Power Rangers Lost in Space #11: The dark circus
Previously on Power Rangers…
"We quit. We don't want anything to do with your civil war. We especially don't want anything to do
with your prophecy." Matt says.
-- Agenda part 2 --
"That one decision changed many things. Including how many of us would make it home alive." Cynthia
says.
And now for episode 11…
"It's time to plot a course home. Even if it's gonna take a long time." Janus says.
"No matter how much time it takes, at least we will be headed home." Jake says.
"We got enough energy stockpiled to make it." Matt says.
"Computer, plot a course for the edge of the galaxy." Janus says.
Outside the ship goes into lightspeed and disappears. Onboard the ship starts the shudder with some
energy surge.
"What's going on?" Jake asks.
"We are experiencing a power surge in the engines. We better go back into normal speed before it burns
out." Janus answers.
The ship shifts into normal speed.
"Okay I will begin to look at the systems to find out what happened." Janus says.
Matt nods then looks at other systems. Suddenly the sensor console goes wild. Janus quickly goes over to
check out what's going on.
"We're being scanned." Janus says.
"By who or what?" Matt asks.
"Not sure. It appears to be coming from the nearby planet." Janus responds.
"What now?" Jake wonders.
"They aren't doing anything lethal. It could just be a standard scanning to check for hostility." Matt
responds.
"I say we wait for now. While I continue to find what the problem is." Janus says.
"Agreed." Matt says nodding.
The communication console sounds off and Jake goes over to it.
"We are getting a communication from that same planet. It seems to be an automatic message." Jake says.
"Put it on screen." Matt says.
Jake pushes some buttons and the blank screen is replaced by some advertisement of some sort.
"Come one come all. To the famous worldwide circus and carnival. We have everything to tantalize your
imagination and to fulfil your fun needs." The advertisement says.
"How can they know our language?" Jake asks.
"I am thinking that the scan was to find out what our language is. They must learn fast." Matt responds.
Janus looks at the database computer.
"Yep it's been accessed." Janus says.
"Has anything other than our language files been accessed or messed with?" Matt asks seriously.
"Not that I can see." Janus says.
"Well shall we take the invitation?" Jake asks.
"Why not. We deserve a break after what we have been through. This will by our only chance once we
jump out of the galaxy." Cynthia responds.
"I would like to stay behind for now to continue checking on things." Janus says.
"Okay this leave is on. We should report back on a regular basis. We never know what can happen on a
strange planet. Even if it seems good." Matt says.
Jake nods and sits down at the navigation console. Outside the ship heads for the planet and then
approaches the atmosphere.
"Initiating planet landing sequence." Jake reports.
Outside the ship enters the planet's atmosphere. The ship's landing gears extend from the bottom and the
ship makes a smooth landing. Soon after the landing comes out and the hatch opens. Jake, Cynthia, Joshua
and Matt all walk out looking around. Matt takes out a scanning device.
"This is strange. I am not picking up any kind of carnival, circus or anything." Matt says frowning.
"Oh man. I hope this isn't a trap." Jake says.
Matt does some more scanning.
"I'm picking up a small structure about a kilometer that way." Matt says pointing in an easterly direction.
The four start heading in that direction. Suddenly a booth appears in front of him. With a barker type
person in it.
"Ah customers. Welcome." The barker says.
"Welcome? To what?" Jake asks.
"To the worldwide carnival and circus of course. You got a advertisement did you not?" The barker
responds.
"Well yes but where is it?" Jake asks.
"It's beyond this booth but you will never get a glimpse at it until you pay the entrance fee." The barker
responds.
"A cloaking device?" Josh wonders.
"We don't have any currency on us. What could we use to get in?" Matt asks.
"We can take items and give you their money in worth." The barker responds.
"All we have is very valuable and we require that we keep them." Matt says.
"What about that lovely thing that this lady has in her hair?" The barker asks.
Cynthia looks startled as she fingers her hair clip.
"You mean my hair clip?" Cynthia asks.
