Chapters:

1. Last Bell

"Whatcha doing?" A blonde head popped up across the table from him, climbing up on the bottom rung of one of the stools and leaning her elbows on the table as she tried to see what he was working on. The buttons on her overalls clicked against the metal tabletop in the Megaship's Glider holding bay as she tried to squirm closer.

"Trying to finish my homework." Kae ignored her as best he could, because DECA never accepted distractions as an excuse. He was already missing three blocks of school to be allowed along on this trip in the middle of the summer quarter. If he didn't at least make up the work, there was no way his parents would let him go to Eltare with his class in the fall.

"What kind of homework?" The screech of metal on metal as she pulled back made him flinch. A moment later, little sandaled feet were coming around to his side of the table and she was standing on her tiptoes to see under his arm. "Can I help?"

"Can you do algebra?" he countered.

"What's algebra?" Hope wanted to know. She pronounced it perfectly on the first try, which kind of annoyed him because he still did a funny thing with the hard sounds sometimes when he wasn't paying attention.

"It's a kind of math where you have to add and subtract numbers without knowing what the numbers are," he told her. Regular distractions might not be considered excuses, but educating his younger sister usually was.

She stepped up on the bottom rung of his stool, forcing his arm out of the way as she frowned at his reader. "How can you do that? And how come there are letters?"

Kae was pretty sure he hadn't been able to read, type, or write when he was three years old. Hope could do all three. Admittedly, her writing could use some work, but she could read well enough get through chapter books by herself. And here he was, about to explain algebra to her.

"The letters are just placeholders," he told her. "They substitute for the numbers you don't know until you figure them out."

"How do you figure it out?" she insisted, shifting awkwardly on the edge of his stool.

"You look for clues. Like a logic puzzle, you figure out what it can't be first. Sometimes you work backwards. And sometimes it's really easy and you just know," he added. That was most of the time, actually, once he got used to seeing the equations written down as letters and numbers instead of vectors and motion.

"How?" Hope demanded. "How do you just know?"

"Okay," he said. "I'm going to give you an equation with one of the numbers missing, and you have to tell me what the number is."

"What's an equation?" she asked. Her eyes were wide, like he was about to test her on something impossible.

"It's a--" What did they call them in her class? He knew this, he remembered it because it was so stupid, and now he'd forgotten again. It was a... "Number sentence," he said at last. "It's a number sentence with an answer, like five plus eight minus two equals eleven. When you put the equals sign in, it's called an equation."

Hope considered that. "Okay," she said at last. "Are there lots of equations in algebra?"

"Yeah, but they're easy," he promised. "Like this: three plus x equals ten. That's an algebra equation, because it has a letter in it, and the letter is the number you don't know. Three plus something equals ten."

"Three plus seven equals ten!" she crowed. "Three plus seven!"

"That's right," Kae agreed. "So x equals seven. See, you did some algebra."

Hope paused, then she narrowed her eyes. He could see her expression when she tipped her head sideways to stare up at him. "Does x always equal seven?"

"No," he said. "X can be anything. It's very mysterious that way."

"Oh." That didn't slow her down for long. She stepped down off of his stool, but only so she could pull another one over next to him and climb up onto it. "Can you give me some more equations with x's in them?"

"Sure." He was confident that he could think up easy arithmetic disguised as algebra faster than his sister could solve it. "Go and get a reader--"

She shifted on her seat and tugged her little palm-sized writing tablet out of one of her pockets. "Can I use this?"

"Yeah," he said, figuring she could practice her writing and her math at the same time. "You can use that."

Just as he reached out to take it from her, though, DECA's voice interrupted. "Entering the Sol system," she announced. "ETA to Earth orbit is six and a half minutes. Have you finished your homework, Kae?"

He shot the nearest camera a dirty look. She knew perfectly well he hadn't finished his homework. "I'm almost done."

"School's out, kids!" His pa's voice was a welcome reprieve, and he jumped to his feet even as Pa strode into the holding bay and swept a rapidly assessing gaze over the table. "Finished your work for today?"

"Almost," Kae said quickly, before DECA could answer for him. "I was just showing Hope what I was working on."

"Well, bring it with you," Pa told him. "Sunshine and swimming pools wait for no schoolchild! Hope, where's your jacket?"

Kae coughed. "Hangar bay," he said under his breath.

"Oh!" Hope brightened, her writing tablet forgotten as she scrambled off of her stool. "I left it in the hangar bay!"

"Hey!" Kae's voice caught her just as she started to trip toward the door, and he held up the tablet. She took a step back, but he lobbed it gently in her direction and she fumbled with her hands and completely missed it. With her hands. The tablet spun lazily in front of her until she got her fingers and eyes coordinated, plucked it out of the air, then turned and raced for the door again.

"Stow it with your stuff and head for the Bridge," Pa advised, when Kae glanced back at his reader. "Your mom wants to get you guys set up before we hit orbit."

Kae sighed, remembering the final preparations for their last trip to Earth. "I don't have to get any more shots, do I?"

"Nope," Pa said cheerfully. "DECA's vaccinations last longer than that. You'll be good for years."

"That's what you said the first time," Kae reminded him, stuffing the reader into his backpack. "Then I had to get two more the next time we came!"

"Sorry, kiddo." Pa was leaning against the door in a way that did not convey any sympathy for Kae's sore arms. "New viruses. Intergalactic immunizations don't do much good on the non-League planets. It's the local way or the sick way. And trust me, the sick way isn't fun either."

He made a face. He had some really bad nightmares about needles. DECA was always really nice about it, giving him ice and candy and making him look the other way, but he'd barely tolerated his first shot and actually seeing the stupid needles still filled him with panic. Depending on the sickness, he thought he might be willing to risk going without Earth vaccinations.

Everyone was on the Bridge when he got there, except for Hope, and Pa, who had gone after her to make sure she found her jacket. They returned just as DECA got an approach vector from Earth, and Kae amused himself by trying to pinpoint their landing site on the planetary grid. Once Hope was there, though, their mom pulled them aside to pass out their Earth ID. Intergalactic ID didn't work here any better than intergalactic immunizations did, so they always got special cards.

"If you get lost," their mom was telling Hope, "what's the first thing you should do?"

"Call you," Hope said confidently.

"What if I don't answer?" Mom prompted.

"Call DECA," Hope answered. "Then she'll call you, and you'll come get me."

"That's right." Mom smiled at her, then at Kae. "Now, sometimes if you get lost, someone will try to help you. What should you tell them?"

"Um..." Hope seemed a little stuck on that one. "I'm... waiting for my mom?"

"Exactly," Mom told her. "If they want to wait with you, that's fine. But don't let them take you anywhere."

"Unless they're wearing a uniform," Kae said. "And they have a badge. Or an..." He couldn't remember the Earth name. "Emergency vehicle," he said instead.

"Right." Mom beamed at him. "It's okay to get into a police car or an ambulance if where you are doesn't seem safe, or if you're hurt. But if you're in trouble, the first thing you should do is call me or DECA and tell us what's going on. Okay?"

"Okay," Hope agreed, her eyes wide at the prospect of "trouble."

Kae just nodded. He'd heard this lecture a hundred times before. It varied a little from planet to planet, but it was always weirdest on Earth, where most of the people didn't even know about other people from different worlds.

"Now, people on Earth don't have data readers or comm codes," Mom reminded them. "So they use plastic or paper ID cards. You each have your own, and you can give it to anyone in a uniform who has a badge or an emergency vehicle."

She finally handed them their little plastic cards, and Kae studied his with interest. It was always funny to see "Kae Hammond" printed at the top of the card, since that wasn't really his name. It was like he was undercover or something. Underneath was a series of names and numbers--comm codes--including his grandparents' contact information and something that was probably the name of the hostel they were staying at.

"Is this where we're staying?" he asked, just to make sure.

"Yes, that's our hotel." Mom pointed out the name on Hope's card for her. "We have two rooms there; those are our room numbers listed underneath. If you forget them, you can give this to anyone in the hotel and ask them to help you find your room again."

Correctly deducing that this, too, was aimed at Hope, he managed to bite back his complaint about being treated like a baby. He'd stayed in his own room plenty of times. And he didn't need anyone to help him find his way back, either. Not when there was public network access on the computers.

"I want you both to wear these," Mom continued, handing them each a thin silver chain with a hexagonal charm on it. The front had a bright red serpent on it, and the back was engraved with words. Kae took his without protest, knowing it was the thing that might save him from more needles if he got hurt while he was on Earth.

Hope turned hers over while he was putting his on, studying the back carefully. "Allergic," she read aloud. In capital letters, Kae knew without having to look. "Do not give meds or... anestia without consent."

"Anesthesia," Mom corrected gently. "Do not give meds or anesthesia without consent. That means that if you get hurt, no one except us or DECA is supposed to treat you. If anyone calls the phone number at the bottom, DECA will pick up and tell them what to do."

Hope considered that for a moment. "What's a phone number?" she wanted to know.

"It's like a comm code," Mom told her. "Except there's no picture. It's audio only. Here, turn around and I'll help you fasten this."

The magnetic clasp on the back of the chain clicked into place behind his neck, and Kae slid the chain under his shirt. Earth was a strange place. It was bigger and busier and shinier than home, but it was kind of backward when it came to things like medicine and communications. And spaceflight. He couldn't understand why anyone wouldn't want to be able to fly through the stars.

"We're here," Dad announced, reaching down to ruffle Hope's pale blonde hair as he joined them. "Everyone ready to go?"

Hope gave him a reproachful look, but Mom just seemed worried. "Any questions?" she asked them. When they shook their heads, she added, "Remember, no one will know you on Earth. And a lot of people don't know anything about telekinesis, or magic, or even spaceships, so no showing off."

Pa was hovering behind Mom now, and Kae saw him hold up his thumb and first finger a little ways apart, just over her shoulder. The message was loud and clear, and he grinned. Only a little showing off, then.

Mom turned, of course, and Pa put the hand he was holding up around her shoulder. "They know," he told her. "Come on. Let's go."

It took Kae only seconds to get his backpack and his carry bag out of the holding bay. He struggled a little to get the backpack on, but the carry bag had an antigrav in it and it was much easier to swing along beside him as he hurried to catch up with Dad. Dad was always the first, somehow. Ma joined them in the lift, and they rode down to the space hatch while everyone else was helping Hope.

"Can we wait for them outside?" Kae begged, as they gathered by the hatch. "Please? I'm tired of being on the ship." Actually, he just wanted to be the first one on Earth, but it wasn't like Hope cared so what did it matter?

Dad and Ma looked at each other, and Dad shrugged. "Sure," he said, waving at the controls. "Go right ahead."

So he got to open the hatch and be the first one outside, which was great no matter how many times he'd been to Earth before, and everyone else caught up to them in a few minutes anyway. There wasn't anything really fun right outside the ship, but that was to be expected on an odd planet like Earth. Their priorities were strange.

Like the way they all had to say their names at the gate before they left the skyport, but there wasn't anyone there to check their ID or their bags or anything. Kae didn't think much of Earth security. Even if people from other planets were a big secret or something, shouldn't there be someone there to make sure they were who they said they were?

"Arriving on the Astro Megaship Mark II," Mom told the machine at the gate. "July first, 2005. Kerovan Ranger Ashley Tyuseabe. Say your name, honey," she told Hope.

"Hope," his little sister said uncertainly.

"Of KO-35," Mom prompted.

"Of KO-35," Hope repeated.

"Good," Mom said, taking her hand and leading her through the gate in the odd looking metal fence. "Now we'll just call NASADA and get them to send our car while we wait for everyone else, okay?"

"Aoife of KO-35," Aoife told the gate, swinging one of Hope's bags over her shoulder as she followed them through.

"What's a car?" Hope was asking.

"Kerovan Ranger Andros Tyuseabe," Dad said.

Kae felt a hand on his shoulder as he stepped up to the little comm box, but he knew what to do. "Kae of KO-35," he told it. A light on the box blinked, but he couldn't see any other acknowledgment of his presence. Like it wasn't even a computer at all.

"Kerovan Ranger Zhane Tyuseabe," Pa said, right behind him.

Ma was the last one through, and Dad already had a hand on the gate as she told the box, "Kerovan Ranger Kerone Tyuseabe." Had the gate been left open for them, Kae wondered? It couldn't always be open, could it?

No, because Dad was closing it now, looping some sort of chain over the latch and fastening it with something that didn't even look electronic. "If you need to get in, you can have DECA teleport you," he told Kae. "This is just to keep out casual passersby."

Kae gave it a skeptical look, but one of the funny looking vehicles they used on Earth was already pulling up to the gate. His mom hadn't even pulled out her morpher to call anyone yet. He decided that maybe that ID box at the gate wasn't completely useless after all.

The car had a funny sort of logo on the side, a driver, and room for all of them and their stuff. From past experience with Earth vehicles he knew that the best place to ride was over the wheels in the back, so he scrambled in and took a seat as soon as the doors were open. It wasn't like the hovers at home; it was bouncy and it tilted around every corner and Hope was quick to recognize the fun of it. Pressed up against his side in the middle seat, she squealed all the way to the hotel.

The hotel was huge. Maybe that was the difference between a hotel and a hostel, Kae decided, staring around the lobby in awe. He knew Earth had cities that were nothing like the ones back home, big and sparkling and so old-fashioned that there was nothing else in the League quite like them. But they'd never stayed in a hotel before, right here in the the middle of it all, with wide windows that looked out on the rush in every direction.

Hope was hiding behind Ma while they waited for Mom to finish talking to the woman at the desk. She didn't look happy about the size of the hotel, or the number of people around them, or really anything at all right now. Aoife was asking Dad something about cars or driving or maybe their communicators, so Kae went over to his sister and took her hand. "Want to see something cool?" he asked.

She didn't say anything, just nodded, so he looked up at Ma and asked, "Can we have some quarters?"

Ma reached into her pocket and pulled her hand out full of quarters. Kae was very familiar with quarters, and he knew perfectly well Ma hadn't had any in her pocket. But Mom was busy, Hope was upset, and he had spotted two brightly lit machines partially hidden behind a wall on the other side of the giant lobby. He was pretty sure magic money was okay for a good cause, and besides, Ma had given it to him, hadn't she?

So he left his bags on the floor and took Hope over to the vending machines. He showed her where to put the quarters and how to match the numbers and letters on the shelves to the ones on the keypad and how hard to push on the plastic thing at the bottom to get to the candy it released. She squeaked delightedly at the way the little metal spirals pushed things forward and knocked them down, and she had maybe a little too much fun banging on the part at the bottom. But it made her forget about the city so he figured, mission accomplished.

"All right," Pa said, appearing behind them a few minutes later. "Only one snack at a time, guys, that's the rule. Hand 'em over."

"Aw, but we're on vacation," Kae protested, stuffing the Milky Way into his pocket just in case Pa decided that even one was too many.

"Which you won't get to enjoy if you get sick eating candy," Pa replied. He confiscated the rest of the chocolate and most of Hope's cookies. "Time to go find our rooms. And ride the elevator," he added.

Kae tried to scowl even if Hope looked interested. "There's an elevator at home."

"This one has a glass wall," Pa told him.

Well. That did sound kind of fun. Especially when they got to ride an escalator first, taking it up to the landing where they waited for the elevator, and Hope got really excited because there definitely weren't any escalators at home. She didn't like the elevator, though, maybe because the glass wall looked out through windows in the outside of the hotel instead of onto levels on the inside.

Luckily, by the time they got to their floor, Aoife had resumed her primary responsibility of occupying Kae's younger sister, leaving him free to stare around in amazement. The floor itself wasn't that exciting, but there was a living room and a fake library and a giant bedroom and that was just for their parents. He and Hope got a whole other set of rooms all to themselves--well, with Aoife--and they had their own candy and juice and snacks in the kitchen.

"No snacking between meals," Pa said sternly. "Not unless one of us okays it first. This isn't Kerovan food, Kae. It hasn't been tested the way the food at home has."

"Everyone here eats it," Kae argued. "They're human. We're human. What does it matter?"

"It matters that their food processing technology isn't as good as ours," Pa told him. "Sometimes someone makes a mistake, and someone else gets sick. If that someone else is you, it's going to be a really long vacation."

Kae eyed the kitchen suspiciously, deciding maybe the juice wasn't worth it after all.

Then Mom came in with Aoife and Hope and told Pa, "Cassie and Saryn are down by the pool with the twins. I said we'd come down when we were settled."

"I'm settled," Pa declared. "Let's go."

Kae frowned. "What kind of pool?" he wanted to know.

"It's a swimming pool," Mom told him, "but there's a swingset and lots of lawn, too."

"I've never been in a swimming pool before," Hope said worriedly. "What if I don't swim well enough and they make me leave?"

"You don't have to swim to be allowed in the pool," Mom promised. "And you swim very well, sweetheart; don't worry."

"Bet Saryn's kids can't swim at all," Pa added. "It's not like he has any abiding fondness for water."

Kae folded his arms, glaring at all of them. "I'm not getting in a swimming pool."

"There's lots of things to do at a pool besides swim," Aoife put in. "Some people like to just sit around the sides and watch, or read, or eat something."

He was about to protest again when she mentioned eating and he gave her a sideways look. "Like candy bars?"

She smiled at him. "Do you have a candy bar?"

"One," Pa interrupted. "He has one candy bar, and that's all he's getting until dinner time."

"Then I think the pool is the perfect place to eat it," Aoife told him.

"And to finish your homework," Pa added cheerfully. "Bring your reader."

"That's not fair!" Kae exclaimed. "We just got here! Hope doesn't have to do homework at the pool!"

"That's because Hope finished her homework," Mom reminded him.

"Her homework was to make up a song," Kae said, rolling his eyes. "Mine was algebra. Which I was teaching her," he added. "So it took me longer."

Mom glanced at Pa. Kae looked up at him quickly, but he wasn't in time to catch any sign of support he might have gotten. Still, Mom said, "Any time you spend teaching Hope does count as homework."

"See," Kae insisted, "so I worked on my homework the whole way here!"

"Fine," Pa said with a shrug. "Don't bring your reader, then. But I bet there aren't any computers by the pool, so don't blame me if you're bored."

"I won't be bored," Kae assured him. And if he was, he still had some quarters in his pocket. He could always sneak off and find the vending machine again on his own.

Dad came into the room with a towel over his shoulder, and he took one look at them and said, "I thought we were going to the pool."

"Are you actually going swimming?" Pa demanded. "In the water?"

Dad gave him a look, but he didn't answer the question.

"Look, Aoife and I need to change," Mom told them. "So if you're all ready to go, you could help Hope find her swimsuit and towel."

"Can I go downstairs on my own?" Kae asked.

"Do you know where the pool is?" Dad countered.

"Do you?" Mom asked over her shoulder, as she and Aoife headed for the door between their two rooms.

Dad didn't answer--out loud, anyway--and Pa grinned at him once they'd disappeared. "Good choice," he said, which made no sense, but that was typical of his parents.

"I could find the pool," Kae grumbled. "It would be the big thing with water in it, probably right near the signs saying 'pool.'"

For some reason, that made his pa laugh. "You and your dad are way too much alike," he said, grabbing Kae's second chocolate bar from the counter in the kitchen and handing it over to him. "Make sure it's gone before you leave this room, and don't tell your mom."

He brightened, knowing a treat when he saw it. "Thanks Pa!"

So he sat down on the floor in the kitchen and munched happily on his Snickers bar while Pa and Dad took Hope into the bedroom to get her dressed for swimming. Earth candy was just as good as he remembered it. He hadn't gotten to go downstairs alone, but he'd gotten extra chocolate and he hadn't had to listen to Hope babble about not being a good enough swimmer, so he figured he mostly won.

By the time he finished the Snickers, Hope was practically ready to go. The only person who could get Hope to change her clothes faster than Pa was Ma, and Pa said she cheated. Her hair was still wispy and floating around her face, though, and Pa was working on that when Kae came into the bedroom. Dad had two towels now, his grown-up red and silver one and Hope's little one with the pink and yellow fish on it, and but otherwise he wasn't helping at all.

"Can you braid my hair like yours?" Kae asked, coming over to lean on the arm of the chair where he was sitting.

"Sure." Dad got up and motioned for him to take a seat. Kae put his knee on the chair and sat sideways, holding his head very still while fingers combed his hair away from his face. The hair behind his head was brushed down, the rest of it pulled back, and then he could feel strands being divided out.

Pa finished first, even if Hope's hair was longer than his. Hers had been started first, Kae figured. She got a french braid, like the one she always had when she went swimming, and he got his hair pulled away from his face into a braid that hung over his loose hair in the back. Dad tied his hair back and patted him on the shoulder when he finished.

"Thanks," Kae said, reaching up to feel it with his fingers.

"I want to carry my towel," Hope declared. She was already batting at Dad's hand like she could get her towel off of his shoulder that way. "I can carry it, Dad."

"Go get your sandals," Dad told her.

She let him go and scampered off to find them, and Pa swiped the towel while her back was turned. Putting it around his neck he called, "I'm going to go check on the big girls now!"

"Wait!" Hope squeaked. "Wait, Pa! Wait for me!"

"Why?" Pa wanted to know. "Because I have your towel?"

She let out a squawk of outrage, knocking over her bag in her haste. "Give me my towel!" she shouted, both her sandals in one hand as she scrambled after him. One of the sandals tumbled to the floor before she even made it to the door, but she didn't notice.

"You forgot your sandal!" Kae yelled after her.

She was too distracted to hear him, so he just picked up the sandal with a loud sigh and followed her back through their living room and into the one their parents were sharing. "Sandal?" he repeated, holding it up.

Hope grabbed it out of his hand and raced toward the front door with her towel in one hand and her sandals in the other. "I win!" she crowed. "I'm ready to go to the pool! I'm ready first!"

Kae rolled his eyes. "You're only first because everyone else was waiting for you," he informed her. "And you forgot your cookies."

She frowned at him. "No I didn't!"

"Then where are they?" he asked reasonably.

"I don't need them at the pool," she informed him. "They'd get all wet."

"Only if you get in the water," he muttered, but she wasn't listening to him anymore. Luckily. He didn't really want to hear about how great swimming was, or how she might not be as good at it as everyone else, or anything about pools at all.

"Did you bring your candy?" Aoife asked him, while Hope was trying to get both Mom and Dad to the door at the same time.

"Yeah." He gave her a grudging look, then admitted, "I have some more quarters, if you want."

"Thanks," she said, smiling at him. "You'll have to show me how to use that machine, though. I didn't hear what you told Hope about it."

"I can show you," he agreed, somewhat mollified by her appreciation. "It's really easy."

Ma was guarding the door now, keeping Hope from plowing through it while no one was looking. "The room doors lock when we leave," she told Hope. "Make sure you stay with us, or you won't be able to get back in."

"I know," Hope insisted impatiently. "Can we go now?"

Kae hadn't known that. "How do the doors lock?" he asked Aoife. "Is it like a computer system?"

"It's a very simple electronic lock," she said. She held up a plastic card for him to see. "There's a magnetic strip on the back of the card that only unlocks one door in the hotel. This one is for our room, next door."

"We'll leave the door between the rooms open," Mom added. "As long as we don't lock it, a key to either room will let us into both."

"Can we go?" Hope whined, leaning against Ma with her towel wrapped around her shoulders. She was finally wearing her sandals.

Ma's hand was on the door handle, but she waited until Mom agreed that they were ready before she actually opened it. As soon as she started to pull it open, Hope reached up to help her, and she danced out into the hall before anyone could stop her. No one called for her to come back, which Kae didn't get until they all turned right instead of left.

"Aren't we taking the elevator?" he wanted to know.

"Not the front one," Mom told him. "There's a special elevator for the pool."

"Hope!" Pa called. "Wrong way!"

"Why does the pool have its own elevator?" Kae asked.

"Well, this is a pretty fancy hotel." Mom didn't look like she was ready to go swimming, but she was wearing different clothes and she was carrying a bag that probably had a towel in it. Mom was always prepared. "They don't really want people in swimsuits and towels running through their lobby, so they have a separate elevator at the back of the building."

"Oh." He thought that was kind of silly, but he was used to it. They went to a lot of places where they had to dress up and be polite, and he figured this was the same thing. That probably meant they weren't going to be allowed to yell as much as when they stayed at their grandparents' house, but on the other hand there was a vending machine, so that was okay.

Hope caught up with them before they got to the second elevator, and she squeezed in between all of them for the ride down even if it turned out there weren't any glass walls this time. That meant Hope liked it better, but Pa complained about the difference as soon as they got off. Kae was distracted by the terrible sight of too much water through the doors to the outside.

Their grandparents' house didn't have a pool, he thought wistfully.

"How are you?" Ma asked, her voice quiet as he hung back, following them reluctantly through the doors. No one had told him he would have to be this close to the pool.

"I'm okay," he muttered, pulling away from the door.

"Okay," she echoed. But she didn't follow him.

He stopped, frowning at all the girls splashing around the edge of the pool. Hope, suddenly shy, was clutching Pa's hand as he walked her over to the water. Mom and Dad were waving at the other adults, and Aoife was spreading her towel over the back of one of the funny woven chairs. No one else looked the least bit scared.

"Ma?" Kae said, looking back at her. "How come everyone else likes water?"

She got a thoughtful look on her face, and finally she said, "Maybe because it never hurt them. They don't know how bad it can be."

"But it's not bad," he said, frustrated. "It never hurts Hope. It doesn't hurt anyone."

"It hurts some people," she replied. "It hurt you."

"How do you know?" he demanded.

"Because you're scared of it," she said, like that was the only thing that mattered.

"Why can't I remember?" he wanted to know. "If it hurt me, shouldn't I remember it?"

"I can't remember a lot of things from when I was younger," Ma told him. "Some of them I've just forgotten, because I'm older now or because they didn't matter or because more important things came along. That's normal forgetting.

"But some of the things I can't remember must have been pretty awful," she continued. "I think I forgot those things on purpose. Maybe you forgot why water is bad because you knew you wouldn't want to remember."

She was completely matter-of-fact, and that was why he didn't mind when she talked to him about this stuff. She wasn't like the counselors who were all kind and gentle and sometimes seemed a little scared of him. "Do you think I'll ever remember?" he asked. They said that sometimes, that he might remember later.

"I don't know," she said. "The only things I've remembered are things that I was reminded of later. You've been around a lot of water, and it hasn't reminded you of anything yet. So maybe not."

He thought about that, then nodded once. "That's good," he decided. "If I didn't want to remember then, I probably don't want to remember now."

Ma smiled at that. "Sometimes the best thing you can do is trust yourself," she said.

"Um, hi?" A girl's voice interrupted, and Kae frowned at her in annoyance. Couldn't she walk around them? It wasn't like they were blocking the doors or anything.

"I'm Shei," the girl said, holding her hand out to Ma. "I hope you don't mind me interrupting, but I heard you're the person to see if I want some quarters."

"Where did you hear that?" Kae demanded suspiciously.

Shei jerked her head in the direction of the pool. "Your sister," she said, then smiled up at Ma when she offered her hand in return. They clasped wrists, and Kae glared in Hope's direction.

"Hello, Shei," Ma was saying. "I'm Kerone Tyuseabe. You must be here with Jenni and Terra's parents?"

"Yes," the girl agreed. She looked very serious when she added, "They're giving my parents a vacation."

It made Ma smile, of course. "Did you ask them if you could ask me for quarters?"

Shei thought about it for a moment. "They heard me telling Hope I was going to ask you," she said at last. "Does that count?"

Ma looked over at the pool. Kae tried to see what she was looking at, but Shei was in the way and by the time he looked around her Ma was handing over the quarters. "It's nice to meet you, Shei."

"Thanks!" Shei beamed at her. "Nice to meet you to. Come on," she added, waving at Kae to follow her.

He just stared after her in surprise, and after a few steps she turned around. "Well?"

"What?" he wanted to know.

"I'm hungry," she said, like it had to be obvious. "You know how to work the dispenser. Come show me."

Kae rolled his eyes, because girls were like this on every single planet in the universe. "Vending machine," he corrected. "And you could ask, you know."

She frowned at him. "You could offer," she countered.

He sighed, giving Ma a beseeching look. She just folded her arms, and gave him a stern look. "Zhane says you still have plenty of quarters."

How Pa had figured that out, he had no idea, but he knew when to give in. He turned and studied the girl from Elisia instead. She had dark brown hair that was twisted into lots of little braids and a funny look in her eyes that made them seem bigger than they should be. She was exactly the same height as him, probably, or at least close enough that he couldn't tell without standing back to back and getting someone to measure. She didn't seem older than he was, but she didn't act any younger either.

"Okay," he said at last. If Ma was going to make him help Shei with the vending machine, he didn't see any reason to tell her that Pa had already given him a second candy bar. "Let's go."

"Have you been here before?" Shei asked, shouldering through the doors next to him. She refused to let him walk in front of her. "You know, here, to this... culture?"

The way she deliberately hesitated before saying "culture" let him know that it was supposed to be a code word for "planet," which he thought was kind of stupid because it wasn't like there was anyone else close enough to hear. Except maybe Ma, outside, and she didn't count. Obviously.

"Yeah," he said anyway. "My mom used to live here. We come to visit my grandparents sometimes."

"My mother is from another culture," Shei told him. "But she doesn't have any family there anymore. Because of the war. The only grandparents I have are the ones at home."

"The only grandparents I have are here," Kae said. "Dad and Ma's parents were lost in--in the war. And Pa's parents died before that. His grandparents raised him. They're back home."

"So you have great-grandparents at home?" Shei looked kind of impressed by that, so he just nodded. "That's pretty... wow. Where we come from. Not many people have great-grandparents at all."

He knew what she meant. The war had messed up everyone's family. It had been even worse where he came from, but she didn't have any reason to know he wasn't from this dimension and he didn't see why he should tell her. He nodded again, though, because it was still true, and they came to a halt in front of the half-hidden vending machines.

"Just so you know," she said, lowering her voice. "I'm an empath. Mom says I have to tell people if I'm going to use it."

"My mom says I should tell people I can crack computer codes just by reading them," Kae remarked, studying the candy more carefully this time. He didn't want to accidentally get something he already had. "But the rest of my parents think that if other people are going to write sloppy code, they deserve to have it cracked."

There was a long pause, and he decided on M&Ms. They took a long time to eat, and they looked fun. "Everything has a letter and a number under it," he said, pointing to his M&Ms. "See how they say 'D7'? And '1.00'? That means you need four quarters, because each quarter is a quarter of one.

"You put them in up here," he added, dropping the quarters into the slot one at a time. "Then you have to push the letter and the number under the thing you want over here--" He pushed 'D' and '7', and a little motor whined to life as the metal spiral started to turn. "And it falls out."

The bag of M&Ms fell from their shelf and banged against the bottom of the machine. He stuck his hand through the plastic flap and pulled them out, tearing the bag open as soon as he had it in his hand. Popping an M&M in his mouth, he grinned at Shei's obvious surprise. "Weird, huh?"

"You don't care that I'm an empath?" she blurted out.

Kae blinked. That was what she cared about? A candy machine, quarters, and no adults around, and she thought he should care that she was empathic? "No," he said, dumping out a small handful of M&Ms and picking out the red ones.

"What are those?" she demanded, finally catching on to what was really important. "M8M...? What does that mean? Is that candy?"

"M and M," he corrected, crunching down on another red M&M happily. "And yeah, of course it's candy. All of it's candy. Most of it." But why anyone would get something from a vending machine that wasn't candy or juice, he had no idea. "Want one?"

He held out his hand, and she stared at the M&Ms for a moment before picking out a green one and putting it in her mouth. She hummed a little, frowning, and he thought she was weird about candy. Sugar and chocolate. What could be bad about it?

"It's good," she decided after a moment. Like it was a big surprise. "I want some."

"D7," he told her, stepping out of the way and taking his M&Ms with him. He'd gotten away with extra chocolate without even having to ask or lie for it, and he wasn't going to share it all with a stranger.

"D," she said, mostly to herself as she poked the buttons. "7."

"Quarters first," Kae advised, putting a yellow M&M in his mouth.

"Quarters," she repeated. As they clattered into the machine, she added, "Quarters of what?"

"One," he answered, crunching through the candy coating while he watched. "Obviously."

"One what?" Shei insisted. "Credit? Point? Monkey tooth?"

He grinned at the idea of using monkey teeth as currency, but he had to admit he didn't know. "Ask my mom," he suggested. "She'd know. It's her culture, after all."

"D7!" She exclaimed triumphantly, as a second bag of M&Ms fell off of their rack. "What do you do with this again?"

"Just push it." Kae leaned down to demonstrate, and she stuck her hand into the space he created. He waited until she'd pulled her candy out to let the plastic flap fall.

"And I can just--" She tore the top of the bag without finishing the question, but she looked kind of appalled at the way it ripped. "How can they reuse these later?"

"They don't," he said. "They recycle them right away."

"Wow." Shei was staring at the bag. "That must waste a lot of energy."

He shrugged. He wanted to say, "It's Earth, what do you expect?" but she was the one who kept saying culture and not only did he think she might not like him saying "Earth" but he got the feeling she might not be too fond of him making fun of other planets in the first place. So he ate another M&M and waited for her to forget about it.

"What's your name?" she asked, crumpling up the bag in her effort to get her fingers inside and pick out the M&Ms. "You didn't tell me."

"You didn't ask," he pointed out.

"Yes I did." Shei frowned at him, then down at the M&Ms in her hand. "Just now."

"Kae," he said, dumping a few more M&Ms into his palm. "You can pour them out, you know."

"I know," she said defensively. "Are you from KO-35?"

"Yeah." He watched her keep picking the M&Ms out of the bag.

"I'm going back outside," she said, putting more M&Ms in her mouth. "Coming?"

He shrugged again, since obviously he was going back but he didn't want it to look like he was doing it because she'd asked. "I don't really like... swimming."

"Me neither," she agreed, turning away from the machine. "Water makes me nervous. I think it smells funny."

Kae looked at her in surprise. She was walking out into the lobby, and he had to follow if he wanted her to hear him. "Really?"

She didn't look back. "Uh-huh. I told my aunt and uncle I don't mind, but really I'd rather be doing something else."

"Your aunt and uncle?" he repeated. Cassie and Saryn were his aunt and uncle. If they were hers too, he was pretty sure that made them cousins. And that wouldn't be the worst thing ever, because he only had two other cousins and they weren't much older than Hope, so he wouldn't mind if he had one a little closer to his own age.

"Kind of," Shei said, slowing down a little just as he caught up with her. "They're my parents' teammates. You know," she said, glancing at him to see if he did.

"Yeah," he agreed, a little suspicious. "Mine too."

"Really?" She studied him sideways, then nodded. "Well, they were on a lot of teams. And they live right next door to us, and they were coming here, and I've never been here..." She trailed off, leaning against the outside door. "So my parents said I could come with them."

"Huh." He pushed against the other door, and they went through at the same time. "I guess we're kind of cousins, then."

"Yeah." She looked over at the pool. Two dark-haired girls, mirror images of each other except for the colors they were wearing, sat on the far side with their legs dangling in the water. "Like me and Terra and Jenni."

They were his real cousins, but he was distracted by their gestures before he could say anything. Jenni was deaf, he knew, and her whole family used some sort of funny hand language to communicate with her. He didn't know why she couldn't just read. His mom said it was hard for her to learn when she couldn't hear how the words sounded out loud, but he didn't have to sound out words to know what they meant.

It would be easier than that hand thing, anyway. That couldn't be anything like talking. He knew lots more words than he knew ways to gesture with his hands.

The crinkle of an M&M bag made him look over at Shei again, but she was frowning down at an empty package. He stared at her in surprise. "Wow, you ate all of your M&Ms that fast?"

"I was sorting them by color," she explained, as if that made a difference. "But then I realized they all taste the same, so yeah. I just ate them all."

Kae hadn't even eaten his Snickers bar that fast. He was impressed. "You want some more of mine?" he asked.

"Okay." She sounded a little surprised, but she held out her hand anyway. Instead of pouring them out, he picked out a couple of green M&Ms and handed them over. "Thanks."

"If I don't give them to you, I'll just have to share them with Hope," he informed her.

Shei gave him a sympathetic look, then said very seriously, "You should eat faster."

He figured that might be true.

2. Cover Story

It was strange to go by Ashley Hammond again. She'd been Ashley Tyuseabe for more than four years, but she still hadn't gotten around to changing her name on Earth. Even California didn't recognize extraplanetary marriages, so the hassle of a legal change couldn't be expedited and she just kept putting it off.

It was even stranger to be back in her parents' house, with her entire family for the first time since... well, ever. This was the first time the four Tyuseabes and their two children had ever simultaneously occupied the Hammond household. Some of the potential awkwardness was overwhelmed by the sheer volume.

And the fact that her parents had decided to celebrate everyone's birthday at once. It wasn't any of the kids' birthday, but Ashley's dad insisted that if they were going to miss most of the major celebrations in the grandkids' lives then they should be able to invent their own when it was convenient. Her reminder that the Kerova system didn't celebrate birthdays carried no weight at all--especially after Andros told her parents that Kae and Hope got birthday presents every year anyway.

So Kae, Hope, Jenni, and Terra all got their own miniature birthday cakes, which meant that Shei had to have one too, and the cakes led to the first of many arguments over who was actually the oldest. Kae and Shei were both convinced the title should be theirs, and Shei might have won if Ashley's mom hadn't objected. Not to Shei's age. It was the twins she didn't believe when they both insisted they were eight years old.

"Five," Saryn said aloud, when Ashley's mom gave him and Cassie a bewildered look. "They would be five, on Earth. Our years are significantly shorter than yours."

"Hah," Kae declared, smirking at Shei. "You're not fourteen at all."

"I am," Shei insisted. "You're just mad 'cause I'm older than you are."

Ashley exchanged glances with Zhane, but he just grinned and helped himself to some of Hope's cake. "What you should really ask," he confided in a not-so-quiet undertone to Ashley's dad, "is how old that makes Saryn."

Kerone had put Zhane in charge of monitoring the so far civil rivalry between their son and Shei, so if he wasn't worried, Ashley was perfectly happy to ignore the age argument. She had to roll her eyes at his comment about Saryn, though. The Rangers had all found a way to tease Cassie about her husband's age back when the two of them were first married, but it was background noise now.

Except to Zhane, apparently. And probably to Ashley's parents, since apparently no one had ever told them about this particular quirk of Elisian life. Cassie was busy signing something to the twins--probably explaining why their dad was telling people they were five--so she wasn't even going to see it coming.

"Forty-six," Saryn said calmly. "As measured by the revolution of Elisia around our suns. Likewise, Shei is in fact fourteen. On Elisia."

"See?" Shei stuck her tongue out, but Kae was not deterred.

"If their Earth age is five eighths of their Elisian age," he informed Shei, "then you're eight in Earth years. I'm ten. I'm older."

"Forty-six?" Ashley's mom repeated.

"Thirty-one," Cassie countered, proving that she was paying more attention than it looked like she was. "He's thirty-one. Saryn, stop scaring my family."

Ashley felt her mom's gaze settle on her and she looked up to catch her eye and smile. Her mom smiled back, of course, but she couldn't help feeling a little smug. See? she wanted to say. My husband isn't the only strange one.

Her husband--well, husbands--came from another planet, but at least neither of them was forty-six. One of them was technically younger than she was, after two years of life lost in hypersleep. And her wife had always been younger... a difference that would only grow if turned out that Kerone couldn't actually die.

Her two husbands, and her immortal wife. Okay, maybe they were still a little stranger than Cassie and Saryn. She thought her parents were handling it all right, all things considered.

At least, she thought so until she went to help her mom in the kitchen and her mom casually asked how the kids were doing. School was going all right? They were making friends? Any hard questions about parents, or where they came from, or why their family was different from everyone else's?

Ashley couldn't help feeling defensive when her parents asked about how the kids were doing. Even when it was perfectly innocent, she wondered if they were secretly waiting for her family to fall apart. Or for the kids to grow up maladjusted, with huge social and relationship issues that would just prove that their parents had set a terrible example for them. But it wasn't the questions that made her realize that her parents weren't handling it "all right" after all.

It was the knock on the door in the middle of the questions that her dad went to answer, and the way her mom's expression changed when they heard his surprised voice greeting "mom." Ashley's mom gave her a look that managed to be simultaneously startled and apologetic when Ashley hissed, "Grandma's here?!"

"She said she was coming up next week," her mom whispered back. "She wanted to see the kids... it's been three years, and you know she hasn't even met Hope--"

"Andros," Ashley called, leaning around the corner. If she was lucky, they would have a few seconds before Grandma made it past her dad and into the kitchen and Ashley could pretend she hadn't heard the door. "Could you come here for a second?"

She caught Cassie's eye, and Cassie jerked her head toward the door. She mouthed something unintelligible. Ashley just nodded, because yeah, she knew. A nosy seventy-eight-year-old woman who talked too much was about to walk into a room with five alien children who thought everyone in the house knew who they were.

"I was going to tell you," her mom was saying quietly. "I'm sorry; I had no idea she would arrive so early."

"It's Grandma," Ashley said, putting a hand on her shoulder because her mom actually looked a little nervous. Maybe not as nervous as she should be, but worried nonetheless. "Who ever knows what she's going to do?"

"What can I do to help?" her mom asked, just as Andros ducked into the kitchen.

That was when Ashley realized that her parents weren't just "all right" with her unorthodox family. They were actually remarkably accepting and supportive. Not just compared with the rest of Ashley's relatives, who had been told a story that vaguely resembled part of the truth, but also in their willingness to help prep the kids' for "native" interaction at a moment's notice.

"Help Hope introduce herself," Ashley said, giving her mom a gentle nudge toward the door even as exclamations and greetings from the other room announced her grandma's arrival in the kitchen. "She's from Vancouver, British Columbia. She never remembers the BC part."

"Vancouver's on the coast?" Andros asked quietly, as her mom disappeared. "Big city? Lots of traffic?"

"West coast, lots of traffic, millions of people," she agreed. "It's basically the entire population of KO-35--"

"In one place," Andros finished for her. "I know. Don't worry, Ash."

She tried to relax. It was just her grandmother, after all. This was the woman who had had an entire conversation with the Yellow Astro Ranger, been called "Grandma" by said Ranger, and apparently never connected her with the granddaughter she had seen in exactly the same place minutes before.

"Do you think Cassie and Saryn are okay?" she asked, edging toward the doorway in an effort to overhear individual conversations through the rapidly rising noise level in the other room.

Andros looked amused at the question. "Saryn probably interrogated the twins about their background the whole way here. In both languages. I bet Shei has an entire script. They'll be fine."

"Okay," she said, just to say something. She took a deep breath, and she felt Andros' hand settle on the small of her back. Perfectly acceptable for a friendly neighbor. She gave him a grateful smile. He winked back at her, looking very much like his sister in that moment, and they walked out of the kitchen together.

"Ashley!" Her grandma interrupted every voice in the room to greet her. She had Hope standing up on her chair to give her a hug, and she gave the girl a final squeeze before hurrying around the table to meet Ashley halfway.

"Hi Grandma," Ashley said with a laugh, hugging the shorter woman carefully and taking a quick look around the table while she was distracted. Her mom was helping Hope sit down again while Cassie signed to the twins. Shei was watching as attentively as they were, and Ashley thought, not for the first time, that sign language was unbelievably useful in situations like this.

Zhane and Aoife were whispering to each other, and even as she watched, Zhane turned the other way to exchange soft words with Saryn. Ashley's dad was looking on from the other side of the room, a bemused expression on his face. That was pretty common when her grandma was around, though, so she didn't worry.

Kerone had switched her dessert plate with Andros' while they were gone and she was on her feet now, looking for all the world like a slightly nervous grandaughter-in-law. Sure enough, as soon as her grandma released her, patting Ashley's arm and making noises about being happy to see her, she looked around and beamed at Kerone. "And you too, dear," she declared happily. "Give your old grandma a hug!"

"Don't be silly," Kerone said, hugging her back with a smile. "You're not old, Grandma."

"Oh, you're very kind," was the reply, "but of course I'm old, compared to all you young things in here! I'm hundreds of times as old as my darling great-granddaughter!

"We've met, you know," she confided to Ashley, as though no one had seen her hugging Hope on her chair seconds before. "I had no idea she was so beautiful, but of course, she would be, being your daughter. Oh, she must have been the sweetest baby in the entire world!"

"She was," Ashley agreed. She knew better than to try to say more, and sure enough, her grandma barely paused for her reply. She was off and running again in an amount of time that would have had to be measured in decimal places.

"Not that a child born to you wouldn't also be beautiful, dear," her grandma was telling Kerone. "In fact, she looks so much like you, no one would know she wasn't your real daughter! Well, I mean, of course she's your real daughter, but your biological daughter, you know what I mean.

"And look at you!" Grandma got away with things like that, Ashley thought, because she didn't pause long enough for anyone else to say anything. Now she was holding out her arms to Kae, who was giving her a sort of nonplussed expression. "You've gotten so big! Oh, I can't believe how much you've changed! I was afraid two women wouldn't know how to feed a growing boy, but I can see I worried for nothing. Give us a hug!"

Kae pushed his chair back with obvious reluctance, getting to his feet and letting her wrap him in the same ridiculous hug that all old people felt it was their duty to bestow on young children. He mumbled something that might have been a hello, and Grandma patted his cheek and beamed at him. "Aren't you a charmer," she declared. "I bet you've got all sorts of girlfriends, haven't you! Or boyfriends, I suppose, with parents like yours. Well, whatever you fancy.

"Now," she said, stepping back and putting her hands on her hips as she surveyed the rest of the room. "Someone simply must introduce me to the rest of you! Ashley? Who are all your friends? They are your friends, aren't they? They look a little young to be your parents' guests, although what am I saying, I certainly don't have any room to talk."

Ashley's mom took advantage of the very brief pause to ask, "Can we get you some cake? Something to drink? Joe, maybe you could find another chair..."

"Oh, is this birthday cake you're eating?" Grandma exclaimed. "How wonderful! I do love a good birthday cake. Whose birthday is it?"

"It's everyone's birthday today, Grandma," Ashley told her. "We don't get down here very often, so we're celebrating all the kids' birthdays at once."

"That's a lovely idea! I'm so glad I brought presents for all of you, although maybe I should get the children some more if it's their birthday, because these are just regular presents, you know, not birthday presents--"

"Mom," Ashley's dad interrupted. "Breathe. They're here for a whole week. You don't have to have every conversation with them at once."

"Oh, yes, of course," her grandma agreed. "It's just that I, well, you understand. I'm just so excited to see all of you! I couldn't wait till Monday; I had to come over as soon as I was in town. I hope you don't mind."

Something made Ashley glance at Zhane, and she immediately wished she hadn't. He was giving her a bland look that only partly covered the incredulous sparkle in his eyes. Is she like this all the time? he demanded silently, and she would have sworn she could hear his amusement in her mind.

Behave, she warned him. Everything she learns about us will be broadcast to the rest of the world at the exact same rate of speed.

"So," Grandma was saying. She had sat down at the table with the kids, looking around at all of them with a sharp eye. "How old is everyone today? Hope? How old are you?"

"I'm three," Hope told her without hesitation. "I'm from Canada."

Ashley bit her lip, but her grandma paid no attention.

"Three whole years old?" Grandma repeated. "You're a big girl now! Thank goodness I got to meet you before you got any older--" And here she cast a reproving look over her shoulder at pretty much everyone else in the room. "You might have been driving a car before I knew my own great-granddaughter!"

Hope's eyes went very wide at this news. "I'm going to drive a car?" she squeaked.

"Of course you are, sweetheart," Grandma assured her. "When you're older you'll take a test and get a license and you'll be able to drive anywhere you want! Or maybe you won't, I don't know, is it different in Canada? That's a long way off, but maybe some kindly grandma will give you a present to keep you busy in the meantime.

"Who's next?" she added, glancing around the table. "Kae, how old are you?"

"Ten," he said. He was paying more attention to his cake than he was to her.

"Well, you're practically a young man! You must be a big help to your parents. I hope you set a good example for your sister, especially when you start driving. Don't get into any accidents, cars are very dangerous, you know--"

Kae, who had gotten his hover license the year before, just muttered something that might have been agreement and kept eating. In any other situation, Ashley might have wished for him to act a little more friendly, but right now she was pretty sure the less any of the kids said, the better. They really should have gone over basic Earth facts again before they left the hotel.

"And what about you girls?" Grandma was asking, just as Ashley's dad set a plate with a piece of cake and a fork down on the table in front of her. "Oh, thank you, dear," she said. "Could I trouble you for a glass of milk, too? I hate to eat cake without milk. It's just not the same."

"It'll be right out," Ashley's dad promised. "Can I get anyone else anything while I'm in the kitchen?"

"Can I have another piece of cake?" Zhane wanted to know. "These are really great, M--Mrs. Hammond. You'll have to show me how you made them."

"Straight from the box, I'm afraid." Her mom didn't bat an eye at his abrupt transition from "mom" to "Mrs. Hammond." Zhane was maybe the only one of them who would have remembered, and Ashley felt a little guilty for effectively casting him out of the family for the duration of her grandma's visit.

"And Zhane," her mom added, "you and Andros should really call me Molly. You're family as much as Ashley and Kerone, you know."

Ashley had looked away from the scene at the table long enough to listen and flash her mom a grateful smile. Unfortunately, that was enough time for her grandma to start an argument with Terra, which was amazing on all sorts of levels. One, it was a new record for her grandma, who usually didn't annoy people until they had caught up with what she had been saying three minutes ago. Two, Terra was normally the quiet twin, shy and kind and without a harsh word for anyone.

Three, Jenni was startling everyone by banging on the table and shouting while Terra ignored her. Ashley had never seen Terra ignore Jenni, but there she was, frowning at Grandma and saying something that Jenni drowned out with noise. Terra simply talked louder, yelling, "She already told you how old she is! She's the same age as me!"

"Well, I don't see why she can't tell me herself!" Grandma shouted back. "I'm not a scary old woman, and furthermore, there's obviously nothing wrong with her voice!"

"It isn't her voice!" Shei yelled, shoving her chair back and glaring across the table fiercely. "It's her ears! She can't hear you so Terra has to translate for her!"

"Oh." Anything else Grandma might have said was lost as her voice dropped below a yell and Jenni kept right on screaming. Cassie was already at the table, touching Jenni's shoulder to get her attention, but the younger twin closed her eyes and put her head down on the table immediately.

On the plus side, silence reigned.

On the minus side, Jenni wouldn't let anyone explain anything to her. Terra looked disgusted. Hope looked horrified, and she slid out of her chair without a word. Her cake was left behind at the table as she slunk over to the couch where Andros and Zhane were sitting. Zhane shifted, and she climbed up to sit between them.

Grandma looked ashamed of herself. Shei just went back to her cake like nothing had happened, apparently unconcerned, and Kae was pretending he had never looked up in the first place. Cassie was left with the awkward task of trying to appease everyone.

"Jenni can't hear," she told Grandma. "She uses a visual language instead of an auditory one. Terra was only trying to tell you what Jenni was saying."

"I'm so sorry," Grandma said in a small voice. "I really didn't mean to cause any trouble. I just wanted to talk to her, and I don't really understand what a visual language is--is that like reading? If I write something down, can she read it?"

"Jenni can't read yet," Terra said, in a voice that was as cold and mean as a little girl could manage. "Writing down words she can't hear doesn't help. How is she supposed to know what they mean?"

"Terra," Cassie said gently. "Grandma doesn't know what it's like to be deaf."

"I'm telling her," Terra protested. "It's easier for you to learn to sign than it is for her to learn to read," she added, this last clearly directed at Grandma.

"Oh?" Grandma perked up a little. "Can you teach me how you talk to her, then? I can't have a member of the family that I can't talk to, that's just not right."

This time it was Andros' voice in her head. Some members of the family might disagree.

Ashley managed to hide her smile, but she couldn't muster a suitable glare for his remark. Andros found her grandma infinitely more amusing from a distance. He was perfectly willing to watch her steamroll everyone in her path with her incessant chatter, as long as the person in her path wasn't him. He usually tried to ensure that it wasn't by the simple expedient of not talking to her.

"I have to ask Jenni," Terra was saying, after an uncertain glance at her mother. "Sometimes she doesn't want me to teach people."

"But I'm sure she'll be willing to teach you herself," Cassie said smoothly.

Ashley wasn't so sure, given that Jenni still had her head down on the table and was stubbornly refusing to lift it and look at anyone. But Grandma was nodding enthusiastically. "That would be lovely, I do hope she'll understand and let me apologize, and at my age, you know, you have to take every opportunity you get to learn something new. When you stop learning that's when you start forgetting and then they pack you off to the senior center and day care with bingo and tambourines.

"Not that there's anything wrong with bingo," she added as a sort of aside. "I do enjoy a good game every now and then. Especially when they play for money. I've won a lot of quarters at bingo, probably because I can keep track of so many sheets at once. Don't let anyone tell you that's not a skill."

Kae had finished his cake and was giving her a speculative look. "Quarters?" he repeated.

"Yes, well, I suppose it's technically gambling," her grandma told him, "but they let us old folks get away with it because it keeps us from bothering the younger generation for a few nights every week. Don't be afraid to get old, Kae, you'll get to do all sorts of things they don't let you do when you're young."

Kae looked very interested, and he wasn't the only one. Shei had paused in the middle of her cake. Even Terra looked like she might be willing to hear the rest of this story, which Ashley was starting to think might not be such a good idea.

Luckily, her father came back with a glass of milk and another plate just then, and he acted like the kitchen was in another dimension from which he couldn't possibly have heard people screaming and banging on furniture. "Here you are, Mom," he said. "Have you been introduced to everyone yet? I'm not sure you know Ashley and Kerone's neighbors."

"Oh, yes, of course," Grandma said, sliding out of her chair at the table and turning around. "I met Andros when I was trying to set my granddaughter up with her friend Carlos! I guess we all know why that didn't work out," she added, giving Kerone a hugely not-secretive-at-all smile.

Ashley rolled her eyes before she even realized what she was doing. Of course her mom caught her at it--the only one who noticed, as far as Ashley could tell--and gave her a warning look. But it really wasn't fair: the only straight member of their family, and all her relatives thought she was raising two children with her lesbian wife in Canada.

"Because Carlos was destined to meet an alien Power Ranger and run off to another planet to marry her?" Zhane suggested, giving her grandma his most charming look. Over his second piece of cake.

"Oh, yes, I heard all about that!" Her grandma clasped her hands together delightedly. "Isn't it just the most romantic thing? Imagine, going all the way to another planet to find true love... and with a Power Ranger, too!"

"Yes," Andros agreed, in that earnest way he had that completely disguised his intentional sarcasm. "It's a pretty unusual story."

"So you and Ashley are neighbors now?" Grandma said with a smile. "I always knew those were good friends you had, Ashley. Imagine, moving all the way to Canada together!"

"Actually," Ashley said quickly. "Andros and Zhane are both from Canada originally. Andros was just, um, doing a study abroad program when you met him."

"Well, he must have been." Grandma gave her an exasperated look. "If you became a Canadian citizen by marrying his sister, then she must be from Canada, and so why wouldn't Andros be? But you must have met her after you moved to Canada with him, isn't that right?

"Unless she came to visit him here and you met her then," she continued, "and if that's the case then I suppose you moved to Canada to be with her. Which is a good thing, really, since you couldn't have gotten married here, and I don't know why not because I think love is love but there are some people who don't seem to agree."

"Right," Ashley said, when she paused for breath. "That's what happened."

"So you're Zhane?" Grandma smiled sweetly at him, holding out her hand. And Zhane, ever the flirt, didn't even pretend to shake it.

Standing up, he took her hand and bowed over it, smiling back at her as he straightened. "I'm Zhane," he agreed. "Married Andros four years ago last month. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Oh!" She blushed and giggled at him like almost every other woman in the local group of galaxies. "Well! It's a pleasure to meet you too. You can call me Grandma; everyone else does. Did I hear you say you like to cook?"

"Indeed I do," Zhane agreed, deftly removing his cake plate from Hope's sneaky hands as he sat back down. "Someone has to, or we'd live on packaged food and restaurant cuisine for the rest of our lives."

Ashley cleared her throat guiltily, because that was probably true. More true than it sounded when Zhane implied it was only Andros who didn't cook. She and Kerone were just as lazy around the kitchen. Zhane was the one who made sure the children knew food didn't grow on plates.

"Well, they say the way to a man's heart is through his tummy," Grandma reminded them. "I guess gay men are no different. Congratulations, dear," she added, leaning forward to pat Andros on the shoulder. "I can't say I'm surprised, but you've done well for yourself.

"Cassie!" she called, turning in a circle and so completely missing the way Andros' eyes widened and Zhane tried to pretend he was just coughing on a bit of cake that had gone down the wrong way. "Who is the father of your beautiful girls?"

The answer was obvious, of course, and it wasn't as though her parents didn't keep the relatives informed. Well. Partly informed. Last Ashley had heard, Cassie was supposedly living in New Mexico with her native husband at some sort of kiva.

