to ponder that as he took a huge bite of toast. He crunched on it for a few seconds, swallowed, and said thoughtfully, "What if I was? Is there anything I *could* do about it?"

She folded her arms, looking at her own toast without really seeing it. "I don't know. But I do know *I'm* curious, and I didn't see anything. Do you think you could--tell me about it?"

He didn't answer right away, taking another bite of toast and then a swallow of orange juice. "All right," he said at last. "But," he added, with a note of humor in his voice, "only if you promise not to laugh."

She nodded, leaning forward eagerly. "I promise."

He finished off his toast, looking pensive. "Well, we were on this ship."

"Who?" she interrupted.

He closed his eyes, considering. "Me, that kid with the striped hair, the kid with the attitude and his girlfriend. And you and your friend."

"Not Andros' sister?" she asked.

His brow creased, and he opened his eyes to regard her quizzically. "The blonde girl? No... I still don't know why I thought I recognized her."

She nodded slowly, and he continued, "There was something wrong with the ship... I don't know quite what. That stripe-haired kid--Andros? He was trying to fix it, I think, but he was having trouble."

"Why?" she felt compelled to ask.

He looked at her a little bit oddly. "I think he was worried about you."

She bit her lip, remembering the feel of his eyes on her all of yesterday evening. All she could manage was, "Really?"

"Yeah," TJ said cautiously. "Anyway, I was talking to that other kid's girlfriend, telling her what was wrong with the ship. I'm pretty sure that kid was with her. The one with the attitude, I mean."

"Saryn," she said with a small smile, wishing he hadn't changed the subject.

He shook his head. "I guess so. I keep wanting to call him Phantom, but I don't know why."

"Phantom," she repeated. "That's weird."

He grinned. "He must have thought so too. If I ever see him again, I'm going to call him that just to see him frown."

She smiled in appreciation, but he still hadn't said anything about her. "What about me and Carlos? Were we there too?"

"Yeah," he said slowly. "I think so... You were--hurt, somehow. That's why Andros was worried about you. We hadn't... heard from you in a while, or something. I don't quite remember."

"And Carlos?" she asked, belatedly remembering her toast. She took a small bite, waiting on his reply.

"He was hurt too..." TJ stared at his orange juice glass, apparently struggling to remember. "At least, I think he was. You're clearer in my mind, because I remember thinking that if it hadn't been for you Andros would have been able to concentrate."

She put her toast down quickly, swallowing. "What do you mean?" she wanted to know, resting her arms on the table and watching him intently.

He gave her an uncertain look. "Well... I hope you don't take this the wrong way, because I know you and Carlos are, uh, together."

Her lips quirked. "Everyone knows that. I won't get upset; I just want to know."

"Well..." He hesitated. "I think you two had kind of a thing going."

"A thing?" she repeated, trying not to seem too interested.

He shrugged uncomfortably. "Let's just say that Andros was more worried that you were hurt than that the ship was in trouble. And he wouldn't have been that worried about anyone else, I'm sure of it."

Ashley rested her chin on her hand, wondering about that. It would explain why he had stared at her so often the day before, but it didn't make any sense. TJ had confirmed that Carlos was there, yet he said that she and Andros had "a thing", implying that it hadn't been one-sided. How could she ever have gotten involved with someone else?

*It was a vision,* she reminded herself firmly. *It wasn't real.*

"TJ," she said suddenly, looking up. "This vision--what do *you* think it was?"

He put his empty glass down and gave her a surprised look. "What do you mean?"

"You all saw it," she insisted. "It must mean something--do you think it was the future?"

He considered that for a moment, tracing a random pattern on the table with the edge of his glass. "No," he said slowly. "I don't think it was the future. I didn't remember any of this while I was there. If anything, it felt like... something that might have been, not something that will be."

"Any of this?" she echoed. "Like your life, you mean? You were living someone else's life?"

"No," he said immediately. "Yes, I didn't remember my life here, but no, I wasn't someone else. I was me--in some other way." He saw her expression, and sighed a little. "I'm sorry; I can't explain it more than that."

She waved it away with a smile. "No, I'm sorry to pester you with so many questions. I'm just trying to figure out why everyone seems to know me all of a sudden, that's all."

"You mean other than the fact that you're a celebrity?" he asked, grinning.

"Yeah, other than that," she answered dryly.

He shook his head in amusement and got up, taking his empty juice glass over to the refrigerator for a refill. She picked up her toast again, chewing absently on it as she thought back on what TJ had said and tried to make it match with Andros' behavior.

"TJ," she said, suddenly remembering Andros' "best friend" from the night before. The way he had introduced Zhane had been strangely reminiscent of the way Saryn introduced Cassie, and she had seen them teleport off the beach hand in hand out of the corner of her eye. "You don't remember anyone named Zhane, do you?"

TJ replaced the orange juice and headed back toward the table, seeming to give it some thought. As he sat down again, though, he shook his head. "No, I don't. Should I?"

"I guess not." She shrugged a little, trying to suppress her abrupt curiosity. "He isn't a Ranger. But he and Andros were really friendly last night, so I was just wondering."

TJ shook his head again, obviously catching her inference and dismissing it just as quickly. "Nope. He was head over heels for you in the vision. If there was a Zhane, I'm pretty sure he wasn't on the ship with us."

She nodded thoughtfully, knowing it probably didn't matter one way or the other. The vision wasn't the way things were, after all. But it certainly made her wonder.

7. Gamers

"It could have gone better," Kerone mused, considering the lighted hologram in front of them. She reached out, hesitated, and then withdrew her hand without making a move.

"Stop stressing over it," Zhane ordered, laying his head down on his arms and watching her lazily. "It's over--that was your last exam, right?"

She nodded, still staring at the vertical light display in front of them. "Yes. And I'm not stressing, I'm just answering the question." She reached out and touched a square deliberately. It flashed yellow, and she looked over at him with a faintly smug expression. "Your move."

He made a show of rousing himself, as though she had taken so long that he had almost fallen asleep. Lifting his head to study the board, he asked, "So how did the 'studying' go last night?"

He was watching her reaction out of the corner of his eye, and he saw the smile she tried to hide as she looked down at the grass. "Oh, it went well," she said casually, but the delight was obvious in her voice.

"Well?" he demanded, when she said nothing more. "Don't keep me in suspense!"

Her smile widened as she rolled over onto her back and gazed up at the clear blue sky overhead. "He kissed me," she admitted dreamily.

"Well, it's about time!" Zhane exclaimed. "I thought he'd never get the message!"

She laughed, turning her head to grin at him. "I wasn't too sure myself. He's so *dense* sometimes!"

"He'd have to be, after all the times you've gone out of your way for him," Zhane agreed. "I can't believe it took this long. So are you going to see him soon?"

"He'll be here for training this afternoon," she said, tilting her head back to look upside-down at the board. "We're going to go get ice cream afterwards. And you still haven't gone."

He gave the holographic board a dismissive glance. "Not until I get details! What happened last night?"

She giggled, turning onto her side and propping herself up on one elbow. "He didn't understand tension, of all things. You know in physics, when the pulleys separate the rope into different degrees of tension?"

Zhane made a face. "I'm trying not to think about physics right now. Just pretend I know what you're talking about and keep going."

She looked at him from under her eyelashes, clearly too pleased with her success to make fun of his reaction. "I did exactly what you said. I sat next to him and took his book to explain it, and when he still didn't get it, I used him to demonstrate."

Zhane laughed. "And with a subject like tension! I can just imagine... you can be awfully seductive when you want to be, you know."

"Only 'cause I have you to coach me," she said, grinning. "Thanks, Zhane."

"So that was when he kissed you?" he wondered, pleased by the compliment but knowing he didn't deserve it. Kerone was a natural, and beautiful on top of that--she really didn't need his advice, but he had never been able to say no to Andros' sister.

She nodded happily. "I was still explaining and then he just took my hands and said, 'I hope this doesn't make you really mad at me,' and he leaned over and kissed me. He was so nervous!"

"Did he blush?" Zhane asked with a grin.

"He did afterward--it was so cute!" She sighed, a secretive smile on her face as she traced a pattern in the grass with her finger. "I told him I'd been waiting for him to do that for a long time, and then he blushed even harder and he said he'd been *thinking* about it for a long time."

"Well, it took him long enough," Zhane remarked, but his exasperation was just for show. Kerone was clearly elated, and her enthusiasm was contagious. If he had had to pick someone for her, Kaeth wouldn't have been the first person who came to mind, but he couldn't fault her choice. The Black Ranger was kind and friendly, if a little shy, and he would do everything in his power to make Kerone happy.

Kerone glanced over at the board again and poked him in the shoulder. "Are you going to move or not?" she teased, tucking her blonde hair behind her ear.

He rolled over onto his stomach again and studied the board. "Oh, you're in trouble," he said, touching a square beside the one she had just lit. The square flashed white, and the three below it gave the impression of twisting a little as they gave up their yellow coloring and changed to match the square he had just touched.

"Oh no I'm not," she shot back, poking her finger into the lowest white square. It stayed white, but the four squares around it turned yellow.

He frowned, studying the board. That move must have meant something, but he couldn't for the life of him figure out what it was.

"Zhane?" she asked, regarding the game as though she had no more idea than he what her next move would be. "You didn't tell Andros you were helping me with Kaeth, did you?"

He gave her an offended look. "I promised not to, didn't I?"

"You've promised before," she said, with a smile to take the sting out of her words. "I was just wondering. He said the strangest thing to me yesterday."

"Really?" Zhane glanced over at her, but she didn't look away from the board. "What did he say?"

An odd look flickered over her face as she tried to remember. "He said... I don't know; we were talking about the end of exams, and he said something about us having more time together after testing was over. Me and you," she clarified.

Zhane looked back at the game quickly, clearing his throat. "I wonder why he said that."

"I thought it was sort of odd," she agreed, turning her head to watch him. "Are you *sure* you didn't say anything to him?"

He shifted uncomfortably, keeping his eyes fixed on the vertical sheet of light spread out in front of them. "Not exactly."

"You *did* say something to him, didn't you!" she exclaimed.

"No, honestly, I didn't," he assured her. "I didn't say anything at all. I think... um, that might be part of the problem."

She subsided a little, though she still sounded suspicious. "What do you mean?"

"Well..." He sighed. "I think... I'm not sure, but I think--he might possibly think that I'm interested in you."

There was absolute silence for a moment. When he looked over at her, he realized she was trying not to giggle. At his glance, she gave up and buried her face in her arms, her shoulders shaking with silent laughter. He rolled his eyes, looking back at the board while he waited for her to calm down.

"He couldn't," she said at last, her giggles intermittent now. "Could he really?"

"We have to stop talking whenever he comes in the room," he pointed out. "And there was that night a couple days ago when he asked what we'd been doing and we couldn't tell him..."

She could only shake her head, trying desperately to stifle the giggles. "Zhane, that's terrible! And you didn't tell him that that wasn't it?"

"How could I?" he demanded. "I couldn't tell him what we were *really* talking about, and he's never asked straight-out. What am I supposed to say?"

"You're supposed to say, 'Andros, I'm not in love with your sister!'" she exclaimed. "It's easy--I'm going to do it if you don't!"

"No," he said with a sigh. "I'll tell him, really. It's just... with exams the last few days, I haven't been able to figure out how to bring it up. Plus he's been acting weird over that vision since yesterday."

She didn't say anything for a moment, but when she spoke her tone was serious again. "Ashley?"

He tried not to grimace. "I guess."

"Zhane," she said softly. "You know that vision really shook him up, and you saw the way he reacted to Ashley. Isn't this the worst possible time for him to be questioning your relationship?"

He shrugged. "It was cute when he was jealous of you," he muttered. "It's not so cute when it's me."

She let out a breath of amusement. "It never is," she agreed. She cocked her head at the board and added, "Your move."

He poked at another square half-heartedly, and she shook her head. "Don't do that."

"Too late," he informed her.

She reached out and the middle square turned yellow. All across the board, white squares followed suit until the game glowed solid gold.

He stared at the yellow board. "How did you do that?"

She laughed. "I concentrated," she answered. "That's where you think about the game instead of your boyfriend, remember?"

"You were thinking about Kaeth!" he protested.

Her morpher beeped, and she responded automatically. He looked up as Andros' voice came over the communicator, and the Red Ranger asked them all to meet him on the Megaship. She acknowledged, shooting him a mock-glare as she did so.

As soon as she broke the link, she gave him a shove. "Thanks for warning me," she said, amused.

Startled, Zhane shook his head. "I didn't know until he called you. He didn't tell me."

She frowned a little. "He must have known you were with me. He probably just figured you'd come when I did."

Hurt, Zhane didn't bother voicing the alternative. "Yeah. I guess so."

"You should talk to him," she prodded, pushing herself up off the grass. "I can't believe you let him think you liked me this whole time..."

"I didn't *know* he thought that," he insisted. But he had known how stoic Andros could be, and he should have said something. He shouldn't have let it go. Now that this A-girl was showing him what it felt like, he realized what a mistake that had been.

She just rolled her eyes at him, and he shrugged helplessly. She waited while he fished his unofficial communicator out of his pocket and linked up with DECA. He nodded, and she reached down to grab the little game generator before the teleportation stream enveloped them both.

8. Distress Call

"Piranhatrons," Matt's voice said tersely. "I'm sending you the coordinates."

"I'm on my way." Ashley lowered her wrist and scrambled to her feet, shooting TJ an apologetic glance. "I have to go. Thanks for breakfast."

"Hey, no problem." He hesitated as she reached for her communicator again, then asked quickly, "Think I could come?"

She froze, trying to make her brain shift from battle-ready to rational thinking long enough to explain to him why that was the most ridiculous thing she'd ever heard. But she didn't have time to word it politely, and she couldn't be rude after everything he'd done for her. "Stay out of the way," she warned, grabbing his hand. Matt was going to kill her.

The world brightened as a wash of gold swept over them, and in a moment the sounds of hand-to-hand combat drowned out everything else. "Get back!" she yelled at TJ. She raced forward, not even considering the possibility that he might not obey.

"Down!" Carlos shoved her shoulder and she dove out of the way, feeling the whistle of air across her skin instead of the solid impact of a piranhatron blow.

"Where are the others?" she demanded, springing to her feet to cover his back.

"Matt and Laura are across town fighting another group," Carlos answered, half-turning toward her. She turned with him, grabbing his arm and rolling across his back to slam her feet into an oncoming piranhatron. "And Justin's down by the school," he added, as she hit the ground again.

"Fighting?!"

"Yeah..." He whirled into another piranhatron, knocking it to the ground before he could finish the sentence.

Another blur of motion, striped instead of silver, made her wince in dismay as she realized that they weren't the only ones fighting. The fact didn't escape Carlos either, and he was in front of her in a moment. "What's *he* doing here?"

She spun, kicking a piranhatron out of her way and sidestepping a second as it lunged for her. "Tell you later," she muttered, as she tried to get more than a fleeting glimpse of TJ. He was still on his feet, but she wasn't sure how long that would last. *What part of "get back" didn't he understand?*

On the other hand, if Divatox was flooding the city with piranhatron, they might need all the help they could get. The more serious the situation, the more rules they bent, until they did whatever they had to in order to keep Earth free. It had only come down to civilian fighters once before--the day she had been chosen, in fact--and she hoped it never would again. But it would help to know who they could count on if it ever did.

She could hear the music before she was even fully awake, and she smiled drowsily to herself. It was turned down low, too low to be intrusive but just loud enough for her to recognize it. "You're hopeless," she murmured, snuggling closer to his warmth in the darkened room.

"Hopelessly in love, yes," he agreed amiably. "Good morning."

She was too sleepy to giggle, but she did smile again. "I meant the music, sneak."

"KERI," he said, raising his voice just a little. "End radio transmission."

The music stopped, and she stirred in protest. "No, don't; I like it..."

The computer didn't say a word, but the soft strains of "Home In My Heart" crept into the room again. Cassie sighed contentedly, curling her fingers around the edge of the comforter. "Thanks, KERI."

"I hope I didn't wake you," Saryn offered. He settled his hand on her arm, stroking her skin gently with his thumb. "You're supposed to be on vacation..."

"So are you," she murmured, burying her face in his shoulder. "And you didn't. I like this song."

He quieted, and she could sense him paying more attention to the words now. "Was that you?" he asked after a moment, a smile in his voice. "Singing in the moonlight?"

She felt a happy smile spread across her face, and she closed her eyes. "Maybe," she admitted, rubbing her cheek against his skin.

He kissed the top of her head, and she heard him whisper, "Sing for me?"

The shriek of the alert shattered the quiet, and she started. Saryn sat up, careful not to disturb her as he pushed the comforter aside. Half a second later, Lyris' voice broke into the room. "Saryn, are you awake? There's trouble."

"What trouble?" he demanded, reaching for his clothes.

Lyris' hesitation was clearly audible. "It looks like an invasion, to me."

Cassie scrambled out of bed, pulling her jeans on and grabbing yesterday's t-shirt off the floor. Then Saryn was there in front of her, taking it out of her hands and kissing her quickly. "Arms up," he murmured, and she held her arms up obediently. He pulled a fresh t-shirt over her head, and she giggled as he tickled her in passing.

"Come on," he added, taking her hand and pulling her toward the door. She was right behind him as they ran for the lift at the end of the hallway.

"Wait up!" Kris yelled from somewhere behind them, and Cassie put her hand over the door's motion sensor. Timmin ducked out of the room behind Kris and the two of them raced for the lift, sliding inside as the alert continued to scream at them all. Cassie let go of the door, and the lift glided down a level to the Bridge.

"Turn the alert off," Saryn ordered, striding through the door before it was completely open. "Lyris, status."

Timmin was at the status console in a second, deactivating the alert while Saryn took Lyris' place at the pilot's station. Cassie and Kris joined Timmin at the back of the Bridge and Lyris slid into the seat at Saryn's right, mirroring Jenna's position on the left. "Divatox sent three schools of piranhatron to Earth," he reported. "Now she's sending monsters I don't recognize, and suddenly she has some hefty backup."

"Hefty" was an understatement, Cassie thought, glancing over at Kris' tactical screen. As she understood it, Divatox's sub was submerged on Earth somewhere, but there were three red triangles on Kris' screen. All of them had battleship stats trailing along beside them in their simulated orbit.

"What armament do the Earth Rangers have?" Saryn demanded, superimposing the tactical map over the main screen. "Have the battleships opened fire on the planet?"

"Not enough," Lyris answered briefly. "They've got zords on each of the monsters, but they can't take them all out without a megazord. The battleships are staying out of it for the moment."

"That will no doubt change as soon as we launch fighters," Saryn said, standing up. "Don't fire until they do. Lyris?"

"With you," Lyris agreed, bouncing to his feet.

"Send a distress call to Eltare," Saryn added over his shoulder, as they headed for the lift. "We may be able to defeat three battleships, but we won't be able to take any more if they arrive."

"Done," Kris acknowledged, sliding into the pilot's seat. Timmin took her place at nav, and Cassie moved to stand in front of the status console.

*Be safe,* she thought at Saryn, knowing he wouldn't hear if he wasn't listening. But he was, and she felt a whisper of reassurance in the back of her mind as the door slid closed.

"Eltare just received a distress signal," Leigh said, looking up from the scanner console. "From galaxy 1987A."

"Earth's galaxy," Rill murmured from behind her, glancing at the figure in the pilot's seat.

"ETA to Earth is 185 seconds," DECA interjected, and Zhane shifted impatiently.

"How did you know?" he asked Andros, from his position beside Kerone at weapons'.

Andros didn't look at him. "I don't know," he muttered, staring at the simulated ghosts playing across the main screen as the Megaship streaked along in hyperrush. "I just knew."

Zhane studied him, noting his friend's closed off expression with a sigh. He couldn't let this go; they had to talk now, before whatever was happening on Earth made things even more complicated. "Andros, can I talk to you for a second?"

Andros shrugged, but made no move to get up.

*Andros, please,* Zhane insisted. *It's important.*

Andros finally tore his eyes away from the screen and climbed to his feet, but it was clear to everyone on the Bridge that he was doing it with the utmost reluctance. Zhane tried not to fidget as his friend dragged his feet, apparently hoping the Megaship would make it to Earth before he made it to the door.

But it didn't, and he did, and Zhane followed him out into the hall. Kerone's voice echoed in his mind as he deactivated the lock and let the door slide shut behind them. *I say tell him,* she said. *Kaeth says good luck.*

Zhane tried not to roll his eyes. Kerone had no qualms about putting her unusually high level of telepathy to use whenever she saw fit, and mostly on her friends. She swore she didn't invade their privacy--in fact, she claimed that it was just like talking: if he didn't talk back, she couldn't hear a single thing. But the sound of her voice in his mind without warning could be undeniably disconcerting.

Andros shifted, not looking up from the floor. His shoulders were tense, as though he was bracing himself for something, yet he practically radiated controlled indifference. His posture said plainly, Nothing you say can hurt me.

"You sulk better than anyone I know!" Zhane blurted out, before he could stop himself. "I wish I knew why you're so mad at me!"

Andros shrugged, giving the door an impatient look and managing to still avoid Zhane's gaze. "I'm not mad at you. Can we get back to the Bridge?"

"This morning," Zhane persisted, staring at his friend. "Were you trying to leave me behind? You called everyone up to the Megaship but me!"

Andros' gaze swung toward him at last, a startled look in his hazel eyes. "Of course I wasn't going to leave you behind. You're practically part of the team. You were with Kerone; I knew you'd hear me."

"You were spying on us?" Zhane exclaimed.

"No," Andros growled. "I wouldn't; you *know* that. Who you spend time with is none of my business."

"ETA is 44 seconds," DECA put in, her tone quieter than usual.

