The sunlight streamed through the window, casting its golden luminance over the canary colored sheets of Aisha Campbell’s bed. She stuck her head under a pillow as the beams made their way to her face.
"Aisha!" her mother called from downstairs.
She crawled under her covers, hoping her mother wouldn’t persist in getting her up at this ungodly hour of the morning.
"Aisha, get up!" the call rang out again.
"It’s Saturday, Mom!" Aisha cried back.
"I know, but Sean’s here!"
Her attention perked up, but only for a little bit. It was still seven o’clock in the morning. What was he doing here this early? They hadn’t made any plans for this weekend. And Sean wasn’t the type to just show up unannounced at her house without calling her first.
Slowly slipping out of bed, she grabbed for the black and gold robe Sean gave her for Christmas, and, cinching it tightly, she trudged out of the room and down the stairs. She passed the living room where her little brother, Jonothan, was watching cartoons.
"Mornin’, Jono," she yawned.
"Mornin’, Aisha," he called back.
Aisha turned the corner into the dining room and saw Sean standing there, facing the window that had even more sunlight streaming in. Her mother was setting out a cup of oolong tea for Sean, his favorite next to Earl Grey, and looking at Sean with concern. She saw Aisha come into the room and quickly diverted her attention to attending to breakfast that was cooking.
Aisha smiled. That’s my man! She thought.
Then he turned to her and she almost took back her statement.
If she hadn’t seen his face in her dreams and so many times staring back at her, she would’ve thought this was some stranger in her house. She almost stepped back when he came towards her. When he touched her shoulder and neck, his hands were cold…almost frigid.
"Sean?" she pondered out loud.
"I know I don’t look that bad, love," he said, a rich baritone echoing from his chest. Even though he looked like crap, he didn’t necessarily sound like it. She placed a hand on his black shirt and stroked his chest.
"Well, you look like you could perk up a little," she told him.
He laughed slightly. "You’re mother’s tea does that just nicely."
"Here I thought it was me," Aisha returned. She looked at him more clearly now. His eyes looked…different than what she was used to. Aubergine circles, signifying sleeplessness, marked the lower portion of his eyes. Sean never had a sleepless night. Although he boasted he could go for days without sleep, he never did.
"Breakfast will be ready shortly," Aisha’s mother announced. "You will stay and have breakfast with us, won’t you, Sean?"
"Of course, ma’am," Sean returned with a smile. "I’d never miss a chance to have your crepes suzette."
"Well, here you go." She set his tea down along with a spoon and a small saucer of sugar cubes. She also set a cup down for Aisha, and she went back to the kitchen.
Sean and Aisha sat at the shined top of the glass table. It was neatly decorated with a brown basket of fruits in the center, with white doilies and brown place mats marking the four places where people could sit. Sean sat at the furthest place away from the kitchen and moved a chair around for Aisha to sit.
Carefully observing his moves, Aisha watched Sean slowly stir his tea, in a counterclockwise fashion.
One.
He placed two cubes of sugar in his tea and stirred again.
Two.
Without turning his head, he picked up his teacup and, eyes forward, sipped his tea.
Three.
"Something’s wrong with me, isn’t it?" he asked, without turning his head.
"I didn’t want to say anything, but…"
"But what?"
She looked him the eyes and lowered her voice, "You’re eyes look different."
He raised an eyebrow. "That all?"
"No," she said, "You just seem a bit cold…distant…" She looked at his tea. "Did anything happen to you, Sean? Anything I should know about?"
Sean looked at her and opened his mouth to say something when Aisha’s mother came back into the dining room. Sean gasped loudly and began to tremble.
She held a small paring knife in her right hand and was coming towards him.
"No!" Sean yelled and jumped out of his chair, knocking it over and nearly crashing into the fine China cabinet.
"Sean? Honey, what’s wrong?" Aisha’s mother asked.
"Sean?" Aisha questioned, slowly inching towards him.
His eyes locked on the knife. He shivered uncontrollably and started to sweat.
"Keep away!" the man hollered at her.
"Wh--?"
"KEEP AWAY FROM ME! NO MORE!"
"Mom, get back into the kitchen!" Aisha exclaimed.
"Aisha…" her mother began but was cut off by a sharp look from her daughter. She didn’t want to leave, not with Sean in this state, but she felt it best to do what her daughter wished. Sean wouldn’t harm her. Not the way those two were.
As soon as she exited, Aisha moved slowly towards Sean who had watched her mother leave. Sean visibly calmed down, but his face was soaked with sweat.
"Sean?" she asked.
He didn’t respond. He just stared blankly towards the kitchen.
"Sean?" she asked again.
This time his eyebrows knitted together.
"Sean?"
"They came for me," he whispered.
"What?"
"They came for me."
"Who, Sean?"
"They," was his reply as he slumped against the wall.