"This must be Saryn?" Grandma was saying. "I've heard your name so many times and somehow I've never met you; why is that?"

"I could not say," Saryn replied gravely.

"Well, you don't sound like an Indian," her grandma decided. Based on four words and her extensive knowledge of native accents, Ashley thought with a sigh.

Saryn didn't blink. "My father was not of the desert."

Ashley had no idea if that was true, let alone whether it explained anything about Saryn or not. Someday she really ought to learn something about Cassie's husband. Maybe it was just because she had so many spouses of her own that she had trouble keeping up.

"Oh, not of the desert, I like that," Grandma declared. "That's very romantic sounding. Now what do you do, young man? Because I understand there aren't many jobs out on those reservations these days, and I know Cassie is a stay-at-home mom, bless her heart, so I want to make sure you're supporting your family--"

"Grandma!" Ashley protested, just as her father jumped in.

"Mom, they're doing fine. You don't need to manage every aspect of their lives."

"I understand her concern," Saryn countered, apparently in all seriousness. "It is valid."

Then, before anyone could stop him, he inclined his head toward Ashley's grandma and told her, "I am afraid I can not give you details of my work. I am employed by the government, and I am not at liberty to discuss the responsibilities assigned to me. However, I assure you that Cassie and the twins will never lack for luxuries."

Grandma's eyes were wide, but she was nowhere near as speechless as Ashley felt. A quick glance at her parents confirmed that they had caught the vaguely sinister tone to Saryn's voice as well. It had been a while, Ashley realized, since she had heard Cassie's husband put in the position of defending someone or something he loved. She'd forgotten how frankly creepy he could sound when he tried.

"Well, of course, I didn't mean to imply they would because obviously you know what you're doing," Grandma was saying hastily. "So glad we've met, it puts my mind at ease, you have no idea. And who is this?"

Ashley caught Cassie's eye briefly as Grandma put her hands on her hips and stared down at Aoife, now sitting on the floor beside the Hammonds' cat with her dessert plate off to one side. Cassie rolled her eyes. Aoife patted the cat, smiling up at Ashley's grandma uncertainly. "I'm Aoife," she offered. "I watch Hope when the... um, Ashley and Kerone aren't home."

"Oh, you have a nanny!" Grandma exclaimed. "I'm so glad, I know you're modern women with your jobs and your family and all of that, but I do worry, you know. It's so good that you have help. And Aoife, you seem like a charming young woman--Aoife, that sounds Irish, is it?"

Aoife's glance slid past Grandma to Ashley. Ashley gave her a thumbs-up, nodding once, and Aoife smiled up at her grandma again. "Yes, it is," she agreed.

"Are your parents Irish, then?" Grandma persisted. "Well, no, I suppose they must be Canadian, if you're from Canada. Unless you're one of those overseas au pairs, you just never know what you're going to get with those programs... not that you're not lovely, dear, my granddaughter is lucky to have you.

"Okay dokey," she added, raising her voice without waiting for an answer, "now that I've met everyone it must be time for presents! Kae, will you help me carry them inside? Come along now, I left them all outside so they wouldn't get in the way!"

Kae, not surprisingly, was perfectly willing to help with the transportation of presents. Ashley took a quick inventory of the room, found Hope trying to make Zhane go get her cake from the table for her and Andros trying to convince him not to. Jenni had gotten up from the table and was sitting by the sliding glass doors with her back to the rest of the room. Terra had joined her, although she'd brought her dessert with her and neither of the twins seemed to be talking.

"She probably thinks you're with the mob," Cassie was saying quietly to Saryn. She seemed more amused by the attitude he'd given Ashley's grandma than worried about their sulking children. "They'll 'never lack for luxuries'?"

"And so you do not," Saryn returned, just as quietly. "She may interpret that however she wishes."

"I really hope Mom didn't buy out a toy store on her way here," Ashley dad remarked to the room at large. "You supposedly flew here from Canada. With enough luggage for a week. Does she think you're going to ship everything home?"

"Am I Irish now?" Aoife asked. "I feel like I should know where I come from."

"I'm from Canada," Hope said proudly.

"We're all from Canada," Ashley agreed. "Aoife, you can be of Irish descent. But we need to keep this easy enough for everyone to remember, and that means sticking as close to the truth as possible."

"Yeah, Ash, I notice that both your children call their gay neighbors 'Dad' and 'Pa,'" Cassie put in, grinning when Ashley stuck her tongue out at her. "I'm guessing Andros and Zhane babysit a lot?"

"Your husband works for the Indian mob," Ashley told her. "Don't talk to me about my gay neighbors."

"What's the mob?" Shei wanted to know. She had pushed all the plates still at the table into a pile, and before anyone could answer she added, "Hope, do you want your cake?"

"Yes!" Hope gave up on her pa and slid off of the couch on her own. "I want my cake!"

"Okay, well." Shei moved it a little away from the other plates again. "Here it is."

That was when Grandma returned with Kae, several large bags, and armfuls of stuff on top of that. Ashley opened her mouth, about to protest, since obviously her dad was right. Where did Grandma think they were going to put all this stuff?

A hand on her shoulder stopped her, though, and she looked around to see Kerone holding a plate and an untouched piece of cake. "You never did get to sit down and eat your cake," she murmured. "Let them open their presents and stop worrying for a few minutes."

"I'm not worrying," Ashley whispered back. As she said it, she realized her arms were folded and Kerone was giving her a knowing look.

"You're making them worry," Kerone said softly. "Your grandma is making up all her own stores about driving and bingo and Irish names. What could they possibly say to her that she would think was strange?"

She felt herself smiling at that, and she tried to relax. "Okay," she admitted under her breath. "You're probably right."

"Sit down," Kerone told her. "Eat your cake. Eat mine. Everyone's fine."

Everyone was fine, with the possible exception of Jenni and Terra, who were still pretending the rest of the room didn't exist. Jenni was more successful at it than Terra, who was perfectly aware that presents were being exchanged behind her and kept looking over her shoulder to see what was going on. Finally Shei brought their presents over to them and left them.

This proved to be the most successful strategy, although the fact that Terra could hear the other kids shouting with excitement as they realized that each of their ugly looking plastic toys was remote controlled probably didn't hurt. Shei had a car, and Ashley was surprised she'd left it alone long enough to remember the twins. She kept racing it in circles around Kae's dinosaur, which was a lot slower but surprisingly mobile. He was trying to make it pick up her car whenever it bumped into something and was forced to stop for a few seconds.

Hope had gotten a little robot monkey, which Ashley thought was weird until Terra opened her present and found a robot dog. Jenni's was a remote controlled robot cat. This immediately endeared Grandma to her again, and she seemed to forget all about the shouting and the sulking as she and Terra figured out how to work their control consoles.

Unfortunately, the twins were considerably better with the remotes than Hope, who was too easily frustrated to figure out which buttons made her monkey do what. Aoife tried to help her with it, which was above and beyond the call as far as Ashley was concerned--the presents were her grandma's idea, her grandma should be the one to deal with at least the initial chaos. But it was Shei who once again came to the rescue, trading her car remote for Hope's monkey, learning the monkey functions while Hope happily zipped the much easier car all over the room.

Once Shei got the monkey doing cute things, of course, Hope wanted it back. Shei didn't give it up right away, and Ashley tried not to think about the battle that might ensue. It turned out that Shei was smarter than Ashley had given her credit for, and the reverse psychology made Hope so possessive of the monkey that she wouldn't let anyone else play with it for the rest of the evening.

"Robot wars," Ashley whispered to Kerone at one point. "Epic battles will be fought over these creatures."

"As long as they're fought with these creatures," Kerone murmured back, "we're probably okay."

Of course the kids weren't the only ones who got presents. Grandma was a little better at picking toys than she was at choosing clothes, though, and somehow all of Ashley's generation ended up with another one of those ridiculous Hawaiian print shirts her grandma had brought last time. The disconcerting part came when Ashley realized that not only had her grandma known to get one for Aoife--maybe her parents had told her Ashley and Kerone were bringing someone with them?--but every last one of the shirts was color coordinated.

It wasn't surprising, maybe, that she'd split them up by couple: Ashley and Kerone had matching shirts, and so did Andros and Zhane. Even Cassie and Saryn. The strange part was that Ashley and Kerone's shirts featured a sunrise of yellow and purple on blue. Andros and Zhane's twilight pattern was silver and black on red. Cassie and Saryn got a red and pink flower print that was undeniably the worst in the room.

"Grandma," Ashley began, moving her foot out of the way as Shei's car came speeding past her chair again. "What made you pick these shirts, in particular?"

Her grandma blinked at her. "Why, don't you like them? I was thinking of you while I was on vacation and I wanted something bright and beautiful to remind you of how wonderful love is. They're all matching," she pointed out, in case they hadn't noticed, "so you can always find each other.

"I got you two," she added, frowning over at the sofa where Aoife was holding up a pillow for Hope's monkey to punch. Or maybe she was defending herself from the monkey's flailing, it was hard to tell. "Since no one saw fit to tell me whether you have a special someone back home, I just assumed you did and bought a shirt for him too. Or her. You know, whatever you like."

"Oh, thank you," Aoife managed, propping up a second pillow to fend off Hope's monkey attack. "It's very pretty."

Ashley had a sneaking suspicion that Aoife had gotten the best pattern in the room. Or at least, the quietest. Blue and green waves with sand and little orange seastars, which only led her back to her original question. "I'm just wondering how you decided on the colors, Grandma."

"Oh, that was easy," her grandma said with a laugh. "Those are the colors you always wear, aren't they? I'm not blind, you know, not blind or senile or anything like that. I know what my granddaughters' favorite colors are."

Ashley exchanged glances with Kerone. Her own yellow blouse and Kerone's lilac-colored t-shirt made that hard to argue, but still... Grandma had never even met Zhane or Saryn before tonight. Not that Cassie didn't wear a sort of disturbing combination of pink and red sometimes. And Andros wore a lot of grey. But how often did her grandma see either of them?

"And these are for you," the older woman was saying, handing a bag and a wrapped package to Ashley's mom. "For both of you, Joseph, so come over here and help her open them! You can't leave the women to do all the work!"

Ashley's mom handed him the bag while she carefully pulled apart the wrapping paper on the package. There was a photo album inside, and Ashley called for her to hold it up when she took one look and smiled. When it was lifted for her to see, she caught sight of Christmas decorations and beaches and at least one identifiable picture of Jeff.

"From when I visited your brother last year," Grandma told her. "Oh, and there's all sorts of other pictures in there, the whole family, and some people I met on vacation, and of course some pictures of me doing exciting and wonderful things. It's just a little reminder of what the things in the bag are for."

Ashley's dad pulled a disposable camera out of the bag and held it up. "Mom, there must be a dozen of these in here."

"Sixteen," Grandma corrected him. "Apparently you can't figure out how to work that fancy digital camera of yours, or I would have gotten pictures of my great-granddaughter at some point over the last three years--I do have e-mail, you know. But I also have a mailbox, so if you need something a little more old-fashioned, you'll just have to make copies of all of your pictures and send them to me priority mail. Preferably with one of those little receipts, just in case they get lost.

"Here, take one right now," she added, catching hold of Hope's overalls from behind and holding her firmly in place. "Smile for the camera, honey!"

"Mom, I don't even have them open yet," her dad protested.

"Grandma," Hope complained, squirming out of her grip. "I have to get my monkey!"

Her monkey was being carefully herded away from her by the combined forces of Robo-dog and Robo-cat, so that no matter which way she made it turn it couldn't move forward if it was headed in her direction. Jenni and Terra were paying no attention to their mom's reproach--Jenni because she was looking at the monkey and so honestly couldn't see Cassie's request for her to let the monkey go, and Terra, probably because she wasn't going to let her sister get away with something she couldn't. Hope got free before Cassie could stop the twins and ran over to scoop up her monkey.

"So," Grandma said, plopping herself down in between Ashley and Kerone. "While he's trying to figure out the wonders of modern technology packaging, bring me up to speed. What are you girls doing with yourselves these days? Kerone, how is the military treating you with two children at home?"

Kerone glanced at Ashley in a way that somehow seemed to indicate she had just taken a sip of her water and couldn't talk for a few seconds. Despite the fact that her water glass was in Ashley's hand right now. She was getting a little too good at misdirection, Ashley decided.

Or maybe just good enough.

"She's not active anymore, Grandma," Ashley said. "She's in the reserve, but they haven't called her up for... I don't know, it must be more than a year, now?"

Kerone smiled, with an innocent look to rival her brother's, and agreed, "Yes, it's been a while. Now I mostly do civilian design work."

"Oh, is that true? What kind of design work? You know that my Ashley used to design clothes, don't you? She's very good at that sort of thing, she always knows the best colors and styles to match. She obviously didn't get it from my side of the family, but Joseph always did have good taste and he got a good one in Molly, that's for sure."

Kerone apparently decided that the best response to this was to ignore it. "I design public spaces," she said calmly. "Community buildings, city parks and gardens..."

"My, isn't that impressive!" Grandma exclaimed. "You're a very civic-minded family, I can see that. One of you a teacher, the other a community planner! Now, what about your brother and his friend? Are you boys still in the military?"

"Yes," Andros said, just as Zhane contradicted him.

"No," he said. When Andros raised his eyebrows at him, Zhane amended, "Andros is. I'm not. I'm a civilian consultant."

"Well, I've heard that's a very well-paid position," Grandma declared. "Good for you. Joseph, have you got that camera working yet? It's really very simple, you just peel it out of the plastic and turn the little wheel. Do I need to come over there and show you how to do it?"

She didn't need to, but of course she did anyway. Kerone leaned into Ashley and rested her head on her shoulder momentarily, and they watched her dad and Grandma fight over who should be the one taking the pictures. Kae wanted to know what the camera did, which might have been awkward except that Grandma thought he was too used to digital to know about disposables. Or even film.

In the end, everyone got a chance at the camera, and they went through all thirty-six exposures--plus a few extras--in less than half an hour. Grandma wasn't worried. "That's exactly as it should be," she announced. "You're here for a week and I expect you to use up every one of these cameras. In fact, maybe you should take some of them back to the hotel with you."

Ashley wasn't convinced there would be room for all the kids' toys in the rental cars, let alone cameras and all the cake that her mom wanted to send home with them. They were eventually allowed to leave the cake by promising to help eat it the next day when they brought the kids for their sleepover. Ashley's dad agreed to hold onto the cameras, too, saying that he would make sure they made it to the family rendezvous point at the park the next morning, but Ashley saw Grandma slip one into Kae's hand when she thought no one was looking.

There was no way to properly thank her parents for everything before they left, because Grandma was still there by the time they started bundling the kids out the door. Maybe she was planning to stay with them. Ashley didn't know, and by then, she was too tired to ask. Kerone was right: she had been worrying, pretty much nonstop since they'd arrived at her parents' house, let alone since her grandma had arrived. It was exhausting.

Luckily, Hope was worn out too, and when Aoife offered to put her to bed Ashley only hesitated a moment. They'd traded their neighbor the trip for childcare, but she didn't want Aoife to get stuck with the kids every second of the day. A trip to Earth was only as exciting as the free time she got to spend exploring it, after all.

"Really," Aoife assured her, "I'm too tired to do anything else tonight. As soon as Hope's asleep I'm going to join her, so send Kae in whenever he's ready for bed and we'll call it even."

"Deal," Ashley agreed. At least Kae could get into his pajamas and brush his teeth on his own. She kissed Hope good night, chased Kae into the parents' room, and closed the door behind her before going to find Cassie.

She ran into Shei and her remote controlled car in the hallway. "Is Kae still up?" Shei asked in a stage whisper. She had obviously been told to be quiet in the hall.

"Half an hour 'til bedtime," Ashley told her. "He's in 222."

The little car's motor revved up as Shei sent it whirring down the hall toward their room. "Thanks Aunt Ashley," she called over her shoulder, instantly forgetting to whisper.

Ashley tilted her head, smiling at the strangeness of it, and knocked softly on Cassie and Saryn's door. It was Saryn who answered, stepping back to let her in when he saw who it was. Their room was easily the quietest, despite the occasional yelps, nonsensical babble, and laughter from the twins as they signed over their robot toys.

"Hey," Ashley said, as Saryn followed her into the bedroom. "Am I Aunt Ashley now?"

Cassie looked up from the obviously alien technology she had set up on the desk, probably to check their messages, and she smiled a little. "Weren't you always?"

"I mean to Shei," Ashley said, putting her hands over Cassie's shoulders and hugging her from behind. "I saw her in the hallway on her way to harass Kae with her Robo-car, and she called me Aunt Ashley."

Cassie patted her hands before turning to hug her back. "She and Kae decided they were cousins," she said, getting up out of her chair once she'd let go of Ashley. "Because..." She trailed off, glancing at Saryn, and he shook his head.

"I have no idea why," Cassie finished.

Ashley laughed. "Well, there's always room for more in our family. We'll kick her out of the room and send her back to you in half an hour or so."

"That would be great," Cassie agreed with a sigh. "Can't we go to bed yet?"

"We can pretend." Ashley sat down on the bed and laid back, sideways across the mattress, and a moment later Cassie joined her. "See? It's like sleeping, only less relaxing."

"And more conscious," Saryn's voice remarked.

"Spoilsport," Ashley told the ceiling. "I bet I could be unconscious if I really tried."

"I bet I'd be unconscious if I stopped trying," Cassie replied.

Ashley poked her without looking. "Tell me what the plan is for tomorrow first."

"We're not getting up before the kids do," Cassie said. "Or before eight," she added, obviously doubtful. "Whichever comes first."

"Hope will be up long before that," Ashley murmured. "And she wakes up hungry; we'll have to get food into her right away."

"So we'll meet you at the park," Cassie suggested. "We can all get breakfast on our own and still be at the park by ten."

"For the start of the festivities." She couldn't help smiling. Angel Grove's annual "Power Rangers Day" had grown into an event of convention-like proportions, preceding--and now beginning to merge with--Independence Day celebrations. She suspected TJ and Tessa of planning their wedding for the following weekend on purpose, just so all of their offplanet friends would have an excuse to make the week into one long vacation.

Her family certainly had taken advantage of it. Even if they'd had to pull Kae and Hope out of school to do it. Some things were more important, and Zhane had made a convincing case for broadening their cultural horizons. Andros had pointed out that TJ and Tessa had come to their wedding, and there was no excuse for failing to reciprocate. Kerone had just shrugged, still not sold on the idea of weddings in general, but willing to go along with whatever the family decided.

Ashley was still mad that Carlos had banned them from his wedding three years ago, so she wasn't about to miss TJ's. She also didn't think it would hurt the kids to get out of their disturbingly intense school environment for a week or so, since Hope was already at or above second grade level in California and Kae knew things she was sure she hadn't even learned in high school. And the kids were all for it.

The only one they'd really had to win over was Kristet, their public relations coordinator, who warned against sending eighty percent of the Kerovan Ranger team offplanet and away from the Border at the same time.

Hopefully, Ashley thought, the days of immediate and unprecedented military threat were over. It would be nice if they could just enjoy their time off, with nothing more important to worry about than whether one of the kids would say something that got back to NASADA and made their parents look like a walking security risk. It wouldn't be such a high price to pay.

It wasn't exactly their norm, either. She supposed she should probably get DECA to contact whatever active teams Earth currently had and let them know that the former Astro Rangers were in town. Anything could happen now.

3. Forget Me Knots

So this was what vacation felt like. It felt like a comforter underneath his cheek, a better pillow than a cover on a warm July morning, and a breeze from the open window ghosting across his skin. It felt like wind chimes in the backyard and sunshine that turned blonde hair golden on the sheets beside him. It felt like no one in the world could ask anything of him but this moment.

It felt like Sage, who stretched sleepily the moment his fingers touched her bare shoulder but made no move to sit up in bed. "Perfect morning," she murmured, burying her yawn in the pillow. "I like the sun."

"Well, you live in the right state," Cam replied, smoothing her hair across the soft knit blanket she always slept with. Even miles from home, in someone else's house, when it would just sit in the car all day while they wandered around Angel Grove.

"Mmm." She lifted her head a little so she could fold her arm underneath it and smile at him. "I think that's Florida. This is the state for gold."

He slid his fingers into the nearest tangle of hair and lifted it to his lips, kissing her hair and then her mouth gently. "You're all gold," he said, smiling back at her.

She laughed, and Sage was the only person he knew who could wake up laughing. "I'm in the right state after all," she said, rolling onto her back and stretching her arms over her head. "Maybe they named it for me."

He watched idly as the sleeveless blue thing she slept in twisted around her body. She was yawning again, pushing herself up and reaching for her toes in an easy stretch that made him want to go back to sleep. No one should be that flexible first thing in the morning.

He caught himself thinking, not for the first time, that she'd have made an amazing ninja, and as always the thought made him smile. Because Sage wouldn't even pull her hair back on request, let alone allow an instructor to tell her what she should or shouldn't do. She would be amazing. But she wouldn't be a ninja. She didn't approve of rank, she didn't appreciate obedience, and she would never submit to hierarchy.

"Where's the quiet state?" Sage asked, twisting her upper body like a yogi and then rolling sinuously to brace herself on her arms and smile down at him. "They must have named that one for you."

"I'm thinking about going back to sleep," he said, just to see what she'd say.

"I'm thinking about getting some food," she countered. "Fried tofu. I've been craving it since yesterday. I think it would make a great breakfast."

"Have fun." Cam burrowed back into the comforter and pulled her blanket over his shoulder. "Bring me something palatable."

She laughed again, but she was quiet about it because there wasn't any sound from the rest of the house to indicate they weren't the only ones awake. "I'd be less likely to call your bluff if I thought you'd really trust me to find you food," she teased.

She slid off of the futon to stretch out on the floor, and he closed his eyes briefly. Not that he didn't enjoy watching her stretch, but lounging in bed really was a novelty and he thought he could enjoy it more. Between the breeze and the wind chimes and the sound of Sage moving around the room, he was sure he was fully awake.

Until he felt a hand on his shoulder through the blanket and a kiss on his cheek. "Do you really want to sleep?" Sage's voice whispered in his ear. "I can go without you and come back in an hour or so."

He forced his eyes open again and realized that she was completely dressed. And he'd been spending too much time with her, because her batik skirt with the lightning bolts actually looked all right with the Factory Blue t-shirt she'd pulled on. Maybe that t-shirt would look good with anything. Was he really still in bed?

"Please," Cam said, trying to stifle a yawn as he got his elbows underneath him. "You can't brush your hair in the amount of time it takes me to get dressed."

"Wanna bet?" She was grinning at him. In a singsong voice she added, "On your mark get set go!" She leaned down to kiss him again before she got up and wandered off in search of her hairbrush. Singing under her breath. "Sun's up, okay, the world survives into another day..."

He couldn't quite do it, even when she gave him a head start. But when he graciously conceded defeat, all she said was, "You're lucky I don't throw in with the dreadlock crowd."

Cam had to smile at what was clearly an empty threat. "I'd be less likely to call your bluff," he said dryly, "if I didn't, say... know you."

She beamed. "I like my hair," she declared, as though it needed to be spelled out. "Right now, only a little more than I like fried tofu. Can we go?"

Power Rangers Day. Only Angel Grove could have come up with a holiday so bizarre. What surprised Cam most, though, was that it had grown into a huge event in such a short period of time. The first Power Rangers had appeared, what, a decade ago? Twelve years ago, now? The city that had been their base of operations back then never forgot, and it honored them annually with an ever-growing series of fairs and fireworks.

Every fair had food, but Cam didn't expect them to be selling the fried stuff this early. Sage did. She turned out to be right. And fried tofu sandwiches, especially with organic vegetables, were worth every penny of the independent natural production costs. Especially since locals who sold organic didn't tend to inflate their prices to fair standards. Compared with everything else being sold, the fried tofu was a bargain.

The paved path that meandered through the park looked like a thoroughfare today, but they found a clear place to sit in the grass with their sandwiches and watch the morning fairgoers pass by. Cam's favorite thing to do at large public events like this was to watch and Sage's was to walk, so they did all right together. It had been her idea to come down to Angel Grove this weekend, and since he knew she wouldn't make him participate in every inane activity they encountered, he was fine with it.

He did find it slightly amusing that, of all things, she had picked a Power Rangers celebration, but he and irony were old friends. They were off campus, out of town even, and he wasn't going to complain. He was going to eat organic vegetables and listen to Sage sing and hope that eventually he stopped thinking of Hunter every time he saw that t-shirt.

"That," Sage remarked, clapping her hands together in a way that might have dislodged the crumbs and also might have attracted the attention of everyone within glancing distance, "was easily the best breakfast I've had all week."

Folding his napkin into thirds, and then into thirds again, Cam remarked, "I think that's the only breakfast I've had all week."

"Graveyard shift," she said solemnly. "That's what you get for teaching adults instead of kids."

He rolled his eyes, because she knew perfectly well how good he wasn't with kids. He'd only agreed to come on her kid camping trip next week because she'd promised he would have zero chaperone duties. And because there weren't going to be any tents involved.

"I'll stick with the adults," Cam told her. "I can handle the hours better than I can take the tempers."

"Theirs," she suggested impishly, "or yours?"

"Mine," he agreed without hesitation. "I've been known to throw things."

"Demonstrating the principles of motion and force," Sage put in. "Concrete examples are a kid's best friend. I'll draft you for demonstration on the camping trip."

She switched points of view without seeming to notice. He'd come to anticipate it, to the extent that it occasionally surprised him when someone else refused to see the other side in an argument. It was impossible to debate anything with her, but maybe their discussions went deeper for it. He could say anything to her and expect a considered response.

Almost anything. But maybe that was on him, not her. He could say anything to her, after all. It was just a question of whether or not he would. All she knew about the amulet he wore was that it was a gift from his mother. All she knew of his history with women was... well, his history with women. He didn't talk about Jules, beyond the occasional message on his answering machine, and he definitely didn't imply anything about Hunter.

Not because he couldn't. Some days, he wasn't even sure what stopped him. Sage would just nod, say something flippant, and then come out with something oddly profound a few minutes later. She wouldn't make a big deal out of things if he didn't: he knew that, he felt it, he believed it.

Maybe he just couldn't be sure that he wouldn't make a big deal of it himself.

"Hey," Cam said, before he could change his mind. He heard Hunter's voice saying the word in his head, casually, loudly, in every way possible. But it wasn't a big deal. "What if I said I was the Green Ranger?"

"I'd say that's the perfect choice for a camping trip about turtle ecology," Sage replied promptly. "We can be the green team!"

It took him a moment to realize that they were suddenly having different conversations. It made him smile a little, because he was so worried about what she would say that he hadn't even thought about what he would say. Or how it would sound.

The moment was long enough for a flash of pink and yellow to catch his eye. He wasn't sure what did it, since he didn't even know any Pink Rangers and the costumes these women wore were approximations that wouldn't pass the most casual inspection. But there was something about them that made him look up--and the amulet, so long silent, came to life with unexpected insistence.

Friend, it whispered. Friend.

Cam blinked. There had been a time when the amulet's energy responded to the presence of friend or foe, alerting him to proximity and intensity, but it had gone dormant in the absence of the evil against which he and his team had stood. It hadn't responded to anyone--even Hunter, who had once provoked a distractingly strong reaction--for years.

It was responding now, and Sage saw it on his face. She followed his gaze. "Wow," she said, voice loud and admiring and obviously intended to carry. "Those are great costumes!"

The Pink Ranger looked in their direction and waved, prompting her friend to do the same. When they struck a pose on the side of the walkway, Sage laughed and waved back. "Can I take a picture?" she called.

"Sure!"

Cam couldn't tell which of them had answered, since their costumes were an odd combination of Ranger and ninja and included a hood that covered the lower half of their faces. He wondered if they attended one of the academies. He squinted at the gold animal symbols on their tunic belts, but they didn't look like anything from the Wind Academy. Not that they necessarily would, since they'd probably invented the costumes from scratch...

Friend, the amulet whispered as the women headed their way. Sage had already pulled out her digital camera and was wandering over to meet them. Cam followed, looking around as casually as he could in case maybe it was someone else that had triggered the amulet's alert. He didn't see anyone he recognized.

Sage introduced herself before he'd caught up, and the people she'd accosted were unclipping their hoods so that their faces were visible while they reciprocated. Either name on its own might not have triggered his memory, but both together made him think of Hayley's computer files: Kim and Trini. They'd fought with the first team of modern Rangers against Rita Repulsa.

But was it really them, or just two women pretending to be them? The Power boosted memory and cognition skills along with physical ability, and if he'd still been a Ranger he probably would have been able to generate their full names, ages, and a clear picture of their faces from file photos. Unfortunately, sporadic and inexplicable acts of the amulet aside, he could no longer count on the Power to back him up.

Until Sage just smiled and said it was nice to meet them and Cam belatedly remembered to offer his own name, because of course it was them. No one would be "in costume" as the Rangers' civilian identities, because no one knew the Rangers' civilian identities. No one except the Rangers themselves.

Fried tofu tasted good, but it obviously had terrible side effects for the brain.

"So which team are you from?" Cam asked idly while Sage snapped a picture and then shielded the camera from the sun so she could check it on the little display.

"We're from the little known ninja team," Trini told him, clasping her hands together and bumping her friend's shoulder. The enthusiasm might be subdued, but it was very familiar. He had yet to meet a Yellow Ranger who didn't bounce.

Friend, the amulet reminded him.

"Ninjetti," Kim corrected, pointing at her with an obviously pretend serious expression.

"Right," Trini agreed, just as serious. Except for the little head bob, which could have passed as a solemn nod if Cam hadn't been looking for--and finding--Dustin's mannerisms in her. She was equally expressive with half the drama.

"Where did you get your costumes?" Sage asked, camera tilted toward them again and most of her attention apparently focused on it. She must be taking more pictures. Kim hammed it up, making faces at the camera while Trini smiled.

"I've had mine for a while," Kim said, lifting her face veil and opening her eyes wide at the camera over top of it. Cam thought he should probably be glad his team hadn't had a Pink Ranger.

"A friend of mine made this for me," Trini added, grasping the edges of her sleeves and letting them slide through her fingers as she held her arms out to the sides. "Kim's the ninjetti expert, so we used hers as a model."

"It's pretty good," Kim said airily. "Except that, if I recall--" She placed a funny emphasis on the word "recall." "The Yellow Ninjetti possessed the spirit of the bear, not the tiger."

"I happen to prefer the tiger," Trini said. They must have had this discussion before.

"The saber-toothed tiger," Cam added, pretending to study her belt.

"Oh, is it?" Sage lowered her camera at last, apparently interested. "Nice!"

"No," Trini said with a smile. "It's just a regular tiger."

Her eyes met Cam's when he looked up at her again, and he could see the question in them. He knew who she was, because she had served before him. And because Hayley's records were almost disturbingly complete. But his team had come years later, and unless she still had current contacts--

Which she did, he realized suddenly. Her team leader was working with Hayley in Reefside.

Friend, the amulet insisted.

"I thought about dressing up as the Green Samurai Ranger," he remarked. "You know, from a couple of years ago. Based in Blue Bay Harbor."

Now Sage was giving him that interested look. "But?" she prompted. "You should have! Obviously the Blue Bay Harbor Rangers were the best.

"After the Ninjetti," she added, flipping her wrist in the direction of Trini and Kim. It was a gesture that shouldn't have in any way reminded him of Hunter, and yet, aggravatingly, it did. It was exactly what Hunter did when he was making fun of Jules.

Kim was laughing. "Oh, thank you," she said, pretending to preen.

"I don't know," Trini said, and this time the look she gave Cam was accompanied by a secret smile. "I always thought the first ones were the best. They had dinosaurs."

"And saber-toothed tigers," Kim agreed immediately.

Trini held up a finger. "One saber-toothed tiger."

"And a pterodactyl," Kim continued. "Because pink is obviously the best color."

"Except for yellow," Trini reminded her.

Some unsilenced voice of competition made Cam add, "And green."

Friend, the amulet murmured again.

"Go green," Sage declared, tipping the camera toward him so he could see the pictures she'd taken. "I'm with you there."

"So who would you dress up as?" Kim asked, with an adorable smile that probably made men bend over backward. It was mostly lost on Sage, as she was waiting for Cam's reaction, but her lack of attention to the question probably told Kim what she wanted to know.

"I don't know," Sage said absently. "Someone green. Weren't there car Rangers once? I'd be the Green Car Ranger."

"Green Turbo," Cam corrected without thinking.

"Desert Thunder," Kim murmured, and the phrase caught his attention.

Trini's reply was a total non sequitur. "I'm a frog--"

"And I drive a van!" Kim finished, and they turned toward each other, giggling into each other's shoulders.

Cam took the opportunity to tell Sage, "I thought you might go for the Wild Force Rangers." Not that he had ever personally met any of them, but they had fought for the world more than any team before or since. For the real world, the natural world, struggling to preserve an environment under attack from ignorance as much as evil.

Sage turned the camera on him, took a picture, then leaned forward to kiss his cheek. "I like my Green Rangers," she informed him.

"Noble Tiger," Trini was saying.

"She was pink," Kim countered.

"She was white," Trini said, "and she had a tiger."

"You don't get to claim all tigers," Kim protested, laughing.

"But it's all right for you to claim all Pink Rangers?" Trini teased.

"There've been more yellow than pink," Kim replied. "I'm just making sure we get the recognition we deserve!"

Cam had thought Sage's response to the "which Ranger" question would tip them off, but they sounded dangerously close to forgetting or ignoring her civilian status. Add to that the way the amulet was acting up, and he didn't see anything good that could come of lingering here much longer.

Luckily, a bigger distraction than two costumed Power Rangers came rolling down the walkway before he could decide, again, that it would be easier if he just told Sage the truth. What harm would it do? She was discreet. And if he said he didn't want to talk about it, she wouldn't ask him to talk about it.

"Oh, look..." Something about Trini's murmur made him do exactly that, even as the amulet hummed just beyond hearing range. There was no question that it was reacting to her. Not to other Rangers in general, but to Trini specifically, and Cam had no idea why.

"Oh my gosh," Kim said softly. Her tone made Sage look too, because the delight was so obviously contained to avoid drawing even more attention to whatever they were looking at. "Is that Coral?"

All Cam saw at first was a slow moving traffic hazard, in the form of a wheelchair and a giant stroller traveling side by side, forcing everyone else off of the path as they passed. The next most eye-catching thing about the scene was the wheelchair man's bright blue cast, encompassing his lower leg, ankle, and foot. After that Cam's attention zeroed in on the other man's right wrist, which bore a gold wristband that practically screamed "alien technology" to the trained eye.

"You mean the little girl?" Sage whispered. "Is that really her?"

Of course, all the women saw the child first and the technology second. Cam would have rolled his eyes, except that the moment he noticed the girl, the name "Coral" clicked in his mind. She'd been all over the news two years ago, and she still made headlines every time she visited California.

Carlos Vargas' alien love child. Born to a Power Ranger from another planet. Half human, half alien, black hair and purple skin and still cute enough to have her picture plastered across every newspaper and internet newsgroup that existed.

Coral of Aquitar was tripping along in the grass beside her oversized stroller and her two Hispanic guardians, a pinwheel in one hand and a miniature gold wristband on the other. Some sort of location device, Cam decided. She looked about as happy as any kid would with two slaves and no other little kids to harass.

Which was to say, unsatisfied but hopefully not about to burst into tears.

The man pushing the stroller had seen them looking by now and was looking back, maybe trying to assess their stalker potential as he and his entourage made their painstakingly slow way through the park. People were getting out of their way, surprisingly, and with less staring than Cam would have expected. Maybe they saw the wheelchair first and the alien toddler second?

Kim pulled her sleeve down and waved, an odd gesture until Cam recognized her wristband, previously concealed by the long sleeves of her pink tunic. Banded with gold and pink, it wasn't identical to Coral's but it was clearly made by the same source. A source he knew from video. That was a morphin communicator Kim was wearing.

"Kim?" The man behind the stroller had stopped in the middle of the path, saying something to the one in the wheelchair that was inaudible at this distance. People continued to flow around them.

"Hi!" Kim called back, and when she waved, Trini joined in.

They were trying to avoid saying Carlos' name, Cam realized. The same way their conversation about Coral had been conducted in whispers, they were deliberately not drawing attention to him now. And Sage, interestingly, continued to take her cue from them. She was holding her camera out in front of her like she was just flipping through the pictures, but he could see over her shoulder that she had zoomed in on the trio and was clicking away.

Carlos waved back, gesturing them over as he, the stroller, and the wheelchair all tried to maneuver far enough off of the pavement that they weren't blocking everyone's way. Kim and Trini had taken hold of each other's arms and were racing to meet them, which Cam assumed meant he and Sage were not unwelcome. No specific invitation had been issued, but neither of the women had excused themselves, so...

"Do you think he minds having everyone fawn over his daughter?" Sage asked softly, as they went to follow.

"Do you think he's used to it?" Cam countered under his breath. He wasn't sure that surrounding Sage with even more Rangers was a good way to avoid telling her anything.

Kim and Trini were both hugging Carlos, and Cam saw Trini being introduced to the man in the wheelchair before either of them even looked at Coral, which was the point where he and Sage caught up. Coral was offering Kim her pinwheel while the wheelchair man said something about volunteer work. Carlos was eyeing Cam and Sage like he thought he should know them but couldn't quite place them.

"This is Cam," Trini said, reaching back for his elbow to pull him forward. "And Sage; they asked us if they could take a picture of our uniforms, so of course we said yes."

"Cam left his at home," Kim added, blowing into Coral's pinwheel. It spun pink and silver sparkles in the sunlight as it turned. "He was going to dress up as the Green Samurai Ranger."

Carlos' expression resolved into one of recognition. "Oh, hey man," he said, holding out his hand. As they shook, he nodded toward the wheelchair. "So, you two..."

Cam frowned, following his gaze, and it took him a long moment to place that wry grin. "I know," the man was saying, "a Ranger in a cast. Staggers the mind, doesn't it? Believe me, my sensei won't let me forget."

Gabriel Vargas, Cam realized. The only Earth Ranger from a ninja academy, and he hadn't even recognized him in the wheelchair. And on top of that, something about Sage had obviously gotten lost in translation.

"Right, we know each other from the dojo," Cam said quickly. "I didn't know you'd gotten hurt."

Gabe gave him an odd look, but Trini jumped in with, "Which Ranger did you say you'd be, Gabe? If you could pick any one? Sage hasn't decided yet."

Gabe grinned, and Cam hoped he'd gotten it. "Oh, that's easy," he drawled, leaning back in his chair a little. "If I were a Ranger, I'd want to be the Blue Earth Ranger. He's obviously the coolest."

"Except for the Green Turbo Ranger," Sage put in, "which is who I'd have to be."

"Oh, yeah," Carlos agreed, straight-faced. "The Green Turbo Ranger is so much cooler than the Blue Earth Ranger. Sorry, bro," he added with a smirk in Gabe's direction.

"Foot broken," Gabe informed him. "I win every argument due to massive karmic points accumulated from injury."

"Cute multilingual child," Carlos countered, pointing at Coral and Kim. "Your karmic points don't stand a chance against our powers combined."

Gabe snorted. "She's not multilingual yet. She's not even monolingual. I can't understand a word she says."

Kim seemed to be doing all right, Cam noted. She had carried on an entire--if entirely nonsensical--conversation with the little girl, and didn't seem to have caused a single tear. Trini crouched down beside them, just now letting go of Cam's arm, and that was the first moment he realized she'd had a hold on it in the first place. When had she touched him, he wondered? And how had he been so distracted that he hadn't noticed?

"You could be the only one," Sage remarked, her gaze also on Kim and Trini as they chatted with Coral. They were making her pinwheel spin backwards while she apparently tried to correct them.

"Hey, I'm sorry," Gabe said, like he'd just noticed she was there. "I'm Gabe. I got so distracted by the color war that I didn't introduce myself. Sage, right?"

"Hello!" Sage waved at him, echoing his "oh I just noticed you" routine plausibly despite the fact that she'd actually been talking to him a moment before. "Nice cast!"

"It should be," he agreed, grimacing good-naturedly. "It's my third one. I actually can walk on it, I'd just rather not do it for miles at a time."

"Yeah, I figure he and Coral have about the same tolerance level right now," Carlos interjected. "We make a good combination. By the time she starts crying, he'll be ready for a nap."

"Sad but true," Gabe admitted. "At least I have language skills."

"Hey, they tell me she'll know all three when she grows up," Carlos told him. "I never said anyone can understand her now."

"I think she wants something to drink," Kim interrupted.

Cam looked down at the little girl, who was hitting Carlos with her pinwheel and making a very clear "drink" gesture. She wasn't quiet about it, but without the gesture Cam wouldn't have gotten anything from her words. How multilingual, he wondered? Three languages, Carlos had said? Which ones?

"You want some water?" Carlos asked her, reaching into her stroller and pulling out a sippy cup. "Here you go. That's water."

The little girl waved her hand in front of her face again, making the "drink" gesture before she reached for the cup.

"That's cup," Carlos told her, pulling her cup back and mirroring her gesture against his open hand. He kept moving his hands as he continued, "This is water."

"Are you using sign language with her?" Sage asked as he held out the cup again. Coral grabbed it before he could take it away this time.

"Yeah," Carlos confirmed. "Her first language, weirdly. She's been using it since she was three months old. The spoken languages are taking longer."

"Three months?" Sage repeated. "That's so young!"

"Turns out hands develop faster than vocal cords," Carlos said with a grin. "Which is good, because she wasn't exactly a normal baby, you know? We never would have been able to figure out what she needed if she couldn't tell us."

"Does she understand us?" Sage wanted to know.

"Coral," Carlos said, waiting until she lowered her sippy cup and gave him a bored look. "Do you understand her?" He signed as he said it, and she just lifted her cup again and waved her free hand.

"Yes," Carlos translated. "She's pretty good with the listening, just not the talking. Probably because my accent sucks, and I don't think Aura uses English with her at all when I'm not around. So she hears three or four different sounds for every word she already knows in sign, and she uses them all."

"So unless you know all three languages," Gabe put in, "deciphering what she wants is pretty much impossible."

"The sad thing is," Carlos said fondly, not like he thought it was sad at all, "she's going to be more fluent than any of us by the time she's five or six. And again, I won't have any idea what she's talking about. I'm planning to enjoy the three- and four-year-old stage as long as possible."

Coral thrust her cup back at him, pointing through the crowd at something on the other side of the walkway. She babbled something that sounded sort of bubbly, grabbing for Kim's hand. Kim tried to give her the pinwheel back, but Coral just dropped it in the stroller and reached for her hand again. This time Kim let her take it, and the little girl tugged insistently and pointed again.

"She can see the balloon lady," Carlos explained. "She wants something red."

Coral repeated whatever she had just said, which Cam wouldn't have even recognized if Carlos hadn't just translated for her: he caught "I" and "red" when he was listening for them, but that was it. Toddler talk had always been a mystery to him. This time, he supposed, he at least had an excuse.

"We can take her to get one," Trini offered eagerly.

"Would you like to get a balloon animal with us?" Kim asked Coral. The girl obviously nodded, still pulling on Kim's hand, pretending to hang from her arm when Kim wouldn't budge without Carlos' permission.

"I don't know..." Carlos didn't look thrilled about the idea.

"Bro, it's just a balloon," Gabe said, rolling his eyes. "They'll be right over there."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Carlos said hastily. "It's fine. Just take some water, okay? She gets thirsty easily."

"We know," Kim promised, smiling down at Coral. The little girl was dragging on her arm and giggling a little when she lost her balance. Trini just took her other hand, and she bounced to her feet again.

"Billy told us," Kim added, as Carlos refilled the sippy cup from a water bottle and handed it over. "He knows all about--you know."

Carlos just nodded, and Sage didn't ask. The amulet's hum dropped off noticeably as the three of them walked away, to the point where Cam wondered why he hadn't realized how loud it was. He heard Trini telling Coral, "My parents spoke different languages when I was little, too," and once more the amulet whispered, Friend.

"She's adorable," Sage was saying to Carlos. "I bet everyone and their dog tells you that."

"Not as many dogs as you'd think," he replied without batting an eye.

"Reporters, though," Gabe interjected. "They can barely ask questions with all the cooing that goes on."

"Yeah--" Carlos glanced around like he expected cameras to be hidden in the air. "I don't know where they all are. Everyone's leaving us alone today."

"Bro, you're at a Power Rangers convention," Gabe said with a grin. "They probably think you dressed her up or something."

"Carlos! Hey, Carlos!"

Someone had no compunction about yelling his name... When Cam followed the sound to its source, though, he decided that the owner of the voice probably didn't have much compunction about anything. If Kim and Trini were dressed in an approximation of Ranger uniforms, this man had gone all out: dressed in silver spandex, he was strolling through the crowd with a grin and a wink for every head that turned his way.

Sage whistled, unashamed, and the man lifted a hand to wave blithely in her direction as he strode toward them. "What's up, Carlos!" he called, grinning only at Sage. "Cute kid like Coral and you've only managed to attract one beautiful woman?"

He might be able to pull off the spandex, but Cam already didn't like him.

Gabe had craned his neck over the back of his wheelchair in an effort to see who was talking. "The rest of the beautiful women made off with the kid," he said, extending his hand backward.

"Gabe!" The man in spandex clasped Gabe's hand over the back of his chair and squeezed past the stroller to clap his opposite shoulder. "What happened to you? Are you trying to get attention with that thing or what?"

"Yes, I'm doing public service representation for handicapped people everywhere," Gabe said wryly. "Shut up. A roof fell on me, all right?"

"And you caught it with your foot?" the man demanded. "I thought they brought back duck and cover drills after monsters started attacking downtown. Didn't you learn anything in school?"

"He learned how to do volunteer work on unstable buildings," Sage put in.

"Oh, well, if you were volunteering..." The man in the spandex turned and gave Sage a smile that made Cam's heart stop. He didn't hear a thing they said for several seconds, and he could have kicked himself when the man turned that assessing look on him and all he could do was stare.

He got it together enough to shake the hand that was offered, giving his name curtly, but the damage was done. The man couldn't possibly be straight, and he was happy to return Cam's unintentional interest with the same level of charm he'd shown Cam's girlfriend. That smile wasn't anything like Hunter's, Cam thought irritably, and freezing that way had only invited misunderstanding.

Unfortunately, thinking it didn't make it true.

"What's KO-35?" Sage was asking, when the man turned away long enough to clasp Carlos' hand. She snuck an amused look at Cam, but for the life of him, he couldn't figure out why.

"My home planet," Zhane said easily. He settled into their group between Gabe and Carlos, putting a hand on the back of Gabe's wheelchair until Gabe slapped it away.

"Don't touch my wheels, man," Gabe told him.

Zhane just laughed, and at least that was one thing he did completely differently than Hunter. The posturing, the performance, the smirk, they all vanished the moment he laughed. His laughter was careless and more sincere than anything else he did, and it was nothing like the man Cam knew.

Had he just introduced himself as Zhane of KO-35?

"Sorry," Zhane was telling Gabe. "I should know better."

Then he gave Sage a pretty smile and added, "KO-35's a little double planet in the Kerova system. Nice place. You should visit sometime."

"Uh-huh." Carlos' eye roll would have been perfectly convincing if Cam hadn't been watching his deadpan humor for the last ten minutes. "And where are your alien cronies, Zhane of KO-35?"

"They kicked me out," Zhane said mournfully. "They think I'm drawing too much attention to their secret identities."

Cam couldn't resist muttering, "I can't imagine why."

Zhane smirked at him, and the knowing in that gaze was hard to stand. Cam set his jaw and stared back, determined not to swallow. He was just a blonde-haired man in spandex. Cam was going to get over this. Or possibly kill himself trying.

"A couple of the Astro Rangers were from another planet," Carlos was telling Sage. "KO-35."

"The red and silver ones," Zhane interrupted.

Carlos ignored him. "That's why Zhane's going around pretending to be an alien," he explained. "For him, it's not that much of a stretch."

"Hey," Zhane objected. "I'm not an alien. I'm a human who happens to be from another planet."

Sage looked positively gleeful. "I didn't know that!" she exclaimed. She didn't seem to be listening to Zhane either, which was probably a good thing.

"I mean," she continued, "I know some people think the Power Rangers are aliens, but seriously, how realistic is that? Why would aliens care?"

"Well," Carlos said with a smile. "Some aliens care."

Sage's eyes widened. "Did I just imply that your wife doesn't care about your home planet? Pretend I didn't say that and I'll love you forever."

Carlos' smile vanished, replace almost instantly by a look of mild confusion. "Say what?"

Sage beamed. "I love you!"

"So are you guys Rangers?" Zhane wanted to know. He was looking at Cam when he said it, a fact to which Cam tried to pay no attention.

A rush of motion made Sage glance away just long enough for Cam to point at her and shake his head. He half-expected Zhane to say out loud, Oh, so she's not a Ranger? Too bad, but the man in spandex just pointed back at him and raised his eyebrows.

Cam nodded. So he did know how to be covert. Shocking.

Then a whirlwind of black fishnet and glitter swirled around Sage: Joy and Shan Ri, friends from BBU who'd driven down with them yesterday and spent the night with one of Shan Ri's aunts. They were laughing and shouting and they both sounded out of breath. They looked like they'd run all the way across the park.

"The Dragon Daggers," Joy gasped, one hand on her sunhat like it might remember the run and fly off at any moment. Her skin was bright against her black clothes, dark fingernails in sharp contrast to the glitter that wound up and down Shan Ri's arms. "They're playing in five minutes on the east stage!"

"We have to go!" Shan Ri exclaimed, hands on Sage's shoulders as she bounced once and then spun away. Sequins caught the sunlight on her peasant blouse, university baseball cap turned backwards on her head. "They're going to have audience drumming!"

"And signing!"

Cam couldn't interpret this last at all, but Sage turned to him with laughter and appeal warring on her face. She didn't even have to ask. "Go," he said, leaning in for a kiss. "I'll catch up with you before it's over."

"I'll take pictures!" she called, as Joy and Shan Ri swept her up into their energetic rush. Her hemp knapsack bobbed between Joy's Wild Force kid pack and Shan Ri's embroidered bag as the three of them tore off across the park together. Somehow, nothing screamed "hippie" like... well, like their utter lack of sameness.

He had heard a lot of ninjas say "you are who you are" while he was growing up. The phrase had always irked him, since it usually seemed to exclude him from whatever they were doing. Not until he met Sage and her friends had he understood how inclusive it could be.

"Hey," Zhane was saying, "who was that?"

Cam couldn't quite bring himself to look at the other man, pretending instead to be squinting off in the direction the women had gone. "Just some friends from the university."

"Huh." The way Zhane said it made Cam reluctantly catch his eye, and Zhane shrugged. "Funny. Could've sworn I knew one of them."

Which was strange why? Cam just barely managed to keep himself from asking, because the answer was obvious. "You really are from KO-35," he said flatly.

Zhane's face lit up with a grin that looked the same as his laugh. "Sure am!" he agreed. "And I'm positive that girl with the sunhat lives down the street from me."

"You think she commutes to Earth to go to school?" Carlos said dryly. "Come on."

"I'm not kidding," Zhane insisted. "It's not like she stopped moving long enough to get a good look, and she's definitely dyed her hair, but I swear she goes to church with Andros."

"Hi," Gabe interrupted, lifting a hand to wave at Cam. "Your girlfriend doesn't know you're a Ranger, huh? I hope we didn't totally screw that up."

Grateful for the reminder to stop staring at Zhane, Cam shook his head. "She's heard stranger things," he muttered. "She'll probably write it off as part of..." He waved a hand vaguely, trying to indicate everything about the park. "Part of the Power Rangers Day experience," he finished.

"Did you really have to morph?" Carlos inquired. "I haven't forgotten that Halloween at the dojo. Andros must be ready to kill you."

"Hey," Zhane protested. "I blend in! Look at Kim and Trini!"

"Yeah, and they're Rangers too," Carlos said dryly.

Cam blinked when Zhane focused on him again, an intent blue gaze that he couldn't ignore. "You're surprised," Zhane remarked. "Why? I thought you recognized me."

Cam could only stare. "Why--" He broke off, suddenly realizing he didn't want to know why Zhane would think that. "I don't even recognize your uniform," he said instead.

Zhane glanced down, not in the least self-conscious. "Yeah, it's new," he said, offhand. "But you were giving me this look, like, 'hey, I know you.'" Eyeing Cam curiously, he added, "You kind of still are."

Startled, Cam shook his head. "No, it's not--I mean... you just remind me of someone."

He regretted the words the moment they were out, but strangely, Zhane just nodded. "Okay." And odd as it was, Cam thought he was off the hook right up until Zhane added, "It's someone cute though, right? Someone devastatingly handsome?"

Carlos groaned while Gabe protested, "Come on, you can't use 'cute' and 'handsome' in the same sentence!"

Carlos added, "You're crazy, okay? You remind him of someone crazy. Are you satisfied now?"

Zhane just winked at him, undeterred. "When you come right down to it," he said in a confiding tone, "crazy is a defining character trait for Rangers."

"Which reminds me," Gabe said, apparently deciding that the best way to deal with Zhane was to ignore him, "I'm not sure that thing about two of the Astro Rangers being from another planet is common knowledge, bro."

Cam shifted uncomfortably. He'd wondered about that too.

Carlos only shrugged. "So Aura told me. Her team worked with the Astro Rangers; they'd know. I have a great deal of privileged information, you know."

"Great," Gabe countered. "And now so will anyone you talk to."

"Share the wealth," Carlos informed him, clearly not concerned.

"That's what I said when I broke my foot," Gabe grumbled. "See how far it got me."

"You'd been to the hospital," Carlos said. "What was I supposed to do, wave my magic wand?"

"I'm just saying, Aquitar can regenerate bones," Gabe declared. "And everyone knows you live there. It wouldn't be so weird."

"Bro, if I could have gotten to you before the ambulance did, you know I would have done it," Carlos told him. "But once the hospital x-rayed your foot and everyone knew what happened, what was I supposed to do? 'Hey, I'll take my brother back to Aquitar to fix his foot, but I won't take your kid who's dying of leukemia...'"

"I know, I know," Gabe muttered. "I didn't mean it like that."

"They can heal broken bones on Aquitar?" Cam asked carefully. He was interested in spite of himself. He could see it was a sensitive subject, but he couldn't keep from asking.

"Most League planets have osteo regen capability," Zhane answered. "I could do it for you if you want," he added, nodding at Gabe. "Don't have to get the Aquitians involved."

Gabe sighed, glancing at his brother. "Thanks," he said, and he sounded like he meant it. "But yeah, he's right. I'd never be able to explain it now."

"Hey, you're still a Ranger," Carlos pointed out. "You get the magic fast Ranger healing."

That made Gabe smile. "Yeah. It does keep the doctors guessing."

Carlos put a hand on his shoulder, then looked back at the walkway and asked, "What are they doing with Coral, anyway? They must be getting her a whole zoo over there."

"I should go," Cam said, a little reluctantly. He barely knew them, but there was something unexpectedly relaxing about being around people who knew what it was like to keep a secret. "Catch up with Sage."

"Do some drumming," Carlos added, straight-faced.

"Hey," Zhane said suddenly. "Are you in town for the weekend? We're meeting at the Beach Club tonight. Say from six on. You should come, hang out."

"Yeah," Gabe agreed without hesitation. "Lots of Rangers, a few ninjas--"

"No kids," Zhane put in. "It'll be fun."

Cam was already shaking his head. "We're probably going to go out to dinner with Joy and Shan Ri," he said. "Thanks anyway."

"Come afterward," Zhane insisted. "Like I said, six on. The club doesn't close 'till after midnight."

Cam knew better than to keep offering excuses. He could tell without having to see it demonstrated that Zhane would counter anything he could come up with. Different voice, same strategy. Arguing was a waste of time.

"I'll think about it," he said instead.

4. Six On

Andros was the marrying kind. Or so Ashley had told him. Soon after she and Zhane had started planning their wedding, she'd begun to divide the world into two categories: those who were the marrying kind, and those who weren't.

Luckily that particular phase hadn't lasted long. She managed to classify the entire family, though, and he would sometimes be reminded of it at odd moments. Mostly when one of them did something unusually foolish, unusually romantic, or even unusually predictable--something they would all agree in retrospect that they ought to have seen coming, but somehow ended up surprising them anyway.

Like now. Like him standing just outside the lights of the Beach Club, ostensibly holding a conversation with Ty via hyperboosted morpher communication while what really had his attention was Zhane's slow stroll along the shore with his latest turned head. Like the revelation that the question on his mind wasn't, Will he sleep with him? but instead, Does he want to sleep with him?

Because Andros was the marrying kind. And it turned out that there were only two things he wanted from Zhane: his presence, and his happiness. He tried not to think about which was more important--he was frankly afraid of the answer. But once one of those was assured, he was completely confident in turning his focus to the other.

