Note: "The Last Thing On My Mind" is sung by Patty Loveless.

"You're getting better!" Delphinius' voice rang over the open fighter channel, his admiring tone mixed with just enough loftiness to be condescending.

"I was always better," she shot back, banking hard enough to make thruster lights come on all across her console. "You're just getting slower!"

"Slower!" His fighter streaked past, close enough that she could actually see the little craft through her canopy. "I'd like to see you catch me!"

The g-forces pressed her back into her harness as she accelerated. "Try not to hit anyone out here!" she taunted, dipping further into the atmosphere as she traded friction for distance.

"Try not to overload your engines!" he retorted. "I'd hate for you to have to eject!"

"It's the only thing that would keep you from losing!" She was gaining on him, but before she could even register what he was doing his fighter had flashed in front of hers and slipped behind, coming up on her tail with his laughter ringing in her ears.

Her eyes widened as he disappeared into her blind spot. She hadn't seen him cut his port thrusters to swing an impossible crescent arc through her flight path, and now she couldn't even see *him*. Every instrument she had said he had to be there, but he was riding in the one narrow cone of space where her thruster emissions masked the direct EM feed.

Until her scanners blipped and her thrusters sputtered briefly, and her fighter faltered. He shot by overhead, the crude slaving attempt having accomplished its purpose. It was an override code that only the squadron members had, and she glared after him as she poured on the speed in a futile attempt to catch up.

"That was unjustified!" she shouted, as though he would care.

"I know!" His fighter vanished off her nearscan, and she knew she had just lost. It didn't deter her pursuit, but she wouldn't catch him now.

She scrambled out of her starfighter as quickly as she could, but long experience had given him a speed that she might never match. He was waiting for her by the launch bay's waterlock, a smirk on his face as he leaned casually against the wall.

"Not bad," he offered, by way of greeting. The words were more than insolent enough to be annoying, especially after his earlier performance.

"It would have been better if you hadn't sabotaged my nav computer!"

He shrugged, not bothering to disguise his grin. "No lasting effects."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "You wouldn't have done it to anyone else," she said, acknowledging the petty rivalry that still lingered on the fringes of their friendship.

He didn't look any less self-satisfied, but she didn't miss the flicker of honest respect in his eyes when he replied, "I wouldn't have had to do it to anyone else."

She gave him a considering look before she said seriously, "It's a pity you won't be the first back to control to announce your victory."

She saw him tense as the meaning behind her words registered, but she sprang through the waterlock before he could move. The ocean welcomed her back, buoying her up as she arrowed through the launch bay's narrow exit corridor. She could feel the currents that meant Delphinius was right behind her, and as she shot out the other end she twisted with a flick of her wrist and slammed the quarantine seal into place.

She heard his indignant exclamation as she pushed off again, drawing out her glide as long as she could. The field wouldn't hold him long, and she stretched her arms and ankles to their limit as she darted for the Ranger dome. He would pay for that override yet.

She was lounging against the comm console when he arrived, a smug smile on her face for his breathlessness. She was deliberately mimicking his stance in the launch bay, and she could tell from his expression that he knew it.

Cetaci glanced in his direction as he entered, giving him an arch look. "Quarantine seals malfunctioning again?"

"They are now," he replied wryly. "Someone should take care of that."

Cetaci's gaze slid toward hers, a small smile on her face. "I've already notified the appropriate maintenance personnel."

"I don't think it should be their job," Delphinius grumbled, not missing either the glance or its significance.

"No," Cetaci agreed readily. "Logically, it should be the job of the person who broke it."

He folded his arms and shot the White Ranger a good-natured glare. "Are we going to dinner, or are you going to stand there and mock me all evening?"

"The one does not preclude the other," she informed him, stepping away from the tactical grid. "Will you join us, Aura?"

"I'll wait for the others," she said quickly. The invitation was well meant, and, she had no doubt, completely sincere. But it was Cetaci's invitation. Delphinius would find something worse than a computer malfunction to inflict upon her if she took the other Ranger up on it.

"Billy's on his way back from the zord bay," Cetaci offered. "Cestria is already in the mess hall."

She inclined her head in thanks, and Cetaci smiled before turning to step through the door Delphinius waved open for her.

"Canthris wants to talk to you," Billy said, setting his tray down next to her. "Something about the interface; she wouldn't let me check it out."

