Author's note: I've tried to use American terms since the story is told from American perspectives, however I apologise if at any point I slip into English usage. If ever I write "mobile" I mean "cell phone" and if I put "football" I mean "soccer" not American football. I think I've remembered to use the American version through this chapter, but I thought I'd add the warning anyway.
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Tommy left the school and switched on his cell phone. He made a point to ensure it was switched off during school time because he knew that if his phone rang, even once, he would never again stand a chance of getting the kids to keep theirs switched off. Two missed calls, both from Hayley. He checked the voice mail.
"Um, Tommy. A friend of yours has just shown up. He said he couldn't get into your place and needed somewhere to set up as soon as possible. I'm fine with you telling your friends to come to Cyberspace, but could you tell them to leave their huge pieces of machinery behind?" Hayley sounded very, very annoyed.
He listened to the second message, "OK, your friend's a genius. I can let you use the Cyberspace, but it's got to be a temporary thing." She sounded less irritated that time, but Tommy figured it would be a good idea to get to the cyber café as soon as possible and sort this out.
From the genius comment, he guessed it was Billy who had showed up, but it was surprising he'd gotten here so fast. Especially if he'd bought equipment with him. Yet, there he was, standing in the middle of the café next to what appeared to be a giant metal box. The thing was about as tall as a person and almost as wide. Must have been a struggle getting it in through the doors. There were a couple of screens and a keyboard on one side, a drawer in another. And there was Billy, tapping at the keyboard. He looked different, older, but that was only to be expected.
He'd never thought he'd see Billy again, not after he decided to stay on Aquitar. Yet here he was, tinkering about with machines as always.
"Hi, you must be Tommy," said Billy, finally noticing he was being stared at. "I'm Billy, it's nice to meet you." He shook Tommy's hand, but Tommy was still feeling slightly dazed by all this. It was one thing to know he was in a timeline where Billy had never left, it was another to see an old friend standing in front of him.
"I know who you are," Tommy said, "As far as I'm concerned, we're old friends."
"Then I expect this is going to get weird."
"How did you get here so fast?"
"I caught the first plane I could. I wanted to start observing the chronotons as soon as possible since they fade quickly and I've no idea how much data will be required."
"OK," said Tommy, since agreeing was the easiest way of dealing with any of Billy's statements that weren't understood. He vaguely recalled the term chronoton, but couldn't remember where from exactly.
"I need you to bring me anything you had on you when you were found after the change occurred," Billy said, "Clothes, jewellery, anything you might have had in your pockets.
"OK, I'll be back in a little while then; I'll need to go back to my house."
"You're not going to ask why?" Billy looked surprised.
"As I said, I know you. I know you've got some reason for asking and I know I probably wouldn't understand the explanation anyway." He looked about for Hayley, but she was on the phone arguing with someone about deliveries, so he just waved and headed for the door.
About three quarters of an hour later, he was back at the Cyberspace, glad no police cars had been around to notice his slight disregard for the speed limit. He offered Billy his bracelet and the earring he'd been wearing. Kim still had the photo.
"Brilliant," said Billy. He opened up the drawer in the side of the machine and put both objects in. One of the screens was clearly connected to a camera inside, which showed the jewellery sitting in the bottom of the drawer, not doing anything.
"What are we looking at?" Tommy asked.
"This machine detects chronoton particles: particles which don't seem to obey the normal laws of time. They tend to cluster around space-time anomalies, and will get attached to objects that were also near to the same anomalies. Unfortunately, they dissipate quite rapidly. I'm hoping there are enough still collected around the objects in your possession to get a good reading."
"OK." Tommy thought he could understand and risked trying to gain more knowledge. "If you do get a reading, what will that do?"
"Chronotons have a sort of memory of events and the state of space around them. If I can get enough chronotons that are connected by a specific event in space-time, I can use the information extrapolated from them to gain an image of the state of the universe at that point."
"Meaning?"
"A window into the past. In lab experiments, we've managed to look back about twenty minutes. I'm hoping that if I can combine data from the particles off your objects and Kimberly's, I may be able to see what happened during the anomaly that caused you to have different memories of the world."
Billy was typing rapidly all the time he was talking. Now, little green dots were appearing on the screen around the bracelet. There was a small cluster around the earring, but far more gathered on the surface of Tommy's communicator. The patch where the gem usually resided was completely covered in green.
"Are those the particles?" Tommy asked.
"Representations of them," Billy answered, "the actual chronotons are subatomic in size."
"There are a lot around where the gem was. Did you say you found the gem?"
"Yes, but the chronotons were at an almost normal level. There was a slight increase, but not enough to be statistically significant or to give any useful data. I found the gem buried. It had been there at least several decades, but more likely several centuries."
"Can I see it?"
"It's in that bag over there," Billy waved a hand towards a couple of suitcases and a backpack that were sitting, abandoned in the corner. Tommy rummaged through the backpack until he found a small box containing the gem, the crystal and the coin. There was no doubt about what Billy had found.
Tommy took the gem in his hand. And felt nothing. He'd held the gem enough times to know what its power felt like, but this was empty. Not just drained but dead. Not the slightest trace of power inside it.
No more black Ranger. Ever again.