Andros straightened, reaching for the keypad in the wall beside the door. But Zhane got there first, putting his hand over it and waiting until Andros gave him an irritated look. "I'm not interested in Kerone," he said quickly, while he still had his friend's attention. "She has a crush on Kaeth, and she asked for advice on how to get him to notice her. She didn't want me to tell you."

Andros' annoyance faded, replaced by surprise even as Zhane went on. "Before we get to Earth, what about this A-girl? Do you love her?" He tried hard not to let anything show on his face. "It's all right if you do. I just want to know."

Andros looked down again, a frown creasing his features. "No... I--I don't know. No," he repeated more firmly, lifting his head. "Of course I don't. I don't even know who she is."

"But you knew Earth was in trouble," Zhane said, trying not to frown himself. "Even before Eltare knew."

Andros shrugged helplessly. "Yeah," was all he said.

"Entering Earth orbit," DECA announced. "The Elisian battleship Delta Sun is under attack."

Zhane keyed the door open and set it to lock behind them as he and Andros stepped back onto the Bridge. "How many ships?" Andros demanded, replacing Kerone at the pilot's station even as Zhane scanned the tactical map.

"Five," Zhane answered, a fraction of a second behind Kerone.

"DECA, contact the Elisian Rangers," Andros ordered. "Ask them what their status is."

There was a brief pause, and Zhane felt his stomach clench as two of the red-tagged battleships broke off their attack and swung around to intercept the Megaship. Kerone's fingers danced across her console as she acquired targets, then paused as they all waited on the ship's reply.

"The Delta Sun is functioning at optimal levels," DECA answered at last. "Two of their Rangers are in fighters on Earth, assisting the planetary defense. They welcome our aid."

Both red-tagged battleships lit up on the tactical screen as they came within firing range, and Kerone glanced over at Andros. "You heard them," her brother said grimly. "Open fire."

9. Impact

"We will hold a fallback line at--"

"No," Matt interrupted. "No fallback lines."

Matt, Saryn and Andros had gathered around the Power Chamber's main tactical screen, joined by the leader of the team Eltare had sent to reinforce the Turbo Rangers. Cetaci was something of an unknown quantity, for despite the flow of communication between Earth and Aquitar, the Rangers that defended Earth's nearest League neighbor had not visited since the team was led by Delphine.

"It is a matter of strategy," Saryn was telling Matt, as though he could somehow not have known that.

"I don't care," Matt replied firmly. "As soon as there's a fallback line Earth becomes expendable, and I can't allow that."

"He's right," Cetaci agreed. "The evacuation of an entire planet is not viable, thus retreat is not an option."

"The alternative option being?" Saryn inquired, giving her a measured look.

"We hold the line here," Matt said, as though it was obvious. "If four teams can't defend Earth, nothing's going to stand against this thing."

Looking back, Ashley had to acknowledge that they had been right. If the Rangers fell back, Earth was left undefended in the path of the forces of evil. But as she dragged herself up off the floor and fumbled her way through debris in the flickering lighting of the Astro Megaship, she wondered if the decision not to retreat had been entirely... fair.

She wanted to believe it was; she wanted to believe that her planet was important enough to warrant such a sacrifice. But it was *her* planet, not Saryn's, or Andros', or even Cetaci's. Cetaci had been ordered here by Eltare, and as neighbors it was possible that she felt the same obligation to protect Earth that Ashley felt for Aquitar.

Saryn and Andros, though... They had just been in the wrong place at the right time, and Ranger honor would not let them abandon a planet in need. Matt and Cetaci had made the decision not to retreat. What choice had the others had? What price would their teams pay for the unfortunate timing of their "personal mission"?

What price had they already paid? As she pushed her way toward the center of the Bridge, she heard someone else moving around in the darkness, and she prayed that they two were not the only ones still conscious--or alive.

"Hello?" she called softly, not sure why it was so important to keep her voice quiet. "Who's there?" The words were hoarse and uncertain even as she spoke them, and it occurred to her that speaking quietly might not really be a choice at all. It might be the only option she had.

"Kerone?" a voice croaked.

She swung around, trying to pinpoint the direction of the speaker. "No, it's Ashley. Is that..." She tried desperately to summon names to her mind, trying each one against the voice and rejecting them all. "Kaeth?" she guessed finally.

"Yeah." There was the sound of something shifting, and a brief shadow of movement drew her attention to the nav console. Or at least, the place where the nav console had been. "Rill? You okay, Sprite?"

There was the sound of a cough, and then a voice muttered, "Don't call me Sprite."

"Yeah, Sprite, whatever you say. Can you stand?"

*Um... help?*

Ashley stopped just short of bumping into the twisted hulk of metal in front of her. "What was that?" she whispered, startled.

*Me. Can't talk. Right in front of you.*

Someone was talking to her, and she couldn't hear a thing. She tried to push the weirdness aside and concentrate on moving the debris in her path, but it was too heavy. "Kaeth?" She tried to push her voice above a whisper, but it rasped painfully and she found herself coughing instead.

"Right here." There was a soothing hand on her shoulder, and then Kaeth pushed her hands farther down the metal piece. "Can you see?"

She nodded, feeling her eyes tear and the few distinguishable features of the Bridge blur before her. She heard him tell her to push, and at last she felt the debris shift, sliding away from her and producing an unbearably loud crash as it found the floor a moment later.

"Kerone?" Kaeth was asking anxiously. His voice came from somewhere much lower, as though he was now kneeling, and she heard the scrape of metal on metal as he pushed something else out of the way.

*I'm okay,* the non-voice came again. *Chair protected me...* It trailed off, as though it was somehow out of breath, and Kaeth hushed it.

"Don't try and talk," he said aloud. "You'll be fine, just don't try and move. Rill, do you have the--"

A light flared on the other side of the Bridge and swept abruptly in their direction, momentarily blinding Ashley. "Medical kit?" Kaeth's voice asked, and there was a sound almost like a sigh.

"He always wants more," Rill's voice murmured, but a moment later the light came toward them and she dropped something on the floor nearby.

"Thanks, Sprite," Kaeth said gratefully.

The light slid back toward Ashley, and she squinted her watering eyes in an effort to see. Rill must have sensed her distress, for the light turned to the side again before the girl said, "Ashley, you'll have to help me with the others."

"Sure..." Her voice was not quite as hoarse as Rill's, she decided, but the other two seemed to be seeing far better than she in the intermittent darkness. She couldn't tell if it was her or them--either something had happened to her eyes, or they just had better vision, she didn't know.

There was a groan from--somewhere else, and Rill's light swung around sharply. "Andros? Don't move; we're coming."

"What..." The word dissolved into a cough, and Ashley frowned. She took a deep breath experimentally, and a coughing fit of her own immediately overtook her. There had to be something in the air--

"Don't *talk*, either," Rill said firmly. "Life support is malfunctioning; just hold still and let us come to you."

"The others?" Andros rasped, ignoring her from somewhere to their right.

"Kaeth is all right," Rill answered, sidestepping something and grabbing Ashley's shoulder to keep her from bumping into a console. "Kerone *says* she's all right. We don't know about Zhane or Leigh." Her voice caught on the last word and she coughed forcefully, though whether from talking or something else Ashley couldn't tell.

The light fell sharply, and Ashley blinked as hard as she could, trying to follow Rill's movements. It was then that she realized Rill was kneeling beside her leader, shining the light across him as she checked him over for injuries. He had already pushed himself into a sitting position, eyes squeezed shut as Rill shone the light in his face, and Ashley saw him wince as his teammate turned his head to one side.

"That's quite the cut you have there," Rill said, as though she was announcing the time of day. The other Ranger set the flashlight down and tugged her jacket off, in the process shifting enough that Ashley could see, and she couldn't help gasping at the blood that trickled down the side of Andros' face.

"That bad, huh?" Kaeth asked wryly from the darkness. "He has an affinity for head wounds; we don't know why."

"Instinctive self defense," Rill suggested, using the sleeve of her jacket to try and clean the cut. "The hardest part of your body attracts the greatest number of blows. Kaeth, toss me some of that antiseptic."

Andros hissed as she applied it to his forehead, batting her hand away irritably. "I can do it. Just find the others."

"I'll do it," Ashley offered, when Rill hesitated.

"Are you sure you can see well enough?" the other girl asked.

She realized that Rill, of course, meant to take the flashlight with her when she left. "Sure," Ashley lied. "No problem."

"It doesn't matter," Andros protested, as Rill got to her feet and left them in darkness again. "I can do it myself."

"Right," Rill agreed, her breathy voice further muffled as she turned away from them. "Just tell me if Zhane's all right."

Andros sighed, then drew his breath in sharply as Ashley dabbed at his forehead. She had to use her fingers to find the edge of the cut, for Rill was right: in the dimness it was impossible to see more than vague outlines. "I don't know," he said, clearly forcing the words out through clenched teeth. "He's unconscious; I can't talk to him."

Ashley wondered about that, but she didn't dare ask. She heard movement from behind her, but Andros' hand on her wrist distracted her. "I can do it," he informed her, shoving her hand away. "Give me that."

"Don't be a baby," she said, more sharply than she had intended. "I'm almost done. Just hold still."

"Shut up, Kerone," he growled.

She blinked. "That's the second time someone's called me Kerone," she remarked, puzzled.

"I wasn't talking to *you*," he said, as though she were exceptionally slow. "I was talking to Kerone."

She felt her face heat at his tone, and she was glad he couldn't see it in the darkness. "But she didn't say anything," she protested, a little more humbly.

*I told him most people would be happy to have a beautiful girl treating their wounds,* a voice said, and there was a distinct note of humor in it. It was the same non-voice she had heard before, the one that spoke but made no sound, and her eyes widened.

"That's Kerone?" she blurted, unable to keep the realization to herself. "How is she doing that?"

"You don't have telepaths on your world?" Kaeth asked, sounding incredulous.

"Leigh?" Rill's whispered voice cut through the relative quiet of the Bridge, and they all heard the faint rattle as someone else tried and failed to draw a clean breath in the dusty air.

"T'look s'upset, Sprite," the voice breathed, only barely audible. "T'pid g-force... s'wrong wit'air?"

"Stop trying to talk," Rill admonished, her stern tone lost in the sob that threatened to overwhelm her words. "Life support's malfunctioning. The g-forces made us all black out, and Andros took a blow to the head. Kerone too, I think."

There was the briefest of pauses, and then the girl half-giggled through the sniffles that were growing more pronounced. "She says it must run in the family," she whispered, and Kaeth chuckled appreciatively.

"Uh..." Ashley tried to keep the nervousness out of her voice. "You're--are you... *all* telepaths?"

"No," Andros said curtly, fumbling for her hand again. This time he succeeded in tugging the antiseptic wipe free, and he applied it to his forehead again. "Only Kerone. The rest of us can only do it with family. Rill, is Zhane with Leigh?"

"Yeah," Rill answered, sniffing again and clearly trying to steady herself. "He's right here. He's still unconscious, but he looks okay."

Ashley remembered vaguely that Zhane had been standing beside Leigh's station when the shields went down. She couldn't recall exactly what had happened next, but obviously it had been bad. Then she felt Andros move, the shadow that was him rising to its knees and possibly preparing to stand.

"Hey," she said, concerned. "Should you be moving so soon?"

"I'm all right," he said, not bothering to look at her. "Kaeth, what kind of power do we have?"

"Minimal life support," Kaeth replied promptly, his voice coming from the second row of stations this time. She didn't remember hearing him move from Kerone's side, but right now she was more worried about Andros. He wasn't at all steady on his feet, and she could just see him clinging to the pilot console as he staggered in Rill's direction.

"Emergency thruster power too," Kaeth added a moment later. "And maybe DECA--I think her backup connector grid was destroyed in that last explosion, but I should be able to reroute. Hang on."

"Our orbit..." Kerone's voice was sketchy and almost too low to hear, and after one try she switched back to her non-voice. *Our orbit's degrading fast. If we don't make some kind of change soon, we're going to be the brightest fireball Earth's atmosphere has ever seen.*

"Kerone, get off your feet," Andros ordered. His voice came from somewhere on the floor by the weapons' console. "Kaeth, any luck with DECA?"

"I am here, Andros," a new voice said calmly, and Ashley recognized the ship's computer. Its voice was slower and a little deeper than she remembered, like a tape in a walkman with rundown batteries, but it was more normal than any of theirs. "Emergency thruster power is sufficient to make the necessary corrections."

"Kaeth," Andros began, not moving.

"I'm on it," Kaeth interrupted, swinging easily around the consoles to the pilot's chair. He bumped nothing in the process, and Ashley blinked as she realized her eyes were finally growing accustomed to the dimness. She could see Kaeth's form lower itself into the chair, and, beside him, she could make out Kerone sitting insolently on the side of the scanner console. She had obeyed Andros' command after all, it seemed.

Ashley turned, almost afraid of what she would see in the other direction. But Andros was still crouched at Zhane's side, helping Rill with Leigh while keeping one hand possessively on his friend's shoulder. "What about the comm?" he asked, somehow managing to keep track of everyone at once. "Kerone, can you raise any of the other Rangers?"

*I already tried,* she answered. *The comm's dead. Really dead. We can't even send out a distress signal.*

There was a moment of silence at that, and Ashley felt those words settling heavily around them. Not only could they not get help themselves, they didn't even know if the others were still out there to help them. She had been assigned to the Astro Megaship to help "coordinate" the defense, but with the comm down she was just as useless. Home team dispersal was another ridiculous League policy that she would have to remember to mock later with Carlos--if there was a later.

"Our orbit's stabilized," Kaeth put in, breaking the solemn silence. "But what we really need is to set down somewhere out of the line of fire and let the self-repair systems get to work."

"Leigh says there may not *be* anywhere out of the line of fire," Rill said, voicing the thought that was on everyone's mind. "But if there is, it's probably on Earth."

"In the desert near the Power Chamber," Ashley agreed, glad to have something to contribute. "I have the coordinates memorized if you want them."

"They won't do us much good in your head," Andros said dryly, and she tried not to frown. She knew she shouldn't let it trouble her, but she did wonder when she had fallen from goddess to nuisance in his eyes.

Kaeth swiveled out of her way at the pilot's station, allowing her to input the coordinates before he took control of the helm again. "It's going to be a bumpy ride without the shields," he warned. "Everyone ready?"

"Wait," Andros said, and Ashley saw him shift position on the floor. Beside him Rill had her arm around Leigh, bracing the two of them against the second row of stations. He followed suit, pulling Zhane's head gently into his lap and resting his hand on his friend's hair.

*Friend?* she wondered suddenly, trying to turn her perceptions around. *Or--brother?* He had said telepathy was a family thing, yet he had specifically introduced Kerone as his sister and Zhane only as his friend... And Rill and Leigh were clearly not sisters. She didn't dare ask him now, but maybe she could ask them?

"Rill," she asked carefully, while Andros settled the unconscious boy more securely. "You and Leigh aren't... family, are you?"

Rill's answer startled her. "All loved ones are family. Isn't that the way it is on Earth?"

"Well..." She hesitated, wondering exactly what that meant. "Sometimes, I guess." It hadn't answered the question she really wanted to ask. She looked up as Kerone took Leigh's chair next to Kaeth, and she saw Andros' sister gesture for her to sit as well.

Trying not to blush in the dimness, Ashley scrambled to take a seat on the floor near Andros and Zhane. "So," she dared quietly. *Nothing ventured, nothing gained.* "Are you and Zhane brothers?"

"No," Andros said shortly. "Kaeth, go."

She sighed, feeling her cheeks heat as Kerone glanced over her shoulder again. The other girl didn't say anything, but she couldn't help feeling totally transparent. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Andros stroke his friend's hair gently, and she bit her lip. She couldn't help wondering when it had become so important to her to find out exactly what he and Zhane were to each other.

Then the Megaship rocked as the first substantial wisp of atmosphere buffeted its unshielded hull, and she was given a brief respite from her thoughts as she concentrated on holding on. They had no idea what they would find when they tried to set down, but now all they could do was wait out the rocky descent.

10. Firelight

"The system's clear," Jenna announced. "But at least half that last wing got into the atmosphere. We're going to have to go after them; Lyris and Saryn can't take them alone."

"Incoming message from Ranger Control," the ship's computer interjected.

Without waiting for their acknowledgement, the computer routed the communication through, and Carlos recognized a distinctive Aquitian accent on the other end. "This the Aquitian Megazord relaying a distress call for the Earth command center," a female voice said urgently. "We are under heavy attack--"

Kris spoke over the voice. "This is the Delta Sun; please confirm your coordinates."

"I've got them," Timmin said, half a second later.

"Delta Sun, do not interfere," Matt said sternly, his voice no less authoritative for the distortion superimposed on it by the comm. "Our Megazord will reinforce the Power Chamber."

"Earth Megazord." Carlos couldn't see Kris' expression, but she sounded deadly. "If you abandon our fighters, I will personally ensure that this ship never answers a distress call from your planet again. Is that understood?"

He could practically see the line she had drawn, and it was obviously not lost on Matt, either. "Perfectly, Delta Sun," he replied coldly. The comm cut off without another word, but Carlos knew that was far from the end of the matter.

"I'm taking us in," Kris announced, to no one in particular.

Carlos knew he should be offended on behalf of his teammates. He knew Kris had just violated one of the strongest unwritten laws of Ranger defense: the home team made the rules. Always. But there was one question more important than his team's priority on his mind, and he had to ask it. "What about the Astro Megaship?"

They had all seen it go down an indefinable amount of time ago, but there had been no one to spare. Its loss had left the Delta Sun alone in orbit against another battleship and the two remaining cruisers, not to mention more than one wing of velocifighters. The Turbo Megazord and the two Elisian fighters were fully occupied by monsters on Earth. The Aquitian Megazord, now defending the Power Chamber, had been the closest to the Astro Megaship's projected crash point, but it had been unable to break off its defense long enough to investigate.

"No distress call," Kris said, as though it were as simple as that. "We have one from the Aquitians, and that has to take priority."

"What if they can't send one?" Carlos argued, trying not to let her seeming carelessness aggravate him. "Their comm might be down."

"Or there might not be anyone left alive to send it," Kris said bluntly. "We help the ones we know need it first, Carlos."

"Thanks for the comfort," he told her sarcastically.

"Without a distress signal, we can't find them right away anyway," Cassie put in quietly. "They had thrusters, and we know they made it through the atmosphere. They could be fine."

He glanced over at her in surprise. "I--thanks," he managed. He felt compelled to offer something in return. "Matt wouldn't leave your teammates without backup, you know."

She smiled a little. "I know."

Still, despite her reassurance, he couldn't help noticing that the sky was darkening as they soared through the atmosphere and out over the desert. Night was falling, and Ashley was out there alone, possibly injured, and with no way to call for help.

*Not really alone,* he admitted grudgingly, thinking of the Kerovan Rangers. But he wasn't sure whether the idea of Andros being out there in the night with her made him feel better or worse.

She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, shivering a little in the cool air. The stars above twinkled down with breathtaking brilliance, undimmed for once by the lights of the city. She thought maybe she could enjoy this, if only the circumstances were different.

She glanced over at Zhane, sleeping restlessly by the fire and clearly still in too much pain. He alone had no Power to speed the healing process, and unfortunately he seemed to need it the most. He had been standing when the remains of the crumbling battleship began to buffet their hull, and instead of slamming into the console he had been thrown to the floor. While Andros, Kerone, and even Leigh looked as though they would recover on their own, Zhane needed medical attention.

She sighed quietly, deliberately not looking at the Megaship. The hulking shadow that served as their windbreak was not capable of doing much more at the moment. Their crashlanding had taken what little power the ship had left, and thanks to the earlier malfunction the contaminated atmosphere inside was unsafe over an extended period of time.

So they set up camp out here with portable heating units lining the perimeter. The fire was a comfort factor as much as anything, though she supposed it would alert anyone doing a flyby that they were here. The Kerovan communicators were next to useless without the Megaship's computer, and her own had been damaged during the fighting. All they could do was wait for someone to find them.

She sighed again, wishing she had a better idea of how likely that scenario was. Just before they'd lost the comm, she had heard TJ frantically calling for help from the Power Chamber. It was supposed to be a secure location; none of them had expected it to come under siege. The Aquitian megazord had gone to its aid, but that had only increased the pressure on the Turbo megazord. And she hated to think what the loss of the Megaship had done to the Delta Sun.

"Is it over yet?" she whispered, very quietly. She scanned the sky, wishing she could read anything into the heavens' peaceful countenance. "Are you guys okay?"

She heard a sound, abruptly stifled, and she looked down in time to see Zhane's expression twist from one of discomfort to outright agony. He shifted again, and tear-filled eyes opened incrementally in the semi-dark. "Hold still," she whispered, grabbing for the medkit beside him.

"I'm... okay," he breathed, but his face gave the lie to his words.

"Here," she said, fumbling for her canteen. She pressed one of the pain relievers into his hand, waiting until he put it in his mouth to hand him the water. He pushed himself up on one elbow and gulped it down, falling back onto his sleeping bag as soon as she took the canteen back.

She watched him stare blindly up at the sky, waiting for the pain reliever to catch up with his system. She bit her lip, wishing there were something more she could do. Her gaze slid past him to Andros, just for a moment, and she thought that at least he was finally asleep. He seemed almost to feel his friend's pain every moment that he was awake, and it had been wearing him down as surely as it did Zhane.

"Thanks," Zhane whispered, breaking into her thoughts.

"You're welcome," she answered softly, glancing back up at the sky. He had done his best to ignore her from the first, and she wasn't going to confront him over it now.

But he stirred, and it surprised her to look over and see him struggling to prop himself up on his elbows again. "You okay?" she whispered, concerned.

He nodded. "Yeah," he said, studying her. "I just--well... I guess I feel like I owe you an apology or something."

She just looked at him, not sure what to say. "You don't," she said finally. "Don't worry about it."

