Power Rangers In Space, Heather Ray [books under 200 pages TXT] 📗

can't get the shields back up. I'm positive the Velocifighters will retaliate once Astronema and her gang are off the Megaship, and without the shields, the Megaship's a sitting duck."

"Then there's no other choice," Cassie said, turning her own communicator on, "Carlos, launch the ship."

^But TJ will be stuck --^

"No, I'll pick him up with my Galaxy Glider. At least that way, we can save time. I can go find him inside the Megaship, instead of waiting for him."

"Cassie, maneuvering a Galaxy Glider through the narrow hallways of the Megaship isn't easy," Andros pointed out, "I've been using the gliders longer than you have--"

"Save it," Cassie said, leaning forward on her glider to accelerate, "Besides, Carlos will probably need help with Ashley, and I don't know the first thing about the shuttle's infirmary."

Chapter Thirty-Three

Carlos deactivated the communication display inside the infirmary, and took a quick glance at Ashley. She was still unconscious, but at least the bleeding had stopped. Immediately after he and Alpha had arrived at the shuttle, they carried the unconscious Yellow Ranger to the infirmary. While morphed, Ashley's body was fed with energy keeping her moving. However, once the morph was canceled to tend to her wounds, they realized just how bad her injuries were. Her condition was critical, for broken bones, punctured organs, and a massive loss of blood. Carlos' main concern was keeping more blood from flowing, and so he sterilized and wrapped her wounds, and placed her under the dermal regenerator Alpha had pointed out. He wasn't sure what else to do, so he spend most of the time holding her hand and talking to her, hoping he'd somehow hear what he was saying.

Now he had to leave her, to launch the shuttle. It wouldn't take more than a minute or two, yet he found it hard to part from her, especially since no one else was there to watch her. Anything could happen in two minutes, considering her fragile condition.

Hurrying through the narrow passage, Carlos climbed up the ladder leading him to the main bridge of the shuttle. He strapped himself in, and activated the engines.

"Okay, I'm opening the docking doors," he said to himself, pressing a sequence of buttons. The doors swung open, depressurizing the room and opening the bay to the vacuum of space. Carlos then hit the engines, sending the shuttle into outer space.

^Carlos,^

Andros' voice said over the communicator, ^bring the ship to my position. Once we get Cassie and TJ aboard, we'll hide out in the shadow of the moon until the Dark Fortress departs. There's no way the shuttle can stand up to a squad of Velocifighters.^

"I'm coming your way," Carlos said, typing in Andros' coordinates. On the viewscreen, which was set to magnification, he saw Andros suspended on his glider. Carlos brought the ship to a halt, and waited for the leader of the Astro Rangers to come aboard. Moments later, the Red Ranger walked onto the bridge, tearing off his helmet.

"Okay, what condition is the shuttle in?" he asked.

"Systems are all up and running," Carlos responded, rising to his feet, "Fortunately it wasn't damaged during the Velocifighters' assault."

"Good," he sighed, walking toward the main sensor bank, "Now we can keep an eye on the Megaship and keep a reading of the life forms aboard. Once TJ and Cassie are in the shuttle, we can activate our own deflectors, and once the Megaship's abandoned, Alpha can activate the main deflectors until we're able to board her again."

Andros pursed his lips, and turned around to face Carlos. "How... how's Ashley?"

Carlos took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. "I... I really don't know. I mean, she's not getting any worse, which is always a good sign, but so far she's not really getting better. She hasn't woken up yet."

Andros nodded, rolling down his glove. He pressed the de-morph sequence on his morpher, reverting him back into his silver and red space suit. He then walked past Carlos, and climbed down the ladder leading to the middle deck. Carlos followed, and the two young men entered the infirmary.

"Where have you guys been?" came a weak voice from the bed, "It's altogether too quiet in here."

"Ashe!" Carlos exclaimed, hurrying to her side and smiling down at her. She did her best to smile back.

"What's going on?" Ashley whispered, her voice little more than an exhalation.

"Everything's going to be fine," Andros said, slowly crossing the room, "Cassie and TJ are on their way, and pretty soon Astronema, Darkonda, Ecliptor, and Elgar will be on their way home."