Zhane's presence was assured now. There was no longer any question in Andros' mind. Whether that was because of the ring, the last name, or the children, it didn't really matter. Zhane wouldn't walk out on his family.

So now he just had to make sure his friend was happy. If abandonment was no threat, then the list of things that could be done, acquired, or allowed had no limit. Zhane could have anything and anyone he wanted, as long as he honored his promise to return to Andros and his family at the end of the day.

"I suppose they don't have a bonfire," Ty's voice was saying in his ear.

Andros tried not to smile, even if he was facing away from the club. There were enough active Rangers here tonight that a determined eavesdropper could probably overhear his conversation. "They don't," he said. "You see the problem."

"Yeah," Ty drawled. "I see the problem, all right. Symptoms include avoiding your family, withdrawing from parties, and repeatedly contacting Border planets during your vacation to what is right now one of the safest places in the League."

"The problem," Andros continued, watching Zhane turn his new friend toward the horizon so he could point at something over his shoulder, "is a lack of worthwhile activity."

He could hear Ty grinning over the comm link. "You're looking for trouble, Andros."

"If you find any," Andros said under his breath, "send it my way." He didn't bother to deny it, since arguing with his team was mostly a waste of energy these days. They knew each other's reactions too well for pretense.

"Will do." Ty sounded amused. "Tell the others I said hi."

"Yeah," he agreed absently. The guy with Zhane was pointing now too, and they'd put their heads together in the deepening twilight. "I will."

He was tempted to call DECA, just for an excuse to stand here on the edge of the party a little longer. She would tell him whatever he asked. She could probably even manage a detailed report on the kids, no doubt still awake at the Hammonds' house, but he didn't really have an excuse. If anything was wrong, she'd have called them already.

Andros put his digimorpher away with some reluctance. Eating dinner had been the easy part. Unfortunately, dinner was followed by a lot of hanging around and talking, which he didn't particularly enjoy. Zhane and Ashley were good at it, and Kerone was clearly making use of a talent she couldn't possibly have honed on the Dark Fortress: pretending to listen to other people. She and Ashley were huddled around a table with a group of girls--two of whom Andros recognized from Rocky's dojo, while the other had held the Pink Turbo key before Cassie--and he didn't really want to walk into that even if he thought he'd be welcome.

Since they were busy, and he wasn't about to follow Zhane, Andros did a brief survey of the rest of the Beach Club. All of the Earth Rangers were there... even Gabe, who was on crutches tonight and had a sock pulled up over his cast to keep sand from getting in it. He'd heard Gabe had refused treatment for broken bones, which, as an active Ranger, seemed irresponsible at best and potentially fatal at worst. Andros didn't really understand what was going on, but Zhane had warned him not to ask.

Outside of the former Astro team and their new teammates, he didn't know that many people on Earth. He'd been told that everyone at the club knew the Rangers for what they were, had a morpher themselves, or had held one in the past. Apparently the owner had closed the place just before dinner for private use. Andros appreciated not having to watch what he said, but Earth's anonymity policy meant that the number of teams to serve over the years bordered on ridiculous, and he had no idea who most of these people were.

TJ didn't seem to be having any trouble. He either knew everyone or just acted like he did. His fiancee was chatting with what had to be another Pink Ranger, and Karen and Aoife had apparently adopted each other in their quests to understand foreign cultures. Karen seemed to be introducing Aoife to everyone who wandered by.

Just as it occurred to him that Saryn was mysteriously absent, and maybe no one would notice if he disappeared as well, Cassie caught his eye from the table she was sharing with Carlos. She waved to him, an obvious "come here" gesture that didn't surprise him nearly as much as the silent impression he received. Andros, it said. Come over here.

He didn't move. Since when are you telepathic? he demanded.

He could see Cassie smile from where he was standing, but this time he didn't get anything. She waved again, and he gave in. "What was that?" he wanted to know when he joined them. "How did you do that?"

"Hi Andros," Carlos put in. "Good to see you too."

Andros spared him a glance, nodding once. "Hey," he said. Then he turned an expectant look on Cassie and waited.

"It's from living with Saryn," she explained. "He taught me how to get a telepath's attention. Sorry if I startled you."

"Are you a telepath?" The other person at their table sounded young and curious and Andros had ignored her presence until she spoke. When she did, though, he caught her eye and knew immediately: Ranger.

An active Ranger, too, or it wouldn't have been so obvious. But he'd thought he knew everyone who was active on Earth this year, at least, and she definitely wasn't one of them. "Who are you?" he asked warily.

Cassie laughed. "This is Andros Tyuseabe," she told the other girl. "When he's polite, he's very polite, and when he's not, we love him anyway.

"Andros," she added, before he could protest, "this is Kim Hart, the Pink Ranger back when Earth was using Eltaran morphers. She gave her Power to Kat, who passed it on to me."

"Several quests later," Carlos added, but Andros wasn't listening.

"You're still an active Ranger," he told Kim.

She gave him a confused smile. "How do you know that?"

Cassie looked from one of them to the other, but Carlos didn't seem surprised. "I can feel it too," he admitted. "It's weird--like the Power recognizes her or something."

"It does," Andros said. "The longer you hold the Power, the easier it is for other Rangers to recognize you. Haven't you met people you knew were Rangers without having to ask?"

Kim shook her head, then hesitated. "Well," she said slowly. "Zhane. But he was wearing a uniform."

"A uniform you'd never seen, on a day when half the people who walked by were dressed up as Power Rangers," Carlos pointed out. "She's right," he added, glancing at Andros. "You and Zhane are like that too."

It occurred to Andros that Kim probably hadn't met many Rangers who had held the Power longer than she had. "You've had it half your life?" he guessed, pulling out a chair next to Cassie and sitting down. When she just stared at him in surprise, he nodded. "Zhane too. I've had it even longer. You get used to it after a while, so relative exposure makes a difference."

"Hey, check us out," Cassie said with a smile. "We've found something Andros is willing to talk about. This is good."

He gave her a look while Carlos asked, "How can you still hold the Power if you gave it to Kat?"

"It's a long story," Kim said. She paused, like that was all she was going to say, and they waited. Finally she laughed--maybe at their expressions, maybe at herself. "Right. I forgot who I was talking to for a minute."

She leaned forward, bracing her elbows on the table. "About ten years ago, the conduit that Zordon's Power coins used to access the morphin grid was destroyed. My team went on a quest, and we all ended up with ninja powers that re-energized our coins. So we kept using them to morph."

With a tilt of her head, she added, "What we didn't get until later was that we were the new conduit. The Power was coming through us. Not to us."

"That's a ninja thing," Carlos agreed when she paused. "Ninjas can access the Power directly. They don't even need a morpher."

"With training," Kim said, giving him a significant look. "Which none of us had then. So I gave my morpher to Kat, moved to Florida, and I thought I was done with Rangering for good."

"How did she use your morpher?" Cassie wanted to know. "If she didn't have ninja powers?"

"She didn't need them," Kim said with a shrug. "I was still a conduit. She could access the Power through me without either of us having any idea what was going on. Except that I was still super strong, and really fast at healing."

"That didn't give you any idea what was going on?" Carlos sounded amused. "What happened when you tried to spar with someone normal and you knocked them flat on their back?"

"I was a gymnast," Kim told him. "I left Angel Grove to train for the Pan Globals, and I didn't have any time for martial arts after that. And we'd gotten used to being stronger than everyone else--you compensate for it, right? You don't even think about it anymore.

"Besides," she added. "All gymnasts are strong. Everyone I trained with in Florida was way stronger than average, and anyone who didn't heal fast worked through the pain, so I didn't stand out as much as you'd think. I didn't have any idea what was going on until Billy called me after the next quest and asked if I'd noticed any 'residual effects.'"

"Billy?" Andros repeated. He only knew one "Billy" who had used a morpher on Earth. "Billy of Aquitar?"

Kim smiled fondly. "Billy of Aquitar," she echoed, looking down at the table for a minute. "That's what he goes by now, isn't it. I always forget."

"Excuse me..." A familiar voice interrupted, and Andros looked around in surprise. Joy was standing there, dark even under the bright lights of the club. It took him a moment to reconcile her presence with their location.

"Sorry to interrupt," she was saying. "I was wondering if I could ask a favor."

Andros blinked. "Sure."

"Hi," Kim added, waving at her across the table. "I'm Kim."

"And I'm Cassie," Cassie said, smiling up at his neighbor. "How do you know Andros? We have to ask, because otherwise it won't occur to him to tell us."

"This is Joy," Andros said hastily. "She lives near Wayward, in Keyota." He gave Cassie a look, and she actually seemed a little surprised. Not because of his expression, he realized when she spoke.

"On KO-35?" Cassie looked from him to Joy and back again.

"I went to college here in California," Joy offered. "Music performance major at BBU."

"You came to Earth to go to school?" Carlos said, leaning back in his chair . "That makes me feel kind of like a dropout."

"Could that be because you..." Cassie pretended to think about. "Oh, right. Dropped out?"

"At least I started," Carlos returned, pulling in another chair from the table behind them. "I'm Carlos," he told Joy, twisting the chair around until it rested evenly at the table. "Sit down."

"Thanks!" Joy squeezed in between him and Carlos, maybe the slightest bit awkward but nowhere near as uncomfortable as he would have been in a group of relative strangers. "I didn't graduate either," she was saying, "if it makes you feel any better."

"Just coming to take in the local culture?" Carlos said with a grin.

"Yeah, kind of." Tucking her hair behind her ear, she gave Cassie a halfway embarrassed look across the table. "You were my inspiration, actually. You and Amanda, at KaliKay's? You got me hooked on Earth music. I had to come and learn something about it."

Cassie looked charmed. "You heard me sing at KaliKay's?"

"What's KaliKay's?" Kim wanted to know.

"Intergalactic bar," Carlos told her. "Giant biosphere on a terraformed asteroid. Dancing, live music, and free drinks for Rangers."

"Actually, I heard Amanda sing at KaliKay's," Joy said. "I heard you sing at Sylvan."

Carlos turned to stare at her in surprise. "You do get around."

She smiled, shrugging a little. "I like to travel."

"Um, not to keep repeating myself," Kim said, glancing around at them, "but what's Sylvan?"

"Sylvan, New Listrla," Cassie answered. "That's where I live. On Elisia. I did a lot of public singing when I first got there."

"Wow." Kim was looking at Joy with a combination of curiosity and bemusement. "So you just... travel from planet to planet? Studying music and listening to people sing?"

Something about her frankness made Joy laugh. "That would be my ideal life," she confessed. "I perform too, to pay my way, and I love it. But travel from frontier space isn't easy, and it isn't cheap either. Most of the time I stay out on the Border."

"How did you get to Earth?" Cassie wanted to know. "There's not a lot of public transportation out this way."

"Aquitar has a shuttle now," Carlos offered, and Joy was nodding even before he added, "They just added Earth to one of their local intergalactic routes. It stops by request only."

"Yeah," Joy agreed. "Which means you have to have a hyperboosted comm to get a pickup. I'm always so afraid of losing mine when I'm here!"

"It's not like you can call the ATA from just anywhere," Carlos said, grinning. "Silvy worries about that too."

"Are you staying in Angel Grove?" Cassie asked. "There's a couple of comm setups downtown that you could use in an emergency."

"At least a couple," Carlos muttered.

"This is Angel Grove," Kim reminded them. "Half the people you meet here are wearing intergalactic communicators."

"Oh?" Carlos raised an eyebrow at her, and she lifted her left hand. "Of course," he said, lifting his right and reaching out to bump fists with her. "Billy. I should have known."

"There's a hyperboosted comm system at Quest Karate, too," Cassie told Joy. "Rocky DeSantos runs the dojo, and everyone on his staff will know how to help you if you ever get stranded."

"It's like an alien safehouse over there," Carlos said. "Ninjas, Rangers, people from other planets coming and going..."

"Yeah, I heard he had to move the comm out of his apartment," Kim put in. "Too much traffic after Tommy and Kat moved and took their comm setup with them."

"Oh, that's what I wanted to ask you," Joy said suddenly. Putting both hands on the table, she turned all her attention on Andros. "My favor?"

"Hmm?" Andros looked away from the beach. He'd been listening. He just didn't care that much about the state of offplanet communications on Earth.

"Well, I was wondering--" She pulled an instrument out of somewhere and held it in both hands, giving him a hopeful look. "I really want Tommy Oliver to sign this. Do you think it's okay to just, you know, ask? Or would that be weird? It's not like I know him or anything..."

Andros frowned at the thing she was holding. "What is it?"

"Oh my gosh, the Dragon Dagger!" Kim exclaimed. She looked like she wanted to jump out of her chair and wave her hands in the air. Or laugh. Or possibly both. Andros kind of missed having a Pink Ranger on his team.

"Did you get that at Power Ranger Day?" Kim was asking. "Or Power Rangers Day? Whatever they're calling it now? Can I see it?"

"Who signed it already?" Carlos asked, as Joy passed it over to her.

"The band," Cassie guessed.

"Yeah," Joy admitted, her face a little flushed. "They all signed it for me, but I thought, wouldn't it be great to have the person who actually played it, um..."

Kim wasn't looking at her anymore. She had one arm over the back of her chair as she craned her neck, obviously searching for something. Or someone. They found out who a moment later. "Tommy!" she yelled, waving her free hand. "Hey, Tommy Trueheart Oliver! C'mere!"

Cassie laughed as Joy pretended to hide her face behind her hands. She peeked out between her fingers, laughing a little herself, and obviously making a show of embarrassment. She hadn't been shy about sitting down with them, after all.

Carlos chuckled too, and Andros felt himself smile, because Tommy had been talking to someone until Kim shouted for him. At the sound of her voice, he excused himself without hesitation. Andros felt his gaze slide across the entire table as he headed toward them, hesitating briefly on Joy, but the Black Ranger joined them by placing both hands on the back of Kim's chair.

"You called, Kimberly Ann Hart?" he said good-naturedly.

"Lose something?" she countered, beaming up at him as she lifted the Dragon Dagger over her head.

"Hey," Tommy said fondly, leaving one hand on the back of her chair as he took it from her. "That's not bad. Where did you get it?"

"It belongs to Joy," Kim said, waving in her direction. "She's from KO-35. She was visiting some college friends in Blue Bay Harbor and decided to come down for Power Ranger Day."

Tommy didn't bat an eye at this introduction. "Tommy," he said, leaning over Kim's shoulder to shake Joy's hand across the table. "Hi. Nice to meet you."

"You too," she said, clearly accustomed to Earth greeting rituals. "You, um, have a tribute band."

"The Dragon Daggers?" he said, smiling. "Yeah, they're good, aren't they? A lot better than I ever was."

"That's true," Kim said, nodding solemnly.

"Thanks for your support." Tommy patted her shoulder, and Kim leaned back in her chair to rest her head against him for a moment. "Really."

She flashed another brilliant smile up at him. "Always here for you."

"That reminds me," he said, squeezing her shoulder even as he turned his smile on Cassie. The Dragon Dagger was oddly unobtrusive in his other hand. "I was going to say something, later--you know, to everyone. To thank Ernie for this, and maybe just to thank the Rangers, for..."

He trailed off, but Cassie didn't look confused. She even nodded a little, like maybe she knew what he was trying to say. Finally he just said, "I thought maybe you'd want to join me."

"Yeah," Cassie said simply. "I'd like that."

Tommy glanced around, nodding once to Andros and again to Carlos. A silent acknowledgment, nothing more. At least, Andros hoped it was nothing more, because if it wasn't then he'd completely missed the message Cassie had received.

"Before you go," Kim was saying, reaching up to pat the hand that was still on her shoulder. "Joy would love it if you signed that."

"Huh?" Tommy glanced down at the Dragon Dagger, like he'd forgotten that he was holding it. "Oh, yeah. Sure. Got a pen?"

Kim glanced at Joy, who produced a black sharpie and a delighted grin. "Thanks!" she exclaimed, handing it over.

"No problem," Tommy replied, smiling back at her. "You want my name, or my Ranger title?"

"Which one?" Kim wanted to know.

"It's her Dagger," Tommy informed her. "She can pick her favorite color."

"Can you put both?" Joy asked eagerly. "Your name, and whatever color you are now."

Tommy grinned at that, an easy, relaxed expression that wasn't just him being polite. "Yeah," he said, "that's the story of my life. Tommy, the whatever-color-you-are-now Ranger. You got it."

He said it with no sign of regret, and he signed the Dagger with a flourish before recapping the sharpie and passing them both back across the table to her. "That okay?"

"That's great!" She hadn't even looked at it, but when she did she beamed at him again and repeated, "Thank you!"

"Just don't ask me to play it," he said with a smile, "and we'll call it even."

Cassie got up then, and the two of them started back the way Tommy had come. It was only after she had gone that Andros remembered to ask, "Hey, is there a reason I'm here?"

"The pleasure of our company?" Carlos suggested.

"Oh, right," Kim said abruptly, leaning forward. "Cassie said maybe you could help us."

"Semantic dispute," Carlos added. He didn't lean forward. He didn't lean back. His body language didn't change in any way, and Andros noticed. "We were comparing signing systems, and Kim wanted to know if Coralside's kinesthetic communication counts as a language."

Andros just looked at him. He had been convinced that he was smarter than Carlos when they first met. Knowledge of Earth's eccentricities aside, he had remained convinced of that for several years. Lately, though, he was coming to realize just how much he had underestimated the former Green Turbo Ranger.

"They call it gesturing," Kim explained. "A gesture system. Here that would be offensive, like if you called speech grunting or something."

"But on Aquitar, that's pretty much what they think of speech, too," Carlos said. "It is grunting, to them. Real language is what you use underwater."

"You can use sign language underwater," Kim pointed out. Carlos was already shaking his head, and she added, "I know, I know what you mean. I'm just saying--" She stopped, raising her eyebrows.

"The whole gesture system is based on dolphins," Carlos said. "At least, the one they use in Coralside is. Dolphins use kinesthetic communication for private conversations, and some of the culture researchers in Coralside adapted it so they could communicate the same way."

"So it was originally a natural language?" Kim pressed. "Before it was 'adapted'?"

Carlos was shaking his head again. "That's all I know," he said. "Really. I don't know exactly how the dolphins use it, I don't know how much whatever they do was adapted, and I don't know any of the signs you're using so I can't compare it to yours."

"That's why Cassie said we should talk to you," Kim told Andros. "She and Saryn learned a sign language for the twins, but none of us understand each other's signs, so we can't tell how they compare."

Andros just looked at her for a long moment. He glanced at Carlos and got a shrug, then at Joy, who was listening avidly. She just gave him an expectant look. "What do you expect me to do?" he asked Kim.

He saw Kim and Carlos exchange glances. "Cassie says you can understand foreign languages," Kim said carefully, her head tilted to one side. "She thought maybe the amount of information you'd get from the things we sign might tell us something about the level of language involved."

Andros shook his head, not saying no, just skeptical of their strategy. "Look, first off, the only sign language I've used is Cassie's, so there aren't any guarantees I'll be able to understand either of you. I mostly practice on spoken languages."

"It's just an experiment," Carlos said, waving the objection away. "If you can't understand it, no loss."

"Second," Andros said, trying not to bristle, "anything I understand, I just understand. I can't give you a report on its structure or its evolution or anything like that."

Kim shrugged. "Doesn't matter," she promised. "We were just curious. We'd hit kind of a language barrier when Cassie mentioned that you picked up the twins' language in about three seconds, that's all. If you don't want to do it, that's totally fine."

Andros shook his head again. What else did he have to do but be their test subject, anyway? "Go ahead."

"Okay," Kim said, glancing from him to Carlos. When she looked back at him, she added, "I'll just tell you... I don't know. How I learned to sign."

She lifted her hands over the table and signed, "When I was little, one of the girls on my gymnastics team was Deaf. We all learned to sign from her. Then my mom got this idea that it would be good for me to have a second language, so I started taking classes."

The story made Andros smile a little, and he signed back, "I had to have a second language to graduate, but Zhane and I were the colony's only Ranger team from the time we were eleven years old. Studying wasn't a priority. So I did whatever I'm doing now, and he cheated off of me."

Kim laughed. "Not exactly the model students," she signed.

"Not exactly the model childhood," he replied in kind.

"Okay," Carlos said aloud. "So we've established that Andros can understand American Sign Language."

"Your turn," Kim replied, still smiling.

"What did you say?" Joy wanted to know.

"I told her about my misspent youth," Andros answered. "Don't expect any secrets," he added, directing the comment at Carlos.

Carlos snorted. "There are a lot of things I don't need to know," he informed Andros. "What you and Zhane got up to when you were younger is probably one of them."

"What we got up to probably isn't a secret," Andros countered. "But if it makes you feel better, I'll promise not to tell you any school stories."

"School isn't a problem," Carlos signed to him. "I'd just rather not hear any stories about sex. Or sex-related activities. With anyone."

"Then I won't have much to say," Andros signed back.

Somewhat to his surprise, that made Carlos smirk, and this time it was Kim who demanded to know what what they were talking about. Carlos waved at Andros, Andros shook his head, and Kim shared a look with Joy. "I want to be able to do that," she declared, sounding more amused than insulted.

"Me too," Joy agreed, still looking from one of them to the other. "At least you understood one of those conversations."

"You didn't miss anything with ours," Carlos assured her.

"You can do that," Andros pointed out. "You play a hundred different instruments at the haven."

"Yeah, 'cause music is easy," she returned. "Language is hard."

"Language is easy," Andros corrected. "Music is hard. To me."

"What do you mean?" Kim asked, following to their conversation with interest. "How do you do that? Cassie just said you learn languages quickly."

"I don't learn them," he said, a little uncomfortable. "I just understand them when other people use them."

"Which is a lot faster than learning them," Carlos put in. "Believe me, I know."

An escalating whine got Andros' attention. No one else seemed quite as alarmed, but they were looking around too, and there was some kind of commotion at the front of the club. Then there was a repeated popping sound, and a man's uncertain voice said, "Hello?"

"Hello!" Kim called, and she wasn't the only one. She turned in her chair so she could see the source of the commotion, and she waved when the man up front with the microphone looked her way.

He smiled, lifting his hand in return. "Hi, guys," he said. "Can you all hear me?"

A couple of people shouted "yes!" from the tables farthest away, and someone whooped. Tommy was standing up near the man with the projection equipment, along with someone Andros didn't recognize. He saw Cassie leaning against Ashley over at the girls' table, listening along with everyone else.

"Great," the man declared. "A lot of you know me," he added, "but I see some unfamiliar faces, so... my name's Ernie. I used to run the Juice Bar downtown, the one Jerome and Adelle took over when I left? You younger folk might know it as the Surf Spot--"

Someone whistled, and Ernie grinned. His unhurried drawl didn't change. "Now I've got this place, thanks to some enterprising kids who took it over in my absence, and, uh, somehow didn't mind hiring me back on..."

"You never left, Ernie." It was a man in black at one of the front tables who spoke, and Andros recognized Emily by his side. "The Beach Club was always yours."

"Well, ours, maybe." Ernie hesitated, then held out a hand toward the man who had spoken. "Let's hear it for Emily and Jason, who brought this place to a real beach and kept it open all this time!"

There was a lot of clapping, and some yelling, and Andros wondered if he was supposed to know about this. No one had told him anything about the Beach Club, except that it was run by "Ranger sympathizers," like they were some sort of illicit underground. And that he didn't have to worry about what he said while he was there.

"At least," Ashley had added with a too-innocent smile, "no more than usual."

"And while we're at it," Ernie was saying, "let's hear it for you guys, because without you, none of us would be here. Thank you," he said, raising his voice to be heard over the cheers, "for saving our planet!"

He waited while people yelled and laughed and Andros glanced around his table, deciding that clapping seemed like the safest route. He assumed Ernie was talking about the Power Rangers. Just how many of the people here were Rangers, he wondered?

"Now I know," Ernie continued, when he could be heard again, "that on most planets, your identities aren't a secret. And, on most planets, you'd get all you can eat and drink for free. I wanted tonight to be my humble way of saying thank you, and maybe giving you a little of that recognition here at home."

He had to stop again, because someone had yelled "thank you!" back at him and this prompted another groundswell of noise and cheering and chatter. Andros took the opportunity to look back at the shoreline, scanning the nearly dark horizon for two figures down by the water. There was a couple down there, but something about them was off. He was sure neither of them was Zhane.

"I said I wanted to," Ernie was calling, above the sound of the crowd. "But someone else stepped up and offered to pay. I tried to turn him down, but... well, when I realized that he's about five hundred times richer than I am, it just made sense.

"So," he continued, "if you happen to see our anonymous donor around the club this evening, make sure you thank him for me." Andros frowned, but a covert glance around the table revealed Kim hiding a giggle and Carlos smirking openly. It was a joke he wasn't getting, then.

"In the meantime," Ernie added, "I'm going to turn it over to the young man who made quite a scene when he arrived in Angel Grove twelve years ago, and has continued to make things complicated as only he can by asking to use the mike to talk to you all tonight. Tommy, you know how hard this thing is to set up?"

Tommy just shook his head, clapping Ernie on the shoulder as he stepped up beside him and took the mike. "I've got a pretty good idea," he said. "And, uh, I've also got a message from your anonymous donor... who, by the way, was kind of hoping to remain anonymous."

Ernie just shrugged, folding his arms with a smile that conveyed no sympathy.

"He says," Tommy went on, "and, you know, pardon my language, but--" He looked very serious about this as he finished, "Payback's a bitch."

This was met with sporadic cheers, jeers, booing, and clapping. Andros couldn't figure out where the majority stood on this one. Tommy's expression broke into a grin, though, so maybe the apparent disapproval wasn't really. "Sure, guys," he told the microphone. "I love you too."

This time Andros really looked. He focused on the part of his mind that was almost always Zhane, and he let it turn his head somewhere to the left. Somewhere up the beach, then, but still close by. Closer than he'd been before, even. On his way back.

"I just wanted to say," Tommy insisted, and Andros couldn't tune his voice out. "That you guys really do mean a lot to me, okay? So thanks. Thanks for... doing what you do. And for being a part of something that turned my life around."

He paused for a long moment, and, surprisingly, there was actual quiet in between his words. It didn't look like he was trying to decide what to say--he seemed to be struggling with whether or not to say something in particular. And everyone saw it, and waited, and maybe that was enough.

Motion at one of the tables caught Andros' eye, and this time it was Cassie, making her way toward Tommy. He looked down, and his voice was quieter when he said, "I know I'm not the only runaway to become a Ranger." Cassie stepped right up against him, sliding an arm around his waist, and Tommy smiled down at her.

Draping an arm over her shoulders, he lifted his head and added, "I'm certainly not the only one to find my family because of the Rangers. Whether it's the family we were born to or not. I know everyone who's had a morpher knows how strong the bonds of the team can be."

"And how far they'll go for you," Cassie said, leaning a little closer to speak into the microphone. "It's not just that we'd die for each other--and some of us have," she reminded them. "But we give each other reasons to live, and sometimes that's even more important."

"Yeah," Tommy agreed, squeezing her shoulders. Andros wondered, idly, where Saryn was tonight. "I found my brother because of the Rangers. I met my wife because of the Rangers. I probably wouldn't have made it through high school if it wasn't for my team, and I definitely wouldn't have gone to college.

"When I say this turned my life around," he said, "I'm not kidding. I don't know who I'd be today without the chance Zordon gave me, and to be honest, I'm not sure I want to know. So... thank you. All of you."

He lowered the microphone a little, and Cassie took it gently from his hand. "When I arrived in Angel Grove," she told them, "I had a wallet and a walkman. TJ gave me a lecture. Kat gave me a morpher, and Dimitria gave me a chance.

"Ashley's parents gave me a place to stay on the condition that I finish high school," she added, "which I did. Barely. No thanks to my husband, who was also a Ranger, and kept needing to be rescued... Those absences were hard to explain to the teachers."

Andros thought the girls seemed to find this slightly more funny than the guys.

"But now we have a house, and a dog, and two point four beautiful children," Cassie continued, and the reason this provoked laughter was completely beyond him. "So thank you, Power Rangers, for giving me my happy beginning."

Ernie lifted his hands and started the applause for her, for them, even if it was clear after seeing them both together that Cassie would never stop being a performer. She proved it by waiting just long enough that everyone could see she had something else to say, and when they let her talk again she said, "I kind of wanted to play a song for you guys... is that okay?"

Judging by the reaction, that was more than okay, but Andros was distracted by a warm glow from behind him and a hand on his shoulder just as he was starting to turn. "Hey," Zhane's voice said, pitched to reach him and only him as he slid into the seat Cassie had vacated earlier. "Miss me?"

Andros caught his eye, and Zhane's expression softened. I know, his face seemed to say. Something else, something indefinable yet utterly familiar, let Andros know that whatever he'd been doing was worth it.

"Yeah," Andros murmured, and his lover smiled.

Zhane was happy.

"Hi," he declared cheerfully, spreading it around. "Joy! You came! See anyone you know?"

She beamed back at him, and it occurred to Andros that he might be at a table with three of the happiest people at the club. Only Ashley was missing. "Other than my favorite Rangers? Not yet!"

"Well, you don't really need anyone else when you've got us," Zhane told her blithely. "What about you, Kim? Where's your graceful and lovely companion tonight?"

"Suffering from jetlag," Kim answered, to Zhane's pretended disappointment.

"We are less without her company," he said gravely.

Andros couldn't tell if he deliberately excluded Carlos, or if he just didn't get to him before the activity at the front of the club drew his attention. "What's going on?" Zhane wanted to know. "Is Cassie going to sing?"

This seemed fairly obvious to Andros, so he just nodded, but Carlos said, "Yeah. She and Tommy both said something about how important their teams were to them, and then she asked if she could sing something for us."

"She can sing to me anytime," Zhane announced. "In fact, is someone recording this? Where's Saryn?"

Then, without waiting for an answer, he turned an unexpectedly sharp gaze on Carlos. "Where's Aura?"

Carlos looked taken aback, which was a more spontaneous reaction than Andros had seen from him since he'd sat down. "At home," he said. "She's pregnant."

"She's pregnant, so she's at home?" Zhane repeated.

"She's very pregnant, so she's under observation, so she's at home." Carlos glared at him. "Is that a problem?"

Zhane grinned suddenly. "More for you than for me, I guess."

There was a brief moment where no one at the table said anything, then Carlos seemed to understand. "Yeah," he admitted, relaxing enough to smile a little. "No kidding."

"Okay," Cassie's voice cut in, smooth and easy over Ernie's projection system. "I think we're all set here... and I think you'll get this song as soon as you hear it, so I'll just tell you that it's not mine: it was written and originally sung by Dar Williams. It's called 'You Rise and Meet the Day.'"

"Never heard of it," Zhane remarked, loudly enough to be heard. Andros gave him a look that he completely ignored, but Cassie just smiled in his direction.

"Zhane's never heard of it," she told the microphone, an unmistakable note of affection in her tone. Zhane seemed to have convinced a large number of people that his occasionally obnoxious behavior was a sign of love. "Until now," Cassie added.

Andros didn't know where the guitar had come from, but she made it sound pleasing and oddly familiar, even to someone who hadn't grown up with this kind of music. He used to hear it on the Megaship sometimes, and everywhere Cassie was, but Ashley didn't play it as much as she used to and there wasn't anyone else in the family who listened to it regularly. He should probably find out if she missed it or not.

Then Cassie's voice was murmuring, "We could pretend that we're walking on petals and light... golden light," and he found himself listening as quietly as they once had around the campfire, "flaunting our love like a dance step master, turning from left to right..."

Zhane's hand was back on his shoulder, a careful touch as he turned his chair so he could see better. "After all the colored lights are gone," Cassie sang softly, bent over her guitar with her eyes mostly closed, "time will leave the ashes and the dawn--"

She lifted her head then, staring past them toward the shore and the ocean beyond. "But you rise and meet the day..."

Sitting right beside him now, Zhane let his hand fall, and Andros shifted so that their shoulders were pressed up against each other. Cassie was looking at them now, at all of them, her gaze on the audience instead of the horizon. "Watching you go is like spying on hope: ever onward with more to burn," she told them.

"Giving your hands and your heart to the will of the world, though it fights each turn..." She caught Andros' eye and she smiled, though her words didn't falter, "you don't give up so easily--"

And her gaze wandered away again, including them all in her understanding, "That's how I know you won't surrender me," and Saryn was there, Andros finally caught his shadow in the dimness and he was surprised he'd missed it for so long, "you rise and meet the day..."

"That's all I need," Cassie sang, addressing her guitar again, letting her eyes slide shut, "that's all I need to know... it's all I need to know, and I love you all the time."

Zhane moved, his fingers twitching a little against Andros' back. Without a word, Andros turned enough that they could lean against each other and Zhane's arm went over his shoulders. His eyes sought out Ashley and Kerone, one whispering to the other behind her hand. They leaned into each other almost by accident, giggling inaudibly even in the momentarily quiet club.

"I had always feared some gloomy ingratitude would seize me," Cassie's voice murmured, "but you have held the dream, like every morning finds a way to hang the sun up in the sky, and now I think I have it too... the greatest part I learned from you, as you rise and meet the day."

Andros was smiling. He didn't mean to, but maybe she was right. Maybe they did understand, without her having to tell them. Or maybe she already had: It's not just that we'd die for each other--we give each other reasons to live.

His reasons to live had been running his life for a long time now, and he didn't want it any other way. Not when he knew what it was like to be in charge, to have ultimate control, the sole captain on a deserted ship. The only one whose input mattered because there wasn't anyone else. It was a way of life, yes. But it wasn't a reason to live.

"I could see kids," Cassie was singing, "maybe yours, maybe not... I can hear what they'll say, laughing at pictures with the old-fashioned hats and the clothes that we're wearing today..."

He felt Zhane kiss the top of his head, gently, conspicuously, and there were places where he might have protested such an eye-catching display of affection. But there probably wasn't any reason to make this one of them. He guessed that Zhane knew it, too.

"They will know the true and humble power," Cassie's voice reminded them, "of a love that made it through the darkest hour..."

He heard Zhane whisper, "You rise and meet the day," just as Cassie said it, and Andros turned his head enough that Zhane could feel it. I love you, a voice said silently in his mind.

"I love you too," Andros said aloud, quietly but undeniably.

"That's all I need," Cassie sang, soothing, beautiful, and true. "That's all I need to know... it's all I need to know..."

"Seriously," Zhane whispered, as the guitar drifted off. "Is Saryn recording this?"

"How would I know?" Andros murmured. Everyone was starting to clap, respectfully at first, gaining strength as it went, like they wanted to make sure she was done before they really made noise. Zhane's voice switched to his head again.

What I mean, he said deliberately, is that Saryn better be recording this, or I'm going to make Cassie sing it again so that I can.

Like Andros didn't know what he meant. He just smiled, because Zhane knew that he knew, and they were talking for the sake of talking now. Zhane was one of a very few people that he actually liked to hear babble. Maybe because Zhane didn't do it with any expectation that he cared, but Zhane cared enough to say it anyway.

Who was your friend? Andros wondered idly.

Green Ranger from one of the ninja teams, Zhane answered. Cam. Don't mention him to Joy, okay? He's dating one of her friends.

There was a time when Andros would have objected to the request in principle. He didn't go around deliberately interfering in other people's relationships--in fact, he preferred as little involvement as possible--and he didn't want to participate in their games. So Cam's date wasn't supposed to know he'd been with Zhane. It didn't have anything to do with Andros.

Or it hadn't, until he'd finally realized that if he didn't have anything to do with the things Zhane cared about, then he didn't have anything to do with Zhane. He didn't get to be just him, and whatever parts of Zhane fit into his life. He had to be both of them, the way Zhane was. The way Zhane had always been.

Okay, Andros replied, not moving. No problem.

5. Along the Way

Kerone was telling the kids stories when her digimorpher chimed. Serious stories, with holographic illustration and magical sound effects. Quiet sound effects, because Aoife was still sleeping in the bedroom, and that was probably the only reason she noticed the soft chime right away. Real Rangers were signaled by the Power, attuned to their morphers in a way she would never be.

"Incoming transmission from Terra Venture," DECA's voice told her when she acknowledged. "From Leo Corbett, for Kerone of KO-35."

She paused, because that answered her first question. For her specifically, or for the Kerovan team in general? Apparently it was for her. And maybe that made sense, since she was the one Leo knew, but she'd gotten used to fielding calls for the team when everyone else was asleep.

"Is it a live link?" Kerone asked at last, glancing at Kae and Hope. Kae was waiting patiently, pretending to look bored. He knew that the less interested he looked, the more likely she was to let them listen.

Hope gave the game away, though, with her wide eyes and curious bounce.

"It is," DECA told her. "Would you prefer he leave a message?"

"No," Kerone said quickly. She was up, after all. And she hadn't heard from any of the Rangers on Terra Venture since she left them months ago. "Put him through, please."

"Kerone, Leo," DECA replied, imitating the GSA's radio procedure.

"Hi Leo," she said, smiling because she knew he would hear it in her voice. "It's good to hear from you. Is everyone all right?"

"Kerone." He sounded oddly startled. "I wasn't sure I'd be able to reach you. I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"Not at all," she promised, eyeing Kae's pretended indifference and Hope's vibrating enthusiasm. "Hold on, let me introduce you to a couple of people. This is Kae--" She pointed at him, and he waved on cue even though it was an audio link.

"Hi," Kae added obediently.

"And this is Hope," Kerone finished, pointing at her daughter.

Hope leaned forward as though she could see into the morpher somehow. "Who's Leo?" she wanted to know. "Is he a Ranger?"

"Yes, he is," Kerone told her. "Leo is the Red Ranger for Earth's first space colony."

"Hello," Leo's voice said. He sounded like he was grinning, so whatever he was calling about must not be an emergency. "Nice to meet you, Hope. And you too, Kae. Kerone talks about you a lot."

"She doesn't talk about you at all," Hope said, putting her hands on Kerone's knee and leaning closer to her digimorpher. "I'm from a space colony too. Only I'm not supposed to tell people here that."

Hope frowned seriously, then continued before either of them could tell her it was all right. "But you're not here," she said, then added thoughtfully, "and you're a Ranger, so it's probably okay."

"She does so talk about him," Kae put in, rolling his eyes. "Remember the stories about Terra Venture? That was Leo."

"All of them?" Leo's voice asked, still sounding amused. "All of the stories were about me?"

"Just talk over the kids," Kerone advised. "That's what we do."

"No you don't," Hope said, practically in her lap. "You tell Aoife to take us somewhere else so you can talk about boring grown-up things. I want to hear the rest of the story about the dragons on Youtoba."

"And I want to hear Leo's story about why he's calling me so early in the morning," Kerone told her. "If you don't want to listen, you can go wait in the hall. Quietly."

"I want to listen," Hope said quickly.

"Are you still on California time, Leo?" Kerone asked, as Hope climbed off of her and settled herself neatly beside her on the floor. That would last two seconds, if she was lucky. Kae actually was sitting quietly, leaning back on his hands, with his ankles crossed in front of him.

He looked very much like Zhane, and the fleeting thought brought a smile to her face.

"Pacific Daylight Time," Leo's voice confirmed. "There was a whole big thing when we switched from Standard to Daylight; I still don't know what the big deal was. But basically the military insists on following daylight savings until we reach the new world, the scientists complain a lot, and everyone else is just glad the time zones match when we call home."

"I don't understand your daylight savings time," Kerone told him. "But I think I'm right when I say it must be early where you are, too."

"Yeah, it is." Leo's tone had sobered. "Sorry about that. We've got a problem, and I'm just about out of ideas."

"What's wong?" Kerone asked, glancing down at Hope. She'd already laid down, rolled over on her back, and was clawing at the floor with her hands idly while she listened.

"Kai's morpher isn't working," Leo said.

She frowned. "You mean he can't morph?"

"Oh, he can morph." Leo's voice sounded odd over her morpher. "Just not… on command."

"He's morphing when he doesn't mean to but he can't morph when he does?" she guessed.

"Yeah." Leo sounded startled again. "You heard of that before?"

"No," she said with a shrug. "But things like that happen to Power Rangers all the time. Sometimes the morphers are tempermental. Sometimes the Power is. Sometimes the Power doesn't like you and your morpher's just a glorified communicator."

There was a pause. "What?"

"Me," Kerone assured him. "Not Kai. At least, probably not Kai. He's held the Power this long, after all. Is he okay otherwise? Physically, I mean, there's nothing wrong with him?"

"Well..." The pause was longer this time. "His Power's really strong, right? He's always had a problem with it getting kind of... out of control. But it's never done this before."

Kerone was well aware that Kae was listening closely, despite his relaxed and completely motionless posture. He knew what happened when her power got out of control. Hope didn't, not yet. She was kicking one of the holograms leftover from the story, making it shimmer slightly.

"Leo," Kerone said. "Is Kai physically all right or not?"

"I don't know." Leo said it like this was actually the thing he was most sure of. "He says he's okay. Medlab's checked him three times, and they say he's okay. But sometimes when he's really--restless, he gets weird."

"Weird, how?" she prompted. "Acting weird, looking weird, turning into a turtle, what?"

"Hypersensitive." Leo sounded like he'd just blurted the word out. "He's hypersensitive to... everything. Sight, sound, touch--and it's contagious. I get the same thing when I touch him. The others, too. It's like his Power makes him Super Kai, and his body can't handle it, so it transfers some of it to us."

Kerone considered that. "And now it's not working? The Power, I mean? Sometimes he can morph and sometimes he can't?"

"Yeah, I don't know if that's related," Leo admitted. "Like I said, he's had trouble with the Power before. It's never affected whether he can morph or not."

They were obviously related, but she was careful not to roll her eyes while Kae was watching. "Okay, classify the urgency for me," she said instead. "Do you need someone there today, right now, or yesterday?"

"We're okay," Leo said quickly. "It's not like we don't have five other Rangers. Kai's just pissed off, so I figured, if it was anything you'd heard of before--"

"So, sometime today," she interrupted. "I'm on Earth with my family right now. There's no reason we can't stop by for a visit. I'll bring a bigger ship this time, so you won't have to worry about feeding all of us."

His hesitation was brief. "That'd be great," he said. "Sorry to interrupt your vacation."

"I told you to call me if you needed anything," Kerone reminded him. "I meant it."

"Yeah, thanks," he said, and she could hear the smile in his voice. "Plus now we get to meet your kids. Everyone's pretty curious."

"We'll be there by the end of the day," she promised.

"I'll let Commander Stanton know you're coming--hey," he added suddenly. "What should we be looking for? Not a zord?"

"The Megaship Mark II," she said. "You'll know it when you see it."

Now she could tell he was grinning. "Yeah, I bet we will. I'll see if we can make room in Hangar 5 for you. It'll make a great photo op."

Kae barely waited until they signed off to ask, "Are we really going to Terra Venture? We get to go, right? Me and Hope? He said they want to meet us."

"How far away is it?" Hope wanted to know. "Do we have to stay on the ship for a long time?"

"If your mom says you can go, then you're going," Kerone told them. "We have to make sure it's okay with her first. But it's not far. We'll only be on the ship a few minutes."

"Mom!" Hope yelled, launching herself to her feet. Kerone grabbed her arm before she could get any farther and wrapped her up in a convenient hug.

"No yelling in the hotel," she declared. "And no banging on your parents' door before seven o'clock, remember? Not unless Aoife says you can."

"Hey, Aoife," Kae said. "Can we bang on the door?"

Kerone looked around in surprise, still holding a squirming Hope, and found Aoife standing there in the entrance to the bedroom. "Did we wake you up again?" she asked, making as apologetic a face as she could manage. "I'm so sorry, we were trying to be quiet."

"It's fine," Aoife said, smiling at Hope's protest that she had been very quiet. "Time to get up anyway. Are we going on a field trip?"

"Probably." Kerone released Hope, who immediately scrambled for Aoife and her "good morning" hug. "The Rangers on Terra Venture need help. I could go alone, but I know Andros won't be able to resist. You're welcome to come or stay--we should be back in a day or two."

"I'll go wherever the kids go," Aoife told her. "Unless they stay here, in which case they're on their own, because I want to see this space colony."

Kerone laughed as Kae gave her the evil eye. Hope didn't seem to understand, tugging on her hand and asking if they could really bang on the door, and Kerone shook her head. "Why don't you get dressed," she said, getting to her feet, "and I'll go see what your mom thinks."

The leftover holograms faded behind her as she let herself into the other room. Andros was already up, his internal clock the last to reset after the time change from Keyota to Angel Grove. He was reading--probably Border reports--and he looked up when she came in.

"Hey," he said with a smile.

"Hey," she said, going over to take a place beside him on the sofa. She folded her legs underneath her and leaned against his shoulder, studying the reader as he tipped it in her direction. "Boring," she decided after a moment.

"Mmm." He thumbed the display off and turned the device on its side, idly balancing it against his knee. "Kids up yet?"

"Of course." She reached for the reader, and he let her take it without complaint. "I was telling them about Youtoba when DECA routed Leo Corbett's call to my morpher. One of his Rangers is having trouble with the Power."

"Red Galaxy Ranger," Andros said. "The team that helped you find the Lights of Orion. Using the Megaship, Power from Mirinoi, possessed sixth Ranger."

"He's not possessed," she said absently. The reader had a Megaship uplink, and she called up DECA's files on the Terra Venture team before handing it back to him. "He's sharing his brain with a ghost from three thousand years ago."

"Oh, right." She couldn't see her brother's face, but she could hear Andros rolling his eyes. "Obviously, that's so much different. What was I thinking?"

"I really don't know," she told him. "Otherwise, though, yes. That's them."

"So I see." He was scrolling, clearly skimming the information, but he did pause on each of their pictures and she knew he was committing them to memory. Not just out of habit, either. He could probably guess what she was going to say.

"The Blue Ranger can't morph," Kerone said. "Not voluntarily, anyway. Leo says he has kind of a bad relationship with the Power, but this is the first time it's actually kept him from morphing. I told him we'd come and see if we could help."

"Great," Andros agreed. "Let's go right now."

She smiled, resting her head on his shoulder. "He said it wasn't urgent. I told him we'd be there by the end of the day. We'll have plenty of time to see the Hammonds and let them know where we're going."

He tipped the reader to one side and tapped it against her leg. "You're no fun."

"Mmm-hmm." She turned to kiss him on the cheek before she sat up. "I'll go see what Ashley thinks about bringing the kids."

He gave her a funny look. "Why wouldn't we bring the kids?"

"It's a GSA colony-ship," she reminded him. "The first of its kind. And last I knew, it was under attack by someone who wanted those Mirinoan morphers for himself. It might not be the safest place in the universe."

Andros scoffed. "Like that's new for us. They'll be fine."

"Uh-huh," she said, pushing herself up off the sofa. For a Ranger who had lost his entire family by the time he was eleven years old, Andros was remarkably confident in the Tyuseabes' ability to protect their children. "I'll see what Ashley thinks."

The bedroom was still dark, thick drapes blocking the light from the windows, and she smiled at the two shapes on the nearest bed. She knew Zhane had gone to sleep in his own bed last night, with Andros and Ashley sharing the other. He must have gotten up this morning, maybe when Andros left, to share with Ashley.

She studied them for a long moment, wondering if there was enough room for three without disturbing them. Zhane solved the problem by murmuring, "Well, don't just stand there."

She smiled. Climbing onto the end of the bed, she crawled up beside him as he squeezed closer to Ashley and held the sheet up out of her way. She was already barefoot, but she let her jeans and blouse fade to sweats and a t-shirt as she snuggled up against him. She could feel his huff of amusement when he lowered the sheet again, arm slung over her stomach.

"Nice lightshow," he whispered. "Tired, or just socializing?"

"Socializing," Kerone murmured. "I like being here with you."

His fingers scratched her skin gently through her t-shirt, just an idly affectionate gesture that made her smile again. "Me too," he said softly.

She laid there with him for a few minutes, feeling the rise and fall of his breath through his arm. She slept with Zhane more than anyone else did, mostly because she didn't sleep for very long. He was happy to hold her for a little while, as long as she got up and left him most of the night to sleep by himself.

"You awake, Ash?" Zhane whispered at last. He didn't move.

Ashley's sleepy reply was content but unmistakable. "Maybe."

"Astrea wants to tell us something," Zhane murmured.

"Spoilsport," she said, repeating it in his head because he liked telepathy.

"Fine, don't tell us." He curled closer around her and she could feel him kissing her hair. "See if I care."

"Good news or bad news?" Ashley mumbled, and Kerone could hear her shifting on the other side of the bed. Stretching, maybe. She was definitely yawning.

"Probably bad," Kerone admitted. "Hopefully not for us, though."

She felt Zhane laugh, and the arm he'd thrown over her lifted to stroke her hair as he drew back a little. "You're perfect," he told her. "I love everything about you."

"I love you too," she said, shifting onto her back so she could smile up at him.

"Mmm, me too." Ashley pushed herself up, blinking in the dimness and bracing one hand against Zhane's shoulder as she lifted the other to rub her eyes. "But this bed is so not big enough for three people."

"You're just not close enough," Zhane teased, rolling onto his back and getting an indignant squeak from Ashley as he left her with even less room.

She turned, leaning over him to kiss Kerone, then collapsing on top of him when Zhane reached up to tickle her. Giggling, she stretched out and laid her head on Kerone's chest briefly. "Yeah, it's just the right size when I'm lying on you, not the bed."

"Now you're getting it," Zhane told her. "Why bother with all these people if you're not going to use them as pillows?"

"Mmm... because they can cook," Ashley said, lifting her head and putting her hands down between them to push herself up. "And do magic. And also because I love them."

"You left out Andros," Zhane said. "Why do you bother with him?"

"Um..." Ashley wrinkled her nose, apparently stumped by this. "Because he's funny?"

Andros, Zhane said silently so they could all hear. You have no redeeming qualities, but Ashley loves you anyway.

Oh, thank you. Andros' voice came back immediately. I don't know how I stay so grounded with all of you around to inflate my ego.

He wandered into the bedroom a moment later, pausing just as Kerone had to study them all with a small smile. "That bed's really not big enough for all of you," Andros remarked.

"Astrea," Zhane murmured, "it's a sad day when you and I are the most inspired people in this family."

She just smiled. "Says the man who got us all together."

"And married," Ashley added, sliding off of the bed and padding over to Andros. Hands on shoulders and hips, they flowed in and out of a kiss like they'd been doing it all their lives.

Kerone slid an arm behind her head and watched curiously. Andros hadn't been weird with her for a long time, but he was the only one less interested in sex with her than she was with them. At first, that had made her more comfortable around him even as it made him less. Now, though, she was pretty sure he took her honest uncaring at face value.

"I see you're giving them a detailed explanation of our next adventure," Andros said, shooting an amused look in her direction.

"I'm not the one in a hurry to leave," she replied. Fingers twined through Zhane's, she lifted their joined hands in his direction and waved them minutely.

"We just got here," Ashley protested. "What's so important that we have to leave?" She was already pulling clothes out of the bureau, but that was probably more habit than hurry. Ashley had a morning routine, and the moment she got up, it was set in motion: clothes, bathroom, messages, breakfast.

Messages before breakfast, Kerone often thought, only because the house comm happened to be between their bedroom and the kitchen.

"If you ask Andros," she offered, "getting away from your family."

Her brother frowned at her. "Traitor."

Ashley, on the other hand, didn't seem fazed. "Grandma's a bit much, isn't she," she said apologetically. "I wasn't expecting her."

"Yeah," Andros muttered. "Grandma."

Kerone wasn't sure where he was going with that, but luckily Zhane interceded before he could get himself into trouble. "Where are we going?" Zhane wanted to know. He lifted their hands as he sat up, kissing her fingers. "And who are we taking?"

"Terra Venture," she told him. "Everyone's invited."

"Ooh, the colony ship?" She had all of Ashley's attention now. "I wanted to see that when it was finished, but it never really worked out."

"Leo's team, right?" Zhane poked her gently. "Your friends?"

"Leo, Kai, Kendrix, Damon, Maya, and Mike." Andros, of course, had just been reading their files.

Zhane threw an amused look in his direction. "Showoff."

"Are they in trouble?" Ashley asked, tossing her hair out of the way of her bra strap. She still had her pajama bottoms on. She always dressed from the top down, and Kerone had the sudden urge to ask why. "I assume they're not just inviting us for the fun of it?"

"Not that we wouldn't go," Zhane added cheerfully.

"Kai's been having trouble with the Power," Kerone said. "Leo says it's been getting worse and worse. It's gotten to the point where he morphs without meaning to, and he can't always morph when he does."

Tugging her t-shirt into place and pulling her hair free, Ashley gave her a curious look. "And that sounds familiar to you?"

"No," she admitted. She put her other hand behind her head when Zhane let it go, squirming around to get more comfortable on her pillow. "I just thought if we get enough Rangers together in one place, something will come up. It always does."

"Inspired," Zhane declared, swinging his legs off of the bed and looking around the room like he'd never seen it before. "I like that kind of thinking."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Andros remarked. "When do we leave?"

Ashley gave him a look. "You just can't stand to be on vacation, can you," she said fondly. "I remember when I thought the haven would teach you to relax..."

"How wrong you were," Zhane said with a smirk. "It's like giving a workaholic a hobby. He doesn't stop obsessing over work. He just also obsesses over his hobby."

"Considering that my job is--what? Oh, that's right: you guys," Andros said, rolling his eyes. "You're welcome."

"We're hungry," Ashley corrected, shimmying into her skirt. "And apparently we have a new schedule, so let's at least make sure the kids are fed before we go anywhere."

"Wait, now?" Zhane sounded genuinely surprised. "So he can't morph. It happens. Isn't it a little early to go charging off across the--how far have they gotten?" he interrupted himself, glancing at Kerone. "All the way out of the solar system by now?"

"Stop making fun of my planet's technology," Ashley warned him. "Or I'll start making fun of your colonization record, and no one wants that."

"Actually, our record does kind of suck," Zhane admitted with a grin. "And Earth's spacefaring technology is very impressive. Better than a catapult and a boomerang put together."

Ashley pretended to glare at him. "You don't win because you're funny."

"Why not?" he wanted to know. "Andros does."

"What?" Andros gave the illusion of paying attention by responding to his name, but they all knew that was all it was. He'd probably been dissecting Kai's problem in his head ever since Kerone brought it up.

"Breakfast," Ashley said firmly. "Feed the kids, call the parents, let everyone else know where we're going. You'll have to get dressed eventually," she added, and this last was clearly directed at Zhane.

"I reiterate my original question," Zhane said. "Now?"

"Unless you want to be the one to track down all our friends and tell them what's going on," Ashley told him.

Zhane really liked Ashley's family. Even her grandma, who was the most chatty person he knew, but also, for that very reason, willing to talk about anything at all. He liked people who would talk about anything.

He also liked the old Astro Rangers, though, and he'd seen less of them than Grandma, so he traded an extra half hour in bed for the solo friend-briefing assignment that morning. He'd been up late all weekend, and he slept better alone anyway. He could also get up and get ready in approximately a fifth the time it took Ashley.

The rest of the family had headed downstairs to the breakfast buffet with Aoife and the kids. He grudgingly shifted out of bed a few minutes before the earliest he figured they could be back, found some clothes, stopped in the bathroom, and checked for his key card before ambling out into the hallway. The Elisians were only two doors down.

Cassie and Saryn had been keeping slightly more reasonable hours than his family, so he wasn't surprised when Saryn answered the knock on their door. "Hey," Zhane said, with a yawn that was mostly for effect. "How's it going?"

"More calmly than anticipated," Saryn replied, stepping back to let him in. "And yourself?"

"Don't know," Zhane said. "I think everyone's at breakfast. I figure if anything terrible had happened, DECA would let me know."

A remote-controlled car zipped up to him, abruptly braked, and whined loudly as the operator threw it into reverse. Not Shei, which was too bad, because the fact that one of the twins was controlling her car meant they were sharing and he wouldn't be able to tell one twin from the other by their toys. The other twin was sitting semi-patiently while Cassie brushed her hair.

"Hi, Zhane," Cassie called, and the twin with her looked over at him despite the fact that she hadn't moved her hands from the girl's hair. Still not conclusive, because the twin with the remote had already signed "hi" and the zigzag shape they had assigned as his name.

"Morning," he said, waving at all of them. Even Shei, who was paying more attention to turning Robo-dog into a robot roadblock for the car than she was to him. "I'm supposed to let you know we're heading out for a couple days... nothing big, just a little vacation from our vacation. You're welcome to come if you want."

This time, Cassie held up her free hand to sign something that he thought was "where." "Where to?" she asked aloud. "All of you?"

"Terra Venture," Zhane said, taking a seat on the arm of the sofa next to her. "We're off to save Kerone's Galaxy Rangers from themselves. Shouldn't take long."

"Terra Venture?" Saryn repeated. He was looking at Cassie, not Zhane, and he signed something as he said it.

"Earth Ship?" she suggested, before Zhane could say anything. She signed something back.

