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Chapter 9
Prist screamed, feeling her teammate's pain. Grasping her midsection, she sank to her knees, crying out in agony.
"Where's Jax?" Brath demanded, looking around frantically. No one had realized that the Imbera had not been with them as they unburied Jamie and Tommy.
Beyond the ruins of the control bunker came a flash of fire: the fiery bird image of the Imbera power unleashed.
"Go," Tommy ordered. "Jamie and I'll see to Prist."
Without further argument, the four remaining Rangers dashed off to their leader's rescue.
"Jax," the Pink Ranger moaned, struggling to assert herself over the Imbera's overwhelming pain. "Spirits, I am losing him... he fades from this world...."
"Hold onto him, Prist," Tommy commanded, grabbing the young woman's shoulders and shaking her soundly. "Whatever you do, don't let him go. It would be the death of us all."
Prist nodded and suddenly went limp in Tommy's arms. If he had to guess, he'd say that she had sent her spirit out to anchor Jax's.
"As you love him, don't let him go," Tommy whispered fervently.
Jamie eyed him questioningly, but did not address the odd comment. In stead, he said, "We are going to have to let a healer work on him, if his injury is as serious as we infer from Prist."
"Marg would be okay," Tommy concurred.
"I shall contact Vlar and have him teleport her here...."
"Not unless Jax can't be taken back in the shuttle. It's too risky," Tommy asserted. "Obviously, we're not alone up here."
Jamie grimly nodded in agreement. "I do not believe I was the target this time...."
Suddenly, Tommy and Jamie were bombarded with mental images Prist broadcasting the images she was picking up from Jax....
Jax had wandered a ways from the others, drawn by an inexplicable something. He was beyond the ruins; he saw no one, but could not shake the feeling that he was not alone.
"Jax... my heart...."
Everything inside the Imbera went cold. There was only one person who ever called him that: his beloved Trin. He knew that the spirits of the deceased could reach out to the living; he had often wished Trin would visit him to offer her wise and patient counsel. How he needed her wisdom! How he needed to know that she understood and forgave him....
"Trin?" he called out softly," turning to follow the voice. Even as he did so, he knew he should not be wandering off alone. He should be investigating the explosion he had just heard. Yet, if it was truly Trin who was calling to him....
Heart and mind could not agree.
Like a sleepwalker, Jax clambered over another rise, following the phantom voice. He had to know if he was truly hearing his lifebond's voice. His quest took him farther and farther from his teammates.
Then, he descended into a gully and saw....
"Trin?"
He pulled up short at the image flickering before him an ephemeral vision of his lost love. His heart ached as he looked on the familiar face; her large dark eyes gazed up at him, pleadingly. His pulse leaped to see her sweet body draped in her favorite gauzy wrap that clung in all the right places and left little to the imagination.
"Jax...." her lips formed his name, and she stretched translucent arms to him.
"Jax, no!"
The warning sounded inside his head, and it sounded exactly as the voice coming from the vision before him. The fear he sensed gave him only a moment's pause; he took another step closer to the ghostly shape of his lost inamorata.
"To touch a spirit is to touch death!"
That, of course, was an old tale used to frighten children into ignoring malicious spirits that often lingered in the world and would beguile them into harm's way. He paused yet again, but then continued. After all, Trin would not harm him.
"It is a trap, my heart!"
There was no denying the force of that warning; it hit him like a physical blow, and it was the only thing that saved his life.
He never saw the flaming blade that slashed out of the shadows. The fiery metal bit deep through his midsection, but not as deep and deadly as had been intended, and Jax was able to bring his powers to bear briefly before succumbing to his injuries.
"Prist... dampen your thoughts!" Jamie groaned, struggling to break free of the mental onslaught. He placed his hand on the unconscious Ranger's forehead and concentrated. Somehow, the former Imbera got through to her, for the images ceased.
"That was intense," Tommy mumbled.
"And more than a little disturbing," Jamie said somberly.
"Someone knew exactly how to tempt Jax with his heart's desire," Tommy concurred.
"We have got to get off this base as quickly as possible," Jamie murmured. "Let us find the others."
With Tommy carrying Prist and Jamie abandoning the pretense of the wheel chair, they set out. However, they hadn't ventured far when the other Rangers met them, Jax secured on a hover gurney.
"How bad?" Tommy asked. There was room enough for another body on the cart, so he laid Prist next to Jax.
"Without a healer, he will not survive," the Blue Ranger said grimly, looking up from the med-kit scanner. "It is a miracle he has survived this long."
"I strongly suspect that is Prist's doing," Jamie remarked.
"Can he be transported to a secure area before a healer works on him?" Tommy asked. The emphasis was not lost on the Red Ranger.
"We will have to chance it," he said, clearly not liking the additional delay but acknowledging the necessity. "It will have to be by shuttle; he is in no shape for a teleport."
Tommy nodded. "I'll get Jax to the Command Center infirmary and get Jamie to safety. You guys concentrate on finding whoever did this."
~*~
Oh man... wha' hit me? Tommy groaned.
