The Aquitian megazord hunkered low inside the cavernous zord bay. Its size still dwarfed the individual Turbo zords nestled in their berths along the far wall, and it towered over the more compact form of the Megaship as the Kerovan Rangers' battleship continued to recuperate in the safety of the Power Chamber.

*click*

Outside, the Delta Sun had set down some distance from the bay doors, its imposing black and silver exterior silhouetted against the afternoon sky. Although the zord bay could be completely sealed off from the outside world, the main doors had been left cracked open to allow for the movement of fresh air within the bay. The leader of the Elisian Rangers stood on the threshold, staring out at his ship or off into the distance--it was hard to tell with his inscrutable expression.

*click*

Cassie Chan was making her way across the floor of the bay toward the doors, though where exactly she had come from it was impossible to say. The Red Ranger turned his head as she laid one hand lightly on his back, and she lifted her face toward his. He slid an arm around her shoulders and drew her closer, seeming more complete somehow as the both of them gazed out at the desert together.

*click*

Two of the other Elisians emerged from the Kerovan Megaship, arguing heatedly. Their words were indistinguishable, but they drew the attention of one of their teammates working on the exterior. The Yellow Elisian Ranger watched their progress with evident amusement on his face, and only when it was clear they were too absorbed in each other to notice him did he shout down to them. The two on the ramp broke off, looking up with twin expressions of surprise on their faces.

*click*

A shriek of laughter pierced the low-level maintenance noise, announcing a Kerovan Ranger who seemed anything but disheartened by recent events. The only Kerovan without a Ranger insignia on his sleeve was carrying her piggyback, swinging her around with serious disregard for dignity or, apparently, anything but her entertainment. The two were irrepressible, much to the amusement of everyone out on the floor, and they weren't making any effort to hide it.

*click*

One of their teammates came around the corner of the Megaship at exactly that moment. He stopped, no expression on his face, and a moment later he turned around and vanished back the way he had come. Someone stood to go after him, but her teammate caught her arm. They gazed at each other for a long moment, no words passing between them, and finally the two Kerovan girls laid their hands over each other's hearts, sharing a smile that was clearly between the two of them alone.

*click*

Laura was standing down beside one of the Aquitian Megazord's "feet", comparing notes with the fire-haired Elisian Ranger. They were so engrossed that they didn't seem to notice Justin's approach until the Turbo Ranger took the electronic pad out of Laura's hand and replaced it with a new one. When she looked up in surprise he just grinned, waving the old pad in a reproving gesture.

*click*

Closer by, sitting on the edge of the upper framework, Carlos looked lost in thought. He stared out across the zord bay as though he was watching the activity but not really taking any of it in. He turned abruptly when one of the Aquitian Rangers stuck her head out of the access hatch behind him, and he smiled when he saw who it was. He didn't speak loudly enough to be overheard, but he pulled his hair back into a ponytail with one hand and gestured at her. She climbed up beside him, at the same time giving him a look so skeptical that he laughed.

*click*

There were several faces missing, but closer inspection revealed that the observation deck wasn't as deserted as it might appear from the ground. A flash of red on the far wall, just above the Turbo zord berths, revealed Matt's location. And there, as far from the edge of the deck as they could get and almost hidden by the equipment stored on the upper levels, were the two Rangers who seemed to have set in motion every controversial aspect that could be generated with regard to the alternate dimension.

Ashley sat cross-legged, leaning back against one of the metal struts. Andros sat across from her, his back to a storage crate and his legs stretched out in front of him. He seemed to be listening intently to whatever she was saying, though it was difficult to be certain that his attentive stare was due entirely to her words.

*click*

"TJ Carter!"

Damn. He wasn't going to escape as cleanly as he had hoped.

"What do you think you're doing?" Ashley demanded, stopping him in his tracks.

He turned around, a sheepish expression on his face. "Taking pictures?" he offered, hoping she didn't think he'd been eavesdropping. He honestly hadn't overheard a thing she'd said, though by the look on her face, that was exactly what she was afraid of.

"Pictures?" she repeated incredulously. "You've got to be kidding me."

"No--" He held the digital camera up as evidence. "Justin gave me this camera, and--"

"TJ, we can't let you take pictures," Ashley interrupted. "You must know that."