"No," he said slowly, still watching her. "I think I do. I think... I made up my mind not to like you before I met you, just because Andros was so obsessed with you. That wasn't fair, and I'm sorry if I acted... weird."

She glanced down, wondering if this was her chance to get an answer about the two of them. "It's okay," she said, reaching out to run her fingers through the sand. "You didn't act that weird. Can I--um, ask why Andros is so interested in me?"

She tried not to blush, knowing that sounded strange. It wasn't even what she had wanted to ask, but it had come out anyway. "Sorry, that was..."

"No," Zhane said, when she trailed off. "I just thought you knew, somehow. I guess maybe there wasn't any way you could," he added thoughtfully, "but I just figured you did anyway."

"What?" she asked, wondering if he meant what she thought he did.

Zhane sighed, but it wasn't an impatient sound. She wasn't quite sure how to interpret it, actually. "He loved you. In the vision? His double was in love with you."

She caught her breath, glancing involuntarily at Andros' sleeping form. "Did I--do you know how I felt about him?"

"No," Zhane said, sounding a little disgruntled. "And it's been driving him crazy for days."

She swallowed, telling herself firmly that she shouldn't be happy about that. "Sorry," she offered weakly.

"It's not your fault." He sounded as though he was trying to convince himself as much as her. "You're not the person in the vision, after all."

"But... neither is he," she pointed out.

"Believe me, I know," Zhane said, tilting his head back for a moment. Finally, he gave up and pushed himself into a sitting position. "Look, I know that you have your own life here, and I know that you didn't even see this vision that the rest of them had. I'm not asking you to believe it was real, I just... I think maybe if you talked to him, just for a little while, maybe you could help him figure things out."

She watched the sand run through her fingers, more than a little surprised by the request. "Do *you* want me to talk to him?" she asked, not sure he would understand what she meant.

He shrugged. "I want him to find some answers. That's what matters to me."

"In other words, no," she said wryly. "You don't like him being interested in me, do you." She tried not to wince as she realized how bluntly that had come out.

"I don't want him to get hurt," Zhane answered, his tone sharper than before.

"I wouldn't hurt him!" She couldn't keep from sounding indignant, but it was the truth. She liked Andros--she didn't know when it had happened, or even what she liked about him, but he had an adorable manner. Something about him was just... cute. And *completely* unhurtable.

Zhane took a deep breath. "You might not mean to," he allowed. "But you don't know him. Andros doesn't do things halfway, and I'm--I just worry that he won't be able to stop with being curious."

She looked at him in surprise. Was he saying that he thought... Andros might actually fall for her? She considered that for a moment, wondering why it didn't bother her. She didn't *want* him to fall in love with her, did she? The two of them would really screw things up... Or would they?

"Zhane," she said hesitantly. "Can I ask you something? Something personal?"

He gave her a wary look, but he nodded once.

She plunged ahead, figuring she would never get a better chance. "What *is* Andros to you?"

"He's my best friend," he said immediately, though he still looked a little guarded. It was as though he was still waiting for the "personal question".

She frowned. "Just your best friend?"

He frowned right back. "What do you mean, 'just'?"

She swallowed. "Do you love him?"

His frowned deepened, making the shadows from the firelight a little darker on his face. "Of course. I've loved him as long as I can remember."

"But..." He acted the same way Rill had, when she questioned her earlier. "When you say you love him," she persisted. "Do you mean like a brother, or like... a boyfriend?"

Even in the dim light, she could see the odd look that he gave her, as though he thought she might be a little slow. "Like a boyfriend."

She had no idea what she was going to say to that now that she'd asked, but she had opened her mouth to try anyway when he added, "I *wish* he was my brother, but he isn't."

She closed her mouth, staring helplessly at him. If the two of them were trying to thoroughly confuse her, they were doing an incredible job. "Oh," she managed at last, fighting the urge to sigh again.

Andros listened to Zhane and Ashley whisper back and forth, wondering how much longer it would go on before he felt compelled to speak. So far, he found himself at first too embarrassed and then too curious to interrupt.

There was a pause in their conversation, and he could just make out the sound of his sister's voice on the other side of the fire, talking softly with Kaeth. He couldn't make out any of the words, but she didn't sound distressed and that was really all he could ask in this situation.

He didn't hear any rustling, aside from Zhane, so he assumed that Leigh had finally settled down. She always had trouble sleeping in unfamiliar settings, but at least she had Rill now. If the quiet was any indication, the two of them were fast asleep, probably in each other's arms.

He stared up at the alien sky, satisfied that the seven of them would at least make it through the night. If rescue didn't arrive in the morning... well, they would just have to face that circumstance if it came. In the meantime, the best thing he could do was get some sleep.

As he closed his eyes again, though, he heard Ashley mutter, "I give up." Her voice was mildly frustrated, and the sound of Zhane's chuckle made him smile. If the two of them were finally on speaking terms, maybe he wouldn't feel so guilty every time he looked at her...

It was the last thing he remembered until the next morning.

11. Morphin Grid

"Aquitian Megazord, this is the Delta Sun. What's your status?"

There was a longer than normal pause before the response came back, but the voice on the other end sounded perfectly composed. "This is the Aquitian Megazord. We are no longer battle-ready. You will have to reinforce the others without assistance."

"Casualties?" Kris asked sharply, and Carlos winced.

"Negative," the voice answered. "Our team will secure Ranger Control."

"Not without me," Carlos put in quickly. "That's my responsibility down there."

Kris nodded once, already reaching for the controls. Her mind was probably miles away, back with the fighters she had left behind to back up the Aquitian team. "As soon as the ground forces are defeated, we'll start a search for the Astro Megaship," she said, glancing back at him.

He was trying not to think about that. As she had said before, there were people who needed him right here in front of him, and he had to put them first. "Right," he said aloud. "Good luck."

The world flared jade green the instant he touched his communicator, and the teleportation snatched him off the Bridge of the Delta Sun. *Hang on, Ashley,* he thought silently. As the darkened Power Chamber began to take shape around him, he had time to know that Matt would alert him as soon as a rescue effort was feasible. He would be out there after her before the night was over.

Then a creak behind him made him stiffen, and the flickering dimness of the ruined command center washed over him. He shot a glance over his shoulder, just to make sure nothing was about to come crashing down on him, then started forward. The main control panels were dead ahead, and that was where they had left TJ...

He tried not to jump as a bright flash of teleportation lit the room with a rainbow sweep. Red, yellow, blue, white, black; brilliant water molecule shapes illuminated the room momentarily before fading to reveal the Aquitian team. He didn't give them more than a cursory look when he realized they were all morphed; he would have to match real life faces to those he had seen on the screen later.

"TJ?" he called, taking another step forward and trying to get his night vision back in the wake of the teleportation flash. "Are you all right?" What had possessed Ashley to bring him with her?

"Was TJ the only one here?" the White Ranger asked. She walked forward with considerably less hesitancy than he, and he reminded himself that her visor probably let her see in the dark just fine.

"Yeah," Carlos said, wishing for a flashlight. "We'd better split up--"

There was the sound of a cough, and he broke off abruptly. "TJ?"

"Yeah," someone answered weakly. "What--Carlos?"

Carlos gestured and one of the Aquitians stepped forward, shadowing him as he tried to follow the sound of TJ's voice. "Yeah, it's me TJ. Are you hurt?"

"No..." There was a sound that might have been a chuckle, and he heard shuffling. "A little freaked out, but physically fine." There was a bang, followed by a reflexive exclamation, and he heard TJ mutter something.

"Don't hurt yourself trying to get up," Carlos suggested dryly, finally catching sight of movement in the dimness. He glanced over at the Yellow Ranger, and she nodded. They stepped around TJ's shadowy figure, taking him by either arm to haul him to his feet. "You're sure you're all right?"

TJ rubbed his head ruefully, his gaze shying away from the morphed Ranger at his side and coming to rest on Carlos. "I... I mentioned the freaked out part, right?"

"Yeah," Carlos said, trying not to sigh. "Sorry to get you involved in this. It's not your fight."

"Yes, it is," TJ contradicted, surprising him. "It's everyone's fight. Some of us just aren't as, uh, equipped for it as others. Sorry about that."

Carlos gave him a second glance, a little startled. Interesting that he would apologize for not being more help rather than accuse them of not protecting him--it was something a Ranger might say, but not anything Carlos had expected to hear from a civilian. "Don't apologize for doing your best," he said at last. "Let's see what we can do to get this place back online."

"Can I help?" TJ asked quickly, as they stepped away from him.

"Sure," Carlos said, not looking back. He thought he could start to like this kid. "We have no power at this point, which means no diagnostics, and that means we're checking this place out on foot. We need everybody who's willing to help."

"No solar power?" the Blue Ranger asked.

Carlos tapped the nearest control panel experimentally and shook his head. "Nope. Anybody here not afraid of heights?"

The Red Ranger volunteered immediately. "I will go."

"Want me to look at the generator?" the Blue Ranger offered. "It's probably not offline. It's usually the routing system that goes down, not the generator itself, and we might be able to get it fixed tonight."

Carlos grinned to himself. *Translation: Billy could fix it tonight. Anyone else could be working for days.* "That'd be great, man. Thanks.

"Cetaci," he added, fumbling for one of the accesses below the control panels. "Think you can find the zord bay? Assuming we can get it operational again, the Power Chamber's cloak won't cover the zords unless they're inside."

"I have seen schematics," Cetaci confirmed, already turning to leave.

"Wait," Carlos called after her. He yanked a flashlight free and tossed it in her direction. "Even the Power's night vision isn't that good."

She snatched it out of the air with one hand, giving him a nod before disappearing. Another light flipped on at his side, and he looked over to see Billy moving toward the generator at the back of the room. "Delphinius," the Blue Ranger was saying, "Can you give me a hand with this?"

"Cestria," Carlos said, watching the Yellow Ranger tilt her head in his direction. "Can you take TJ to Medical for me? It's the only place here that has independent power--"

"I said I'm fine," TJ protested, but Carlos didn't pause.

"And we need to know what kind of shape it's in. I hope we don't have casualties coming in, but the Power only goes so far. TJ, consider yourself a test subject."

"I will do so," Cestria agreed.

Muttering to himself, TJ followed her out.

"The access ladder's behind the time warp," Carlos told the Red Ranger, who seemed to be studying the Power Chamber a little too closely.

"Thank you," she said, sounding--just slightly--irritated at having to be told.

"I think it's--" He bit off a curse as his toe connected solidly with an unyielding piece of metal. "Not in the most stable part of the room," he finished, feeling his way around the chunk of debris.

"Nearest the exterior," she murmured, stepping easily over the fallen strut and going on ahead. "I would not have guessed."

He stared after her suspiciously. Sarcastic aliens? *Great. Just what I need right now.* He turned and made his way carefully back to the main control consoles, deciding that if she didn't want any help he wasn't going to argue. "Billy?"

"I don't know yet," the Blue Ranger answered, not waiting for the question. "Give me a few moments."

Carlos sighed, feeling more useless here on his own turf than he had on the Delta Sun. For lack of anything better to do, he lifted his left wrist. "Ashley," he said into his communicator. "Ashley, this is Carlos. Can you hear me?" He had tried before and gotten no reply, but he was closer now--

A violent crash shattered the stifling quiet, and he heard several Aquitian words he didn't recognize. "Aura?" he heard Billy call. "You all right?"

"I am fine," she replied, her voice muffled by the time warp. "The access hatch has been disabled."

Carlos sighed again, wondering why he hadn't thought of that before. "Hang on and I'll get it." Without power, all of the hatches went manual, and the manual release only responded to the Turbo Power.

This time at least he remembered to grab a flashlight, but before he could step away from the console there was a yelp and a brilliant flash from behind him. "Billy?" He turned, sweeping the flashlight across the room and trying to keep his eyes from tearing after the assault of brightness.

"We're fine," Billy said immediately. "But the Power--"

"Cetaci," his teammate muttered. "Billy... I can't..."

There was a clanking sound from behind him, and the Red Ranger brushed past Carlos without a word. He followed her quickly, shining the light into the corner ahead just in time to see her grab her teammate by the shoulders. He was unmorphed, but Carlos didn't have time to register more than that.

"Delphinius." The red uniform flickered as Carlos joined them, and he thought it was a trick of the unsteady light until another blinding glow seared his vision. The Red Ranger was demorphed when his vision returned, and she was kneeling on the ground next to her friend. "Look at me, Delphinius; don't think about her!"

They weren't demorphing on purpose; that had to be what Billy meant about the Power. Carlos pulled out his Turbo key, wincing as Billy's uniform vanished in another painfully bright flash. He felt his key slip out of his fingers, saw someone grab for it instinctively, and then the entire Power Chamber winked out of existence.

He squinted hard against the desert sun, his mind running in circles as he tried desperately to find some kind of context. The Power Chamber was nowhere in sight and this wasn't any part of Angel Grove that he recognized. A sound from nearby made him glance down just as he clenched his fingers around a Turbo key that wasn't there anymore, and he could only stare.

A girl he didn't recognize bent over an equally unfamiliar boy, hands on his shoulders even as Aura's had been on Delphinius' in the Power Chamber. "Dammit," she exclaimed, apparently talking to him despite his lack of response. "When will you listen!"

"Who are you?" he blurted, wondering what in the world had happened. The only thing that could have snatched him from the Power Chamber so quickly was teleportation, but he hadn't seen the telltale glow of the teleportation stream. "Where am I?"

The girl glanced up, pinning him with an intense glare before dismissing him just as quickly. "Who are *you*?" she retorted, pressing her hand to the boy's forehead.

"Carlos," he said. "What's wrong with him?" he added, Ranger conscience kicking in as he settled down beside her on the sandblasted stone.

She started, giving him a longer look this time. "Carlos?"

"You know me?" he asked, looking up again.

She just stared for a moment. "I always wondered what an alien would look like in the grid," she muttered at last. "I suppose I look as strange to you as you do to me. I'm Aura."

His mouth fell open, but no sound came out. Her dark hair billowed over her shoulders, auburn highlights catching the sunlight. Her pale grey eyes and the red of her shirt were the only things that even remotely reminded him of the Red Aquitian Ranger. And speaking of shirts... he didn't know what Aquitians usually wore, but he was pretty sure it wasn't spaghetti-strap tank tops and cutoff shorts.

"But..." He did his best to formulate some sort of coherent sentence. "But you're human!"

"And you are Aquitian, to me," she told him. She finally looked away from him, glaring down at the boy beside her. "Dammit, Delphinius," she repeated irritably. "You were trained for this, for all the good it did."

He couldn't help running his fingers through his hair the moment she said he looked Aquitian, but it felt the same way it always did. It was she who was different... human. His brain couldn't seem to get past that fact. He had the sudden bizarre urge to reach out and touch *her* hair, just to see.

She shot a sideways glance at him, almost as though she knew what he was thinking. She looked quickly down again when he caught her eye, and he wondered exactly what she saw. He looked at Delphinius too, trying to focus on something other than the impossible. "How--what's wrong with him?"

She sat back on her heels, obviously frustrated. "I don't know. But I think the telepathic backlash when Cetaci lost the Power was too much for him to take."

"The... what?" The Black Aquitian Ranger appeared just as jarringly human as she did, but the fact that he was apparently unconscious worried Carlos more.

"The Power links us mentally," she said, still staring down at her teammate. "But Billy is the only one of us with no natural psi-sense at all. The loss of the Power must have disrupted Cetaci and Delphinius' bond."

He supposed she thought that meant something to him. "So... you can't do anything for him?" he guessed, looking over at her.

She tossed her head, impatience dancing in her eyes. Not impatience with him, he realized suddenly, watching her clench her fists momentarily, but impatience with her own helplessness. "No," she said, uttering the word with more force than was necessary. "Cetaci is a latent telepath with no training, and Delphinius is psi-blind to anyone but her. I can't reach either of them right now."

She shifted on the hard stone, staring off toward the horizon. "We all knew this could happen," she muttered. "The Power enhanced Cetaci's ability, but she never learned control without it."

"Her... her choice," a soft voice offered.

Aura glared down at Delphinius again, not seeming at all surprised to find him awake. "And if I believed for one second that you had influenced that choice, I would have already left you here!"

"Whoa, chill," Carlos said, startled by her vehemence.

She turned her glare on him, but Delphinius spoke before she could. "Couldn't influence her," he murmured, struggling to push himself up. "She's as... as stubborn and willful as you are."

"Which is the only reason I'm still here," Aura muttered. "I don't suppose you can walk."

"I can walk," Delphinius said, putting one hand to his head. "I--I can't hear her anymore, though." He turned a pleading gaze on Aura. "That doesn't mean..."

Aura remained stonily silent, but he couldn't finish and finally she took pity on him. "She's probably fine. Cestria may be with her, blocking her so she can't hurt you."

"She didn't hurt me," Delphinius said, frowning at her. "I knew what could happen and I took my chances. She didn't hurt me," he repeated.

They glared at each other for a long moment until Carlos couldn't stand it anymore. "Look, whenever you two have finished your little grudge match, do you think someone could tell me where we are? And why?"

Delphinius looked away first, giving Carlos a surprised look. "Have you never seen the Morphin Grid from the inside?"

"The what?" Carlos tried to pull that phrase out of the million other things he had had to memorize since becoming a Power Ranger, and failed. "Something to do with Zordon" was as close as he could get.

"The Turbo Power relies less on the grid," Aura muttered, pushing herself to her feet. "It is conceivable they have never been inside it."

"It's a Power source?" Carlos scrambled up too. He was about to help Delphinius when the other stood on his own, not looking much the worse for wear.

"In a sense." Delphinius looked around thoughtfully. "We must have been pulled here when we lost the Power?"

Carlos shook his head, sure there was something he was missing. "Why did you lose the Power?"

"I don't know," Aura put in impatiently. "This has never happened before."

"I've never been inside the grid this long," Delphinius agreed. "Much less had the Power vanish like that."

"I assume the grid explains why you both look human," Carlos said, bemused. He glanced around again. "But is there any particular reason it looks like the California desert?"

Delphinius gave him such a long look that he couldn't help remembering what Aura had said earlier. He had to wonder what he looked like as an Aquitian.

"You see a desert?" Delphinius asked at last, following his gaze. "Interesting."

"What do you see?" Carlos wanted to know.

"The ocean," Delphinius said simply. He didn't elaborate, merely turned toward Aura and asked, "Have you--"

He broke off abruptly, an odd look crossing his face. Then, without warning, he doubled over, clapping both hands to his head. As his knees hit the ground, Carlos could have sworn he heard the other whisper, "Cetaci..."

Just like that, he was gone. Aura had taken no more than a single step in his direction when he vanished, erased from the landscape in front of them as if he had never been there.

"What--" He got one word out before the cold touch of sharpened metal at his neck made him freeze. He stared wide-eyed at Aura's shuttered expression, not moving even when she relaxed, letting the blade fall to her side.

"I apologize," she said, not looking particularly sorry. "I did not know you were still here."

"Where else would I be?" he demanded, his brain indignantly pointing out to him that he had just been two inches from decapitation. "And where the hell did that sword come from?"

"Wherever he went," she said, jerking her head toward the place where Delphinius had just been. "And the blade is part of my Ranger uniform. I suppose it manifested itself when I was threatened."

A bright flash cut off any answer he might have had for that--which he didn't--and he turned quickly, shading his eyes against the sun. "Did you see that?"

The question was unnecessary, for the glow remained against the horizon. He had no way to judge the distance of the flare, but when he looked over at Aura he found her looking back. "That way?" she suggested dryly.

A familiar whine cut through the atmosphere and he spun, adrenaline racing as he caught sight of the fighters outlined against the sky. He didn't have to ask, he *knew* they weren't a good thing, and they were coming awfully fast for his peace of mind.

"Get down!" Aura shouted, over the hum of approaching engines. He didn't think that was particularly practical advice, given where they were, and he almost said so. But then she swung her sword easily over her shoulder, releasing what looked like laser fire into the fighters' midst, and he could only stare.

Something made him glance over his shoulder then, and he found himself face to face with a stone outcropping complete with cave entrance. He didn't question, he just yelled Aura's name and took cover inside. She was right behind him, somewhat to his surprise--he had half expected her to stay outside and fight.

There was a flashlight in his hand and he flipped it on, leading the way toward the rear of the cave. He heard an odd hum and he glanced back--just in time to see Aura slipping her sword into a shoulder sheath that he was positive hadn't hung across her back a few minutes ago. He shook his head and kept going, unsurprised when the cave opened into a large tunnel in the flashlight glow.

By the time the cave entrance had disappeared behind them, they could no longer hear the whine of the fighters. He paused, putting one hand against the wall and pushing, just to make sure. It didn't budge. It felt like what it looked like: solid rock.

"This isn't bad," Aura said, leaning against the wall opposite him. "If you're going to create a tunnel, you might as well make it a big one."

"What do you--" he began, but then he gave her a sharp look. "Wait. You see a tunnel too?"

She nodded. "Probably not the same one you see, but yes. Much more effective than my blade."

"Although that was a good trick," he remarked, diverted. "I didn't know they did that."

Her face lit up with a fierce grin. "They don't. It's one of the things I like about the grid."

"That your sword turns into an energy weapon?"

She looked at him as though he were being deliberately dense. "No, that it responds to need. The blade was my solution; the tunnel is, I assume, yours. I like yours better," she added frankly.

He shrugged, wishing he didn't have to confess his ignorance yet again. "I still don't understand. What are we doing, again?"

"Going after the flare," she replied promptly. "That was probably Billy. If we follow that, we'll find at least one of our--my teammates."

He didn't miss her slip. "There's another question. Delphinius said we got pulled here when you lost your Power. So why am I here? Unless I lost mine too..."

"Or because I was holding your morpher," she muttered, looking down. "Sorry."

