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

space-travellers. There is only one concentration of humans, and that's on Earth. My homeworld used to be populated, but now it is abandoned. I haven't found Karone, nor the remnant of Kerolians that escaped the massacre. I am alone."

Ashley lay a hand on Andros' shoulder, and smiled warmly at him. "You're not alone. You have the four of us, and your sister is out there somewhere. And so are other Kerolians. You just haven't found them yet."

That said, Ashley took a seat beside Andros, and turned to face him, her arms crossed. "So, how do you plan on figuring out who she is? I mean, you're looking for humans at this point, but billions of individuals fit that bill."

Andros nodded, and pulled the pendant from beneath his red turtleneck sweater. "Karone has the other half of this medallion. That will be the identifying mark. That is what I'm searching for."

"Have you ever thought of searching Earth?" Ashley asked, "I mean, what better place to hide a human than amongst other humans?"

Andros shook his head. "It makes no sense. Why would someone kidnap Karone, and drop her off on Earth? Besides, there are six billion humans. That number is quite difficult to narrow down."

"Well, maybe you can scan for telekinetic brain patterns or something," Ashley suggested, tapping her chin, "After all, in that recording, you and Karone were both using TK. Doesn't TK take a special skill, that therefore creates a readable difference in brain patterns?"

A small smile crept onto Andros' face. Ashley was surprised to see such a hopeful expression on the morbid leader. On occasion he smiled, most often in amusement. But this was a smile of hope, by far a brighter smile in comparison.

"Perhaps," Andros said, rising to his feet, "DECA, could you start readjusting the scan, to brain patterns? Specifically, activity in the occipital lobe?"

^Affirmative,^ the computer relayed, ^Adjustment will be complete in twenty-four hours.^

"Not too long to wait, if it'll find your sister," Ashley said, a satisfied grin on her face. Andros beamed at the Yellow Ranger.

"You're absolutely brilliant, Ashley!" Andros exclaimed, hurrying to the computer keyboard to study an image of what appeared to be a PET scan of a human brain. "You see, the bright color shows a great amount of activity in that portion of the brain. Telekinetics show increased activity in the occipital lobe. Its probably not enough for Earth technology to register, but DECA will be able to tell the difference."

Suddenly, alarms sounded throughout the bridge, nearly causing Ashley to fall out of her seat. She stood up quickly, and turned full circle. "One of these days, I'll get used to that," she muttered.

"Aye yi yi!" shrieked Alpha Five, hurrying onto the bridge, "We've got trouble! Astronema and a group of Quantrons are raiding the old Power Chamber site!"

"What?" said Ashley in surprise, "Astronema's here, in person?"

"What could they gain from the Power Chamber?" Andros asked the small robot, "Everything of value was destroyed when Divatox razed it weeks ago!"

"Knowing Astronema, she'll find some way to cause trouble," Ashley said, hurrying towards the chutes, "Let's Rocket!"

At first, Andros was surprised to hear his teammate call the battle cry, but he pushed it aside to deal with other matters. He hurried to his own chute, and turned to Alpha.

"Contact TJ, Cassie, and Carlos, and inform them of our trip to the Power Chamber," he said, "Tell them to back us up as soon as they can."

"You got it, Andros!" said Alpha, saluting. Andros and Ashley slid through the tubes, and were instantly morphed into the Yellow and Red Astro Rangers, atop their Galaxy Gliders. Together, they streaked towards Earth.
Chapter Four

Astronema stood atop the cliff, the strong winds of the mountains weaving through her golden brown hair. Her brown eyes kept watch as her Quantrons searched through the rubble of the Power Chamber. She tried hard to supress a maniacal laugh as her fingers wandered to the gold pendant around her neck.

This is too easy,

she reflected, The rangers will certainly feel violated, with us digging through their private property. And so, they'll show up. And the necklace will do all the talking. Of course, I'm not human, so any scans wouldn't give evidence. However, my body is so full of magical energy, any scan would be inconclusive. I can attribute this to my "abduction"

. And now that Darkonda has filled me in on exactly what happened that fateful day, only two other people know what really happened -- Andros, and the real Karone. If she's even alive.

Astronema snapped out of her reverie when she saw two streaks of light from over the horizon. Her excited grin quickly fell into a disappointed frown.

"Well, they don't think I'm enough of a threat to warrant a full-on attack?!" she shouted, her pride injured, "Well fine then!"

Astronema slipped the medallion beneath the collar of her black leather catsuit, and held her sceptor with both hands. A stream of lavender energy shot from the tip, slicing through the warm summer breeze, directly towards the rangers. Both rangers veered to opposite sides, allowing the blast to fly harmlessly past them. Then, the Yellow and Red Rangers leapt to the ground, and stood before the crowd of Quantrons.

"Doing your own dirty work, Astronema?" Andros asked, "Did Dark Spectre demote you?"