"Welcome back to the land of the living," the Presence greeted him. Aloud, the Presence said, "Stand by for docking, Command Center."
Tommy found himself in the most peculiar position of watching himself pilot the shuttle craft; he was not in control of his body at all.
"What happened?" he demanded, fighting down the rising tide of panic swelling within him.
"The short version is you were knocked unconscious...."
"By the explosion?"
"Yes, and I thought it best to keep you up and running during the crisis."
"You can do that?"
"And it isn't as easy as it looks. The sooner you resume control, the better. I'm losing energy fast."
"As soon as the shuttle's down."
"I'll fill you in then."
"Right." Tommy knew Atir or whoever needed her/his full concentration to land the shuttle.
~*~
By the time the landing gear was locked and the ramp extended, Tommy was once again in control of his body and fully briefed on the situation.
"How's he doing?" Tommy asked as he joined Jamie in the hold with their patients.
"Very weak. Let us get a call in to Marg now."
They hadn't wanted to radio from the orbital base or the shuttle because they couldn't be certain that the communications system hadn't been bugged.
"Already here," came a clipped response.
Father and son were surprised to see the aged healer hurrying into the hold.
"How did you know?" Tommy wondered.
Marg simply jerked a thumb towards the gangway even as she slipped into her healer's trance.
Hurrying up the ramp behind her were Twyn and Vlar. Both were pale faced and anxious eyed.
"Father, how is he?" Twyn choked out, coming forward to embrace her parent as she could not hold her son.
"Alive, thanks to Prist, and all the better for Marg's presence," he assured her. "How did you know? Was it the parent bond? I thought you could not...."
Twyn hung her head in pain and frustration.
"It was the parent bond, my friend," Vlar admitted softly.
"You're Jax's father?" Tommy gasped and received a slow nod in confirmation.
"Explanations can wait until we get everyone to the infirmary," Twyn said, White Ranger habits superseding personal pain and maternal instinct for the moment.
~*~
Tommy, Jamie, Twyn and Vlar waited anxiously in the anteroom of the infirmary. Marg had stabilized Jax in the shuttle hold then transferred him to the medical facility as soon as was possible. Prist was still unconscious, linked to Jax, fighting to keep his spirit firmly with his body on Threa.
Nobody spoke, though there was much to say. Twyn and Vlar sat huddled by Jamie as they waited for news. Tommy found he could not sit and got up to pace.
"Tommy?" It was the Presence.
"You still here? I thought you had to rest."
"I need to desperately, but I had to see if I could help Prist."
"Will Jax be all right."
"He will live... but will he be all right? That depends."
"On what?"
"On whether he can overcome his guilt and matebond with Prist."
"What?!?"
"Apparently, the bonding call surfaced just before Trin died. Jax thought he'd been called to his lifebond, so he thought there was no way to answer the call once she died. However, it turns out he was called to Prist, not her sister...."
"And he feels guilty like he's betraying Trin."
"Right."
"Man, what a mess. This is worse than a soap opera!"
The Presence laughed weakly.
"Hey, before you go, I had an idea," Tommy said suddenly. It was something he'd been considering since he'd been restored to full control of his body.
"What is that?"
"What if you had something to anchor yourself to outside the Morphin' Grid? You wouldn't have to expend as much energy as do now, would you?"
"Theoretically. What did you have in mind?"
"Well... something like Zordon's timewarp, only mobile. Since you were able to take over for me when I was knocked out, I wondered if you'd be able to use me for your anchor."
There was a moment of stunned silence.
"You want me to come into your mind... to share your mind and body? Tommy, that's ridiculous... that's impossible... that's...."
"The perfect solution."
"You're not a telepath. The only reason I can get through to you at all is because of your link to the Morphin' Grid. Human brains are too rigid; they can't handle...."
"My brain's been mucked with so many times it has to be more flexible than an ordinary human brain. I'm talking to you now, aren't I?"
The point was irrefutable.
"Tommy, I appreciate the offer, but do you know you're offering? You'd have no privacy. No thought would be sacred. You have no training, so you'd have no way of closing off your mind to me. Plus, the physical strain on you would be tremendous; you'd feel like you had a perpetual head cold with sinus pressure."
"I could deal with it. The fact is, I need your help so I can help Jamie and the others. If something happens to you, what then?"
"I... don't know, Tommy. I'll have to think about it."
As his spectral assistant receded from his consciousness, Tommy thought he heard the words, "You don't know how tempting it would be...."
"Beys!"
Jamie's exclamation recalled Tommy to the here and now. The white-haired former Ranger had been assisting the healer.
"Jax is out of danger, physically," she said carefully.
"But mentally...?" Twyn prompted.
"It is as if he has lost the will to live."
"Is he conscious yet?" Tommy asked.
"No, but...."
"Tell Marg to call me the moment he wakes up," he said. To his companion's questioning gazes, he added, "I want to talk to him. I think I know a way to help him."
Beys regarded him dubiously but nodded her assent.
