He slid his ID through the card reader and the lock clicked open. It would only admit Jeff for another 24 hours--as soon as graduation was over he would be locked out for the summer. He had already moved most of his stuff home, but his tuition had paid for one more unsupervised night and he was going to take advantage of it.

At least, he was if he ever found his car keys. He couldn't for the life of him remember where he had put them last, and he had already searched his pockets, backpack, and room at home. That left only his dorm room, which barely had enough stuff in it to hide keys, and the Megaship.

He checked his room despite his doubts, but came up as empty as he had expected. Could he really have left them on the Megaship? He'd gone up that morning to give DECA her thank-you present for helping him with chem, and he thought his keys had been in his pocket then...

Jeff patted the pockets of his jean jacket for the tenth time, but his keys hadn't mysteriously appeared there yet. He sighed, reaching for the gold band on his wrist. It seemed there was nothing for it but to go check.

"DECA?" he asked, triggering the borrowed communicator. "It's Jeff."

"Acknowledged," DECA's voice came back promptly.

"You're not going to believe this," he said, feeling more than a little sheepish. "I can't find my car keys. I don't suppose you've seen them?"

"Your keys are in Ashley's room." DECA sounded almost amused. "She picked them up after you dropped them in the holding bay this morning."

He didn't know whether to be relieved or indignant. "She couldn't have mentioned that earlier? Why do I have a sister?"

"I believe Ashley was somewhat distracted today," DECA reminded him. "Do you wish to retrieve them yourself?"

"Right, the prom..." His little sister had gone to a whole new extreme of shopping to get ready. He supposed he should be grateful that she'd had the presence of mind to pick up his keys at all. "Yeah, that'd be great, DECA. Thanks."

He barely had time to brace himself before the world went white. Teleporting had to be one of the strangest sensations he had ever experienced, and sometimes he wondered how his sister and her friends could do it over and over again. There was nothing more disconcerting than having everything change with a single flash of light.

He shook off the disorientation as he headed out of the holding bay. It got a little easier every time, but it was still there. Now if he could just remember which deck their rooms were on...

It turned out that he didn't need to. As soon as he stepped into the lift, the door slid shut and the lift started upwards. He smiled ruefully and glanced around, knowing she would hear him. "Thanks, DECA."

"You're welcome," the Megaship's computer replied.

When the lift came to a halt and let him out, he was mildly surprised to find Zhane waiting for him. Zhane looked a little startled too, but the Silver Ranger recovered quickly enough. "Hey, Jeff," he said with an easy smile. "I thought I'd be the only one on the Megaship tonight."

"I won't be in your way long," Jeff promised. "I'm just looking for my car keys."

"Oh, Ash left them in her room," Zhane told him.

Jeff let out an exasperated sigh. "How come everyone but me knew where they were all this time?"

Zhane grinned unrepentantly. "Just lucky, Cassie would say."

Without warning, DECA announced, "Alert: the Psycho Rangers have been detected near Angel Grove."

The interruption was so calm that it took Jeff a moment to comprehend what she was saying. By then Zhane had brushed past him and into the lift, turning to catch Jeff's eye before the door could close. "You'd better stay here," he said, as serious as Jeff had ever heard him. "Deck six."

The door closed and he was gone, leaving Jeff to stare after him as his brain tried to catch up. Just like that? There were Psycho Rangers, Zhane was going to stop them, and that was it? Did Ashley answer alerts that nonchalantly?

"DECA?" he asked, glancing up at her camera uncertainly. "What's going on?"

"The Psycho Rangers have been detected near Angel Grove," DECA repeated.

He waited, but she didn't elaborate. "What does that mean?"

The camera tilted slightly, and he got the impression that she was looking down at him. It was a bit disconcerting, but she must have decided to take pity on him. "The Psycho Rangers are in close proximity to the majority of the Astro Rangers," she told him. "The fact that they register on scanners indicates that they are probably engaged in battle; I have been unable to detect them under any other circumstance. Zhane has gone to assist them."

"And--that's it?" He couldn't help being taken aback. "'They're fighting, good luck, see you when you get back'?"