"You grabbed my key," he said, suddenly understanding. "Yeah, I guess that would do it. So, right, we find your teammates. How are we going to follow the flare from in here?"

Her embarrassment faded as she realized he wasn't holding it against her. "The same way we would out there. This tunnel isn't a location; it's just a defense. If we keep walking, we should get there eventually."

"How do we know we're going in the right direction?"

She shrugged. "There are only two choices. Forward, or back."

He considered that for a moment, but it wasn't one of those observations a person could argue with. "Forward it is, then."

12. Only Human

"I don't see why you only created one light," Aura grumbled from somewhere behind him. "It's not very practical."

Carlos rolled his eyes. "You only created one sword," he pointed out.

There was a moment of silence. "That was different," she said finally, scuffing her foot against the stone floor of the tunnel as they walked.

He had to keep himself from saying something truly sarcastic then. It wouldn't help matters to have the two of them fighting each other when the grid already seemed to harbor enough real danger to keep them thoroughly occupied. So instead he asked, "Any ideas what made Delphinius disappear?"

He didn't expect an answer; how would she know, after all? But he had to say something to keep from getting either bored or irritated, neither of which would be very useful in this situation. Not that he could think of anything that *would* be useful, but at least he had the process of elimination.

"I don't know," Aura said. She still sounded a little sullen, he thought, but then she added, "It's possible that his link with Cetaci was reestablished. The grid is sensitive to things like that."

He blinked. "If you thought that, why didn't you say anything before?"

"If you thought I had already volunteered what I knew, why did you ask?" she retorted.

"I was making conversation!" He felt the flashlight grip digging into his palm, and he tried to relax a little. No sense getting indignant with aliens, as Ashley would say. "They're aliens," she would remind him, quoting her favorite britcom. "They do things in alien ways!"

"If his link with Cetaci was reestablished, the grid might have reacted somehow." Aura sounded impatient. "Now you know."

"Reacted somehow" didn't sound very scientific to him, but he wasn't sure he wanted to push his luck by saying so. "I thought the link blew up in his face," he said instead, remembering only as he spoke that she probably wouldn't have heard that idiom before.

To his surprise, though, it didn't give her pause. "It might have," she said. "Or it might be even stronger for the Power's absence; I don't know. Cestria might even be augmenting it somehow."

He focused on the only part of her reply that had made sense. "You know that expression?"

"What expression?"

"To have something blow up in your face."

"Of course I know it." She sounded surprised. "I didn't expect *you* to know it."

"What?" He tried not to laugh, wondering if she was kidding him. "It's Earth slang. No offense, but I figure I'm more likely to know that kind of thing that you are."

She didn't answer right away, but when she did, it wasn't at all what he expected. "You're speaking..." She trailed off, then tried again. "What language are you speaking, Carlos?"

He frowned, resisting the urge to look over his shoulder. "English. The same language you're speaking. Why?"

There was another pause. "I'm not speaking English," she said at last.

He stopped, swinging the flashlight around. "What do you mean? Of course you are."

"No, I'm not." She reached out and batted his flashlight away irritably. "Don't do that. Point it at the ceiling or something."

"Then what do *you* hear?" he demanded, tilting the flashlight up to shine on the "ceiling". It cast a dim but adequate glow over the both of them, and her expression of irritation faded a little.

"Aquitian," she said with a shrug. "I have heard no one speak anything else since we arrived."

Startled, he shook his head. "My Aquitian definitely isn't that good. Actually..."

He trailed off, then tried to say it in her language. All that came out was, "My Aquitian isn't very good." He blinked. "Even when *I* think I'm speaking Aquitian, I hear English. That's really... creepy."

She frowned, saying, "My English is better than your--" At that, she broke off. "You're right. I can't speak English any more than you can speak Aquitian. That *is* creepy."

He tried not to grin, but he couldn't help it. "That's almost as good as hearing you say 'damn'."

She cocked her head, the most Aquitian mannerism he had seen from her yet. "I assure you, hearing you swear in my native language is no less entertaining."

He had to laugh. "I guess it would be. Weird," he added noncommittally, sweeping the flashlight overhead to illuminate the tunnel in front of them again.

He heard Aura sigh as he started forward. "I still don't like not having a light," she muttered, following him.

He shook his head, deliberately shortening his stride and catching her elbow when her next step brought her even with him. "There's no reason for you to walk behind me," he said firmly, tugging on her arm to keep her beside him. "Anything that sneaks up on us in here will give the same amount of warning whether we're side by side or single file."

She grimaced at him, but she stopped resisting and made no effort to fall back when he let go of her. "None, you mean."

"If it's none, it's none. And you definitely won't hear 'none' any faster back there than you will right here." He frowned at her. "Unless you're hoping that whatever it is will be attracted to my flashlight so it will eat me first."

A reluctant smile tugged at her lips, and he gave her a knowing look. "Yeah, I thought that might be it. Get rid of the human and you can have the flashlight; I see how your mind works."

Her smile widened a little, and she pointed out, "Given that this creature is supposedly going to eat you because you're carrying the light, that would probably not be in my best interest."

"Besides, it would probably swallow the light along with me anyway," he agreed. "I guess you'd better be careful what you wish for."

"I think I'll stick to wishing for my own light," she said wryly. "Thanks for the thought, though."

"You're thanking me for suggesting that I get eaten by a giant slug," he pointed out, pretending to be thoughtful. "I don't think that bodes well for the future of our relationship."

"If it makes you feel better, you probably wouldn't be enough," she offered. "It's probably a really big slug. I bet it would have to eat me too."

He chuckled. "Yeah, that's really comforting. Thanks."

"No problem," she replied nonchalantly. He looked over at her, still smiling. Her former annoyance had melted completely away, and she sounded downright cheerful.

She glanced sideways at him, catching his eye with an inquisitive look. "Did I say something odd?"

"No," he assured her, studying her more openly now. Her long hair bounced a little as she kept pace with his longer stride, strands of it catching the flashlight glow and shining dimly in the darkness. It fell around her shoulders, almost reaching her elbows, making her look somehow exotic even in a tank top and cutoffs. He tried to suppress a grin at the sight. "I probably shouldn't say this," he warned.

She cocked her head. "Really," she said speculatively. "Now you can't not."

He shook his head, knowing he had committed himself as soon as he spoke. "It's, uh..." Now that he had started, he couldn't help an abashed grin. "Well, I can't tell if it's a compliment or not, but you do, uh... you do look stunningly beautiful, you know."

She actually laughed, although whether she was laughing at his words or at his sudden bout of self-consciousness, he couldn't tell. "You don't look bad yourself," she admitted, returning his lazy scrutiny.

"I suppose everyone looks good here," he remarked, struck again by the uncertain nature of their environment. *Was* it a compliment to say that someone looked good to you, when they didn't even look that way to themselves?

"No," she said slowly, a thoughtful look flickering across her features. "I don't think everyone does. I think it's what's inside that counts here, not what's outside."

He blinked, trying to puzzle that out. "Good people look good, you mean?"

When she nodded, he chuckled. "Well, that seems strangely fair. You must be an exceptionally good person," he added with a grin, unable to keep from teasing her.

She grinned right back, not at all fazed. "I am," she answered, with such self-assurance that he laughed.

Then without warning she froze where she stood, glancing back the way they had come. The smile vanished from her face and she demanded, "Did you hear that?"

He frowned, following her gaze. "The giant slug?" he suggested. He was only half joking.

She hesitated a second longer, then grabbed his arm and pulled him back into a crease in the tunnel's interior. The wrinkle was deep enough to hide them both, though not comfortably, as he found out as soon as she tried to wiggle past him to be nearer the main tunnel. "Give me the flashlight," she whispered, peering into the darkness.

"Nice try," he shot back, lips quirking.

"I'm serious, Carlos!" Aura hissed. Without another word, he passed it to her.

She shone it back the way they had come, and by now he could hear it too. An odd sort of slipping sound was drifting down the tunnel, like jello sliding off a spoon. *I'm hungry,* he thought suddenly, then rolled his eyes and tried to listen harder. "What *is* that?" he whispered, as the sound slowly strengthened.

Putting one foot back in the main tunnel, Aura shook her head. "I can't see any--"

Whatever else she might have said was drowned out by an incredible rushing noise, and even as he yelled her name he was reaching out, grabbing her around the waist and yanking her back into the crevice with him. She pressed further backward as *something* filled the tunnel, a green-grey blur that seemed to rise and fall even as it sped by, only half-illuminated by the light Aura still clutched in her hand.

Like a train the blur just seemed to keep going, stretching from the bottom of the tunnel to the top and showing no sign of stopping. The roar was deafening, and even if he had been able to speak he doubted Aura could have heard him. So he just kept his arms tight around her, keeping the both of them as far back from the crevice entrance as he could. It wasn't much--she was only inches from the rushing blur, and he tried not to think about how quickly that thing could have mowed them down if they had been out in the tunnel when it decided to go jogging.

Then, as quickly as it had arrived it was gone, the thunder of its passage fading almost immediately in its wake. Soon only the faint slipping sound was audible, and finally, to his ears at least, even that was gone.

He realized distantly that Aura was shaking, and it was another few moments before she made any effort to move. He tried to relax his death grip on her only to find that his arms weren't responding quite the way they should. As soon as his grip loosened he felt her shudder, and he hugged her close again involuntarily.

Now that the danger had abated, he could feel the rock digging mercilessly into his back and shoulders, but he cared only for the fact that she had just been less than a second from getting trampled. She was right to be scared out of her mind. A little shaking was normal. Hell, *he* was shaking, but as tightly as he was holding her she probably couldn't tell.

"I don't--" He felt her take a deep breath, moving her head a little. "I don't want to hear any more speculation about tunnel-dwelling slugs."

Trying to muster a smile, he echoed her indrawn breath. It might have been more comforting if his senses hadn't picked that moment to kick in, informing him that her hair smelled incredibly good. He rolled his eyes half-heartedly, silently telling his brain to shut up and make itself useful. "Right," he agreed, letting her go with some reluctance. "No more slugs; got it."

She sighed, taking a tentative step forward. "Second time's the charm?" she suggested dryly. She hesitated at the edge of the tunnel, then took another step. "It... seems safe."

"It seemed safe before," he muttered, following her a little more quickly. He wondered if whatever Aquitian expression she had just used didn't quite translate, then blinked as she shook her head and pushed her hair away from her face impatiently.

*Now why did that look odd?* he wondered, studying her as she played the light up and down the tunnel in either direction. He had never seen an Aquitian--

"Oh," he muttered. He supposed that getting hair in their eyes wasn't something most Aquitians had to worry about--but that made him wonder where she had gotten the habit. Or... had she actually done it at all? It seemed the longer they stayed in the grid, the more it confused him.

She gave him an odd look. "What?"

He shook his head. "Nothing." Then he thought the better of it and said, "Hey, give me my flashlight back."

"No," she replied calmly. "I think it's better if I keep it."

"In your dreams," he retorted. "I created it; I get to keep it."

"I'm tired of you having it," she complained. "You keep turning it on the walls and the ceiling and then I can't see where I'm walking. It's annoying."

He tilted his head as though listening. "Do you hear that?"

She froze. "What?"

He felt the smallest twinge of guilt for reminding her of the slug creature, but he lifted his hand anyway. Rubbing his finger and thumb together, he whispered, "That." She leaned closer in an effort to hear, and he added softly, "That's the sound of the world's smallest violin, Aura. Give me the damn flashlight."

She glared at him, and for just a moment, he thought she might actually hit him for that. But then she said calmly, "At least give me the violin. I play it better than you do."

He stared at her, not sure whether to be startled or amused. "When we get out of here," he said at last, holding out his hand for the flashlight, "you're going to have to tell me how that translated."

She held out both hands, the flashlight in one and the other empty. He tried not to grin. Taking the flashlight back, he pressed the imaginary violin into her open hand. She clenched her fist around it and turned her hand over, opening it palm down so that anything inside would have fallen to the floor. Not taking her gaze off of him, she stamped her foot once, grinding her heel into the stone.

*Sneakers,* some part of his mind noted as he glanced down. She would be wearing sneakers. He looked up again, pressing his lips together in an effort not to laugh. "Point taken," he said, as solemnly as he could.

The faintest hint of a smile graced her expression. She nodded once, and they started down the tunnel again in wary but companionable silence.

It didn't last. The tunnel, apparently upset that its occupant's attempt to do them in had failed, decided to try its own hand at the job. It was impossible to say which of them heard the rumble first, but Carlos recognized it immediately. He had gone caving too many times not to be sensitized to the sound of rock grating on rock.

He was sure the tunnel walls had been smooth only seconds before, but another fissure formed the instant he shoved Aura toward the side of the tunnel. He was starting to get suspicious of these crevices, but what choice did they have?

He got his hand behind her head just before she would have banged it on the jagged wall, and he winced as the rock cut into his fingers. Then the horrifying grinding of unstable stone stole any other worries from his mind, and he saw her wide-eyed gaze slide over his shoulder as the ground started to tremble.

He heard something large and mean slam against the stone right behind him. She flinched, ducking instinctively, and he wrapped his other arm around her and pressed her face against his chest, trying to shield her from the rockslide somehow. They cowered inside the fissure for as long as the rocks continued to rumble, and he felt every second of it.

He told himself not to, he told himself to worry--at any moment one of those rocks would fly their way, and no mere crevice was going to protect them. But he couldn't. Maybe it was because he couldn't see it, maybe the blindness made it less real, or maybe he had used up all his adrenaline a few minutes ago when the slug creature went tearing through. Or maybe it was the girl tucked securely in his embrace that convinced him that nothing bad could possibly happen to them right now.

He lowered his head, breathing in the scent of her hair and at the same time trying not to enjoy it. He felt her slight figure shift within his embrace and his skin started to tingle, the air turning suddenly too warm for his liking. "No," he whispered vehemently, knowing she couldn't hear him over the crumbling rock in the background. "No."

He fought desperately to ignore the reaction, trying to concentrate on anything but her and finding it impossible. He wasn't attracted to her; he couldn't be. She didn't even look like this in real life; how wrong was it to want someone who was, for all intents and purposes, an illusion?

*She's an alien,* he reminded himself harshly. *Hello, Carlos, she's a fish person! Grey eyes! Gills! Absolutely no sense of humor!*

His body didn't listen, insisting that she was flesh and blood human and gorgeous to boot. *Why now?* he demanded silently, feeling her push him back just a little as the rumble began to taper off. *Why did you pick now to notice this? Couldn't you have waited until she was complaining or snapping or *something*?*

She peered past him, apparently oblivious to his internal conflict, and he added helplessly, *Some time when she didn't look so vulnerable, and... cute?*

"I want out of this tunnel," she muttered, still staring past him. "It's getting more dangerous in here than it is out there."

He couldn't look away from her. "Any--any suggestions?" he managed, hoping his voice didn't sound as weak as he thought it did.

She looked up, not seeming to notice that he still had his arms around her. "Yeah," she said shortly. "We blast our way out. It can't be any worse than what's already happened."

Only when she stopped talking did it dawn on him that he was staring at her mouth. He lifted his gaze to hers instantly, praying she hadn't noticed, but it was too late. She narrowed her eyes at him. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"L--like what?" he stammered. God, it was getting worse. He couldn't even talk to her now; this was pathetic. *How did she go from reluctant ally to beautiful woman in a few random seconds? And why can't I let go of her?*

"Like you're about to kiss me," she said bluntly, staring at him. "Either do it or let me go, but don't just stand there staring."

He took a step back before her words even had a chance to sink in, arms sliding reluctantly off her shoulders. He glanced over his shoulder, making sure he wasn't about to trip over anything in what was left of the tunnel, and he found he couldn't meet her gaze again. "Do it or let me go..."

He lifted both hands to his head and buried them in his hair, staring mindlessly at the wall in front of him. "God," he muttered, trying as best he could to ignore her presence at his side. "What am I doing?"

"Not a whole lot," she remarked candidly. "Right now you're staring at a wall and acting stupid. There's some definite room for improvement, if you ask me."

"I didn't," he told the wall. It was only slightly easier than talking to her right now. "I didn't ask you at all."

"Fine," she said. He got the distinct impression that she shrugged. "Get back and cover your head. I'm getting us out of here."

He barely had time to look up before she drew her blade, resting it against the solid stone over her head and releasing a sustained blast that made the rock face glow like heated metal. An instant later it blew out entirely and he flinched back, startled. Bright blue sky peeked through the jagged hole in the tunnel ceiling.

She was already climbing up, one foot on a boulder dumped by the rockslide and both hands on the upper edge of the hole. There was no way it could be cool already, but they were already in the midst of an impossible situation--several impossible situations, he reminded himself with a grimace--and he figured it wasn't a priority worry at the moment.

"Are you going to give me a hand or not?" she demanded, one foot slipping a little on her chosen boulder.

He sighed, stepping forward to grab her foot. He gave her a push until she could rest her sneaker on his shoulder and scramble the rest of the way up. He tried to follow, figuring his height advantage would be enough to get him through. It wasn't an easy proposition, despite the proximity of the tunnel wall and the conveniently placed rockslide, but he did eventually manage.

Aura turned away from her study of the horizon, frowning as he dragged himself out of the tunnel. "What did you do to your hand?"

He glanced down, surprised to find his knuckles bleeding. It didn't start to hurt until he noticed it, and he wondered if she could be malicious enough to have drawn his attention to it on purpose. Then he shook his head at himself. *Great,* he thought, exasperated. *Stupid and paranoid. It's really turning out to be one of the worst days in the history of worst days.*

She was crouching down beside him, pulling something out of her pocket. "A bandanna?" he asked, before he could stop himself. "What, you couldn't manage a bandage or something? Maybe some antiseptic?"

She caught his eye just long enough to glare at him, then grabbed his hand and laid it on her knee. "Hold still," she ordered, twisting the bandanna into a makeshift bandage.

His fingers twitched and he closed his eyes, trying not to think. "I suppose you're a field medic now," he remarked, irritated with her attitude as much as his. "Probably your lifelong hobby, only recently rediscovered. A regular Doogie Howser, even."

She yanked sharply on the bandanna, and he winced. "Serves you right," she informed him. "What's your problem all of a sudden?"

He opened his eyes to glare at her, though the effect was lessened somewhat by the fact that she was still working on his hand and didn't notice. "What's my problem?" he repeated incredulously. "In case you hadn't noticed, I'm--I'm drooling all over you! All I can think about is touching you!"

She finished tying the bandanna and looked up. "So?" she asked.

His eyes widened. "So I have a girlfriend! I can't feel like this! And you're... you're not even real!"

She actually shrugged. "Exactly. Whatever you see is just something your mind made up. You probably invented an image you'd be attracted to; there's no shame in that. As soon as we're out of here the image will vanish and so will the attraction. It's nothing to worry about."

"Easy for you to say," he retorted, trying to take comfort in her words nonetheless. "If you have all the answers, then why now? I was fine around you before; what the hell kind of timing is this?"

"I told you," she said matter-of-factly. "The grid responds to need. I don't know why everything seems to be coming after us, but we have to care about each other if we're both going to get out of here. Maybe playing on the physical attraction was the easiest way to do it."

"Playing on the physical attraction..." Not "playing on your attraction to me". He studied her, trying to see something more than the obvious. Trying to see inside. "We?" he repeated.

"I'm at least as able to protect us as you are," she said dryly.

"Don't pretend to misunderstand," he told her, annoyed all over again. "Answer the question."

She glared at him. "Has anyone ever told you that you're a real jerk when you're uncomfortable, Carlos?"

He started to insist. "Answer the freakin' ques--"

She cut him off, pressing her mouth to his as he leaned into her, trying to drive the incessant pounding of his blood down to a more manageable level. Her kiss was no more gentle than his, and its wild edge answered his question better than words ever could have.

He felt her hands clench on his shoulders and then slide down his arms, setting his skin tingling madly in their wake. He kissed her harder, his hands in her hair as he tried desperately to get closer to her. He needed to feel her everywhere, everywhere that he had feeling and some places he didn't--

*No!* His mind refused to give in and he broke away, gasping for breath. "No," he groaned aloud, bringing his fist down on the stone beneath them. "I'm not doing this. This isn't happening!"

He heard her sigh, but he refused to look up. "It isn't real," she told him, clearly frustrated. "It doesn't mean anything!"

He couldn't help glaring at her. "It means something to me!"

She sighed again, but she didn't contradict him this time. She looked at him for a moment, and then finally nodded. "Okay," she said quietly. "Okay, I can respect that."

He blinked, surprised by her sudden calm. "You... can?"

She grimaced at him. "Thanks for that blow to my self-esteem. I have enough people telling me I'm out of control lately; I really don't need to add someone else to the list."

"That's not what I meant," he muttered, embarrassed. "I just... that's, uh--" He couldn't tell her that he had half-wanted her to say she didn't care, just so he could feel her lips on his again.

She cocked her head at him, closer than she had been before. Either she knew what he was thinking, or he was...

He was the one leaning forward. She was right where she had been before, but he felt his mouth brush against hers anyway. She closed her eyes, not moving, and he laid another whisper-soft kiss on her lips. She kissed him back and he let her, not daring to think about what he was doing. That self-deprecating look had cut all the way to his heart, and he couldn't bear the thought that something he had said without thinking had hurt her like that.

An all too familiar whine interrupted his only marginally successful attempt at not thinking, and he heard her curse as they broke apart again. He tried to muster a smile. "I'm going to miss hearing you swear in English," he murmured.

"Not if we don't get out of here you won't," she said sharply, pulling him to his feet. "Come on!"

He didn't bother wondering why the stone outcropping they had been sitting on was now at ground level, any more than he bothered asking how she knew where they were going. He just followed when she ran, staying, impossibly, ahead of the oncoming fighters. He couldn't even bring himself to be startled when the world shifted almost imperceptibly and the rest of her team appeared in front of them.

