Disclaimer: Unlike "Kerone" and "Spectre", I actually spell Saban the same way everyone else does. This is good, since Saban owns the Power Rangers and likes to be acknowledged--with proper spelling.

Lag Time
by Starhawk

TJ held his peace while Ashley walked away, but as soon as she was out of earshot, he turned a questioning look on Carlos. "What's going on?"

Carlos sighed. "You were right, just now. The burns on that plating *are* weird--if you assume that they were caused by an enemy laser blast."

"What else could have caused them?" TJ demanded, raising an eyebrow skeptically.

Glancing after Ashley's departing figure, Carlos did not answer. TJ thought they were all infallible, but the truth was that Rangers made mistakes the same as everyone else.

TJ followed his gaze. "Carlos, what are you saying?"

"I'm saying Ashley doesn't remember what happened yesterday," Carlos shot back. "And I'd like to keep it that way, at least until she starts remembering on her own."

TJ frowned. "What are you talking about? She doesn't remember the hull breach?"

"She knows it happened," Carlos said. "She knows that she was working on the laser array, and she knows she was knocked unconscious. But she doesn't *remember* any of it, from about the time she talked to you until the time when she woke up on the deck with all of us around her."

TJ didn't answer right away, considering the implications of that. "What *did* happen, then? I assume from what you said that you don't think Divatox's army caused this hull breach."

Carlos sighed again. "They didn't, Teej. You can see the scoring on this plating as well as I can--it didn't come from another ship. Something on the Megaship itself caused this."

TJ didn't say anything, and Carlos wondered what he was thinking. "You have to understand, the damping field was affecting both of us. *I* can barely remember what happened, and I didn't hit my head afterwards. But I do know that it took me a lot longer than it should have to fix that microfracture, and I redid it several times because I'd made mistakes."

"So… you're saying *Ashley's* responsible for this?" TJ asked, disbelief in his voice as he glanced over at the gaping hole in the Megaship's hull.

"I'm saying she can't be held accountable--but yes, it's because of her that it happened."

"What?" TJ asked, obviously frustrated. "*What* happened? If it wasn't a laser blast, what could have done this?"

"It was a laser blast," Carlos said quietly. "Our own."

TJ just stared at him. "You mean…"

"She wanted to test the lasers' power storage mechanism," Carlos told him, recounting what little Ashley had been able to remember. "She thought it might have been damaged in the fight, in which case we'd have to replace the entire array. But she needed the array off main power to do it--"

"So the mechanism wouldn't overload when she fed independent power into it," TJ finished, his expression showing dawning comprehension. "*That's* why she asked me to do it. But I *warned* her that the lasers would still have residual energy in them."

"Yeah, well, she forgot," Carlos told him bluntly. "When she tried to flood the storage chamber, it blew up in her face. As far as I can tell, that's what threw her far enough away from the array that she wasn't drawn out into space when the hull breached."

"But you said she *caused* the hull breach," TJ reminded him, clearly uncomfortable talking about their teammate this way.

"The lower laser arrays were never meant to be fired with the shields down. The backlash tore a hole in the hull, and the energy stream the array sent off into space must have been what gave us away. All Divatox would have had to do would be to backtrack along the line of fire until she hit something."

"And she did," TJ muttered. "*That's* why Andros said 'two' shots hit us. I wondered why he didn't say three--he must have known the first one was an explosion, not a laser hit."

Carlos nodded. "Ash doesn't remember this, all right? And it's not her fault, so I'd rather she didn't have to feel guilty about it for any longer than she's going to anyway when she does remember."

TJ was quiet for a moment. "No, it isn't her fault," he agreed at last. "But you think she will remember, eventually?"

"I'm remembering better than I was yesterday," Carlos said with a shrug. "But then, my head didn't collide with the wall, either. I don't really know if she will or not--but my hunch is that the memories will come back to her, in time."

"All right," TJ conceded. "But we'll have to let Cassie know what happened. If I noticed the pattern of the burn marks, you can bet she will too."

"Actually," Carlos said, looking around, "I thought you and I could take care of this debris before they get back here. Out of sight, out of mind…"

"Cassie should still know," TJ objected.

"Yeah, sure," Carlos said, realizing his remark had been misinterpreted. "I just meant let's move this stuff now so Ashley doesn't have to help do it. She seemed a little freaked out by it earlier."