DECA's camera blinked at him. "They have fought the Psycho Rangers before," she pointed out. "And numerous other villains before them. The situation is not without precedent."

He was too distracted to be amused by her wry humor. "So you just have to sit here and wait to see what happens?"

"I am in contact with Zhane," she informed him. "But yes, I believe you have accurately assessed the situation. My role in planetary conflicts is that of backup armament and safe haven. I was built to do battle in space."

"Yeah," he muttered, frowning. He knew how often the Rangers fought, but to actually be on the ship while it was happening was somehow different. "I guess."

"It is not a role I particularly enjoy," she added, and he looked up in surprise.

"No," he agreed, regarding her thoughtfully. "It wouldn't be... I just never really thought about it until now."

"Zhane was correct when he advised you to stay here," DECA told him. "However, if you wish to observe from the--"

She stopped, and Jeff glanced back at her camera. It was dark. He frowned. "DECA?"

She didn't answer. He'd never seen her do that before, and he found himself at a loss. For lack of anything better to do, he figured he might as well get his keys while DECA did whatever she was doing. Luckily Ashley's friends had color coded their doors with little star stickers, so he didn't have any trouble finding the right one.

As soon as he stepped into his sister's room, though, her computer screen caught his attention. It was flashing bright red, illuminating the darkened room with a flickering crimson glow. There were two words superimposed over the screen: "Intruder Alert".

He backed up without thinking, hearing the door slide open behind him in the eerie quiet. He spun, half expecting someone to be standing there in the hallway, but it was as empty as he had left it. He looked over his shoulder anyway, and the screen kept flashing at him.

"DECA?" he tried again, looking up at one of her cameras hopefully.

The camera was still dark, and there was no more answer than he'd gotten before. It looked like he was really on his own. He grimaced at the sound of a soft "meow" from somewhere behind him, and he moved quickly to let the door close. Alone except for Ashley's kittens, and he definitely didn't need them getting out right now.

"All right, Jeff," he muttered aloud. "Think. You're stuck on the Megaship with an unwelcome guest who's somehow managed to shut the computer down. That's bad. Very bad."

And that observation, he decided, while true, was also unhelpful in the extreme. Was this the part where he was supposed to figure out what the intruder wanted and how to keep them from getting it? That was what a Ranger would do, after all.

"I am *not* a Ranger," he reminded himself. As though he could forget. He knew next to nothing about this ship, and even less about what to do in an emergency.

Thus the logical thing to do would be to find someone who did. He rolled his eyes at that thought. Well, duh, as Ashley would say.

He reached for his communicator, then hesitated. If the Rangers were fighting, the last thing they needed was him interrupting. On the other hand, if DECA couldn't tell them there was something wrong on the Megaship, someone else had to.

He sighed, glancing up at DECA's darkened camera again. What it came down to was that they really needed DECA. Even if he knew what to do, he wouldn't be able to do anything without her. But if he couldn't--

The Bridge. Ashley had said there was a manual interface on the Bridge. That was where the infamous "mute" button was. If he could get there, maybe he could reach DECA somehow. If that failed, there would be nothing for it but to call one of the Rangers.

The lift door slid open for him, and he wondered exactly how many of the Megaship's functions were automated. It looked like he was about to find out. "Deck six," he said aloud.

Nothing happened.

He sighed. He had considered himself lucky to remember the deck number for the Bridge at all--it was the deck he was on the most, so maybe it wasn't that surprising. But apparently DECA controlled far more than he'd realized.

Only then did he notice the keypad by the door. On closer inspection, he started grinning. So DECA didn't control everything. Maybe she only responded to voice commands out of courtesy. Well, he could push buttons with the best of them.

The lift hummed to life at last, and the door opened onto the Bridge a moment later. He frowned, surprised. He'd ridden that same lift several times, and he'd thought it opened farther down the hall. Not that he was complaining...

The Bridge was more disconcerting than Ashley's room. It was well lit, but every single screen was throbbing simultaneously, flashing the words "Intruder Alert" everywhere he looked. He wondered why there was no sound--it seemed like the perfect time for a siren of some sort.

