Power Rangers Time Force and all related logos and characters are property of Saban and/or Disney. I am using them without permission, but promise to pay royalties when I make my first million. Camille Summers, Lt. James Emery and the Sphere of Omara belong to me. Special thanks to Cmar: I love you more than you know.
A/N: Sequel to the highly successful Parallels. It takes place only minutes after the Parallels finale.
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Future Shock IITommy kicked the door in, knocking it off the hinges as he stormed in, making his way over to Alex' desk. He quickly snatched the drawers out of the desk, rambling through them as he searched for it.
'It's all my fault, and now it's up to me to make things right,' he told himself. 'Admiral Logan put me in command of the team, and now two of them are dead.'
It seemed like a routine mission at the time; traveling to the past to help the Silver Guardians prevent a mutant attack. It wasn't that unusual, considering the line of work he was in. Traveling to different points in history was commonplace on the Slipstream project, so when his team found themselves in the year 2007, no one suspected a thing. The four of them did their best to prevent the attack, and were successful, but the cost was simply too high.
Trip's spinal cord had been snapped in three different places, according to Dr. Young's preliminary examination. Camille's neck was broken, no doubt from falling almost 20 feet to the concrete below.
'And where was I? Safe and sound in the science lab reading over reports. I should have been there, I could have helped,' he thought to himself.
Realizing that there was nothing in the desk, he headed over to the filing cabinet up against the wall, snatching the drawers out and going through them one by one. The top drawer was locked, but Tommy kicked the entire cabinet over, breaking the lock on the drawer. It popped open, and Tommy rambled through it…
…but it wasn't there.
"Damn it, where the hell is it?" he snapped, kicking the cabinet again out of frustration.
That's when he walked into the room.
"I know what you're looking for, but you won't find it here," he said as he leaned up against the wall, folding his arms.
Tommy rushed over to him, grabbing him by the collar and shoving him up against the wall. The impact was enough to knock the deeply tinted sunglasses off his face. "Where is it Alex? Where is the sphere?" he snapped.
As soon as Lt. Emery told him that Trip and Camille were dead, his thoughts shifted to the sphere. He recalled using it to cure Adam and bring him back to the year 3000. Adam had severe radiation poisoning from using a damaged Morpher with no power coin, and the radiation surely would have killed him, but the sphere healed him. Afterwards, there were no traces of radiation in his system. 'If it worked for Adam, it'll work for Trip and Camille,' he convinced himself.
Alex shoved him away, straightening his uniform. "I can't tell you. You have no idea what you're dealing with," he said calmly.
Tommy grabbed him again, this time by the throat with one hand. "You have no idea what you're dealing with if you don't tell me where the sphere is," he snapped.
Alex took a deep breath, trying to maintain his composure. "I know how you're feeling Tommy; like this is your fault. I've been there, I've lost dozens of officers under my command, but it isn't our place to dictate who lives and who dies. The cost is simply too high," he explained.
"I don't care what the cost is, two of my friends are dead for no reason and I want them back!" he snapped.
"It wasn't for no reason; they died protecting the past and preserving the future. Because of their sacrifice, countless billions were saved," he brought up.
"Their deaths were senseless and could have been prevented!" He let go of Alex, turning his back to him as tears filled his eyes. "I owe it to them to do what I can to bring them back," he sighed.
Alex reached out, putting a hand on Tommy's shoulder. "I know it seems hard to believe, but everything happens for a reason. There is a balance, an order to the universe. For every life taken, another is created. Balance is the key to maintaining the universe," he said.
"For the last time Alex, tell me where the sphere is," he sighed, but still with a firm tone in his voice.
"Even if I wanted to give it to you, I couldn't," he sighed.
"Why not?"
"After we used the Sphere of Omara to revive Adam, the counsel saw fit to take it from me. They returned the sphere to their home world. Getting it now would require…" he stopped, allowing his sentence to trail off.
"Require what?" Tommy snapped, turning around.
Alex let out a sigh. "The Sphere of Omara was placed in a sacred temple on their home planet, and the only way to gain access to it is to read the summoning spell," he said.
"Fine, tell me where I get the summoning spell and I'll…" He was cut short.
"It isn't that simple. I can give you the spell, but it has to be read by someone who wasn't meant to exist," he said.
"What?"
Alex picked up his chair, setting it upright and sat down. "It's a defense mechanism. Only someone that wasn't meant to exist, someone born because of an incursion of the space/time continuum, can obtain the sphere. It took me months to find someone to acquire the sphere for him, and after the counsel took it from me, I tried to get it again. Because of the shifts in the time line, the person I had get it for me the first time no longer exists," he explained.
"So am I supposed to find someone who isn't suppose to exist?" he inquired.
"That's only the half of it. Once you do find someone willing to go with you to get the sphere, acquiring the sphere upsets the balance of the universe. By using it to bring back Camille and Trip, the sphere will emit a wave of instability. There's no telling how time will be affected if you use the sphere," he warned. "I used the sphere once to save Wesley Collin's father, and the time line was drastically altered."
"There weren't side effects to using the sphere to save Adam. I think…" He was cut short again.
"There were side effects. Adam was never meant to leave his own time, and as a result, the instability altered the time line. Tanya eventually married Theodore Johnson and had children with him. That one event altered future history, which ultimately led to the mutant attack at the World Peace Summit in 2007," he said.
"You're saying because we saved Adam and brought him to the 31st century, history was changed and the mutants attacked the Summit?" he asked.
He nodded. "TJ was supposed to accept a position in the military, and was supposed to develop a method for counteracting the mutant gene and preventing it from giving them unique mutant abilities. Because he didn't…"
"One of the mutant genes he didn't operate on was in one of the mutants involved in the attack at the Peace Summit, and they killed Trip and Camille," he sighed as all the pieces began to fall into place.
"About a year before that incident, TJ was supposed to give the treatment to the mutant called Magneto. It would have been a success, suppressing his mutant abilities and allowing him to live the rest of his life as an average human. Because he didn't…"
"This is all my fault," he sighed. "If I hadn't gone back and saved Adam, Trip and Camille would still be here," he said.
"Yes, but Adam would be dead. This is why we aren't meant to dictate who lives and who dies, the price is too high," Alex told him.
Tommy shook his head. "No, this is my fault and I have to make things right. If it is my fault that Trip and Camille are gone, I have to be the one to bring them back. I'm going to get the sphere," he told him.
"Even if you were able to find someone to go with you, get the sphere and bring it back, you only have twelve hours. After that, the sphere won't be able to bring them back," Alex mentioned.
"So I'd better hurry," Tommy said as he wiped the tears away from his eyes, walking out of the room.