Episode 8, Chapter 3 – Dr. Cranston
"Hey. Nerd human. Wake up."
"Alpha, come on. He just got struck by lightning. Give the professor a break."
"Please; he didn't get struck by lightning. He'd be dead. The bespeckled little bastard took a hard fall when Captain Hammer over here got struck. Come on Billy buddy, time to get your ass up. We got work to do."
Bill felt a gloved hand tap the side of his face. He frowned and swatted it away.
The hand felt like it was made of metal.
Bill opened his eyes and hauled himself to a sitting position. Someone handed him his glasses. He pushed them up his nose, and into his vision came a lion roaring from the center of white armor. Bill looked up, and a pair of misty white lights stared back at him: a Power Ranger.
"Easy, professor," said the Ranger in white. "You took quite a knock to the head."
"He'll be fine," said the other voice from before. "Professor, how do you feel about building a machine that transports a feeble human consciousness to a dimension of infinite darkness?"
"I…" Bill felt like he'd just been run over by a herd of cattle. His body ached, and his eyes refused to focus on the room beyond the white Power Ranger. He tried to process the question, but it slipped from his memory before he could answer.
"Oh!" mocked the metallic voice behind Bill. "So eloquent! So Shakespearian! Speak, oh wordsmith of the ages. Speak once more, so that our ears may be blessed by the gift of your loquaciousness!"
"Alpha," warned the White Ranger. "Lighten up. Professor, can you stand?"
Bill wasn't so sure, but he nodded anyway. His head pounded. He had only been drunk once, but this felt a lot like the hangover he'd suffered afterwards. He slumped off the side of the bed. The White Ranger caught his arm and began to lead him into the middle of the room.
"Where… are we?" Bill asked.
"Our Command Center," said the Ranger. "This is where our leader lives. Zordon, I'd like for you to meet Dr. Bill Cranston."
"It is an honor, Dr. Cranston," boomed a deep voice. It reminded Bill of his grandfather. "I am Zordon, protector of Earth for untold millennia, and these are my Power Rangers."
Bill let go of the White Ranger's arm and leaned against a console. He glanced at the technology spread out before him – wondrous science that had to be several centuries ahead of anything ever even imagined by humans. Bill could have spent weeks studying just one of the control panels, and this room had hundreds. But Bill knew that he hadn't been brought here to study.
"Zordon," he said, "you're not human." It wasn't a question.
"No, I am not. My Rangers are, however, and they need your help."
"If you think you can manage." There was that metallic voice again. Bill turned to look back at the alcove where he had awoken. There, standing in front of four occupied beds, was…
"Wow!" Bill couldn't help himself. "A fully sentient, multifunctional automaton!"
"God damn," said the robot, "you nerds all speak the same language."
"That's Alpha 5," said the White Ranger. "You'll… get used to him."
Bill glanced past Alpha 5. "The other Rangers," he said. The Green and Red Rangers who had helped him at the university lay on medical beds next to another Ranger in yellow. A fourth bed appeared to hold a young woman, but the lights were dark around her, and Bill could make out no details other than a feminine form.
"Yes," said the White Ranger. "The five of us are all there is standing between Rita and world domination." Bill listened in silence while the White Ranger explained what had happened to Cedar Grove during this horrific Fourth of July. He began to realize just how lucky he was to still be alive. He wondered if any of his old friends still living in Cedar Grove were alright, too. But when the White Ranger got to the part about dark energy and dark matter, Bill nearly lost it. Years of research validated in the flash of an instant. Bill would have danced with joy if the world wasn't on the verge of hostile takeover. The White Ranger, however, did not share his happiness.
"Zordon," said the White Ranger, "I… I gave Goldar my power coin. I did what I thought was right, but Goldar tricked us."
"Indeed he has," said Zordon. "He returned the Yellow Ranger's body to us, but his consciousness remains trapped in Rita's Dark Dimension."