He shook his head. Too much Star Trek. All right, so how did a manual interface work? What *was* a manual interface? He stared down at it, wishing he had paid more attention while TJ was bragging about his practical jokes.

Did he dare risk poking at it? Deciding he had little to lose at this point, he figured he might as well give it a shot. The first two buttons chimed when he touched them, but the third made no noise at all. He slid his finger along the lit bar at the top of the console, and something that looked suspiciously like a palmprint appeared to the left of the controls.

He stared at it for just a moment, then shrugged inwardly. He lifted his left hand and placed it on the glowing palmprint.

If teleporting was bizarre and disorienting, this was infinitely more so. The world rushed past him in a dizzying rush of color and sound, leaving nothing but the impression of movement--fast movement. If there had been anything to grab hold of, he would have done it, but instead he was left to stumble when the rush of motion ceased a second later, dropping him in the midst of a vast expanse of... nothingness.

At least, the place where he found himself bore a vague resemblance to the concept he thought of as "nothingness". Never having experienced it firsthand, he couldn't say for sure what such a thing would look like. But this particular void was doing an awfully good job of imitating it.

"Hello?" he called, wondering if that was as silly a thing to say as he thought it was. "Is anybody here?"

Of course there was no one here. He could see that for himself. He turned in a circle, just to make sure, but the emptiness remained just that--empty.

"I'm breathing," he realized suddenly. The thought was odd enough that he spoke aloud, and he frowned. So there was air. And there was light, since he didn't seem to be in darkness. But there was precious little else.

Until he felt something pointed and not particularly friendly press against his back. "Password," DECA's voice said curtly.

He opened his mouth to reply before his logic got the better of him. "Why should I give you my password? You're as likely to be a Psycho Ranger as I am."

"One, I have no password," DECA informed him. "Two, I'm holding the weapon."

He raised his eyebrows. "Those are good reasons," he admitted. "How about I give you my password and you give me Ashley's?"

There was no perceptible hesitation. "That is acceptable."

"Juu," he said, taking a step forward and turning around.

DECA lowered something that looked a little too much like an astroblaster for his comfort. "Shi," she answered, studying him. "You realize, of course, that the moment Psycho Pink gains access to my memory logs those codes will be invalid."

"Psycho Pink?" he repeated. "Why her?"

"Because the others are still on Earth. Psycho Pink piggybacked Zhane's transmission from the surface, locking me out of the main processor and putting the entire ship on standby."

"So she's in control of the ship?" Jeff asked.

DECA gave him a look he had seen several times during his study sessions with her. It was the I-can't-believe-you-just-asked-that look, and she was extremely good at it. "No," she said, speaking slowly as though that would help him to understand. "If she were in control, the ship would not be on standby. It would be under her control."

"Right," he said quickly. "I got it. So what do we do? And where are we, anyway?"

"Inside the neural net," she answered. "We can't stay in one place too long; she's looking for me, and she's getting closer."

"Why?" Jeff asked, following her as she started to move purposefully through the emptiness. "How can you tell?"

"Because now that the mainframe has been locked down, she can't get into it either. She'll need time and my codes to get the processor open again, and I have no intention of giving her either one."

She turned her head, veering a bit to the left, and added, "I can tell where she is via the datastream. Unfortunately, she has the same access, and there aren't many places in the net that are cut off from it."

"I take it this isn't one of them," Jeff said, wondering where they could possibly be going. "What's the datastream?"

She glanced over her shoulder, giving him the look again. "You can't see it," she said flatly, making the words more a statement than a question.

He looked around. "There's nothing here. Should I be seeing something?"

"Never mind," she muttered. She sounded very human at that moment. "It's probably too complex for your mind to process."

"Hey," he objected indignantly, but a door opened right in front of them before he could form a more articulate protest. DECA walked calmly through it as though it had been there all along, and he stared after her. "Where did that come from?"

She paused long enough to return his stare from the other side of the threshold. "Follow me or return to the Bridge," she informed him. "It's your choice, but I cannot be responsible for your welfare if you don't accompany me."