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
"You can't just leave," Max said, watching as Justin shoved spare t-shirts and changes of underwear into his bag. Max was the captain of the soccer team, furious and confused as the star player was determined to go on a trip in the middle of the season.
"You've never cut class in your life," said Toby, looking up from the comic he was reading, "why are you starting now?" He was lying on his bed, pretending to have no interest in what Justin was doing, but quite obviously listening to every word. He hadn't turned a page in the past half hour and even Toby wasn't that slow at reading.
"It's important," Justin said. He'd spent the day not concentrating. Through every class, he'd sat and wondered what would happen if went and met Tommy. He'd come to the conclusion that he knew what would happen if he didn't. He'd spend the rest of his life wondering, never knowing what might have been.
It didn't matter if it was real or a joke or if he was going mad. Whatever was happening, he had to find out or he'd live the rest of his life looking back on this moment and wondering.
Since he'd first woken up in the hospital bed, he'd been desperate to know what had happened to him, why he'd imagined the Rangers, or how they'd been lost. Now someone was offering him answers and he couldn't just turn away. Even if this was another slip into insanity, maybe the imagined world was better. A world of heroes and friends that he could trust with his life. The best thing about this life was soccer, and it wasn't like he'd never played as a Ranger.
So he was going to find Tommy. College, classes, even the soccer team didn't matter compared to what Tommy might offer him.
Providing he hadn't imagined the conversation.
"Has something happened to your dad?" Max asked.
"No. An old friend called and he needs my help."
"And it couldn't wait?"
Justin didn't answer at once. He stared at his bag, ostensibly checking he'd packed everything he needed, but really wondering. Would it matter if he waited until the weekend? He'd been waiting for years, what difference would a few days make? But he knew if he didn't go now, he probably never would. And he would always regret it.
Missing a few days of college wasn't the end of the world. Missing out on meeting Tommy could end the world he'd always hoped was real.
"I need to go," Justin said, "I'm sorry."
"Hey, I don't mind," said Toby, "It means I won't have to put up with your snoring for a few nights."
"Oh, please! You're the one who snores." Justin closed his bag, a signal that the conversation was over with.
"Just look after yourself," said Max, "I want those feet of yours back on the pitch as soon as possible."
"I'll see you in a few days," Justin said, swinging the bag over his shoulder and heading for the door.
"Justin, wait," Max said. Justin turned back, but Max now seemed hesitant to say whatever it was he had been intending to. "There were rumours," he said at last, "that you used to be..." he trailed off, hunting for the right word.
"Nuts," supplied Toby. It was too much to have hoped he'd escape his record at college.
"That you used to go off hunting for superheroes," Max said, glaring at Toby.
Justin wasn't sure what to say. He could deny everything, pretend he didn't believe any more, that he was a normal kid. But these were his friends.
"The friend who called remembers the same things I do," Justin said, "the things everyone else doesn't think happened. If he's lying or trying to trick me or what he says doesn't match up to what I know, then I'll know the heroes were all in my mind and I can get on with my life. If this doesn't work out, then I'll know that I was wrong but at least I'll have the answers."
"And if it does work out?"
"Then it'll prove I wasn't nuts." He gave a slight sigh. "But I'm not really expecting that to happen." Hoping, yes, but he didn't dare to expect.
"Be careful, Justin."
"I will." And he headed out of the door.
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Kim used the excuse of wanting a sit down with a long drink as the excuse for going to the Cyberspace, but really she just wanted to see if Tommy was there, if he'd heard anything. She couldn't tell Jason that, though she had a feeling he already suspected Tommy was the reason this café was the one she chose. He was clearly annoyed about the whole situation and Kim wondered if she risked pushing his tolerance too far by bringing him here, but it was better than leaving him to stew in jealousy while she spent time alone with Tommy again.
She pushed open the door to the cyber café and instantly noticed the difference. There was a big machine taking up what had been an open space near the door. And there, talking rapidly to Tommy, was a familiar figure.
"Billy?" she said. He looked up and smiled a greeting. She hugged him.
"Wow, it's been years."
"Kim, you're looking good."
"Thank you."
"Billy," said Jason. His tone wasn't at all friendly and Kim looked at him in surprise, seeing barely disguised hostility on his features. That wasn't what she'd been expecting.
"Hi, Jason," said Billy, cautiously. Not exactly the greeting of an old friend.
"What's going on here?" Jason asked.
"I'm doing some practical research into one of my theories on space-time anomalies," Billy answered, "of the sort that might explain some people having different recollection of events to others." Jason didn't answer. He was glaring at Billy, not even trying to hide his anger now.
"Kim, I believe this is yours," Tommy said, tossing a small object over to her. She caught it. A coin, larger than any normal currency, inscribed with the emblem of the pterodactyl.
"Where did you find it?" she asked in wonder, still staring at the coin.
"I did a little digging," Billy said, "literally. I found it in the place you said the Command Centre was."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because Jason don't me not to."
Kim turned to face Jason, waiting for an answer or an explanation. She had a feeling that, whatever he said, she wasn't going to like it.
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Author's note: Chronotons have turned up in Power Rangers, however Billy wouldn't be expected to remember that. So if my explanation contradicts anything said in the show about them, Billy's actually talking about a different type of particles and it's just a coincidence he's given them the same name. I don't think there are any contradictions though.