"If that is what you call it. It is very valuable." The barker responds.
"Okay if you say so." Cynthia says taking it off of her hair and handing it over.
Jake does a double take when he sees how more beautiful Cynthia looks with her hair down.
"Yes. Yes. Excellent." The barker says fingering the clip with a smile.
Matt looks apprehensively at the barker. As if to dare him to take off with it and not letting them in.
"This is very good. This will let you in plus give you hundred carnival dollars. They can be used to go on
the rides and play the games." The barker says.
After the barker hands some strange looking currency to Matt, he relaxes.
"Have fun." The barker says.
Suddenly the booth disappears and a huge area of buildings and people now replaces the whole area that
was once empty.
"All right. It's about time." Jake says starting to take off.
"Hold it Jake." Matt says.
Jake stops and turns around.
"Remember that if there is any trouble. ANY trouble. Don't hesitate to call us." Matt says.
Jake rolls his eyes up and nods. Then he and the others go there separate ways. Matt decides to test his
skills at the games. Cynthia goes to the circus to see the freaks. Joshua goes to a science exhibit and Jake
of course goes to the rides. Back on the ship Janus is still scanning the systems. Something in the scan
suddenly gets her to scan the system around the ship. A bad look comes over her face after the results
come through. She tries to contact the others but something is interfering with it.
"Darn it. What is going on here? I have a very bad feeling about this whole thing." Janus wonders.
Jake gets ready to go on a roller coaster type ride. He uses his share of the money to pay for a ticket. He
gets and finds himself on one majorly wild ride.
"Man this is better than any of earth's coasters." Jake thinks.
Meanwhile Matt walks towards a firing range to test and make sure he can still aim and fire well. He pays
for the game and picks up a rifle type weapon.
"So hope I'm not too rusty." Matt says.
Joshua enters the science exhibit and begins to look around at all the alien technology.
"I wonder if they have anything that could help us get home faster." Joshua thinks.
Cynthia enters a freak show tent after paying her way in. She sits down and sees a bunch of strange
looking aliens up there.
"Jeez they all look like freaks to me." Cynthia thinks.
After Jake gets off the ride he tries to leave but his way is blocked by a bulky humanoid.
"Hey what's the problem here?" Jake asks angrily.
"No problem if you give me all your money." The hulk responds.
"Hey where's the security around here. Where's the guy that was controlling this ride." Jake yells.
Suddenly Jake realizes that he is looking at the guy that just a few minutes ago were controlling his fun
ride. Matt does a fine job of firing and wins a prize. He takes the prize and before he knows it, the prize
comes to life and nearly tears his face apart.
"What the heck?" Matt yells then drops the doll.
Suddenly the man behind the game counter leaps over the counter and takes out a weapon. Cynthia is
continuing to watch the freak show. She sorts of figures out which ones are supposed to be the freaks. She
laughs when one of them stumbles and falls on itself. The fallen one gets up and approaches Cynthia
menacingly.
"So you think that was funny eh?" The freak asks.
"I'm sorry. I thought it was supposed to be funny." Cynthia says backing away.
"Let's show this girl what's funny." The freak says motioning to the others that were in the act.
Joshua approaches an exhibit on hyper-light speed.
"Excuse me sir. But I am with a crew of people that are very far away from home. We could need
something to make the journey back home faster." Joshua tells the humanoid behind the counter.
The man doesn't answer.
"Hey didn't you hear me?" Joshua asks.
He reaches over to touch the man and the man falls onto the floor with a blade in his back. Joshua steps
back frozen in fear. Suddenly a bunch of big security officers storm in and raise there weapons. On the
ship Janus finally is able to break through.
"This is Janus. Can anybody hear me?" Janus asks.
"I'm a little busy right now." Matt says as he is fending off attacks by the game master.
"I have found out something that may shed some light on why we are here. I didn't find anything wrong
with the engines or the logs. So I did a scan of the surrounding area. There seems to be some kind of
dampening device. Something that makes it extremely hard to go faster than normal speed." Janus says.