"You're not responsible for my welfare either way," he retorted, following her through the door. "But I'm coming with you."

They were standing in one of the Megaship's endless curving hallways, not far from three people Jeff had never seen before in his life. The three didn't acknowledge them in any way, seemingly absorbed in their conversation with each other. DECA ignored them as well, turning right to follow the corridor toward some unknown destination.

"How did we get back here?" Jeff demanded, frowning at the people as they passed. "Who are they?"

"Ship's logs," DECA said over her shoulder. "This part of the neural net is much more structured; I'm not surprised that you are able to perceive it."

"Memory banks, you mean?" Jeff guessed, trying not to take that last part personally. "This is stuff that's already happened?"

A group of people came around the corner, huddled and ragged looking, and he turned to watch as they hurried off in the other direction. "Who were they?"

"Evacuees," DECA answered. Her voice drifted back to him, and he lengthened his stride in an effort to catch up. "Some of these files are personal; I will have to ask you not to mention the things you see here to anyone else."

"Yeah, sure." A very young Andros darted by, heading the same way they were going but at a much faster clip, and Jeff raised an eyebrow. "You have my word."

The hallway seemed to shiver, and he looked over at DECA for an explanation.

She didn't pause, but she looked apprehensive for the first time. "She shouldn't have been able to enter the logs so easily," DECA murmured, sounding as though she were talking to herself. "That does not bode well for our ability to evade her indefinitely."

"Is that the plan?" Jeff wanted to know. "We're hiding from Psycho Pink?"

"The plan is to unlock the mainframe," DECA answered, more sharply than usual. "I had hoped to get far enough ahead of her that it could be accomplished before the datastream betrayed our location."

"But?" Jeff prompted. "I hope there's an alternate plan."

"But she is faster than I anticipated. We're going to need help."

"From who?" Jeff followed her into a room he didn't immediately recognize, sidestepping the two Gliders that hovered in the middle of the floor. There were tools everywhere, and he was so busy watching his step that he didn't see DECA climbing the stairs to the jump tubes.

"From the only other person who has the codes for the processor," DECA answered from somewhere above him. He looked up to see her waiting impatiently in front of the red jump tube. "Are you coming?"

"Where?" He climbed up beside her just as a noisy duo made their entrance through the open doorway. Zhane and Andros crashed into the bay, wearing pajamas and mini laser lights on their wrists.

Over by the Synthetron, four older and much more respectable looking persons were ignoring their presence entirely. He saw DECA narrow her eyes in their direction. "Designers," she said quietly, making the word into an epithet. "I never liked them as much as the builders."

She saw him watching her and cocked her head toward the jump tubes. "After you," she said, making it clear that politeness was the only reason she didn't tell him to hurry. "We don't have that much time."

He looked at her, then the jump tube. Ashley had shown him how to use them, once, when they went out on a Glider ride. He had found the experience a little too exhilarating, and had begged off any future trips. Thus leaping into the jump tubes could not in all fairness be considered one of his strong points... but DECA looked adamant, and after all, it wasn't real--was it?

He grabbed the bar and swung clumsily into the jump tube before he could think any more about it. The world spun and gravity reoriented itself just in time to keep him from falling--he was standing on solid ground again, and less than a second later DECA was beside him.

But where were they? The Megaship had looked odd before, but it had been relatively recognizable. This darkened version of the Megaship's Bridge was not the same place his sister had shown him last September. It felt--unused, and somehow lonely.

"Ow!" He frowned at the chair he had tripped over, not expecting it to be at quite that angle when he turned to follow DECA once again. "Where *are* we?"

She was already in the corridor outside, and he had to hurry to catch up. His eyes widened as he saw the state of the hallways--this place looked half-finished at best, and the lighting was as dark out here as it had been on the Bridge. No phantom people roamed these corridors, and he wondered if they had switched from logs to... something else. Some other part of the net that his mind could barely "process", perhaps?