He stumbled and he saw hands reaching for him, dragging him up and pulling the both of them forward. He and Aura were drawn irresistibly into their circle, and the world started to darken alarmingly. He heard Aura saying something, heard someone else talking over her just loud enough that he couldn't understand either of them, and then blackness overwhelmed him.

13. Predawn

"The fighters are aboard," KERI informed them.

"We're clear," Kris told the comm.

"Head back to base," Matt answered tersely. While Kris brought them about there was a brief pause, and then, "Delta Sun, can you raise anyone in the Power Chamber?"

Kris glanced over at Jenna. There was a pause, and then the other girl frowned, shaking her head. "The signal's going through, at least on the Aquitian frequency, but no one's responding."

"Negative," Kris relayed. "There's no response."

In the background, Cassie heard one of Matt's teammates add, "I can't reach the Aquitian Megazord, either."

"We left all of the Aquitian Rangers in your command center," Kris interrupted. "There may not be anyone on the megazord to answer the signal."

"We heard," Matt replied, his voice neutral.

"Then it's time to find out why," a familiar voice said from behind her, and Cassie whirled. Saryn smiled at her expression before his gaze flickered toward Kris, and he said automatically, "Status."

Ignoring his half-hearted attempt at formality, she leapt forward and wrapped her arms around him. He hugged her back, and she felt him chuckle soundlessly. His awareness ventured a little closer, touching her thoughts carefully and making her feel warm inside.

"The Earth Rangers' command center isn't responding," Kris's voice said, from somewhere... outside. "KERI told you?"

Saryn let her go reluctantly, giving Kris a nod. "On our way to the Bridge. I understood that the battle there was over."

"It was," Timmin put in. "At least, we thought it was. We never would have left if we'd picked up any kind of negative energy out there."

"Maybe it came in afterward?" Lyris offered, stepping around the second row of consoles. "Is it possible they didn't have time to yell for help?"

"Oh," Jenna breathed. The simple sound was enough to draw everyone's attention to the main screen, where the Earth Rangers' command center was fast approaching.

What was left of it, anyway. The Yellow and Green Turbo zords were settled in the sand outside the scorched structure, apparently at a loss for what to do. The damaged holding bay must not have admitted them when the megazord broke apart, Cassie thought distantly, shocked by the sight before her.

"Justin, Laura," Matt said, not bothering to mute the audio. "Let's get down there. Delta Sun, maintain position until you hear from us."

"Acknowledged," Saryn said, though the set of Kris' shoulders was exasperated. Hovering, especially in the battleship, was not her favorite activity.

It was minutes before any kind of contact resumed. Cassie was wondering if Kris had offended the Red Earth Ranger that much when the comm crackled to life again.

"Everyone's accounted for," Matt reported at last. "But TJ's the only one who's conscious. He says he and one of the Aquitian Rangers were on their way to Medical when she collapsed. Apparently he got a little... turned around after that."

"She collapsed?" Saryn repeated, frowning.

A voice said something, on the edge of the comm's pickup range, and followed with a barely distinguishable, "Is that important?"

"TJ says she demorphed first." Matt was silent for a moment, and Cassie wished she could somehow see what he was seeing. "Three of them are here, plus Carlos, and they're all stable. That's all we know right now. I'm sending Laura and Justin after the others."

"Do you wish us to go after the Astro Megaship?" Saryn asked, already a step ahead. "We ought to be able to track the Kerovan team's Power signatures. Or your own, should that fail."

There was another brief hesitation, and then a sigh. "If you wouldn't mind. I don't dare leave them here alone like this. Besides..." Matt's voice had a hint of humor in it this time. "The Delta Sun may be the only flightworthy vehicle around right now."

The sky had started to lighten, enough to dampen the starlight but not quite enough to cast shadows on the harsh desert ground. He gazed off toward the horizon, the Megaship at his back. He knew that rescue, if it came, would most likely come from the opposite direction. But that hadn't quelled the urge to inspect his ship from the outside, to try and assess damage before the others woke, and his mood had turned strangely reflective in the predawn light.

Zhane was hurt. No matter his brave façade, he wasn't going to make it much longer without help that the Megaship wasn't currently capable of providing. The others were in better shape, and could hold out at least as long as the emergency rations lasted. But unless the remaining generator power on the Megaship was enough to get DECA operational again, they wouldn't be going anywhere. It would only be a matter of time before the velocifighters tracked them down.

Unless the others had won. If the Earth Rangers had beaten back the siege, then they would waste no time in coming after their own. But how much faith could he put in that possibility?

And yet... how much choice did he have?

"Are you always up before the sun?" The voice at his side was as quiet as it was unexpected, and he tried not to start.

Glancing over his shoulder, he felt his heart skip despite the clamp he had put on his emotions. Ashley stood there, her Ranger jacket clutched loosely around her shoulders as she cocked her head at him. Her hair was tousled with sleep, but her eyes were clear and her expression was heartbreakingly sincere. He couldn't shake the feeling that he *knew* that look, that it was embedded somewhere deep inside his heart...

He was staring, and she didn't seem at all surprised. He did his best not to blush as he wrenched his gaze away. "No," he muttered. "Not usually."

"Time zones, huh?" she asked, shifting a little to look out at the horizon with him. Her tone was wryly sympathetic, and again, the feeling that it was undeniably familiar took hold of him without warning.

"A little," he managed, torn between the desire to hear her speak again and the wish for her to be quiet so he could get a better grip on his feelings. "It's... it's several hours later in Keyota."

"Your hometown?" she asked. Her voice was mildly curious this time, and he had to fight the urge to glance over at her. He knew beyond a doubt what he would see if he did, and though he *wanted* to see her look at him with any kind of interest, he knew too that he might not be able to look away this time.

"Yeah," he agreed quietly, his gaze fixed firmly on the horizon. "Mine and Kerone's and Zhane's."

"The others don't live there?" She sounded surprised to hear that.

He shook his head. "Leigh's from Cayeron. Rill and Kaeth live on RS-42."

"Oh." She didn't seem to have any other answer for that, and he looked over at her involuntarily.

He regretted it the moment he did it. A slight frown marred her faraway expression, but she looked more peaceful than he had yet seen her. She didn't seem uncomfortable to be around him at all, which he found odd after everything she must have heard about both him and the vision.

"I heard you, last night," he said, watching for her reaction. He wasn't sure what made him say it, but since he couldn't look away from her he thought he might as well take control of the conversation.

Her gaze slid toward him, a little startled and more than a little amused. "Talking to Zhane, you mean?"

Her equanimity surprised him, and he wished she hadn't turned to look at him. It had been easier to talk to her when her eyes were elsewhere. "Yeah. I... didn't mean to eavesdrop; I just... I felt it when he woke up."

She seemed to consider that, still gazing calmly at him. "That's a funny thing you can do. Do you always know what he's feeling?"

"Not what he's feeling," he said uncomfortably. "Just--sometimes--what he's thinking. And it's not funny. It's just the way we are."

Unaccountably, she blushed. "I'm sorry," she murmured, looking down at last. "I didn't mean it to sound that way."

He watched her, trying not to smile at her apology. "You're--" He closed his mouth quickly, catching himself just before he told her how pretty she was. "It's all right."

She looked up, staring intently at him, almost as though she knew what he had been about to say. "You confuse me," she admitted suddenly. "I wish--I wish I knew you better."

He blinked, startled. "What?"

"I wish I knew you better," she repeated, pink creeping into her cheeks again. "I wish... I understood you."

He felt his lips quirk even before he answered. "The feeling's mutual." He didn't know what made him tell her that, but it was certainly nothing less than honest.

She laughed a little, and the sound rang in his memory. "Maybe we should do something about it, then." Her tone was only half-serious, and he knew she had suggested it that way on purpose. She was giving him a chance to ignore the remark, if he wanted to.

"You don't know him," Zhane had said the night before. "Andros doesn't do things halfway."

*And you would know,* he told the memory silently. "Yeah," he said aloud. "Maybe we should."

"You go first, then," she said, smile still lingering on her face. "What do you want to know?"

He hesitated, surprised by the straightforwardness of the question. *What do I want to know?* he mused. *I want to know why I'm in love with you when I've only just met you, that's what I want to know.* He stared at her, hoping his thoughts didn't show on his face. *I want to know why your spirit shines out through your eyes so that I'd recognize you anywhere, no matter who either of us was. I want to know how something like this can happen, just like that. And... I want to know why you can't seem to feel it, when it's the only thing I can think of every time I look at you.*

"I don't think I can answer that one," she said at last, and his eyes widened.

It took him a moment to realize that he couldn't possibly have spoken aloud, and that she was only reacting to his silence. He tried to calm the rush of adrenaline that had invaded with her words, and he took a deep breath. "I, uh... I can't think of the right words," he offered at last, trying to sound apologetic.

She smiled a little. "Does that mean that I get to ask something, then?"

He almost chuckled. "I know what you want to know," he said before he could think, and some of his amusement must have come through in his tone.

She looked chagrinned. "Do you," she said, the words almost a challenge. "Does that mean you're going to tell me?"

He studied her, then shook his head slowly. "No," he said at last. "Because I was supposed to go first." Seeing the look on her face, he added quickly, "If you answer my question, I'll answer yours. Honest."

"Okay," she conceded, a pout warring with resignation on her face. "Fair enough."

He sighed, realizing that he had just committed to asking a question she wasn't going to like. It wasn't even a fair question. But it was the only one that he *had* to have an answer to, and this might be his only chance. "Ashley," he said slowly, wondering if there was any way to phrase it without sounding offensive. "Am I..."

He trailed off, irritated with both himself and the vision that had put this idea into his head. If he had never known she existed, he could have been perfectly happy. He could have gone through his life never knowing what he was missing, never knowing that he was incomplete, content never to know the longing that now threatened to overwhelm him.

"I like you," he said at last, knowing there was nothing else for it but to tell her the truth. "I don't know exactly what I saw in this vision, but I know what I see whenever I look in your eyes, and it's something that makes me feel whole. I'm not--I'm not *asking* anything of you, but I wonder... am I... am I wasting my time?"

She stared at him, surprise and uncertainty showing through in her eyes. What could she say to that, really? He felt badly for asking, but he couldn't take it back. He had to know.

"I--don't know," she said softly, looking down at the ground. "That's a hard one, Andros."

"I know," he admitted, frustrated. "But... if the answer to that one is 'yes', then the easy ones don't mean anything."

"No," she agreed, a small smile gracing her features. "I guess not. I just--I don't want to tell you there's a chance only to find out later that there isn't."

"I'm not asking about later," he told her. "I'm asking about right now. I'm asking if there's any reason for me to be here today."

She glanced up, catching his eye. He almost held his breath, waiting on her answer. "Yes," she said at last, very quietly. "I'm glad you're here today."

He should let it go at that. He should be happy with that admission, and not push for more. But his heart, as usual, refused to listen to his brain. "Am I wasting my time, Ashley?"

She shook her head, very slowly. "No," she whispered, still staring at him. "No, I don't think you're wasting your time."

He swallowed hard, unable to believe his own audacity. His heart was pounding in his ears as he asked, "May I kiss you?"

She just looked at him, eyes wide, and he couldn't resist. He leaned a little closer, touching her lips gently and feeling his heart melt when her eyes fluttered closed. He kissed her again, just as softly, letting his mouth linger against hers as long as he dared.

He drew back at last, and her brown eyes were a little too bright as they gazed back at him. "I think you used up more than your share of questions," she informed him unsteadily.

"Sorry," he murmured, watching her carefully. "Your turn."

She swallowed. "I thought you knew what I was going to ask."

He tried to force his mind away from the kiss and back to the conversation. "You, uh... you want to know about me and Zhane."

She nodded.

"We're not like Leigh and Rill," he said. That was what she had been trying to ask Zhane the night before. He didn't know if Zhane hadn't realized that, or if his friend had been playing dumb for the entertainment value. "They're exclusive. There's no room for anyone else in their relationship; you can see it whenever they're together."

"And... you and Zhane are different," she said, still looking uncertain.

"Yeah." Before he could offer anything else, though, Zhane's distinctive thought pattern interrupted. He glanced up automatically, as though he could see what the other was seeing. "The Delta Sun!"

Ashley frowned at him but he ignored it, grabbing her hand and urging her to run. They weren't going to be on their own after all.

He turned at the sound of Cassie's voice, attuned to her as to no one else. She knelt by one of the Kerovan Rangers--no, Saryn realized, coming to her side. Not a Ranger, but clearly a victim of the battle nonetheless. Zhane seemed to be badly hurt, moreso than any of the others gathered around their makeshift fire.

Jenna and Kris were helping two of the girls up, checking them over to make sure they were mobile. Timmin was questioning one of the others over the whereabouts of their leader and the missing Earth Ranger, and Lyris had already disappeared inside the Megaship. He was the only one who could help, and Cassie knew it.

He hunkered down on the ground beside Zhane, placing one hand on the other's chest. "Will you trust me?" he asked quietly.

Zhane made a motion that could have been a nod, and Saryn closed his eyes. The Power flowed into him as he morphed, filling his world with a red glow that didn't fade as he channeled the energy into the injured boy in front of him. There was only so much he could do, but he felt Zhane's life force strengthening as he concentrated. He was going to make it.

As he let go, he felt his morph fade as well and he didn't fight it. It was easier to use the Power when he was morphed, but outside of battle he wasn't fond of the condition. It was too isolating, too distancing from the people around him.

"Andros!"

He looked up when one of the girls shouted from the ramp, and he saw Andros and Ashley emerging from the Megaship's shadow. He lifted one hand in acknowledgement of the other team's leader, and Andros waved back. In seconds the other boy was beside him, kneeling with them next to Zhane and studying his friend anxiously. Zhane was only just awake, but Andros must have been able to see something in his friend's face, for he lifted his gaze and said simply, "Thank you."

Saryn nodded once, getting to his feet. "I could do nothing less. Does the Megaship have a functional EM cloak, if we were to leave it here temporarily?"

Andros shook his head, but Ashley spoke before he could. "We can contact NASADA from the Power Chamber," she offered. "They can put it under guard for us until we have time to start repair work."

"Good." He caught Cassie's hand as she scrambled up, taking stock of the situation. Kris and Jenna appeared on the ramp of the Delta Sun at that moment, and he glanced around for the others. The rest of the Kerovan team had been hustled aboard the Elisian battleship, and he assumed Timmin was still with them. Lyris stepped off the Megaship just as Saryn wondered about him, and he gestured for the Blue Ranger to join them. "It's time for us to go."

14. Regroup

"Could you hold this?"

TJ took the instrument automatically, returning the Pink Ranger's smile with what he suspected was a slightly bewildered look of his own. It didn't help that just as he was getting used to being around his *own* planet's Rangers, an entirely new team had been teleported into the Medical bay with no word of explanation or introduction.

"Thanks, TJ," Laura said, her smile turning sympathetic as she glanced away. He doubted she was oblivious to his confusion, but that didn't change the fact that she knew what was going on and he didn't. The best he could do was to try and stay out of the way.

"Would you hold still?" Ashley's irritated tone caught his attention, and he looked over at the second patient bed. Andros was fidgeting, clearly not in the mood to let anyone treat his injuries, let alone a girl that he didn't seem particularly comfortable around at the moment.

"How's Zhane?" he asked Laura instead, and Ashley rolled her eyes as he tried to lean around her and see.

Reaching out, she took his face in her hands and turned him back toward her. "Don't *move*," she said firmly. "Honestly, Andros, I've never met someone so impossible to take care of!"

"I have," one of the other Rangers put in. The boy tending to Kerone's wound exchanged wry glances with Ashley, and Andros' sister shifted impatiently.

"Zhane's going to be okay," Laura put in at last, holding out her hand to TJ again. This time it was empty, and he guessed that she wanted whatever she had given him a moment before. He put it in her hand and she shot him quick smile before turning back to Zhane. "Although I daresay he won't feel like it for a day or two."

Zhane groaned in agreement from the patient bed. "Got that right," he muttered hoarsely. "Thanks anyway."

"You're welcome," Laura answered, inspecting the instrument TJ had just given her. "Rill? How's your teammate?"

One of the Kerovan Rangers looked up from the other side of the room. "Which one?" she asked dryly, glancing around the Medical bay.

Laura laughed, and the cheerful sound made TJ realize how solemn the atmosphere had been. "I've already decided that the other three are going to survive, so how's Leigh?"

TJ couldn't help wishing that he remembered names as easily as Laura seemed to. Maybe it was a trick of the Power. Or maybe Rangers were required to memorize each other's team rosters, he didn't know. Either way, it was a handy thing to be able to do among near-strangers.

"I'll make it," the girl on the patient bed put in. She pushed herself up on her elbows and turned to catch Laura's eye. "Thanks mostly to your regen equipment, I think. Thank you."

"Our facilities are yours," Laura replied. "What's left of them, anyway," she added, and her tone was humorous rather than bitter.

The other girl smiled too. "You're in better shape than the Megaship, at least."

TJ wondered that they took the destruction around them so lightly. No matter what he had told Carlos, "a little freaked out" didn't begin to cover his reaction to the fighting, and he had been appalled at the damage to the Power Chamber alone. The thought that they might have seen worse wasn't exactly comforting.

"Hey, Matt," Laura said suddenly. She had lifted her wrist to speak to her communicator, and the Rangers' informality continued to surprise TJ. "I think we're all stable down here. What about you?"

"No change," the Red Ranger's voice replied. "Justin's trying to get the generator back online right now. I went up to check out the solar array, but it's shot to hell. We're going to be in the dark a while longer."

TJ glanced covertly around the well-lit Medical bay, remembering Carlos saying something about independent power. The words "solar array" jogged something else in his memory, and he glanced down at his watch. *4:52... in the *morning*?* The sun was already up--it was tomorrow. And his parents were probably worried sick.

"Need any help?" Laura was asking.

There was the briefest hesitation. "I think we've got control covered, but the zord bay is a mess. We could use as many extra hands as you've got out there."

Laura smiled, apparently to herself. "I've got a few people who are just itching for something to do. Ashley and I will take some flashlights and anyone who wants to come with us."

"I don't want anyone working who shouldn't be," Matt's voice warned.

"Neither do I," Laura said calmly. "Some of them are hard enough to deal with as it is." TJ saw Andros shoot an irritated look in her direction, but she pretended not to notice.

"NASADA," Ashley reminded her quietly.

"Right--Matt, when the comm's back, can you contact NASADA for us? If they could get some people on the Megaship until we can go back for it, that would be great."

"Saryn mentioned that," Matt agreed. "If we don't get generator power back by six, he's going to let us use the Delta Sun's comm system."

"Good; thanks," Laura said, catching Ashley's eye. "We'll go see what we can do with the zord bay."

It wasn't the blackness of oblivion, as he had first thought. He had assumed that as the darkness obscured his vision he was losing consciousness. Yet it didn't take long to realize that he was still aware, and the longer he concentrated on the fact the more he realized that the darkness wasn't complete.

*Flashlights?* he thought, a little dazedly. That was just--funny.

"Carlos?" That was definitely a voice he should know, and he squinted up into the dimness, trying to get his eyes to help him identify... Matt?

"Yeah," Matt answered, and he realized he'd spoken aloud. "Are you all right, man? What happened?"

He was lying on the floor. He pushed himself up onto his elbows, exercising his recently rediscovered vision. The Power Chamber was dark, but not as dark as he'd left it. Flashlights had been strategically located, and a sliver of natural lighting cast dim shadows on the other side of the time warp. The improvement only seemed dim by comparison to desert's brightness.

"Whoa," he muttered, seeing the Aquitian Rangers stir. *Aquitian...* He sat up abruptly, looking for Aura without conscious thought. She was alien again... and yet, somehow less so than before. She looked oddly familiar, especially when she lifted her head and her light eyes caught his. Those grey eyes--almost silver, really--were exactly the same.

"Carlos?" Matt asked again.

He stared at her a moment longer, until one of her teammates offered her a hand up and she looked away. "Yeah," he said at last. He stood up himself, watching Aura's team huddle instinctively, brushing themselves off and trying to figure out what had happened. "I'm cool," he said, turning to Matt. "But don't ask me what happened, because I don't have the faintest idea."

"You've been unconscious for hours," Matt told him. "TJ says Cestria demorphed before she passed out. That's the sum total of what we know at this point."

Carlos hesitated. "That's almost as much as I know," he admitted. "Delphinius, Aura, and Billy demorphed unintentionally. I pulled out my key to see if *I* could morph, and somehow I dropped it. The next thing I knew we were in the morphin grid, and I guess we were there until we woke up here a few minutes ago."

"The morphin grid?" Matt repeated. To his credit, there was no skepticism in his tone, only an invitation to supply more information.

"That's what Aura and Delphinius told me." He glanced over at the Aquitians again. Delphinius' left hand was raised, pressed against his leader's right, and both their eyes were closed. The others seemed to be watching, waiting for... something. Carlos wasn't going to ask.

"I guess it's a source of Power," he told Matt, trying to ignore the other team. As his eyes adjusted to the room's lighting, he saw Justin listening avidly from the same place Billy had been working earlier. Timmin was with the Blue Turbo Ranger, and Carlos thought he could account for most of the other Elisians in the dim command center as well. "I don't really understand it," he added, "but it was like--it was like being here, only things happened when you... thought about them."

"The grid responds to need," Justin put in, and Carlos tried not to jump at the echo of Aura's words. "I read that somewhere. I've heard about people who've been inside it, but none of them can agree on how to describe it. It's like everyone sees something different."

"Everyone does," Carlos said, glancing over at the Aquitians again. "At least, I think they do. I thought we were in the desert, but Delphinius sounded like he thought we were on Aquitar. And everything kept changing--one minute it looked like one thing, and the next something totally new would appear out of nowhere."