"Right," TJ said, a sympathetic look on his face. "That's a good idea. Let's shift it all inside, quick."

They had just moved the last of it out of sight of the work area when the girls returned. Stepping out through the gap between hull plates, Carlos waved to them. Right behind him, TJ asked, "Is Phantom coming?"

Ashley nodded. "He was in the middle of welding something," she explained.

"He said he'd be along in a minute," Cassie added.

"All right," Carlos said, looking around. "Let's get the plating out of storage, at least, and he can help us seal it whenever he gets here."

It took the combined efforts of all four Rangers to maneuver the unwieldy piece of metal plating through the corridors of the Megaship. They managed, though, with one at each corner until they reached the gap it would be filling. Then they had to shift a little, tilting the rectangle diagonally to fit it through.

Ashley and Carlos ended up on the outside corners, and he glanced at her in alarm as he felt her end dip a little. The movement halted abruptly, and he heard TJ ask, "Are you guys all right?"

"Just a second," Carlos called back. He shifted his grip and twisted his head to look at the Yellow Ranger. "Ash? You okay?"

Her face was suddenly pale, and he saw her squeeze her eyes shut for a moment. "Guys, we need to set this down," Carlos said, loud enough that the other two could hear him.

Then someone grabbed the plating from Ashley's side, and Carlos looked up to see Phantom standing beside her, his hands next to hers on the sharp metal edge. He helped her lower it to the ground, and caught her arm as she staggered.

Carlos was there a moment later, taking her other arm and leading her away from the plating. "Here," he said, gently helping her sit down on the ground. "Will you be okay for a minute?"

She nodded, still not speaking, and he gave her a worried look as he rejoined the others. Taking firm hold of the plating, he announced, "All right, let's get this out here."

"Ready," TJ confirmed from the other side, and Carlos exchanged glances with Phantom.

The other Ranger nodded, and Carlos clenched his fingers tighter on the metal. "Ready--lift," he called out, and they managed to get the metal sheet off the ground and at such an angle that it could be maneuvered through the opening.

Cassie and Phantom's side hit the sand first, and TJ and Carlos helped steady the top side of the plate while they edged it into position. Then they let go, propping it against the outside of the hull while Cassie went to Ashley's side.

Carlos followed, along with Phantom and TJ, and he knelt down next to Cassie. "Ashley?" Cassie was asking. "What happened?"

Not sure himself, Carlos didn't try to answer for her. Ashley raised her head, flinching as the sun hit her eyes. "Sorry," she apologized weakly. "I just--I just don't feel so good."

"You should not be lifting things so soon after a concussion," Phantom told her, and she sighed.

"Yeah. I think I pretty much got that, thanks." Ashley hated being told she couldn't do something, and it probably irked her even more to know that he was right.

Phantom couldn't have known that, though, and Carlos saw him glance over at Cassie. She just shook her head at him. "Look, Ash," Carlos said, ignoring the silent exchange, "why don't you take a break? We can handle this."

She didn't look happy about it, but she nodded without further complaint. That alone convinced him that she shouldn't have been helping them move the plating in the first place.

With a tilt of her head, Cassie indicated that she wanted to talk to Ashley for a moment, and the others backed off a little. "You're sure you're okay, right?" Carlos heard her ask as they moved away.

"I'm fine," Ashley insisted, but she didn't sound quite as belligerent as she had when she answered Phantom. "Sorry; I didn't mean to snap at him like that."

Phantom's head turned a little at that, but he didn't comment. Then TJ called his name, nodding to the plating. "Why don't we brace this while Carlos gets a couple of the top bolts in? Once he does the corners, it'll stay by itself, and we can help do the rest of them."

Cassie looked up. "Hang on a second, guys, and I'll help you." Putting her hand on Ashley's shoulder, she added, "You take it easy for a few minutes. You won't get better by stressing yourself out."

Ashley smiled reluctantly, and Cassie patted her shoulder before getting to her feet. Coming over to join the others, she surveyed the arrangement. "I'll take your place, TJ. You and Carlos are tallest, so you might as well be the ones working on the top."

TJ gestured gallantly at his corner of the plating. "Be my guest."

She smiled, crouching down by the plating and nodding to Phantom. Together, they lifted the metal sheet off the ground, and TJ put out a hand to steady it against the hull while Carlos grabbed a couple of magnetic wrenches. Passing one to TJ, the two of them started to twist bolts into the upper corners of the replacement plating.