"I apologize for her attitude." She watched Billy swing his chair around to lean over the back before pulling his plate closer. "I'm afraid she has been more intractable than usual lately."

"With her, who can tell?" Billy seemed to take it in good humor, though a zord holding out for her own Ranger was less than polite at best. "So how did it go with the Coordinator?"

She exchanged glances with Cestria, who shrugged minutely. "He is under a good deal of pressure," Cestria offered. "It is not surprising that he was not at his most diplomatic."

She stabbed at her meal with slightly more force than necessary, ignoring the looks they shot in her direction. "I did not appreciate his remark about radical minorities," she declared, to no one in particular. "No matter what pressure he is under."

"It was directed at the environmental lobbyists," Cestria pointed out. "They are, after all, becoming rather more audacious in their requests."

"'Demands' is more like it," Billy put in. "You should have seen the things they were asking about the zords. It's not like we haven't run those tests a dozen times before."

She tried to control her irritation at the reminder that the others had had their own difficulties to cope with. "Perhaps next time you will remember to take offense early on," she said, managing a wry smile as she reached for her drink. "So as to acquire your own invitation to leave."

Billy grinned at that. "So that's how you got out of it. I'll try to keep that in mind. What did Delphinius do to get himself expelled?"

She caught Cestria's eye again and found the other's gaze alight with suppressed laughter. She set her drink down with a deliberately casual shrug. "He mentioned the paraplay adoption center in Cetaci's presence."

"I think this one is already clean," Cestria remarked, making as if to shelve the tray.

"Very funny." Billy took it away from her and put it in the cycler, sliding hers and Aura's in on either side. "Some of us didn't have an elaborate lunch with the Citydome Coordinator, you know."

She put her elbows on the counter and leaned on them, smiling as she watched the two tease each other. She could think of few couples more unlikely than this one; the technical genius from a less advanced world and the spiritual keeper of Aquitar's oldest falls. Yet their smiles shone with as much happiness--

They were very happy. Her train of thought stopped there, and she gave Billy an inquiring look as he waved a hand in her direction. "Still with us?" the Blue Ranger wanted to know.

"Do you see me standing here?" she responded, though she was used to his colloquialisms by now.

He shrugged, not bothering to explain. He knew she knew. "Just checking."

"Will you go diving this evening?" Cestria asked, putting a hand on Billy's shoulder as she stepped around him. "The teleost migration is supposed to peak tonight."

"I had planned to," she agreed. "You sound as though you mean to go as well."

Cestria nodded. "We're going to take a Ranger diver up to the northern current as soon as we change."

She wanted to get out of her uniform first too. "I'll meet you in a quarter outside the diver bay, then."

"I think you're too close," she gestured silently, pointing through the forward port.

Billy dismissed her concern with a wave of his hand. "They can pull up," he gestured. "There's plenty of room on the other side."

"Unless someone else decides the same thing." Cestria drifted closer, her fingers moving deliberately to emphasize her words. "You're too used to teleportation, Billy; move over and leave them some space."

He made a show of reluctance, but he released the stabilizer without another word. The diver floated freely for a moment before he re-engaged it. "Better?"

Cestria made a gesture of agreement as she triggered the waterlock. With the pressure on either side already equalized, it swirled open immediately and the Yellow Ranger slid through. Billy waved her ahead of him, and she gave him a smile as she followed Cestria.

They headed for the current together, swimming slowly through the gathered onlookers. The phosphorescence shone tonight, disturbed by the curious as much as the teleosts and set to shimmering in the waning moonlight. Cestria and Billy gestured back and forth as they made their way forward, drawing a few glances for the unorthodox method of communication until someone saw Billy's breather.

He wasn't the only offworlder present by far; she saw several other breathers, and many of them were doing the best they could to improvise gestures. It was one of the only practical methods for those without water-adapted speech, as Billy had long since discovered.

Even among Aquitians, gesturing was not unheard of. The system had been extremely popular while she was in school, and she and most of her friends had been fluent in the local vernacular. Cestria had apparently picked it up around the same time, though obviously for different reasons.

As they drew closer to the current Billy grabbed one of Cestria's hands to "quiet" her, and she smiled at the easy familiarity of the action.

The current was teeming with teleosts of kaleidoscopic variety, spilling past and around the swimmers in ever-shifting patterns. The rainbow light was muted by night up at the surface and washed out by phosphorescence below, but scales still glittered and flashed as the migratory animals darted by.