"And you have no idea why you were there?" Matt was frowning, as though he took the uncertainty as a personal affront. Being Matt, it was possible that he did.

"I don't even know why we're *back*, let alone why we were there." Carlos couldn't help staring at the flicker of sunlight on the opposite wall. "Hours, huh? What time is it?"

"After five," Matt answered, following his gaze.

Carlos felt the day trying to shift on him, and he gave Matt a quick look. "In the morning... right?"

Matt grinned suddenly, sympathy chasing the frown off of his face. "Yeah. In the morning. We tracked down the Megaship about an hour ago," he added. "She's not spaceworthy, but no one suffered any permanent injuries. Ashley's working out in the zord bay right now, if you want to see for yourself."

Carlos shifted uncomfortably, disturbed that he hadn't thought to ask that first. "I'm sure she doesn't need me getting in her way," he muttered at last. He tried to ignore Matt's surprised look. "Thanks for letting me know."

"Matt!" The voice was as unfamiliar as it was exasperated, and it took Carlos a moment to identify its source.

A blonde-haired girl slid out from underneath what had been the comm console, and Carlos' mind obediently supplied the name "Jenna". "Has it occurred to you that updating this archaic system you're running might solve at least half your comm problems?" she asked, pushing her flyaway hair impatiently out of her face. "I don't mean to offend you, but Elisia gets hand-me-down equipment and even we're more modern than this!"

Carlos tried not to bristle, but Matt didn't even acknowledge it as an insult. "Sorry," he said wryly. "We use what's available."

"Modern comm equipment is just as vulnerable to attack," Saryn pointed out mildly. Across the room, he and one of his teammates were doing work that Carlos couldn't quite distinguish.

Jenna frowned over at him. "At least it's easier to repair!"

"You might as well go help her, Saryn." The girl Saryn was working with looked around him to grin at Jenna. "You know she's sabotaging the repairs on purpose so that we won't be able to contact Eltare."

"Shut up, Kris," Jenna retorted, a smile threatening to break through her irritation. "There's no way we're going to make those trade talks and you know it."

"And I can see you holding back tears of sadness."

"You look pretty upset yourself," Jenna told her. "Saryn, make us all happy and tell us the Eltarans will have to wait this year."

"Our delay is justified," Saryn agreed, looking up from the console as though he had been paying only the smallest amount of attention. "I will advise Tobin of the situation."

"No, stay," Cassie said, as he went to abandon his work. "I'll do it. Me and Lyris are just holding flashlights anyway." She passed her flashlight to the Blue Elisian Ranger, and Saryn favored her with a smile.

Carlos watched her vanish into the white glow of teleportation, and he couldn't help asking, "Does she have that kind of authority?" It probably wasn't the most politic thing he could have said, and he saw Matt glance his way as soon as he said it. But she wasn't even a Ranger, and Dimitria had always been pretty strict about who was and was not allowed to use Ranger equipment.

Even more interesting, though, was the response. Saryn said "yes" just as Jenna said "no", and Carlos didn't miss the annoyed look that Jenna's leader gave her for that. "Technically, no," Jenna insisted, looking more amused than anything.

"She's bonded to the leader of the Elisian Rangers," Lyris put in dryly. Carlos got the feeling that the Blue Ranger could say anything he wanted to, and he knew it. "That gives her all the authority she needs."

He could only assume that bonding was the Elisian equivalent of marriage. Curiosity piqued, he asked, "Is it always like that?"

"No!" Timmin's exclamation was immediate, and he gave Saryn a mock-frown. Only when Kris stuck her tongue out at him in return did Carlos realize that his remark had been directed at her instead of Saryn.

"Saryn makes it like that," Lyris told him with a conspiratorial grin. "If you want to keep the peace, you listen to Cassie the way you'd listen to Saryn."

"Would that it were that simple on our team," Aura murmured from somewhere nearby. Her eyes danced as he turned to look at her in surprise, and he was almost sure he heard Billy laugh aloud.

Not absolutely sure, though, because suddenly he was struck with the same sense of familiarity that he'd felt on seeing her a few minutes ago. Only this time he recognized it--recognized *her*, as the honest-to-goodness same person he'd met in the grid. How could he not have seen it before? Her voice, her confidence, her unashamed wry humor... somehow, the human Aura and the Aquitian Aura melded into one in that brief moment.

That was when he knew he was in trouble.

She must have seen something in his gaze--how could she not, with the way he was staring at her? She tilted her head as if to ask what he was thinking, and the fact that he knew that was what she meant only made him more uncertain. In the unsteady illumination of the Power Chamber, she was suddenly every bit as beautiful as she had been under the harsh desert sun... and he had no idea what to think.

He took a step back, vaguely aware that the conversation had continued around him. He thought Cetaci might have responded to Aura's comment, and Saryn, too, seemed less than comfortable with his team's teasing. But all he could think about right now was the need to get away before some even more disastrous realization struck, and he heard himself mutter something about going to check on Ashley after all.

The emerald curtain fell across his vision before anyone could question him, and he clenched his fists as the teleportation stream released him just inside the zord bay. Something soft dug into his palm and he glanced down, feeling reality twist around him once more.

Aura's bandanna was still wrapped tightly around his right hand. How could he not have noticed it before? How could it be there at all? *The grid wasn't real!* "It doesn't mean anything!" Aura had insisted.

*But it means something to me,* he repeated silently, staring down at his hand. Flexing his fingers again, he watched the red fabric wrinkle and stretch. "Do I fight this?" he whispered to himself. With a sigh, he answered his own question. "How can I?"

And yet... he lifted his gaze to the top of the cavernous zord bay, not really expecting to find answers there. All he had were more questions. "How can I *not*?" he asked the ruined bay helplessly.

15. Truth

The connection slipped, and she hissed in exasperation. She felt Andros shift behind her, and she paused long enough to glare over her shoulder. "You need to stop fidgeting," she informed him, doing her best to keep her voice calm.

"Do you want me to try?" he asked, her own impatience reflected in his eyes.

"No, I certainly *don't* want you to try." She stopped abruptly, trying to tell herself that he hadn't meant the offer to sound condescending. It was only her frustration that was making her snap. "I can do it. Just stop distracting me."

The words were out before she thought, and he gave her a wounded look. She sighed, knowing it wasn't *his* fault that his presence was driving her to distraction. Or maybe it was--he shouldn't have kissed her out in the desert; that had been completely unfair.

Now those few moments when his mouth had caressed hers were all she could think about whenever he was close, and unfortunately with his injuries Laura wouldn't let him help clear debris. So she was stuck with him while she tried to hotwire the bay doors. She wasn't sure which of them was being less effective, at this point.

"I'm sorry," she muttered reluctantly, turning back to the exposed control panel. "I'm just tired, that's all. I didn't mean to sound so... you know."

"It's all right." He sounded as though he might say something more, but he must have thought better of it. She tried to focus on the wiring again, pretending she wasn't aware of every movement he made at her side.

Finally, the routers began to cooperate and she twisted the new power coupler into place. It was a temporary fix at best, but it might let the doors open and close a few more times without major repair. She breathed a sigh of relief, almost bumping into Andros as she stepped back.

"Done?" he asked, steadying her with a hand on her arm.

Before she could even nod, her communicator came to life. There was no chime of a private transmission, just a general override signal from one of the other Rangers. She didn't have to acknowledge to hear Matt's voice tell them, "We've got the routing system back up. We're going to try to fire up the generator, so everyone who's working on control panels? Take a few long steps back. Thanks."

Andros gave her arm a gentle tug, and she moved a little farther from the control panel obediently. He didn't take his hand off of her arm, and the seconds while they stood there waiting seemed to stretch out. She didn't dare catch his eye, afraid she would see something she didn't know how to deal with in his expression... but she didn't pull away, either.

Then the lights came on, and power flooded into the zord bay as the generator came back online. She heard the subtle vibration through the walls, and her gaze went involuntarily toward the doors. The jury-rig had held--the bay doors were rumbling slowly open.

She heard Laura give a whoop of joy, and she laughed aloud. "Go Justin!" she shouted, lifting a triumphant fist into the air. Laura echoed her from the other side of the bay, and she heard TJ cheering too.

She turned to grin at Andros, delighted to see him smiling back--and then her breath caught as he pulled her into an impulsive hug. She laughed again, hugging him back, and his embrace tightened. He didn't let go, and it took her a moment to realize that she was clinging just as hard to him.

The oddest sense of déjà vu flickered through her. Could he really know something about the two of them that she didn't? Something whispered in her mind, some possessive instinct that she didn't fully recognize, and it urged her not to let this precious soul slip away from her.

She drew back and he let her, returning her wide-eyed stare with a wistful look of his own. "Did you feel that?" she whispered, searching his expression. For the first time, she wished she knew exactly what he had seen in his "vision".

He let go of her shoulder and lifted one hand to her face, touching her lips gently with one finger. He didn't shush her, as she had first expected, only ran his finger across her mouth. It was as though he hadn't even heard her.

His gaze lifted to hers again, and she held her breath. He leaned a little closer and her heart was pounding as she tilted her face toward his, inviting the kiss he so clearly yearned to share. She wanted to feel his mouth on hers again, too...

"Does someone want to tell me what the hell is going on here?" Carlos demanded.

She started, jerking away from Andros guiltily. Her heart raced as she tried somehow to draw a breath, eyes darting from one to the other and back again. She saw Laura in the periphery of her vision, hesitating by the nearest piece of debris, probably trying to decide whether she ought to get involved or not.

"I--It isn't what it looks like," she managed, hating the cliché even as she heard herself say it. "Really Carlos, I--"

"Great!" Carlos rolled his eyes heavenward, overriding her half-hearted attempt at explanation. "I'm glad it's not what it looks like, because that way I can tell myself that you didn't just have your arms around Stripey here--no offense, Andros--and you weren't just about to kiss him! It was all just a product of my overactive imagination! Thanks, Ash, I feel *so* much better knowing that 'it isn't what it *looks* like'!"

She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Her eyes stung and she blinked quickly, trying frantically to figure out what had just happened. She hadn't been thinking, but it hadn't *seemed* like she was doing anything wrong--how could she have done this to Carlos?

"Oh, don't cry," he said disgustedly. "I don't need this right now."

She lowered her head, feeling the tears spill out despite her best efforts and trying not to let him see. She felt Andros stiffen at her side, and he spoke while she tried to get herself under control. "You have every right to be upset," he told the Black Ranger, voice hard. "But you don't have a right to hurt someone else just because you're angry! What's wrong with you? Can't you see she's sorry?"

"What wrong with *me*?" Carlos exclaimed. "What the hell is wrong with *you*! You've been after her since you got here! Don't you people understand what 'taken' means?"

She swallowed, trying not to sniff as she rubbed at her eyes fiercely. From what she'd heard, Carlos wasn't as far from the truth as he probably thought. She wanted to defend Andros, but again he beat her to the reply.

"'My people' believe that trust is more important than possession," Andros said softly, his voice cold. "I'm in love with your girlfriend, and I'm sorry if I misinterpreted your cultural taboos somehow. I didn't realize it was up to you to decide whether she reciprocated or not."

Carlos' eyes narrowed, and he turned to Ashley. "Well?" It was a loaded question, and for the briefest instant she hated him for asking it.

Mercifully, Laura chose that moment to intervene. "Carlos, chill out," she said sternly, striding forward to force herself into the little group. "Angry words won't solve anything. Ashley, Matt needs you and Andros up in control to talk to NASADA. You'd better get moving."

Ashley swallowed again, not missing the way Carlos' dark eyes flashed as he turned on Laura. He knew perfectly well that Matt didn't need both of them, and for a moment she wasn't sure that Laura's easy calm would be able to work its usual magic.

But it did. Carlos bit back any retort that he might have made, settling for a glare that Laura, as always, didn't seem to notice. "Thanks for getting the doors open, Ash," she said, as though nothing was wrong. "Carlos, since you're here, TJ and I are going to need some help clearing the rest of the bay."

With a tilt of her head, she gestured for him to follow her. Technically, Laura outranked both of them, but Ashley knew that wasn't why he obeyed. Laura had grown up on the reservation, and she had an odd sort of knowing about her sometimes... whatever it was, she didn't speak unless she had something to say. The entire team listened when she did.

Ashley scrubbed at her eyes once more and took a deep breath, turning toward the back of the bay and the lift. She heard Andros fall into step beside her, but she refused to look at him. They made their way across the zord bay without a word, and she tried not to sniff more than once.

The lift was waiting when they reached it, and she leaned back against the inside wall as the doors closed behind them. As it hummed to life, Andros finally stirred. "Ashley," he said, a little uncertainly. "I'm really sorry about... that."

She folded her arms defensively, still not looking at him. "It wasn't your fault," she muttered.

"Yes it was," he said. He sounded almost introspective, rather than insistent, and it was enough to turn her head a little. "Carlos was right. I haven't been able to think about anything but you since I met you. I'm sorry if I... if I got carried away."

She lifted her gaze to his at that, but he was staring down at the floor. "It isn't--" She stopped, frustrated by her inability to explain anything today. She reached out and hit the "lift stop" button, startling him into catching her eye.

"It isn't what?" he asked, a silent moment later.

She hugged her arms a little closer to her. "It's just--you're so sure!" she burst out, staring back at him. "We only met yesterday! How can you say that you... that you *love* me?"

He lowered his eyes briefly, and for a moment she wasn't sure which of them was more embarrassed. But his gaze was steady when it met hers again, and he admitted, "I wish I knew what to tell you, but I don't. I meant it when I told Carlos that I'm in love with you. But I don't know how or why."

He paused, then added, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world, "Except that you're so kind and friendly and beautiful that I can't figure out how anyone could *not* love you."

She looked away, feeling tears fill her eyes again as she tried to not smile. "It's not that I don't..." She cleared her throat, trying again. "I mean, it's really... *nice* of you, to say that, but..."

"It's true," he said quietly. "You don't have to feel the same way, but don't think I'm just saying it. I *know* it's strange, but I've never been so convinced of anything."

She gave him a quick look, the words tumbling out before she could stop them. "Even Zhane?"

He returned her gaze with a measured look of his own. "Does it matter?"

She shook her head, confused. "I--I don't know," she mumbled, averting her eyes. Did it matter? Why was it important to know whether or not she came before Zhane?

He reached out to touch her shoulder gently. "I love you more than Zhane?" he said, turning the quiet statement into a question. "Is that what you want to hear?"

"No," she said in a small voice. But her heart said "yes" and her mind cried, *I don't know!*

"Good," he said softly. "Because you can't measure something like that. But am I more convinced that you and I are meant to be than I am of me and Zhane?" He hesitated, touching her chin lightly to make her look at him. His gaze locked with hers and he looked like he was admitting something he shouldn't when he whispered, "Yes."

She pulled away, reaching blindly for the wall. Her fingers found the button and the lift started upward once more. "You're so sure," she muttered again, doing her best not to look at him. She blinked rapidly, trying to keep her expression under control. "I just don't--I can't *think*, Andros!"

The lift doors slid open, and the thought that everyone might have heard that brought her to the edge of tears again. But she told herself it was just the sleepless night getting to her, and she stepped out of the lift determinedly. "Laura said you wanted to see us," she told Matt, glad when her voice didn't shake.

Matt gave her a long look, making her acutely conscious of her tear-stained cheeks and too-bright eyes. His gaze flicked over her shoulder to Andros, but he didn't say anything. He didn't have to.

"Yeah," he said at last. He nodded to his right, and for the first time Ashley was aware Dimitria's presence. "I need you to try and pin down the Megaship's coordinates, and Dimitria'd like to hear about Andros' part of the 'vision', if he doesn't mind."

"I do mind," Andros interrupted, surprising her. "I'd rather not talk about it anymore, actually."

Ashley blinked, shooting a quick glance at the League ambassador. Dimitria didn't reply, merely nodded in acceptance of his refusal and turned back to Saryn, apparently continuing a conversation Ashley hadn't noticed upon arrival. "Did she just get back?" she murmured to Matt.

He nodded. "A few minutes ago," he answered, in the same low tone. "She heard about the distress signal and came back as soon as she could. She's pretty curious about this vision thing."

Matt's eyes slid suddenly past her, and she glanced over in time to see Andros moving toward the lift. "I'm going to check on the others," he said, by way of explanation. "I'll be in Medical."

The lift swallowed him up, and she found Matt watching her carefully. She didn't know what Laura had told him, but he obviously wasn't going to be the one to bring it up. She turned pleading eyes on him, knowing she had to tell someone before it made her completely crazy. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

16. Just Friends

"Andros." Kaeth pulled a chair away from the wall and dropped into it, joining his contemplation of a nearly silent Medical. "Still with us?"

Andros nodded wordlessly.

"Zhane's going to be all right," Kaeth offered, his voice a little quieter.

Andros lowered his gaze to the nearest patient bed, where his friend had fallen asleep almost as soon as Laura and the others left. Kerone had crawled onto the narrow bed with him, managing to curl up in the crook of his arm with one hand resting lightly on his chest. She, too, was fast asleep.

He managed a slight smile. "I know," he said at last, turning to look at his teammate. "What's going on?"

"Saryn's offered to take us out to the Megaship." Kaeth gave the scene in Medical a wry glance before adding, "You and I, at least. He thinks we can siphon enough power from the Delta Sun to get the generators going again, and most of his team's volunteered to help."

"How are the others?" Andros wanted to know, trying to call to mind exactly how long he'd been down here.

Kaeth leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees as he considered. "The Earth Rangers have power again, but you knew that. They managed to clear enough space in the zord bay for the Aquitians to bring their megazord in out of the sun. They can't work on it out there, you know; too dry." He shrugged. "Damage control seems to be running pretty smoothly so far."

From what Andros had heard of the Red Elisian Ranger, "smooth" probably wasn't much of a challenge. "Saryn's just itching for some new problem to solve, huh?"

Kaeth chuckled. "No doubt. Although I think he may be just as glad to get some of his people out of the command center."

"Really?" Andros asked, surprised. "Why?"

"Kris and Matt can't stop snipping at each other." Kaeth seemed to find the situation amusing. "Something about authority, or jurisdiction, or both; I'm not sure. And Ambassador Dimitria seems to have taken a strange dislike to Saryn's girlfriend."

Andros frowned. "No idea why?"

Kaeth shook his head. "She's not a Ranger, she's applied for Elisian citizenship, she has black hair; I don't know. It's nothing that's obvious to me, at least."

"Strange." He used Kaeth's word reflexively, glancing around Medical once more. "But if they're willing to help, I'll take it. I'll be up to the command center in a moment."

Kaeth stood, not questioning his unspoken wish for a little more solitude. The other Ranger moved toward the door, but Andros heard his tread pause briefly in the entrance. He looked up, and found Kaeth's gaze lingering on Kerone and Zhane.

"Andros," Kaeth said slowly. "Do you..."

He trailed off, and Andros followed his gaze involuntarily. He knew what the other boy meant. This wasn't the first time he'd seen his sister and his friend so comfortably intimate, and it was scenes like this that had made him think something more than friendship might be developing between them. They had always been like this, but it didn't mean at seventeen what it did at ten.

"Should I be reading anything into that?" Kaeth asked at last, giving up on disguising the question.

Andros hesitated. He knew it wasn't an opinion that Kaeth wanted so much as reassurance, from the person he assumed was closest to Zhane. But he couldn't offer anything more than the truth. "I don't know," he said honestly. "Zhane told me 'no', when I asked him the same thing."

Kaeth looked at him with a mixture of surprise and consternation. "You don't believe him?"

"I believe that he believes it," Andros said quietly. "If that's any help."

"Not really." Kaeth looked troubled. "I thought I was just being paranoid."

Andros didn't tell the other that he had tried to think the same thing, albeit for different reasons. He had been upset because he'd thought Zhane wasn't telling him something, but still, he knew the feeling Kaeth was struggling with.

"Zhane wouldn't ask anyone to be exclusive," he offered, feeling somehow guilty for speaking for his friend in this.

Kaeth caught his eye and held it. "I would," he said simply.

Andros nodded, understanding.

When he didn't say anything else, Kaeth nodded too. "I'll talk to her," he said abruptly, turning back to the door. "Thanks, Andros."

"You're welcome," Andros murmured, watching him go. He couldn't help feeling that he'd just betrayed both his sister and his best friend.

With a sigh, he glanced over at them. Neither had moved, and his gaze slid past them to Leigh and Rill. Both were sleeping, Rill with her head pillowed on her arms as she leaned against Leigh's patient bed.

He touched the comm screen, trying not to glance over his shoulder again. As Ambassador Dimitria's image appeared in front of him, he remembered what Kaeth had said about her dislike of Cassie. She might not be overly thrilled with this request, either...

"Andros," Dimitria greeted him calmly. There was the faintest hint of a question in her greeting, and he took a deep breath.

"I need to ask a personal favor," he said, keeping his voice quiet. "I'll understand if you can't or won't grant it."

She inclined her head, clearly waiting.

He looked down, trusting her to have already made the conversation private. "You asked what I saw in my vision," he told the countertop. "I can't tell you, because I don't really know. But I know it was dangerous."

He lifted his eyes to the screen again and found her waiting patiently for him to continue. "Ashley--the one in the other dimension--was hurt. Or at least, I thought she was. I didn't know, but I was afraid... I remember being afraid that she was dead." He swallowed, hoping he hadn't winced too noticeably at the word. "Is there any way that... you could find out for me?"

Dimitria seemed to consider that for a moment. He didn't know a lot about interdimensional beings. They were few, and they tended to be somewhat secretive about their abilities. But he knew that they could travel between dimensions with very little effort, and this didn't seem a trivial cause.

"Your concern does you credit," Dimitria said at last. "The Ashley from the dimension you saw is quite alive."

