CHAPTER TEN

TEACH MAN, NOT GOD

At his home, Maurice Forward pounded his keyboard in frustration as another loud bang disrupted his work flow.

"Come on man" said his neighbour Edward on the opposite end of the door, "The explosions are getting nearer; we must evacuate and head for the nearest monster shelter"

Monster shelters, Maurice thought to himself, chuckling under his breath.

It was to laugh.

A hollow promise and a shallow refuge.

You would not be any safer there.

No, home was what you knew; home was where you should be, especially when such a home was where your life's blood ran like a river.

Surrounded by his awards, Maurice pushed forward with his latest aspiration.

His fiftieth attempt or so at the Great American Novel. A project he had let slip several times in regards to quality, but one he felt now had the necessary momentum.

He knew it had lacked something in previous attempts.

In this instance, he knew it was action. Pulse-pounding action.

Every time he peered out of the window and so more panicking crowds of people flee in terror, every advance made by the monstrous, he relished the moments where the Power Rangers would swoop in and inflict damage upon them.

Their feats motivated him at a time where great inspiration had been drained from him over the last several weeks.

Everything prior to this invasion had felt so routine, like nothing truly challenged the Rangers, nothing challenged him.

The world only moves further into the heavens, into the realms of the impossible, when something lights a fire under it, ignites it like the spark of a rocket, and elevates it

The invasion was the spark.

As his neighbour Edward continued to pound away at the door, the commotion got louder, the explosions drew nearer.

The adrenaline kicked in.

Maurice knew in this moment, as ignorant as it probably to defy reality in his own way, there was no greater high.

And the greater lows caved in on him as a blast struck the roof.

The door burst open and Edward dived in to shelter Maurice with his own body as the ceiling gave way.

Maurice found himself on the floor, staring dizzyingly and in despair at the now dismantled piece of hardware before him.

His computer was on fire, his writing had been lost.

His life's blood ran dry.

He looked over at Edward's motionless body, and ac change came over him.

He finally knew what his book had been lacking.

That common touch.

Humanity.

As he picked himself up and turned to walk out of the house, he knew when the time came to put words to paper again, that Edward's name, Edward's concern, Edward's humanity, would be the first thing he would convey to the masses.

Teach them man, not god.

High above the Earth, aboard the Armada's central command ship, Prince Vekar was taking in the news of Headridge's demise.

"A Ranger did this" he said to his generals, "Even against these unrelenting odds, well I don't like that, get me another commander, and quickly"

"I've already made preparations in case of such an emergency" Argus revealed, "Will Tentacus suffice?"

"I can't wait to get my tentacles on them" came a voice from behind the Prince. Stepping into view was a hulking creature with a haunting multi-tentacled face.

"More X-Borgs are also on the way" Argus confirmed.

"Good, then we shall soon crush this resistance. Hard" Vekar gloated