Occupied by thousands of perpetually moving organisms, the flow was faster than usual and stronger than they had expected. There was nothing unsafe about it--there were already people out there--but Billy was reluctant to test his weaker than normal swimming ability and Cestria opted to remain an observer with him.

Were they all on equal footing, the polite thing for her to do would have been to stay with her friends. But she was the "odd one out" this time, as Billy had so often described himself, and she had no qualms about diving alone.

They were hand in hand again as she turned to go, so she told them not to wait. Cestria gave her an anxious look at that, but there was no real reason for her to come all the way back just to intrude on their time together. The northern current would take her more than halfway back to the Ranger dome, and she had only intended to dive once anyway.

She didn't analyze her desire to leave further than that, but she could tell from Cestria's expression that the other Ranger was doing it for her.

Giving in to the eddies that tugged her closer and closer to the current, she slid away. The water drew her in and caught her up, the whisper in her ears growing into a roar as she let it carry her toward the fastest part of the flow. She stretched her arms out and smoothed her joints to mimic the teleosts that spun and whirled all around her, joining her in the ocean's endless dance as it carried her away.

The lift door opened onto an empty control room. It was a situation that was not uncommon of late, and she did not object to it now. As she made her way toward the Ranger quarters, though, she heard a noise from the other hallway and she paused automatically to listen.

Someone was in the mess hall, she realized after a moment. Cetaci and Delphinius, presumably, since there was no one else with control level access in the dome right now. With all of the doors locked open their conversation wasn't difficult to overhear, but she would have kept going if she hadn't heard her name.

"She wouldn't have told him," Cetaci was saying. "She doesn't think that way."

"So?" Delphinius didn't sound impressed. "He should have asked. The first thing I found out about you--well, other than your name and where you lived--was how many old boyfriends I'd have to hunt down and eliminate."

There was a pause and the sound of a scuffle, and she heard Cetaci laugh. She didn't move, almost forgetting to breathe as she waited for the conversation to continue--she dreaded knowing what they were talking about, yet she was afraid she already did.

"Maybe it's different on Earth," Cetaci said at last. "We should ask Billy."

"I still don't see why it matters." Delphinius sounded a little exasperated. "Cen doesn't have anything to do with Carlos. She was over him years ago."

Suddenly unable to swallow, she stepped out of the control room and unlocked the doors behind her. They slid closed, muffling the conversation sufficiently that she could pretend it wasn't taking place. She headed for her room with a single-minded determination that didn't quite keep tears from welling up in her eyes.

*I don't rate a visit tonight?*

Canthris' petulant tone made her smile despite the emotions raging within her, but she shook her head vehemently. *I'm not walking through the control room again.*

The petulance fell away and Canthris sounded instantly concerned. *What happened? Are you all right?*

Lying on her stomach, she folded her arms in front of her and rested her forehead on them. *They were talking about me!* she wailed silently, feeling hot tears start to sting her eyelids again.

*Who?* Canthris demanded. *Send them down here! I'll take care of them!*

She couldn't help giggling through her tears, and knowing that the zord was completely serious only made it better. *Cetaci and Delphinius,* she admitted reluctantly, turning her head to the side to rub her eyes. *They... they think I broke up with Carlos because of Cen.*

*Oh, please!* Canthris sounded downright disgusted. *Those two are the last people in the universe who should be psychoanalyzing someone else's relationship.* She paused, then added frankly, *Did you?*

*No!* She swallowed, resting her head on her arms again. *I don't know... I wasn't a psych healer. I don't want to think about it. And I definitely don't want them talking about it.*

*Don't listen to them,* Canthris said firmly. *You need some sleep. Come find me as soon as you get up. We need to do something about this interface anyway; we'll take a sunflight and get away from everything for a while.*

She managed a small smile that she knew Canthris couldn't see. *I will,* she said softly. *Thanks, Canthris.*

*Anytime, Ranger mine,* the zord replied. *Sweet dreams.*

The soft red camisole clung to her skin as she turned out the lights. She shook her just-brushed hair over her shoulders as she climbed into bed, reaching blindly for the charm she kept on the slight edge below the window. It hadn't seen the light of day for more than a week now, but she unfastened the clasp in the darkness and slid the silver chain around her neck.

As she lay down, she pulled the covers up over her shoulder and curled around her pillow. She wrapped her fingers around the mermaid necklace as she closed her eyes.