There was the sound of a single step, and a girl slipped down from somewhere above to land in front of them. She folded her arms, blaster held casually in one hand and a neutral expression on her face. She couldn't have been more than twelve, but she faced off against them with an easy certainty that said they wouldn't be going any farther without her permission.

"Identify yourselves," she ordered, thumbing the edge of her blaster so that something clicked in the quiet.

"DECA 335, serving aboard the Astro Megaship out of KO-35," DECA responded immediately. Jeff glanced sideways at her, but she didn't look the least bit startled at the girl's presence. "Current crew complement, eight; mission, to assist the Powered team known as the Astro Rangers."

The girl considered DECA for a moment, and then her gaze slid to him. "Identify yourself," she repeated.

"Uh... I'm Jeff?" He looked at DECA again, but she seemed to be waiting on his answer too. "Jeff Hammond? I'm Ash's... uh, the Yellow Ranger's brother."

The girl exchanged glances with DECA, and he could have sworn he saw DECA shrug minutely. With a nod, the girl holstered her blaster and placed her hands behind her back. "I'm KERI," she told them. "Formerly of the Delta Megaship out of Eltare. Crew complement zero, mission failed.

"I welcome your presence, DECA," she added, less formally, "but I assume that since the mainframe has been frozen for the past seventeen point four minutes, this is not a social interaction."

"It is not," DECA agreed. "A hostile entity has invaded my neural net. I'm unable to override the lockout without compromising myself and my companion."

KERI's gaze flickered wordlessly toward him, then lost its focus as she stared at something far beyond either of them. "It's trailing you through the datastream," she said at last.

"Yes."

KERI's focus returned to DECA. "It doesn't know about me, does it." She looked smug and fiercely proud, the first expressions Jeff had seen on her since she appeared. She looked like she was going to enjoy outwitting Psycho Pink.

"She does not. The integrity of your net has been maintained, and will continue to be until such time as you are reassigned. You are, and always have been, your own person."

KERI lifted her chin. "I'll do it," she told DECA. "Go, before she catches up. My cube can be breached the same as your mainframe. You'll know when it's open again."

DECA nodded. "Thank you," she said, and there was a warmth in her voice that was usually reserved for her favorite Rangers. "We are all indebted to you."

"Not yet you aren't," KERI responded, but she looked pleased nonetheless. "Now go."

She punctuated her words by turning and disappearing through a door that Jeff was sure hadn't been there before. The moment she was gone, DECA took off in the opposite direction, and he was hard-pressed to keep up with the pace she set.

"Where's the fire?" he demanded, catching up to her at last as she ducked through a half-size doorway. "And are you going to tell me who that was, or not?"

He had to stoop rather more than she had to get through the door, and when he stood up on the other side he found himself in the middle of his own living room. "What the--"

"Psycho Pink is behind us, whether you can see her or not," DECA informed him, paying no attention to their surroundings. "We cannot afford to wait while I answer every question you have."

There was a Christmas tree in the corner, and a blonde woman he'd never seen before on the couch. He shook his head. "So talk while we go wherever we're going," he said, trying not to let the surreal nature of the situation overtake him. "Who was that? And where are we now?"

"She introduced herself," DECA reminded him, leading him toward what would be the front door if they were really in his house.

"Like that meant anything to me." The "front door" opened onto a basketball court, and the interior of the Surf Spot appeared as they crossed the foul line. "I didn't understand a word she said!"

"The Delta Megaship was created by Eltarans to aid the Astro Rangers," DECA told him, walking around a pool table as she headed for the emergency exit. "KERI was its AI. She has been housed here in a secondary capacity since its destruction, pending reassignment to the frontier fleet."

"I'm truly impressed by how little that helped," Jeff muttered. The fire door let out into the park, and he stopped trying to guess what would be next. "So she's like you? Another computer? Why does she look like she's in grade school?"

"Her appearance is not a reflection of her capabilities." DECA paused, cocking her head as though listening.

He glanced over his shoulder, but all he could see was his own reflection in the duck pond. "Are these the Simudeck files?" he asked suddenly.

"She's too close." DECA frowned at him, her expression uncertain for the first time since she'd held a blaster to his back and demanded a password. "There are better places to hide, but you will be on your honor not to divulge anything you learn there."