***

Ashley closed her eyes against the absolute stillness of the air. The sun had moved enough in the past few hours that the section of the Megaship they were working on was now in shade, but the heat had not abated much. She had no idea how Phantom could stand wearing jeans in this kind of climate.

*Andros would be too,* she thought with an amused smile. No matter how warm the days got in California, he steadfastly refused to wear shorts.

She heard footsteps in the sand, and opened her eyes again just as TJ flopped down beside her. "How are you doing?" he asked, leaning back against the hull.

She held up her morpher for inspection. "Almost done. I replaced the transmitter; I just have to finish soldering it in."

TJ gave it a cursory glance, shaking his head. "I'll never understand how you can work on something so small."

"Well, the fact that it's my morpher is sort of a motivating factor," Ashley told him with a grin. "It's not one of those things you can just take to the local repair shop."

TJ laughed. "I'm still amazed."

"Me too," Carlos called, pausing in his work to hold up his left hand. His own morpher was prominent on his wrist. "Thanks, Ash."

"You're welcome," she told him, smiling. "Again. How's it going with the sealing?"

He shrugged. "If TJ would quit slacking, it'd go a lot faster."

"Hey!" TJ gave him a mock-glare. "I resent that comment."

"Not enough to get over here and help, though," Carlos retorted, grinning at him.

"Well…" TJ considered for a moment. "No, not really."

Ashley just shook her head, smiling. TJ and Carlos had always been good friends--who on the team wasn't?--but in the past few days, they'd seemed closer somehow. They joked with each other more, and they were together every time she turned around. She hadn't seen one without the other since last weekend.

*About the time that Andros and I…* She trailed off, realizing what was happening. Even now, Cassie and Phantom were together, sealing the plating from the inside, while Carlos and TJ worked on the exterior. And here she was, sitting a little apart from them, daydreaming about Andros while she worked on her morpher.

*They're getting left out,* she thought, dismayed. *We're so worried about our own relationships that the four of us are completely ignoring them.*

Although, to be completely honest, she and Cassie hadn't exchanged more than casual conversation over the past few days either. And she still didn't know the first thing about Phantom. The only one she'd been spending any serious time with since Sunday was Andros.

The hard part of the whole situation, though, was that the only person she still felt like she wasn't seeing enough of--was Andros. She loved her friends dearly, but he'd only been gone a day and it already felt like forever. "Always" wasn't long enough if they couldn't spend it together…

"Something wrong?" TJ asked, and she blinked.

"What?" she replied, startled.

"You sighed," he told her, a smile tugging at his lips. "You weren't, by any chance, thinking about our stripey-haired friend, were you?"

"'Stripey-haired friend'?" she repeated with amusement. "Since when is that Andros's nickname?"

"Aha," Carlos said, joining them. "So you *were* thinking about him."

"I didn't say that," she protested, even as TJ looked over at the Black Ranger.

"Hey, are you all done?" he asked.

Carlos shook his head. "Nah. I figured with how long ago you stopped making yourself useful, you could do the last meter or so."

"Oh, thanks," TJ said dryly, pushing himself to his feet. "That's so kind of you."

"You're welcome," Carlos answered cheerfully. "I live to serve."

Ashley smiled, bending over her morpher again. She flipped the tiny, self-contained soldering iron back on, and applied it to the transmitter component just as Carlos asked, "So? Are you going to tell us?"

She looked up in surprise. "What?"

"You were about to tell us what you were thinking about our Red Ranger," TJ called from the repair site.

"Or was it something we shouldn't hear?" Carlos teased.

"Carlos!" She couldn't contain an embarrassed laugh.

"Well, you must have been talking to him for quite a while last night," he pointed out. "And you slept with him the night before…"

"I did *not* sleep with him!" she protested, trying not to laugh again.

"Yes, you did," TJ interjected, lifting the sealer away from the hull to inspect his progress. "Technically, anyway."

A hiss from her soldering iron drew her attention back to her morpher. "Stop it, you guys," she reproved. "You're distracting me. Do you want me to ruin this thing completely?"

"Can we help it if you find Andros distracting?" Carlos demanded.

She was giggling again; she couldn't help it. But there was no way she was going to answer that, either. She concentrated on her morpher, hoping to ignore them--but the smile on her face wouldn't go away.

Carlos took the hint and let her finish her work, but she still caught him giving her an amused look every now and then. Finally, the transmitter connection was as solid as she could make it, and she snapped the switch on the soldering iron to "off".