"Too late," he responded, unable to resist.

She grabbed for the camera and he only barely pulled it out of her reach in time.

"I swear I won't do anything terrible with them," he protested. "I just want to remember today, you know? You'll be here again tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that. But I'll be back in Sanborn. I'm never going to see this place again."

She hesitated, looking a little less irritated.

"I promise," he repeated. "They're all digital, and Justin encrypted them with some sort of nasty... thing. He says the file will corrupt if I try to send them anywhere, and they can only be printed out once, so it's not like there'll be a million copies of them floating around."

Ashley just looked at him for a moment. "I suppose," she said at last, her tone almost conversational, "he also told you that if any of those pictures ever show up *anywhere*, we'll find you and we'll kill you."

TJ cleared his throat. "He didn't mention the killing part, no."

"Well, I am," Ashley said firmly. "I never want to see any of whatever pictures you have again. Got it?"

"Scouts' honor," he agreed, holding up two fingers.

She smiled a little. "Good. Because I just had an idea."

"You're such a cheat!" Ashley shouted, and he grinned.

"You always say that when I'm ahead," he called back, skidding around a corner and putting one hand out to steady himself against the wall. The opening was just what Ashley had been waiting for, and she slid past him as he tried to regain his balance.

"That's because you never win fairly!" she retorted over her shoulder, laughing at his predicament.

He pushed away from the wall and took off after her, skate wheels making a hollow rolling sound on the metal deck as they raced toward the Bridge. She was too far ahead and he knew it, but he wasn't about to give up.

Ashley let out a triumphant whoop as she flew through the Bridge doors, spinning one of the chairs around and dragging her skate behind her to stop. "I win! I win anyway!"

Despite Ashley's claims, he wasn't such a bad speed skater. But if there was one thing Andros couldn't do to save his life it was stop, and he caught the second row of consoles in the stomach as he slammed into the Bridge behind her.

"Are you okay?" Ashley asked, her concern failing to mask her giggles. "It's not tackle football, Andros; it's not supposed to be a full-contact sport."

He dropped into the chair by the auxiliary bank of consoles, struggling to catch his breath. "I'm--fine," he gasped, not bothering to wave her away when she came over to make sure. "No thanks--to you," he added with a grin when she started to laugh again.

"Oh, Andros," she said, shaking her head helplessly. "You're just so--"

He reached up and caught her wrist, tugging just hard enough to get her offbalance so he could pull her into his lap. "So what?" he demanded, breathing a little easier now.

"Incoming transmission," DECA interjected before she could reply.

Ashley looked up, a small frown on her face. "From who, DECA?"

There was a brief pause. "Unknown," DECA admitted at last.

They exchanged glances, their merriment somewhat subdued. "Let's hear it," Andros said finally, helping Ashley struggle to her feet. He stood too, taking a place beside her and looking at the main screen expectantly.

Nothing happened.

Just as he was about to ask DECA where the transmission was, she told him, "There is no audio component to the transmission. It is only a single visual image."

Andros looked at Ashley again, but she looked as puzzled as he felt. "All right," Andros agreed after a moment. "Let's see it, then."

This time the screen came to life--at least, still life--and an unfamiliar image replaced the gently rotating view of Earth. It was a 2D representation, something that Ashley would call a photograph, showing a group of Rangers that--

"It's us!" Ashley was staring at the screen in amazement. "But--" She frowned again. "But it isn't, exactly."

"No," he said slowly. He was in the picture, standing in the back row with an arm around Ashley and--

He swallowed hard, not taking his eyes off the screen. That was Kerone standing there next to him, leaning back against Zhane with her hand on Andros' shoulder as though the three of them had never been apart. And in front of them were three people he hadn't seen since he was ten years old, three people he hadn't called teammates in years and had barely thought about since.

"We're all in our Turbo colors," Ashley realized, breaking into his reverie. "Except Cassie. That's the Turbo symbol we all have on our jackets. And Carlos' is green instead of black."

"Yeah," he said hollowly, still staring at the smiling group of grey uniforms. Kerone was wearing yellow, with a barely visible "2" embroidered over the double-planet insignia on her chest. Zhane was the only one not in uniform, and suddenly it dawned on him what they were seeing. "It's the other dimension."