Saryn inclined his head, echoing her hands.

Zhane looked from one of them to the other. "What'd I miss?"

"We're just trying to decide how to sign 'Terra Venture,'" Cassie told him. "This is 'Earth,' and this is--" She signed something else. "Actually, 'rocket taking off,' but it's close enough."

He looked at her. "Why can't you just sign 'Terra Venture'?"

"We are," Cassie said, setting the brush down and patting her daughter's shoulder to get her attention. "'Terra Venture' is just the name; it doesn't mean anything in sign. 'Earth Ship' is the concept.

"Do you want your hair pulled back?" she added, signing to the twin in front of her when she turned around to look.

The girl's hands flashed, and Cassie replied silently. Zhane wondered again whether she was talking to Jenni or Terra. Saryn had clued him in on the girls' color preferences the first day, which sometimes made it easier, but right now they were wearing identical pink pterodactyl t-shirts and none of the girls had said a word since he arrived.

"Is there trouble on Terra Venture?" Saryn asked. His tone was that of mild curiosity. Unlike Andros, Saryn was asking because he thought he should, not because he wanted anything to do with it.

"The Blue Ranger's Power is acting up," Zhane told him. "Can't morph, has trouble morphing, I don't know. Something bad that his team leader thinks we can fix."

Saryn considered this. "And Andros agrees?"

Zhane shrugged. "Kerone has a plan," he explained. "First we show up. Then we see what happens."

"Where have I heard that before?" Cassie wanted to know.

"In all of Andros' strategy sessions?" Zhane suggested.

"They do seem predisposed to fortunate outcomes," Saryn observed. "Perhaps it runs in the family."

"Like the voyager has any room to talk," Cassie teased. "I seem to remember you saying you don't need to know what you're going to do--just what you want to have happen. Sometimes belief is all it takes, you said."

"And that too is inherited," Saryn pointed out. "I wasn't being facetious when I said it might run in the family."

Finally Zhane figured out which twin was which, because the girl whose hair Cassie had just finished securing in a ponytail asked aloud, "What does 'facetious' mean?"

"Joking," Shei called, obviously pleased with herself for knowing. She was running her remote control with one hand while she used the other to sign something. "Being facetious means you're joking about something."

"Often inappropriately," Saryn added. "Zhane is frequently facetious."

Zhane just grinned.

Terra tilted her head in such an obvious imitation of Saryn that he almost laughed, and in her little girl voice she asked, "Daddy, are you being facetious now?"

"How do you spell 'facetious'?" Shei put in.

"Yes," Saryn told the twin with the ponytail.

At the same time, Cassie said, "Shei." She held up her right hand and waited while Shei reached out and waved her hand in front of Jenni's face. When Jenni looked at her, she pointed to Cassie, who immediately started to sign something.

Not signing, Zhane realized a moment later. Spelling. She must be spelling "facetious" for them.

They were a much more entertaining family than he would have expected anyone related to Saryn to be. And Shei fit right in with them, with her vocabulary and independence and what was probably a really useful eagerness to mentor her younger cousins. He thought he saw a lot of baby-sitting in her future.

Carlos could probably give them some advice on that score. Having explained his somewhat complicated schedule to Ashley the day before, Zhane was pretty sure he knew where to find him this morning. Sure enough that he didn't call his morpher first, and so was greeted at Max Carter's house by a barely opened door and a suspicious look through the crack.

"Are you alone?" Carlos asked, not budging.

Zhane held his hands out to the sides. "Totally unaccompanied."

Carlos grumbled something unintelligible, possibly in a foreign language, and probably not very complimentary, but he opened the door the rest of the way and waved Zhane in. "Ashley told you where I was."

"It was for a good cause," Zhane told him. "I'm supposed to tell you we're all taking off for a couple of days. Little joyride to liven up the vacation."

Carlos eyed him suspiciously. He was dressed, but he looked like he'd been sleeping, and the TV was playing gameshows in the background. "Who's we?" he wanted to know.

"The Kerovan contingent." Zhane couldn't hear anyone else in the house, which fit with what Ashley had told him. Carlos' parents would apparently be offended if he stayed at a hotel, but he maintained that there was no way he could tolerate his family for an entire week. It looked like he hadn't been kidding.

"Kerone got a call from the Rangers on Terra Venture this morning," Zhane said, wondering idly if Max was around. "They're having some weird Power problem and they wanted to know if she'd heard of it."

"Which Andros took as an invitation to pack up the family for a Power adventure?" Carlos guessed.

Zhane had to grin. "You know he gets restless when he has to sit around without shooting anything or flying anywhere for days at a time."

"Yeah." Carlos finally cracked a smile. "Aura too. This whole pregnancy thing is driving her crazy, you know?"

Zhane hadn't dared to ask, but he figured that was as good an opening as he was going to get. "So she's actually... physically pregnant this time? I mean, Coral was a test tube baby, right?"

Carlos nodded, lifting a hand to run his fingers through his hair. "She wanted to do it. Now I think she's regretting it. Everyone around her is, anyway.

"Come on in," he added, waving absently as he turned and headed back toward the couch. "This is my day off. Might as well take advantage of it."

He was, according to Ashley, hiding. His parents thought he was taking Coral to visit friends. Coral obviously wasn't here, though, and Zhane was pretty sure she was out with Silvy. "Who'd you send Coral off with?" he asked, just to make sure.

"Silvy," Carlos confirmed, turning off the TV as he dropped back onto the couch. "I have explicit instructions not to let her out of my sight unless she's attached to either Silvy or Gabe."

Zhane opened his mouth, but Carlos continued before he could comment, "I'd complain more except that I won't let her go anywhere without us at home unless it's with Cestria or Billy."

"Hybrid children," Zhane said, aware that he and Carlos didn't always do so well discussing family issues. "No one really gets them, do they."

"Not enough to keep them safe," Carlos grumbled.

So, not the wrong thing to say, Zhane noted. Good to know.

"Ashley's fine with the kids going?" Carlos asked, leaning back on the couch and playing with the TV remote. "I assume you're taking Aoife, too?"

"Kerone told her she could stay if she wanted." Zhane draped his arms over the sides of Max's recliner and smiled a little. Very comfortable. Carlos had definitely picked the right place as his hideout. "She said she was coming even if the kids didn't."

"Human kids," Carlos remarked. "I guess you can always drop them off with the Hammonds."

"It's easier now that Grandma thinks Hope just likes to pretend to be from another planet," Zhane told him. "But no, they're coming with us. Kae's never met a ship he didn't like, and Hope's sure Terra Venture will be just like KO-35, only with engines."

Carlos frowned over at him. "Why?"

"They're both colonies," Zhane said with a shrug. "No one's figured out how to explain the difference yet."

"How about, 'one is a colony of Earth people and one's a colony of Kerovan people'?" Carlos suggested. "That should be a good start."

"I think she divides the universe into Ranger and not-Ranger more than Kerovan and other," Zhane offered. "Kerone introduced her to Leo when he called, and now she's convinced everyone on Terra Venture wants to meet her."

That made Carlos smile again. "Kerone's daughter? They probably do.

"Hey," he added, apparently as an afterthought. "Terra Venture knows who their Rangers are, right? Are you going to tell them..." He paused. "Are you just going to meet with the Rangers, or are you planning to tour the colony?"

"Unmorphed?" Zhane asked. "Probably. We can't drag the kids all the way there and then tell them they can't look around."

"You're taking the Megaship, right?" Carlos didn't wait for him to answer. "They're going to have to know you're Power Rangers. Will that make things weird here? They must be in contact with Earth still."

Zhane opened his mouth, then frowned. "That's true," he admitted. "I didn't think about that."

"Why do we lie?" Carlos asked rhetorically. "It always gets us in trouble later."

"Mostly to protect people who don't want to know the truth," Zhane muttered.

He could feel Carlos' look without lifting his eyes. "Zhane," he said, and he sounded vaguely disgruntled. "It creeps me out when you sound like Cestria. Stop it."

He did, since he knew perfectly well what Carlos meant even if he didn't know Cestria that well. They hung out for a while longer, talking kids and reporters and eventually even gameshows. Mostly safe topics. He even managed to get the location of TJ's day job out of Carlos, which made his last stop easier.

TJ wasn't hard to spot, even at the community athletic fields. He was also, not surprisingly, surrounded by a lot of other people. He grinned and waved when he saw Zhane, but their private conference was necessarily brief.

It was as Zhane was leaving that the real fun began. He recognized Joy immediately, but it was her friend who caught his eye. Wearing a skirt that said "make love, not war," and a t-shirt that added, "wanna make something of it?" he couldn't help looking around for her other half.

Cameron Watanabe. The two of them didn't live around here, but after hearing Cam's account of their trip from Blue Bay Harbor, he was sure that if Sage was still here, Cam couldn't be far. So he yelled to Joy, caught up with them, and made no effort at secrecy when he remarked, "We're off to Terra Venture for a couple of days. Need a ride anywhere?"

Joy laughed, though whether at him or at the offer, he couldn't tell. "No," she said, "but if you're taking tourists out to the colony, I'd love to go."

"Me too," Sage chimed in. Her response wasn't unexpected, but Joy looked from her to Zhane as though he might say something to deter her.

"He's actually not kidding," Joy said, when he didn't.

"Nope," he agreed cheerfully, "but I am taking tourists, so you're both welcome. As long as you don't mind travel by battleship instead of by luxury liner."

"The most famous battleship on the Border?" Joy was going with it--even showing off a little, if he wasn't mistaken. "You couldn't pay me enough to pass up an invitation like that."

"I'm totally in," Sage told them. "Just let me tell my boyfriend where we're going."

As much as Zhane would have loved to hear what she planned to say, he thought he might have a better chance of convincing Cam than she did. "I'll do it," he offered. "Where is he?"

"He's waiting for us at the car." Sage turned to point it out to him. "I can just--"

"Great," Zhane interrupted. "Would you ladies like to wait on the ship?"

Joy beamed. "Sure!" Her enthusiasm made him realize how few of their neighbors--literal and otherwise--had ever actually seen the ships that defended them. That was definitely a public relations opportunity they were missing out on.

"DECA," he said, flipping his digimorpher open. He saw Sage grin, and he smirked back at her. Too bad he was going to miss her reaction when she really did find herself on the Megaship. "Could you pick up a couple of passengers for me?"

"Certainly, Zhane." DECA's voice was perfectly clear over the little device. "Would those be Sage Kianosavit and Joy of KO-35?"

Now she was showing off. And Zhane didn't begrudge her the opportunity one bit. "That's them," he confirmed. "They're ready to go."

"Acknowledged," DECA replied. The girls were swept into the teleportation stream before Sage could open her mouth.

Zhane hoped she wasn't going to freak out. So far he had a pretty good track record when it came to picking people who were more helpful than annoying. Plus Cam had been seeing her for a while, and he didn't seem like the type to tolerate histrionics.

He also wasn't the type to miss what was going on right in front of him. Sage hadn't needed to point out the car after all, because Cam was standing beside it, leaning against the passenger door, before Zhane got anywhere near it. He didn't look alarmed. He looked, if anything, like he was trying not to be amused.

"Hi," Zhane greeted him, like he had no idea what Cam might be waiting for. "Didn't expect to see you again so soon."

"We decided to take a long weekend," Cam answered, the corners of his mouth quirking up. "Did you just kidnap my girlfriend to your spaceship?"

"Maybe." Zhane was careful not to look too smug. Cam was willing to play, but he wouldn't be played, and he'd made that very clear. "Want to come rescue her?"

Cam tilted his head. "What's in it for us?"

Zhane couldn't help grinning. "When you say 'us,' do you mean you and me?" he teased. "Or you and her?"

"Either," Cam replied.

Which was perfect, because Zhane too could entertain himself either way. "A trip to Terra Venture on the Megaship Mark II," he told Cam. "Kerone got a call from the Red Ranger out there. They have some questions, so we're taking the kids on a field trip."

"The kids?" Cam repeated. "Along with whomever you run into on the way?"

"Only if the people I run into are interesting enough to invite," Zhane told him.

That made Cam smile, which was the goal. "I do have a job, you know."

"I thought you were taking a long weekend," Zhane said, pretending surprise. "The colony's, what, five minutes out at maximum hyperrush? I'll bring you back myself. Whenever you want."

Cam considered this for a long moment. Just when Zhane thought that was it, he'd had his fun and the novelty had worn off, Cam remarked, "I guess I wouldn't be much of a boyfriend if I let my partner go off into space without me."

"No," Zhane agreed, grinning as Cam turned back to the car. Sent out to update three old friends, and he'd just scored three new ones. "This definitely earns you extra boyfriend points."

Cam paused in the middle of pulling a backpack out of the car. "What did you say?"

"I was just expounding on the potential rewards of accompanying someone into space," Zhane said lightly. He hadn't missed the way Cam stiffened, but he had no idea what had caused it.

"Do you often assign people points for their actions?" Cam's tone was normal again, but that was clearly it. Something about the points had bothered him.

"Only on Earth." He kept it as casual as he could, and Cam passed him a green backpack without further hesitation. "Just trying to pick up some of the slang while we're here."

Cam stuffed a blue blanket into the second backpack, swung it over his shoulder, and slammed the car door shut behind him. "My friend says that," he remarked. Keys rattled as he locked the vehicle, avoiding Zhane's gaze.

That was all it took for Zhane to get it: "friend" wasn't quite the word, if Cam's admittedly disjointed commentary two nights ago was anything to go by. "Crush" might do it. But Zhane wasn't convinced that "unrequited love" was off the table either.

"Guess I'll have to work a little harder at being original, then," he said in his best "no harm, no foul" voice.

Cam sounded amused when he retorted, "Says the man with the spaceship."

"Where I come from," Zhane teased, "all the cool kids have one."

Cam was smiling again. "You realize, of course, that my girlfriend made it all the way through Power Rangers Day without figuring out who I used to be. And you've just beamed her onto a spaceship full of Powered aliens who vacation on Earth in order to practice their slang."

"My husband has gone four days without complaining that I try to pick up every good-looking human I meet," Zhane countered. "And I just invited not one but three of them along on an unofficial family adventure. Who knows how far we can go until we go too far?"

"Are you making a case for exploring irresponsibility?" Cam inquired.

"I'm making a case for exploring the bounds of personal potential," Zhane said. "It's for the good of people everywhere."

"Well, in that case." Cam gestured in a vaguely forward direction, one hand on the backpack over his shoulder and the other still holding the keys. "Lead on."

6. Still Waiting

There were days when she really didn't know how she'd gotten here. Yes, one of her professors had taken her on as a lab assistant, stolen her from her academic advisor a year later, and then recommended her for Terra Venture when he found out she didn't have a sponsor. And yes, she'd wanted to go as soon as she heard about the program, because the chance to leave Earth again was just too amazing to pass up.

But the colony wasn't her brother's spaceship, and there were no overnight trips: there and back again before anyone had a chance to notice she was gone, out for a visit or a drink and then back home with souvenirs and memories and her own bed. Terra Venture had lifted her out of her routine by substituting a new one, and most days she was conscious of the adventure that her life had become. Everyday, though, she was aware of the responsibility that came with it.

Now she thought she was starting to understand why TJ had come to resent space travel. It wasn't the freedom it looked like from the ground. It was an obligation as much as anything else, something he had to do because no one else could. He liked to be part of things, but he liked to have it on his own terms, and being part of an offworld team had taken over his life until he--and all his teammates--had had to choose.

Earth? Or the galaxies? They couldn't have both, not on a planet that didn't even run interstellar travel yet. Secret Aquitian shuttle stop notwithstanding. She knew that had been the earthbound Ranger's compromise between all or nothing, and it had taken some of the pressure off of the new Earth team.

She also knew, no matter which side of the shuttle they'd been on, that her brother's former team had found themselves in new routines too. TJ had chosen Earth, and now he had an apartment and a job and a fiancee. Carlos had chosen the galaxies--like most of that team--and now he was a househusband with a toddler and another child on the way. She couldn't decide whether they were inspiring or depressing.

Okay, they had gotten what they wanted. But they were just as needed as they had been before, if not more. And being needed meant being obligated. They really weren't any different from her, three hours into yet another Medlab shift where she asked so many people the same five questions that she was starting to forget which answers went with which person. It was important work, even vital, but did it really matter that she was the one doing it?

What choice did she have? She was the one who was here. She was the one who was capable and ready and mostly willing.

With great power, she thought wryly, comes great responsibility?

The knock on the open door startled her out of her Peter Parker musings. Instantly trying to figure out what she was supposed to be doing, who she had forgotten--but this was a cancelled slot that they hadn't been able to fill. She had thought she would have another ten minutes before her next appointment.

"Hey, Dr. Ali." Terra Venture's First Officer was leaning against the doorframe, looking as comfortable in regulation blue and grey as the scientists did in the uniforms they seemed to forget they were wearing. His stance implied that he had been standing there watching her for more than a few seconds, and his expression was knowing. As always.

And as always, she couldn't help but smile. "Still not a doctor."

"Still don't care," he answered, and she'd never been able to figure out what that meant. He'd been calling her "doctor" practically since he met her, and if it was always "Dr. Ali" instead of "Dr. Carter," it was never just "Ali," either. She couldn't figure it out. He didn't seem to make a habit of nicknames, but no matter how many times she tried to correct him, he wouldn't let it go.

"Do you have a minute?" he was asking, still leaning against the door of the little exam room she'd been assigned for privacy purposes. "There's some people you might like to meet."

She stared at him. "What... right now?"

His knowing look turned amused, and, not for the first time, she thought she could see how this charismatic man had become a leader twice over. It was impossible to know what was going on in his head--she thought it had probably been like that even before he had two lifetime's worth of experiences in there--but he made everyone feel like he not only knew what they were thinking but was interested too. "Busy?"

"Working," she countered, waving her hand around the empty room. "Temporary reprieve, not an indicator of workload."

He just smiled. "I'm borrowing you."

She blinked. "Sorry?"

He lifted one hand and crooked a finger at her. It was an obvious "come on" gesture, and she wasn't about to argue if he was serious. The First Officer was borrowing her from Medlab to meet people? That was as much of a break in routine as she could have asked for without some sort of catastrophe, which she really wasn't looking for.

Probably.

Peter Parker would be disappointed in her for that thought, she decided.

Ali followed him out of the room, stopping by the front desk to let Rebecca know where she was going--which would have been harder if Rebecca hadn't interrupted her before she got to that part, since she didn't actually know--and she was waved off with a smile and a promise that they would manage without her. It wasn't the only smile she got, and she tried not to shake her head. Half the people in Medlab were convinced that Mike Corbett was going to propose to her before the end of the year.

It was more amusing than it was annoying, so she didn't waste time getting upset about it. She had gone out of her way for him when he first started coming in, and she had gotten everyone's attention by doing it. Then there had been a stretch of about two weeks where he refused to talk to anyone else on the staff. Literally: he would just stand there and stare at them until they went and found Ali.

After a few days, she had realized he was only doing it to entertain himself, but she couldn't get him to stop until he was bored with it. That was Estavan's influence, she thought, since Mike tended more toward relaxed responsibility than mischievous rebellion. She'd tried not to let on that she found the game flattering--she was pretty sure it could get her reprimanded if they thought she had anything to do with it.

"You haven't asked me who it is." His voice got her attention again as he waved her over to one of the cars reserved for officer emergencies. Really, she thought? An emergency?

"Why?" she said, glancing over at him as she climbed into the passenger seat. "Would you tell me if I did?"

He flashed her another smile, craning his neck around for a better view before they pulled out into the mostly empty road. "Maybe."

"What did you tell them you were borrowing me for?" Ali asked instead, curious about Rebecca's apparent understanding. She had heard that he didn't check in at the front desk unless he was there as a patient, and no one at the clinic outranked him, so he tended to wander freely until he located her. Mostly by accident, as far as she could tell.

"Oh, I didn't," Mike said casually.

She frowned. "Didn't what?"

"Didn't tell them."

Her eyes widened as she realized the implications of that. "My god, you really are Leo's older brother, aren't you," she blurted out. "I can't walk out of work just because you happen to be with me!"

She could hear the grin in his voice. "Evidence would seem to suggest otherwise."

Ali was trying not to laugh, and she was sure he could tell. "Everyone in there thinks I'm going to marry you," she informed him. "Thanks for looking out for my reputation."

"You're welcome," he replied, easy and good-natured and she really liked seeing him like this. "Would you like to be my third wife, then, or my fourth?"

Oh, and that was not something she'd expected Estavan to joke about. "Who's my competition for third?" she demanded, careful and as gentle as she could be without babying him. He would let her know if she went too far.

"Well, Maya looks pretty hot in Terran clothes," he teased, and now she couldn't help laughing.

"I'm going to tell her you said that!" she declared. "Kendrix will never speak to you again!"

"Kendrix will agree with me," he countered. "Kendrix probably goes shopping with her and tells her what to get. We don't see Maya in a field uniform. And I doubt we ever will."

"Must be nice to be a Ranger," she told him. "I notice Leo takes advantage of that, too... being able to wear whatever you want."

"Oh, yeah, it completely makes up for being shot at in deep space every few days," Mike agreed, watching the road with a straight face. "Besides, Leo would wear whatever he wanted whether he was a Ranger or not, so he's not so much taking advantage of it as he is just not getting in trouble for it."

"There's always a tradeoff," she remarked.

In the pause, she realized she was still back on getting shot at while he had moved on to his brother. "Freedom versus responsibility," she clarified. "The advantages and disadvantages of being a Ranger."

She wasn't self-conscious about giving voice to her musings around him. Not anymore. Mike was smart and thoughtful, and Estavan had the perspective of millennia. She thought it was his experience speaking when he said, "Of being alive, really."

This time she kept her mouth shut, because Estavan didn't need any flip arguments about the advantages and disadvantages of being alive. She did think about it, though. Because maybe everyone faced the choice her brother had made. Maybe every decision came with obligation... and maybe Estavan would say that was what made them worth making.

"Can I ask you something?" she asked after a moment.

He waved for her to go ahead, not taking his eyes off of the road. He was quiet again, and she was sorry she'd interrupted his joking. But she might as well take advantage of his attention while she had it.

"Why do you think you're here?" Ali asked curiously.

Somewhat to her surprise, she saw him smile. His voice was lower now, but there was no hesitation, and that surprised her too. "Because I cared too much to let go," he said simply.

That kept her thinking the rest of the way to the hangar. Or at least, the rest of the way to the sub stop that would take them down to the hangar. That was when she figured out where they were going. There weren't a lot of visitors through Hangar 5--although in fairness, it had seen more traffic since the launch of Terra Venture than all of the others combined.

"They're Rangers," she said with a certainty that was only partly bluff. "The people you think I want to meet."

He just gave her an amused look. "Are there people on Terra Venture you don't want to meet?"

"Is this you not telling me who they are?" she countered.

"Yes," he said, and at first she thought he was agreeing. "They're Rangers."

"What did we do to rate a Ranger visit this time?" Ali wondered aloud.

"You mean, now that they're not chasing me?" he suggested, holding the elevator door for her.

"Maybe they're checking up on you," she replied. "God knows the Medlab staff would help them."

Mike followed her in, so she didn't see his expression when he asked, "Including Dr. Ali?"

"I don't need to check up on you," she said, rolling her eyes. "Every time you're bored, you check up on me."

"What can I say," he teased. "You make my days more interesting."

She had to smile, because Estavan's history didn't keep Mike from flirting and she wondered if his wives had found it charming or irritating. "The feeling's mutual," she assured him. "Even if I do get fired over it."

"You won't," he said with an easy confidence that would have made her nervous if she worried about favoritism. But she was a younger sister. She knew how the world worked.

The security outside the hangar didn't surprise her, though the way they let her through without question kind of did. But Mike wasn't just an officer, he was a Power Ranger, and she of all people should know what that meant. She of all people--

Was surprised by the sight that greeted her on the other side of the hangar doors. The Megaship. Not just the Megaship, either. Two Megaships. One in familiar blue and red, and the other bright in black and gold. She didn't expect to stop and stare, but she couldn't help it.

"Leo, Mike." Mike had stopped beside her, the morpher on his left hand suddenly visible as he lifted it to call his brother. "Where are you?"

"Mike, Leo," Leo's voice answered immediately. "On the Megaship. The first Megaship," he added. "Where are you?"

"We're outside," Mike said briefly. "I brought Dr. Ali."

"Uh-huh." Leo sounded amused, even over the morphers. "We're on deck five. Whenever you get around to joining us."

"Some of us work," Mike informed him.

"Some of us plan," Leo drawled.

"Oh, yeah?" Ali could see him smile. "Who of you would that be?"

"The ones who got here on time?" Leo countered.

"Making your own schedule doesn't count as planning," Mike replied.

"But it does count as work!"

Leo had let him have the first point without complaint, Ali noted. Despite the fact that he really should have won it. She didn't get to see them interact all that much, and she wondered if that was typical. The older sibling was always right, after all. But the younger sibling usually won in the end.

They didn't argue all the way onto the Megaship. Leo might as well have declared victory when Mike hung up on him, and she smiled absently at the confirmation of her theory. She was too distracted by the ship to really respond when Mike grumbled to her about it, though.

It had been a long time since she'd been on her brother's ship. She had seen pictures of it around the colony, more and more recently, but it was still jarring to come face to face with something that seemed more a part of the past than the present. "Museum" had been weird... but hearing that the ship was flying again? With a new crew? She couldn't quite get her mind around it.

The second Megaship made her wonder, too, but she wasn't sure until the lift doors opened and Ashley and Andros were the first people she saw. Then Zhane, and Kerone, and she clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle a laugh, failing to hide a huge grin when Ashley's eyes widened and the Yellow Ranger repeated incredulously, "Doctor Ali?"

"Ali!" Zhane shouted, making up in volume what he lacked in proximity, and Ashley was hugging her and Kerone was beaming and even Andros looked surprisingly glad to see her. They hadn't forgotten, then.

Kerone stepped in for a hug as soon as Ashley let her go, but Zhane hovered impatiently--cheering when she was free, he squeezed her tight and lifted her clear off of her feet. "How's my favorite Silver Ranger!" he crowed, laughing at her delighted protest. "You never write, you never call..."

"She has a life, Zhane." Andros was looking on with tolerant amusement, but he didn't hesitate to hug her when her eyes slid to him from Zhane. "Giving someone your morpher doesn't make you pen pals forever."

"Your slang," Ali managed, words tumbling over each other in an effort to make it into the conversation. "It's better than the last time I saw you."

"Marrying an Earth woman will do that," Andros said, smiling.

"We go to Earth to practice," Zhane put in, and before he was even finished Andros had started to protest.

"Why do you keep saying that?" he demanded. The Red Ranger's exasperation was fast and funny and there had to be more behind it. "We don't practice! And I wish you would stop using 'being an alien' to pick up people!"

"Oh, please," Zhane said, rolling his eyes. "I blend in better than you ever will." He made his real feelings on the subject clear by leaning over to kiss Andros's temple.

"I'm actually the only one here who isn't human," Kerone remarked. And just like that, she took back control of the chaos and included Mike in her smile of greeting. "Hi, Mike."

Ali glanced around at half of the Terra Venture team, her gaze settling on Mike, who looked more amused than surprised. As usual, lately. But this time he was mirroring Leo's expression, and he voiced what seemed to be on both their minds. "You mentioned that you know a Power Ranger," he drawled. "You didn't mention that you used to be one."

"No, I wasn't," she said quickly. "I mean, not for very long. I was just--"

"Saving the galaxies," Zhane proclaimed with a sweeping gesture. "The Silver Ranger, strongest of all that is known, flying the fearsome Mega V6 to the aid of a team that was frankly too stupid to know what they were getting into when they let Astronema design their attack strategy."

"You're not the strongest," Andros told him.

"Didn't Saryn and Cetaci design that plan?" Ashley added.

This earned her a frown from Andros. "What, was I not there? I'm not the strongest, I'm not the strategist... what exactly is my role on this team?"

"We were just trying to figure that out this morning," Kerone murmured.

Andros caught Ali's eye. "This is why we visit people," he told her. "Because I get no respect at home."

"I can see that," she agreed solemnly. "Kerone did get here first, though... Aren't you worried that she told them stories?"

"The biggest hero the Border has ever seen," Mike interrupted. "I believe that's how you described your brother? Right after you told me he's clinically insane," he added, "and right before you mentioned how hard he is to live with."

Ali's eyes widened, and she couldn't help staring at Kerone. She wasn't the only one, either. Kerone just smiled, lowering her gaze, and Zhane crowed. "Finally!" he declared. "Someone else is in trouble! Excuse me while I enjoy this rare break from Andros' annoyance."

"Are you always like this?" Leo wanted to know. He'd apparently gotten tired of waiting for them to answer any question other than why "hard to live with" might have come up with in Kerone's description of her family.

"Yes," Ashley said with a laugh. "I'm sorry; did Ali not tell you that she was on the team that defeated Dark Spectre? Ali?"

"She's a stealth Ranger now," Zhane declared.

"Excuse me for not knowing that it was okay to broadcast your identities," Ali retorted. "I had a morpher for kind of unusual reasons. How was I supposed to explain them without telling everyone who my teammates were? And who gave us the morphers in the first place?"

Mike was standing with his arms folded, but he managed to nudge her like they were shoulder to shoulder. "Who were your teammates?" he asked, quiet and conspiratorial and impossible to miss. "Who gave you the morphers in the first place?"

She gave him a quick look, and the smile he gave her in return was charming. "Well," he said with a shrug. "If you were just waiting for us to ask."

"Okay." It was the first time Kai had spoken since she'd arrived--although to be fair, it was probably also the first chance he'd had to get a word in edgewise. "Isn't that a security risk? Stealth Rangers?"

Leo and Mike both glared at him. The Kerovan Rangers just looked confused.

"For us," Kai clarified impatiently. "As Rangers. Not the colony."

"What are you talking about?" Leo wanted to know.

"The strength of a Ranger is the team," Kai said. "We're obviously targets. If there's someone out there with a bulls' eye on their back, we're all better off knowing who it is. We can't protect each other if we don't know."

Ali exchanged glances with Ashley. "So," she said carefully, "are you mad at me, or worried about me?"

She heard Mike's soft huff of amusement, and she smiled a little to herself. Kai just looked at her like he hadn't expected her to speak. "Are you still active?" he asked bluntly.

She shook her head, not sure he wanted the whole explanation.

"I'd be able to tell," Mike said. Or Estavan. Probably Estavan, if Leo's expression was anything to go by. Mike had told her that he drove Leo crazy by being a non-team Ranger. Apparently the Mirinoan Power didn't provide Leo anywhere near as much information about the Magna Defender as it did about the other five.

"We were going after Dark Spectre," Ashley offered. "We didn't want to leave Earth undefended, so we gave our morphers away before we left."

"Then we ended up calling them in for backup," Zhane added, grinning. "It was pretty amazing to see our own team fighting alongside us."

"We won," Andros said. "Obviously. They gave the morphers back."

"And we've all been intergalactic heroes ever since," Ashley finished. "It's a little strange."

"Obviously," Zhane repeated, eyeing Andros. "It wasn't so obvious at the time, as I recall. That was the time we almost destroyed the Megaship."

"The time?" Kerone echoed archly.

Zhane's smile was brief. It was clear he was very serious about this. "Cassie and Linnse were the only ones left," he said, unusually solemn. "They waited so long to abandon ship that DECA might not have been able to get them off if Ecliptor hadn't shown up."

Their hesitation had to be in response to his suddenly serious attitude, Ali thought. She didn't see him like this very often. "He towed you back," she said quietly. Sometimes it felt like another lifetime, but she didn't think the memories of that day would ever fade.

"I'm confused," Leo said in the growing silence. "Aren't you guys Kerovan Rangers? Where were the Astro Rangers? And wasn't Ecliptor a bad guy?"

Ali couldn't help but laugh. Luckily, Andros' team seemed to share her amusement, and they drew the attention. Well, except Mike's, but she was getting used to that. There were moments when he seemed to think she was the most interesting thing around, and she still wasn't sure why but she wasn't complaining.

"We are the Astro Rangers," Ashley said, giving Leo an apologetic smile. "Or we were. During the war, our team was based on Earth, but after Dark Spectre was defeated, half of us went back to the border to defend the colonies out there and the other half stayed behind. The ones who stayed behind are the ones that Earth calls the Astro Rangers now."

"Everyone else calls them Earth Rangers," Andros put in. "Because that's what they are."

"Andros can get a little snobby about being from offworld," Ashley said without batting an eye. "He forgets that not everyone grew up in the middle of the League."

"I don't forget," Andros interjected. "Believe me. I don't forget that."

"Okay, so, you're all from Kerova," Leo said. "But Ali's not, right? Are you?"

She blinked. "No, I'm from Earth."

"I'm from Earth too," Ashley chimed in. "Most of the Astro Rangers were, actually. Now all of them are."

"Carlos is debatable," Andros muttered.

Ashley gave him an affectionate push. "He's still from Earth," she declared. "Just because he lives on Aquitar... that would make me Kerovan, and you just agreed I'm not."

"No I didn't," Andros said with a frown.

Mike took the opportunity to nudge her again. "Who were your teammates?" he asked under his breath.

She smiled, bumping his shoulder in return. "Who were yours?" she murmured.

"All children of Rangers before them," he said quietly. "We were a frontier village with few enough willing and able to fight. Four women and two men."

She turned to stare at him in surprise. It took her a moment to realize that he had told her because he meant her to respond in kind. "Brothers and sisters," she said. "Partners. Whoever the original team knew and trusted. Um.. three women, three men."

No one else was speaking, but he didn't look away from her. "Everyone serves when they're called," he said, voice low and maybe a little lost. Like that was all he was holding on to.

She knew he didn't like to be touched. She knew it, and she was still overcome by the urge to comfort somehow. "Maybe only the people who can serve are called," she said softly.

A child's scream echoed down the hallway, and he turned faster than she did.

"Daddy!" It was a little girl's voice, and Ali saw Ashley lift a reassuring hand to wave the Galaxy Rangers off. All three of them looked startled and tense, and although Estavan looked understandably haunted, he nodded at Ashley's okay.

"Daddy!" the girl screeched again. She came flying around the corner with little blonde pigtails and what was unmistakably an Astro Rangers' t-shirt, and she stopped as soon as she saw them. "Daddy, Maya saw something and she says she recognizes it and Kae said I should get you but I don't see why he couldn't do it. Are we allowed to use our comms here? Why isn't DECA in the ship?"

Not afraid of them, Ali understood with amusement. Just impatient. She wasn't going to move any further than she had to, and she was just vibrating with insistence that Andros turn and follow her right now.

"Yes, you can use your comms here," Ashley told her. "What did Maya see?"

"I don't know." The girl dismissed this obviously unimportant detail with a shrug. "No one believed her anyway. Except Kae. How does Kae know anything?" she added petulantly. "We just met them today!"

"I'll go with you," Andros said, exchanging glances with Zhane. Something must have passed between them because Zhane nodded, but Ali couldn't imagine what it could have been.

"Why can't DECA get you?" the girl asked as she skipped backwards, away from him. "Why isn't she in the ship? She likes being the Megaship, she told me so."

"This Megaship isn't hers anymore," Andros replied. "It's not polite to go where you're not invited, right?"

"But she's using the cameras." This reply sounded clever, even to Ali who had no real idea what they were talking about. "That's almost like comms. And besides--"

"Your daughter, I assume?" Mike's voice drowned out that of the girl as she and Andros disappeared down the curving hallway. "Or your brother's?"

The question had to be directed at Kerone, but she and Ashley gave each other a funny look that Ali suddenly understood. Oh. She hadn't even thought of that. How did they explain their family to colonists from Earth?

"Yes," Ashley said after a moment. "All of ours. Our daughter, Hope, and our son, Kae, traveled with us from Earth."

"Along with several of our friends who are interested in your colony," Kerone added. "Leo assured us that it wouldn't be a problem."

"Oh?" Mike raised his eyebrows, glancing at his brother and then back at her. He didn't comment on Ashley's description of the children. "How many friends?"

"Three," Zhane put in. "Former Ranger, currently touring with DECA, and his girlfriend and our neighbor, taking the kid tour."

"Aoife too," Ashley murmured, and Zhane gave her an odd look.

"You don't count her as part of the family?" he wanted to know.

Ali smiled. It could have been a perfectly innocent remark, but she knew what TJ thought of Zhane, and she was inclined to think he'd done it on purpose. Any remaining attention would be diverted from Hope and Kae's parents, because after all, now they had evidence that everyone was "family" to Zhane.

"Can I assume, then, that they're all on 'tours' so that Kai and Leo could have a chance to speak with you privately?" Mike asked pointedly.

"No," Leo said, before any of the Kerovan Rangers could answer. "Who wouldn't want a tour with one of these guys? We'd be with them too if we didn't have to do this first."

"It's not that weird," Zhane added. "Not the way you describe it, anyway. Andros has creepy Power fluctuations all the time, and he thinks it's cool."

"He's just used to it," Ashley corrected. "Like Kerone. They know how to deal with it."

"I don't have the Power," Kerone reminded them, presumably for the Galaxy Rangers' benefit. "But my magic does overload sometimes, sort of the same way you're describing. It doesn't make me morph, obviously. But it does make me fling power around in a really dangerous way."

"Andros' Power burns through, even when he's not morphed, if he's not paying attention," Zhane offered. "Sometimes even when he is. He does it on purpose sometimes."

Ali glanced at Mike, who appeared to be listening avidly. But he must have been watching her out of the corner of his eye, because as soon as she turned her head he looked back. His questioning expression was unmistakable, and she gave it right back.

"Kai's having trouble with the Power," he said under his breath.

Everyone heard, no matter how quiet he was, and Kai frowned over at them. Mike just shrugged. "She won't tell anyone," he said in a more normal tone. "And it's not as though she doesn't know what it's like."

"Which you didn't know when you invited her here," Kai grumbled.

Ali glanced at the others, and she saw Kerone fold her arms. Ashley and Zhane exchanged glances, but it was Leo who spoke. "Kai, come on," he said, rolling his eyes. "It's just Ali."

Kai gave him a look that plainly said, whom I don't know.

"What happens when Andros' Power comes through?" Leo asked Zhane, clearly willing to handle the situation by ignoring it.

"He glows," Zhane said nonchalantly. "It's not easy to see unless you're looking for it, which is how he cheats at sparring so much. But when he's really pissed, his fists kind of spark. That's harder to miss."

"Especially when his fists are in your face," Kerone said, as solemn as Zhane was casual. But she smiled easily at their startled expressions. "He's kind of volatile. They tell me it's a Ranger thing."

"Well, that doesn't sound like anyone I know," Leo drawled.

Ali tried to hide her smile when Kai and Mike both glared at him.

"Andros wants us," Ashley said suddenly. She was frowning, an expression that was more curious than dark on her face. "Maya found Zhane's old Psycho Ranger costume."

"Your what?" Ali ventured, when Zhane and Kerone looked just as surprised as she felt. "You have a Psycho Ranger costume?"

Zhane flashed a rueful grin at her. "Yeah, that was Andros' reaction too. That's why it's still here."

"Hope said Maya recognized it," Kerone said. There was no trace of amusement in her voice. Ashley's face mirrored her wariness when they looked at each other.

Zhane shrugged it off. "So there have been Psycho Rangers before. Maya's smart. She probably has all kinds of stories."

"What," Kai snapped impatiently, "are Psycho Rangers?"

Ashley looked at Zhane, who looked at Kerone.

Kerone blinked when she realized they were all staring at her. "What?" she said. "I don't know. I wasn't even there when they first showed up."

"They're shapeshifters," Ashley said with a sigh. "We think. They can drain Power and memories and take them for themselves. We don't know if the ones we ran into are the only ones or not, but... they imprinted on us, somehow."

"Five of them," Zhane added. "Like a second Astro team, only kind of evil. Really annoying, actually: the harder we fought them, the stronger they got."

"Not evil now," Ashley corrected.

"You don't think," Kerone muttered. "Has anyone talked to them lately?"

"Wait," Leo interrupted. "They're still around?"

"Maybe we should go see what Maya found," Estavan suggested, in a way that wasn't really a suggestion at all. "There's no reason to go through all this twice."

The room that the others were in really wasn't big enough for them, let alone for everyone who suddenly wanted to join them. Zhane took one look and put a hand on either side of the door, leaning in and effectively blocking anyone from going past. "How 'bout we all convene in the hallway?" he said, by way of announcing their presence.

"I know what I saw," Maya said over her shoulder. Over her shoulder because she was already on her way out, but she was clearly addressing her teammates. "It wasn't a dream, and it wasn't a vision. It was real. Right now."

"Okay," Zhane agreed, standing aside to let her go.

"I didn't say it was a dream," Damon protested, filing out after her. "I thought you meant it was symbolic of something else, that's all."

"Not everything is a symbol, Damon." Maya sounded as irritated as Ali had ever heard her. "If something's significance lies in what it represents, not in what it is, I'll tell you."

"Hi, Ali," Kendrix said brightly, while Leo tried to intervene in a conversation that was clearly degenerating. She and Zhane would get along, Ali thought, smiling in return. "Did Mike tell you we have company?"

"Not until we got here," Ali said, rolling her eyes in his direction. "As far as I can tell, he sprang me from Medlab for the entertainment value alone."

"She used to be a Power Ranger," Mike put in. "I better not have been the only one who didn't know that."

"Really?" Kendrix looked at her with apparently genuine amazement. "Why didn't you tell us?"

Ashley came to her rescue before she could figure out how to answer. "Sometimes there are anonymity rules," she offered, as the rest of the room joined them out in the hallway. Andros, Hope, an older boy who had to be her brother, and three women Ali didn't recognize.

"Plus the media coverage would be terrible," Zhane said lightly. "After she saved the universe and everything."

"I didn't save the universe," she protested, trying not to laugh at his inescapable drama. "I happened to have a day off when the people with spaceships came calling, that's all."

"Hey, me too." One of the women she didn't recognize grinned at her, stepping forward and holding out her hand. "I'm Sage. I happened to be talking to an alien when one of her friends came up and asked if she wanted to carpool."

Now she couldn't help the laugh that escaped, but it was Estavan that she found herself looking for, not Ashley. "That does seem to be the way it happens, doesn't it," she agreed. "They walk into your life without any warning at all."

Mike raised his eyebrows at her. "What do you want?" he inquired. "Some sort of announcement? A secret knock on the door?"

"I'm Ali," she said, ignoring him as she took the hand Sage had offered. "And I'm not a doctor, no matter what anyone tells you."

"But you are a Power Ranger?" Sage seemed to take the "doctor" remark in stride. "Or you were?"

"I held the Silver digimorpher for a couple of days," Ali admitted, glancing at Zhane this time. He'd gotten distracted by Maya's insistence that the rest of her team was treating her like someone who couldn't tell the difference between a machine and a person.

"I'm not afraid to tell you when I don't know what something is," Maya snapped. If she had only sounded relatively irritated before--as compared to her normally calm or earnest demeanor--now she was unmistakably offended by her team's reactions. "I saw a person that looks like that skeleton."

"It's not impossible," Andros said, and it might have sounded patronizing except that he was frowning and clearly thoughtful. "We should contact Eltare and see if Justin can put us in touch with them. Just in case."

"In touch with who?" Hope wanted to know. She was holding the hand of one of the women Ali didn't recognize--white shawl and a green bandana--but she reached for Andros' as soon as she spoke. "Daddy, what's going on?"

"Maya saw a Psycho Ranger," Andros told her absently. "A team we fought for a while before they joined us. If they're here on the colony now, they probably should have told someone."

Ali glanced at the boy, but he was just listening with folded arms. He didn't look bored, she thought. He really looked like he was taking it all in, trying to decide on the best course of action. He couldn't be more than... what? Ten? At the most?

On the other hand, he was Andros' son. He'd probably absorbed more about strategy by the time he could talk than she would ever learn. And hadn't Hope said that he believed Maya?

Hope's question was right on, Ali decided. What did her brother know?

"Can we see this costume?" Mike was asking. "Just so we all know what you're talking about?"

Andros gave Zhane a pointed look, and he put up his hands in mock-surrender. "You want me to model it?" he joked, not waiting for the answer before heading back into the room. One of the bedrooms, Ali knew without having to look. The tiny star beside the door was purple.

"Only if you want me to shoot you," Andros muttered, maybe loud enough to be heard. Maybe not.

But Zhane did return a second later, holding a Psycho suit over one arm and the helmet in his other hand. Red, Ali noted, and she had to smile. No wonder Andros hated it.

It didn't mean much else to her--she'd been in Sanborn throughout the Psycho saga--and she didn't notice Mike's reaction until he spoke. "You say the people who wear those uniforms are trustworthy?" he asked, a distinctly odd note in his voice.

In Estavan's voice. Mike didn't recognize that helmet from anything, Ali was sure. Estavan did... and Maya heard it too.

"They have not behaved in a menacing way," she said, her tone doubtful enough that it was more question than declaration.

"Wait, you've seen them too?" Leo demanded.

"Yeah." He didn't look happy about it, either.

"Care to elaborate?" Kai was just this side of sarcasm, but apparently his Ranger status put him far enough outside the chain of command that Mike didn't so much as frown. Or Mike just liked him. She wasn't sure; he didn't talk about his friends as much as she would have expected.

"Just like that," Mike said. "Same armor, same colors, same everything."

"Where?" Leo prodded, when he paused again. "When?"

"A couple nights ago." Mike's reluctance was obvious. "I thought... well. It's hard to tell, sometimes. What's real, and--what I'm just remembering."

Oddly, Leo seemed surprised by this, when this was one of the things he did talk to Ali about. Maya, too, looked sympathetic, and Kerone looked concerned. Damon didn't look like he was listening at all.

"When did you see it?" he was asking Maya.

She frowned at him, and Ali didn't have to be a mind-reader to know what she was thinking: now you believe me? But all she said was, "Last night. In our room."

Kendrix crossed her arms over her chest. She was frowning too, but her expression was directed at the floor and she didn't look startled. Clearly this was a conversation the two of them had already had.

"Daddy, why are the Psycho Rangers here?" Hope wanted to know.

Andros hesitated, but he didn't look at anyone else before he put his free hand on her shoulder and squeezed once. "I don't know," he said. "We'll contact them and find out. Why don't you and Kae go get DECA for me?"

The little girl pouted, pulling her hands free and crossing her arms over her chest. She could have been imitating Kendrix, but Ali was pretty sure she'd had plenty of parents modeling that particular pose too. "She'll hear you if you call her on the comm."

"Hope." This time Andros caught the eye of the woman with the shawl. "Go ask DECA to meet us on the Bridge, please."

"I'll come with you," the woman said immediately, touching Hope's other shoulder and starting to turn her and Kae back down the hall. Hope flounced away, clearly sulking, and the boy gave them all a reproachful look that said he didn't appreciate this. But he went too.

"Why didn't you report it?" Leo was asking Maya. Or at least Ali thought he was asking her; he was looking at Kendrix. "Someone you didn't recognize in your room? What if it was one of Scorpius'?"

"We didn't believe the incident was a threat," Maya said, quiet now, but Kendrix took a deep breath and overrode her.

"I told her not to," she said humbly. "I'm sorry. I wasn't there--Maya fell asleep and I went to get something, and when I came back she said she'd seen someone. I thought you were dreaming," she said, addressing Maya now with obvious regret. "I really am sorry."

Hence Maya's irritation with Damon, she supposed. Misdirected.

Maya, too, drew in a breath and let it out. They'd been fighting, Ali realized with surprise. She hadn't seen it show otherwise, but now when Maya smiled at Kendrix and Kendrix finally relaxed it seemed so obvious. "It's all right," Maya said. "It was an odd thing."

"But not unbelievable," Kendrix said firmly. "What about you, Mike? Where did you see... it? This person?"

"South side," he said vaguely. "Near the community center."

Ali didn't miss the look Leo and Kai exchanged. "When, exactly?" Leo wanted to know. "We were just there a couple nights ago, but we didn't see anything."

"Around ten." Mike still sounded evasive. "Saturday."

"Right when the basketball game broke up," Leo remarked. "Was there anyone else around? Did it do anything that you saw? Where did it go?"

"I don't think anyone else saw it," Mike said, folding his arms. "Like I said, it was... hard to tell. It was dark," he added. "I lost it in the shadows."

"Him," Andros said. "His name is Andy."

"If it's really Psycho Red," Ashley added. "Our Psycho Red, I mean."

Zhane gave her a sharp look. "You don't think JT's switching people around again." He said it like he really didn't want it to be a question, but Ashley just shrugged helplessly.

"Let's get to the Bridge," Andros said, already turning away. Then he paused and half-turned back toward Leo. "Do you mind if we use your comm?"

"No, of course," Leo waved it off. "Our comm is your comm. Literally," he added with a grin.

Andros had barely waited for his answer, but Kerone winked at Leo before falling in with her teammates. The Galaxy Rangers followed, Maya whispering something to Mike that Ali would have liked to overhear--it sounded like, Did you recognize it? But that couldn't be right, and the woman with striped hair joined Ali on their way to the lift and it seemed rude to ignore her.

"Hi," Ali said, giving her what she hoped wasn't an overly preoccupied smile. "I'm Ali."

"Not a doctor," the woman agreed cheerfully. "I'm Joy. I live down the street from the Rangers."

Ali's smile widened, and she wondered if there were people on Terra Venture who introduced themselves like that too: Hi, I live near the Power Rangers. Like that was their most distinguishing characteristic.

"The Kerovan Rangers, I assume?" she asked.

"Yeah." Joy caught her eye, and the way she smiled made Ali think they'd both had the same thought. "I'm the carpool neighbor, I guess."

Ali looked around for Sage automatically, but she was trailing behind them, looking thoughtful. "I'm the younger sister," Ali told Joy. "The only reason I got a morpher is because my brother was in a hurry and I was the only one home that day."

That made Joy giggle. "Well, they say you can't argue with the Power."

"Oh, you can definitely argue," Ali said dryly. "It just doesn't listen."

They took the lift in shifts, which was awkward and funny and meant that Ali had missed most of what was going on by the time she and Joy--and Mike, who had held Maya back with the second group so they could continue to discuss whatever they were talking about in hushed tones--finally arrived. There was a face on the screen that looked just like Ashley's.

No kids in sight, Ali noted absently. No one else talking, either. A recording, then. From Ashley's Psycho Ranger, she guessed. That probably wasn't a good sign.

"--when we get back from vacation," Psycho Yellow was saying. "Please don't leave messages about emergencies, because Andy will answer them and then he'll owe me make-up vacation number fifteen. That won't go well for any of us. See you when we get back!"

Her face winked out, replaced by a stylized lightning bolt and the text message, "Record?"

"No," Andros said aloud. "New link."

Ali watched him try Terry and Ceci, get similar messages with no ETR, and finally pause while he exchanged frustrated looks with his teammates. "What do you think the odds are that Justin's actually reachable?" he said at last.

It must have been a rhetorical question, because no answer was forthcoming.

"What about the fifth Psycho Ranger?" Leo asked. "Why didn't you try him?"

Andros shook his head impatiently. "There's no fifth Psycho."

"You said there were five," Kai countered. "Five of them imprinted on you."

"There were five." Andros eyed him. "Now there are four."

"Only the first four imprinted," Zhane corrected. "The fifth one went after--the Black Ranger, but it never got to him."

Ashley cleared her throat. She shook her head when he glanced at her, then seemed to realize she'd drawn everyone's attention. "His wife was a Ranger too," she offered. "She was with him when Psycho Black showed up. She's kind of..."

"Frightening?" Zhane drawled.

"Homicidal?" Andros said at the same time.

"Good with a sword?" Kerone suggested.

"Yes." Ashley pointed at Kerone. "Aura's good with a sword."

"New link," Andros said with a sigh. "Intergalactic for Eltare. Kerovan Ranger Andros Tyuseabe for Justin Stewart, Blue Turbo Ranger."

This time there was a longer pause, and the Turbo logo did briefly appear. It was replaced a moment later by Justin's face, but his introduction was at odds with his appearance. "Jay," he said. "Justin's off, Andros. Need something?"

Andros was just as brief. "We're trying to track down the Psycho Rangers."

Jay--whom Ali really thought she was supposed to be able to identify, but he obviously wasn't a Psycho Ranger and who did that leave?--shook his head slowly. "They're off too. Some kind of team-building retreat, maybe? I don't know; none of them left an itinerary."

It was Leo who drew Ali's attention in the ensuing quiet. Turning a little in a token attempt at privacy, he lifted his morpher and said, "Command, Leo."

A voice came back instantly, and even the filtered sound echoed around the Bridge. "Leo," it replied. "Command."

"I need someone to get the AIs working on an identity check," Leo said. "Have them do whatever they need to do to confirm the identities of everyone on board Terra Venture within the hour. If we have any unregistered guests, I want to know where they are and what they're doing."

This time the hesitation was noticeable, if brief, but no one leapt in to correct him. It was just long enough for Ali to take in Jay's frown, Andros' closed expression, and the sound of the lift at the back of the Bridge. The kids burst out the second the door opened, with an Asian man and DECA's hologram in tow.

"Understood," the voice over Leo's morpher said. "Sixty minutes. Mark."

7. Self Defense

The hologram vanished just as the door slammed shut behind him, and the four flashes of colored light around the Bridge might not have triggered his fight-or-flight reaction if every last one of the Kerovan Rangers hadn't gone for their weapons.  Cam looked for Sage, but Joy had already pulled her back, and the remaining Galaxy Rangers stepped in front of Ali and Aoife, respectively.  He put his hands on the kids' shoulders without thinking.

The four flashes of light became weirdly armored figures that had distinctive color coordination and the sharp points he still associated with evil, after all this time.  Pink, Red, Blue, and Green disappeared again into staticky blurs that came straight at him and he yanked the kids back even as he stumbled, falling into the bulkhead as the light passed.  The girl had barely started to shriek when he found himself surrounded by four very well-armed Kerovans.

Ashley took Hope away from him, calling for DECA even as she reassured her daughter.  Kerone asked him if he was all right, if they'd touched him, if he'd been hurt, then turned back to the others.  Andros put a hand on Kae's head, still talking to a comm that wasn't responding.  It was Zhane who extended a hand, pulling Cam away from the wall and clapping him on the shoulder in a friendly but non-compromising way.

Sage was saying something to Joy that he couldn't make out over the sudden babble.  Mike and Maya, the only two Galaxy Rangers still on the Bridge, were talking in a way that excluded everyone else.  It was Ali's voice that cut through with four simple words that somehow everyone could hear: "Those were Psycho Rangers."

"We're cut off," Andros said into the ensuing pause.  "No outside communication, no access."

"No DECA," Ashley added, frowning at the door and then at a console that presumably should have opened it.  "Morphers?"

Zhane let go of him, a digimorpher appearing in his hand as if by magic.  "Let's Rocket!" he declared, thrusting it out in front of him.  Silver light flared around him, and he reached up to pull his helmet off.  "Morphers, check."

"You can morph but we can't call out," Kerone said.  "And there are four Psycho Rangers running loose in the colony."

"Not ours."  Ashley sounded troubled.  "I mean, they can't be, can they?  If they were impersonating your teammates, someone would have noticed, right?"

It wasn't a conscious acknowledgment, but the tingle around his neck eventually drew his hand.  The second his skin came in contact with it he jerked his hand away with a hiss.  Cold.  Burning cold that made his fingers hurt, and he bent his head in an effort to get the amulet off as quickly as possible.

"You okay?" Zhane asked, quiet under Maya's reply that she knew Kendrix when she saw her and there was nothing anyone could do that would fool her.

"No," Cam muttered, staring at the frosty device.  He held it by the cord, careful not to touch it again.  At least this time, he wouldn't make the mistake of hooking it up to a power source.

That was when the lights went out.

Anyone who hadn't been talking suddenly was, and anyone who had been talking was talking louder.  Cam could still hear Zhane mutter, "Should have seen that coming," and then there was a brilliant flash of violet light.

Like a flare, he realized, when the shadows steadied and the odd tint resolved itself into something that at least resembled normal light.  A bright violet sphere hovered over the Bridge.  No one seemed worried about this in any way, so Cam assumed that one of them had done it.

"Lights," Kerone announced calmly, drawing his attention as smaller spheres of light started to appear around her, drifting outward like bubbles as he watched.  Seeking out each person on the Bridge.  One came to hover beside him, and when he reached for it, he found it was directable.  

Not touchable, he saw immediately.  Like a static charge, it was repelled when his fingers got too close, and that was what allowed him to guide it wherever he would.  Nice trick, he thought, wondering if it would do any good to ask a sorceress about conservation of mass and energy.

"They're in self-defense mode," Andros said, and Cam blinked when he realized Zhane was gone.  He was helping Aoife shepherd the kids out of the way, along with the rest of the civilians, while a group of people who might actually know things started to coalesce by the door.

Where he was.  He wasn't sure how he'd ended up in that group.

