The Storybook Dimension

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The Weakest Color

Chapter 18: The Second Assignment

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Supreme Commander Fowler Birdie straightened a stack of loose papers on his desk. Putting them aside, he picked up the top note in the stack, giving it a cursory glance.

‘Ah, yes. The Earth situation’.

It was clear that Commander Cruger was incapable of even securing his own command – weeks had passed, and still there were no leads, no results.

Someone had sabotaged the Delta Squad Megazord and infiltrated the base computers, and all indications were that they had escaped scot-free.

There had to be consequences for such things. Someone had to be held accountable. How would it look that Space Patrol Delta, the sworn protectors of the galaxy, had allowed such a thing to happen under their watch?

If this information was leaked to the public, the scandal could cost him his reputation, his very career. Fowler picked up his desk phone and hesitated only a moment before dialing the private number of Commander Anubis Doggie Cruger.

—

Boom stared at the page in front of him. The text swam, then swirled and then seemed to form little patterns on the paper. An ominous, growling noise came from his stomach, earning him a nasty glare from one of the lab assistants.

The doors swung open, and Boom did his best to look busy. Kat, usually an icon of patience, had been on edge lately, and he definitely didn’t want to get on her bad side – 147 years was plenty of time to learn a thing or two about revenge.

Sneaking a glance at the newcomer, Boom sighed in relief. “Hey, Bridge.” The grumpy assistant was still giving him the evil eye, and so Boom gathered his things and got to his feet. “Do you want to go to dinner or something?”

“Sure,” Bridge said, but his attention was immediately drawn to a complex looking project, with several vials of chemicals carefully arranged on a table. “What’s this?”

“Oh, that?” It took Boom a moment to remember. “Dr. Keppel is analyzing some mineral samples from an asteroid…  Interamnia 702, I think.”

“Isn’t that the asteroid which they mine Sarconium from, the one which had that accident in 2015?”

“Yes, that’s the one. Sarconium is… um… unstable when mixed with certain chemicals.” Boom looked up, puzzled. “Why?”

Bridge shrugged. “No reason, really. Are you ready to go?”

—

Jack was walking down the hallway when he saw something very strange.

Bridge and Boom were walking down the corridor, talking animatedly to each other. Sky, who was usually so directed and  goal-driven, was staring after them, seemingly lost in thought. “Hey,” Jack said, clapping Sky on the shoulder. “What’s up?”

Sky jumped in surprise. It was slight, so subtle that only someone who knew him well would notice it. “Jack. I didn’t see you,” Sky said. “I was just… wait, what?”

Jack repeated himself, and watched Sky’s expression shift from confused to guarded in an instant. “I don’t know,” the blue ranger said. “Why?”

“Well, I heard some things and came to find out what’s really going on.”

Sky felt a sudden, intense stab of anger. “Heard from who?”

“Nobody, really.” Jack silently berated himself and wished he had never brought it up. Sky hated gossip almost as much as he hated criminals and could hold a grudge longer than anyone.

“It was Syd, wasn’t it?” He should have known better – Syd was an excellent Ranger, but she was never very good at keeping secrets, especially about other people. “Nothing’s wrong,” Sky said. “Syd just needs to learn to mind her own business.”

“We’re a team,” Jack replied, “If something’s wrong, it’s all of our business.”

Sky shook his head. “Not this time.”

—

Piggy had stayed in many unpleasant places in his life. He’d seen his share of prisons, both SPD and otherwise, and out of all of those, Gruumm’s dungeon rated somewhere between that holding cell on Alandria and the tiny cargo hold in which he’d arrived on Earth. In other words, it wouldn’t be half bad… if it wasn’t for the company.

“You really need to lighten up, guys. Can’t we just all get along?” Piggy asked. The krybots guarding his cage said nothing, only shook their weapons threateningly. “Anyhow, I know this really good joke,” he continued, not discouraged in the slightest. “So a krybot, a Power Ranger and a monkey walk into a bar…”

The krybots didn’t laugh. In fact, they didn’t so much as twitch. Piggy sighed. Cyborgs these days just had no sense of humor.

—

It was chicken and rice day in the cafeteria. Not that Bridge didn’t like chicken and rice, although toast and chicken would have been far better. He just wasn’t that hungry… and hadn’t been for quite a while. It was bad for his health, and Kat would probably notice it eventually.

Recently, though, he couldn’t bring himself to care about things like that. There were a thousand other things to worry about – like what Broodwing was planning, and what Gruumm and Mora would order him to do next.

Boom had left a little earlier, saying that he had to go back to work. As he walked back to the dorms, Bridge heard a soft buzzing noise in his ears, followed by a familiar voice.

‘Ranger…’

Bridge quickly looked around, making sure no one was in hearing distance.

The voice came again. ‘Ranger, can you hear me?’

“Yes, I can hear you. What do you want, Gruumm?”

“Emperor Gruumm,” the Troobian corrected, but Bridge ignored him. Gruumm would never be his emperor, no matter what happened in the end.  “I am very pleased with the information you sent us,” Gruumm continued, “but for our plan to succeed, we need something else… something more.

“Like what?” Bridge asked, already dreading the answer.

“The scientist you call Kat has been developing an upgrade to the Ranger suits,” Gruumm said, “Broodwing tells us that it exists, and is called the SWAT upgrade. You’re going to steal it, and erase the data from the mainframe.”

—

‘Maybe Syd’s right,’ Jack thought. ‘Maybe something really is going on with Sky.’ He’d tried to talk himself out of it, telling himself that it was only his imagination and natural paranoia at work. However, that same paranoia had saved his life several times on the streets, and he knew better than to ignore it now.

And so he watched Sky. Jack watched him in the rec room and on the training grounds. He noticed how Sky watched everyone, as if waiting for something to happen.

Sky was distracted; curt to the point of being rude, even. He was defensive and secretive, even more so than usual. In fact, Sky hadn’t been so tense, so openly hostile since… well, since he had first joined the squad!

Even worse, it looked like Bridge was in on it, too. If Sky was acting overly secretive, Bridge seemed to be avoiding everyone, himself included. In fact, he rarely saw Bridge anymore except at training sessions, or if there was some sort of emergency.

‘They know something, and I’m going to find out what it is,’ Jack thought, determined. He was red ranger, which meant that he was supposed to be in charge – why did it always feel like he was left out of the loop?

Jack got to his feet, and went to look for Bridge.

—

Bridge wasn’t sure whether sabotage, like everything else, was just easier the second time. Or maybe he was just more reckless, and cared less for his own fate.

‘Gruumm wants me to steal the SWAT upgrade,’ Bridge reasoned. Rigorous scientific training had taught him to think through problems in steps, to divide them into little, easily analyzed pieces. ‘I can’t break into Kat’s labs again. They’re too closely watched, especially now.’

‘But there are only a few computers that would have access to that information.’ Anything about the SPD upgrades would be highly classified… if it even existed. Bridge had his doubts – Broodwing was hardly a reliable source of information. On the other hand, he doubted the bat would do anything to antagonize Gruumm, particularly now.

“Well,” Bridge thought, “there’s the computers in the command center.”

That was out of the question. The command center was never empty and besides, it was under constant surveillance. Which left only one option, an option so bold and unexpected it might actually work.

—

To Be Continued

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