"Finished?" Carlos asked, and she nodded. "Here." He reached out to take the soldering iron while she put her morpher back together.

"Thanks." She snapped the keypad back into place and clicked the cover shut. Laying it over her wrist, she wrapped the heavy cloth band around to the other side and fastened the clasp.

Then she reconsidered, and hit the catch on the cover. It snapped open, and she pushed two buttons. Next to the new plating, TJ looked down as his morpher beeped.

Rather than replying, he touched his own morpher. "I'm busy," he told it, and snapped it shut again.

Ashley giggled. "I guess it works."

Carlos promptly went to test his own, and her own morpher beeped. Opening it, she announced, "Yours works too." Her voice sounded even stranger than TJ's, coming from two places at once.

Carlos grinned, and hit his morpher again. TJ's beeped, and the Blue Ranger glared at him. "Very funny," he said, removing the sealer from the hull and waving it threateningly in Carlos's direction. "If you two don't stop that, this is never going to get done."

Ashley couldn't resist, and a second later, TJ's morpher went off again. She could tell he had to work hard to keep a grin off his face as he asked, "Why me? Why don't you annoy Cassie? I bet she and Phantom finished an hour ago, and they're just sitting in there chatting."

Ashley and Carlos exchanged glances. As she considered that idea, Carlos was already signaling Cassie's morpher. Giggling, she touched the buttons on her morpher that would make Cassie's beep. She couldn't help it--she hadn't been this silly in days, and it was a good stress-reliever.

There was no answer, though, and she frowned a little. Shooting a guilty glance in Carlos's direction, she found him looking at her. "Maybe we overloaded it," he offered with a straight face.

She tried not to grin. "Have two people ever tried to signal one morpher before?"

He shrugged, and TJ called, "If you guys just managed to fry Cassie's morpher, who do you think is going to fix it?"

Ashley sighed a little, thinking of the time she'd already spent on hers and Carlos's. "Maybe she isn't wearing it?"

"She is," TJ told her. "I saw it on her wrist while we were bringing the plating out."

Ashley closed her morpher. "I'll go check and see if something's wrong."

As she hauled herself to her feet, Carlos grinned. "And if something is wrong with it now, how are you going to explain?"

"I'll just say you called her over and over," she told him, jumping out of the way as he tried to swat at her ankles. "Watch it! Or next time I won't be so quick to fix your morpher," Ashley threatened.

She darted toward the ramp before he could retaliate, slowing to a walk as she headed into the relative darkness of the Megaship's interior. She had to take the lift down a level, and she reflected how strange it was to go to all this trouble when only a few hours ago they had been able to simply step through the hull.

She tried her morpher once more as she stepped out of the lift, but again, Cassie did not respond. *We couldn't really have damaged it,* she told herself. But she couldn't figure out why there was no answer.

She walked through the hallways, retracing the steps she had taken before. Most of the bulkheads on this level had been retracted by Andros and TJ, and the remainder had gone up as soon as the Megaship entered an atmosphere. Except for the one Andros had damaged by shooting at it--she had to duck underneath that one, and she wondered idly what they were going to do about it.

As soon as she lifted her head on the other side, though, she forgot about the bulkhead. Cassie and Phantom were down the hall, just past where the other bulkhead had been--but they were definitely *not* sealing the hull plating. Suddenly, she knew exactly why Cassie hadn't answered her morpher.

The Pink Ranger was pressed up against the wall opposite the hull, eyes closed as Phantom leaned into her, kissing her mouth again and again while his hands roamed over her upper body. She certainly wasn't protesting, either. Her arms were wrapped tightly around his neck, holding him close and returning his kisses with a passion Ashley had not realized her friend possessed.

The two were completely oblivious to their surroundings, and they clearly had no idea she was there. She stared at them, wondering whether she should make her presence known or just turn around and leave quietly.

She decided to back up a little, ducking underneath the malfunctioning bulkhead and retreating to a point far enough down the hall that she was out of sight. She flipped the catch on her morpher open and signaled Cassie again--and again, and again. She had seen her friend's morpher on the floor near the new plating, so she knew they could hear it. She signaled it again, figuring that if she was annoying enough, they wouldn't be able to ignore the beeping.

It took eleven tries, but finally the tiny light on her morpher flashed a confirmation of the link. Cassie's voice came to her a moment later, sounding almost normal--but when Ashley listened for it, she could hear the barely suppressed breathlessness in her voice.