He blinked. "You know? Just like that?"

She smiled a little. "She was one of my Rangers in that dimension as well, although our time together was shorter than it has been here. I have been keeping an eye on her."

"She's alive," Andros repeated to himself, feeling an overwhelming sense of relief. Some of the stress of the last few days faded a little. "You couldn't--show her to me, could you?"

Dimitria distinctly hesitated. He didn't really expect her to agree; he wasn't even sure she could do it. But to his surprise, the comm screen flickered, and an image of the Megaship's Bridge appeared. He blinked as he saw himself, sitting sullenly in the pilot's chair with his sister's locket dangling from his fingers.

*I don't really look like that, do I?* he wondered. Then the thought vanished as he saw Ashley appear behind his double. She was dressed in, of all things, a Kerovan Ranger uniform, and the affectionate expression on her face made him long to trade places with the boy on the other Megaship. She dropped her hands to his shoulders, wrapping him in a hug just before the image vanished again.

"Lucky," he whispered to himself, wondering if his double had any idea how fortunate he was. How could anyone look so unhappy with Ashley's arms around him?

Dimitria was gazing silently at him, and he roused himself. "Thank you, Ambassador. That means a lot to me."

"You're welcome, Andros," she said gently. "Do you intend to accept Saryn's offer?"

He nodded, pushing himself to his feet. "Yes. I'll be right there."

Her image disappeared from the screen, and he paused in the doorway to regard his teammates. Ashley's Kerovan uniform came to mind again, and he frowned a little. What *had* happened to his friends in that other dimension? What had happened to Zhane?

For just a moment, he saw his double's troubled expression in a new light. Reluctantly, he thought, *Maybe not so lucky after all...*

His arm was starting to hurt where it curled around Kerone, and he tried to shift subtly enough that he wouldn't disturb her. She lifted her head as soon as he moved, and he found himself staring into a pair of perfectly awake hazel eyes. "Good morning," she murmured. "Or is it, still?"

He offered a one-shouldered shrug. "Beats me," he admitted, wondering how much of that conversation she had heard. "Hey, have you seen my right hand? Because I can't feel it."

She giggled, pushing herself up on one elbow. "You make a good pillow."

"There it is!" He made a show of picking up his right hand with his left, waving it limply at her. "Look, it still works!"

Her giggles turned to laughter, and she sat the rest of the way up. He followed suit as she took his hand in both of hers, rubbing it briskly. He winced as a prickling sensation returned to his skin. "Oh, ow," he muttered, clenching his fingers involuntarily and resisting the temptation to shake his hand free of her grasp.

"Baby," she teased. Raising his hand to her mouth, she kissed his fingers gently. "Better now?"

He lifted his gaze to hers, and her smile faded at the look on his face. "Did you hear them?" he asked quietly.

She tilted her head, looking for all the world as though she didn't know what he was talking about. "Andros and Dimitria?"

"Andros and Kaeth," he corrected, watching for some flicker of understanding.

For a moment, none was forthcoming. Then, suddenly, she looked down at their clasped hands and shrugged uncomfortably. "Yes," she said in a small voice.

"And?" he prompted, when she said nothing else. *He* certainly didn't know what to say.

She looked up at him from under her eyelashes. "Kaeth's going to be mad at you now," she said, her voice still oddly childlike. "I'm sorry about that."

"Forget Kaeth." He stared at her intently, trying to see past her expression. "Remember when we were... practicing?"

She nodded hesitantly. Neither of them said anything for a long moment, and then, slowly, she lifted her hand. Her eyes wandered across his face, tracing a path that her fingers followed lightly. She was just barely touching his skin, and before he realized it he was leaning into the caress.

She tilted her head to the side, and he had a moment to wonder if she was going to let him kiss her. Then her mouth brushed his, and he closed his eyes. She kissed him again, just as softly, and he held absolutely still, afraid that if he moved at all she would pull away.

When she did, he couldn't help a rush of disappointment. He found her gazing back at him when he opened his eyes, and she whispered, "It was never Kaeth I was kissing."

He couldn't say it had never crossed his mind. They had kissed a hundred times before, sometimes in fun, sometimes for practice, and it hadn't escaped his notice that she had grown up to be the most beautiful girl he knew. But they had known each other for longer than he could remember, and she was Andros' *sister*...

"Why didn't you say something?" he murmured.

She sighed. "Because it was so perfect! I could say anything, do anything with you, and I knew that if I told you things would change."

"Maybe," he said slowly, remembering Andros' words. "I believe that *he* believes it." *He knows me better than I do,* he thought, amused. Hadn't that always been the way... "Maybe not."

She gave him that under the eyelashes look again, and he didn't miss the hope that flickered across her face. He had to smile, and her lips started to curve in a delighted grin of her own. Then she pounced on him, kissing him hard enough to make his senses scream as her hair fell in his face and her fingers ran across his skin.

He put his arms around her blindly, feeling her giggle as she pushed him backward. "Do you love me, Zhane?" she whispered, her breathless expression only inches from his as she gazed down at him.

He could only nod, sliding his hand around behind her head and pulling her close enough to kiss again. When she tried to turn her head away, he rested his forehead against hers and breathed, "I've always loved you. It's funny that it took Kaeth to make me see it."

Her arms trembled a little, braced on either side of him. "Did it?"

He slid his hands up her sides, coming to rest under her arms so that he was half holding her up. "He doesn't appreciate you," he said softly. "Not enough. You weren't even going out until yesterday, and already he wants you to give up everyone else in your life. But for Andros it's enough just to know that somewhere Ashley's alive and happy, whether it's on the Megaship or here on Earth. That's a different kind of love."

Kerone bit her lip, giving her hair a token toss over her shoulder. It promptly slid forward again, and he let go of her with one hand to smooth it back. "Do you want me to be happy, Zhane?" she asked quietly.

He smiled up at her, seeing her flushed cheeks and sincere expression for the first time. She was looking at *him* now, and it was a wonderful feeling. "More than anything."

That beautiful smile graced her features again. "Then kiss me," she murmured, leaning down and covering his mouth with hers.

He did, more than a little awed by the feeling as her slight body pressed against his. It wasn't the first time they had been so close, but it was the first time he had let himself give into the sensation. It was the first time he had felt her fingers clench on his t-shirt, or seen her eyes without a hint of laughter in them as she kissed him...

He didn't know how long they might have held on that first time they were allowed to lose themselves in each other if it hadn't been for a gentle cough from somewhere nearby. Kerone rolled off of him immediately, looking charmingly tousled as she struggled to sit up. He reached out to catch her when she almost lost her balance, and from a couple of patient beds down, Rill chuckled.

"I didn't mean to ruin the moment," she said quietly, her chin propped on her hand as she watched them. "But some of us are trying to sleep here."

He shot her a sheepish grin, and he felt Kerone squirm. "Rill..." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her bite her lip. "Let me tell Andros, okay?"

"You may not have to," Rill said with a smile. "But I will, of course."

"'Us'," Zhane corrected, looking over at Kerone. "Let *us* tell Andros. You're not telling him without me there."

She poked him in the shoulder. "You should talk! You can't tell him without me, either. Promise!"

He wrapped an arm around her waist and she leaned back against him, tilting her head back to rest on his shoulder. She was almost looking at him upside-down, and he grinned at her insistent expression. "I promise," he agreed, kissing her temple lightly. Across the room, he saw Rill smiling again as she laid her head back down on her arms.

17. All I Am

"Before you leave." Dimitria's voice stopped them before they could teleport out of the Power Chamber. "Saryn, Cassie, Andros... and Ashley, for this concerns you as well."

"Yes, Ambassador?" Saryn sounded mildly impatient when the interdimensional being paused, and she couldn't blame him. Andros had taken his time about joining them, and it was his megazord they were supposed to be getting off the ground. Now Dimitria seemed intent on delaying them as well.

"Several days ago," she began carefully, "you all experienced something--very unusual."

Cassie tried not to roll her eyes. *Thanks for letting us know,* she thought wryly. *We hadn't figured that out. What would we do without people like you?* Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Saryn give her an amused glance.

"While your defense of this planet has nonetheless been exemplary," Dimitria continued, "it is clear to me that you are still somewhat disturbed by this incident."

Cassie frowned slightly. This time she made no attempt to hide the questioning look she gave Saryn, and he shrugged overtly. *Didn't bother me,* his expression seemed to say, and she could only agree.

"This glimpse of an alternate reality was outside of your own timestream," Dimitria reminded them, as though they might not have deduced that on their own. "Thus I feel obligated to offer you the chance to forget that it ever occurred. You have your own lives to live, and you have the right to do it without interference from--"

"No." Saryn didn't wait for Dimitria to finish, and she could feel him tensing at her side. "We keep our memories, Dimitria. This is not a matter for discussion."

She squeezed his hand warningly, not missing the lack of the honorific when he addressed the ambassador this time. Dimitria wouldn't dare go into any of their minds without permission; he knew that.

"I respect your reluctance," Dimitria said calmly. "And I will, of course, honor your wishes. However, what I suggest is merely an acceleration of the process that will occur naturally with time. You would remember that something had happened. It would only be the details that were lost more quickly than is usual, as though you were looking back at this incident from some years in the future."

Saryn's fingers were tight on hers, but his voice was more controlled when he spoke again. "My answer stands," he told her. "All I have are my memories, Ambassador. They're all I am."

Dimitria's eyes slid to her, and she shook her head. "I don't want to forget," she said firmly. "If anything, I want to know more."

"It is a curiosity you will have to live with for as long as you remember," Dimitria warned her.

"I know that," she said. She couldn't tell if she was picking up on Saryn's irritability or feeling her own, but the ambassador suddenly seemed far too smug for her own good. "That's what makes me *me*. I'm not going to shove it under the rug just because it's uncomfortable sometimes."

"Very well." Dimitria's attention shifted, and Cassie took the opportunity to glance over her shoulder.

The rest of the team had flanked them in preparation for teleporting, and Timmin was right behind her. She returned the smile he flashed in her direction, but the faraway look in Lyris' eyes distracted her. Saryn was impassive enough that it was hard to tell what he was thinking about, but when Lyris was sensing it showed in his expression. And there was only one other empath in the vicinity...

"And you, Andros?" Dimitria was asking as she looked back at Saryn. To her surprise, his gaze was steady on hers. When she looked at Lyris again he was watching the Kerovan leader curiously, as though he had nothing better to do than wonder how Andros felt about his part of the "vision".

"No."

That was all Andros said, and Dimitria seemed surprised. "You wish to remember?"

Andros nodded once. "I do."

Dimitria studied him for a moment. "May I ask why?" she asked at last.

It was an unnecessarily personal question, but Andros only shrugged. "If you want to."

Cassie bit her lip to keep from giggling. *That was a good answer,* she thought, watching for Dimitria's reaction. The ambassador didn't look at all amused, which only made it that much more funny. In fact, she said nothing, clearly expecting Andros to back down and offer an explanation without making her repeat the question.

He didn't.

Finally, her usual veil of serenity wearing a little thinner than usual, she inquired, "Why?"

Andros looked her square in the eye. "Because."

Dimitria didn't deign to answer that, and Cassie grinned at Andros' obstinance. When he wasn't busy being smitten with Ashley, he was actually rather strong-willed. *Not like anyone else I know,* she thought, unbidden. Saryn's hand tightened on hers, and she smiled to herself.

"I didn't see anything," Ashley said, before Dimitria could say something to her. "I don't know why you mentioned me. You should be asking TJ."

"I will," Dimitria informed her. "However, you deserve the same consideration. Whether you saw anything or not, you have a good deal of knowledge pertaining to this other dimension, much of which affects you personally. Do you wish to retain it?"

Ashley was the first one to hesitate. Her gaze slid away from Dimitria, down to the floor, across the burned out control panels, and finally, reluctantly, came to rest on Andros. He looked steadily back at her, not moving.

"The decision is yours alone," Dimitria reminded her.

She didn't look away from Andros. "I think," Ashley said slowly, "that Saryn was right."

Cassie blinked. That wasn't exactly what she had expected the other girl to say.

"All I am is what I know. And--what I feel," Ashley added more quietly. "If I can't trust that... well, then, forgetting isn't going to change anything, is it." She didn't take her eyes off of Andros.

Dimitria inclined her head. "As you wish." She didn't seem particularly upset that her offer of "help" had been refused, though Cassie doubted she'd get any different response from TJ. TJ Carter seemed positively enthused by the recent turn of events.

"How did you know where I was?"

Carlos paused outside one of the secondary cockpits in the Aquitian megazord. TJ's voice emanated from the inside, where he was apparently talking to himself. He must have gotten separated from whomever he was working with. Before Carlos could poke his head in and make sure everything was all right, though, a reply to TJ's question made him freeze.

"That is not important," Dimitria's voice replied, sounding more distant than usual over the Aquitian comm system. "I wish to make you the same offer I have just made to the others who were given a glimpse of the alternate reality."

"The vision," TJ said, though whether he was correcting her or just clarifying for himself, it was hard to tell.

"The vision," Dimitria agreed. "If you wish to forget what you saw, it is within my ability to make sure the details fade from your mind."

There was a brief pause, and Carlos wished he could see TJ's expression.

"Why on Earth would I want to forget?" TJ asked at last. He sounded as though he thought Dimitria might have completely lost her mind. "This is one of the coolest things that's ever happened to me!"

Carlos couldn't quite stifle a laugh, and he heard movement from inside.

"Is someone there?" TJ's voice asked.

"Yeah," Carlos admitted, stepping through the doorway. "I heard you talking and I thought you might have gotten lost. Sorry for listening in."

TJ shrugged. "Fine by me. Billy sent me to get this--" He held up a pyramidal device gingerly, as though it might do something unexpected at any moment. "Whatever it is. I was on my way out when Dimitria here appeared on that screen thing."

Carlos nodded to her in acknowledgement, and she considered him for a moment. "Carlos..."

"Don't even ask," he said firmly. "I don't have anything I want to forget."

There was the faintest hint of a smile in her voice when she replied. "I understand."

"Hey, Dimitria," he said, as a thought occurred to him. "What did the others say, when you asked them?"

"They reacted with varying degrees of vehemence," she replied thoughtfully. "But ultimately they all came to the same conclusion that you did."

"Thought so." As an afterthought, he added, "Thanks though, Dimitria."

She nodded once. "You're welcome."

The screen darkened once more, and he looked over at TJ. "So how are you holding up?"

TJ offered a lopsided grin. "I'm going to need some sleep, eventually," he admitted. "But I think I have enough adrenaline to last me, oh... a couple more days, at least."

Carlos laughed. "That sounds about right," he agreed. "Hey, you haven't seen Aura, have you?"

TJ gave him a pained look. "Which one is she, again?"

"The Red Ranger."

TJ shook his head. "Sorry. The Yellow Ranger's upstairs with Billy--"

"Cestria," Carlos murmured.

"Yeah." TJ looked at him oddly. "How do you do that, anyway? I'm just lucky everyone wears color-coded shirts. At least that way I can say a color and someone else fills in the name for me. But you and Laura... how do you remember everyone?"

"Hold out your hand," Carlos told him, pulling his communicator off. He wasn't really sure why he was doing this, except that there was just something about TJ that he liked. He fastened his communicator around TJ's wrist and put his key into the boy's other hand. "Put them together."

TJ stared at the morpher in his hand, and then at Carlos. "Are you crazy?"

"Probably. Put them together."

Awkwardly, TJ did as he was told. He fumbled with the key a little, but eventually it clicked into place and a bright emerald glow filled the cockpit. It was disconcerting to see the Green Ranger looking back at him, and Carlos had to grin. "Now that's wild."

"That's one word for it." TJ looked down at his hands, as though he couldn't quite believe what had just happened. "Wow."

"Aura," Carlos said. "Cestria. Billy. Delphinius and Cetaci. Andros, Kerone, Rill, Leigh, Kaeth. Saryn, Kris, Lyris, Timmin, Jenna. And Cassie, and Zhane, Matt, Laura, Ashley, and Justin."

TJ just looked at him.

"Repeat them back to me," Carlos said.

"Yeah, right."

His lips quirked. "I'm serious."

TJ sighed. "Aura, Cestria, Billy, Delphinius, Cetaci, Andros, Kerone--" He broke off. "Whoa!"

"Keep going," Carlos told him, grinning outright.

"Rill, Leigh, Kaeth, Saryn, Kris, Lyris, Timmin, Jenna, Cassie, Zhane, Matt, Laura, Ashley, Justin." TJ shook his head incredulously. "That's insane! The Power does that?"

Carlos nodded. "It enhances physical and cognitive abilities even when we're not morphed. That's why we have to wear our colors all the time--I'm sure you've heard of color withdrawal."

"Yeah..." TJ tilted his head. "Once or twice. Sounded like a drug addiction, to be honest."

Carlos shrugged, amused that someone had finally said it aloud. "It is. I mean, it doesn't hurt you, and you don't have to keep upping the dosage, but yeah, we're pretty much addicted to the Power." He paused suddenly, then added, "Don't quote me on that, though, okay?"

TJ laughed. "I won't. So--" He glanced down. "How do I get out of this?"

"You've seen us on TV." Carlos folded his arms. "Try it yourself."

TJ looked up at him again. "You're not serious."

"Completely," Carlos said, making no attempt to hide his amusement.

With a sigh, TJ crossed his arms over his chest. The Power made the movement more graceful than it probably felt as he flung them out to the side, uttering the words "Power down" somewhat uncertainly. The Ranger uniform vanished.

"Wow," he repeated, staring at his hands again. "That's the craziest thing I've ever seen! Hey--" He gave Carlos a worried look. "Where's your key?"

Carlos reached into his pocket and pulled it out, holding it up so TJ could see it. "It wasn't used to you, so it came back to me when you demorphed."

TJ eyed him skeptically. "It wasn't used to me?"

Carlos sighed. "The Power's a little bit temperamental. Sometimes you can pass it off, sometimes you can't. If it hadn't liked you, you wouldn't have been able to morph at all."

TJ didn't look any less skeptical. "Really."

"Really. I could give my morpher to anyone, but not everyone could use it like you just did. It's kind of picky. And like I said, it gets moody sometimes. The Turbo powers have a history of not liking water..." He caught sight of TJ's expression and shrugged, smiling a little. "Maybe you'll just have to trust me."

"I'm not even sure whether to believe you or not," TJ admitted, handing him back his communicator. "But I guess that's part of the mystique of the Power Rangers."

"Or something," Carlos muttered under his breath. Catching TJ's eye again, he added, "I'm not sure 'mystique' is the word I would have chosen."

TJ shrugged. "You know what I mean. I suppose I'd better get this--whatever--to Billy."

"Right." Carlos fastened his communicator around his wrist, stepping out of the way so TJ could step around him. "Good luck."

"Thanks. And Carlos--" TJ hesitated in the doorway. "Thanks for the chance to be a Power Ranger, man."

Carlos grinned. "No problem."

TJ headed out of the cockpit. Almost immediately an exclamation reached Carlos' ears, and he turned. TJ had one hand on the ladder outside the cockpit, but he was gazing to one side. "Carlos was looking for you," he said, glancing over his shoulder.

He felt his heart starting to pound, and he tried to ignore it. He knew who had to be standing there, just out of his sight, and he could only wonder how long she'd been there. "Hey, Aura," he said, leaning back against the console with a casualness he didn't feel.

TJ looked from one to the other as she stepped into the doorway, folding her arms and staring back at Carlos. "Right," TJ said, to no one in particular. "Well, I'll see you later."

Neither of them said anything until he was gone. Aura just stood there, regarding him with that inscrutable Aquitian stare, and he wondered what she was seeing. He had thought everything would be easier once they were out of the grid, but somehow it only seemed more confusing.

"You got your key back," she said at last.

He glanced down automatically. "Yeah," he said awkwardly, stuffing it back into his pocket. "I guess I did. Thanks."

"I did not do anything," she pointed out. "It must have returned to you on its own, as you told TJ it could."

He raised an eyebrow. "How much of that did you hear?"

"Not knowing how long you spoke," she said calmly, "I can not say with any accuracy what percentage of your interaction I overheard."

"Right," he said, a little suspiciously. "Well--I still have your bandana. Here."

He held it out to her, and she looked at it as though she had never seen it before. "Is that mine?"

"You gave it to me," he replied, puzzled. "In the grid."

She made no move to take it back. "Did I?"

He sighed. "Never mind. Is there... is there something I can do for you?"

"What did you have in mind?"

"It's just an expression." Was it possible she was being this difficult on purpose? "I was just wondering if you were here for a particular reason."

"This is my zord," she pointed out. "And TJ said you were looking for me."

Damn. She had him there. "Yeah, well... maybe I just wanted to see how you were. I'd better get back to work. Sorry to disturb you."

"Carlos..." The uncertainty in her voice was the first sign of emotion he'd heard from her since she arrived, and it made him hesitate. She sighed a little, searching his expression with a gaze that was anything but inscrutable. "I am not what you expected, outside of the grid."

He shrugged helplessly. "To be honest... I didn't know what to expect." He didn't know what else to say, so he didn't try.

"I did not, either." The struggle was clear in her eyes, and he couldn't seem to look away. "You said--you told Dimitria that there was nothing you wished to forget."

A wry smile tugged at his lips. "You must have been right behind me."

She swallowed visibly. "I was... nearby, when Canthris told me you were here."

"Canthris?" he repeated, surprised by the strange name.

She lifted a hand and gestured idly, her eyes still on his. "My zord."

"Oh." He managed to tear his gaze away long enough to give the cockpit a token glance. "Hi, Canthris."

To his surprise, Aura was smiling slightly when he looked back at her. "She greets you. She does not greet everyone."

He supposed it was foolish to be happy about that, but he found himself smiling back. "I'm honored. You have a good pilot, Canthris."