Astronema's frown deepened. "Witty reparte' doesn't suit you, Red Ranger," she spat, "You should leave that up to your overactive Earthling friends!"

With that, Astronema leapt to the ground, balancing her scepter with both hands. "Shall we dance?"

"Always a pleasure," Andros retorted, his Spiral Sabre appearing in his hand. The two seasoned warriors battled, as they had done dozens of times before. But this time, Andros noted a distinct difference between this battle and the previous ones. For one thing, Astronema seemed to be slightly off balance, as if she weren't fighting at her best. Also, her taste in hair and eye color disturbed him. Andros was accustomed to Astronema sporting a variety of colorful wigs, from electric blue to canary yellow. However, he was always convinced her natural color was purple. But now, her hair was such a natural shade of brown, with streaks of reddish gold, that it couldn't merely be a wig. Also, her eyes, which usually were bright fiery blue, were a soft brown, with traces of gray. It chilled Andros to the bone when he realized how similar those eyes were to those of his father. Or at least, what he remembered his father's eyes to be like.

"I see you've changed your hair again, Astronema," Andros commented, bending backwards to avoid a swing from her sceptor.

"I decided to go au natural," she responded, blocking Andros' retaliatory swing with her sceptor, "Its not as fun as lavender, but it'll have to do."

Meanwhile, as Ashley fought the dozen or so Quantrons that accompanied Astronema to Earth, she couldn't keep her eyes off the fight that took place only yards away. Although Ashley had never seen Astronema in person, she had seen images of her on the computer. Astronema was certainly humanoid, but her wild taste in bright wigs, glittery makeup, and her fiery blue eyes kept the beautiful villainess alien. However, this time Astronema looked too human for comfort. Her hair was normal, and it wasn't even adorned in some peculiar fashion. The glittery makeup was gone, leaving a pale complexion to shine. And her eyes looked soulful, as opposed to demonic or possessed. Ashley couldn't figure out what this sudden change in appearence meant, but she didn't have time to ponder it, as she discovered the Quantrons were fighting for keeps.

"Okay," she said, focusing on her own predicament, "the kid gloves are off! Star Slinger!!"

The yellow slingshot appeared at the Yellow Ranger's command, and she fired out bolts of bright energy at the Quantrons, showering the creatures with powerful radiation. She managed to keep them at bay, but she had difficulty destroying them. She felt a wave of relief as three bright streaks of light landed nearby, and took the shape of the Blue, Black, and Pink Rangers. The late-arriving rangers quickly came to the aid of the Yellow Ranger, and began cutting down the number of Quantrons.

"What took you guys so long?" Ashley inquired.

"We were in the middle of a conga line," Cassie answered.

Ashley giggled. "Man, am I glad I left early!"

It didn't take long before the Quantrons were all dust. The four rangers brushed the desert dust from their uniforms, and all glanced up at their leader, who was still involved in a heated duel with Astronema.

"Is that Astronema?" Carlos asked, "She doesn't look like the photo in her date file."

"That purple hairdo was a fashion no-no," Cassie commented.

"We should help Andros out," TJ said, stepping closer to the fight. But Ashley quickly grabbed the Blue Ranger's arm.

"You know how Andros is about receiving help," Ashley pointed out, "He'll think we thought he couldn't handle it himself."

TJ nodded grudgingly, and continued to act as a spectator. Up higher on the cliff, Astronema and Andros continued to clash weapons, slowly nearing the edge. Andros was quite surprised by the fact that the fight had dragged out for so long. Usually, after about five minutes of neither gaining the upper hand, Astronema would teleport away. Now that the Quantrons have all been destroyed, Andros was even more surprised that Astronema didn't make a tactical retreat. Still, he continued to fight his opponent, letting his warrior instinct lead his sword. He didn't want to think too hard at this moment.

Suddenly, a startled shriek passed through Astronema's lips, as she lost her footing and dropped her sceptor. She had slipped off the cliff, and had just barely managed to grab onto the edge, before plummeting to the rocky terrain below. She stared up at the Red Ranger, panic widening her brown eyes to the proportion of a scared child's.

"Andros!" she cried, her grip slipping, "Andros help me!! AAHHH!!"

Andros froze, dropping his Spiral Sabre in mute shock. He had never heard Astronema refer to him by his name, although he knew she was familiar with it. And her choice of words, along with her terrified, childlike expression, shook the Red Ranger to the core. In her moment of vulnerability and weakness, Astronema looked like a lost child. She couldn't have been more than eighteen years old. Why hadn't he seen that before?

"Hang on!" Andros shouted, as soon as he found his voice again. He tossed himself to the ground, and grabbed Astronema's arms with both his hands. His enhanced Power Ranger strength allowed him to pull her over the cliff safely. Astronema sprawled out on the sand, panting heavily. Andros himself remained at his knees, shaking his head in disbelief. The four other