"This is Cassie," the Pink Ranger told her.

"Hey, Cassie, is everything okay?" Ashley asked, biting her lip to keep from laughing. "I've been calling you for the last five minutes."

She knew she shouldn't give her friend a hard time, but she also knew Cassie would expect the question. And she did wonder how the other Ranger planned to answer…

"I know," Cassie replied at last. "Sorry about that--what's up?"

Ashley raised an eyebrow. *Or she could just avoid the question entirely…* "All right," she said, trying to sound puzzled. It was tough, though, when she was hard-pressed not to grin instead. "We were just wondering if you're done sealing that plating yet."

There was a longer pause, and Ashley shook her head. She definitely needed to talk to her friend about this. She didn't begrudge the two of them what little time they could steal to be alone with each other--although she'd had no idea their relationship had gone so far--but Cassie *really* needed to work on her cover-ups.

Finally, Cassie answered, "Yeah, I think we're just about done."

"Great," Ashley said, letting herself smile a little. "TJ and Carlos are almost done too."

She paused, trying to think of a way to separate them for a moment. "Cass, could you bring your morpher out here and let Phantom finish the sealing? I've fixed mine and Carlos's, but I'm checking everyone else's too, to make sure the damping field didn't affect them in some way we haven't noticed."

"Sure," Cassie said, a little too quickly. "No problem. I'll be right there."

"Right," Ashley said, shaking her head again. "I'll seen you in a minute, then."

She clicked her morpher shut and walked back to the lift, stopping just short of the doors and leaning back against the wall. It took her friend longer than it should have to arrive, but after what Ashley had just seen, she wasn't really surprised.

Cassie hurried around the corner--and stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Ashley waiting by the lift. "Ashley?" she asked nervously. "What are you doing here?"

"Nothing as exciting as what you're doing," Ashley replied, amused.

Cassie blushed. "Did you--"

"See the two of you?" Ashley finished. "Yes. How long ago did you finish sealing that plating, anyway?"

"Just a few minutes," Cassie murmured evasively. "You didn't really need to see my morpher, did you."

Ashley shook her head. "I just wanted to talk to you for a second."

"Look," Cassie interrupted, before she could say anything else. "You don't have to lecture me; believe me, I know how crazy this is. But I'm so *sure* about him, and whenever I'm with him, I feel something…"

*Hormones,* Ashley thought wryly, but did not voice the somewhat irreverent comment.

"I can't explain it," Cassie said, obviously frustrated. "I *know* how I sound, but--"

"Cassie." The other girl cut off abruptly, and Ashley just looked at her for a moment. "Cassie, I'm not here to lecture you. As fairytale as you guys seem, I really hope you have a happy ending waiting for the two of you. I'm rooting for you all the way.

"I just--" She hesitated. "I'm guessing from your reaction that you're trying to keep things sort of quiet."

Cassie sighed. "Can you imagine what TJ would have said, if he'd walked in on us just now? Or Carlos? With you and Andros it's different; everyone *expects* you to be together…"

*Yeah, it *is* different,* Ashley thought. *For one thing, Andros and I don't kiss like that.*

"I understand your point," she assured her friend. "But to be honest, you're not being too subtle about it. Maybe next time you could *answer* your morpher when it beeps, for example."

Phantom chose that moment to walk around the corner. He, too, paused when he caught sight of Ashley, and she shook her head. "And stop acting so guilty!"

Rather than looking surprised, Phantom seemed amused. "I take it she knows?" he asked, looking at Cassie.

"Sort of," Cassie muttered. "She saw us down the hall, a minute ago."

He looked at Cassie a moment longer, and suddenly Ashley had the strongest suspicion that that wasn't what he had meant. *What did he think I knew?* she wondered, studying the two of them.

"Cassie," he said quietly. "I understand your desire for privacy, but might it not be less stressful to simply stop worrying about it?"

"It's not stressful," Cassie insisted. "And I'm not worried--I was just surprised, that's all."

"It is stressful for *me*," he said with a slight smile. "Please, Cassie--I wish to be able to touch you in front of the others. Even if it is only your hand on mine. I miss that, when we are not alone."

Ashley looked away, knowing that she wasn't any part of this conversation. But the movement caught Cassie's attention, and she turned to her friend apologetically. "Do you think you could give us a moment?"