He was looking at Aura when he said it, and her gaze flickered subtly the moment after he spoke. She glanced down, and he had to ask, "What? Did she say something?"

Aura shook her head quickly, meeting his gaze only for a moment before she looked away again. "Nothing of importance."

"Oh, come on." His smile widened when she shook her head again. "You're embarrassed, aren't you."

"She's just teasing me," she muttered.

"Save us," Carlos said with a grin. "A zord that teases its pilot. That must be a nightmare. And I thought Desert Thunder was bad with the auto-steering thing."

"If yours doesn't talk back, you should consider yourself lucky," Aura informed him.

Then the slightest hint of a smirk crossed her face, and he felt compelled to ask, "What did she say?"

"She didn't like that," she answered distractedly. "She says..." Aura paused, and her tone was miffed as she continued, "She says the degree of zord input is indirectly proportional to the skill of the pilot."

It took him a minute to work that one out. "The more the zord speaks, the less skilled the pilot is?" He raised an eyebrow at the front of the cockpit. "So you're saying you're a bad influence on your pilot, Canthris?"

Aura actually giggled, and the sound made him feel warm inside. "She says--"

"Is there any way I can hear her too?" he interrupted.

Aura paused, then shook her head slowly. "She says she has already tried to speak to you. You do not hear her."

"No psi-sense?" he guessed, remembering her earlier words. "Like Billy?"

She held out her hand hesitantly. "If you wish... some Aquitians are touch telepaths. I might be able to make you hear her."

He raised an eyebrow, trying not to remember how many times he had thought about the way she looked in the past few minutes. "You wouldn't know what I was thinking--would you?"

She shook her head, and he shrugged. "Okay." He reached out to take her hand, not without trepidation, but curious enough to ignore it.

His sudden movement seemed to startle her, and she drew back just as his fingers touched hers. "Not--" She stopped herself, then reached out again, taking his wrist gently.

He gave her an odd look. "No holding hands? Is that too undignified?"

"It's not..." She didn't take her eyes off of his wrist. "That is how we--Billy compares it to kissing."

She wouldn't meet his gaze, but neither did she pull away when he twisted his wrist free and drew his hand back a little, letting his palm rest against hers. "Like this?" he asked quietly. "This is like kissing?"

She nodded once.

"Show me," he whispered, taking her hand in his and turning it over.

She lifted her hand out of his, and for a moment he thought she was going to step back. But after a moment of hesitation, she touched his fingertips with two of hers, stroking his skin gently from the tips of his fingers downward. She didn't touch his palm right away, but when she did, his eyes widened.

He stared down at their hands, startled to feel his skin tingling. Her fingers pushed a little harder against his palm as she made small circles through the valley of his hand, and he found himself pressing his hand closer to hers. "Damn," he breathed, fingers trembling slightly. He thought he saw her smile, but he couldn't be sure.

Without a second thought, he reached out and tapped her chin with his free hand. She finally looked up, not letting go of his hand, and he leaned down to kiss her gently. Her mouth was warm and yielding when he kissed her again, reveling in a feeling that the grid had made almost familiar.

He kept his kisses soft, remembering the way her fingers had just brushed his at first, but he didn't let up, either. She tilted her head toward him, not seeming surprised when his tongue touched her lips. He moved a little closer, still very aware of her fingers intertwined with his--

And was completely unprepared when a strange voice remarked, *Undignified, indeed.* He started, recognizing the amusement in the voice only after he had pulled away from Aura. He glanced quickly around the cockpit, but there was no one there.

Aura sighed irritably. "Isn't there a subroutine you should be running somewhere, Canthris?"

Hand still in hers, he heard the answer clearly. *I'm currently running twenty-three separate subroutines, twenty-one of which are unrelated to you. Observing you is occupying only nine percent of my processing capability.*

"Do you know how much capability I wish it was occupying?" Aura inquired.

*I think I can guess, yes,* Canthris replied.

"Zero," Aura told her anyway. "Now go away."

There was a pause, and as the silence started to stretch out, Carlos wondered if the zord's computer had complied. Finally, he ventured, "That was Canthris?"

"That was Canthris," Aura agreed with a sigh. "However, if we talk about her, she will only feel obliged to rejoin the conversation, and... I was hoping to ask you something."

That got his attention. "What's that?"

"What you told Dimitria earlier," she said, looking down at their joined hands. "About you not having anything you wanted to forget. Did you--did you mean that?"

He remembered the way she had looked in the morphin grid, with the sunlight dancing on her bare skin and hair. He remembered her wild kiss on top of the caves, so different from the way she barely responded to his kiss now. He remembered that moment of recognition in the Power Chamber, afterwards, and he remembered her giggling when he had teased Canthris just now in her defense. He remembered the way her fingers evoked something in him that he had thought came only from a kiss...

And he remembered Ashley. He saw again that moment in the zord bay with her and Andros, his certainty that they had been about to kiss, and his anger that it could be so easy for them when he was struggling just to *know* what he was feeling, let alone understand it. He remembered shouting at her, venting his own frustration and guilt at not being completely loyal in the most hurtful way he could imagine. He had some serious apologizing to do there.

Yet still, he couldn't even conceive of trying to forget the last few days. He had learned so much... and if he had things to make amends for, well, then that would be hard to do if he didn't remember them, wouldn't it?

"Yes," he said with conviction. "I meant it. I never want to forget *any* of this."

She smiled a little, a charming look in her eyes as she regarded him. "Carlos?"

He tilted his head, imitating her. "Yes?"

Her smile widened, but she still sounded a little uncertain as she continued, "You remember what I said in the morphin grid, about the attraction vanishing when we left?"

"Yeah," he said, more seriously. If she was going to tell him that it had--

"I'm not certain it has," she admitted, her gaze steady on his.

He smiled in relief, squeezing her hand. "Hey, Aura," he said conversationally. "When you get tired of fixing zords later, if you don't have plans... do you want to go see some of Angel Grove with me?"

She looked decidedly pleased. "I think I would like that," she told him.

"I'm glad you came with us," Andros' voice said quietly.

She didn't look up from the control panel in front of her. "They didn't need me back in the Power Chamber."

"Yes, they did," he contradicted. "There's as much work to do there as there is here."

"Maybe," she admitted. She was still staring at the panel, but she wasn't really seeing it. She felt him take a few tentative steps closer, trying to look over her shoulder without spooking her with his nearness. *Since when am I the shy one?* she thought, vaguely amused.

"Definitely," he said firmly. "And you have more technical experience with those systems than with these."

"Are you saying I should have stayed?" she asked, trying not to let her smile show.

"No," he said quickly. "I'm just... glad you came."

"You said that already," she reminded him.

He sighed. "Yeah, I guess I did."

There was a pause, and she heard him turn to go. "Andros..."

"Yeah?"

She lifted her head, turning away from the console at last. "I didn't stay because I wouldn't be any use to anyone like this."

He frowned a little. "Like what?"

This time she couldn't repress her smile. "Like, me being so distracted by you that I can't concentrate on anything at all."

He shifted uncomfortably. "Sorry," he offered at last, clearly not sure what to make of that.

She took a step closer to him, tilting her head to meet his perpetually downcast gaze. "Andros," she said quietly, her heart beating faster than she wanted to admit, "if I asked you to kiss me, right now... what would you say?"

His wide-eyed gaze was unexpected as it was adorable, but luckily for her peace of mind he didn't waste any time answering. He lifted one hand to caress her face, and then, before she even registered his movement, he slid his hand around behind her neck and pressed his mouth to hers.

She closed her eyes, letting herself get lost in the kiss. The sigh in her throat turned into a soft moan as his other arm went around her waist and pulled her close, and she leaned into him eagerly. She twined her arms around his neck, feeling his embrace tighten as their kiss deepened.

Someone made it about two steps onto the Bridge before coming to an abrupt halt, and over the pounding in her ears she heard Timmin exclaim, "Whoa! Wrong moment; sorry."

Laughter bubbled up in her, and she couldn't keep from giggling as Andros rested his forehead against hers. "Perfect timing," he whispered, his breath coming in short gasps. "Should have closed the doors."

Timmin was long gone, but the comment only made her giggle harder. "What, so we could roll around on the consoles? Is that even allowed?"

"It's my ship," he growled, nipping her ear playfully. "We can do anything we want."

She squirmed at the tickling sensation, kissing him hard on the mouth before dissolving into giggles again. "Oh... Andros, imagine if we had been and Saryn had walked in instead of Timmin..."

Even he chuckled at that, and she let her chin rest on his shoulder as she hugged him tighter. He seemed as unwilling to let go as she, and after a moment she heard him whisper, "I love you, Ashley."

She squeezed her eyes shut, feeling tears that refused to fall welling up behind her eyelids. "I--I love you too."

She clung to him a moment longer, irrationally afraid that whatever miracle had brought him here might whisk him away just as quickly if she let go. Finally he spoke again, as quietly as before. "I wanted to tell you something, you know."

"What?" she murmured, not ready to pull away yet.

"That your memories can't be all you are," he answered immediately. "Before, you said your memories were what made you who you are. But it can't just be that. If it was, I wouldn't have fallen in love with you twice."

"Twice?" she repeated, not moving. "Here... and in the other dimension?"

She could feel him nod. "Yeah."

"But it wasn't just my memories," she said after a moment. "I said it was my memories and my feelings--and my feelings were the same."

"You're saying..." His breath caught, and she heard him try to clear his throat. "You're saying that I make you who you are, you know."

She swallowed hard. "Yeah," she agreed, smiling to herself. "I know."

18. Convergence

The Aquitian megazord hunkered low inside the cavernous zord bay. Its size still dwarfed the individual Turbo zords nestled in their berths along the far wall, and it towered over the more compact form of the Megaship as the Kerovan Rangers' battleship continued to recuperate in the safety of the Power Chamber.

*click*

Outside, the Delta Sun had set down some distance from the bay doors, its imposing black and silver exterior silhouetted against the afternoon sky. Although the zord bay could be completely sealed off from the outside world, the main doors had been left cracked open to allow for the movement of fresh air within the bay. The leader of the Elisian Rangers stood on the threshold, staring out at his ship or off into the distance--it was hard to tell with his inscrutable expression.

*click*

Cassie Chan was making her way across the floor of the bay toward the doors, though where exactly she had come from it was impossible to say. The Red Ranger turned his head as she laid one hand lightly on his back, and she lifted her face toward his. He slid an arm around her shoulders and drew her closer, seeming more complete somehow as the both of them gazed out at the desert together.

*click*

Two of the other Elisians emerged from the Kerovan Megaship, arguing heatedly. Their words were indistinguishable, but they drew the attention of one of their teammates working on the exterior. The Yellow Elisian Ranger watched their progress with evident amusement on his face, and only when it was clear they were too absorbed in each other to notice him did he shout down to them. The two on the ramp broke off, looking up with twin expressions of surprise on their faces.

*click*

A shriek of laughter pierced the low-level maintenance noise, announcing a Kerovan Ranger who seemed anything but disheartened by recent events. The only Kerovan without a Ranger insignia on his sleeve was carrying her piggyback, swinging her around with serious disregard for dignity or, apparently, anything but her entertainment. The two were irrepressible, much to the amusement of everyone out on the floor, and they weren't making any effort to hide it.

*click*

One of their teammates came around the corner of the Megaship at exactly that moment. He stopped, no expression on his face, and a moment later he turned around and vanished back the way he had come. Someone stood to go after him, but her teammate caught her arm. They gazed at each other for a long moment, no words passing between them, and finally the two Kerovan girls laid their hands over each other's hearts, sharing a smile that was clearly between the two of them alone.

*click*

Laura was standing down beside one of the Aquitian Megazord's "feet", comparing notes with the fire-haired Elisian Ranger. They were so engrossed that they didn't seem to notice Justin's approach until the Turbo Ranger took the electronic pad out of Laura's hand and replaced it with a new one. When she looked up in surprise he just grinned, waving the old pad in a reproving gesture.

*click*

Closer by, sitting on the edge of the upper framework, Carlos looked lost in thought. He stared out across the zord bay as though he was watching the activity but not really taking any of it in. He turned abruptly when one of the Aquitian Rangers stuck her head out of the access hatch behind him, and he smiled when he saw who it was. He didn't speak loudly enough to be overheard, but he pulled his hair back into a ponytail with one hand and gestured at her. She climbed up beside him, at the same time giving him a look so skeptical that he laughed.

*click*

There were several faces missing, but closer inspection revealed that the observation deck wasn't as deserted as it might appear from the ground. A flash of red on the far wall, just above the Turbo zord berths, revealed Matt's location. And there, as far from the edge of the deck as they could get and almost hidden by the equipment stored on the upper levels, were the two Rangers who seemed to have set in motion every controversial aspect that could be generated with regard to the alternate dimension.

Ashley sat cross-legged, leaning back against one of the metal struts. Andros sat across from her, his back to a storage crate and his legs stretched out in front of him. He seemed to be listening intently to whatever she was saying, though it was difficult to be certain that his attentive stare was due entirely to her words.

*click*

"TJ Carter!"

Damn. He wasn't going to escape as cleanly as he had hoped.

"What do you think you're doing?" Ashley demanded, stopping him in his tracks.

He turned around, a sheepish expression on his face. "Taking pictures?" he offered, hoping she didn't think he'd been eavesdropping. He honestly hadn't overheard a thing she'd said, though by the look on her face, that was exactly what she was afraid of.

"Pictures?" she repeated incredulously. "You've got to be kidding me."

"No--" He held the digital camera up as evidence. "Justin gave me this camera, and--"

"TJ, we can't let you take pictures," Ashley interrupted. "You must know that."

"Too late," he responded, unable to resist.

She grabbed for the camera and he only barely pulled it out of her reach in time.

"I swear I won't do anything terrible with them," he protested. "I just want to remember today, you know? You'll be here again tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that. But I'll be back in Sanborn. I'm never going to see this place again."

She hesitated, looking a little less irritated.

"I promise," he repeated. "They're all digital, and Justin encrypted them with some sort of nasty... thing. He says the file will corrupt if I try to send them anywhere, and they can only be printed out once, so it's not like there'll be a million copies of them floating around."

Ashley just looked at him for a moment. "I suppose," she said at last, her tone almost conversational, "he also told you that if any of those pictures ever show up *anywhere*, we'll find you and we'll kill you."

TJ cleared his throat. "He didn't mention the killing part, no."

"Well, I am," Ashley said firmly. "I never want to see any of whatever pictures you have again. Got it?"

"Scouts' honor," he agreed, holding up two fingers.

She smiled a little. "Good. Because I just had an idea."

"You're such a cheat!" Ashley shouted, and he grinned.

"You always say that when I'm ahead," he called back, skidding around a corner and putting one hand out to steady himself against the wall. The opening was just what Ashley had been waiting for, and she slid past him as he tried to regain his balance.

"That's because you never win fairly!" she retorted over her shoulder, laughing at his predicament.

He pushed away from the wall and took off after her, skate wheels making a hollow rolling sound on the metal deck as they raced toward the Bridge. She was too far ahead and he knew it, but he wasn't about to give up.

Ashley let out a triumphant whoop as she flew through the Bridge doors, spinning one of the chairs around and dragging her skate behind her to stop. "I win! I win anyway!"

Despite Ashley's claims, he wasn't such a bad speed skater. But if there was one thing Andros couldn't do to save his life it was stop, and he caught the second row of consoles in the stomach as he slammed into the Bridge behind her.

"Are you okay?" Ashley asked, her concern failing to mask her giggles. "It's not tackle football, Andros; it's not supposed to be a full-contact sport."

He dropped into the chair by the auxiliary bank of consoles, struggling to catch his breath. "I'm--fine," he gasped, not bothering to wave her away when she came over to make sure. "No thanks--to you," he added with a grin when she started to laugh again.

"Oh, Andros," she said, shaking her head helplessly. "You're just so--"

He reached up and caught her wrist, tugging just hard enough to get her offbalance so he could pull her into his lap. "So what?" he demanded, breathing a little easier now.

"Incoming transmission," DECA interjected before she could reply.

Ashley looked up, a small frown on her face. "From who, DECA?"

There was a brief pause. "Unknown," DECA admitted at last.

They exchanged glances, their merriment somewhat subdued. "Let's hear it," Andros said finally, helping Ashley struggle to her feet. He stood too, taking a place beside her and looking at the main screen expectantly.

Nothing happened.

Just as he was about to ask DECA where the transmission was, she told him, "There is no audio component to the transmission. It is only a single visual image."

Andros looked at Ashley again, but she looked as puzzled as he felt. "All right," Andros agreed after a moment. "Let's see it, then."

This time the screen came to life--at least, still life--and an unfamiliar image replaced the gently rotating view of Earth. It was a 2D representation, something that Ashley would call a photograph, showing a group of Rangers that--

"It's us!" Ashley was staring at the screen in amazement. "But--" She frowned again. "But it isn't, exactly."

"No," he said slowly. He was in the picture, standing in the back row with an arm around Ashley and--

He swallowed hard, not taking his eyes off the screen. That was Kerone standing there next to him, leaning back against Zhane with her hand on Andros' shoulder as though the three of them had never been apart. And in front of them were three people he hadn't seen since he was ten years old, three people he hadn't called teammates in years and had barely thought about since.

"We're all in our Turbo colors," Ashley realized, breaking into his reverie. "Except Cassie. That's the Turbo symbol we all have on our jackets. And Carlos' is green instead of black."

"Yeah," he said hollowly, still staring at the smiling group of grey uniforms. Kerone was wearing yellow, with a barely visible "2" embroidered over the double-planet insignia on her chest. Zhane was the only one not in uniform, and suddenly it dawned on him what they were seeing. "It's the other dimension."

"What?" Ashley looked a little worried when she glanced over at him. He obviously wasn't hiding his reaction as well as he'd thought.

"When we went through the gateway," he said, tearing his eyes away from Kerone long enough to glance at the other people in the photograph. "Cassie said she was with Saryn, and TJ said he had never been a Ranger. I saw--" He almost stumbled over her name, and he quickly changed what he had been about to say. "A different Astro team. But I didn't... I didn't know you..."

He couldn't stop staring at the picture on the screen, remembering the contented loneliness of that vision. He had been happy--or maybe he just hadn't been sad, for despite the lack of despair in his life he hadn't felt happiness half as intensely as he felt it here and now.

Yet... now... there was Ashley, beside him, his arms around her and Zhane and his sister and Second at his side.

"Are you okay?" Ashley asked quietly.

"Yeah," he said, trying to pull himself together. "Yeah, I'm all right; it's just... weird, I guess." What he wouldn't give to know what that other Andros felt now...

"Really weird," Ashley agreed, obviously not convinced. "So is this the place you saw? Or is someone completely random sending us pictures? And where did this *come* from, anyway?"

"The signal does appear to be interdimensional in origin," DECA told them. "I can't trace it farther than that."

Ashley was alternating between studying him and the image on the screen. "Dimitria?" she suggested, a little doubtfully. "That looks like the old zord bay, in the Power Chamber. But why are we still there? And where did all those people come from?"

His team. That was the team that would have been, had KO-35 not been attacked. And the rest of the Border... His gaze slid toward Saryn, standing tall and proud behind a team that *had* been--and was now lost forever. He had been wishing for something he had never known, while Saryn had experienced with painful clarity exactly what was missing from his life.

"Andros?" Ashley prompted. "Still with me?"

"I don't think we should show the others," he said abruptly.

She gave him an odd look. "What? Why not?"

He shrugged uncomfortably. For a moment, he wasn't sure how to explain--but then, with a flash of insight, he understood. "They saw us," he said aloud. "You asked where all those people came from--they must have gone looking for each other. Cassie, Saryn, TJ, and me: our doubles all went looking for the people they saw here when we switched places, and they sent us this to let us know that they found each other."

Ashley looked from him to the screen and back again. "You know that sounds completely crazy, right?"

He looked at her in surprise. "Does it?"

She shook her head, amusement plain on her face. "Just checking. So why shouldn't we show it to the others, again?"

He gestured at the screen. "Look how much we changed their lives, without even meaning to. What would everyone here think, if they saw all of them?"

"You think it would change *our* lives?" Ashley thought about that for a moment. "But if it changed them to be more like us, how could seeing them change us too?"

He just stared at her.

"Don't give me the Look," Ashley said, a half-smile on her face. "What did I say?"

"Look at the picture again," he told her, not sure how else to say it. "They're different than they were, sure, but do they really look like us?"

She considered the screen, at first as though she was humoring him and then with a closer scrutiny. "That's--is that... your sister? Next to you, with Zhane?"

He nodded wordlessly, unable to reply.

She glanced at him before looking back at the screen. "So there's Kerone... who's that next to Carlos? It looks like--"

"Aura," Andros supplied, when she hesitated. "That's definitely Aura. She's the only Aquitian in the picture, though, and I have no idea what that means. Plus, look at your own team. Who are those people in red and pink? Are you sure TJ and Cassie wouldn't want to go looking for *them*?"

"No," she said slowly. "That's true. But if they're on our team, and the people in front of you and Zhane are on your team, then who--" She stopped suddenly, giving him a wide-eyed look. "Oh."

"Yeah," he agreed. Even four years later, he could remember their faces well enough to know who he was seeing. "I'm not sure Saryn needs to be reminded of them right now."

She frowned thoughtfully, returning to her contemplation of the picture. "Maybe you're right," she said at last.

"DECA," he said. "Save this transmission to the terminal in my room, please, and erase it from the Bridge logs."

"Wait--I want a copy too," Ashley informed him. "I'm not forgetting this that easily."

"Forgetting what?" he asked, surprised.

"That you traveled all the way across the League just to find me," she replied with a smile. "You didn't even know me, Andros. That was pretty cool."

He felt a return smile spread across his face. "I'd travel across the whole universe for you," he told her. "In any dimension."