Tommy had also noticed that as soon as Beys entered the room, Twyn had disengaged herself from Vlar and ducked her head guiltily. Vlar looked pained, and Beys simply sighed.
"So, who wants to fill me in on what is going on between the three of you?" Jamie asked, also noting the by-play. "Twyn, why did you never tell anyone that you had matebonded with Vlar? How could you deny your son his father?"
Twyn flinched at the harshness of his tone.
"I think I can guess," Vlar said softly. He looked to Twyn and tilted her head up so he could see her eyes. "It was because of my heartbond with Beys, was it not?"
The former Imbera nodded, tears welling in her eyes. When she spoke, her voice quavered. "After what happened between Beys and Kith ...."
"Foolish girl," Beys murmured, coming forward to wrap her in a hug. "Ah, young one, Kith was the one who could not share. That was the source of the difficulty between us. He did not want just a matebonding; he wanted a lifebonding, but he could not accept that my heart belonged to Vlar. The two of us were willing to have him join us, but Kith would have none of it."
"I was afraid...."
"... that matebonding with me would hurt my bond with Beys, so you tried to fight the call," Vlar concluded. Twyn looked surprised at his insight. "Why do you think Beys and I invited you to share a night with us? I knew I had been called to you, and I told Beys."
"You would have been welcome," Beys added.
"Why did you not tell me?"
"We tried, but you did not wish to listen. You were so intent on shutting me out... for a long time, I believed you did not wish the bond between us."
"I cannot think of anyone I would have rather had for the father of my child," Twyn admitted shyly.
"That is a relief," Beys snorted.
"Why is that?" Jamie wondered.
"Have you ever wondered why Vlar and I never lifebonded?"
"Has not everyone who knows you?"
"I could not lifebond with Beys," Vlar interjected. "I gave myself to the mother of my child. It only remains for her to accept me."
"What? But how...? Why...?" Twyn sputtered.
"Oh, Ancestors! Will you just tell him you accept the bonding?" Beys said exasperatedly. "The bond is true, whether you like it or not. He nearly died when your mind was damaged. He is the reason you survived that night physically as well as mentally."
"Beys...." Vlar chided gently. "This is a great deal for Twyn to get used to, and our son is clinging to a thread of life. There will be time to sort this out later."
At that point, Jamie drifted away from the conversation, and Tommy followed him.
"And I thought I had problems with dating Kat even though I still loved Kim," Tommy sighed.
"There are times when I think the human approach to relationships and procreation is a lot less complicated than the Threan one."
"Amen to that."
~*~
From the infirmary, Tommy headed for the Command Center's labs. There he found the Blue Ranger poking and prodding at the object they had found in the crater. She had returned to examine their only find.
"Any luck figuring out what it is?" he asked, peering over the young woman's shoulder.
Zol looked up at Tommy with a touch of annoyance flashing in her green eyes and she brushed aside a stray lock of pale hair that had fallen out of her braid.
"Not really. But I do know what it is not. It is not the detonator which set off the explosion."
"Then what would be your best guess?"
"I hate guessing."
"I know another Blue Ranger very much like in you in that respect, but I trust his guesses better than anyone else's."
"It seems to be a transmitter of some sort." As Zol spoke, she indicated several of the pieces she had removed from the black box.
They meant nothing to Tommy, but he frowned. "That's not good. Any idea if it was able to send a signal out of the base?"
If someone had managed to send a homing signal from the base, there was no telling what was going to show up on the Rangers' doorstep!
"That is what confuses me. If I am interpreting the data correctly, it was not broadcasting a signal outward but inward to some other location on the asteroid."
"That doesn't make sense," Tommy said helplessly.
"I know. I was able to discover the signal signature by rechecking the scanners from the hangar bay, since this was no longer transmitting when we found it. I have calculated the coordinates, and Brath and the others are investigating."
"Zol, we have finished sweeping the area you pinpointed," the Brath reported as if on cue.
"Did you find the receiver?" the Blue Ranger asked.
"You are not going to believe what we dug up."
The Red Ranger stepped out of the immediate focus of the Viewing Globe to allow his teammate to see what they had unearthed.
It was an oblong box, shiny and black, with no markings or visible openings. It couldn't have been more than two feet wide and was roughly six feet long.
"What is that?" Tommy queried.
"It looks like a life support pod," Zol murmured.
"That was our assumption, too," Brath responded.
"Can you locate the control grid? Is it occupied?"
"It is heavy enough to contain a body," the Green Ranger grunted.
"This could be the source of the life readings that Prist detected," Synn supplied.
"It looks like the restoration mechanism is damaged," Brath related.
"Is there any way of finding out who's in there without opening that thing up?" Tommy asked.
"Yes, but not on the satellite base; it would have to be brought back here. The scanning technology is more sophisticated," Zol said.
"We'll transport it in a containment field directly to your lab," Brath informed Zol.
"Ready when you are," the Blue Ranger confirmed.
"I have a really bad feeling about this," Tommy murmured, but no one paid him any heed.
Chapter 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | Epilogue