"You're saying they did it to themselves," Mike said.  "When Leo asked for the ID check."

"I don't think they know what they're doing."  Andros glanced at Ashley, who looked like she was paying more attention to whatever Zhane and Aoife were doing at the front of the Bridge than anything he was saying.  "The Power hasn't overwhelmed them yet, but it will.  We have to get to them before that happens."

"Why them and not us?" Maya asked, bewildered.  "It doesn't make any sense."

"You're Mirinoan," Ashley said, looking away from the kids long enough to prove she was listening.  "Your Power likes you.  And Mike, he's part Mirinoan too, right?"

"It may be less a matter of liking and more a matter of listening," Kerone said quietly.  "You know what the Power wants from you, instinctively.  Your Earthborn teammates don't."

"They've held it this long," Mike pointed out.  "And Kai's the only one with overload.  When did it become a problem for the rest of them?

"Dr. Ali," he added, raising his voice.  "Got a second?"

"Leo said he's been siphoning Kai's Power," Kerone said.  "I don't know about Damon and Kendrix, but that sounds pretty--"

She broke off mid-sentence, and Cam looked up in the sudden quiet.  The hum of the ventilators, noticeable only by its absence, was gone.  He had next to no idea what was happening, but that couldn't be a good sign.

"We're under attack," Andros said.  "Who's most likely to be in the computer?"

"Kendrix."  Mike and Maya spoke at the same time, and Mike added, "Damon knows the Megaship, but he knows the engines better.  If they're going to secure the colony--and we have to assume they're trying--he'll go there first."

"Leo will stay with Kai," Maya said, before Andros could ask.  "He's like me; he doesn't know enough to control the colony on his own."

"He's been getting pretty friendly with the AIs, though," Mike pointed out.  "You don't think he could convince them that we're the threat, do you?"

Maya hesitated, and Ashley asked, "How many AIs are there?"

"Five," Mike said.  "One for each of the engines, with additional duties as assigned.  They have comprehensive access to every part of Terra Venture."

"Cam."  Andros' attention startled him.  "Have you ever been inside a neural net?"

"Yeah, of course."  He answered before he could think, and only afterwards did he realize what the next logical question would be.  He opened his mouth to qualify his response, but Ashley beat him to it.

"He means, virtually inside it," she told him.  "Not working on it."

Cam gave her a look.  "How else do you work on a neural net?"

She held up her hands in apology, apparently amused.  "Sorry."

"We'll need you to find Kendrix."  Andros acted as though the exchange hadn't occurred.  "You know her; she'll trust you.  If you can get her to revert, take her morpher.  Failing that, get her out of the Megaship computer so DECA can take over and we'll track her down once the doors are open."

Cam stared at him, but Andros was already moving on.  "Ash, I need you to get Cam in.  Kerone, find Stanton and tell him what's going on.  Get to the AIs before Leo if you can.  And make sure Hangar 5 is evacuated: if they try to vent it, I don't want to rely on colony safeties."

"Over here," Ashley said, putting a hand on Cam's shoulder to get his attention.  "Let me show you the access.  It's a little disconcerting... but I guess you're probably used to it."

"Can you take other people with you?" Mike was asking Kerone.  "You brought both our zords through the dome last time."

"And I passed out afterwards," Kerone replied.  "I can teleport more than myself if I have to, but only as a last resort.  As long as we're not in any immediate danger here, I'd rather let Cam try to clear the computer."

Cam had several problems with that, not least of which was that this plan involved him potentially fighting another Ranger inside an unfamiliar neural net.  But that sticking point didn't obscure the fact that Kerone had been the Princess of Evil.  She'd teleported entire armies with no ill effects, and now suddenly she couldn't get twelve people off of the Megaship?

"Turn it on here," Ashley was saying, running her finger along a dark power strip at the top of console.  "Left to right, and a palmprint scanner appears over here.  Put your hand on it, and your avatar will appear inside.

"Make sure you sit down first," she added, a friendly smile curling the corners of her mouth.  "Andros always forgets."

"There's no power," Cam pointed out.  He felt stupid for even saying it, but even aliens sometimes forgot the on-switch.  "How do you expect me to--"

"It'll be fine," Ashley interrupted, lifting one finger toward the ceiling.  "Are you all set?"

Cam studied her.  Listening device.  That was his first thought, but then he realized she wasn't pointing at the ceiling: she was pointing at the nearest camera.  Dark, but present.  Kendrix was in the computer.

"Yes," he said aloud, though he wasn't at all sure of that.  He understood the process of elimination that had put him in charge of this particular assignment--Maya and Mike clearly didn't know enough about computers, and the Kerovans didn't know Kendrix--but being the best choice didn't exactly guarantee success.

"Get out if you can't go on," Ashley said, like she'd read his mind.  "We're here to back you up if you need it."

Cam gave her a sharp nod.  It hadn't been that long ago.  He knew what it meant to be a Ranger.

"Zhane," Ashley said, and before Cam could turn around the console in front of him lit up.  He didn't ask, didn't hesitate, just charged the power strip and put his hand down on the palmprint that appeared in front of him.

It felt like falling, infinite movement with zero gravity, and then the world went white.  He had to concentrate to see through it, to see the data through the light, and even then it was fuzzy.  When he looked down at his avatar, though, it was crisp and clear and exactly like him.  He could have been looking at his actual body.

More advanced than the ninja technology, then.  And the data wasn't fuzzy because it was low-grade, it was fuzzy because his brain couldn't process more than a few of the most significant benchmarks.  Enough to tell him where he was, if he was lucky, possibly enough to keep him from getting lost.  If he was lucky.

Then Kendrix was there in front of him.  Or the being he assumed was Kendrix.  Pointy insect-like armor with pink tips, and his chest felt cold.  He looked down--there was the amulet again, not frosted now... just cold.

Because he wasn't really wearing it, he assumed.  He'd left it on the console, but it was a part of his self-image, and so it appeared on his avatar.  He hadn't expected the cold to come with it.

"Cam Watanabe," the armored being greeted him.  "Here to take me down.  Funny how things change."

"You changed," Cam said evenly.  Because yeah, that was her voice.  Weirdly distorted and heavier than it should have been, but he recognized her inflection behind the electronic filtering.  "Been gay long?"

The being threw its hand back and laughed.  It was an eerie sound, coming from something so foreign yet sounding not entirely unlike the woman he'd known.  "That's what you want to talk about?" she demanded.  "Me and Maya?"

"Not your usual type," Cam pointed out.  "Even aside from the fact that she's female."

"Please," the being scoffed.  "I met Sage, remember?"

"Sage is brilliant," Cam snapped.  "And you act just as crazy, even when you're not ramped up on leftover Power and threatening to suffocate us."

"You have hours of air on the Bridge," she told him.  "Way longer than I'll be able to keep you there, if the Kerovans keep going the way they are.  Who knew their morphers could generate emergency power?"

She sounded honestly baffled by this, bordering on impressed, and Cam would have liked to know more himself.  But he had her attention, and he wasn't about to lose it--he knew how hard it was to get evil Rangers to listen.  "Planning to dump your first alien for one who can use a computer?" he suggested.

"Wow."  The being seemed to be looking at him.  "You're meaner than I remembered."

"You're trying to kill us!" Cam exclaimed.

"I'm trying to survive," she snapped.  "I know what happens to people with too much power.  Terra Venture is too small; it can't handle what we can do.  We have to keep them from coming after us."

"Since when do Rangers make pre-emptive strikes?" he demanded.  "You can obviously defend yourselves.  Why the sudden revelation?"

"People have seen us," she said, like she was talking to a child.  "You weren't there, you didn't hear.  We were about to start hunting ourselves."

Cam stared at the spiky black thing.  He was used to talking to faceless people, and he thought he knew what the colors on her armor meant.  Hunter and Blake had kept their colors, too, and they had never lost their loyalty.  "You'd rather hunt each other?"

"We look out for our own," she told him.  "You of all people know what it means to fight with family."

He ignored that.  "Maya's on the Bridge.  What are you going to do if we don't get out?"

"You will.  You can't tell me Kerone's going to let anything happen to her kids."

His knowledge of the Galaxy Rangers was limited, but they had all greeted Kerone with almost excessive familiarity.  Zhane had said Leo called her, specifically, but Cam still wasn't sure why.  He didn't get much more than names and major damage from Terra Venture--no different from anyone else on Earth.

"What do you expect Mike and Maya to do when they get out?" Cam wanted to know.  "Join you?  Help you?  What?"

"Mike's vulnerable," she said.  "We all know it.  He'll follow wherever Leo leads."

"And Maya?" he insisted.  "Is she your responsibility?"

The mostly black being hesitated.  "Maya understands the Power," she said at last.  "She'll understand this."

"She wants Kendrix back," Cam told her.  "Not you."

"I am Kendrix," the armor replied.  "She's already spoken to me like this."

Cam froze.  Maya knew, and she was on the Bridge with Sage and Joy and the children?  "Why didn't she change?"

"She doesn't overload.  She doesn't know what we are.  But she will," the being added, when he relaxed minutely.  "She'll listen, I know it.  She's open like that."

Not out of control, he thought.  Not yet.  They were still counting on their teammates' support, and unless Kendrix was just the least affected, none of them were completely beyond caring about other people's lives.

"You used to be like that," he said, trying to stay somewhere between confrontational and condescending.  "If Terra Venture isn't big enough, why don't you just go somewhere else?"

Aside from the fact that it would leave the colony undefended, he thought.

She was definitely staring at him.  "What do you think we're planning to do?"

He blinked.  "Take over the colony?"

"Cam," she said.  "We run this colony.  That's the problem."

He hadn't noticed the dissipating cold until a brilliant flash of light preceded the spread of warmth.  At first he thought it was something she had done, and he flinched back instinctively.  Her cry was undistorted, real, and it made him lunge forward with no more thought than he'd backed off.

The black armor was gone and he was holding Kendrix as she staggered, wearing a uniform he'd seen only in pictures.  An almost pink uniform, which he would roll his eyes about later.  He'd long been convinced that the Power organized more in the universe than just the final choosing of Rangers.

The amulet on his chest was hot, not uncomfortably so even when he reached for it, but it was also glowing pink.  That was a mystery he wasn't going to solve right now--it had been dormant for years, coming alive only for Trini in Angel Grove, and he didn't have the faintest idea what it was doing now.  What he did know was that Kendrix had reverted, and Andros had told him what to do.

Her morpher came off easily in his hand, even when she struggled in his arms.  Not trying to get away, he realized, as the virtual world shivered and fought around them.  She was uncomfortable, he was hurting her somehow and he didn't know how to stop.  They had to get out of the net.

"Kendrix!"  It was a woman's voice, the first thing he heard over the rush in his head.  The white was gone, he wasn't holding her anymore, and he was falling.

Remember to sit down.  Ashley's words came back, too late, and he tried to grab the console but he only managed to keep himself from banging his head as he went down.  Kendrix, on the other hand, caught herself in a way that made him wish she hadn't--electricity crackled across the board as she held herself up.

"Kendrix--"  That was Maya, and Cam managed to shove himself out of the way as she swooped in.  He hauled himself to his feet just as both of them lit up, glowing bright pink and yellow, and Ashley's voice was telling Maya to get away.

"Sage."  This time it was Andros.  "That's her Power in the amulet.  You're the capacitor.  Take it or give it to someone who can."

"What do I--"

"Touch her," Kerone said.  "Or give it back to Cam.  She'll overload Maya too and that's the last thing we need.  I need Ali outside and we're going to need someone to take Damon's Power once he--"

Cam got enough to understand that Maya's instinctive response was only going to help Kendrix in the short term.  He found his balance, pulled her away, and tried not to wince as Sage wrapped Kendrix in a bear hug.  Pink light exploded between them.  He couldn't see whether she was wearing his amulet or not, but he wasn't, and it sure sounded like she had ended up with it.

"Let me go!" Maya cried.  "I can help her!"

"Sage is helping her," Cam told her, hoping that was true.  "The Power may like you more, but you didn't see her in there.  She's beyond overpowered now."

The lightshow wasn't loud, and over Maya's protests he could hear Ashley telling their babysitter to take the kids to the workbay.  He glanced up, not letting Maya go, and saw the camera Ashley had indicated earlier glowing with a reassuring red light.  They had control of the Megaship back, then.  What about Terra Venture?

"Are you okay?" Sage was asking.

"Oh, ow," Kendrix said, with all the charming fervence of the woman who used to haul herself up from the computer beside him after an all-nighter at BBU.  "Is that what Kai's been going through all this time?"

"Kendrix..."  Maya sounded relieved, and she stopped fighting even as Cam let her go.  She wrapped Kendrix in a hug of her own, catching Sage at the edge of it and not seeming to care.  

For just a moment, Kendrix was sandwiched between two long-haired hippie girls, glasses askew and a wry look on her face as their eyes met.  Then she lowered her head, hugging them both in return.  "I'm fine," she murmured.  "But it's getting worse."

"Do you remember anything?" Maya asked, as Sage reluctantly disentangled herself.

Cam held out a hand, and Sage clasped it, coming to his side without a word.  He was waiting to see what Kendrix would say, but he saw her lift the amulet out of the corner of his eye.  "Sorry," she whispered, and he shook his head.

"No," Kendrix said.  "It was a surge, though, right?  No wonder Kai's been so snippy lately.  How much longer until we can't morph either?"

"That's not the biggest problem," Maya told her.  "You know those Psycho Rangers we've been seeing?  They're you."

"What?"  Kendrix almost laughed, but when she glanced Cam's way her expression sobered.  Taking another look around the Bridge, she asked, "Where are the others?"

"Out taking over the colony," Cam told her.

She scoffed at that.  "Cam, we run this colony."

The casual echo of her Psycho Ranger counterpart made him stare.  She didn't seem to notice, especially when Andros interrupted.  "Cam, can you take Damon's excess Power?  Kendrix, how much do you know about what Kai's doing?"

"She doesn't remember," Cam told him.  "They don't remember what they do when they're Psycho Rangers.  Where's Damon?"

"Kerone will take you," Andros said.  Which would have been fine, if Kerone was anywhere in sight.  Mike had gone with her and Ali, and Joy had disappeared with the kids.  He had no idea where Ashley and Zhane had gone, but the Bridge was suddenly a lot less crowded than it had been a few minutes ago.

Andros was already questioning Kendrix, but Cam didn't have a chance to listen when Kerone appeared out of thin air at his side.  Just like a hologram, except more... colorful.  "Ready?" she asked him.

He barely had time to let go of Sage's hand before the world turned sparkling violet around him.  The Kerovan Rangers were fast, he'd give them that.  They'd gone from touring to identifying and systematically isolating a problem they'd only heard about this morning--all in about two hours.

When he arrived in the chaos that was, presumably, an engine room, he told himself that the teleporting probably helped.  "We'll have to wait until he slows down," Kerone said, her gaze sliding through the crowd to indicate their target.  "It was the engine red light that made him revert."

"Not you?" Cam blurted out.

She flashed him a delighted smile.  "I appreciate your confidence in me, but Damon came back on his own.  I started with Leo."

He didn't find out until later that his "confidence" wasn't exactly misplaced.  She hadn't bothered to reason with Leo, as far as he could tell.  She'd just found him, neutralized him, and deposited him outside the Megaship until Ali could drain his extra Power.  She'd been to and from Damon at least once before he'd gotten Kendrix out of the net.

Damon being busy actually worked in their favor, because the overload was distracting him and he was happy to let Cam channel it for him.  Or at least, he was happy to do whatever Kerone told him would help.  Cam wondered again just what she had done to convince the Galaxy Rangers that she was always right.

He had an opportunity to ask when Damon clapped him on the shoulder, told him thanks, and hustled off like it happened all the time.  Cam prioritized.  "What's going on?" he wanted to know.  "Why are we taking their Power, and why are they fine afterwards?  How long have they been turning into Psycho Rangers?"

"You know about Psycho Rangers?" Kerone asked.

Cam shook his head.  "Five of them appeared on Earth six years ago, not obviously allied with any previous power base.  The Astro Rangers fought them off.  Other than that?  I don't know anything."

Kerone made a face.  "Neither do I.  I was hoping you could fill in some of the blanks."

He stared at her, ignoring the shouting around him even as it turned vaguely more congratulatory.  "You're kidding.  You just showed up here with no idea what you were walking into?"

"What else do Rangers do?"  She seemed genuinely puzzled by his surprise.  "How many times do you know what you're getting into ahead of time?"

"In retrospect?" he admitted.  "Never.  I see your point."

"They came out of nowhere," she offered.  "Shapeshifters whose true forms we never saw, telepathic invaders that took our team's memories for their own and never gave them up.  The memories took them over to the point where they couldn't fight us anymore.  Four of them live on Eltare now."

He waited, but she didn't continue.  "And the fifth?"

"Dead," Kerone said briefly.  "Self-defense."

He nodded slowly.  "So... it's possible that those Psycho Rangers used to be...?"

"A Ranger team like Leo's?"  She looked down.  "It's starting to look that way, isn't it?  I never should have left them alone.  I didn't know anything like this could happen."

Cam frowned.  "What?  Who?"

"The Galaxy Rangers."  Kerone did look like she regretted it, whatever "it" was.  "I was here back at the beginning, and I should have stayed.  They didn't have anyone."

"I don't know what you could have done," Cam said.  "No offense, but from what I understand, you're not exactly a typical Ranger yourself."

"But I understand Rangers," she said with a sigh.  "I would have seen this coming."

"You just said you don't even know what Psycho Rangers are," he pointed out.  "How could you possibly have seen this coming?"

She turned her head, smiling sideways at him.  "It's hard to wallow around you, isn't it."

"One of my selling points," he said wryly.  "Do they need us back at the Megaship, or are we hanging around here for a reason?"

"Waiting for Damon," Kerone said.  "He's going to want a--"

"Hey," Damon interrupted, ducking a high five from another engineer and returning it behind his back.  "Any chance you're waiting for me?  'Cause I could use a ride back, and after whatever just happened, I'm guessing you don't want to let me out of your sight."

"Thank you," Cam said.  "I've always said green was the smart color."

Damon gave him an appraising look.  "You know Rangers, man?"

"Green Samurai Ranger," Cam replied, holding out his hand.  "At your service."

"No way," Damon said with a grin.  He clasped Cam's hand without hesitation.  "How come you didn't say before?"

"My girlfriend doesn't know," Cam said, repeating what was rapidly becoming his least favorite excuse.  "You grow up at a secret ninja academy, and not talking about it becomes kind of a habit."

"Got it," Damon agreed.  Like "secret ninja academy" didn't even faze him.  "Goes with the smart.  So what happened?  What am I doing in the engine room--other than saving the day?"

"And saving yourself," Kerone said.  "It turns out you care more about the engines than you do about being a Psycho Ranger."

Damon frowned.  "Okay, maybe this is the wrong reaction?  But that sounds really ominous."

"Wrong reaction," Kerone agreed.  "Right reason.  Kai isn't the only one having Power problems.  As far as we can tell, you're all overloading, and as the Power backs up it starts to manifest more and more obviously."

"Meaning?" Damon wanted to know.

"Body armor," Kerone said.  "Mental changes.  Temporary amnesia, apparently."

"You said Psycho Rangers," Damon said.  "Are they here?"

Cam glanced at Kerone and found her looking back, just long enough to catch his eye.  Damon had already put it together.  He was just waiting for them to confirm what he didn't want to know.

"It's possible the Psycho team we saw on Earth wasn't unique," Cam said, figuring if Kerone was going to do twice as much work, he could at least shoulder some of the explanation.  "It's starting to look like the be--people we called Psycho Rangers used to be... well, regular Rangers, whose Power got out of control."

"It's starting to look like that," Damon repeated.  "Because it's happening to us.  And we don't remember it afterwards."

"Yes," Kerone said.  "It's happening to you.  None of you are using enough Power--except maybe Maya and Mike.  The rest of you have it backing up in your system until you can't function as civilians anymore.  That's when the Psycho Ranger takes over."

"How do we stop it?" Damon demanded.

"For right now?" Kerone countered.  "We let people like Cam and Ali siphon off your Power until it can't take you over anymore.  They've held morphers; they can handle it for a while."

"Sage hasn't," Cam said.  "What if she can't?"

"It looks like your amulet likes her," Kerone said with a shrug.  "If she starts showing any ill effects, obviously, we'll have to do something.  But the Power chooses where it will."

"It didn't choose her," Cam said with a frown.

"I think it did," Kerone said calmly.  "I'll be happy to have Zhane convince you later.  In the meantime, we should go--they're going to need our help with Kai."

"Are the others okay?" Damon wanted to know.

"They will be," Kerone said.  Like there was no other option.  "Ready."

That was all the warning they got, and she didn't wait for either of them to reply.  He didn't even realize the teleport was over because the first thing he saw in Hangar 5 was an explosion.  Like the violet flare earlier, it would almost have melded with the sparkle of teleportation except that it wasn't spectral.  It shaded into red--

"Don't touch him!" Kerone was shouting.  "The magic isn't designed for that!"

Cam and Damon might have been the only ones who heard her mutter, "Men," under her breath before she left them at the bottom of the Megaship ramp and ran for the Red Psycho Ranger.

"Whoa," Damon said, finding and focusing on the commotion before Cam could confirm that Sage wasn't anywhere outside.  "Yeah.  That's a Psycho Ranger, all right."

"You saw them on Earth?" Cam asked.

"I got rescued from them on Earth," Damon declared.  "Never thought I'd be the one behind the armor--that's really Leo in there?"

Kerone was yelling at her teammates to let him go, that she could contain him, and Mike was shouting at all of them that they had lost their minds.  It was actually, Cam thought, sort of funny from an objective point of view.  Yes, one misplaced energy burst and the hangar could decompress and kill them all, but on the other hand, Rangers were arguing with each other over the wacky misfire of a plan that should have worked.

It turned out that it was much more amusing when it wasn't his team.

"Restraining him will only make it worse!"  Mike sounded ready to take on the Kerovan Rangers himself if they didn't get out of the way.  "Don't you get it; he's not fighting you!"

"He's not Leo!" Andros shouted back.  "He's not your brother right now!"

"Kerone!"  Mike grabbed her shoulder, and she let him yank her around.  "You said they're in survival mode.  That's how Leo fights.  He was a gay white kid in the inner city; all he knows is survival.  Hold him down and you make this a hundred times worse."

Even Cam could see Kerone stare at him, searching for something in his expression that she must have found.  Pulling away, she flung a hand toward the Red Psycho Ranger.  "Get away from him," she said.  "I'm not kidding, Andros.  Let him go right now."

Zhane didn't, Cam noticed.  He looked to Andros, got a nod, and they both let go at the same time.  The violet magic faded from his arms--and flared violently around his hands as he flung them forward.  Cam winced, but whatever supernatural shield Kerone had surrounded him with held, and the energy didn't go anywhere.

The Psycho Ranger did.  Kerone still had her hand out.  Maybe it was that and maybe it was something else, but the black being advanced on her, picking up speed as it went.  Kerone didn't move.

Cam heard Zhane yell her name and that was all the time they had before Psycho Red crashed into her.  Light exploded again, violet so bright it was almost white, and for a second that took Cam's breath away, Kerone stood against the assault.  The red-winged black armor slammed into a violet barrier that didn't yield.

Until Kerone fell, and Cam found himself running forward.  Her teammates got there first, and it was Leo they were pulling off of her.  He and Damon reached for Kerone, but her eyes were on Leo as armor flickered insubstantially around his form.  "Ali," she said.

"Are you crazy?" Mike demanded.  "He's still--"

"It's her or me," Kerone snapped.

Ali shoved past Mike and grabbed Leo's hand, yanking it away from his side even as a gauntlet reformed around his fingers.  It didn't seem to hurt her, but the red light that glowed around him started to creep up her arm.  Leo staggered, as though the energy drain actually hurt, and Cam couldn't help remembering the way Kendrix had reacted.

Why not Damon, he wondered?  Closer to normal?  Less energy to lose?

Leo tried to jerk away.  Andros stepped into him, containing him without holding him, and red light burst between them.  Andros went down and Ali, of all people, pulled Leo forward--away from Andros, into her, and when he fell Mike was there to hold them both up.

"Mike," Kerone said urgently.  "He isn't shielded now.  You can't take that Power--"

"I know what I can do."  Mike had one of Leo's arms over his shoulders, and Ali ducked under his free arm on the other side.  The red glow had crept over her entire body.  It didn't seem to be touching Mike at all.

Damon followed them toward the Megaship, so Cam turned to Andros.  Zhane had already hauled him back to his feet, but the Red Ranger had a hand to his chest in the way that indicated a serious Power failure.  Which didn't make any sense--if touching an overloaded Ranger drew their Power down, shouldn't Andros' have increased?

"She tells you to let him go, and what's the first thing you do," Zhane was saying.  "Gee, here's a guy who freaks at the first sign of restraint.  I think I'll grab him."

"I didn't grab him--"  Andros ran out of breath, and that had to be a bad sign but he managed to get it back.  "You know TJ would kill us if we let anything happen to Ali."

"Are you all right?" Zhane demanded.  He was clearly asking Andros, but his gaze raked over Cam intently enough to include him in the conversation.  "You look like you got slammed."

"Yeah."  It was hard to tell which part of that Andros was responding to.  "It must have gone to Ali.  Caught in the current or something, I don't know.  I'm okay."

"What about you?" Zhane asked.  He caught Cam's eye again, and this time the onceover was slower.  "You look all right."

"Damon didn't fight," Cam told them.  "He'd already reverted on his own; some problem in the engine room or something."

"Cares more about his work than he does about himself?"  Zhane glanced at Andros again.  "Sounds familiar."

"You know what this vacation teaches us?" Andros said.  "That there's no such thing as working too hard.  That's what I take away from this.  I don't want to hear any more complaints about early morning sparring sessions."

"That's the dumbest thing I ever heard," Zhane told him.  "This should teach you exactly the opposite.  It's non-Ranger work that's turning them into Psychos."

"Sparring is Ranger work," Andros replied.

"So is laser tag," Zhane countered.  "So is target practice and dancing and hunting with the cats.  Playing with the kids burns more energy than you could ever get out sparring, so next time you try to get me out on the mats at six in the morning I'm going to remind you of this."

"Dancing?" Andros repeated.  "Did you just call dancing Ranger work?"

"You spar," Zhane said.  "I dance."

Cam had to say, "Good for coordination and flexibility."  Tori had drummed it into his head with endless repetition, and now it paid off because Zhane pointed at him with a smile.

"Absolutely," he agreed.  "Just like sparring, only more complicated and physically friendly."

"And far less effective in actual combat," Andros added.

"Hey!"  It was Mike's voice, and he sounded alarmed.  "A little help!"

They all turned at once, and Cam didn't need to ask.  Ali was still glowing.  Leo had slumped against Mike, sitting on the ramp between the two of them, rubbing his face with one hand... not touching Ali anymore.  And she was still glowing.

"I'm fine," Ali was insisting, turning her hands over in front of her as though she wasn't quite sure what they were seeing.  "It's okay.  It doesn't hurt."

"It doesn't always," Leo muttered.  "Sometimes it feels good."

Andros and Zhane flanked Kerone at the bottom of the ramp, and Cam looked down at his own hands automatically.  The world had turned briefly green when he touched Damon, but it had faded almost immediately and there was no trace of it on him now.  Whatever was happening to Ali, it hadn't affected him or Sage.

"It's probably just because you had more Power," Kerone said.  "She drew enough to generate residual effects.  It'll fade."

"You're making that up," Zhane said.

Kerone's lips quirked up at the corners.  "Thanks for not helping, Zhane."

"What do you mean, it feels good?"  Mike seemed torn between Leo and Ali, supporting his brother but clearly just seconds from getting to his feet and... being no more effective than he was right now.  Maybe that was what kept him where he was.

Leo groaned, sitting up enough that he could brace an elbow on his knee and hold his head up with his hand.  "Probably better not to go there," he told the ramp.  "Really."

"Why not?" Mike demanded.

"Why did I even say anything?" Leo asked, of no one in particular.

"It doesn't feel good or bad," Ali remarked, still studying her hands.  The glow hadn't dimmed.  "It doesn't feel like anything at all."

"Then you're lucky," Leo told her.  "Where are the others?"

"Kendrix and Maya are on the Megaship," Mike told him.  "We can't find Kai."

"What?"  Leo lifted his head.  "What do you mean, you can't find him?"

Mike exchanged glances with Damon.  The Kerovans stayed out of it, and Cam thought that was wise.  It was a team problem, and Leo probably wouldn't take it any better coming from someone else.

"The four of you took off at the same time," Mike said.  "Kendrix took over the Megaship computer, and Damon went for the colony's engines.  You ambushed Kerone in Command.  We haven't been able to find Kai yet."

"Are you kidding?" Leo demanded.  "You lost him?  How do you lose the Blue Ranger?"

"He isn't the Blue Ranger right now," Andros said.  "He's a Psycho Ranger.  You can't expect him to respond the way he normally would."

"Uh-huh."  Leo didn't sound convinced.  With a flick of his wrist, his transmorpher reappeared, and he told it, "Kai, Leo."  He waited, ignoring the looks Andros and Zhane gave each other.

Then, and Cam couldn't have said which of them was most surprised, a voice replied, "Leo?"  There was a pause, then, "Where are you?"

Cam had only met Kai briefly, but he wouldn't have identified that as Kai's voice if it hadn't responded to Leo's call.  But Leo didn't hesitate.  "Hangar 5," he told his morpher.  "Outside the Megaship.  Where are you?"

This time the pause was longer.  Long enough that Cam glanced over his shoulder, half-expecting to see a Psycho streak up on them, and he wasn't the only one.  But nothing happened, and finally an answer came back.

"The ocean dome," the oddly distorted voice replied.  "You know where.  If you come alone, I'll meet you."

"Kai, I can't."  Leo was holding his morpher, like he could somehow reach Kai through it.  "You know I can't do that.  Come here.  Meet us here, and we'll figure this out."

This time there was no answer at all.

"Kai?"  Leo tried again.  "Kai, Leo."

When only silence came back, Leo muttered, "C'mon, Kai.  Don't do this."

"Leo."  It was Mike who stopped him.  "He's not in the ocean dome."

"He will be," Leo said, lowering his morpher at last.  "I'll go get him, explain what's going on."

Cam saw Andros shift, obviously about to speak even as Damon beat him to it.  "You sure that's a good idea, man?  I don't remember anything between the Megaship and the engine room, but you sure didn't look easy to reason with."

"Yeah, look, I get that."  Leo looked right at Andros.  "And I'm sorry for whatever I did, but it's not like I know you guys that well.  Not like Kai knows me.  I didn't hurt you.  He won't hurt me."

"He's not Kai anymore," Andros told him.  "You can't keep thinking of him that way."

"He answered to Kai," Leo pointed out.

"He responded to you," Kerone countered, "putting yourself out there like bait.  He'll do it again.  That doesn't mean he's the man you know."

"What do you want us to do?" Leo demanded.  "Hunt him down?  He told me where he'd be.  I have to at least try to talk to him."

"What if he overloads you?" Kerone asked.  "You may be at the upper end of normal now, but you can't have far to go.  All he has to do is grab you and you're a Psycho again."

Mike's gaze was sharp.  "You really think it's that easy?"

"No," Leo said impatiently.  "We've shared Power before.  He won't do it if I don't let him."

"He may not be able to stop himself."  Zhane stood with his arms folded... watching, mostly.  He sounded neutral, and Cam wondered if he did that on purpose.  The resemblance to Hunter was superficial and fleeting, but reminders of Tori persisted.

"He's right," Mike told Leo.  "You know the Power makes Kai a little crazy, and that's without the weird armor and amnesia.  And you said yourself that the transfer happens automatically sometimes."

"Yeah, because we weren't paying attention," Leo insisted.  "We didn't do it on purpose, but we weren't trying to keep it from happening, either."

"Um--"  Ali shifted slightly, still tinted with light, though it was getting harder and harder to see.  "Maybe this is really obvious to everyone else, but... if Leo doesn't take Kai's Power, who will?"

This prompted a moment of silence that made Cam look down in an effort to hide his smile.  It shouldn't be funny.  Why was everything about the Power more amusing when it wasn't his team he was watching stumble toward enlightenment?

"I have to go alone," Leo said at last.  "You know Kai.  He won't show if it isn't on his terms."

"What good does that even do?" Mike wanted to know.  "Now we're risking you, for what?  You can't help Kai."

"Yes I can!" Leo exclaimed.  "We've been doing this for months!  We both know how far we can go!"

"Just because you've been lucky so far," Mike began.

"Hello!"  Leo cut him off.  "Special Red Ranger powers!  I know what I'm doing, okay?"

"Hey," Ali said.  "This might be a stupid question, but--can I morph?"

Cam looked at her in surprise, and he wasn't the only one.  Mike found his voice first.  "Not without a morpher," he told her.

"Okay," she said.  "So... if Leo didn't take his morpher, could Kai still turn him into a Psycho Ranger?  Or would the Power just sort of..."  She waved her hands, maybe as an example.  "Glow?"

Cam found himself looking at Damon, who just shrugged.  "Girl's got a question, there."

"The Psychos don't use morphers," Andros said.

"How do you know?" Kerone asked, frowning.  "Yours were shapeshifters... they always had astromorphers."

"Ours weren't us," Andros pointed out.  "They weren't using our morphers."

"They were using your Power," Zhane said quietly.

"Which raises an interesting question."  Cam thought he could have picked a better moment to jump in, but if there were going to use former teams to make this argument they might as well know what they were talking about.  "If overpowered Rangers turn into Psycho Rangers, why would they start stealing more Power?"

"It can't last forever."  Mike sounded distracted, and when Cam looked at him he realized why.

Leo was taking off his transmorpher.  "Here," he said, handing it to Ali.  "Hang on to this, would you?  I'll be back for it later."

The glow around Ali, almost gone, lit up as brightly as before the moment she touched his morpher.  "Sure," she said with a sigh.  "Ali the red-nosed Ranger.  Don't worry about me."

Leo didn't seem to hear a real complaint in there, because he just grinned at her.  "Looks good on you," he assured her, getting to his feet.  "We promise to invite you to all the good Ranger parties from now on."

"Yeah," Mike muttered.  "And I promise to rescue you from them."

"Bye, kids," Leo said.  "Play nice.  Back soon."

"Leo," Kerone began.

Andros didn't get out of his way as Leo stepped off of the ramp and started forward.  "I don't think this is a good idea," he told the other Red Ranger.

Mike stood up, maybe unintentionally imposing with the extra height of the ramp, and when he stood Ali scrambled to her feet too.  They both came down to stand next to Leo.  When Damon turned around, arms folded, Cam realized that no... it hadn't been unintentional at all.

"I know it's not smart," Leo said.  "But this is my team, and we don't walk away from each other.  You can't tell me you'd do any less."

He and Andros stared at each other for a long moment.  Cam had seen Shane and Hunter do this countless times before, and the result was always the same.  In the end, team always took precedence.

Andros stepped aside.

8. Burn Through

He was ready to admit that this hadn't been his best idea ever.  After actually seeing Psycho Blue, and talking to him, he was starting to realize that Kerone had been right.  This wasn't Kai at all.  This wasn't Kai with amnesia, or Kai acting exceptionally weird, or even Kai sharing headspace with some outside influence.

This was a totally different guy who happened to know a lot of the same things Kai knew.

It didn't stop him from talking to him like he was Kai, mostly because he didn't know what else to do.  But the closest they got to actually communicating was when he tried to argue that they wouldn't be on Terra Venture forever.  Eventually the colony would reach its destination, and they'd have a whole planet to look after.  That would take up as much energy as Kai could spare--possibly more, although looking at him now it was hard to say.

This seemed to give the Psycho Ranger pause.  At least, he didn't answer right away, and Leo held out hope that Kai might be in there somewhere, listening.  Still reasoning.  Somehow.

Then the insect-like black armor told him, almost regretfully, "I can't wait that long."

Leo heard the implied I'm sorry whether it was there or not, and it creeped him out more than anything else he'd heard.  It still wasn't enough warning for him to get out of the way when Psycho Blue lunged for him, and yeah, he could take Kai.  It turned out he couldn't take Kai's Psycho Ranger.

If he'd thought about it, he would have expected the harsh awareness of Kai's usual Power transfer to come with the fight.  Instead he felt the excruciatingly electric tingle of Power loss, and the drain was so rough and fast that it left him reeling, undefended and unaware for... seconds.  He thought.  Until he realized he was on the ground and Kai's Psycho Ranger was gone.

Crap.  He was never going to live this down.  Assuming he managed to get up.  He felt like he might not be able to move, and that couldn't be a good sign.

His fingers were clenched against his chest, which he hadn't realized until he tried, instinctively, to reach for his morpher.  He managed to peel them away, got his morpher close enough to speak into, and his voice actually sounded all right when he managed, "Damon, Leo."

Damon's voice came back immediately, and he sounded worried even before he demanded to know what was going on.

"Small problem," Leo muttered, struggling to push himself up so that at least he wasn't lying in the sand.  He got about halfway to a sitting position before crushing fatigue made gravity two or three times normal and stabbing pain in his head made it impossible to keep his eyes open.

"Kerone's on her way," Damon told him over his morpher.  Then, suddenly, from much closer he added, "And so am I, I guess."

"Leo!"  Kerone and Damon were right beside him.  He could tell without even being able to look up.  "What happened?"

"Kai," he said.  He forced himself up the rest of the way, letting Kerone slide under his arm when he would have been happy to sit and haul him to his feet.  Damon took the other side, and hey, this seemed kind of familiar.  "Kai happened."

"We're going to the medical bay," Kerone said firmly.  Her sparkly teleportation was disconcerting in more ways than one, not the least of which was the fact that he couldn't be sure it was the teleport and not his eyes that made the world all fuzzy.  But when it came back into focus, he was in the Megaship's medical facility along with Kerone, Damon, Kendrix, and Maya.

"Leo!" Kendrix exclaimed.  "What happened to you!  Are you all right?  Where's Kai?"

"Wow," he mumbled, squeezing his eyes shut against the headache again.  "Just like Kerone, only faster."

"Kai took his Power," Kerone said.  "Possibly hurt him, I don't know.  It's hard to tell with the withdrawal, and he hasn't been very chatty."

Like she'd given him a chance, he wanted to say, but it didn't seem that important right now.  It was hard to breathe, let alone talk, and he didn't really care what they were doing.  The part about Kai, though... that wasn't going away.

"Mike," he heard Kerone say.  "Bring Ali to the medical bay on the Megaship.  Tell Andros to talk to Commander Stanton, and see if Zhane can get DECA access to the other AIs.  DECA, can you find Kai?  And have Ashley get everyone else off the Megaship and into a public place in the colony somewhere."

The Megaship computer voice responded, and it took him longer than it should have to realize that it was actually DECA talking.  Then Andros overrode her, asking Kerone what exactly he was supposed to tell Stanton, and Ashley's voice wanted to know, "How public?"

Hers was the first one Kerone answered.  "Very public," she said.  "Preferably as open and outdoors as you can get and still have other people around.  I think Kai likes us a lot less than he likes Terra Venture right now, and if he can get into the computer the way Kendrix did, we shouldn't make it easy for him to isolate us."

"He won't hurt you," Leo muttered, pressing his hands against his head like he could somehow close the pain in.  He couldn't even think right now, and he didn't really care.  But he was still pretty sure they needed to help Kai, not run away from him.

"You said he wouldn't hurt you, either," Kerone pointed out.  "Mike, where are you?"

There was no answer until Zhane's voice said, "He left a minute ago," and then Mike was charging into the medical bay and Leo had a vague sense that things were going to be all right.  Even if Mike sounded pissed, and he wasn't alone, and he and Kerone were arguing over who knew what.  Again.

"Hey, Leo," Ali said, before he could care what was going on.  "I think I have something that belongs to you.  I'm kind of hoping you'll know how to take it back, because I have no idea how to give it to you."

Then he felt her fingers fumbling for his hand, warm and dry and he totally knew what Mike saw in her.  Even after everything she'd done for them, she didn't seem to expect a damn thing in return.  She just kept... helping.

It wasn't so much that he suddenly felt better as it was that he slowly stopped feeling terrible.  The pain and the fatigue eased like it had been some sort of hallucination, like it was all in his head, and it was the grogginess that he felt go the most.  He was on one of the patient beds, surrounded by most of his team, which he hadn't really noticed before.

"Hi," Ali said again, when he finally looked at her.  "Feeling any better?"

He felt a smile tug at his lips.  "Yeah, thanks, Doctor," he teased, and her answering sigh in no way disguised the grin of relief that lit her face.

"Don't you start," she warned him.  "You guys will get me fired yet."

"Doubt it," Mike put in.  "Then they'd have to deal with us themselves."

"True," Ali agreed easily.  "Maybe my job as Power Ranger babysitter is safe for a little while, anyway."

Damon's morpher came alive first.  "Engine five," it said.  "Unauthorized engine burn. All on-duty engineers to the engine rooms.  This is not a drill.  All on-duty engineers, report to the engine rooms."

"I gotta go," Damon said, straightening.  "You okay, man?"

Leo lifted a hand to wave him off when his own morpher started to squawk.  "Command personnel, report to your duty stations."  The unfamiliar voice made Leo stare.  He didn't get summoned anonymously.  If someone needed him, they called him.  Specifically.

His morpher didn't seem to care, and Mike's had picked up the same signal.  "Emergency protocol 27," their morphers announced in sync.  "Command personnel to your stations.  Repeat, emergency protocol 27."

"Um, just out of curiosity," Ali began, holding up her left arm.

Leo's morpher was still on her wrist.  Silent.

Leo looked down at the morpher on his own wrist--the morpher with a dial set to blue--just as Andros' voice came over Kerone's comm and Kendrix lifted her morpher to hear the SMART shoutout.  "On-duty SMART personnel, evacuate the tower," her morpher said.  "Essential SMART personnel only."

"Kerone," Andros' voice said.  "We have a problem."

"I guess we found Kai," Leo muttered.

"Central system access," the computer--DECA--announced suddenly.  "Unscheduled engine five burn.  AI override code: Ryan.  Digitally encrypted authorization for experimental test burn."

"Go," Leo told Damon.  "No, wait--"  He thought better of it almost immediately.  "Mike, can you handle Command?"

Mike glanced at Kendrix, and they both nodded at the same time.  "Stanton and SMART, yes," Mike said.  "Ryan and Kai?  Together?  No."

"I'm going with Damon," Leo said, getting to his feet.  "We'll handle them."  He looked at the morpher on his wrist again, then at Ali.  She'd already taken his off and was holding it out to him.

"Keep it," he said.  "What am I gonna do with two?  Probably safer with you right now anyway.

"Maya," he added, before she could protest.  "I know you don't have anything to go on--"

"Please," she said with a smile.  "I've had less.  I will reassure Terra Venture."

She would, too.  Maya's grandparents had both been village elders on Mirinoi, which as far as Leo could tell meant that being calm and smart ran in the family.  People listened when Maya spoke.  People who didn't even know her, people who had no reason to trust her... they let her tell them it would be all right.

"Andros, Mike's on his way," Kerone was telling her morpher.

"Dr. Ali," Mike said.  "Let's go."

"They'll want me in Medlab," she protested.  "I have a job--"

"Yeah, to babysit us."  Mike held out his hand, somewhere between waving impatiently and inviting her to take it.  "I'm not letting you run around the colony with Leo's morpher on your wrist while there's someone out there who has every reason to want it.  Come on."

Leo watched with interest as Ali frowned and complained... and took his hand.

"DECA, can you follow us to the engine room?" Damon wanted to know.

"Central system access," DECA repeated.  "I'm already in the engine room."

"DECA," Kerone said.  "Would you teleport Mike's team, please?  I'll take Leo and Damon to the engine room."

"Of course," DECA replied.  "Teleporting."

Mike, Ali, and Kendrix vanished.

"What!" Damon exclaimed.  "What was that!  Have you been able to do that all along?  Why didn't you tell us?  Is there a shipboard teleport system, or is it AI only?"

"Engine five," Damon's morpher said urgently.  "Exceeding standard burn capacity.  Off-duty engineers, report to auxiliary control rooms.  This is not a drill.  Off-duty engineers to auxiliary control."

"Maya," Kerone said, "DECA can send you anywhere you need to go, and not just from the Megaship.  If you need to move quickly or avoid traffic, let her know.  We're going."

The medical bay sparkled away into nothing.

It didn't bother him as much time.  Leo didn't know if Kerone's teleportation was easier to take when he didn't have a splitting headache or if it just didn't seem as bad when the first thing he saw in the engine room was a black blur that yanked his arm around behind him.  He gritted his teeth as his shoulder strained against its socket, refusing to go up on his toes--his captor could fucking break his arm before he'd let someone see that work on him.

He hated that hold.  Kai knew it.  Kai's Psycho Ranger probably knew it too, and if that was true, this could get really ugly, really fast.  Because Kai knew a lot of other things about him that a Psycho could use against him in a struggle for dominance.

"Don't help them," a voice hissed in his ear.  It wasn't Kai's voice, and it wasn't aimed at him.  Kerone and Damon had squared off, the hustle of engine alerts and shouting and the frantic efforts to stop an overload making a terrible backdrop for their frozen indecision.

"Kai," Leo said, keeping his voice as calm as he could.  "Let me go."

"Don't help them," Psycho Blue snarled.  "You can't shut it down."

"Then you don't have anything to lose by letting us try," Kerone said coolly.  "Let him go.  He's no threat to you."

"Yeah," Damon snorted.  "Like Leo could fix anything here."

He was probably trying to help, and it made Leo roll his eyes.  It was true, after all.  Oddly, though, Psycho Blue snapped, "Shut up.  Leo is the only one who can stop this."

"Kai?"  He couldn't say what made him try, but it wasn't like Kai hadn't defended him before.  "We don't have to be on opposite sides here."

"Oh, we're not," Psycho Blue told him.  The pressure on his arm didn't ease.  "You and me, we're on the same side.  You just don't know it yet."

"The AI," Kerone said.  "Ryan.  Leo can talk him down."

She was good, Leo thought.  Disturbingly good.  How the hell had she put that together?

"We're almost there."  The grip on his arm shifted, too fast for him to recognize it, and he was stumbling into Damon as the Psycho Ranger planted one hand on a nearby console and the other on the wall.  Electricity arced across his armor--it was hard to tell if it was traveling into him or through him.

"Kai!"  Leo lunged, and Damon was right beside him.  The shock of slamming into the Psycho might have been enough to kill them if their morphers hadn't activated, protection flashing into being around them and draining just as fast.

Psycho Blue siphoned their power... along with that of every superfluous control system in the engine room.  The place went dark even as he disappeared.  And Leo knew exactly what he was doing.

"He's powering the engine," he blurted out.  Kerone's violet spheres started to appear around them, magical light joining the flashlights and independently powered lanterns coming on all around the facility.

"That's impossible."  Damon was staring around, but he seemed stuck where they were.  Like he couldn't quite dismiss the idea.

"Ryan!" Kerone shouted, as though an AI that could hear across the colony might not acknowledge her over the noise of the engine room.  As though that AI could possibly have access in an engine room that had gone dark.

Then Kerone lifted her digimorpher and said, more reasonably, "DECA.  Is there any way to let Leo talk to Ryan?"

Leo and Damon crowded closer at the same time, because no matter the sensitivity of AIs, they could barely make out the response in the crush of sound.  "Ryan informs me that interaction with all citizens of Terra Venture is part of his performance specification," DECA's voice replied.  "He further informs me that Leo's status as a person granted asylum by Terra Venture's governing body negates some of his--"

"DECA," Kerone interrupted.  "Make it work.  I'm giving my morpher to Leo."

Leo caught her eye as she handed it over, and she nodded once.

"Ryan," he said.  "We've got a problem here; Kai's having trouble with his morpher and it's affecting his judgment.  We think he's trying to redirect power to the engines to keep them burning, to make Terra Venture go farther and faster than it was meant to."

"This is incorrect," Ryan's voice came back immediately.  "Senior Officer Kai Chen is not redirecting power.  He is supplying independent power for a test burn of engine five."

"Yeah, independent power he took from us!" Damon exclaimed.

"Ryan," Leo said.  "Engine five is going to overload.  A big enough meltdown could trigger a chain reaction, lighting the other engines and crippling the colony.  Even assuming we could get back on course, we won't be able to slow down once we reach the new world.  Terra Venture will overshoot."

"Or burn up," Damon put in.  "In an atmosphere, if we're lucky.  In a star if we're not.  Death by star is slower."

"That won't happen," Ryan's voice replied.  "The test burn is altering Terra Venture's velocity such that the planet you refer to as the 'new world' is no longer our intended destination."

"Great," Damon said.  "Burn out the engines and we still die!  It'll take us a lot longer, yeah, but this isn't a generation ship.  We can't drift in space forever without running out of resources!"

"Ryan," Leo said, frowning.  "What's our new destination?"

"Unknown," the AI answered.  "A projection will be possible shortly."

At least three alerts fell silent at once, and only then did Leo realize that they must have been operating on independent power as well.  Leave it to engineers to put the alarms on independent power and leave the lights on the main circuit.  No wonder they knew where the flashlights were.

"Ryan informs me that the test burn is complete," DECA offered.

That was when Kai appeared among them--Kai, not Psycho Blue, not even Ranger Kai.  Just Kai Chen, blue Command uniform rumpled, hair tousled, eyes barely focused as he lurched into Leo and Leo's arms went around him automatically.  Kai sagged against him without a word, and Leo could have held him up but he was afraid to hurt him.

"Hey," he said, trying to hold whatever part of Kai he could reach as they sank to the floor.  "Hey, it's okay.  You're all right.  I got you."

"Hey, man."  Damon was beside them, but Kerone had her staff in one hand and was watching them carefully without committing.  "You look bad.  What happened?"

Kai groaned, turning his face into Leo's chest, and there, just for a second, everything in Leo's life was perfect.  He wanted to save this second, this moment, just like this.  Kai probably didn't even know they were in the engine room, that anyone could see, but it didn't matter--because they could.  They could see that he was Kai's.  Always.  Without question.

"I feel like crap," Kai mumbled.  Leo was probably the only one who heard him.

"Yeah," he said.  He kept his arms around Kai, careful not to move or draw any attention to the embrace one way or the other.  "Know the feeling."

"What happened?" Kai muttered, lifting his head and trying to push himself up when he realized they weren't alone.  "Where are we?"

"Engine room five," Leo told him.  "Unscheduled engine burn, colony's off course.  We don't know how bad it is yet."

"And we're--what are we?  Moral support?"  Kai was frowning around, trying to push away from Leo and obviously failing.  Leo let him get as far as he could, but he didn't take his arm away as long as Kai was leaning on him.  "What happened?  Why can't I remember?"

"Power surge," Damon said.  "It wasn't just you; it hit everyone except Maya and Mike.  Kerone thinks the Power likes them better."

"It comes from their planet," Kerone interjected, still watching them from above.  "Ali said it herself: the Mirinoan Power might not be completely compatible with your bodies."

"I thought that was just 'cause Mike's is so old," Leo said.  "Earth Rangers use alien powers all the time."

"Sometimes with better results than others," Kerone said evenly.  "How are you feeling, Kai?"

"Not as bad as I think I'm about to," Kai muttered, eyeing her.  "What did I do, exactly?"

"Nothing much," Leo told him.  "Just convinced Ryan to let you use your Power to ignite the engines."

"Yours and ours," Damon added.  "We'll be lucky if any of us can morph after this.  And it was just one engine, Mr. Rocket Science."

"Hey, I wasn't picked for my skills," Leo said with a grin.  "Speaking of, shouldn't you be--?"  He gestured vaguely at the chaos around them.

"Yeah."  Damon reached out and clasped Kai's shoulder briefly.  "Good to have you back, man."

"Damon."  Kerone stopped him as he stood.  "Do you feel all right?"

"No problem," he assured her.  "We're usually fine for while in between."

"How long?"

"Depends," he said with a shrug.  "Who it is, what happens.  Doesn't happen to me much, so.  Wouldn't know."

She nodded, glancing down at Leo, and Damon used the moment to escape.

"Weeks for Kendrix," Leo said quietly.  "A day for Kai.  Damon's not kidding; he's only had it maybe three times.  At the outside."

"A day?" Kerone repeated.

Kai wasn't looking at her, so Leo shrugged.  "I helped."

"He's overloading daily?"  Kerone sounded incredulous.  "Leo, what about being a Ranger made you think that was normal?"

"It's not?"  He didn't know what else to say.  The Power told him when there was a problem, and he took care of it.  It had worked for them so far.  "It's not like we have a lot of role models running around the colony."

"The Power should let you do what you need to do," Kerone told him.  "No less and no more."

She looked like she was going to say more, but the morpher on Leo's wrist interrupted.  "Leo?" Ali's voice asked.  "Mike wants to know if you guys are all right."

"I have assured him that this is the case," DECA's voice said, now coming over the transmorpher instead of the digimorpher he was still holding--

Which then added, in Andros' voice, "Kerone, we need someone who knows what's going on up here."

Leo looked from one morpher to the other, and Kai picked that moment to notice.  "Is that my morpher?" he asked.

Kerone reached out and plucked her morpher from Leo's hand.  "Yes," she said, presumably in response to Kai.  "Andros, whatever happened is over.  We're all okay.  That's all I can tell you."

"Ali, Leo," Leo said.  "We're fine.  Power's out in engine room five.  The guys are on it, but I don't know how long it's gonna take or what shape the engine's in.  They'll have a report for Command in five minutes."

"Leo," Mike's voice put in.  "The colony's off course and going too fast to measure.  What--"  There was a pause, and then, "Fine, we can measure it.  Astrophysics is holding a competition to see who can figure it out first.

"In the meantime," he continued, "where the hell are we?"

Leo looked at Kai automatically, but the navigator just stared back at him with an Are you kidding me? look on his face.  So he looked at Kerone, who looked up from her morpher in time to catch his eye.  She might have been listening, or she might just have been frustrated, because she shrugged.

"I wish I knew," Leo told his own morpher.  Or Kai's morpher.  The morpher he was currently using.  "Give us a few minutes, would you?"

"I'm on my way," Mike informed him.  "I'm bringing Kendrix."

Leo hastily reconsidered.  That would help a lot, actually, and Maya was probably going crazy by now.  Quietly and with a smile, but crazy nonetheless.  "Mike, wait.  DECA's going to teleport you."

This produced another brief pause, but the only reply was, "Understood."

He lost the link and--hopefully--got a private channel with DECA.  "DECA, where's Maya?  Can you send all of the Galaxy Rangers there?"

"Maya is currently outside the administration building," DECA's voice replied.  "Most of the Kerovans are there as well, and I am perfectly capable of facilitating your transport."

Leo didn't really have time to process that, but "Kerovan" was a good reminder.  "Kerone," he said.  While he waited for attention, he poked Kai.  "You feeling okay?  Can you go grab Damon for me?  We need a team conference yesterday."

Kai was staring around the engine room like he hadn't even heard.  "This is my fault, isn't it."

"It's everyone's fault," Leo told him.  "We're responsible, so we're going to fix it.  Go get Damon, or DECA's gonna snatch him out of the middle of a conversation or something."

Kai's mouth quirked, and he shot Leo a sideways look.  "Yes, sir."

"That's better," Leo agreed.  "Bye now."

Kai went, and Kerone was at least looking in his direction, so he said, "We're meeting at the administration building.  DECA says most of your people are there already."

All she said was, "I'll tell Andros."

So they all ended up in front of the administration building, and it was hard to say whether they or the Astro Rangers caused more of a stir.  His team was pretty popular with the colony, but it was hard for a place this small not to get excited about strangers after months alone in space.  Even when they didn't know how famous those strangers really were.

Weirdly, at least as far as he could tell, the teleporting didn't seem to bother anyone.

"Hi!"  He didn't mind shouting back when people called his name.  "Hey, guys!"  He waved with one hand and put the other on Maya's shoulder.  "Hey," he repeated, more quietly.  He waited until he saw her tap the mic off--a lesson he had learned at some cost the first time.  "Ranger conference.  Come on.  We'll be back in five minutes."

Maya smiled at him and turned her mic back on before murmuring, "That's wonderful news."  Then, lifting her face to the gathered colonists, she added clearly, "Please excuse us while we meet briefly.  Leo will have an update for you in five minutes' time."

He waved again, because he totally deserved that, and she was the best public relations their team could have asked for.  A woman from another planet, traveling with the colony from Earth... going back out into space.  A beautiful, personable woman, and that helped as much as the morpher.

The most private place to go was back inside the building, so they retreated to the lobby--and when Leo looked out, he saw security taking up positions outside the doors.  Politely, calmly, and no more threatening than they usually looked.  The GSA was good at initiative.  It kept people from losing their heads.

"Hey."  Mike clapped him on the shoulder first, and this really was the best day ever because his brother hugged him without another word.  Mike was still pretty sketchy about physical contact, so Leo tried not to push it--but he missed it.