Later, at the Command Center, Sean described his episode to his commander, Zordon, and the rest of the Rangers. They listened intently as Sean laid out his experience. The table…the beings…the tools…the procedures…the fear.
The intense fear that had made Sean want to scream.
Zordon listened carefully, waving his massive head side to side, and grumbling to himself. Alpha-5, the android keeper of the Command Center, held a small recorder, so that the Rangers could go over Sean’s words again, if needed.
"Aliens?" Kimberly Hart said after Sean had finished. "Like, little green men?"
"Actually, they were gray," Sean said, half-jokingly.
"I don’t believe it," Rocky De Santos said, flabbergasted. "I mean, they probed and cut into you. And you couldn’t do anything?"
"Nothing," the Gold Ranger said. "I could barely move. I couldn’t turn my head. I couldn’t move my hand. I could do nothing."
Billy Cranston, the "brains" of the Power Rangers, got up and removed a mediscanner from a small compartment near the control panels. He tapped it and ran the white strobe over the entire length of Sean’s body. He had a puzzled look on his face when he got to Sean’s head and chest.
"Could you take off your shirt, Sean?" Billy asked while still staring at the small LCD screen on the scanner.
Sean did as he was told, taking off his black shirt and holding it at his side. Billy ran the scanner over his chest again and stopped at a point a few inches away from his chest bone on his right pectoral muscle. He pressed a few buttons and shook his head.
"Well?" Aisha asked finally.
"I’m detecting microscopic scar tissue," Billy reported. "Entire length approximately 6.4516 centimeters. I am also detecting other microscopic incision points at various other points in your chest and…" He pointed the device at Sean’s neck. "…neck area."
"I noticed that you reacted when you got to my head," Sean said. "Anything wrong with it?"
Billy raised the scanner again and moved it about. When he reached Sean’s face, he stopped, swirling the device in a circles around it.
"The device detects something lodged within your nasal cavity," Billy announced.
"What is it?" Sean asked.
"Unknown, but it’s nothing natural. Have you been experiencing any sort of difficulty breathing or unexplained headaches?"
"As a matter of fact, I have had several severe headaches for weeks," Sean returned. "My normal techniques of relaxation and pain isolation have not worked. I finally broke down and used some aspirin, but that didn’t help. I tried some naproxem sodium. That didn’t help either. Ibuprofen seemed to alleviate it some, enough for me to sleep, but never getting rid of it completely."
"Why didn’t you tell us?" Aisha asked from his side.
"I did not feel that it was of any particular concern," he said, looking into her eyes. "Remember…no burdens." He turned back to Billy. "Can it be removed, Billy?"
"From these readings, it is ‘attached’ to the upper portion of your nose," Billy said. "The medical facilities are properly equipped. It will take some time to properly get the equipment…"
"Can you do it now?" Sean interrupted.
Billy looked at him with surprise. "Uh…yes, but I don’t…"
"Do it."
"Ay-yi-yi-yi!" Alpha spoke up for the first time since the Rangers arrived. "That may be inadvisable!"
"I want to know what this thing is up my nose, Alpha. I want it removed now."
The little android went and removed a medical kit from a compartment near the Rangers. He opened it up and pulled out a pair of tweezers and handed them to Billy. Billy took an alcohol pad and sterilized the end.
"Adam, would you hold the scanner so that I can see the screen, please?" Billy asked. Adam Park, the Black Ranger, did as he was instructed to do. "Now, Sean, hold your head back and don’t move."
"Sean," Zordon’s voice boomed, "are you sure you want to do this?"
The Gold Ranger nodded and put his head back. Aisha gripped his hand. Billy let out a long sigh and placed the tweezers at the entrance of Sean’s nasal passage. He glanced at the scanner and moved the tweezers forward. Slowly, micrometer by micrometer, the stainless steel device intruded Sean’s nose.
"I’m right beneath it," Billy announced. "I’m going to try and grasp the item."
Kim stood beside Tommy, clasping his arm for support. Rocky watched, wide-eyed as Billy turned the tweezers upward. Sean stood, silently, and grabbed Aisha’s hand tighter.
Billy turned slightly so that he could look Sean in the eyes, "There may be some blood, but don’t worry about it."
"I’m not worried, Billy," Sean said, calmly and slowly. "I trust you."
The Blue Ranger felt metal against metal as the tweezers hit the device. A small jolt of electricity went down the length of the tweezers and caused Billy to drop them. Sean felt it to and jerked his head away, nearly stumbling over the control boards.
"What happened?!" Tommy asked.
"I just got zapped by some electricity," Billy said while shaking his hand. "I assume it to be some sort of anti-tampering mechanism."
"I felt it, too," Sean said, shaking his head. He steadied himself with a little help from Aisha and Adam and went to help Billy up. "Try again. This time, no matter what happens, remove it."
"Sean, I…"
"Billy!"
Picking up the tweezers off the floor and rubbing them down with another alcohol pad, Billy went back to his probing.