"The place created by dark energy and dark matter," said Bill.
"Yes," said the Ranger. "Our friend's mind is trapped there. We need you to help us build a machine that can transport our minds there so that we can rescue him."
"That is… not exactly true," said Zordon.
The White Ranger wheeled around and stared at the large tank of what looked like bioluminescent milk. "What do you mean? We're just going to give up on Ew—"
"White Ranger," said Zordon. The liquid in the tank rippled when the voice spoke, and Bill realized that Zordon must be inside that tank. "I have not been completely truthful with you or the other Rangers, and for that I am sorry."
"What are you talking about?"
"Shortly before Rita was unleashed upon this world, I discovered that traces of her corruption remained within one of the Power essences. I am afraid that I did not have time to cleanse it before the attack, but with some careful coordination I have created an opportunity for the darkness to be cleansed from within."
"So what are you saying, exactly? Which power was tainted?"
"Spirit, White Ranger. I knew that the Yellow Ranger would fall to Rita's influence within the police station, just as I knew that the poison from Scorpina – the old Yellow Ranger – might taint a second Ranger. That it would ultimately be the Blue Ranger was both better and worse than I had anticipated, for she has much conflict within her. If she can overcome herself, then she will be a much stronger ally."
"You're saying you sent us to the police station knowing that he would be captured?" The White Ranger slammed a gloved fist on the console before him, and for just a moment his armor flickered and a college-aged kid stood in his place. He looked tired. "Why would you lie to us?"
"Now that the essence of Spirit is within the Yellow Ranger, he must cleanse it himself, and do you truly believe that he would be capable of doing so if I had been truthful with him from the beginning? If I had ordered him to do it?"
The White Ranger didn't answer, but it looked like much of his anger had subsided. Bill was growing more and more curious about these Rangers by the minute. The boy who had stood in the White Ranger's place had looked like he could be one of Bill's students, and the girl on the medical bed – the Blue Ranger, Bill guessed – looked no older.
They're just kids, Bill thought. He tried to imagine his college-aged self being a Power Ranger. Of everything he had heard tonight, that thought was by far the most outrageous.
"The Yellow Ranger can prevail over the darkness," continued Zordon. "And he is not alone. Scorpina's sting passed the taint of Spirit into the Blue Ranger. This allowed me to slip her mind into the Dark Dimension. Should she and the Yellow Ranger succeed, they can escape and return to us, thus freeing the Yellow Ranger of his corruption and at the same time expelling Scorpina's poison from the Blue Ranger's body."
"So in the end they can save themselves," said the White Ranger. "And we can't do anything."
"No, White Ranger. By offering your power coin to Goldar, your essence of Honor will grant your friends aid in the Dark Dimension. I will speak to you more on this matter later, but for now know that your actions may prove to be the tipping point in your friends' upcoming battle."
The White Ranger didn't look convinced. "God, Zordon, then why the hell did you send us after Professor Cranston? Red and Green almost died! Hell, we all nearly did! Why'd we bring him here?"
"Dr. Cranston's expertise on dark energy and dark matter will be key in aiding us with a more urgent matter. Dr. Cranston, I have been watching your scientific progress for some time. There is no other human on Earth more qualified for this task than you are."
"You've been watching me?" asked Bill. He had never seen himself as particularly important. Smart, sure, at least for some random dork from Angel Grove… back when it was Angel Grove. What kind of city council decides to change the city's name? Seriously.
"Yes," said Zordon. "Your understanding of dark matter is unparalleled. Rita Repulsa draws the vast majority of her minions from the Dark Dimension. I believe that you and Alpha 5 can work together to build a machine that will prevent her from calling forth more monsters. Without your help, I fear that my Rangers may be overwhelmed by sunrise. I realize that this will be no easy task, but—"
"I'm in." No more hesitation. Bill could help save the world. He was the only one who could.
Trini, if you're up there, I hope I make you proud.