If it weren't for Kai, he would have missed it a lot more.

"Kai," Mike added, after he let Leo go.  "Glad you're okay."

Kai nodded to him, but Kendrix hugged him without apology and Maya put a hand on Kai's shoulder when she finished.  "We're all glad to have you back," she said gently.

"What happened?" Kai demanded, but he didn't push either of them away.  "No one will tell me what's going on."

Leo caught Andros' eye, standing at Kerone's shoulder, and wondered briefly where the rest of his team was.  DECA had said they were here, hadn't she?  Had Zhane gone to fill them in?  Or had Zhane already been with them?

He hardly noticed Ali at Mike's side anymore.

"Here's the thing," Kendrix said.  "We're turning into Psycho Rangers.  Those Power surges, they aren't just overloads, they're the Power trying to make itself useful by generating armor even when we don't need it and, I don't know, other crazy things.  We don't remember it afterwards, but Mike and Maya have been seeing us around the colony.  They just didn't know it was us.

"Kerone and her team drained our extra Power, so we should be okay for a while, but they couldn't get to you before you stole Leo's Power and convinced Ryan to help you fire engine five.  It burned super hot, way past what anyone thought it was designed for or what was even possible for that kind of reaction, and then suddenly it stopped.  Leo will have to take it from there, but we're going ridiculously fast and right now we have no idea where we are."

Andros was the only one who seemed surprised by this recitation.  Leo didn't give it a second thought until Andros nudged Kerone and murmured, loud enough for all of them to hear, "This is why I miss having a Pink Ranger."

Kerone didn't bat an eye.  "Because you never know what's going on, or because Ashley doesn't talk fast enough?"

"Because there used to be at least one person on the team who wasn't constantly taking cheap shots at me," Andros informed her.

That made Kerone smile.  "I'm not sure you used 'cheap shot' right.  You should ask Zhane."

"If I admit you're very funny," Andros said, "can we move on?"

"Oh."  Ali chose that moment to remember Leo's morpher, and if Andros and Kerone exchanged anything quieter he missed it while she gave it back.  "Safer now?"

"Looks like," he agreed, handing over Kai's morpher in turn.  "Thanks, by the way.  Both of you."

"Why did you have my morpher?" Kai wanted.

"You gave it to me," Leo told him.  "In the ocean dome.  You kind of knocked me out when you took my Power.  Must not have meant to, since you left your morpher so I could call for help."

"What--in the ocean dome?" Kai sputtered.  "What were we doing in the ocean dome?"

He knew better than to keep putting Kai off, so he said, "We were looking for you, I called you, you answered.  Shocked everyone.  Said you'd meet me in the ocean dome if I came alone."

"And you did?" Kai interrupted.  "Is there some kind of remedial tactics class you could attend?  That was stupid, Leo."

"Yeah, I got a lot of that at the time."  He glanced at Andros, who didn't look at all apologetic.  "Maybe it was.  But we needed to find you."

"Not by losing you," Kai snapped.

"Okay," Kendrix interjected.  "Let's fight about this later.  Clock's ticking, guys.  What's going on?  Where are we, where are we going, are we going to make it there, and what are we going to find when we do?  We can't turn around; the colony passed the PNR weeks ago.  Unless Kai can do whatever he did again."

"No," Damon put in.  "Absolutely not, no way.  It's a miracle the engine lasted as long as it did with whatever Kai was pouring into it.  It's completely dead now--and trust me, that's a good thing.  It's too compromised to ever ignite again."

"Even if we had the fuel," Mike said.  "Which I assume we don't."

"Man, we're at negative fuel.  We were burning fuel we don't have the second engine five ignited.  Point of no return means point of no return--even if we were still traveling at normal cruising speed, we wouldn't have enough fuel left to decelerate now."

"I understood that we weren't using fuel at cruising speed?" Maya murmured, like she wasn't sure now was the time.

"Engines are for acceleration only," Damon told her.  "In space there's nothing to slow you down, so the engines punch you up to speed and then you just coast.  Until you get where you're going.  Then you gotta turn around and fire 'em again to slow down."

"The end of our acceleration was the PNR," Kendrix added, talking twice as fast as Damon had been.  "Scheduled on-off periods for the engines stopped once we reached maximum speed, and we've been going at that speed ever since.  Acceleration used up half our fuel; deceleration takes the same amount, so the other half was for the new world.  So we could stop."

"Technically," Damon said, "PNR was 34 percent of fuel consumption.  A third for the original acceleration, a third to decelerate if we decided to turn around, and then the last third to accelerate and decelerate to and from half-speed.  We'd have limped home, but until we passed 33 percent, we could have gone back."

"How much fuel do we have now?" Maya asked hesitantly.

"We were at 60 percent remaining this morning," Damon said.  "Now we're down to 48.

"But, look," he added, when she frowned.  "It doesn't matter; that's the whole point.  We're going way too fast to stop even with the amount of fuel we had before.  We probably couldn't stop even if the tanks were full."

"Speed is off the scale," Mike told them.  "The instruments we have in the control tower literally don't measure speeds this fast.  Astrophysics is trying to identify something we can get a red shift on, or a blue shift--or better yet, any clue where we are."

"So what you're saying is that we're going somewhere very fast," Kendrix said, "but we don't know where, how long it's going to take, or how we're going to stop when we get there."

"Going somewhere is probably an optimistic way of looking at it," Andros remarked.  "There's no reason to assume you're on an intercept course with anything at this point."

This produced a moment of silence during which Kerone glared at him.

"We'll help, obviously," he added, like he didn't see the problem.  "It's not like you're all alone out here."

"Thank you, Little Miss Sunshine."  Kendrix sounded amused.  "Do you want to steal a trophy while you're at it?"

"It's a movie," Leo offered, when Andros just looked confused.  "One of Caroline's--uh, Kendrix has a friend who knows someone in it."

"Can the Megaship launch?" Mike wanted to know.  "Its instruments must have a better chance of getting a location than ours do."

"There's no way we could be going faster than the Megaship can handle," Damon said.  "We should be able to launch, no problem."

"Do they need you in the engine room?" Leo asked.

"Not more than you guys need me out there," Damon replied.

"Take her out," Leo told him.  "See what you can find.  Ask DECA if she'll go with you; she'd be a big help."

"I'll go too," Kerone offered unexpectedly.  "If anything goes wrong, I can get us both back here safely."

Leo looked at Damon, who nodded.  "That'd be great," Leo told her.  "Andros, can you talk to Mike about what this means for the people in the colony?  If we're going nowhere, if we can't stop, all of that.  Terra Venture won't last forever."

"Of course," Andros agreed.  "Will you consider evacuation?"

"We'll consider anything that keeps everyone alive," Leo told him.  "I'm gonna go talk, with Maya, and Kendrix is going to fill in everyone upstairs.  If you need any of us, you know how to find us."

He wasn't surprised when Ali stayed behind with Mike and Andros.

It wasn't as bad as he'd thought: people were starting to hear things, now, and Stanton himself came on citywide a few minutes after Kendrix left.  They were treating this like a military situation, then.  He'd kind of expected to see one of the Councilors up there.

The commander didn't say much, but Leo figured that was probably for the best.  There'd been a problem with one of the engines, but it was contained now, and they'd picked up some speed during the incident.  They might be able to go farther than they'd originally expected.

"Rest assured, though, the Council will make all decisions about the new world and our ultimate destination," Stanton concluded.  "This is simply one more unexpected adventure on the road of exploration.  Terra Venture is safe, and we'll have more information for you as it becomes available."

That was even less than Leo had been telling them, but everyone seemed vaguely reassured to see that, no matter what the crisis, the people upstairs didn't change.  He smiled at that... then felt it vanish the moment someone asked about Kai.  About Kai, and the engines--

"My brother says the Blue Ranger fought off one of Scorpius' drones all by himself--a new one, one that no one had ever seen before," a woman was telling him excitedly.  "Is that true?  Did Kai save the colony?"

"Kai's saved the colony many times," Leo told her, his grin returning: half relief, half mischief.  He wondered who her brother was.  Someone in the engine room?  "I think it's fair to say that we're all doing everything we can to assure the safety of Terra Venture."

He felt Kai shift behind him.  His official second-in-command, a senior officer with daily control tower access, Kai lent the weight of a GSA uniform to Leo's more relaxed leadership.  His presence now also allowed Leo to keep an eye on him--but Leo hadn't told him to be here, and being watched probably wasn't high on Kai's priority list.  

It was possible, of course, that Kai was keeping an eye on him.

When his morpher summoned him, he glanced at Kai and mouthed, Stay.  Kai didn't even glare at him.  He just nodded, not moving while Maya stepped smoothly into Leo's place.  They were still here only because there wasn't anywhere better for them to be until they knew more.

They might be about to know more.

"Damon, Leo," Leo said, ducking into the lobby again.  "Go ahead."

"Are you alone?" Damon's voice demanded.  "Seriously, man, you are not gonna believe this."

"I'm good," Leo assured him.  He glanced around just to be sure.  Anyone who had been in the lobby was outside now, listening to Maya, and he was pretty sure anyone who had the authority to review interior cameras probably also had the clearance to know whatever Damon was about to say.

"Holy shit, Leo!" Damon shouted.  Leo put a little more distance between him and his morpher.  "We're in the fucking Sagittarius Arm!  Do you know how far away that is?  That's crazy, man!  That's ridiculous!"

"Uh, no," Leo said, when Damon paused long enough for him to speak.  "I don't know how far away that is."

"That's a long fucking way!" Damon yelled.  "That's a different arm of the galaxy!  The other arm!  The Sagittarius Arm!"

Yeah, he'd got that.  He had to grin at Damon's enthusiasm.  "So, we're still in our own galaxy?"

"We're in a different arm!" Damon repeated.

Apparently that meant something to people who knew things about galaxies.  "Is that, like, being on the other side?" he guessed.

"Leo," Damon said.  "It's like being in a different arm.  It has nothing to do with sides."

"But it's a long way."  Leo felt pretty confident in that one.

"It's a really long way.  It's so long that you better believe we're never getting back to Earth on Terra Venture, that's for sure.  This ship was designed for the stars, man, not galactic arms."

Someday, Leo decided, he was going to ask someone who had thought it was a good idea to name galaxies after body parts.  For now, though, it seemed safer to say, "We knew we weren't going back to Earth the day we left.  We'll just have to find a new home now."

"Yeah, huh, funny thing about that."  Damon still sounded hopped up on discovery, but he couldn't resist getting in another dig at Leo.  "Not that I expect someone who doesn't know anything about spiral galaxies to know how unlikely this is, but we're actually heading for a star system.  With a stable star and planets and--

"We don't know enough about it," Damon interrupted himself.  "We're getting some really weird readings, even with the Megaship's scanners.  But we're going somewhere.  No question.  Somewhere we're gonna get to really fast at the speed we're going."

"How fast?" Leo wanted to know.  "Are we going to hit something if we can't stop?"

"Couple months," Damon said.  "Give or take a few years, depending on how and when we start to slow down.  We're going too fast to get caught by the star, so that's good and bad: we won't hit anything, but we can't use it to help reel us in either."

"Two months before we overshoot," Leo repeated.  "Not going to crash.  Got it."

"We still don't know if there's anything to overshoot," Damon warned.  "There's something there, yeah, but the planets could be uninhabitable, the star could be unstable, there could be someone there already who doesn't want neighbors.  Take your pick."

"We have to check it out," Leo said.

He could hear Damon snort, even over the morpher link.  "Yeah."  The obviously was implied.

He hated saying it, but it was the only thing that made sense.  "Can you and Kerone do it?  Now?  How long will it take you to get there and back in the Megaship?"

"Few minutes."  Damon was offhand.  "No problem."

Leo really, really wanted to go.  But then, most of the team probably wanted to go as much as he did.  And if there was anything there, they could all be going soon enough.  So all he said was, "Watch yourselves out there."

"Back before you know," Damon said.

So Leo went back outside, told the crowd that he and Maya and Kai needed to leave, needed to make sure the colony was secure.  Needed to make sure what had happened to engine five wasn't about to happen to any of the other engines.  He told them they could expect updates on citywide every half hour or so.

"Are you picking arbitrary numbers?" Kai demanded as they walked away.  He kept his voice very quiet, and it was hard to tell whether he was annoyed or--maybe--a little amused.  "Five minutes, half an hour..."

"It makes people feel better," Leo whispered, resisting the urge to put a hand on his shoulder.  "Besides, someone should go on citywide.  Make the announcements and the reporters leave us alone; you know it as well as I do."

"Sure," Kai said, and now Leo was confident that amusement was at least a possibility.  "I just think you should mention these things to someone before you expect them to magically happen."

"I can get someone on citywide," Leo insisted.  "Stanton's already done it once.  I've got thirty minutes to convince someone to do it again."

"You could do it," Kai agreed.  "But you won't.  You'll forget before the thirty minutes are up; I guarantee it."

"Bet on it," Leo told him.  "Thirty minutes, I win.  You owe me a favor.  More than thirty minutes, I owe you.  Deal?"

"What kind of favor?" Kai wanted to know.

Leo rolled his eyes.  "Any kind of favor.  The good kind, like extra dessert or a movie or whatever.  I don't care.  I'm not gonna ask you to do something stupid."

"Not that you're going to win," Kai countered.  "You're on."

They shook on it, quickly, sideways, while they were still walking, and Maya waited politely until they had sealed their deal.  Then she inquired, "What did Damon say, Leo?"

There was at least one elevator waiting at the bottom of the tower, and they crowded into the empty space while the doors closed behind them.  Kai keyed in his Command code while Leo told them, "We're definitely heading for something, it's definitely not what we were heading for before, and he and Kerone have gone to check it out."

"Do they know where we are?" Kai wanted to know.

"Yeah, the... something about arms."  Leo shrugged helplessly when Kai looked at him.  "I don't know.  Still in our galaxy."

"There's a shock," Kai said wryly.  Then he blinked.  "Wait--arms?  Galactic arms?  What about galactic arms?"

"We're--in a different one than we were before?" Leo guessed.  "I think?  Something that begins with 's'?"

Kai was staring at him.  "The Sagittarius Arm?"

Leo pointed at him.  "That's it.  That's where we are."

"It's not really a location," Kai said slowly, and Leo could only think that Kai was as surprised as Damon had been--for whatever reason--and he was just too tired to get wildly excited about it.

Because Kai did wildly excited.  He did it really well, as far as Leo was concerned.  And Leo figured if wherever they were was enough to get an engineer shouting and swearing over his morpher, it was enough for a navigator to get wildly excited about.  Unfortunately, under all the military precision, Kai still looked beat.  

The Power didn't seem to be helping him out at all, and Leo wondered if Damon hadn't been kidding when he made that crack about morphing.  Maybe they really couldn't.  Or at least, Kai couldn't.  Still.  But this time for the opposite reason as before: not enough Power, instead of too much.

Leo told himself that was better.  But seeing Kai so quiet, it was hard to convince himself.

"Sorry," Kai said suddenly, as though he'd just realized he was drifting.  "Spiral galaxies like ours usually have two arms, two spiral arms, that kind of go in circles around the center.  Astronomers on Earth named the arms in our galaxy for the constellations they could see behind them: the Orion Arm, that's ours--where Earth is--and the Sagittarius Arm.  Where we are now."

"There must be a very great distance between the two arms," Maya said.

Kai actually shrugged.  "Depends what you're flying," he said, sounding almost offhand.  "On the Megaship?  You wouldn't notice.  On Terra Venture, though... it might as well be another galaxy."

"Which is much farther away," Leo put in.

"Yes, Leo," Kai said with a sigh.  "Other galaxies are much farther away than things that are inside our own galaxy.  How the hell do you recognize Canadian skies without knowing anything about them?"

Leo tried to look sad and neglected.  "I guess my teacher's been too busy for me lately."

"Busy!  I--busy doing what!" Kai hissed, lowering his voice automatically and looking as full of indignation as it was possible for a tired GSA solider in an elevator to look.  "Who's fault is it that we can't lie next to each other and stare at the stars anymore without--"

"Gee, I don't know," Leo said, as if he hadn't stopped.  "Whose fault do you think it is, Maya?"

They were all saved from a reply that probably would have been frighteningly polite by the sound of Leo's morpher.  "Leo, Damon," it said, in the sudden quiet of the elevator after it left the administration building behind.  "You're not gonna believe this."

"Damon, Leo," he answered automatically.  "You said that last time, and Kai's still trying to explain it to me."

"Well."  Damon sounded uncharacteristically subdued.  "You might need Maya for this one."

Leo frowned, but no one else looked any less confused.  "Why's that?" he asked his morpher.

There was a long pause, like Damon was checking something for the hundredth time before he said it aloud.  "Funny thing about this system," he said at last.  "Nice star, little rocky terrestrial right in the habitable zone.  A moon, even.  Good distance."

That was probably important, but it didn't mean a lot to Leo.  "And?" he prompted.

"Looks like it might have been a jungle climate, once," Damon said oddly.  "Hard to say for sure, though.  The entire planet's stone."

The way Maya gasped was the only thing that made his mind follow the same course hers had, and he tried to be realistic.  "What, you mean no plants or animals or water or anything?"

"No," Damon's voice replied.  "I mean there are all of those things.  Or there were.  But they've been turned to stone.  All of them, everywhere.  The whole planet."

Which was impossible.  As impossible as interplanetary portals on the moon.  As impossible as magical swords and transmorphers and giant wasps sent by a fake scorpion to steal them back.  As impossible as a place they'd found and lost in a single day, a single hour...

A place that had been calling them back all along.

"Mirinoi," Maya whispered.

9. News Wave

They made it to lunch before Cassie's communicator chimed.  It was one of the quietest moments they'd had since they left the hotel that morning, which unfortunately wasn't saying much in the middle of an amusement park on summer vacation.  The girls finished eating in what seemed like seconds, but they were still mostly occupied by the toys they'd won in Game Alley.

Cassie lifted her communicator close enough that she could hear it over the conversation around them.  "Hi, it's Cassie," she said.  She knew Carlos could pick up his communicator over the phone Billy had given him, but she wasn't on Earth often enough to care whether people looked at her strangely for talking to her watch.

"Carlos," he answered, and she smiled involuntarily.  Right on cue.  "Are you out somewhere?"

She glanced at Saryn, who frowned slightly to indicate he hadn't heard.  "Yeah, we brought the girls to the amusement park," she said.  Terra was trying to reload her tiny water gun from her big plastic cup, and it was working better than it should have.  "Why?"

"We may have a problem," Carlos' voice answered.  "I was just talking to Ashley's parents.  Turns out the former Astro Rangers are causing kind of a stir on Terra Venture."

"Who are you talking to?" Jenni signed.

Cassie spelled "Carlos" for her, which Terra missed and waved to have repeated.  A sign flashed between the twins, and Cassie wondered if Jenni had just named Carlos "purple dad."  Terra seemed to know exactly who she was talking about.

"I didn't know the Astro Rangers were on Terra Venture," Cassie said carefully, trying to lower her voice and still be heard.  She hadn't even thought about what it would mean for Ashley and the rest of her team to visit an Earth-associated colony.

"Neither did Terra Venture," Carlos replied, "for the three seconds it took them to walk off the Megaship.  Turns out they don't get a lot visitors out there, and everyone was pretty interested.  Also, the colony is lost."

"Wait, lost?"  Cassie looked at Saryn again, but he was trying to keep Shei's wind-up dinosaur from clearing a path of destruction through the remnants of their lunch.  "You mean, actually lost?"

"Actually lost," Carlos confirmed.  "I guess they're not where they expected to be.  Andros swears he had nothing to do with it, but you and I both know how likely that is."

Cassie smiled.  "Well, he usually manages to fix whatever he breaks, so.  How is everyone taking the... um, extra Rangers?"

"Not well," he said, and even over the comm she could hear his voice change.  "Everyone loves them, of course.  And they want to know everything about them.  Max is making dinner for us tonight; you guys might want to stop by.  Watch the news, chat... that kind of thing."  He knew she had an open comm.

"That'd be great," Cassie said, lifting her drink out of the way of Jenni's light-up top.  "Is it okay if we bring the kids?"

"Yeah, of course."  Carlos sounded like he didn't know why she'd ask.  "It's gonna be pizza and sandwiches; plenty for everyone.  Coral and Silvy are coming too."

"We'll be there," Cassie promised.  "What time?"

"Max says the food'll be ready by six-thirty," Carlos told her.  "But come any time after five-thirty and we'll have snacks.  And people.  Lots of people."

It turned out he wasn't kidding about the people.  By the time they got there, though, it felt like two days later, because Carlos ended up calling them with updates throughout the afternoon.  Cassie was trying to coach Jenni through "Lunatic Fringe" at the arcade when her comm chimed again, and she took her hand off the controls long enough to bounce the link to Saryn.

She saw him, out of the corner of her eye, backing toward the light with his own comm held close to his ear.  It was noisy in here.  Jenni's ship crashed, her extra life got her through the asteroid belt anyway, and by the time Terra was demanding a turn Saryn had come back, a serious expression on his face.

Cassie swapped seats with the firstborn twin, swinging out from under the roll bar and catching Shei when she came back for more quarters.  "Can I play the stuffed animal game?" she wanted to know.

"Which--"  Cassie followed where Shei was pointing, the big glass box with a hundred stuffed animals and a robot arm inside, and decided not to tell her the game was rigged.  "Sure," she said, feeding the girl enough quarters that she could get totally frustrated with it before they ran out.  "Good luck."

Shei called something over her shoulder that could have been "thank you," and Cassie smiled.  Between Raine and Azmuth, Shei's politeness was formulaic and habitual, but it was very much appreciated in foreign environments.  Her moms had made sure they could take her anywhere--and sometimes they had to, so she was well-practiced.

"What's up?" Cassie asked, bumping into Saryn's shoulder with her own.  "Who was it?"

Saryn smoothed a hand over her ponytail, lifting the other to indicate his comm as he said, "Carlos.  It seems reporters have started to ask him about Ashley."

Reporters followed Carlos anywhere they could get away with--he was one of a very small number of offworld celebrities on Earth, and he was from Earth, so they were less worried about offending him than they were with actual aliens.  "What are they asking?" Cassie asked, watching the twins swing back and forth in their simulated cockpit.  It wasn't a huge leap from Ashley to... well, any of them, really.

"They're curious to know if she might have introduced him to Aura," Saryn remarked.  "They'd also like to know who her teammates were, given that there was no Purple Astro Ranger and the combination of Red, Silver, and Yellow still leaves three Rangers unaccounted for."

"Maybe they were aliens," Cassie said impishly.

Saryn raised an eyebrow, and his amusement belied his words.  "Carlos seems to think Ashley's teammates will be identified by the end of the day."

"Even if no one tells them," Cassie agreed, "they'll look at her family and they'll start interviewing her friends and all it's going to take is one person saying, 'yeah, she was always hanging around with those same people from high school...'"

"Presumably Andros, too, is somewhat memorable," Saryn said.

"Yeah, if they don't know he's an alien already they'll find out soon enough."  Cassie frowned.  "He's not the only one who doesn't have a lifelong paper trail."

Saryn gave her a quizzical look, and she murmured, "As soon as they start investigating Ashley's family, they're going to know you and the twins didn't grow up anywhere on Earth."

"Do you suppose your grandmother will be relieved to hear this," he asked, deadpan, "or simply more concerned?"

She laughed, looking over at the glass tank with the robot arm.  Shei looked very intent and not at all frustrated by the primitive toy.  "I'm a little worried about the rest of the team," she said, casting another look at the Lunatic Fringe cage.  "This is going to change things for some of us more than others."

Saryn didn't answer right away, but when a particularly noisy game alarm went off nearby he leaned in and said quietly, "Carlos mentioned that it could go farther than the former Astro Rangers."

She shot him a sharp look.

"He thinks the security of current teams could be compromised," Saryn murmured.

Cassie shook her head.  "No, definitely not," she said.  "We don't know anyone on a current team.  We don't even know what happened to our morphers after we had them.  That's always been Ranger policy on Earth.  To protect the anonymity of the teams, no one ever knows who replaces them."

"I see."  Saryn considered that.  "That would seem to be a... secure system."

Cassie caught his eye, and he nodded once.

Carlos didn't call again until they were waiting in line for the carousel.  This time, Cassie stepped out of line while Saryn stayed with the kids.  "Hi, Carlos," she said, taking her comm off and cupping it in her hand as she held it up, hoping to make it slightly less conspicuous now that she knew people might be looking.  "You want us to just come over now?"

"No," he said, not bothering to say hello.  "You're better off there, trust me.  At least right now they don't know where you are."

That didn't sound good.  "Do they know where everyone else is?" Cassie asked carefully.

"Yeah."  He didn't stop there.  "University security just broke up a crowd outside Tessa's lab, and TJ's talking to NASADA right now.  The good news is that NASADA's totally on board.  The bad news is that someone got ahold of the guest list for the wedding and it's already breaking news on the local stations.  It's only a matter of time before it goes national."

TJ was going to kill them, Cassie thought distantly.  Four days before his wedding and it had just been turned into the story of the year.  "Are you guys okay?" she asked.  "Is this creepy, or just annoying?"

"Just another day on Earth for me," Carlos' voice told her.  "I tell 'em to back off and give the kid some space, and they mostly listen.  But the Hammonds are swamped, and Max says the Carters are getting every question in the book.  Including whether or not Ali got pre-selected for Terra Venture because of her brother."

"So, really annoying," Cassie said with a sigh.  "I guess we're lucky we don't have phones."

"Don't get too excited," Carlos warned.  "TJ says there's a TV crew at your hotel.  Literally in the lobby, waiting for you to come back.  We're watching them on the news right now.  NASADA wants to know if you want an escort."

Cassie's eyes widened.  "Do we need one?" she asked, instinctively lowering her voice further.  She looked around, but no one was paying any attention to her.  It was still a sunny afternoon at the carnival, screaming kids and fast food mixed with loud fair music everywhere she turned.

"Probably not."  The fact that he didn't say "no" worried her.  "You have kids; they're gonna be nicer to you.  Believe me, I know.  Nothing turns people against the press like a few shots of them scaring children."

"Okay, so."  That was not in any way reassuring.  "You think we're okay here for now?  I don't want to drag the girls away just to go back to the hotel and be harassed."

"Yeah, don't do that unless you have to," Carlos agreed.  "Just come straight to Max's house.  Me and TJ are watching it blow up from here, and so far they don't seem to have resorted to following anyone.  So the street's clear."

"Okay," Cassie repeated.  "As soon as the girls are tired, then.  We'll let you know when we're on our way."

They'd made it onto the carousel by the time she got back to the line, so she waited by the exit for the music to slow and stop and discharge the most recent round of riders.  She smiled at the twins' enthusiasm, Shei's affected boredom, and Saryn's questioning look.  She shook her head, reaching out to take his hand, and waited until the girls were arguing over what to do next to sign behind their backs.

"Carlos says the names of all the old Astro Rangers have made the news," she told him.  "Plus a copy of TJ and Tessa's guest list, which isn't going to make the other teams very happy."

"Of course, the fact that you don't know any other teams should help," he signed back.

She tried not to smile.  "I hope that's true.  He says we might want to skip the hotel on our way to dinner.  Apparently there's a TV crew camping out in the lobby."

Saryn raised an eyebrow.  "The children aren't unfamiliar with cameras."

"Well, no..."  She trailed off, wondering how Saryn managed to make Carlos' vaguely threatening account of swarming news reporters sound like a kids' stage rehearsal.

"If we avoid the hotel," Saryn pointed out, "will the media not assume we are attempting to avoid them?"

"We are," Cassie said.

"It will only get harder if they believe that to be true," Saryn told her.

"What are you talking about?" Jenni demanded, staring up at them.  Terra had stopped trying to convince Shei and was watching with interest.  When she realized they weren't talking anymore, she had her own priorities.

"Can we go in the big dome?" Terra wanted to know.  "It's all sparkly!"

"I want to go on the Sky Ride!" Shei protested.  "You said we could go on it after lunch!"

Saryn and Cassie exchanged glances.  "One more ride each," Cassie said.  "Then we're going to go have a special dinner at Uncle Max's house."

"What is it?" Jenni wanted to know.  "Earth food is weird.  And I want to go on a rollercoaster."

"But the lines for the rollercoasters are so long," Shei complained.

"I'll wait in line with Jenni," Cassie said.  "Do you mind taking Shei and Terra to the dome and the Sky Ride?"

"No, I want to go on the Sky Ride too!"  Jenni waved wildly, like she thought they might not see her.  "And I want to see the dome!"

"It's getting late," Cassie pointed out.  "If we wait in all the lines, we might not get to Max's house in time for his special dinner."

"I don't want dinner," Jenni said mutinously.  "You said we all got another ride."

"She said you each get one more ride," Saryn interrupted.  "Not that everyone gets three."

"Then why do they get to go on two?" Jenni demanded.

"Because our lines are shorter," Shei said, but luckily Jenni didn't see her.

"They can go on both in the amount of time it will take us to wait for a rollercoaster," Cassie tried to explain.  Jenni wasn't really paying attention anymore, but she added, "You can go on both too, or you can go on a rollercoaster.  It's up to you."

"That's not fair," Jenni informed her.

"That's what we're doing," Saryn replied.  "You can go on your ride.  No one will get to go on all three.  It's perfectly logical."

"But it's not fair!" Jenni exclaimed.

"It's fair," Cassie said.  "Which rollercoaster are we going on?  Do you want to walk around and look for a new one, or do you want to go on one of the ones we've already been on again?"

The temper tantrum that followed ended up with one very sulky twin, one moderately upset twin, and one totally unconcerned older girl all waiting in line outside a sparkly building called the Psychodrome.  Cassie wasn't totally sure what the ride inside was, and she hoped they wouldn't regret the wait once they got in there.  At that point, though, she was just glad everyone was in one place and not currently crying, hitting each other, or screaming.

It had been a long day.  This was definitely not a good time to have reporters in their face.  She caught Saryn's eye while they were waiting and signed, "Maybe we should skip the hotel."

She thought he would understand now, but he didn't seem to agree.  "At the end of the day, they're going to be happier fighting over each other's remote-controlled robots than they are avoiding reporters they're perfectly used to."

"They're not used to these reporters," Cassie said with a sigh.  But if it went relatively smoothly then she might worry less, and if it didn't, well, at least they would know not to do it again.  She was very aware that she and Saryn were going home next week.  TJ and Tessa were the ones planning to live here.

They managed to get through the Psychodrome with a minimum of horror, despite the spinning and the darkness and the speed, and tempers seemed to have calmed a little by the beginning of the Sky Ride.  The girls were actually in good spirits again by the time they got off.  Cassie would take it, whatever the cause or duration, and just hope that the cameras caught less of the arguing and more of the smiles.

Or neither.  There were two news vans on the street across from the hotel, but the entrance was blocked by a uniformed soldier who asked to see a keycard before they did a mutual double take.  He realized who they were at the same moment Cassie saw the NASADA logo on his shoulder.

"I hope you're not here because of us," she said, motioning toward her bag for their keycards.

"Ma'am," the solider told her, "we're all here because of you.  You go on through and let us know if you need anything tonight."

"Thank you," she said, exchanging glances with Saryn.  "Uh... thanks.  Have a good night."  She just barely managed to keep it from coming out like a question.

They were, Cassie noticed, upgraded to valet parking without having to do anything themselves.  The gate attendant in the parking garage actually came out to meet them and take their keys.  None of the girls found this strange, of course, and they passed the significantly shorter time into the hotel by arguing over which of their fair toys was the best.

"Should we say anything to the front desk?" Cassie signed, small enough that it wasn't obvious she was pointing as they entered the lobby.

"I see no reason to," Saryn answered.  He wouldn't, since he was used to the constant high profile that came with diplomatic security.  "If there's a problem, they know how to contact us."

"I mean to thank them," Cassie said, amused.

"This is what they do," Saryn pointed out.  "And, if I'm not mistaken, NASADA is making it rather easier than it was a few hours ago.  Perhaps we should thank them instead."

That was a good idea, actually.  When they got to their room, though, the voice mail light on the phone was already blinking.  Cassie was pretty sure the hotel wasn't allowed to give out their room number, so she assumed it was the Hammonds.  They should be the only people who knew the extension and would think to use a phone before a communicator.

It wasn't the Hammonds.  While Shei tried to attach the dinosaur she'd won to the top of the remote-controlled car Grandma had given her, Cassie listened to a woman's voice say, "This is Civilian Security Agent AJ Johnson at the Angel Grove Space Base.  GSA communication with Terra Venture via hyperboosted Megaship channels indicates a potential security leak.  Please contact us at your earliest convenience."

Cassie grimaced ruefully.  The message had come in at ten-thirty, almost an hour after they'd left, and there hadn't been anyone to forward it to.  NASADA must have called the others too--Carlos had probably talked to them at least once by the time he called her at lunch.

There were four more messages after the first one: three more from the base, and one from the Hammonds that said they weren't talking to anyone until someone told them what to say, and was Cassie all right with them taking advice from TJ?  They knew he was her team leader, but they weren't about to speak for her--and by the way, Grandma had some questions.

Cassie couldn't help the laugh that escaped.  She'd bet Grandma had questions.  She signed the Hammonds' message to Saryn, who smiled, and then Terra wanted to know what Grandma had questions about and when they were going to see her again.  "Probably not tonight," Cassie said, looking around.

Jenni was happily whirling her top over everything in sight--it was a bouncing gyro, which apparently meant that it could fall a long way and keep spinning when it landed.  Jenni seemed to be testing how far was "a long way."  Shei was trying to find a way to stabilize her dinosaur so that it didn't fall off when the car crashed.

"NASADA called," she added.  "Three times.  They left a base number we can call if we need anything.  I guess they're planning to leave someone outside the hotel all night."

"When are we going to Uncle Max's?" Terra wanted to know.  "I'm hungry."

"As soon as everyone gets washed up," Cassie told her.  "And you change your shirt.  You've got ice cream all over it."

Saryn flicked the light by the door, and Shei and Jenni looked up.  "Clean up," he signed.  "Everyone wash your face and hands; change your clothes if they're dirty."  He didn't even get to dinner before Shei was asking if Kae would be at Uncle Max's and Jenni held out a brush for Cassie, handle first.

"What do you say?" Cassie asked.

"Pleeeease?"  Jenni drew it out, making a sad face and putting her hands together to beg.  "Please brush my hair, Mommy?"

It kept all three of the girls from being in the bathroom at once, so Cassie sat down with her while Saryn made sure that Terra actually did find a clean shirt.  She shepherded the younger twin to the sink when Shei was done with the promise that she would braid her hair afterwards.  It would have been a perfect time to talk to Saryn over the kids' heads, but everyone's hands were busy and Jenni wouldn't be able to understand them.  That, unlike many of the other things a five-year-old girl found to complain about, really wouldn't be fair.

So she waited until they were mostly ready to go, tried to enforce the "one toy" rule, and signed to Saryn, "The NASADA number's next to the phone."

He gave her an amused look as they followed the children out into the hall.  "That might be more helpful if I had more consistent success with your phone system."

That was true, she decided.  On the other hand, NASADA had a seven-year-old intergalactic comm that hadn't failed them yet, so she was pretty sure he could get in touch with someone if he needed to.  She was less sure that he would try.  Saryn didn't have a lot of faith in Earth-based security.

She didn't have a lot of faith in the California media, but they let her leave the hotel and refrained from following her to Max's house, so.  Maybe the world was looking up.  Even more so when the front door opened and TJ came out to wave them down the driveway.  Cars lined the lawn and the near side of the road, but there were a couple of empty spaces up front and he motioned for them to pull as far forward as they could.

"Hey Cass!"  TJ loped over, grinning as she put the window down.  "Kids under ten and people with broken bones get the best parking spots; that's our new rule.  How are you guys?  Hey, Saryn.  Hey, everyone in back there--you need any help?"

Terra and Shei were calling hi, signing as they went, and Saryn was already leaning over the back to sign to Jenni.  Cassie pulled her seatbelt free, pushed the door open, and sprang out into TJ's arms.  "You're in a good mood," she said with a laugh, relieved enough that she hugged him a little tighter.

"Hasn't sunk in yet," TJ said cheerfully.  "And who knows how it'll turn out when it does?  Maybe no one will care by next week."

Tessa was less amused.  She didn't come out to meet them, but she did look up from the news when they all came trooping into Max's living room.  Silvy was sitting next to her, looking very grown-up in her long sleeves and t-shirt: teenage fashion, Cassie thought suddenly.  She'd seen it everywhere and she hadn't even realized... it had been six short years since she and her friends had graduated, and high schoolers were already unrecognizable.

But as she watched Silvy get up, exclaiming over the twins in exactly the same way, she thought maybe it was like that for all of them.

"Hey, hey!"  Gabe lunged away from the TV to put a hand on Coral's back just as she tried to stand up on one of the stools at the counter.  Her balance was better than that of the stool, and Gabe put his walking cast on one of the rungs to hold it down.  "Who's babysitting her at home, bro?  The circus?"

"People who swim," Carlos told him.  "She's surrounded by water all the time; she's not really used to the whole falling concept."

"Hey," he added, wrapping an arm around Cassie's shoulders when Silvy moved enough that he could get around her.  "This is fun, right?  You think Ash is getting back at us for the time we broke up the team while she was gone?"

Cassie couldn't be very apologetic when she was trying not to laugh.  "Oh, the handbasket e-mail!"  She leaned into him, squeezing him sideways as Shei tried not to trip over her sandals after she'd kicked them off.  "At least none of us have accused her of sending anything to hell."

"I'm thinking about uninviting her from the wedding," Tessa called, over the kids' heads.  "Could we take a vote on that?"

Cassie caught Saryn's eye and giggled at his amused expression.  "Told you so," she said, waving to Karen when she leaned over the counter and gave her a thumbs-up.  "Hi Karen!"

"S'up!" Karen called.  "I'm glad you came; you gave us an excuse to buy way more ice cream than we would have otherwise."

If they were going to spoil her, she wasn't going to complain.  "It's a desert planet," Cassie said, shaking her head.  "I don't understand how we don't have ice cream!"

"We don't have cows," Saryn remarked.

For some reason, it sounded terribly funny coming from him, and Cassie wasn't the only one who laughed.  He raised an eyebrow at her, and Carlos let her go when she shrugged helplessly.  "I don't know," she said, another giggle escaping.  "That's the whole reason?"

"What are cows?" Shei wanted to know.

"You'd think a planet like Elisia could import," TJ remarked, while Carlos tried to explain cows to Cassie's eight-year-old niece.  "Ice cream's pretty important."

"But not in high demand," Saryn pointed out, as though this was an actual discussion.  "Our family is in many ways unique, and well-supplied through private means."

"So we could have more ice cream if we had cows?" Shei was asking.

Carlos' communicator saved him from trying to answer this question, and across the room, his phone rang at almost exactly the same time.  Max's voice emerged from the kitchen, calling hello without actually coming out to see them--apparently the sandwiches were almost ready, if there were any children who wanted to help set them out.  Pizza would be longer.

Cassie saw Terra relaying the announcement to Jenni, keeping Carlos from his phone as he tried to figure out how to get around them without interrupting them.  "Just walk through," she advised.  "It's like making noise when someone's talking; it's only annoying if it's extreme."

"It's Ashley," Tessa reported from the couch.  The closest to Carlos' phone, she'd picked it up and was studying the display.  "Can I answer it?"

"Knock yourself out," Carlos told her.

"I'm Shei," She's voice declared from the other side of the counter.  "Do we get sandwiches too?"

"You certainly do," Max agreed.  "I'm Max.  Do you want to help put all of these on plates?"

"Okay," Shei said.  "And we call you Uncle Max, like this.  Do you sign?  Which one should I use when I'm talking to you?"

Cassie interrupted Terra and Jenni when Terra said she thought Max was serving them dog food.  "There aren't any dogs here," she told them.  "Max is almost finished making sandwiches, and you can each have one if you go tell him what kind you want.  Shei's helping put them out on the counter."

"I want to help eat!" Jenni signed, and Cassie couldn't tell if she meant that literally or if there'd been a comma in there she'd missed.  But Terra agreed, so Cassie pointed them in the direction of the kitchen.

"Ask first," she reminded them, which was really as much as she had energy for right now.  "Max," she added aloud.  "You have two more helpers coming your way."

"Oh, good."  His voice sounded genuinely pleased, although she still hadn't actually seen him.  "The more the merrier in the kitchen!"

That wasn't exactly the philosophy she remembered from Max's kitchen, but Cassie had faith in his ability to yell for help when he needed it.  Right now, Tessa was haranguing Ashley in her own impeccably polite way while Karen hung over the counter and called additional comments whenever Tessa paused.  Since this was presumably the time when Ashley was talking, Cassie thought it probably didn't help Tessa any.  It was making Silvy and Gabe laugh, though.

"Want to sit down?" TJ offered, clapping a hand on her shoulder and the other on Saryn's as he surveyed the living room.  "This could go on for a while."

"Here," Carlos was saying, trying to get Tessa's attention.  "Let me see the phone."

"Can I help at all?" Cassie asked, but TJ shook his head.

"Max has his hands full," he told her.  "Pizzas are already in the oven; we're just going to do buffet style with sandwiches and chips in the meantime.  Want something to drink?  Water, OJ, soda?  Max has wine, too, but don't ask me what kind."

"Are you near a camera?" Carlos asked his phone.  "Yeah.  I'm plugging it in.  Just a second."  Lowering the phone, he spared Gabe a brief glance.  "You want to push the table about of the way?"

"Do I look like the poster child for manual labor?" Gabe demanded, but he left Coral with Silvy and gave the coffee table a shove.  "You're going to set that on the floor?  Your million dollar phone?  Where any of us could step on it?"

"Don't," Carlos told him.  "It'll be hard to miss once it's turned on."

"Water?" Cassie asked, nudging Saryn.

"On it," TJ said when he nodded.  "You too?"

"I can get it," Karen called from the counter.  "We're practicing our dance steps in here.  Anyone else want another drink?"

"Wow."  Tessa's reaction pretty much summed up the room as a transparent but lifesize image of Ashley appeared in front of the couch.  "Your phone is holographic now?"

"Billy adapted a projector," Carlos said.  "It doesn't have its own camera--the phone does, but the add-on doesn't have enough memory to process more than one set of data.  So the hologram only goes one way."

"Ashley can't see us?" Tessa asked, frowning at the hologram.

Ashley wrinkled her nose in return.  "I can see you," she said, her voice a little tinny but perfectly recognizable.  "Only on a screen, though.  And I don't know how my camera is sending your phone enough data for a circle view."

"It isn't 360," Karen offered, from the direction of the kitchen.  She walked from one end of the counter to the other, studying the image.  "We see you from the front no matter what angle we're at."

"That is so cool," Silvy told Gabe.

"Yeah, I want one," Gabe agreed.  "You should steal one from Billy next time you're over there."

Silvy rolled her eyes.  "Like he'd never suspect me."

"So how do you see all of us?" Tessa wanted to know.  "The camera on Carlos' phone can't be that good."

"I can't see Karen," Ashley said.  "Or Gabe.  And is that Silvy I heard talking to him?  I can see from Saryn over to Tessa, and that's it."

"Io," Max's voice called from the kitchen.  "That's a fancy hologram!"

Ashley's face broke into a grin.  "Hi Max!  Carlos gets all the best toys, doesn't he?"

"Hey, I have to put up with the weirdest people," Carlos reminded them.  "There should be some tradeoff."

"Hi, Ashley," Max said, waving a fork in the direction of the hologram.  "Wonderful to see you.  Quite literally, in this case."

"Can't see you at all," Ashley replied cheerfully.  "You must be on the wrong side.  But it's nice to talk to you!"

"The kids are here too," Carlos told her.  "We'll have to parade them past you for a bedtime story.

"Oh, I hope this doesn't take that long!" Ashley exclaimed, laughing.  "What are you going to do, make Tessa filibuster me?"

"You haven't heard half of it," Tessa promised.  "Next time, a little more warning, okay?  I have government people offering me research positions, and you know what that means?  Background checks.  A zillion of them."

"You're going to work for the government?" Ashley exclaimed.  Then she added, "Like a real Ranger and everything!" and Carlos threw a piece of crumpled paper at her hologram.

Cassie had to smile.  It was a relief to hear an adult conversation after an entire day of five-year-olds at the amusement park.  Five-year-olds anywhere, really.  She and Saryn had Raine to thank for teaching them early on that a little peer interaction--every day, she had insisted, no skipping--went a long way toward maintaining perspective.

It wasn't an efficient conversation.  It wasn't short or to the point.  It was as long and rambling as talking to anyone under the age of ten, but it had an actual subject.  It had content.  And although Cassie wouldn't swear there were no tantrums, none of them progressed past zingers into anything approaching screaming, crying, or kicking.

The closest they came was Tessa officially uninviting Ashley to her wedding.  "Just so you know," Tessa informed her.  "I wouldn't want you to show up at the door and be turned away because you're not on the guest list."

"You could check the list in advance," TJ added, coming around to stand next to Tessa.  "It's on the news, so it wouldn't be that hard."

Ashley groaned.  "I am so, so sorry!  Really, guys... I didn't think it would be this bad.  I didn't think Terra Venture even had communication with Earth anymore."

"Surprise!" Tessa exclaimed.  "It does!"

"Could've told you that," Carlos muttered.

"Did I mention that I'm really sorry?"  Ashley looked appropriately chagrinned.  "Are you guys okay?  Should I tell everyone that you gave me amnesia when the team broke up and I don't remember any of you?"

"Just don't remember anyone else and we should be okay," TJ said, when Tessa looked like she was trying to decide.  "The Earth anonymity policy should fly offworld, too.  They all know we do things differently here."

Ashley made a face at that.  "So I don't know who replaced me?  You don't think they're going to make the huge leap from former Rangers to, say, the people who are related to them?  Or marrying them?"

"We don't know anything about it," TJ repeated.  "The morphers were given to us by Dimitria, whom we don't know anything about either, and we passed them on the same way.  Well, you did.  We will."

Cassie felt Saryn's breath tickle her ear as he whispered, "I confess, I thought you'd made that up."

She smiled a little, leaning into his arm.  "Like I could come up with that on the spot," she murmured.

It was Carlos who remembered to ask Ashley how she was, and whether Andros had rescued the colony yet.  The story might have gone better if any of Cassie's family had known who the Galaxy Rangers were--apparently they were well-known on Earth, although Silvy took Cassie's ignorance as permission to request a recap--and the kids hadn't started coming back into the living room with sandwiches.  They all had to say hi to Ashley, and tell her what they were eating, and ask her about Kae.

Well, that was mostly Shei, but Ashley promised to bring him back to Earth before Shei left.  "I have a dinosaur now too," Shei explained.  "It drives my car.  He'll understand."  And Ashley and Cassie smiled at each other over the intervening distance.

A distance that was greater than expected, according to Ashley.  It hadn't been Andros at all, but the Galaxy Rangers themselves that had simultaneously sabotaged and salvaged the Terra Venture mission.  There were still a few details to be worked out, Ashley told them, but for the reappearance of Psycho Rangers no one had ever thought to see again, it could have gone worse.

Cassie didn't know whether the news about Psycho Rangers made her feel better or worse about their own.  Carlos must have already heard--he had a whispered conversation with Tessa while Ashley brought her and Saryn up to speed--and she tried not to think about what had happened to Psycho Black.  It was bad enough to forget who they'd been... she wondered if the Galaxy Rangers knew how close they'd come to losing everything.

"The thing is," Ashley was saying, "we don't know if it really was a Power problem, or if it was something the Power meant to do to them from the beginning.  I mean, it did take them back to Mirinoi."

"You said it didn't affect the two Mirinoan members of the team," Saryn remarked.  "If the intent of the overload was to send them home, wouldn't it have affected them first?"

"You'd think," Ashley agreed, "but they're all specially color-coded, just like the rest of us.  On their team, the Blue Ranger is the strongest, and he was the one who powered the engine.  Leo was only having trouble because he kept trying to siphon Kai's Power."

"Something the Power wouldn't like," TJ said, "if it was trying to take them somewhere."

Ashley's hologram shrugged.  "That's what Andros thinks, but... he always thinks the Power knows what it's doing.  Kerone isn't so sure."

Cassie knew what Saryn was thinking without him having to say it.  And he didn't say it, because there wasn't any point, but she squeezed his fingers anyway.  Of course Kerone didn't trust the Power.  It had let her down when she was little and it had rejected her when she grew up.

"How's the rest of the colony handling it?" Karen asked, handing Tessa a sandwich as she fit herself onto the end of the couch.  "People had time to realize they're on a collision course with a dead planet yet?"

"Way to practice sensitivity and tact," Gabe told her, and she smirked across the room at him.  "No, really," he added.  "That was way better than what I expected you to say."

"We haven't figured out how to slow the colony down yet," Ashley said.  "But Kerone thinks there must be a way to reverse whatever Scorpius did to Mirinoi--she's got Mike and Maya over there right now, trying to identify the invasion site... oh, and Ali."

TJ looked up.  "What about Ali?"

Ashley made a face.  "Um, she's on Mirinoi?  With Kerone and some of the Galaxy Rangers?"

"Why?" TJ demanded, and they could all see Ashley roll her eyes.

"Come around in front of the camera, okay?  It's weird not being able to see you.  Plus," Ashley continued without pausing, "Ali's going to ask me how mad you are, and I want to be able to tell her."

"She's perfectly capable of being on other planets," TJ said, but he picked his way between the coffee table and the end of the couch.  Climbing over Karen and Tessa, he collapsed beside his fiancee and pointed a threatening finger at the phone.  "Just make sure she doesn't end up part of the spell Kerone's trying to reverse.  I've heard a little too much about frogs from that woman."

Ashley's smile brightened.  "She does threaten frogs a lot, doesn't she?  Which is funny, because there aren't any on KO-35!  I have no idea where she got that from."

"Uh-huh," TJ agreed, eyeing her suspiciously.  "I'm sure you don't.  What's Ali doing on Mirinoi, again?"

"Well, she's their designated Medlab representative," Ashley began.  "She's supposed to be, um... doing some sort of biospheric survey?  I think?"

"That's such a lie," Karen declared.  "Seriously, that's the excuse?"

"What's going on?" TJ demanded.  He leaned over Tessa to glare at Karen.  "Since when are you the underground source of Terra Venture information?"

"I don't know anything!" she protested.  Pointing at the hologram, she added, "Look at her!  I'm just saying, she's obviously making that up!  The whole planet's stone; what kind of survey is a Medlab assistant conducting down there?"

"Do they know she was a Ranger?" Tessa wanted to know.

"The Galaxy Rangers do," Ashley said.  "The rest of Terra Venture doesn't.  I swear, we're containing it as much as possible.  All they know is that we're Rangers for KO-35, me and Andros and Kerone and Zhane, and that the three of us used to be Rangers for Earth.  We won't give out the names of the other people who were on the Astro team, even if they've obviously figured that out, and luckily we don't know anything about who the current Earth Rangers are."

"Which makes no sense," Karen put in.  "The Kerovan Rangers talk to the Earth Rangers all the time.  You gave Terra Venture the first Megaship.  How can you not know who the Rangers are?"

"You're anonymous!" Ashley exclaimed.  "Come on, Earth is weird.  We only know you by your uniforms.  Like Saryn, back when he was the Phantom Ranger.  It's not like no one else does it."

"Let's go back to the part about Ali," TJ said.  "She's on Mirinoi, not to do a biospheric survey, but because--why?"

"Because she and Mike have kind of a thing," Ashley replied, "and he's not totally stable with Mirinoi coming up in conversation every other sentence.  She helps."

"Mentioning Mirinoi makes him unstable, so you sent him off to check out the planet?" TJ repeated.

"Not unstable, exactly."  Ashley wrinkled her nose at them.  "It's just, he has all these memories of living on Mirinoi, a long time ago.  It makes him really useful on the surface, but it kind of creeps him out to look around and see it all... different from the way he remembers it.  So Ali went along to keep him company."

"Just out of curiosity," Cassie said, "how did she explain that to the rest of the colony?"

Karen glanced at her.  "Like you're one to talk, Miss My Husband Flips Out When I Miss A Phone Call."

Cassie felt Saryn's shoulder pressed against hers and she tried not to smile.  "That's why I asked?"

"She doesn't," Ashley said.  "Mike and Leo have a sort of... typically Red Ranger way of running the colony.  They say they need Ali, and no one questions it."

"That sounds familiar," Karen remarked.

"What's Mike like?" TJ wanted to know.  "Does Kerone like him?"  It was hard to tell whether he was ignoring her or if he just hadn't connected the comment to him yet.  Or maybe Karen was talking about Andros.  She spent a lot of time on KO-35.

"That's your judge of character?" Carlos was asking.  "You want to know if Kerone likes him or not?"

"Yeah, I'm glad you care about my opinion," Ashley teased.

"You like everyone," TJ reminded her.  "Which is a great quality, don't get me wrong.  But we're talking about my little sister and a guy who's, what--a thousand years old?  Kerone's a little more practical about these things."

"He lived three thousand years ago," Ashley informed him.  "That doesn't mean he's that old.  I mean, he's older than Mike, but not that old."

Cassie raised her free hand after a survey of the living room convinced her that she was the only one who had no idea what they were talking about.  "Wait, why does one of the Galaxy Rangers remember living on Mirinoi thousands of years ago?"

"He's two people," Ashley said.  "He's Mike Corbett, Leo's brother, but then they all got into trouble on Mirinoi before Terra Venture even left Earth.  He got, I don't know, trapped there or something.  And he ran into the spirit of the first Magna Defender, who helped get him off the planet and back to the colony.  They've been sort of... stuck with each other, ever since."

"He has a ghost in his head?" Cassie asked.

Ashley shrugged.  "Kerone says they get along all right.  She's keeping an eye on him."

"What does that mean?" TJ asked suspiciously.

"Well..."  Ashley hesitated.  "She trusts him with Leo's team.  You'd have to ask her about what she thinks about--anything else."

"Ali's a big girl," Karen put in.  "She can take care of herself."

"And if you're her role model," Carlos said, "we're in big trouble."

Karen poked him in the shoulder.  "What's that supposed to mean?  I'm still here, aren't I?  I'm awesome."

"You're a sixth Ranger in disguise," Carlos told her.  "Even for a Power Ranger you're an adrenaline junkie.  How do you hold a job with all your planet-hopping?  I don't understand it!"

"I've had a lot of jobs," Karen said dryly.

"Pizza's ready!" Max called from the kitchen.  "Sorry to interrupt, Ashley, but you know how it is when food's involved."

"I do," Ashley said with a laugh.  "I know; I'm going.  Call me later if you need anything, okay?  Tell Shei we can put her through whenever she wants if she has dinosaur stories or anything."

Cassie glanced toward the deck, where all three girls were trying to coax Coral over the step and onto the screened-in porch.  Shei didn't seem to hear her name, but she was signing and that wasn't unusual.  It was hard to sign and listen at the same time.

"I'm sure she'll appreciate that," Saryn told Ashley.

"And I'll appreciate some respect being shown for the fine art of cooking," Max said, even though most of the living room was already in various stages of getting up.  "I'll make you some next time you're on Earth, Ashley."

Ashley could take a hint.  "Bye everyone!" she called.  She waved, and Gabe and Silvy circled past the camera to wave back as the couches cleared out.  Cassie let Saryn help her up--no one wanted to keep Max waiting.

"They're quiet," Cassie heard Tessa telling TJ.  "Maybe we should make our children sign."

Carlos was right next to her when he glanced toward the deck.  "Your kids are teaching her their sign," he said, waving her and Saryn into the kitchen in front of him.  "Thanks for introducing a fourth language; that's going to make her so much easier to understand."

"We can't keep up with two," Cassie told him.  "I feel your pain."

"You think we should tell them the pizza's ready?" Carlos asked.  He hadn't taken his eyes off of the kids, despite the fact that Gabe was still right there supervising while Silvy slipped past everyone to sneak a piece of pizza over the counter to him.

Cassie considered it, but it was strange to realize, "They don't even know what pizza is.  They're probably just as happy with the sandwiches."

"They'll learn," Carlos predicted.  "And hey, if they don't?  More for us."

"Carlos' philosophy of parenting," she teased, stepping out of Tessa's way as she wound her way back around the counter.  "Everyone for themselves."

"Nah," he said.  "Choose your battles, that's all.  You can lead a kid to pizza, but it isn't worth the tantrum if she doesn't want to eat."

Silvy passed behind Tessa, and she grinned at him.  "But if you give a kid a moon rock, you've got a babysitter for life."

It still made Carlos laugh, and that made Cassie smile.  Funny how some friends stayed with you all along the way.  You never knew ahead of time which ones they would be... yet looking back, somehow, it seemed like they were all the ones that mattered.