"I gave you my word," he said, frowning right back. "That means something to me. No one's going to learn any Megaship secrets from me, DECA."

"It is not my secrets that concern me," she retorted. "We have to go."

The park shimmered restlessly, echoing the way the walls of the Megaship had rippled earlier, and he followed as DECA took off at a dead run. He wasn't paying any attention to where they were going, but for the first time the temperature changed perceptibly and he froze in disbelief.

He was surrounded by a crowd that stretched farther than he could see, pressing in on either side and pinning him in place. "DECA!" he shouted, trying to catch a glimpse of her in the noisy throng.

She was at his side in an instant. "They are not corporeal," she said urgently. "Do not think of them that way."

"Easy for you to say!" he exclaimed, pushing experimentally against the crowd. No one paid the slightest bit of attention as he tried to shove his way through.

He thought he heard DECA sigh, and then her hand was on his elbow. "Close your eyes," she instructed, and he did as he was told. "They're gone," he heard her tell him. "Now come with me."

He stepped forward hesitantly, but she was right. The crowd had vanished. He let her lead him forward, until finally she said, "You can open your eyes."

They stood at the edge of the crowd when she let go of his arm, and he looked back in disbelief. They had just walked through that? Was this the 'safer place' she had referred to earlier? *Safer in the sense that no one could track anyone through that mess,* he thought, turning to hurry after DECA.

As he moved, he caught sight of the raised platform up in front of the milling crowd. Five people stood on it, their brightly colored shirts evoking images of Rangers in his mind. But they were no Rangers he'd ever met, and though he thought he should recognize the gold sunburst design on their shirts, he couldn't remember where he'd seen it before.

DECA turned a corner and suddenly they were looking at a very different scene. It was the same setting--he thought--but instead of the excited restlessness of the crowd behind them there was a sense of almost palpable sadness. Passersby avoided each other's gazes, and people went about their business without words or enthusiasm. He had time to wonder about the pervasive rainbow-colored armbands before DECA caught his elbow again and dragged him through a stone archway.

"I wish you would stop gawking and pay attention," she said sternly. "This is not the time to be distracted."

"I know, I know." He tried to keep his gaze from wandering, but he'd never seen a place like this before. It couldn't be Earth, not with the sky looking so white... "Am I allowed to ask where we are, at least?"

"No," she replied. There was no malice in her tone, just statement of fact. "These files were buried for a reason, at the request of one of the Rangers. I made a promise that I'm not prepared to break."

"Okay," he said, taken aback. "Right. So that's why this is safer than the regular logs? Because it's buried?"

The sunlit plaza shivered, and DECA looked distinctly annoyed. "Not that much safer," she muttered. "The encryption is slowing her down, but she's still coming."

DECA headed for the other side of the plaza and the buildings shifted as they moved, melting into the distance and replacing stone with rolling fields. A little girl with tousled blonde curls raced away ahead of them, shrieking with laughter as she ran from something he couldn't see.

This could be Earth, Jeff decided, trailing DECA through the uncut grass. The field faded into park, then lawn, and as they made their way past a structure he couldn't identify a plane zipped by overhead.

Not a plane, he realized, squinting to follow its path with his eyes. It wasn't loud enough, it definitely wasn't the right shape, and it was flying far too close to the ground. It disappeared into the hills far faster than something that size had a right to, and he abandoned the idea of Earth once more.

"Kerone!" he heard DECA call, and he looked over at her in surprise.

DECA just kept walking, silent as the voice came again.

"Go play with your brother," a woman declared fondly, appearing on the steps beside them. She seemed to be addressing the blonde-haired girl they'd seen before, and the resemblance to DECA was startling. "And don't forget your jacket!"

"More buried files?" Jeff asked quietly, catching up to her once more. For a computer program, she could walk faster than anyone he knew.

DECA nodded wordlessly.

The world rippled again as they walked into some sort of public square, and DECA stopped. Jeff looked at her in surprise. That was usually their cue to move faster, not freeze. "What's going on?"