"How are you feeling?" Carlos asked. He immediately realized how lame a question it was to someone just inches from the brink of death.

"Well, I'm in one piece," she remarked, her nose scrunching slightly with pain as she tried to raise her head. She lowered it back down into the pillow. "Sort of."

"You'll be fine," Carlos said, echoing Andros' words from before. He gentle squeezed her hand reassuringly.

"Thanks to you," Ashley added, a small smile on her face, "Thanks for getting me out of that Simudeck. I just never realized how dangerous holograms could be."

"Don't mention it."

Andros felt his throat close up when he heard Ashley give Carlos her gratitude. It was Carlos' action that saved her life, but it was his own bad judgement that got her in trouble in the first place.

Why was it that every plan he'd ever had led to a friend's pain? Andros searched his heart for an answer, but he couldn't find one.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Cassie leaned back, slowing the pink Galaxy Glider right before it crashed into the end of the hallway. Veering to the right, she turned the corner, and leaned forward again to accelerate.

She had never realized just how difficult it was to fly the glider with real precision, considering she usually had the limitless void of the spaceways to travel through.

She had finally reached the second deck, where the brig was located. After she flew into the docking bay and repressurized it so she could continue into the rest of the Megaship, the challenge began. Flying through hallways was nearly impossible, and stopping on a dime was even more so. The greatest difficulty was getting into a lift to get her onto the second deck, but she somehow managed. She was persistent enough, since her friend's life was on the line.

As she streaked through the empty halls, she noticed white smoke leaking through the vent. She gasped when she realized what it was.

"The purifying gas! Oh no, I'm out of time!"

Cassie was tempted to speed up, but considering how difficult controlling the glider was at a medium speed, steering at a higher speed would be nearly impossible.

"TJ!" she shouted into her communicator for what felt like the hundredth time, "TJ, answer me!!"

Her muscles tensing, she changed the frequency of her communicator, this time to page Andros' communicator.

^Andros here.^

"Andros, TJ's still not answering, and I can't find him! Can you pinpoint his location with the shuttle's sensors?"

^I'm on it, Cassie. Just a moment.^

Cassie continued streaking through empty halls as Andros busily located the missing Blue Ranger.

^He's down the hall from the brig, toward the lift.^ There was an unsettling pause. ^He's not moving.^

Cassie's jaw set, and she continued through the halls. The gas was quickly clouding her view, making it even more difficult to steer within the ship. Still, she didn't let that stop her.

After a little longer, she heard a distinctive groan from ahead.

"TJ!!" she cried as loudly as she could, "Is that you?!"

"Cassie," he answered weakly.

Cassie came to a stop, and jumped off her glider, letting it hover in the hallway. She found TJ leaning against a wall unsteadily.

"What happened to you?" she asked, throwing his arm over her shoulder to help him move quickly.

"After I released Elgar, he blindsided me," TJ admitted, rather sheepishly.

"Elgar got the jump on you?!" Cassie exclaimed in disbelief as the pair climbed onto the pink Galaxy Glider.

"Yeah. I know I'm never gonna live this down. I really didn't think he would turn on me seconds after I saved his life!"

"That's gratitude for you," Cassie remarked, "That's what you get for being a good Samaritan."

"No, that's why I'm a hero," he responded, "And believe it or not, I'm positive you would have done the same if you were in my situation. Wouldn't you?"

Cassie sighed inwardly. "I guess I would. But enough of that now. We've gotta get off this ship!"

Chapter Thirty-Five

Meanwhile, inside the Megaship, Astronema busily reverts her hair from it's brownish shade to her signature lavender color. Once she is done restyling her hair, she taps her foot impatiently.

"Oh, forget it," she muttered, rising to her feet, "Darkonda, prepare to send in some Quantrons. They'll find the Power Rangers, even though the scanners aren't working."

"Astronema," he said quietly, stepping away from his station with his eyes locked on a small vent in front of him, "something's not right with the air ventilation."

"What do you mean?" she asked, following his gaze. She puzzled over the white substance that was quickly filling the bridge.

"What..what