"What?" Ashley looked a little worried when she glanced over at him. He obviously wasn't hiding his reaction as well as he'd thought.

"When we went through the gateway," he said, tearing his eyes away from Kerone long enough to glance at the other people in the photograph. "Cassie said she was with Saryn, and TJ said he had never been a Ranger. I saw--" He almost stumbled over her name, and he quickly changed what he had been about to say. "A different Astro team. But I didn't... I didn't know you..."

He couldn't stop staring at the picture on the screen, remembering the contented loneliness of that vision. He had been happy--or maybe he just hadn't been sad, for despite the lack of despair in his life he hadn't felt happiness half as intensely as he felt it here and now.

Yet... now... there was Ashley, beside him, his arms around her and Zhane with Andros' sister and Second at his side.

"Are you okay?" Ashley asked quietly.

"Yeah," he said, trying to pull himself together. "Yeah, I'm all right; it's just... weird, I guess." What he wouldn't give to know what that other Andros felt now...

"Really weird," Ashley agreed, obviously not convinced. "So is this the place you saw? Or is someone completely random sending us pictures? And where did this *come* from, anyway?"

"The signal does appear to be interdimensional in origin," DECA told them. "I can't trace it farther than that."

Ashley was alternating between studying him and the image on the screen. "Dimitria?" she suggested, a little doubtfully. "That looks like the old zord bay, in the Power Chamber. But why are we still there? And where did all those people come from?"

His team. That was the team that would have been, had KO-35 not been attacked. And the rest of the Border... His gaze slid toward Saryn, standing tall and proud behind a team that *had* been--and was now lost forever. He had been wishing for something he had never known, while Saryn had experienced with painful clarity exactly what was missing from his life.

"Andros?" Ashley prompted. "Still with me?"

"I don't think we should show the others," he said abruptly.

She gave him an odd look. "What? Why not?"

He shrugged uncomfortably. For a moment, he wasn't sure how to explain--but then, with a flash of insight, he understood. "They saw us," he said aloud. "You asked where all those people came from--they must have gone looking for each other. Cassie, Saryn, TJ, and me: our doubles all went looking for the people they saw here when we switched places, and they sent us this to let us know that they found each other."

Ashley looked from him to the screen and back again. "You know that sounds completely crazy, right?"

He looked at her in surprise. "Does it?"

She shook her head, amusement plain on her face. "Just checking. So why shouldn't we show it to the others, again?"

He gestured at the screen. "Look how much we changed their lives, without even meaning to. What would everyone here think, if they saw all of them?"

"You think it would change *our* lives?" Ashley thought about that for a moment. "But if it changed them to be more like us, how could seeing them change us too?"

He just stared at her.

"Don't give me the Look," Ashley said, a half-smile on her face. "What did I say?"

"Look at the picture again," he told her, not sure how else to say it. "They're different than they were, sure, but do they really look like us?"

She considered the screen, at first as though she was humoring him and then with a closer scrutiny. "That's--is that... your sister? Next to you, with Zhane?"

He nodded wordlessly, unable to reply.

She glanced at him before looking back at the screen. "So there's Kerone... who's that next to Carlos? It looks like--"

"Aura," Andros supplied, when she hesitated. "That's definitely Aura. She's the only Aquitian in the picture, though, and I have no idea what that means. Plus, look at your own team. Who are those people in red and pink? Are you sure TJ and Cassie wouldn't want to go looking for *them*?"

"No," she said slowly. "That's true. But if they're on our team, and the people in front of you and Zhane are on your team, then who--" She stopped suddenly, giving him a wide-eyed look. "Oh."

"Yeah," he agreed. Even four years later, he could remember their faces well enough to know who he was seeing. "I'm not sure Saryn needs to be reminded of them right now."

She frowned thoughtfully, returning to her contemplation of the picture. "Maybe you're right," she said at last.

"DECA," he said. "Save this transmission to the terminal in my room, please, and erase it from the Bridge logs."

"Wait--I want a copy too," Ashley informed him. "I'm not forgetting this that easily."

"Forgetting what?" he asked, surprised.

"That you traveled all the way across the League just to find me," she replied with a smile. "You didn't even know me, Andros. That was pretty cool."

He felt a return smile spread across his face. "I'd travel across the whole universe for you," he told her. "In any dimension."