"Sure," Ashley replied quickly. As she started to turn away, though, something occurred to her. "Wait--give me your morpher."

Cassie frowned. "I thought you didn't need to check it."

"No," Ashley agreed. "But I have to give Carlos and TJ *some* reason for why you didn't answer the first couple times."

She pulled off her morpher without further question. "Thanks, Ash," Cassie said softly. "I really appreciate it. We'll--try not to get so carried away next time."

*"Next time"?* Ashley couldn't help noticing that her friend seemed very sure it *would* happen again. She wondered if this wasn't the first time… and the strangest memory hit her:

Four of the Rangers, gathered in the Power Chamber one afternoon after Cassie had failed to show up at the Youth Center once school let out--the discovery that she had been kidnapped from the park, and during school hours, no less… the fear in Phantom's demeanor when he arrived in the Sirus dimension, where she was supposedly being held--and the absolute trust in his stance even as "Cassie", in a very un-Cassie like action, grabbed his arm as he stood over her…

*Why *was* she in the park that day?* Ashley wondered. Cassie hadn't skipped class for months prior to that incident, and no one had ever thought to ask her. *Could she have been meeting him, even then?*

Realizing they were both waiting for her answer, she shook off the memory and managed a smile that was only slightly preoccupied. "It's no problem. You never know, maybe there *is* something wrong with your morpher. I'll just check it out."

She turned away, stepping into the lift and ordering it up one level. As the doors closed on her, she saw Phantom reach out to touch Cassie's cheek, and Cassie's words rang in her ears. *"You and Andros are different…"*

*We are different,* she acknowledged to herself once again. And not just because the others knew both of them and were used to seeing them together, either. They had a different kind of relationship.

She couldn't deny that she wouldn't *mind* Andros kissing her the way Phantom had Cassie, but he just couldn't do that yet. The memory of yesterday morning sprang to mind, when what had started as a joke had suddenly turned too serious for him. For just a moment, she had felt him let go, the same way he had on the Simudeck right after he'd told her she was beautiful.

But then he had realized what was happening, how close they were to acknowledging something more than platonic love, and he had drawn away quickly. She couldn't blame him--from what he had told her, he had every reason to be reserved, even a little aloof from time to time. But he touched her more often now, had even kissed her in front of the others, and she hoped it wouldn't be long before those barriers between the two of them started to crumble.

The lift doors opened, and she stepped out with a sigh. That made her smile, inadvertently, as she walked toward the Megaship's ramp. *I have to stop sighing every time I think about him,* Ashley thought. *Or I'm not going to be able to say anything to Cassie about subtlety.*

She wondered briefly what the two would decide. If this morning was any indication--*and yesterday evening, for that matter,* she thought, remembering the two of them at the table before the others had come in--they were having a hard time keeping their hands off each other. But at the same time, she had to agree with Cassie--TJ would have freaked if he had seen them just a few minutes ago.

Ashley shook her head, suddenly glad it wasn't her problem. *If it had been me and Andros…* She wouldn't have said no, either.

The sunlight was bright on her face after the dimmer artificial illumination of the Megaship, and Carlos waved as she approached the work site. He and TJ were both lounging against the hull now, and Carlos called, "What happened? We didn't really break her morpher, did we?"

Ashley held up the pink astromorpher so they could see it. "I hate to say this, but we might have. I'm going to take a look at it."

TJ laughed. "I hope you learned something from this," he said, mock-sternly.

"Yeah," Ashley shot back, dropping to the ground beside them. "Never listen to TJ."

"That's right," Carlos agreed, grinning. "It was your idea, Teej."

"I didn't expect you to actually *do* it," he protested. "I was just trying to get you to stop signaling *my* morpher!"

The two continued to argue as Ashley bent over Cassie's morpher, opening it up and poking around inside. She tried not to make it too obvious that she wasn't actually doing anything, but they were involved enough in their banter that they didn't seem to notice.

She wondered, tapping at the tiny diode that lit to indicate a successful link, what Andros thought of Cassie and Phantom. She could not remember him ever questioning or being surprised by their relationship--in fact, he had almost defended them, that morning before the first attempt to free Zordon.

*Maybe because he's known Phantom longer than any of us,* she thought idly. *Maybe that makes a difference…*

***

"Requested information not found," the computer politely informed him.

"How can it not be found?" Andros demanded. "These people existed, and you're telling me you can't find any record of them?"