"Get back." She turned, her eyes scanning the square rapidly. "I mean it, Jeff; get out of the way."

He backed up without protest, not sure what was wrong but recognizing an order when he heard one. He didn't want to get too far from her, given that he had no idea how to find his way through... wherever they were, and their surroundings seemed to change every few steps. Fortunately--or unfortunately, depending on one's perspective--there was nowhere to go.

A blast of light came out of nowhere, striking the pavement in front of him with a sizzle of electricity. He jumped, stumbling a little further back, and suddenly DECA was in front of him. "Stand down," she warned someone he couldn't see, and the air around her seemed to glitter.

"Never," an unfamiliar voice hissed, and the word echoed throughout the square. Psycho Pink wavered into view, her armored form darker and more threatening in person than any of the pictures he'd seen.

She struck again, the lightning reaching for DECA this time, and the ship made flesh held up her hands in what should have been a futile gesture to ward off the attack. But the lightning flashed around her, throwing a violet-white flare over everything in the vicinity--and when it faded, she still stood, calm and unfazed. Without a word, DECA thrust her hands forward and flung the energy back.

Psycho Pink spun, deflecting the charge down and away. Jeff could only stare as a crater deeper than he was tall exploded in the pavement. DECA didn't move as Psycho Pink turned slowly back toward them, a permanent sneer etched into her visored expression. "You will regret that," she growled.

"I don't think so," a young voice said thoughtfully. KERI appeared at DECA's side, literally coalescing out of thin air, and if DECA glittered, then her younger companion fairly glowed with energy. "Leave. Now."

When Psycho Pink didn't move, KERI reached out one hand and... pushed. She touched nothing but air, yet the Psycho Ranger's form stretched and retreated as though released by a rubber band. KERI turned her head, appearing to track something Jeff couldn't see.

"She's gone," the AI remarked at last. "Beyond the reach of the datastream, but I can't tell more than that. I apologize if you wanted to eject her yourself."

"No," DECA said, and there was no mistaking the relief in her tone. "Your assistance was quite welcome; thank you."

KERI turned to her with a genuine smile. "It was my pleasure. It was good to be in control again, even if only for a little while." She held up her hands, and DECA mirrored her gesture. The two of them pressed their palms together, and KERI seemed to dim.

When DECA opened her eyes it was she who glowed, and the town square vanished abruptly. The glow went with it, leaving only the three of them standing in the middle of the same vast emptiness that had greeted Jeff on his arrival. DECA and KERI were staring at each other, apparently oblivious to his presence, and he wondered what exactly had passed between them.

Finally, to his surprise, DECA leaned forward to wrap her arms around the younger girl. Their hug was the last thing he saw before the world began to speed up, flying past in a giddy jumble of noise and light as it shuttled him out of the neural net and back toward reality. He tried to tell himself that the sensation of speed was all in his mind, but he wasn't very convincing.

The next thing he knew, he was barely clinging to a console on the Bridge as he tried to reorient himself. He took a deep breath, and his vision darkened alarmingly as he lifted his head. "Whoa," he muttered, taking a step back before collapsing in a nearby chair. "Head rush."

"Jeff?" DECA's voice inquired. "Are you all right?"

"Are you?" he demanded, not opening his eyes. "What just happened?"

"The Rangers are on their way," she replied, not bothering to answer either question. "They are--somewhat concerned."

"That's got to be the understatement of the year," he said with a sigh.

"Wait--" His eyes snapped open as he remembered what had prompted him to use the interface in the first place. "What about the other Psycho Rangers? Is everyone else okay?"

"We're fine," Andros' voice answered from the doorway. "What happened here?"

Jeff turned as Ashley, Andros, and every last one of their teammates filed onto the Bridge. Everyone but Zhane was clad in formal wear--from Kerone, who usually disdained such things, to Saryn, whom Jeff had privately doubted could ever be talked into wearing a tux. Even Andros pulled off the requisite garb with surprising grace, considering he'd probably rather be working out on the Simudeck than dancing with a bunch of high schoolers.

