By N. E. Shaw
High above planet Earth, the Astro Megaship sailed silently in space, her engines thrumming like the heartbeat of a great majestic beast. A large, bright blue jewel of a planet spun quietly below, its main continent currently experiencing nighttime. On the Megaship however, it was early morning, and the five humans on board were getting ready for the day's work.
In the Engine Room, Andros, the Red Ranger glanced briefly at his wrist chronometer. It was just past 08:30, and he felt refreshed and ready for the new day as he wriggled his way into the short maintenance tube beneath the HyperRush Core. There were a few adjustments to be made that morning before he did anything else. Locating the appropriate panel, he removed the cover and unclipped a tiny tool from his lapel. Then he began to reprogram the panel according to his latest formula to increase engine efficiency. Despite the goings on of the past week, he had still found time to work on the formula, and was anxious to try it out.
But just as he was entering the first line of code, something tiny and silver dropped from above right next to his head. It landed on the tube floor with a plop, and he looked down to see a drop of gooey silver liquid splattered on the warm metal paneling. As he watched, it slowly stopped spreading and hardened into a dull grey blob.
Andros frowned in confusion. Why would there be melted metal dripping from the ceiling? By the time he reached a hypothesis a few seconds later, he realized that if he didn't get out of that room soon, the hypothesis would be his last.
Dropping his tools, he scrambled backward out of the tube and slammed the access cover. Then he turned and bolted towards the door just as a frightening gaseous hiss issued from the HyperRush column.
The next thing he knew, an explosion ripped through the air and he was thrown skyward like a rag doll.
On the bridge, Ashley and Carlos were getting started on their own tasks for the day, when the very deck shook beneath their feet. Both Rangers were rocked, and Carlos tumbled out of his seat onto the hard floor. When the bridge was calm again, he looked at Ashley and observed, "That was no laser blast. That came from the Megaship."
Helping him to his feet, Ashley turned to the main view screen. "DECA, what was that?"
The view screen remained black, but text began to roll across it in response. "Explosion detected in the Engine Room. Fire control systems not responding."
"Was anyone nearby?" Carlos asked.
"Affirmative. Andros was present at the time of the explosion."
The Rangers looked at each other in alarm. Ashley demanded, "He wasn't hurt, was he?"
DECA took a moment to respond. Finally, she offered, "That information is unavailable."
Without another word, the pair forgot their tasks and dove into the turbolift, heading for the Engine Room to see if they still had a Red Ranger.
Before they even reached the Engine Room, the stench of burning metal and miscellaneous gasses assaulted their senses. Ignoring the smell, they rushed into the compartment to find the Engine Core a twisted, blackened and half melted column of scrap metal, with a plasma fire raging inside and liquid metal oozing onto the floor. The place was a disaster. Ashley clapped her hand over her mouth in mute horror at the sight.
Suddenly they heard a soft groan to their right, and looked to see Andros lying on his back against the wall. He was covered with soot stains but looked relatively unharmed. Together, Ashley and Carlos helped him to sit up.
"Are you ok, man?" asked Carlos. The Red Ranger gave a weak nod.
"I'm fine." he told them, wincing as he discovered a small chunk of plexiglass embedded in his left shoulder.
Ashley frowned at the bloody wound. "We'd better get you to the infirmary." she said, and Andros didn't argue. "I'll be alright." he said. "Don't worry."
They all jumped as a flare in the fire lit up the room. Carlos scrambled to his feet. "I'd better put that fire out." he said, and got the hand held extinguisher from the far wall. He began to blast fire suppression foam all over the stinking hot flames while Ashley turned to question her friend.
"What happened?" she demanded. "We felt the explosion on the bridge and DECA told us you were in here the whole time."
"I was doing those adjustments I told you about to the plasma flow regulators." Andros replied. "I was just about to start when the titanium HyperCore casing began leaking into the maintenance tube. I realized there must be a superheated Core fire going on, and I got out of there as fast as I could, but the room oxygen reached the plasma too soon. The thing went up like a supernova before I could get out."
"Do you have any idea how the fire started?"
Andros shook his head. "Your guess is as good as mine."
They fell silent, watching as Carlos continued to drown the fire in foam. He was darkly silhouetted against the bright green flames, but they could see the blaze would soon be contained. TJ and Cassie arrived at that moment, recoiling from the smell and heat on the air.
"What's going on?" asked TJ. "We felt the explosion on the other side of the ship!"
They were quickly filled in on the events of the past few minutes. Then Cassie caught sight of Andros' shoulder. She peered at it critically. "Where'd the shrapnel come from?" she asked.
"It's from the outer casing." Andros replied. "Must have got stuck there when the shockwave hit."
"Well it can't stay there forever." The Pink Ranger declared. "Come on, we better get you patched up before you bleed all over everything." Then she and TJ helped him to his feet and lead him away towards the Infirmary. Ashley stood as well, watching them go, and turned back to Carlos just as the last of the fire was suffocated under the suppression foam. He lowered the nozzle and stood silently for a moment, surveying his work with a dark expression.
Ashley came to stand next to him, laying a hand on his shoulder.
"I knew this was coming." he said. "First Teej and Cassie, then you, now Andros. What's going on around here?"
Ashley sighed. "I don't know, but I think we should try and find out before someone has another little 'accident' like this one. Next time we might not come through so lucky."
The Black Ranger could only nod quietly in agreement.