"There is no record of that team," the computer answered.

Andros sighed, exasperated. He had *seen* them--the entire galaxy had *known* of them--and now the computer was telling him they weren't mentioned in any database it could access. He glared at the computer terminal out of sheer frustration.

"Having a little trouble?" Zhane's amused voice asked from the doorway.

"Yes!" Andros exclaimed without hesitation. With anyone else, he would have considered his response more carefully, searching for words that revealed no weakness. But this was Zhane, and he didn't even think about it. "I can't get this computer to tell me anything about the Elisian Rangers!"

Zhane came in without being invited, as was his privilege, and looked over Andros's shoulder. "Computer, display any publicly available datafiles on the Elisian Rangers."

His phrasing was general enough that the computer should have requested a more specific data search--but instead, it gave him the same reply that Andros had been listening to for the last ten minutes. "Requested information not found."

Zhane frowned. "That's weird."

"It won't bring up *anything*," Andros complained. "No news reports, no publicity shots, no nothing. It's like they never existed."

"Computer," Zhane said suddenly. "List onscreen all past and present Ranger teams."

An alphabetized list appeared almost immediately, and Zhane reached over Andros's shoulder to tap the computer screen. It scrolled down obediently, and he slowed as it reached the "E" section. Andros leaned forward, watching intently, and sure enough, about halfway down was the word "Elisian".

Zhane touched the screen again, and "Elisian" was highlighted. "Computer," Andros said, "list members of the selected team."

"Unable to comply," the computer answered at once. "Requested information not found."

"And that's why I hate computers," Zhane muttered.

Andros shook his head. "This is ridiculous. Computer, log on to the Kerovan security network."

"Authorization required," the computer told him, but he was already entering his code into the keypad.

"Put mine in too," Zhane offered.

Andros nodded, entering his friend's code as well. A second code would give Andros a higher security clearance, but although they each had the other's code memorized, neither would *use* the other's without permission--unless it were extremely important, which this really wasn't. It was simple curiosity.

"Authorization confirmed," the computer said, after a pause, and the artificial voice now sounded subtly different. "Welcome to the Kerovan security network, Power Rangers."

"KOSN," Zhane interjected, addressing the new system being routed through Andros's terminal. "Display the identities of the Elisian Rangers."

"Please specify," KOSN reproved mildly, and Zhane looked at Andros.

"List the team members of four years ago," Andros told the computer.

"Compliance." Five names appeared on the screen, and Andros pointed to the top one.

The name lit up when his finger touched the monitor, and he asked, "Do you have a datafile for this one, KOSN?"

The system did not deign to answer, but the screen changed a moment later to show the name, rank, and government position of the Ranger in question. There was a rather lengthy (for someone that age) list of political involvements, and several recognitions for heroic action in battle--but what drew Andros's eye was the picture at the top of the file.

Beside the words "Saryn, Red Ranger of Elisia," was the same face that had smiled at Cassie so often over the past few days.

"So?" Zhane asked after a minute, and Andros craned his head around to look at him. "Is that what you were looking for?"

Andros nodded slowly. "Yeah. Yeah, I guess it was."

"You don't sound too sure," Zhane observed, not pressing, but obviously curious.

Rather than answering, Andros turned back to the computer. "KOSN, what is the status of this Ranger now?"

He could practically feel Zhane's surprise. Everyone knew what had happened to that Ranger--what had happened to *all* the members of that team. Their sacrifice had saved their planet, but the price had been the life of everyone on the team.

*Everyone on the team--except one,* Andros thought, staring at the screen as the words "Presumed dead" flashed on it, followed by a date. *Three and a half years ago.*

"Saryn of Elisia was presumed dead at the same time as his teammates, immediately following Dark Spectre's first attack on the League's frontier," KOSN informed them.

"The first *concerted* attack," Zhane corrected, a little indignantly. "*We* were attacked before Elisia."

Andros did not answer, still gazing pensively at the screen. After a moment, Zhane folded his arms on the back of Andros's chair and asked quietly, "What are you thinking about?"

Though Zhane had often used to ask him that, it was only now that Andros realized they were the same words that Ashley used when he was being particularly quiet. He smiled a little. In some ways, the two were very similar, and he would dearly love to see them become friends.

"Saryn," he answered at last, twisting around to look at Zhane. "The only surviving Ranger from the Elisian team is on the Megaship right now."