After the tension of the last few minutes, though, Jeff couldn't help it. He burst out laughing. "Prom Rangers to the rescue!" he crowed. "You're just in time to pose for pictures!"

Ashley exchanged glances with Andros before giving Jeff an odd look. "Are you all right?" she asked, gliding over to him. "You don't look so good."

"Not compared to you lot," he agreed good-naturedly. "If you fought in those outfits, it sure doesn't show."

Ashley looked up at DECA's nearest camera. "DECA?"

"Psycho Pink invaded the Megaship's control systems," DECA replied. "I was temporarily locked out, and I am afraid Jeff became concerned. He accessed the manual interface and found himself inside my neural net during the struggle with Psycho Pink. I do not believe he suffered any adverse side effects."

"Of course I didn't," Jeff put in. "Can't a guy make a joke?"

"What about Psycho Pink?" Andros wanted to know. "What happened to her?"

"KERI removed her," DECA told him.

"KERI?" TJ repeated, but Andros motioned for him to be quiet.

"Unfortunately," DECA continued, "I have been unable to trace her departure or determine her present location. What of the other Psycho Rangers?"

Jeff looked over at Carlos as the Black Ranger cleared his throat. Stepping to one side, he motioned to someone out in the hallway. Three people in Astro flight suits joined the others on the Bridge--three people that looked exactly like Andros, Ashley, and TJ. Jeff raised an eyebrow, not capable of much more at the moment.

"Yes," DECA said calmly. "I saw them. I assume their presence here is voluntary?"

"Mostly," the one that looked like Andros answered. His tone held the same wry humor than Ashley's boyfriend was wont to use. "We were willing to come, but let's just say that if we didn't want to be here I don't think it would have changed anything."

"No," Kerone agreed darkly. "It wouldn't." Zhane put a warning hand on her shoulder, and she just glared at him.

"We might be able to help you find Psycho Pink," Ashley's double offered. She was careful to avoid Kerone's gaze. "We can't follow her through a datastream, but as soon as she takes humanoid form again--we'll know."

"Good," Andros said. He didn't look at her anymore than she looked at Kerone, Jeff noted. "We need to run a full scan to make sure that DECA's databanks are really clean--I'll have to ask you to leave the Bridge while we do that."

"Of course," "Ashley" said quickly. "We understand."

"We'll take them upstairs and show them around," Carlos suggested, catching Cassie's eye.

Andros folded his arms, but unspoken was the reminder that these--people--already knew everything the Astro Rangers did. They might as well have a "tour"... If nothing else, it would keep them out of the way for a little while.

"Saryn," Ashley said suddenly, as he started to follow Cassie into the lift. "Wait."

Saryn looked at her as though she was crazy, and Kerone interjected, "I'll stay. You go with them."

Jeff frowned, but Saryn just nodded. As soon as the door closed behind them, he looked over at the others. "Anyone want to tell me what that was about?"

Andros went over to the station TJ usually occupied and started working without another word. Zhane joined him, looking over his shoulder and murmuring something too quiet for Jeff to overhear. Kerone turned to Tessa, motioning for her to hold out her hand--sparkles swirled around her fingers, but he was too far away to see what she had done.

It was Ashley who wandered his way, leaving TJ to lean idly against the doorway through which they had entered. "Kerone's telepathic," she explained, seating herself carefully in Carlos' chair. "So's Saryn, even though he says he isn't. I thought we'd better have at least one of them here, so we can keep an eye on the others in case anything goes wrong."

"Like the Psycho Rangers remembering that they're supposed to be evil?" He glanced in Andros' direction briefly before looking back at her. "What happened down there, anyway?"

She just shook her head. "Seriously? You wouldn't believe me if I told you. What happened to you?"

He opened his mouth, but he couldn't think of anything to say that wouldn't sound outright insane. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you," he repeated ruefully.

Ashley laughed, smoothing her skirt with both hands as she looked down. "Maybe not," she admitted. "What are you doing up here, anyway?"

He sighed, remembering the mission that had brought him here in the first place. It had started out as such a simple evening... "I was looking for my car keys?"