10. Lights of the Defenders

Mike wasn't stupid.  Not that Estavan was in the habit of calling people whose goodwill he depended on for his quality of life "stupid," but even by an objective definition: Mike Corbett was intelligent and self-aware.  So when Terra Venture's Red Ranger decided that his relative sanity would be helped during their mission to Mirinoi by the presence of Ali Carter, he didn't argue.

For one thing, both of them knew that arguing you weren't crazy when someone else said you were rarely produced the desired results.  And for another, they both liked Ali.  Which was a relief, since neither Mike nor Estavan really wanted to spend the rest of their life half loving and half hating the same person--if that was even possible.  Estavan thought maybe their brain would forcibly reconcile such a split, one of them overruling the other.  Mike thought it was better not to think too much about it.

So until it mattered, he was willing to let people send Ali wherever he went as long as she wanted to go.  She was entertaining, irreverent, and a little too blase about his multiple personalities to look at him sideways for it.  Sometimes he thought people were trying to catch his face changing or something.

"Are you at all worried," Ali murmured, coming up behind him and stopping just before she would have bumped into his shoulder.  It was clearly the beginning of a sentence, not a complete question.  But he'd been keeping track, he'd heard her coming, and he knew how to make her smile.

"Yes," Estavan answered.  His sideways glance caught the amused look she threw him.

"That she doesn't know what she's doing?" Ali finished, nodding toward the stones.

He considered the discussion between Kerone and Maya for a long moment.  They were, as far as he could tell, arguing the precise location of sites within the fossilized village they'd found.  Estavan didn't recognize it.  Mike had only followed Maya the first time--and from a magical portal that didn't provide coordinates with use, at that--so he wasn't any more helpful.

"Which one of them?" he asked at last.

That put the smile back in Ali's voice.  "Either one, I guess."

"Maya?" he said.  "Not at all.  Even when she says she doesn't know what she's doing, she accidentally does something to prove she knew all along.  Kerone, on the other hand..."

Mike shook his head slowly, trying to keep a straight face.  "To be honest, I'm more worried when Kerone does know what she's doing."

"Oh, mental note," Ali said softly, when Kerone glanced their way without interrupting Maya.  "You're on her bad list again."

"Well, that makes all of us," he whispered back.

She giggled.  "My brother says Kerone only has two lists: the bad list, and the really bad list.  I guess if we're still on the first one, we're doing all right."

His brain tried to fill in several blanks at once, and he would have said it succeeded: except that the answer it came up with didn't make any sense.  "You said you're not Kerovan," he said.  "Are you and Zhane related?"

Ali laughed again, then clapped a hand over her mouth when it was Maya who looked back at them.  "No," she said, as quietly as before.  "TJ is my brother.  He's the Blue Ranger."

Admittedly, she didn't look anything like Zhane, but he hadn't missed the implication that Kerone's son and daughter had five parents between them.  Since Zhane seemed to be one of them--and since that wasn't mathematically possible--he assumed there was something about their definition of family that he was missing.  "But you ended up with Zhane's morpher," Mike observed.

"Yeah, I guess that's a Power thing?"  Ali sounded like she was waiting for him to agree.  "Certain colors for certain people?  Apparently I'm not blue.  One of their old teammates took TJ's morpher instead."

"Why?" he asked bluntly.  "If they were leaving Earth on a mission against Dark Spectre, wouldn't they want their morphers with them?"

"You'd think, wouldn't you?" Ali said with a grin.  "Apparently they're all so awesome that they didn't need them.  Until they did, which was when they called us.  Leaving Earth undefended--exactly what they were trying to avoid, by the way--and their assault force taking friendly fire every time one of us got confused.

"And that happened about as often as you'd expect," she added, "considering most of us had zero training."

He raised his eyebrows.  "You said they picked you because... they trusted you?"

"Yeah, not because we knew anything."  This didn't seem to bother her, but there wasn't anything about Ali Carter that could be described as arrogant.  The closest she came was a constant hint of amusement that might, if one were inclined to interpret it that way, be described as condescending.

He wasn't inclined to interpret it that way.

"We didn't exactly learn, either," Ali was saying.  "One of my brother's teammates directed us, and then one of the wing commanders took over when things started to go downhill.  We were lucky the zords knew what we were doing better than we did."

"Just like any other Ranger, then," Estavan said.

He didn't think anything of the look she gave him until she remarked, "You know, sometimes I feel like I can tell which one of you is talking to me."

He blinked.  "Sorry?"

"Mike didn't know that," she said carefully.  "The part about Rangers, I mean."

"I do now," he pointed out.  He couldn't remember how, though.  Mike and Estavan had a lot of memories between them, but plenty of the things he knew he just knew.  He literally couldn't remember not knowing them.

Ali considered that for a moment, then asked, "Do you ever notice?  That Mike likes something Estavan didn't?  Or the other way around?"

He smiled in spite of himself.  "Yeah.  I guess.  There are things I like now that I remember not liking, if that's what you mean.  It doesn't really work that way with things I know, though.  I know logically there's no reason for me to know some of the things I know, but when I didn't know them... it didn't make any impression on me.  So there's nothing to compare it to."

She was frowning, so he tried again.  "Not knowing something isn't like not liking it.  Does that make sense?  When I was on Mirinoi, I didn't know anything about Terra Venture.  Now I do, so I just... do.  I know.  I remember learning it, on Earth, but I don't remember what it was like before I learned it.  I just know."

Even to him, it didn't sound coherent, but Ali just asked, "Do you remember what it was like to start liking things you didn't like before?"

He hesitated.  "No," he said at last.  "I don't remember the change, just the contrast.  I don't remember what it was like to not know about Terra Venture, because I didn't know about it.  But I remember what it was like to think stargazing was boring.  I knew about it, I just didn't like it.  Now I do."

"Do you ever... not change your mind?"  She sounded more curious than concerned.  "Is there anything that you used to like that now you kind of like and kind of don't?"

Funny that he'd just been thinking about that.  "Not yet," he admitted.  "I think anything Mike and Estavan disagree on resolves itself somehow, so the stronger feeling wins.  It just feels like--playing devil's advocate, I guess."

A tingle from his left wrist alerted him as the morpher manifested in response to an incoming alert.  He was already turning toward Maya and Kerone as he lifted his hand to acknowledge.  Maya's transmorpher had appeared on her wrist as well, and Kerone was holding her phone.

"Guys, we're about to have company!"  Damon's voice skipped over the GSA radio procedures for once, and when Andros followed suit Mike thought he knew why.

"We're picking up Scorpius' ship," the Red Astro Ranger reported.  "ETA to system entry, three minutes.  Kerone, what's your status?"

Kerone caught his eye, and Mike nodded.  He didn't know what she was doing, but he could defend them better down here than he could up there.  From what he'd seen of her fighting style, she probably felt the same way.

"We could really use those three minutes," Kerone told her morpher.  "Let us know if ground forces get past you."

"They will," Damon's voice answered.  "Maya knows."

Mike wasn't sure what that made him, if not someone who knew, but Kerone acknowledged them both with a nod so he didn't protest.  "Got it," she said aloud.  "Give us a heads-up if you can.  We'll be expecting them."

"You'll be on your own down there," Andros warned.  "I don't want to compromise whatever atmosphere you've got left."

Kerone's reply was mild, and it only served to underscore what was probably a dramatic understatement.  "I think we can handle it, Andros."

Which was true, right up until the point Damon radioed back to tell them the colony was under attack and the Megaship was on her way to back them up.  He could still bring them aboard, he told them.  No problem.  All they had to do was abandon Mirinoi and they could hitch all the way to Terra Venture--where they could be about as useful as they would be in orbit here.

Kerone turned him down.

It was a good thing Cassie's family hadn't come along on this particular leg of the vacation, Ashley decided.  She and Leo were trying to coordinate a plausible defense from the Megaship Mark II while Andros insisted on bringing the original to their aid and Kendrix yelled at him for abandoning their teammates.  Kai and Zhane were in charge of holding the ground... and Saryn would be getting really irritated right about now.

Trouble didn't so much follow them as it presented convoluted solutions wherever they went.  It was a gift, really.  And it wasn't like the Phantom Ranger had never made things weirder just by being there, so Ashley didn't know what he was complaining about.

"Times like these, I really miss air support!" Zhane was saying in her ear.

"Suck it up," she told him, before she remembered they were on an open comm.  Probably all of the GSA military division had heard that.  "Leo, is there any way to get them backup?"

"On it," Kai replied before Leo could answer.  "Your husband's complaining to the wrong person.  We have incoming galactabeasts; Zhane, disengage and fall back.  Kendrix--"

"Megaship Mark I is inbound," Leo reported, overriding the voices in her ear.  "Ashley, Andros, what kind of a crew do you need?"

"I have DECA," Andros' voice replied over the intership comm.  "We're fine, we can spare Damon to the ground forces.  But Ashley needs a pilot."

She nodded when Leo glanced at her, and he radioed Kai to let him know Damon was on his way.  If he was frustrated that he had to stay behind, flying perimeter defense instead of supporting his team on the ground, it didn't show.  Even with his Pink Ranger potentially the only one able to morph at all.

"We're fighting the decoy," Kai was telling Damon and Kendrix.  It was a split-second distraction that almost cost him even as he squawked, "No civilians!"

Zhane had to laugh as Cam landed a blow that kept Kai from being knocked to the ground and the GSA soldier still tried to send him away.  Then he wished he'd kept that breath when he had to roll away from a new attack instead of stand--but Cam was there to help him up, and Damon told Kai to stop complaining.

"I can fight," Cam said evenly.

"No argument here," Zhane replied, and Kendrix agreed.

"Decoy or not, you're not full strength and we don't have time to argue," she said, the words barely separate but perfectly clear.  "Any combat-ready civilian is in.  Get Leo to approve it if Stanton needs to hear it from him."

That must be inconvenient, Zhane thought, careful at Cam's back in case his style wasn't non-ninja friendly.  Having to get the Red Ranger to pass orders to non-Ranger authorities could only slow things down.

Kai did it, though, and their military commander accepted it.  There were soldiers with them the next time he turned around.  It didn't make up for the fact that three of the five Rangers on scene couldn't morph, but Cam and Kai were decent even without armor, and Kendrix was an absolute menace with a morpher.

Andros was right, Zhane decided, grinning behind his visor as they beat the stingwingers back.  He missed having a Pink Ranger too.

The good thing about having twice the force the enemy expected you to have in space was that it almost made up for having half the force the enemy expected you to have on the ground.  Between the two Megaships, they managed to destroy any possibility of reinforcements to the dome.  They also cut off any potential escape route for stingwingers already inside.

"They're starting suicide runs!"  Kai's voice sounded horrified.

"Keep them away from those buildings!" Kendrix shouted, and Andros flinched as they brought the ships around for a final sweep.  It wasn't like they could evacuate the city--where were people supposed to go during attacks?

"Megaship, we are overwhelmed."  Zhane was grim and serious in his ear.  "We need backup yesterday.  If you have an ETA, please advise."

"DECA," Andros said, shoving away from the pilot's console to stand up.  "You're in charge.  Ashley, ready?"  It was a declaration of intent, not an actual question.  "Leo, tell us where to go."

"Sending coordinates," Leo answered.  "Terra Venture, Ranger ETA is now."

Andros glanced over at DECA's hologram and nodded.  The Bridge disappeared in a shower of red sparkles, and Ashley and Leo were beside him when the light fell away to reveal the city.  Two more morphers could only help, and if the Galaxy Rangers did nothing else, just directing the galactabeasts might be able to save the skyline.

He wasn't counting on it, though.

Ali was like a lot of other Power Rangers' siblings in the sense that her big brother had made her take some self-defense classes that she'd largely forgotten.  It seemed so easy, so obvious to Rangers: you punched here, you kicked there, break a hold, knock someone down.  It wasn't even about practice; they learned it and they used it like breathing.  She was willing to bet no Ranger could remember not knowing.

She didn't use it.  She really didn't have time to practice.  And the odds of her ever needing it were, if higher than the average civilian, still astronomically low relative to an actual Ranger.

This was one of those moments where odds didn't matter.

Mike and Maya didn't have to yell at her to get back; she was well aware that staying behind them was her only real option.  Unfortunately, she could see as well as they could that they were steadily being surrounded, and soon there wouldn't be any "behind them."  She didn't dare get too close--they had swords, they needed the room.  But she wasn't backing up anymore, either.

Kerone was standing next to the stones she and Maya had been studying, idly blasting stingwingers that got too close without really looking.  Ali wasn't getting too close to her, either.  She was still a little too focused on something else to be paying much attention to her aim.

"Ali," Mike snapped, dragging her attention away from Kerone.  The first time he'd left off the "doctor," she thought, shifting toward Maya when he waved her to one side.

"No."  He waved again, sword coming down in a violent arc just before he spun backwards to put himself right at her side.  "Over here," he said, holding out his hand.  "Not kidding.  Maya!"

She was pretty sure that holding hands wasn't going to make his job any easier, but she wasn't the one with the morphers, either.  She took his hand and wasn't entirely surprised when he yanked her up against his side.  "Stay," he said without looking at her.

Then Maya was there, almost at his back, defending his blind side and Ali at the same time.  "Kerone wants us to fall back!" she called.  "To the stones!"

If she could hear Kerone over the buzz of stingwingers and the clash of swords and shells, Ali was all for it.  The second she let go of Mike's hand, though, he had an unbreakable grip on her arm.  It was jerky and rough as he lunged after another assailant, and she flinched back from resulting clang.  She didn't try to pull away again.

"Estavan!"  This time, Kerone's voice cut through the noise.  "Fall back!"

He was almost on top of her as he forced her back, still not turning, but they were closer than they had been and suddenly something blew up in front of them.  She barely saw more than the flash as Mike shoved her down.  The ground cut into her knees--

And it was quiet.  For one fleeting second, it was like all the sound had gone from the world.  Then it was back: breath and clothes unbearably loud, her heart pounding in her ears, blood rushing, sword whining against blades of grass.

Grass.

Mike.  He was staring down at her, eyes wide with something more than what she could see, and it was Estavan looking back at her.  Looking through her.  "You okay?" he asked, in a strangely Mike way.  His voice was normal, the right volume, quiet things quiet again and loud things--

Gone.  The buzz, the crackle, the crash of fighting was still missing as he rolled off of her and paused, obviously waiting for her answer.  "Yeah," she managed, taking his hand when he stood to pull herself up.  "What happened?"

"Kerone has given us a reprieve," Maya said, her sword lowered but still out.  She was staring around the little circle of green that now surrounded the stones--a circle edged by a violet dome that flared but didn't bend under the weight of a suddenly silent stingwinger assault.

"It isn't me," Kerone said.  There was grass under their feet.  A tiny white flower peeked out from under the near side of the stone.  A fallen leaf lay next to it, a little yellowed, but at least recently alive.

"I mean, it's me," she added, when they all looked at her.  "Obviously.  But it's not just me.  It's something in the stones.  There's some kind of protection embedded in them; all I did was add magic."

"Power," Maya said.  "You added power to a dormant ward.  We have to find a way to--"

The dome crackled, stingwinger drone coming through, and Mike heaved her back.  Hands under her arms, he forced her bodily away, and she stumbled when he let go.  Catching herself on stones that felt solid and welcoming.  She didn't try to stand again, just taking a seat against them in the possibly vain hope that he would stop pushing her around if she had her back to something.

"I don't know why it did that," Kerone was saying.  She, too, had a foot braced on the stones, frowning at the now-silent dome.  "And I have no idea how long it's going to last."

"Are you all right, Ali?" Maya asked.

"I'm fine," she promised.  "Disappointed that I don't get a sword, but otherwise fine."

"You want a sword," Mike said, "you can pull it from the stone like the rest of us."  He flashed her a grin that was alert but not anguished, like he was totally present and shoving her around had nothing to do with the ghosts of Estavan's past.

She wasn't sure whether that was reassuring or not.

"What should we do?" Maya asked Kerone.

"I was hoping you could tell me," Kerone admitted, still frowning at the stones.  "The magic that turned Mirinoi to stone is concentrated here, so if this place is still alive then obviously the rest of the planet can be brought back as well.  What I can't figure out is how we're supposed to make it happen."

Ali caught Mike's eye just as he mouthed obviously, and she had to smile.

"Ali."

The unfamiliar voice made her whirl, leaping up from her place on the stone and scanning the far side of their little circle.  The dome was surrounded now, stingwingers all around it, and she thought the grass was higher than it had been before.  But there was no one else in it with them.

"Are you all right?" Maya asked.

"Ali?" Kerone added at the same time.

"I--"  She looked at them, took in the whole of their tiny domed refuge, and frowned.  "I thought I heard something.  Sorry."

"Something like the dome thinning?" Mike asked.  "Like before?  Or something else?"

"Something like someone saying my name," she admitted.  "Someone who wasn't any of you.  A woman's voice."

"Ali," Maya said, in her careful way.  "Would you mind sitting on the stones again?"

"To call a ghost?" Ali asked, trying to ignore the way her skin prickled.  "Sure.  No problem."

She sat down again, looking over her shoulder the whole time.  So of course, it was when she turned back around that she saw it--her--someone she didn't know.  Standing next to Mike.  It made her jump, and she couldn't tell if Maya and Kerone saw it too or if they only looked at Mike because she did.

"They're never where you think they're going to be," Ali muttered, mostly to cover the creepy feeling of invisible people suddenly looking over her shoulder.

"Do you see something?" Kerone asked.

"Hello," the woman said.

The dome crackled again, and this time Mike didn't flinch.  Maya glanced at it, but Mike and Kerone remained fixed on her.  "Yeah," she said, watching the woman at Mike's shoulder.  The woman hadn't looked anywhere but at her.  "There's someone standing next to Mike."

Maya and Kerone both looked at him again, but Mike still didn't move.  "In a creepy way?" he wanted to know.  "Or a neutral way?"

"In an unusually patient way?" the woman suggested.

"Um, I'm not sure," Ali said.

"That's fair," the woman agreed.  "I don't know how much I'm weakening your protection by appearing like this, though, so maybe we could talk about it later?"

Kerone and Maya were doing something.  Ali didn't dare look away from the woman long enough to find out what, but Maya was circling around behind Mike.  There wasn't actually that much room between him and the stingwinger boundary--she had one hand out, just this side of the dome, and the other extended in the opposite direction.  Toward Mike.

"I know you're here to help Mirinoi," the woman continued.  "What I don't know is how far you're willing to go to do it."

"Dr. Ali," Mike said.  "Tell us what you see."

"Don't," the woman said.  "Don't describe me.  Tell him my name is... Serenity."

"A woman," Ali reported.  "Standing right in front of Maya.  You're practically touching her shoulder," she added, and Maya tilted her head, hand still outstretched.  "She says I shouldn't describe her.  I'm supposed to tell you her name is Serenity."

The woman gave her a flat look, and Ali shrugged minutely.

"Can you see her?" Kerone asked, and Maya shook her head.

"I can... sense something," she said slowly.  "But Mike always feels odd that way.  Like he projects his presence around him, like a sort of shadow.  I can't tell if this is just that or... something more."

"Tell us what she looks like," Mike said.

"She's a few inches taller than your shoulder," Ali reported.  "White skin, straight dark hair.  Woven blue shirt, uneven skirt past her knees, barefoot--"

"Is this really important?" the woman asked quietly.  "Surely the planet takes precedence."

"Maya," Kerone murmured from behind her.  "Come here, please."

"Dr. Ali," Mike said, like he could tell she was trying to listen to too many people at once.  "Is there a shape on her shirt?  Like a hexagon?"

Her eyes flicked to him, and she saw the woman put her hand over her collar.  "Yeah," she said.  "Blue Ranger?"

"Anima Defender."  His gaze didn't leave her as he added, "Hello, Shairra."

"I would have preferred he not know," the woman murmured.

"She says she didn't want you to know," Ali offered, but softly, because anything that involved Estavan's first wife was bigger than her.

"The sword in the stone story," Kerone whispered behind her.  "Did it say anything about Ranger ghosts?"

The grating sound of stingwingers was particularly harsh in the quiet as the dome dimmed again, and this time Mike took a step forward.  Away from the edge--and away from the woman he couldn't see.  "I can handle it, Shairra.  You always think I'm going to fall apart at the smallest thing."

Shairra smiled at that, and Ali let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding.

Maya was whispering with Kerone, words she could mostly make out but couldn't pay much attention to.  "But they were to return the swords," she was saying under her breath.  "It was the duty of each generation so threatened."

"He's found new strength," Shairra observed.  "I like this Mike of yours.  The fact remains that Mirinoi is keeping you alive so that you may return the favor.  Is this a responsibility you accept?"

"I want to say yes," Ali told her.  "That's why we're here; we all want Mirinoi back... back to the way it was.  But they already have responsibilities.  All of them.  Other people to defend.  You have to tell us more about what we're accepting."

"Is she trying to get you to make a deal?" Mike demanded.  "She doesn't speak for us, Shairra.  This isn't her responsibility."

"That's enough from you," Ali said indignantly.  "When you start seeing the ghosts, you can negotiate with them, okay?"

"He's already here," Shairra said.  "They all are.  You're the only one who's not."

"Don't agree to things you can't validate in advance," Mike told her.  "Don't assume she's who she says she is.  And don't let her guilt you into anything."

"What do you mean, I'm not here?" Ali asked, trying to ignore him.

"Tell her to stop."  Shairra's voice was suddenly sharp.

"Stop," Ali said quickly, turning only after the fact to see Maya with her sword poised over the stone.  "Um--Shairra wants you to stop."

"I don't," said a voice from directly behind her, and she jumped.

"Dr. Ali."  Mike was at her other side, a hand on her shoulder, and she stepped into him instinctively.  Away from the ghost woman who moved without warning and seriously, why couldn't anyone else see her?

"I'm sorry," Shairra said, even as Mike gripped both her shoulders reassuringly.  "I didn't mean to startle you.  She may, of course, return the saber as she chooses.  But if she does so, you and she will both be open to new power."

"She says you can put the sword back," Ali said, "but if you do, something will happen.

"Wait," she added, frowning, "is that what you mean about me not being here?  I'm not a Power Ranger, so I'm not here?"

"You have no presence on the plane from which our energy is drawn," Shairra said.  "But you will."

The dome faded again, and the noise was louder and more unnerving this time before it restored the silence around them.  She felt Mike's fingers clench on her shoulders.  "I will," she said aloud.  "And so will Maya, if she gives you back her sword."

"Will what?" Mike asked.

"We can join you, to make up the number," Shairra told her.  "This planet needs a full complement of defenders, be they ours or yours, in order to restore what was."

"What was, last year?" Ali asked suspiciously.  "Or what was, like, thousands of years ago?"

"Don't agree to anything," Mike repeated, and she batted at one of his arms in an effort to wave him quiet.  "I'm not kidding, Dr. Ali.  She's sneaky, that one."

"Tell him not to joke," Shairra said with a small smile.  "You already distrust me enough, I think."

"She says don't joke," Ali muttered, irritated with the intermediary thing already.  "She says I don't trust her, and apparently you're making it worse."

"It was a legend," she overheard Maya whisper.  "To trade one power for another.  But none had been chosen in my lifetime, before us, and certainly those days of greater power were long gone.  If they ever existed."

"That's the hardest thing, isn't it," Shairra said, glancing at Maya briefly.  "Not to be forgotten... but to be from a world that no longer exists."

"The Shairra I knew was very trustworthy," Mike was saying.  "Happy?"

Ali put her hands over her ears, just for a second.  It didn't help, and she hadn't thought it would.  "Okay, I realize that some of you can't hear each other, but I can't follow all of you at once!"

Mike's hands covered hers just as she was about to lower them, and they stayed there as she let them fall.  Standing behind her... holding both her hands.  "Sorry," he whispered, like talking more quietly made it better.

She could have giggled.  "Whispering doesn't help," she whispered back.

"If you take this power," Shairra said, "we will join you long enough to restore the planet to itself.  To its present self--not a year ago, not moons ago, but as it would be today.  The seasons will advance.  They must.  Life will have continued in your absence, and you must be prepared."

"She says she can put it back," Ali said, talking over her as briefly as possible.  "The way it would be now if the stone thing had never happened."

"But only if you join Estavan in defense of this place," Shairra said.  "We can not anchor such a power with only one.  Maya, too, would make it easier.  But you must both choose for yourselves."

"We'll defend it," Ali told her.  "We have to."

"The Defenders aren't like your Rangers," Shairra told her.  "They will always be drawn back.  The power they wield may never be given up.  Only passed on."

That sounded kind of familiar, actually.  "I'm in," Ali said, glancing over at Maya and Kerone.  "Maya, she wants you to be a defender too.  She says we need a whole team to make the planet better again.  She says they'll help--other ghosts, I'm guessing?  But, I don't know, they need some living people too.  Or something."

"No," Mike said.  "No, this is forever.  Power like that takes you over."

"And you'd know," Ali interjected.  She'd heard this lecture from her brother a hundred times.

"Yeah, I would!" he exclaimed.  "You're the one who treated me for it!"

"I would be honored," Maya said calmly.  She slid her sword back into the stone with an ease that had to be magic.  It rang a little in the quiet, but it didn't scrape or squeal.

She lifted her head as the sword slid home, and her gaze tracked to Shairra immediately.  "Ancestor," Maya breathed, dropping to her knees.  She didn't bow her head, and Ali wondered distantly if that wasn't a Mirinoan thing.

"Rise, Maya," Shairra said with a smile.  "I am no better than you for having lived first.  Thank you for what you do for our people."

"I do what I do for all people," Maya said.

Then there was a man in front of her and Ali took an involuntary step back, bumping into Mike and squeezing his hands to steady herself.  "There's someone else," she murmured, and she caught Shairra's smile.  "A man in yellow."

"The Eos Defender," Mike said under his breath.  "He'll pass his power to Maya."

"Okay, wait."  She curled her fingers in his, trying not to think about why this was so strange.  She couldn't look away from the man offering his hands to Maya.  "They've been waiting all this time for someone to give their power to?"

"I told you," he said quietly.  "You can't give it up."

"Then you can't give it up," she said.

"Yeah."  Mike sounded amused.  "I think we've been through that part."

"But you did."  Ali watched morphers glow into being around Maya's wrists.  "Why didn't you give it to Mike?  Why are you both still here?"

As the light faded from Maya's wrists, so too did the man standing in front of her.  Ali didn't know whether to be relieved or disappointed that he was gone.  She couldn't even see Shairra's expression anymore.

"I don't know," Mike's voice whispered in her ear.

The crackling of the dome was as loud as it had been, and she thought the surface of it bowed this time.  "Stand with us," Shairra told Maya.  Kerone couldn't have heard, but she moved as though called to Maya's side.

"You don't have to do this," Mike said, but the woman who appeared in front of Ali didn't force her to do anything.  She just held out her sword.

"So much for having to pull it out of the stone," Ali murmured, but she couldn't even hear the words herself as the dome fell in and the power flared out.  In the ensuing rush the sword vanished, her wrists tingled with heat, and both her hands were being held again as the rest of the team pressed in from either direction.

It was all she knew.  Or at least, it was all she knew about herself.  She could see the entire planet, spinning beneath a wave of green and blue that sparkled over everything it touched.  She was flying, riding, whirling in the wake of life: life everywhere.  Time, so fast, racing to catch up with its place in the sun.  Things grew and blossomed and bred and died and it was still only late spring.

She wasn't aware of anything else until Kerone's voice floated over the ocean to her.  From far away, talking to someone too close.  Ships, incoming ships, the planet wasn't alone...

She wasn't alone.  She had people around her.  The white and the blue were gone, but Mike and Maya were vibrant red and yellow and everything about the world around them was green.  She was green.

Not life, she thought.  Peace.

"How many refugees?" Kerone was asking.

"As many as we can carry," Andros' voice replied.  "The city dome is leaking atmosphere.  They're evacuating people to the habitat domes, but those environments aren't designed to sustain that kind of load.  We're going to have to drop everyone and go back with as short a turnaround time as possible."

"You'll need a landing site," Kerone said.  "Shelter, resources, distribution--are the AIs still online?  Will they be able to track people on the surface?  The colonists don't have independent comms."

Estavan's voice was much closer, quiet in her ear.  "Not the smartest thing you've ever done, Dr. Ali."

"You're welcome," she mumbled, reaching up to rub her eyes.  Mostly to make sure they were open.  "By the way, quit insulting me.  I don't see you being all respectful and considerate of other people's feelings lately."

"It's hard to remember which ones I care about sometimes," he replied.  She thought Estavan was joking, but when delivered in Mike's serious tone it took on a whole new meaning.

"Try," Ali told him.

"Maya," Kerone said gently.  "The Megaships are coming in with people on board.  Can you tell them anything about land, population movement, anything that would help them pick a place for a temporary camp?"

"Yes."  Maya was just as close, but she sounded surprised when she amended, "No.  I mean... Kendrix is the one you should ask."

"But we're the ones who can answer," Mike said.  "Any of us could do it."

"Um, no," Ali interrupted.  "I couldn't.  That was all just a big blur to me.  Maybe it integrated better for you because you're more used to it; I don't know."

"The planet feels alive again," Kerone said.  "Is it?  Completely?"

"Yes," Maya repeated.  "Completely."

"But not again," Mike said.  "Still.  It's like it was never stone.  We had to let the months go by; the planet's not in the same place in its orbit.  The seasons would have been a write-off without the lost time."

"Jewel," Maya said softly.

"You'll make it work," Kerone said.  Putting a hand on Maya's shoulder, she added, "Can you help Kendrix from the Megaship?  Andros and Zhane are with her, but the rest of your team stayed behind and they have a lot of scared people on their hands right now."

"Of course."  Maya glanced across them and away, surveying their surroundings.  Green to the point of being overgrown... without so much as a piece of stingwinger shell in sight.  "You're not joining us?"

"We'll scout locations from the ground," Kerone told her.  "Any recommendations?"

"No," Kai said.  "Absolutely not, I'm sorry; we can't let anyone go back."

"But you don't understand!"  The woman was almost in tears, and Ashley turned around.  "My dog is still in the city and I live alone and there won't be anyone to rescue her!  I can't just leave her!"

"I'll go," Ashley said quickly.  "Kai, we can set something up.  Everyone I'm traveling with knows how to use breathers; do you have masks, emergency oxygen, that kind of thing?"

"Andrea, Kai," he snapped into his morpher.  "We need oxygen masks at all dome connectors; what's taking so long?"

"Kai, Medlab," replied a voice that definitely wasn't Andrea unless "Andrea" was male.  "They're on their way.  Everyone except the ocean dome should already have them."

And they were at the ocean dome connector.

Kai didn't bother to acknowledge, radioing Leo at the mountain dome.  "Leo, we're going to have to send people back for any animals that aren't in the lower levels."

"I thought civilians weren't supposed to have pets," Leo replied.

"Well, some of them do."  Kai was totally ignoring the woman who refused to go through the connector until her dog was found.  "Ashley says her people can do it; it'll be faster than the GSA's door-to-door sweep.  Declare amnesty for anyone who brought a pet and send their locations to Ashley."

"We'll need AI direction in the city," Ashley said quietly.  It wasn't the first time she'd wished for DECA, but teleporting on a large scale wasn't practical--even Kerone couldn't do it in a place so unfamiliar with so little margin for error.  The Megaships had already been loaded and sent away, return time unknown.

"I can show you," the woman with the dog said.  "Please, I'm a city coordinator.  I know every street."

"Masks," Kai said, pointing over her shoulder.

"Joy," Ashley called.  "Cam!  New mission!"  She waved the soldier with the masks over.  "Everyone you see who isn't actively moving through the connector gets one," she told him.  "I need four.  Don't let anyone go through the connector still wearing one.  If you run out, make Kai decide."

"Yes ma'am," the soldier said, handing over her four masks.

It occurred to Ashley only belatedly that the man probably had no idea who she was, but acting authoritative got her a long way.  She didn't have time to worry about it, because Joy was there, and calling Cam had automatically gotten her Sage too.  "Sage, can you wear an oxygen mask?"

Sage was already reaching for one.  "They expect people to put them on while their plane is crashing," she said.  "It can't be that hard."

"I'll need another one," Ashley told the soldier.

"We're not going to be able to evacuate the dolphins," Andros said.

"No," Kendrix agreed, frowning at the display beside him.  "The ocean dome was designed for controlled submersion; they weren't supposed to have to leave until we got there."

"Aquitar might be able to help," Zhane said over the intership comm.

"The ocean dome is stable," Damon's voice put in from the Megaship Mark II.  "It can sustain the dolphin population for years as long as we get the extra colonists out of there."

"But Terra Venture's closest approach to Mirinoi is in a couple of months," Kendrix said.  "If we can't slow the ship down by then, evacuation will be the only choice."

"Yeah, I'm just saying, we have time," Damon told her.

"Realistic options for slowing the colony down," Andros said.  He and Damon had already been over the most plausible scenarios.  "Tow a fuel tank, rotate engine shutdown, and refuel current engines in flight.  Tow a new engine.  Rig a structure capable of supporting Megaship thrust and slow the colony down with foreign engines."

"Yeah, great," Zhane interrupted.  "I'm just guessing, but if I were a dolphin I don't think I'd be too thrilled to be told everyone else gets evacuated and I get to wait and see."

"Everyone else is being asked to abandon their homes," Damon pointed out.  "The dolphins aren't."

"Yet," Kendrix said with a sigh.

"Andros," DECA's voice interrupted.  "Kerone is calling from Mirinoi."

"Thanks, DECA," he said, trusting her to make the connection for him.  "Hey, Kerone.  How are the others doing?"

"They seem okay," his sister's voice replied.  "Everyone's moving and talking again, at least.  Maya confirms that the planet is habitable.  She's ready to come help Kendrix find a landing site."

"Understood," Andros answered, glancing at Kendrix.  She looked up just in time to nod.  "We're entering the system now."

"We can dispatch a rescue mission," Aquitar's new White Ranger told him.  "If possible, we'll send someone with whom you are familiar.  I will contact you with an updated ETA as soon as we have one."

"Thank you," Zhane said.  "We appreciate your assistance."

The White Ranger only bowed her head, hands folded in the traditional gesture of peace, and the transmission ended.  Maybe it was something about the color, he thought.  Efficient, yes.  But not very chatty.

The Bridge was empty and quiet, with the Mark Two on the surface of Mirinoi and the main screen displaying a port view of the exterior.  It was, unfortunately, chaos outside, and he should probably be out there helping.  But the first thing Andros asked would be, "Any word from Terra Venture?" so he took a moment to ensure that there would be.

"DECA," Zhane said, "can you get me Ashley?"

"Certainly."  There was a pause, maybe longer than usual but only because he was listening for it, and then Ashley's voice answered.

"Hi," Zhane said.  "We're on the surface; the Mark Two's empty and the Mark One is almost there.  What's the word on getting more people out of the lower levels?"

"I don't know," she admitted.  "We diverted a certain number of non-essential personnel below the city dome, but a lot of the people who are down there now are people we're going to need if we have any chance of keeping Terra Venture alive."

And the people they didn't need were the people who had been evacuated to habitat domes.  The city dome was the only one with hangar access.  "What's the status of the city dome?" Zhane wanted to know.  "Is it completely depressurized?"

"No," Ashley answered.  "I'm still in it, actually, and the tower is still being staffed.  We could possibly bring people back through the connectors and put them on the subway as long as the air holds out, but the habitat domes are already pushing for a total seal: they supply most of the colony's oxygen as it is, and the exchange rates are dropping fast.  They don't want to keeping losing air through the connectors too."

"Don't the habitat domes have airlocks?" Zhane asked.  "Something?  How were they supplied before the connectors were attached?"

"I don't know," Ashley admitted.  "Ask Damon.  I'll see if I can get Leo to call you back."

"Stay safe," Zhane told her.  "Everyone okay there?"

"Oh yeah," Ashley said, and her grin was audible.  "Don't tell anyone, but Aoife's got the kids in a shooting gallery belowdecks.  I hear it's pretty funny."

"Good experience," Zhane agreed, smiling at the audio link.  "I'll let Andros know, find Damon, and catch up with you or Leo whenever you have something.  The Mark Two's ready to come back as soon as you give the word."

"Will do," Ashley told him.  "Thanks, Zhane."

"Sure thing."

The link ended, and Zhane took another look at the proto-camp being set up not so far away.  The original Megaship was taking longer to unload because it had been prepped as a lifeboat in advance: it was loaded down with gear and supplies in addition to colony refugees.  Even as Zhane watched, large domed tents were going up and water lines were being laid down.

He glanced down at the tactical board, which DECA had helpfully overlaid with a local map of colonist tracking signals and familiar ID tags.  Andros stood out, but he wasn't the only name DECA had colored red: Mike was also red, and Kendrix' pink was down by the river.  Maya was with her, and Damon was one of two greens showing in the camp.

The other green name was Ali, and Zhane wondered if TJ would make the trip to congratulate her or just to laugh at the way things worked out.

11. Where the Heart Is

The encampment from Earth blazed bright as day beneath a dark Mirinoan sky.  The lights were shielded above but the intensity of the glare beneath them extended miles in every direction.  If there was one thing the colonists had been prepared for, it was climate control: even bringing simulated sun to the night.

Kerone found her brother some distance from the activity, on a hill behind the Mark Two.  He was watching the camp spread, she thought, maybe with memories on his mind.  Maybe just fatigue.  Andros would hide it either way.

"Hey," she called, the little purple sphere just over her shoulder fading as she approached.  If he was carrying a lantern, he'd turned it off, and she respected his desire for darkness.  "Ashley called.  She and Aoife are putting the kids to bed."

"Yeah," he said, not moving.  "DECA said."

"Hope'll be tired tomorrow," Kerone murmured, stepping up beside him.  "She'll whine."

"What else is new?"  He still didn't look at her, but she could hear the smile in his voice.  "At least we got one quiet one."

Kae being quiet was rarely a good thing.  He did provide a good foil for Hope, though.  She'd been worried about how he would do with another child around all the time, but he had accepted Hope first as a novelty, and later as something to be protected without question.  Kerone wasn't sure he'd really understood she was a little person until she started to talk, but they kept each other out of as much trouble as they got each other into, and that was all she asked.

"Zhane wants to go back," she said softly.  "He thinks the colonists are okay here for the night, and he thinks at least one of the ships should be with Terra Venture."  Actually, Zhane just wanted to be where the kids were, but she couldn't blame him for that.

"He's probably right," Andros said after a moment.  "You think we should all go?  Between Kendrix and Maya, they have everyone they need here."

"Andros," she said, affectionately bumping his shoulder with her own.  "Did you just admit that another team could handle something?  All by themselves?"

"I'm sure they're fine."  The smile was still there.  "Is Zhane already on board?"

She didn't bother to answer.  "I'll tell him we're on our way," she said, pulling out her morpher.  "Want me to let Kendrix know, too?"

"I'll do it," Andros said.  "They'll want to know why we're lifting off, at least."

The flaw in their plan wasn't obvious until they were back on Terra Venture, and Kerone realized that the VIP quarters Ashley and Aoife had secured weren't designed to accommodate unconventional sleeping arrangements.  They'd brought the Mark Two back with them, of course, but no one wanted to be the one to rouse the kids just to make them sleep somewhere more familiar.  Aoife explicitly threatened to quit if they raised their voices above a whisper within ten feet of the kids' door.

"Okay," Ashley whispered in the main room.  "Who's sleeping?  Kerone?  Are you tired?"

"Exhausted," she whispered back.  "What about you, Zhane?  Are you sleeping with us?"

"Yeah, I don't think anyone could keep me awake right now."  He cast an eye over the room.  "You want to just pull the mattresses off the bunks in the other room?  Or should we leave one for Aoife and use sofa cushions instead?"

"I can sleep on the couch," Aoife murmured.  "You guys take the mattresses."

"Aoife was here with the kids all day," Ashley said firmly.  "She gets a mattress."

"Oh, for goodness' sake."  Kerone rolled her eyes, waved her hand, and three mattresses appeared neatly stacked on the floor beside them.  "Is that enough?  If they're double bunks, that's one for everyone.

"Someone else move them, please," she added, sitting down abruptly.  "I think my magic is pretty much done for the day."

Things got kind of fuzzy after that, although she was aware of Zhane pressing a drink into her hands and Ashley petting her hair intermittently.  She felt fine, and she told them so, but she was a little far away and the magic made her kind of dreamy.  Or the lack of magic, maybe.  It was distracting.

Finally, though, she was pulled into bed, and the room was darker than their hotel room on Earth and a little warmer.  It felt quieter--no noise through the walls--but there were more of them, closer together, and she knew why Zhane had trouble sleeping with all of them around him.  Everything rustled and shifted and she was so...

Not alone.  She felt Ashley curl up against her back, hair soft against her shoulder.  For a few minutes the children were safe, her family was accounted for, and there was nowhere she needed to be but this moment.

She had forgotten what it was like to wake up in space.

"Psst."  It was definitely Zhane's voice trying to get her attention, and she squinted into darkness that was utterly unhelpful.  She remembered just before she would have lit up the whole room.  "Astrea.  Awake?"

"Now I am," she mumbled, tempted to light something up in his face just for the fun of it.  "Problem?  Kids?  Breakfast?"

"All of the above," he whispered.  "Nothing serious.  Go back to sleep if you're tired."

"Not tired," she said.  She tried to channel a tiny glow through her hand, and it worked with barely any concentration at all.  "My magic's back."

"Yeah, good."  He sounded amused.  "You can make yourself glow.  Bet that takes a lot of power."

"You're welcome," she whispered back.  "I hope your mattress was more comfortable than the floor."  She held her hand just high enough to see that Ashley was still sprawled next to her, apparently as asleep as Andros looked on her other side.

"Thanks," Zhane murmured.  "It was.  Want to meet us out in the hall?  I hear that's where all the fun is."

"I'm ready now."  She pushed the sheet off of her shoulder and eased forward, sliding off the mattress and onto the floor.  She could see Zhane's hand, extended toward the light, and she put her glowing hand in his.

Clothes sparkled around her as he pulled her to his feet, and she saw his smile in the reflected light.  "I love that," he whispered.  "And not just because it's fast."

She smiled back at him, keeping her hand in his as they made their way toward the door.  The light from the hall was bright and a little disconcerting: it was always daytime belowdecks on Terra Venture.  It was also--today, at least--loud.

"What time is it?" Kerone asked as the door slid shut behind them.

She was mostly drowned out by Hope's screech, Kae's immediate protest that he hadn't done anything, and Aoife's resigned and mostly futile efforts to shush them both.  So she answered her own question.  "Breakfast time.  Megaship?"

"Probably best," Zhane agreed.  "Whether Terra Venture thinks we're helping or not, I'm betting hoarding is the prevailing instinct right now."

"What's hoarding?" Hope demanded.

"I already got the kids something to eat," Aoife said, almost apologetically.  "From the guest kitchens.  There wasn't anyone else there.  I hope that's all right."

"I'm still hungry," Kae said, before she'd even finished talking.

"That's fine," Kerone assured Aoife.  "Do you think it's even worth it to go all the way to the hangar deck, or should we just go back to the kitchen?  I still don't know what time it is."

"Hoarding is when you keep lots of stuff you don't need because you think you might want it later," Zhane said.

"It's nine-thirty, California time," Aoife offered.  "Which works on Terra Venture, but I think it's four or five hours ahead of colony time at the landing site on Mirinoi."

"Like with Dad's guns?" Hope was asking Zhane, and the question kept Kerone from thinking too much about the time difference because Zhane looked at a loss for how to answer.

"Uh..."  He caught her eye, and she'd thought she would be able to keep from laughing but his expression was a whole new challenge.  "Help?"

"Hoarding is only bad if it gets in the way of other things you should have or do," she said, as seriously as she could.  "Or if you're collecting things you don't need when other people do need them.  Like on Terra Venture, if people start hoarding food the colony might run out, because some people might take more than they need and leave other people with none."

"But they should share their food," Hope said in the way of every child who had been taught a lesson they'd never had to question.

"Yes, they should," Kerone agreed.  "But we can get food more easily than they can, so there's no reason for us to take any of theirs."

"Also, DECA has an interesting message for us," Zhane put in.  "Recorded AV.  All the more reason to go back to the Megaship."

That explained why they were drifting down the hall in the general direction of mass transit.  "Who's it from?" Kerone asked.

"Oh, it's a surprise," Zhane said with a grin.  "And I'm pretty sure it's funnier if you see the whole message.  I just got it relayed to me."

Hope's hand tugged on her wrist, sliding into her fingers a moment later.  "If we have more food than they do," she said, "shouldn't we share our food with them?"

"If they need food, then yes," Kerone told her.  "Definitely.  But they're a colony, so they're set up to grow their own food.  It will help them more in the long run if we make sure they can keeping doing that."

"So they don't have to keep getting their food from someone else," Kae said.

"But no one would mind," Hope argued.  "I bet they'd rather play than grow their own food.  And if we gave it to them, they could play all they wanted."

She wasn't sure she wanted to have the conversation about interdependence and trade and how one person could either play some of the time and work some of the time, or one person could play all the time and another person could work all the time and which was more fair?  But Zhane circumvented the whole lecture with one question.

"Why don't you let your mom pick out your clothes for you anymore?" he asked.  "It would save you lots of time."

"I can pick my own clothes," Hope exclaimed.  "I'm not a baby!"

Then she frowned, and Kerone had a strange moment of wonder: had Hope just figured it out?  Had this three-year-old child, so much more advanced than Kae had been in almost every way, just understood an abstract analogy for personal responsibility?  And if Kae, at ten, could plan campaigns that defeated AI opponents in war games, what would Hope do?

Then Hope added, "Besides, she never picks the right ones," and Kerone couldn't help but laugh.

"No," Zhane agreed, looking more sympathetic than amused.  "Other people never do it the same way you would.  That's why you should always ask their advice.  But at the end of the day, you're the only one who knows exactly what you need, and sometimes it's easier just to do it yourself.  Besides, it makes you feel good."

Just to reinforce the idea that she was not involved in this conversation, Kerone asked Aoife, "Do you know what the message is?"

"Only that it must not be important enough to wake everyone up for," she answered.

"Hey, someone on this team should be operating on a normal amount of sleep," Zhane said cheerfully.  "Might as well be the guy in charge."

Kerone found herself meeting Aoife's gaze again just as the other woman admitted, "There's a certain logic to that."

"Yes," Kerone agreed, narrowing her eyes in amusement.  "Which makes me wonder what the real reason is."

When she actually saw the message, she decided that Zhane's main motive was to drag the entertainment out as long as possible.  The Aquitians were sending their seaship, and the White Ranger had kept her promise to send someone they knew.  The ship wouldn't rendezvous with Terra Venture for another three hours at least... largely because it was waiting for Aquitar's unofficial Earth liaison to embark.

Carlos was going to kill them, she thought.  Although the more she heard about TJ's wedding, the more she thought maybe Carlos' teammate would do it for him.  Or maybe even his wife: apparently pregnancy made Aura's temper shorter than usual.

The rest of the colony, at least, was glad to hear that he was on his way.  The cetaceans were calm colonists, on the whole, but Zhane commented on the pervasive relief and once he'd pointed it out she couldn't help noticing it.  They were in it together, humans and dolphins alike, and they had been all along.

Leo was glad to spread the news for them.  Kai let him do it, apparently too busy trying to balance the essential personnel duty rotation with the needs of the colony and the possibility of a crew from Earth being flown out to install a new booster rocket.  Terra Venture personnel had never been intended to cover both the ship and the landing site simultaneously.

Kerone was careful not to ask any questions about the practicality of abandoning ship.

By the time she and Zhane had decided that it wasn't really helpful to bring two children into the middle of such a specialized survival effort--Aoife had offered to shut herself in the Simudeck with them for the morning, but that seemed unnecessarily self-sacrificing--Andros and Ashley had woken up and commandeered Megaship communications.  Or at least, taken control of them back from Kai, who had shut down civilian transmissions during the evacuation effort but was using the hyperboost to stay in touch with NASADA and the GSA whenever a ship was available.  Kerone wondered when and how much Earth had known about the colony's situation.

"More than they needed to and not as much as they want to," Andros predicted, closing the door to their impromptu conference room behind him.  Kai and Leo had come down to meet them in one of the lounges outside Hangar 5 when it became obvious that official channels were breaking down.

"We had civilian calls and e-mails going back and forth right up until the first Megaship left Terra Venture for Mirinoi and took the hyperboost with it," Kai said.  "I shut down the automatic comm connection as soon as the alert about it going offline reminded me it was on in the first place, but..."

"It wasn't exactly a controlled flow of information," Leo said.  "The GSA doesn't censor calls.  But we don't want anyone to panic, and with the ships coming and going we couldn't keep up a reliable public link anyway."

"I've been using the Mark One link whenever we have it to keep Earth informed," Kai added.  "And DECA let me use the Mark Two's hyperboost while you were asleep to maintain contact.  If that's a problem, we can recall the first Megaship."

"Not a problem," Zhane assured them.

"Until we have to go back to Earth," Ashley added.  "But you'll want your own ship here then anyway, just in case.  How's structural integrity holding up below the dome?"

"The city dome's lost all pressure," Kai said.  "The tower shut down overnight, and Command and SMART operations relocated to auxiliary control."

"They're not happy about it," Leo put in.  "They're at separate locations now, and none of the officers knows what to do without the scientists' coffee to keep them going."

"We can make our own coffee," Kai informed him.

"It's just easier to steal theirs," Leo finished.

Kai made a face that seemed to indicate this was true, and Kerone smiled.

"What about the habitat domes?" Andros asked.

"We're not in danger of losing anything else," Leo told him.  "Everyone who's in the habitat domes now is essential environmental personnel, and they're set up to camp as long as it takes."

"No one else is ready to evacuate until we have a plan for Terra Venture," Kai said.

"Except the dolphin population," Leo remarked, more subtly than Kerone had expected.  Kai winced anyway.

"Right," he agreed.  "You said there's a transport on the way?"

This was clearly directed at her, and she nodded.  "The Aquitians are sending a ship," she said.  "One of Andros' teammates is coming with it."

"Hey, Carlos was everyone's teammate!" Ashley protested with a laugh.

"You forgot to mention he's bringing his kid," Zhane added.

Kai glanced at them, then back at her quickly, and they shared a look.  Friends, his expression seemed to say.  Why are they always talking.

"He should be here soon," she told him.  "I heard Maya's working with someone from aquaculture to choose a splashdown point?"

"She's a little busy right now," Leo interrupted.  "She and  Mike are everywhere.  I'm not sure anyone on Mirinoi has slept since they got there.  Not that they're listening to me about it."

"Like you listen to them," Kai muttered.  "She's on it," he added in Kerone's general direction.  "Kendrix is keeping an eye on her."

"Oh, yeah," Leo scoffed.  "That's the pot watching the kettle."

"How's Jewel?" Kerone asked.

Kai and Leo exchanged glances.  "They're trying to find her parents," Leo said, after some subtle gesture of helplessness from Kai.  "The Mirinoans have pretty reliable word-of-mouth communication, but it's not as fast as just asking the AIs."

"Hey, yeah," Zhane said, frowning.  "Is there any way to get one of the Terra Venture AIs a ride to Mirinoi?  DECA's tracking everyone's transponders, but that's not a long-term solution."

Kai looked pensive, but Leo shook his head.  "No," he said.  "Not if we have any chance of keeping Terra Venture alive.  We need the AIs to run the engines."

"I thought the engines were dead," Ashley said, glancing around at the rest of them.

"They're offline," Leo said.  "Engine five melted down, but we could re-light the other four if we had to.  We just don't have enough fuel left for it to do us any good."

"We're going too fast to stop with the engines we have now."  Kai sounded impatient.  "Even a working fifth engine full of fuel couldn't do it.  I don't understand why we're still talking about it; the whole idea is a waste of time."

"We're talking about it because people want to hear us talk about it," Leo said.  He didn't sound irritated at all.  "It's a logical idea.  We have to consider it, or no one--"

"It's not logical!" Kai exclaimed.  "It's the opposite of logical; Earth doesn't have spare colony boosters lying around and NASADA can't get the kind of rocket fuel we'd have to burn to decelerate!"

"It's not logical to people who know about rockets," Leo corrected.  "That doesn't include an awfully big segment of the population.  The rest of us hear we have a broken engine, and what's the first thing we think: 'Gee, why doesn't someone fix it?'"

Kai threw up his hands, but the gesture was as resigned as it was exasperated.  "Because the engines weren't designed to do this!"

"And the people who know rockets already know that," Leo reminded him.  "We'll tell everyone else when we have a better suggestion, okay?"

Kai waved one hand in a gesture that might have been surrender, and the corner of Leo's mouth quirked in a smile.  "We need the AIs to run the engines," he told Ashley.  "If we come up with any logical plan for slowing the colony down, it'll probably involve at least some maneuvering, right?  The engines are the best thing we've got."

"One AI per engine," Kerone murmured.  "And they're probably built into colony function, right?  They weren't meant to be evacuated except as a last resort."

"No one was supposed to be evacuated except as a last resort," Kai said, but he was calmer now, less frustrated, and she thought absently that Leo had been good for him.

"The Megaship's mainframe isn't designed to accommodate multiple AIs," Andros remarked.  "You could get everyone out on it, but it'll only support one active neural net at a time."

"So when the AIs go, the Terra Venture mainframe goes with them," Ashley said.  This time she looked to Kerone for confirmation.

"Some part of the physical support structure, at least," Kerone agreed.  "I assume that once that happens, there's no going back?"

Leo looked at Kai, who just shook his head.

"Last on, last off," Zhane said.  "That's standard shipyard policy in most systems."

"Okay, so the AIs stay on Terra Venture and the dolphins go," Ashley said.  "DECA's boosting your comm here and keeping track of everyone on Mirinoi.  What about Earth?  Barring mortal peril, we have to be back there in three days.  The media's going to jump on us.  What do you want us to tell them?"

It was, at the very least, easier to have that conversation without the confusion of the comms getting in the way.  It was unquestionably more straightforward to have it where no one else could overhear.  And Kerone was very glad Ashley was there to memorize it for them, and to ask all the questions she and the other Kerovans wouldn't think to wonder about.

Unfortunately, Carlos didn't show up until it was over.  She knew, and Ashley probably knew better, that he wasn't going to abide by anything they decided about press coverage anyway.  But it might have helped him to hear them argue about it, so that at least he knew what went into making the decision.

"You're not going to tell them?" he asked when he arrived.  "About Terra Venture?"  He had both Coral and Silvy in tow, and although the seaship couldn't actually dock with the colony it had a teleport capability that made their own look limited and rudimentary.

"They already know," Ashley said with a laugh.  As only Ashley could do, making it sound like a ridiculous question without in any way implying he shouldn't have asked.  "The GSA's doing official press briefings!  All we'll do by answering questions is give them an excuse to follow us everywhere."

Interestingly, this seemed to work on Carlos.  He shrugged, anyway, and that usually meant that he was going to go along with whatever they said until he changed his mind.  When he changed his mind, they'd hear about it.

In the meantime, Kerone heard from Aoife, who said that she'd promised the kids she would ask when they would be allowed to go to Mirinoi.  That meant she also heard from Ashley, who didn't want to let them out of arms' reach but said that Mirinoi would be an educational experience, and from Andros, who wanted to let them go wherever they wanted to but said that evacuating their kids would send a bad message to the colonists still on Terra Venture.

Zhane didn't want them to go anywhere without an armed guard but said that he thought she counted, so ultimately, she and Aoife packed the kids onto the seaship and hitched a ride to Mirinoi with the dolphins.

The animal rescue was more than a little chaotic.  On the other hand, that described almost everything Cam had ever done as a Ranger, and going into space only seemed to amplify the effect.  It was almost as though anything became possible without the solid familiarity of Earth to ground them.

The idea that this tiny group of colonists might survive on an alien world was one of those things.  They had air and they had water, and anything after that was remarkably limited.  Food and shelter were the next priorities, but distribution and assembly seemed disturbingly disorganized.  Cam didn't have a lot of confidence in their long term contingency plans.

Of course, only twenty-four hours before, he'd felt the same way about their ability to evacuate a large number of illegal pets from beneath a cracking atmospheric dome.  In the wake of that success, he was willing to postpone judgment.

He was still glad it wasn't him.

"No internet," he remarked to Sage at one point.  "How can you have the adventure of a lifetime without high-speed wireless internet?"

"It's a sobering thought," she agreed, apparently pensive.  "I guess that's where the new world and the surviving come in."

"If you can't blog about it," Cam said, "what's the point?"

Sage frowned.  "The brownies?" she guessed at last.

He felt himself smile without meaning to.  "No doubt already being served somewhere," he murmured.  "We should try to get connected."

She laughed.  "I'll hold you to that, you know," she teased.  She wouldn't, and they both knew it.  But sometimes he thought he might agree anyway, just to surprise her.  Or someone.

"I'd hold Zhane to his promise of a ride home," Cam said, because it seemed safer to change the subject.  "Except that he seems to be sort of busy right now."

"You can't tell me you want to leave!" she exclaimed.  "We're on another planet!  Who gets a chance like this?  Besides, who'll take care of Fluffy and Zig if we're not here to keep them apart?"

Not all of the animals had gotten along, and finding ways to transport them in isolation hadn't been a priority.  "I'm sure their owners will come and pick them up soon," he said.  "I'm also pretty sure you're going to lose your grant if you're not there for those kids by the end of the week."

She waved her hand dismissively.  "I have two more days," she said.  "You figure by then either someone will remember we're here or something will happen that's so drastic it won't matter one way or the other.  So really, it's all good."

"Interesting definition of 'good,'" Cam said dryly.

She grinned at him.  "You know it.  You're not going to lose your housing if you don't show up to teach, are you?"

"Depends whether or not I can get in touch with anyone beforehand."  He thought he could probably fake some kind of personal emergency after the fact, but it would go better if he gave them advance notice.

"They have spaceships," Sage reminded him.  "How hard can it be to call home?"

"Hey, Joy!" she yelled before he could answer.  Then, under her breath, she confided, "Always start with the aliens."

It turned out that Joy did have a communicator that could reach Earth, but it would only talk to compatible comm systems.  Which ruled out almost all native Earth technology.  What Joy could do, though, was interrupt Kerone, and the Kerovan Ranger had more sympathy than Cam would have expected.  So she passed the word to Carlos, who for some unknown reason had an actual interstellar cell phone, and Cam didn't bother asking about the calling plan.

It wasn't often that he found himself in awe of someone else's technology.  Of course, it was only rarely that he was reminded of how very narrow his technological exposure was in the grand scheme of things.  It made him a little envious.

"Weird things happen when you start hanging out with aliens," Carlos told him when he mentioned it.  "Trust me, you forget normal pretty fast."

He remembered that about being a Ranger.  He had always felt like an imposter, though.  Maybe a holdover from the ninjas, whom he had resented for their casual exclusion--now more than ever, he felt unwelcome at the academies.  And the Wind Academy was inextricably linked with Rangering in his mind.

"You don't feel like an outsider?" he asked Carlos.  "Being from Earth?  Being different?"

"What's different, out here?" Carlos said with a shrug.  "Everyone's different.  If you're different, you're the same.  If you're the same, you're different.  It doesn't matter."

Cam couldn't resist asking, "No one looks at you strangely?"

Carlos snorted.  "Everyone looks at you strangely.  Trust me, no matter where you go, you have to list your food requirements and explain your jokes and hope like hell you get a translator that does its job.  But everyone has to deal with that.  It's just the price of an intergalactic society."

"Isn't that true of Earth, though?  Shouldn't the price of a global society have been increased tolerance and personal responsibility?"  What he really wanted to ask was, why does it work for aliens and not for us?

Carlos turned away, stepping closer as he did so, maybe to indicate he wasn't done.  It took him a few seconds, but finally he pointed.  His daughter, Cam realized, when he saw the flash of purple and black among the kids Kerone was entertaining with person-sized holographic dragons.  He assumed the shrieking was indicative of entertainment, anyway.

"I've got a half-human kid over there," Carlos was saying.  "She's got gills that stop working when she's unconscious and allergies to stuff you've never even heard of.  It's not about getting people to stop staring at her.  It's about keeping her alive."

Incredibly, Carlos shrugged.  "Once people start leaving their native environments," he added, still watching the children, "survival trumps tolerance every time.  I honestly don't have time to worry about race relations when I'm trying to make sure she doesn't end up drowning on Aura's planet or dying of thirst on mine."

Unspoken was the fact that Carlos probably had to worry about drowning on Aquitar at least as much as his daughter did.  Maybe more.  Personal responsibility must have a whole different meaning when when no one around you could reasonably be expected to know your capabilities.

Cam wondered if there was less litigation in an intergalactic society, since suing for negligence involved reasonable and foreseeable risks.  What was foreseeable when people and places that had never interacted before suddenly came into contact?

"She's lucky to have you," Cam said at last, and Carlos' expression softened.

"No," he said, giving Cam a brief smile.  "It's definitely the other way around."

Cam added "let them go into space" to his mental list of notes to self re: hypothetical future children.  It clearly broadened the mind.  He wondered, not for the first time, what the rest of his old team would think of the Astro Rangers' adventures.

He also wondered what had happened to his backpack.  He knew he'd left it on the Megaship that had brought him to Terra Venture, but that particular ship had made several roundtrips to Mirinoi since and he wasn't totally sure where it was now.  It only mattered because his phone was in it--and with it, most of the numbers he now needed to call.

He called the department switchboard instead.  It was a roundabout way of doing it, but he eventually got in touch with or at least left a message for everyone he needed to find.  Then Sage borrowed the phone, and Zhane appeared a short while after Carlos had taken it back.

Zhane appeared on a bike.  A high-tech alien space bike, to be sure, but a bike nonetheless.  Cam tried not to notice.

"Hey," Zhane greeted them, swinging off the back of the bike.  "Sorry you guys got caught up in the excitement.  Carlos says you've got stuff to do back home?"

"Not me," Sage said quickly.  "I have nothing at all to do back home.  What home?"

"The home where the cat is," Cam reminded her.  "The cat who probably hasn't been fed since Tuesday, since that's when I told my neighbor we'd be back."

"What is it now?" Zhane asked.  "Wednesday?  We better go; she'll be hungry."

"Can't you call your neighbor?" Sage said.

"Or we could go knock on his door," Zhane said cheerfully.  "Faster than getting Carlos' phone away from him again, and a lot more fun.  Come on," he added, grinning at Cam.  "You know you want a ride."

"Motorcycles are impractical and unsafe," Cam told him.

"It's a space bike," Zhane insisted, like this somehow countered any argument he could make.  "It's great.  Come on.  I'll have you to Earth and back again before the kids even notice I'm gone."

Since the kids had vanished with Kerone and Carlos by now, and presumably thought Zhane was still back on Terra Venture with the rest of the family, that wasn't as impressive as it could have been.

"Oh, you're coming back?"  Sage appeared visibly heartened by this news.  "So I can just stay here, right?  I'm performing a valuable function as animal communicator and random thing supervisor."

Zhane's amused gaze flicked to her.  "Random thing supervisor?" he repeated.

She gestured around them.  "People keep coming by and asking if they can leave things with me while they go do something else," she explained.  "You'd think the GSA people had implemented a no-thing policy or something."

"That sounds important," Zhane agreed.  "You'd better keep doing that.  I'll just borrow Cam for a few minutes, feed the cat, and be right back."

Sage gave him a thumbs-up, Cam a kiss, and apparently no thought whatsoever to being left behind on an alien planet with bunch of people who were, at best, very recent acquaintances.  "Total strangers" might have been more accurate.  But things like this seemed to happen around Sage a lot, so Cam let Zhane wave him onto the bike and held on as instructed while the motor was being revved.

And then he was flying.

There hadn't been a lot of room for takeoff; he'd expected at least some amount of ground maneuvering or--well, he hadn't known what to expect.  He took a lot on faith when it came to the Rangers.  If Zhane said he could get them back to Earth, it must be true.

Cam just hadn't expected it to be so... unexpected.  Or high.  He could see the surface of the planet falling away beneath them, he could see the sky turning dark, and they were officially farther from the ground than he had ever been.  None of the ninja zords had been designed for space.

He didn't know how he was still breathing.  He didn't know how he could hear Zhane's voice when he called, "Want a tour of the system?"  And then, though Cam didn't reply, "Hang on!"

Everything was gone.  The planet, the stars, the blackness of space... just vanished.  All he could hear was the sound of his own breathing.  All he could feel was the press of Zhane's back against his chest, the wrinkle of not-quite-familiar cloth under his fingers.  No hum from the bike, no vibration or sense of motion... 

"Fun, huh?" Zhane said, and he didn't turn his head or relax and Cam got the sense that he was still driving, somehow, or piloting.  Or steering.  Or something that required his attention, at least.  "My glider wins Best Long Distance Machine, because at least you get to sit down.  Would you believe Andros does patrols on his standing up?  Like he doesn't have a perfectly good zord."

Cam swallowed, trying to get his throat to open up enough that he could talk.  "Different design?" he managed, and it sounded almost normal.

"Yeah, think surfboard instead of motorbike.  They're leftover from our last team; apparently some of the equipment was built independently of the Power and some of it wasn't.  The zords transferred with the morphers.  The ship didn't."

"Or the gliders," Cam said.

"Part of the ship, actually," Zhane said over his shoulder.  "They were originally meant to be surveillance platforms, but of course Andros had to adapt them for battle.  More or less successfully."

Cam couldn't imagine it.  "You fight on these?"

"Morphed," Zhane said, but there was a grin in his voice.  "Crazy, right?  They weren't built for Power, but it does give us the equilibrium we need to fly and shoot at the same time."

"Not at this speed," Cam said uncertainly.

"At this speed, who needs to?" Zhane replied.  "We'll slow down once we reach the Sol system and I'll show you."

Cam winced.  "I mentioned that I'm not a Ranger anymore, right?"

"About that."  Zhane sounded thoughtful, like he'd heard something totally different than what Cam had said.  "Why not?  You still have your morpher."

"It's dormant," Cam said.  Even if he wasn't sure that was true anymore.  "It came forward to help us against Lothor.  Once he was gone, all of the morphers powered own."

"You mean you stopped using them," Zhane said.  "You didn't break them or anything.  If yours wasn't still connected it wouldn't have been able to absorb Kendrix's power the way it did."

"Ali did," Cam pointed out.  "She wasn't wearing a morpher."

"She's been a Ranger," Zhane countered.

"So have I," Cam said, but even as he said it he realized where Zhane was going with that.  "But Sage hasn't."

"Exactly," Zhane agreed.  "The Power didn't recognize her.  But it did recognize your morpher."

He frowned.  There was no reason for Zhane to know this, but...  "Could it recognize someone else?  My amulet--my morpher, I mean?  Could it recognize another Ranger, even while it's dormant?"

"Yeah, of course."  Zhane sounded distracted but not impatient.  "That's what they do.  That's how Rangers know each other."

The amulet had done that, once upon a time.  He hadn't realized it was common to all morphers.  And he hadn't felt it since Lothor had been banished.  "It hasn't," he said aloud.  "Not recently."  He didn't know what compelled him to add, "Until Power Rangers Day," but if he was going to ask the question then he might as well follow through.

"Yeah?"  Zhane sounded interested again.  "You think being surrounded by all those Rangers reactivated it?"

Cam frowned, trying to remember that they were traveling and no, he couldn't let go and move away just because Zhane was paying too-close attention.  "How long is this kind of trip?" he asked instead.  Zhane had said it would only be a few minutes.

He thought Zhane's voice was amused when he asked, "Who did it recognize?"

"Not you," Cam informed him.  "Someone else.  Trini."

"Ah, the lovely Trini Kwan.  First of the modern Rangers, yellow, the saber-toothed tiger.  Now retired to a life of promoting peace and pursuing the way of the ninja," Zhane said.  "Charming girlfriend."

Cam blinked.  He actually had no idea where to start.  "How do you know all that?" he blurted out at last.

"Networking," Zhane said flippantly.  "So your morpher recognized her and no one else?  Coming out of hyperspace," he added, almost as an afterthought.

It didn't occur to Cam to close his eyes until it was too late.  The cocoon of nothing that had surrounded them vanished, leaving him hurtling through space with nothing to hold onto except Zhane.  He knew, intellectually and somewhat distantly, that it wouldn't have mattered if they hadn't appeared quite so close to Saturn.  Space was big and empty compared to anything with an atmosphere, and if they hadn't been near something, he wouldn't have known they were moving at all.

But they were near something, and he did know it, and it felt like all the breath was gone from his lungs and he was falling.  Falling too fast to breathe.  Then he and Zhane and the bike were casting a shadow on rings that raced up to meet them and he did close his eyes because they were going to crash--

Nothing happened.  With his eyes closed, he was just sitting on a bike.  A still bike, as far as his mind could tell.  Death grip on the driver or not, he couldn't feel them moving at all.  And if they were being struck by tiny bits of dust and rock, he couldn't feel it.

He opened his eyes.  The rings swirled all around them, tiny sparkles flashing every few seconds: dust hitting the bike's shield, he realized at last.  Because of course it had a shield.  How did they shoot through it, part of his mind wondered, while the rest of him wondered what Hunter would do with a bike he could drive through space.  Through planetary rings.  From one star to another, as easy as shifting gears.

"Just like that," Cam murmured, and he felt Zhane turn his head a little.

"It can be," Zhane said.  "If you let it."

A pebble-sized stone splashed against the bike shield, igniting a bright flash just before they dropped out of the ring altogether.  Then, for a few seconds, the bright expanse of orderly orbiting debris stretched out like a level layer of clouds toward the horizon.  The sun lit the colored gas of the planet below, and it was alien and beautiful and more amazing than seeing zord code scrawl across the screen.

"I did promise a few minutes," Zhane's voice said, quiet and thoughtful.  "Want to see more?  Or would you rather head back to Earth?"

"Both," Cam whispered.  He wasn't sure if he meant it to be heard or not, and it wasn't much of an answer either way.

Something prompted Zhane to roll the bike, visual disorientation more familiar than anything else he'd seen.  It meant that they were riding on the bottom of the ring for a fraction of a second--before his brain caught up and they were right-side-up again, the sun filtering up through the dust below.  It made Cam smile.  His zord had never done that, but he had watched Hunter defy gravity a hundred times.

They were racing for the nearest moon.  They were dipping into the gas giant's atmosphere, wisps of frozen air illuminated against the terminator between night and day.  They were lifting through the rings and beyond, planet-hopping, in orbit around Jupiter and dodging the sulfur plumes of Io in less time than it took to breathe.

And they were breathing.  They were flying through open space.  They were everywhere and anywhere that Cam could point, because whenever he did, Zhane would turn them in that direction and open up the throttle.  It was a rush in every way, and Cam stopped being able to hear anything over the pounding of his heart and the imagined scream of starlight in his ears.

He saw parts of the solar system no probe had ever passed.  He saw places the sun's light had never touched.  He saw things that scientists had predicted but never been able to photograph, and through it all, he couldn't forget that the person showing him all of this was doing it to humor him.

Because he wanted to.  He didn't owe Cam anything, and if the system was new to him--which Cam had no reason to think it was--then it was only because Zhane had never felt like looking at it before.  But he looked now.

It wasn't until they were rounding Earth's own moon that Cam realized he still could hear.  Zhane was talking.  Not to him, to NASADA, but his overwhelmed mind could still muster enough curiosity to listen in on the conversation about trajectory, origin, and intent.

And then they were burning through the atmosphere, the glow against the shield cherry red, and Cam had just enough time to wonder if Zhane even knew where he lived before they were there.  Touching down on a path he didn't even recognize, the land rushing up to claim them too quickly for him to see, cruising out onto College Street like they had always been idling along at 20 mph on white- and yellow-lined pavement.  It was such a shock that they were turning into Forest Park before he really understood where they were.

"How do you know where I live?" he blurted out, the first words he had said since Mars.  They sounded strange and too normal in the face of a quickly fading fantasy.

"I had DECA look you up," Zhane said over his shoulder.  "Over the weekend, in case you didn't show at the Beach Club.  Phone number, address, that sort of thing."

"So you could stalk me," Cam mumbled.

"Pretty much," Zhane agreed cheerfully.  "But I'd have gone away if you told me to."

As they pulled into the empty space outside Cam's apartment, before the engine died and he had to stand up, Cam asked, "Would you kiss me again if I asked?"

Zhane waited until the engine noise faded away into nothing.  "Anytime," he said.

Cam slid off the back of the bike.  "Thanks for the ride," he said, a little awkward as Zhane flipped something on the dashboard and swung around.  "Want to come up and meet my cat?"

He got a bright smile in return.  "Love to," Zhane said.

He would have liked to think that was how he ended up making out with an alien Power Ranger inside the front door of his apartment, spare key still in his hand and a small cat meowing impatiently from the sofa beside them.  That it was just the exhilaration of space travel, the awe he felt from the things he'd seen with Zhane's solid comfort pressed up against him the whole time.  That he just forgot, for a moment, that he was Cam Watanabe and he didn't do this kind of thing.

But it wasn't himself he forgot.  He knew who he was.  He knew who Zhane was too, if it came down to it... but something about Zhane wouldn't stop reminding him of someone else, and he was tired of telling that voice in his head to shut up.

Zhane was easy and undemanding.  He didn't put his hands anywhere he shouldn't, and when Cam leaned back, breathless against the door, Zhane turned his head and smiled over at the sofa.  "Cute cat," he whispered, mouth still very close to Cam's ear.  "What's her name?"

"Heather," Cam breathed, immensely grateful that the right name came out.

"Heather?" Zhane repeated.  His tone indicated that he'd gotten it immediately, while her almost-namesake still didn't have a clue.  "Really?"

"I like the name," Cam muttered.

He knew it was the wrong thing to say as soon as Zhane said, "So you named her?"  He sounded gently amused.

"I'd rather not talk about it," Cam said, and remarkably, that was the end of it.

"Nice place," Zhane offered as he twisted to lean against the door beside him.  Shoulder to shoulder, they surveyed the apartment, and Cam found himself frowning.

"Looks kind of boring," he admitted.  "Now."

"Nah," Zhane said.  "Home is what you come back to.  It's never boring, just... you."

Was this what he came back to, Cam wondered?  Grad school and a cat he'd named after a former teammate?  He'd finally accepted that the ninja academies would never be home again, but losing the zords had been hard.  What was he doing that could compare to a project like Terra Venture?

"I don't know if this is me," Cam said at last.

"Who does?" Zhane asked rhetorically.  "Can't see yourself.  That's why they invented mirrors."

Cam turned his head to look at him, this blonde man who reminded him so much of absent friends.  "Is it me?" he asked.  A little whimsical, a little curious what he would say.

Zhane returned the look, smiling slightly at his expression.  "You told me you've got everything you need," he said.  "Maybe it's just not in the right order yet."

Heather jumped down from the arm of the sofa, switching tactics from meowing to purring, and he'd bet her food bowl wasn't even empty yet.  She just saw a familiar face and she wanted love, that was all.  Who didn't?

12. Splashdown

"Ali."  Rebecca's voice was a little surprising, since Ali had thought she'd left for the night.  "What are you doing?"

"Bioanalysis," she said without looking up.  She and microscopes didn't get along very well, but self-contained optics used a lot less power than virtual projectors.  Power was being carefully monitored at the landing site right now.  "Maria made a list; it's out by the--"

For a moment, Ali couldn't think of the word.  She waved in the direction of the tent door absently.  "Out front.  Next door.  Field tent."

"Why?" Rebecca asked, and that made Ali turn and frown at her.

Rebecca wasn't wearing her jacket.  Her hair had been pulled back, and she looked considerably neater than the last time Ali had seen her.  More casual, maybe, but definitely neater.  Ali squinted, trying to put her finger on the difference.

"I mean," Rebecca continued patiently, "why are you doing it?  Why are you doing it now?  And when are you planning to sleep?  I hope you've at least eaten since last night."

"Last night?" Ali repeated.  She glanced toward the door, but the light of the encampment didn't tell her anything.  "What time is it?"

The light from the door was suddenly obscured by a large and very familiar frame.  Mike's eyes scanned the large medical tent, going from table to table until he found her.  Rebecca was saying something, but she glanced over her shoulder when she saw Ali staring, then moved hastily out of the way as Mike strode toward them.

"Dr. Ali," he greeted her.  He nodded to Rebecca briefly before adding, "You busy?"

"Uh, yeah," she said, rolling her eyes.  "Why else would I be sitting here?  This isn't what I do for fun."

"Good," he said.  "Come on.  Official business."

"No, wait."  Rebecca protested before she could.  "Can't your official business wait until after she's gotten some rest?  She's been at it all night."

Mike gave her a longer look this time, a smile gracing his expression.  "Well, since my official business is to make sure she gets some rest, preferably after she's eaten, no."

"Hello," Ali said, waving at them.  "Sitting right here."

"Will you join me for breakfast?" he asked, very courteously.  Like he hadn't just been talking about making her rest, lying to her coworkers, and generally getting in the way of anything she might try to do.

"Only because you asked so nicely," she said, rolling her eyes at him.  "Let me put this stuff away first."  She was, admittedly, more hungry than she'd bothered to do anything about in hours.

"If Maria's list is going to tell me to do exactly what you're doing," Rebecca said, "you might as well leave it out and save me some time."

Ali didn't have to be told twice.  She was still surprised to step out of the tent and see bright blue sky overhead, though.  She really had missed the transition from camp lighting to full daylight--and she knew her confusion didn't go unnoticed.

"Welcome to tomorrow," Mike murmured, giving her a smile when she glanced sideways at him.  "First thing Leo learned about being a Ranger: just because you can do it doesn't mean you should."

She scoffed.  "I don't think Leo ever learned that lesson."

He laughed aloud, and she smiled to herself.  Point taken, nonetheless.  She'd had it demonstrated countless times; the Power would keep you on your feet until there was nothing left, and you wouldn't even know it was happening until you keeled over from... well.  That was the question, wasn't it.  How far would it let you go?

TJ had had his suspicions after the Phantom Ranger incident.  Sure, they all said the Power had kept Saryn alive when he wanted to die.  But TJ wasn't the only one who thought Phantom had been killing himself slowly long before he met Cassie, and no one was sure if he had bent the Power to his will or if it had taken advantage of his condition to create--and steadily burn out--the perfect fighter.

Weren't the Psycho Rangers just another example of the dangers of unchecked Power?

"You have to eat more in between," Mike was saying, and she'd missed the beginning of it but she recognized the lecture.  "It doesn't seem to work that way with sleep, which is... odd.  I mean, you crash, but not as badly as you'd expect."

"Eat more, sleep less," Ali agreed absently.  "Basic Ranger code."

"You know this."  He sounded like he'd just realized.  "Were you just going to let me babble at you until...?"

"I was thinking about something else," she admitted.

She could hear the smile in his voice when he said, "I don't know whether that makes me feel better or not."

"It was relevant?" Ali offered, teasing him with an almost-apology.  "I was wondering how much the Power encourages us to act against our own self-interest.  You know, for a greater good.  Compared to how much it protects us."

Mike didn't bat an eye.  "There's a difference between enabling and encouraging.  I don't think the Power has intent, do you?"

"I don't know," she said slowly.  "We talk about it like it does.  'May the Power protect you.'  That's not just a--a symbol, a talisman, that's something we actually expect.  We expect it to actively intervene on our behalf."

"Really?"  Mike moved around a couple of people guiding cargo on antigrav lifts, pacing her easily even with the extra steps.  "It sounds like an invocation to me.  Like, of spirits or divinity or something.  You don't really expect them to do anything, you just mention them out of respect, or... acknowledgment that anything can happen.  That it's out of your hands."

"Um, I think some people do expect something to happen when they pray."  She shot him an amused look as he bumped her shoulder, apparently by accident as they rounded yet another tent.  "That's why they do it."

"Mike."  Natan came that close to doing the same, except that he reached out to touch her on purpose, as an apology for being in their way.  "Did Kendrix find you?  She was looking for you when she left the SMART camp."

"No."  Mike looked around like she might appear at any moment.  "Serious?"

Natan shrugged.  "Apparently not.  Make sure you stop by one of the mess tents, though; they're planning a touchdown feast for tonight and they want to get a headcount of allergies and meat-eaters and what have you."

"Dietary's supposed to have things like that on record," Mike said, frowning.

"New world, new plan," Natan said with a grin.  "They're trying to be more community-oriented.  Less dependent on computers."

"Not everyone has power to spare," Ali added.  "It's easier to use handhelds than get remote database access from here."

"For departments," Natan agreed, edging around them.  "Most of the colonists aren't allowed to charge personal devices until we get some kind of sustainable power distribution going.  It's worth remembering how to write things down."

"We'll have hydroelectric up and running by the end of the week," Mike told him.  "If you see Kendrix again, tell her I'm in the officers' mess."

"Um, why?" Ali wanted to know.  "I don't know any of the officers.  Is the food better there?"

"Okay, I'm going to be wherever Ali wants to eat," Mike said, holding up his empty wrist and twisting it once to make a morpher appear.  "She can call me."

Natan gave him a jaunty salute, two fingers and as non-military as it came, even as he backed away.  Tossing a smile in Ali's direction, he offered, "I recommend the biscuits," before he turned and strode off into the maze of temporary tents.

"She can always call you," Ali said.  "It must be something she didn't want to say over the comm."

"Is there a doctors' mess?" Mike asked, giving her a quizzical look.  "Somewhere all your friends hang out?"

"There's a kids' mess," she said, because having the doctor argument again wasn't going to change anything.  "They get all the comfort food.  And they'll be glad to have a couple of extra chaperones for a while."

"So I won't get to have an actual conversation with you," he remarked, and it was hard to tell how much he was disappointed and how much he was just complaining to be funny.

"Which would be so different from the officers' mess," she said dryly.  "At least endless interruptions are cuter when they come from kids."

Mike inclined his head in gracious defeat.  "Point," he admitted, a smile playing about his lips.

The nearest kids' mess was about fifty-fifty, actually, as families countered the effects of jet lag by sleeping in.  There wasn't any call for chaperoning, just noise tolerance as the kids yelled and ran and occasionally sat down long enough to eat something.  There weren't any chairs, but the morning was beautiful and the mess had been set up buffet style.  She and Mike followed the crowd outside, carrying colony food out into the light of their new home.

"Feeling okay?" he asked, out of the blue.  He'd pointed out a place under the trees, no doubt recently vacated, and they sat close enough to watch the activity but sheltered enough that they might not have to be part of it.

"I... yeah," she said.  The question caught her off guard, and she thought about it for a minute.  "Actually, I don't know.  I think so.  Why?"

He smiled.  "Maybe because I don't know either?" he offered.  "I figured maybe I could follow your lead."

It made her laugh, and she saw him draw in a breath and let it out deliberately.  "Yeah," he said, more quietly.  "That works."

Ali sobered, studying him.  "Is it weird, being here again?" she asked after a moment.

"It's weird being here at all," he said.  "I mean, it's not the new world, but it might as well be.  And we didn't expect to get here for... well, a lot longer.  I don't know if anyone was really--ready to start building yet."

"I hadn't gotten to the settling down part," she admitted.  "I guess that's what you mean, right?  I think I'm still in 'flying off into space' mode.  Great adventure, totally temporary...  I hadn't quite gotten used to life on Terra Venture, to tell you the truth."

"Yeah."  Mike was playing with his food; there was no other word for it.  "I can't let go of the idea that we have to look out for Terra Venture.  It's still out there.  But there's so much we have to do here, and--"

"And where do you start," she said, when he just stopped and stared down at the ground for a long moment.

"Yeah," he said, but he shook his head.  "Actually... I kind of feel like I've already done it.  That's Estavan, I guess.  Everything here is a little... familiar."

"Does that suck?" she asked.  "Because no one you remember is here?  Or does it help because the planet isn't as strange as it could be?"

He looked up, a pensive expression on his face.  "I don't know," he said, looking at her.  Looking through her, almost.  She had no idea what he was seeing right now.  "I guess that's why I asked you."

Ali smiled, hoping it looked more reassuring than confused.  "Well, at least you know you're in good company."

His expression lightened in response.  "True," he said, lifting his glass in a mock toast.  She grabbed hers and met him halfway, and he added, "To good company."

"To good company," she echoed, taking a drink of her juice.  "Also, thanks for pulling me out of the Medlab camp.  I definitely lost track of time there."

He swallowed and set his glass down on the ground beside him.  "Hey, pulling you out of Medlab is a skill I've honed.  I have to stay in practice."

"Small problem with the plan, though."  She honestly couldn't tell from looking how many of the people who walked by had slept since arriving on Mirinoi.  Everyone was wearing the clothes they'd arrived in.  "The resting thing."

"Okay, I'm tired," he told her.  "So I'm not going to believe you if you tell me you don't need to sleep."

She raised her eyebrows at him.  "Did you just imply that I should get tired more easily than you?"

"No," he said, giving her the same look right back.  "I implied that we should be experiencing exactly the same degree of tiredness.  Given that we both work the day shift, stayed up all night, and now have identical magic swords that make us less likely to make reasonable decisions about when to eat and sleep."

"So we have to remind each other?" she suggested, softening.

"Something like that," he agreed, but the smile he gave her made her think that the "something" was more flattering rather than less.

Thinking about it more fairly, she realized, "Hey, does this mean I should practice pulling you out of Command?  I mean, if we're going to keep things even..."

A grin broke across his face.  "That plan has my full support.  Let me know what I can do to encourage it."

Which wasn't exactly the answer she'd been expecting, and she had almost no idea what to do with it.  "Wow," she said aloud.  "I do need a break.  I think you just out-flirted me."

Calling him on it didn't stop him.  "I always out-flirt you," he teased.  "I'm glad you noticed."

"Were you waiting for me to notice?" she asked curiously.  "Because Kai says that pointing it out only makes Leo worse."

That, on the other hand, made him stop and stare at her.  "Kai says--what?  Really?  You and Kai talk about me and Leo?"

She had to laugh at his expression.  "No!  When do I see Kai?  He doesn't even like me!"

"You just made that up," Mike realized.

"And you proved it was true," she teased.

"Thereby preventing me from flirting with you," he continued, giving her a speculative look.  "Am I coming on too strong?  Because I can back off."

Ali blinked.  "Are you--I mean--"  As confident and as straightforward as he seemed, she hadn't expected him to say that.  Maybe... not because he'd said it, but because she hadn't been sure he was really doing it.

"You're flirting with me on purpose," she blurted out.  "Really?"

"I hope I'm not doing it badly enough that it looks like an accident," he said with a smile.  "If it's too much, I can tone it down."

"So, not like Leo," she said dryly, trying to think.  Or cover.  Or something.  Mike was flirting with her on purpose.  She had no idea what to say to that.

"There are a few differences," Mike agreed.  And that was all he said.

"Um... I don't want you to back off?" she offered awkwardly.  "I just--don't know what to say."

"I know I'm not--it's--"  He didn't look away, but she thought maybe her clumsiness was catching.  "It's still strange to touch people, but I'm getting used to it.  I used to be more... it' s not that I can't," he said quickly.  "I don't even know if you want me to."

"Wait, what?"  She felt the sudden urge to laugh.  "What are we--are you apologizing for moving too fast, or not fast enough?"

The corner of his mouth quirked, which she found suddenly and unashamedly adorable.  "Which would you prefer?"

Ali did laugh then, because she could.  "You know, if we've been dating all this time, you could have told me.  Rebecca always asks, and I always say no, you just hang out with me because I'm the one who patched you up after Mirinoi.  The first time on Mirinoi," she amended.

"I hang out with you because I like you," he said.  "I'd have asked you out, but I was afraid you'd say no.  Seemed easier to just keep showing up and hope for the best."

"I like that you show up," she admitted.  "I just--"  And even now, she didn't know whether to say it or not, but she always had before and... well, he kept showing up.  "I mean, you were married, so I didn't know."

"I was married to two beautiful women," he said quietly.  "I love them.  I miss them.  But that was a long time ago.  I don't want the fact that I loved them to keep me from ever loving again."

She nodded.  He talked about them, sometimes, and she was glad to hear stories of Estavan's home.  But she had never been sure from the way he talked whether he was ready to move on or not.  She hadn't known Mike before Estavan's loss, so she had no way to judge the progress of his mourning.

"I wouldn't want that, either," she said.

Mike lifted his glass in her direction again.  "One of many reasons," he said, in a more normal tone of voice, "that I steal you from Medlab any chance I get."

"Or make up," she added, picking up her glass and tapping it against his before he could take a drink.  "You're very creative."

He took this as a compliment, as she'd assumed he would.  "Thank you," Mike agreed.  "You're very inspirational."

Her imaginary Kai was right, she thought.  Calling attention to the flirting only made them more audacious.  Luckily, she was fine with that.

She still didn't have a place to sleep, though, an inevitable issue when he asked her where she was staying.  "Hadn't really gotten that far," she admitted.  "It didn't seem that important when we first landed, and now that it's already tomorrow it seems weird to ask."

"Well," he said.  "Officers' Square isn't full."

"A square?" she repeated, hoping her tone conveyed even half her amusement.  "You have a square now?"

"Triangle sounded like something you get lost in," he offered.  "'Circle' didn't sound strong enough, and anything from five sides on up has too many syllables."

She had to concede at least the latter half of his point.  But she couldn't resist saying, "Maybe it would be more full if people didn't have to say 'I'm in Officers' Square' every time someone asked them where they were."

"You can call it a rose garden, for all I care."  But the laughter in his eyes said he did care, and he would pay close attention to whatever she picked.  "The point is, I have an extra cot in my tent that no one is using.

"I'm not trying to make you move in or put you in a weird spot or anything," he added quickly.  "I just figure it'd be easy--for today at least--to have a place you didn't have to set up yourself."

It did sound delightfully easy to Ali's tired brain.

"Besides," Mike was saying.  "I got you a present."

"What?"  She tried to say it in a way that disguised her yawn, but it just didn't happen.  "A present for what?"

"For everything," he said, but he looked sort of neutral about it.  Now he was the one trying to hide  his expression--and he was doing a much better job than she had been.  "But I don't think you're going to like it."

"Well, thank you, Mr. Cryptic," she said, amused.  "Does this have anything to do with sleeping?"

"Depends where you end up sleeping."

There was no getting anything out of him when he got like this, so she didn't try.  "Officer Camp it is," Ali said, watching a little boy in clothes that were definitely not colony issue scamper into the mess tent.  "Did the Mirinoans arrive overnight?"

"Yeah."  Mike followed her gaze.  "Families usually travel together."

"Did you?" she blurted out without thinking.

He just nodded.

The little boy zipped out of the tent again a moment later, several adults in tow--none of them native to Mirinoi, as far as Ali could tell.  They all moved off together, and for once, she was glad she didn't have to know.  The colony could get by without her for a few hours... though she did wonder briefly about Mike.

Commander Stanton had stayed with Terra Venture throughout the evacuation, and as far as she knew that hadn't changed.  Leaving Mike the ranking officer at the landing site--in name at least, if not in practice.  She figured it was better not to ask either way: if he was in charge, he needed the break more than she did, and if he wasn't, it was likely to be a sore spot that she'd do better to avoid.

"So, out of curiosity," she began, and really, why did she open her mouth?  She clearly had no internal censor anymore.  "If you're here, who's running the colony?"

"Councilor Renier and her swarm of civilian minions," Mike replied.  "I overheard her telling one of them that she'd taken a nap and was 'perfectly ready for the day.'  I figure, if the Council's that confident in the day?  They're welcome to it."

So, a sore spot, but not for the reasons she'd thought.  "So they're making the decisions," she said, just to make sure.

He shrugged.  "The GSA's job was to get us here.  The New World constitution took effect the moment the first colonist set foot on the planet.  It's the Council's game now."

"Well," she said after a moment too long.  "I guess that's fair."

"Hey, it means I get to sleep."  His tone was significantly less irritable all of a sudden, and he flashed a smile in her direction.  "I'm not complaining."

She couldn't resist adding, "Anymore," and he laughed.

"It was always supposed to be this way," he admitted, bracing his arms behind him and leaning back a little.  "I'm fine with it."

"Me too," she said impulsively.  "I assume this means I won't see you less, anyway."

"Not unless you want to," he agreed.  "I'm a little worried about what this Defender thing is going to mean for you and Maya, but I'm pretty sure you're more ready for it than I was.  So.  Let me know if I can help."

"And look," she said, amused.  "Suddenly you're counseling people.  I told you your situation wasn't as unique as you thought it was."

This led to an argument over what she had told him and when, what he had known and why, and exactly what they were doing sitting outside the kids' mess tent when they were no longer eating.  Especially considering the exhaustion that was starting to set in.  Or at least make itself known--she was pretty sure it could have set in hours ago and she would have been too distracted to notice.

By the time they made it to the officers' tents, she had almost forgotten about her present.  When Mike made her stop outside, she saw his uncomfortable expression and knew.  The present, whatever it was, was definitely going to delay the moment when she was allowed to sleep.

"Before you go in," Mike was saying, "I didn't ask them to do this, okay?"

Ali gave him her best "stop being cryptic" look, which had never worked before but she was too tired not to try.  "Uh-huh," she agreed.

"Okay," he said, "I might have asked one of your old teammates if they'd mind rescuing your bamboo plant.  I know the buildings were meant to seal when the dome cracked, but it's not like we ever tested that outside of simulation.  And if they were taking pets..."

"You're telling me my bamboo plant is inside your tent," Ali said, amused.  That was sweet.  Probably a huge breach of protocol somewhere, but that didn't make it less charming and she could keep her mouth shut.

"Not exactly."  Mike glanced down.  Probably in the direction of invisible morphers; she knew that look.  "I'm saying that Ashley was the one who picked up your plant, and... she might have gotten a little carried away.  They really like you."

"Well, you know how it is," she said.  "You save their lives one time, and they think they owe you forever."

He smiled, pulling back the tent "door" and waving her through.  The light that came through the bright yellow canvas made it look like morning, even inside.  She didn't notice anything amiss at first--which was probably a testament to her tiredness, since his tent had three or four times as much stuff in it as anyone should rightfully have after an emergency evacuation.

The stuff looked an awful lot like...

"That's mine," Ali realized, staring at a very familiar duffel bag.  A scrap of yarn on one of the straps distinguished it from the thousands of other standard-issue bags, and she knew the GSA tag on the far side would have her name on it.  "Mike..."

"I know, I know."  He held up his hands as though disclaiming responsibility.  "I told them.  I told her.  But it's not like she was going to take it back.  Everyone's going to get their stuff eventually; you just sort of... moved to the head of the line?"

"You save their lives one time," she repeated, more to herself than to him.

She couldn't look at it, somehow.  She did manage to make a fuss over the bamboo plant, because she had been sad to think of it all alone back on Terra Venture... no one to water it, or talk to it, the possibility that the seals wouldn't work and all its air would escape before anyone could come back for it...

Ali didn't actually remember much of what happened before she woke up to the sound of Ashley's voice.  She'd thought she might not be able to fall asleep, she knew that much.  She must have thought it for a whole two seconds before she closed her eyes and forgot everything else.

As she lay there, on an uncomfortable cot beneath a yellow ceiling, things came back to her in no order at all.  Standing on Mirinoi watching the Megaship touch down, watching evacuees file off.  Being pressed into service to erect shelters in the medical camp.  Mike sneaking her iPod into her hands when the sun made her bury her head under her pillow: and that explained the music, the background music she'd barely noticed, and the way her ear hurt a little as the earbud pressed into it.

She tried to roll over, found she didn't have enough room.  She pulled the earbuds out and shifted under her--still standard issue blanket, but she saw the quilt her mom had made for her sticking out of one of the duffels at the end of her cot.  She wondered if she would ever see Terra Venture again.  She wondered why she was the one the Astro Rangers were looking out for.

Then she wondered why she wondered, because obviously.  There was nothing she could do about the first, and there was no real reason to question the second.  She was TJ's sister.  They weren't going to pretend they didn't know her.

"Dolphins?" she blurted out, suddenly realizing what the conversation outside the tent was about.  She shouldn't have said it aloud, especially when she wasn't even up yet.  Sure enough, Mike appeared in the doorway a moment later, just as she was trying to push her braids out of her face and shake the sleep from her eyes.

"Hey, Dr. Ali," he said.

"Why do you call her Dr. Ali?" Ashley asked, ducking in under his arm before he could open the tent further.  "Good morning, Ali!"

"It's not, is it?"  She squinted at the light through the door, then up at the dome of the tent like that might help.  "What time is it?"

"Three-ish," Ashley said, even as Mike shrugged.  "At least, if you convert Mirinoan time to something like Earth time.  Which everyone says you can't, but that's what they told me on KO-35, too.  I say if it's mid-afternoon, it's about three o'clock.  Problem solved."

It made Ali smile, and she wondered where Ashley was getting her energy from.  Actually, she wondered when Ashley had gotten here at all.  "Okay," she agreed.  "Three is good.  What did I miss?"

"Lunch," Mike put in.  "But hey, you and everyone else, so there's food whenever you want it."

"Carlos," Ashley added.  "He showed up in a fancy ship of his own and evacuated half the dolphin population of Terra Venture to Mirinoi.  They're in the harbor now."

"More than half," Mike said.  "Also, the Mirinoans have arrived in force.  Medlab is staging a controlled freakout over the intermingling of germs."

"No kidding," Ali agreed, throwing everything back on her cot and tugging her shirt straight before she looked around for her shoes.  "I should go.  They're going to be testing everything in sight."

"Uh-uh," Mike said.  "No.  Trust me, you're the last person they want to see right now.  They're not too thrilled with the Rangers setting a bad example of how to introduce previously isolated populations to each other."

"The Power protects us," Ashley reminded her ruefully.  "We can't even carry things.  Everyone else is potentially giving the Mirinoans chicken pox, or whatever, and who knows what they're giving you."

"Medlab's got it under control," Mike said firmly.  "Or," he added, when she didn't look convinced, "if they don't, there's not a lot you're going to be able to do, since your physiology no longer represents either population.  Congratulations.  You just got yourself the afternoon off."

She stared at him, frozen where she was.  "To do what?" she demanded.  "Vision quest?  Sword training?"

"Dolphin accommodation," he replied.  "I need someone from biosciences, and they won't spare me anyone else.  Kendrix has all her people on a strict rotation that involves color-coded alert levels.  They're working in shifts--which, believe me, is a first for the scientists--and which shift you're on at any given time determines what level of alert you can be paged for."

Ali tried to sort that out in her head, but even Ashley looked bemused, so she said, "That sounds... complicated?"

"Well, they're the SMART ones."  Mike smiled, pleased with himself, and she felt the corners of her mouth tug upward in response.  "So, you want to help me?"

"Dophins, you said?"  Like she ever didn't want something to do with the dolphins.  "Does this involve field research?"

"It involves visiting the harbor, if that's what you mean," he said with a grin.  "Ashley was just about to talk me into it.  Apparently the Council has been slow to respond to aquaculture requests since splashdown.  We're going to see if we can speed the process up some."

"Count me in," she agreed.

"We can wait if you want to change," Ashley offered.  Just as Ali was about to ask if there was something wrong with her uniform, she added, "There could be time in the water involved, if you feel like getting wet."

Ali closed her mouth.  She couldn't actually imagine Ashley in the water, but she wasn't going to put anything past her.  "Okay," she agreed.  "Since you guys seem to have rescued most of my clothes...?"

She didn't know exactly how to say "thank you" for that, especially since it still made her feel weird.  Luckily, Ashley didn't seem to expect her too.  In fact, Ashley surprised her again by wrinkling her nose and looking apologetic.

"Sorry about that," she said, and Ali blinked.  "I couldn't not do it.  I saw your jacket when I went to pick up your plant, and then your duffels were all right there...  I know it's weird being the only one, but there are volunteers with air and exo-suits and digital inventories in the city right now.  Other people are going to get their stuff too."

"We haven't written the city off," Mike added.  "Kai is our voice of pessimism on that front, but Andros and Damon still think we might be able to slow it down before it gets here."

Something about this made Ashley laugh, and she said, "Andros is our voice of pessimism.  If even he thinks it can be done?  It'll get done."

"Wear your jacket," Mike suggested, apparently ignoring this.  "It'll remind everyone you're special now and no one will complain."

"Okay, okay!"  Ali rolled her eyes at them and shooed them both back.  "Thank you.  It was very nice of you; I'll change.  Goodbye."

Ashley beamed at her, Mike winked for no apparent reason, and the two of them disappeared.  Ali hadn't had any idea what jacket they were talking about--she'd assumed her Medlab jacket, not that that made any sense--until she went to rescue some shorts and a t-shirt from a duffel bag and found her Mega V jacket on top.

V6, the jacket said, with a picture of the earth limned in silver.  Jean jackets, one for each member of Tessa's team, as improvised by DECA after the battle at Rysia.  She wasn't sure wearing it would make her any less conspicuous, but her choices were that, her Medlab jacket, or going without.  It was a jungle out there, quite literally, and while the temperature might be kind to bare arms, she knew the undergrowth wouldn't be and she had no certainties about the sun here.

She tried her Medlab jacket.  She couldn't see what it looked like, but it felt silly over her regular clothes, so she ended up wearing the jean jacket anyway.  Mike smiled when he saw it, and Ashley didn't seem to notice.  Ali tried not to look for anyone else's reaction as they made their way out of the officer camp.

Ashley could see the sparkle off the water through the trees before she could hear the shouting that bounced across it, and maybe that was a good sign?  She'd left Kerone with the kids, and Carlos and Silvy too.  They'd given Aoife the day off after her exclusive and nonstop supervision of the kids during the evacuation effort, not to mention the attack before it, but Kerone had assured her she could manage both children alone if Carlos and Silvy also disappeared.

"Is that the beach?" Ali asked, ducking under and around giant broad-leafed undergrowth to pace her.  Mike was walking ahead of them, following the GSA markers on the trees and occasionally holding branches for them.

"Yes," Mike said over his shoulder.  "Apparently they're using the seaship as a dock to--"

He kept talking, but Ali was closer and she spoke right over him.  "Okay, how long have you been up?" she demanded.  "Coming to get me and ordering me to sleep is only cute if you're looking for an excuse to do it too, which I totally thought you were!"

"I was," he protested, turning around and ducking backwards under a branch that he held up and out of the way for them.  "I just woke up before you, that's all."

Ali turned to Ashley in silent appeal.

"I didn't see him around camp until a few minutes ago," Ashley promised, looking from one of them to the other.  "I have no idea what he was doing before that."

"Sleeping," Mike said.  "Well, going through your things for your music when you woke me up, but the rest of the time I was sleeping."

Ashley could see the ship now, glinting purple-white just under the surface of the water.  There were definitely people on it, too far away to make out who, and she thought she could see fins.  That part was probably imagination, but she didn't care.

Mike and Ali were still bickering, so she didn't point out how pretty the beach was or how lovely the trees and tertiary dunes were all around them.  Zhane loved the beach, but they didn't go as often as they had when she first arrived on KO-35 because Kae couldn't stand it for very long.  She'd expected him to be playing along the path somewhere, but if they hadn't seen him yet maybe Kerone had let him wander off in another direction.

"Wow."  Ali's startled response made it clear that she'd just noticed.  The ship, at least, if not the increasingly wide view of beach before them.  And the colonists coming toward them.  "That's pretty impressive."

"Can you see the ship?" Mike asked, stepping out of the way of one of the markers to make room.  Ali stepped back too, though, making way for the colonists, and everyone nodded to everyone else and Ashley wondered if they all knew each other yet or if they were still working on it.

"Kind of," Ali said, edging out around him again.  "Unless the bottom of the ocean is really white here."

"That's the seaship," Ashley assured her.  "It's ridiculously maneuverable.  The dolphins don't want to come in too close to shore, obviously, but everyone needs to be able to communicate."

"And it's faster to walk out than it is to swim," Mike put in.

"Unless you're Carlos," Ashley finished.  "Or Coral."

"That Sylvie's pretty fast, too," Mike said.  "She have some dolphin in her?"

Maybe it was all the conversations with Carlos, but Ashley couldn't tell whether he was joking or not.  "She spends a lot of time on Aquitar," she said instead.  "Swimming is how they get around."

"Wouldn't have guessed," Mike said with a grin.

"Wow," Ali said again, as they came out from under the trees at last.  "How big is that ship, anyway?  And how can it be submerged in such shallow water?"

"Those are the fins," Ashley offered.  "The part that comes right up to the beach.  The rest of the ship is designed to be compartmentalized for safety reasons, so it actually isn't that big."

"Next to your battleships," Mike said under his breath.  "Or your space colonies."

"Yeah, exactly."  Now Ali was smiling too.  "It looks plenty big to me."

That was when they were spotted.  Kerone mentally alerted her that Hope was on her way before Ashley found either of them with her eyes, and everyone wanted Mike's attention all of a sudden.  He put a hand on Ali's shoulder when she tried to wander away, so Ashley sent her a sympathetic look as she went in search of her daughter.

Ali didn't look too upset about it.

Sylvie intercepted her almost as soon as Hope did, and she was dripping but her clothes were dry and Ashley thought they were all going to have to visit Aquitar again.  Soon.  Hope's clothes were plastered to her skin and twisted around her body in such a way that meant they were going to dry several sizes larger than they'd started out.  With Sylvie behind her, in a sparkly water-shedding Aquitian tunic and trousers, the contrast was inevitable.

"Kerone sent me to check on Kae," she offered, when Hope stopped babbling long enough to get a word in edgewise.  "I'll be back in a few minutes?"

"Okay," Ashley agreed, petting Hope's hair and absently trying to straighten it a little while her daughter complained she was pulling.  "Let us know if you need help."  She had no idea where Kae was or what he was doing, but if Kerone wasn't teleporting there herself--this second--it probably wasn't as dangerous as most of the things he did.

"How come there aren't any dolphins at home, Mommy?"  Hope was trying to shy away from the hair patting, still holding Ashley's hand as she tugged her toward the water's edge.  "They say they go everywhere.  But there aren't any at home."

"Well, there aren't many humans back home, either."  Ashley let go of her hand long enough to pull off her shoes and roll up her pants before she followed Hope out into the water.  "We live on the edge of a lot of things.  It isn't an easy place to be, and there aren't many people that are brave enough to live there."

"I think it's easy," Hope declared.  She hoped up onto the fin of the seaship, still splashing in the skim of water that covered it as it stretched away from shore.

"Yes, but you're very brave," Ashley told her with a smile.  The seaship was smooth and warm under her feet, and she was willing to bet that whatever kind of dock the colonists put in wouldn't feel as nice as this.

"Why is it so hard?" Hope wanted to know.  "Aren't dolphins brave?  I think they're brave; they came all the way here and they didn't even have a ship of their own.  And they're really nice.  One of them gave me a ride out to a big rock!"

"That was very nice of them," Ashley agreed.  She caught sight of Kerone, finally, standing on the far edge of the seaship's fin.  Waving to them.  She lifted her free hand to wave back.  "Did your ma go in the water with you?"

"No."  Hope dismissed this idea with a bounce and a turn of her head.  "I went all by myself!  Even Coral couldn't keep up, and she's from Alandia!"

Ashley almost said, "Where?" before she remembered something about dolphins not using the name "Aquitar" and decided it might be better to ask someone else later.  "That must have been a very fast dolphin you were with," Ashley said.

"They're having a party later," Hope told her.  "Can we go?  They said we were invited!"

"The dolphins are having a party?" Ashley repeated, just to make sure they were still talking about the same thing.

"Yup!"  Hope looked very pleased with herself.  "Can we go?  Sylvie's going, and she says it's going to be fun.  And Coral gets to go, and she's little!"

"Maybe," Ashley said.  "I'll have to see what your ma thinks about it first."

"She thinks it'll be fun too!" Hope exclaimed.  "So now you don't have to talk to her!"

Ashley tried not to smile.  "I think I do."

"Why?" Hope whined.  "You already know it's fun!"

"Yes, but what if something more fun is happening somewhere else?" Ashley asked.  "We have to compare notes."

"I don't think you have notes on fun things," Hope told her.  "I think all your notes are on boring things."  She pulled free and stalked away--at least as best a small child could stalk in water that came almost to her knees.

"Hey," Kerone said, splashing over to join her.  "I see you found Ali."

Only then did she remember why she'd gone looking for Ali in the first place.  "Totally forgot to ask her about the wedding," she said with a sigh.

"Well, it's not like you have anything else on your mind," Kerone said wryly.  "Was Mike with her, or did you pick him up on the way?"

A reluctant smile tugged at her lips.  "She was sleeping in his tent," Ashley said, glancing back toward the shore.  Mike and Ali were invisible in the midst of the drifting colonists.  "Separate cots, but all her stuff was still there.  Very cute."

"Maybe she'll ask him to come to the wedding with her," Kerone said.  "People can bring dates, right?  Or is it just family members?"

"No, it's traditional to bring a date," Ashley said.  "If I ever remember to invite her."

"Are you okay?" Kerone asked, studying her face.

She shook her head.  "Yeah," she said, but Kerone clearly didn't believe her, so she tried again.  "No, I mean, I managed to stay on Hope's good side for a whole two and a half minutes.  So that's a good thing."

"Yes," Kerone said, sounding amused.  "It is.  That's better than I've managed to do all day; she's in a terrible mood.  Don't let it get to you.  She'll wear herself out in the water and we'll make her take a nap before dinner."

"You think?"  Ashley glanced out over the water.  "She says the dolphins told her there was a party tonight."

"Which is perfect," Kerone agreed.  "No nap, no party.  She'll need the sleep to stay up anyway.  You know the kids don't do well with time changes."

Ashley made a face, more because she shouldn't have to be reminded than because she disagreed.  "Kae's fine."

"He's also seven years older than she is," Kerone said.  "And believe me, he's off sulking too.  He's just doing it about something else."

Ashley sighed again, because she could with Kerone, and she got an arm around her shoulders and a sideways hug for her trouble.  "Think I should go try and find Ali?" she asked at last.

"I guess it depends when you want to leave," Kerone said.  "Are we staying another night?"

"If we let the kids go to the party we might as well," Ashley pointed out.  "They can sleep on the ship, and we'll get them back to Earth tomorrow."

A nearby splash alerted them, and she turned in time to see Carlos slogging through the water with a wet bundle in bright red curled against his chest.  He lifted his chin to acknowledge them, and they were careful not to call out until he spoke first.  Neither of them wanted to be responsible for waking a sleeping child.

"Hey," he said, quietly but not quite in a whisper.  "I'm taking her inside.  Want to see the ship?"

Ashley glanced at Kerone, who shook her head.  "I saw it," she murmured.  "You go ahead.  I'll stay out here with Hope."

Squeezing her shoulder, Ashley whispered a fervent, "Thank you," and Kerone shooed her away.

"Here," Carlos said, shifting Coral a little to the side and holding out his arm.  "You can do the honors."

She linked her arm through his, pressed the side of his communicator, and smiled when the bright ocean surface disappeared.  The light was dimly purple and the floor was dry under her feet.  There was the quiet hum of water cycling all around them, but the humid air was perfectly breathable.

"Nice," Ashley murmured, looking around.  "How much of it is atmospheric?"

"Depends on the passengers," Carlos said, wrapping both arms around Coral again and hefting her higher.  "Right now, just this room and a couple of others."

There was an actual bed on the near wall, and Ashley didn't know why that surprised her, since it wasn't like Aquitians didn't sleep in beds.  When Carlos pulled another bed out from underneath it--with his foot--she had to smile.  Like a trundle bed.  This one, covered with little colored dolphins, was clearly Coral's.

She wasn't wearing shoes.  Carlos didn't try to change any of her clothes.  He did pull several pillows and a blanket out from a trunk at the end of the bed, wedging them around her so tightly that Ashley blurted out, "Do you co-sleep with her?"

"Sometimes," Carlos said.  "More when she was a baby.  No one could promise us she wouldn't unexpectedly stop breathing, so.  She's gotten more independent as she gets older."

She'd seen Carlos without Coral once since they'd arrived on Earth last week.  If his daughter wasn't with him, she was with Sylvie.  Ashley felt, as she often did around her old friends, a little guilty for complaining about parental responsibility.  Her family not only had twice as many parents as kids, but it also consisted of mostly human and very capable children.

Carlos was putting a cap on what looked like a bottle.  It was opaque, but Ashley assumed it had water in it.  It must be totally sealed, since he laid it on the bed next to Coral and stood up.  Taking his phone out of his pocket, he pointed it at the bed and pressed some kind of code into the keys.

"Baby monitor," he said, when he saw her expression.  He pointed at the corners of the bed with the phone, and a single blue light flashed from each of them.  "Billy.  Saved her life three times before she was a month old."

Ashley widened her eyes, giving her head a shake when he caught her gaze again.  "You guys are pretty amazing with her."

"Yeah, well."  He flashed a smile at her.  "You're our inspiration."

She blinked.  "Really?  Why?"

"I know Kae wasn't easy," he said with a shrug.  "And, let's face it: me and Aura have a hard enough time keeping ourselves together, let alone making it work with anyone else.  The fact that the four of you haven't killed each other yet is pretty impressive."

It was the nicest thing he'd said about her family in... ever, maybe.  He'd come around, she knew, since that horrible time he accused Andros of cheating.  And he'd been nothing but tolerant after Hope was born.  She'd always wondered, though, if maybe it was just tolerance.

Now she thought she might have doubted him all this time for nothing.

"Thanks, Carlos," she managed, smiling back at him.  "You know, a good friend once told me, 'hold on to the best and deal with the rest.'"

"Uh-huh."  Carlos' smile deepened.  "Sounds like a smart guy."

"Yeah," she agreed, sliding her arm through his again.  "He is."