Matt's shock almost allows the game master to strike him but he fends the blow at the last second.
"You mean that they put that up to force ships to stay in this quadrant?" Matt asks.
"It appears so. I see no other reason why." Janus responds.
"I may see a reason. I am being attacked by a seemingly normal carnival worker." Matt says.
"Let me try to contact the others." Janus says.
"Okay I got my hands full right now." Matt says.
"Joshua, Cynthia, Jake. Can you hear me?" Janus asks.
Nothing but a burst of static comes through the ship speakers.
"It's no good. For some reason you're the only one I can get hold of." Janus says.
"I'll search for them when I get rid of this pest." Matt says.
Matt takes out his blaster and finally just blows the game master away. He quickly takes out his scanner
and searches for the others. He heads for the nearest reading. He sees Jake being attacked by the ride
worker gone mad.
"Thank god you're here. I am having a little difficulty here." Jake says.
Matt and Jake are able to dispatch the ride worker fairly easily.
"I am beginning to see a pattern here." Matt says.
"What do you mean?" Jake asks.
"I'll explain later." Matt responds.
Matt finds another reading and comes upon Joshua on the run from a bunch of burly security officers.
"Help me guys. They are chasing me cause I found a dead body. But I didn't do it." Joshua yells.
"I believe you. This is all starting to fall into place." Matt says.
They all blast the security guards to nothing. Matt finds the remaining scans and finds Cynthia being
battered by a group of freaking looking aliens.
"Help me." Cynthia screams.
Matt fires on one of the freaks but the shot doesn't even faze him. It distracts him and his cronies enough
for Cynthia to escape however.
"What do you want? Why is your fun place attacking me and my crew?" Matt asks.
"We want you. We need slaves." The freak answers.
"So that's it. Everything makes sense. The speed dampening field. Forcing anybody to make a stop in this
sector long enough for you to catch their attention." Matt says.
"Shut up and give up your weapons before we are forced to destroy you. Our boss would be very unhappy
if we destroy good merchandise." The leader freak says.
"Uh Janus. We could use some serious help right about now." Matt yells into his communicator.
"I have been working on some new civilian weapons ever since we gave up our ranger powers. I am
sending them to you now." Janus says.
New weapons appear in each crewmember's hands. Matt has a sword. Joshua has a battle-ax. Cynthia has
her sais again. Jake has a whip.
"Now just try to take these weapons from us." Matt says with a smile on his face.
The leader roars with anger and rushes the group. Matt hits him on the head with the dulled side of his
sword while Jake trips him up with his whip. Matt swings his sword down on the freak but the sword
strikes a hide that is worse than metal. The hit sends a shock wave up Matt's spine. The other freaks rush
the other crewmembers with their weapons held high. Joshua blocks the strike with his axe but a sudden
shock goes through his body.
"Hurts don't it? This is a nice little number. When it is blocked it sends a shock through the person that is
holding the blocking weapon. It won't kill you like a non-blocked strike. Or at least at first." The freak
says laughing.
"So I have a choice between dying with one hit or dying with multiple hits. Hmmm I think I'll chose the
multiple one." Joshua says sarcastically.
Joshua brings down his ax onto the neck region of the freak.
"Or maybe I won't choose to die at all." Joshua says severing the freak's head.
"That's it. Go for their necks." Jake yells.
Joshua cuts off the head of another one and Matt does the same for the remaining freak. Leaving only the
leader. The leader sits still as if to welcome death. But Matt soon finds out why he is standing there when
his attempts to cut off his head are met with another bone jarring impact.
"Hah. Did you think I would be defeated as easily as my cronies would? I think not." The leader says
laughing.
Matt looks worried.
"It's time to show you my real power." The leader yells.
He starts to change into something more hideous then before. He grows in size and becomes more
muscular.
"Now you shall pay for defying me." The leader says in a more evil deeper voice.
"Uh Janus. We are like in major trouble here." Matt says.
"I have been scanning his body. His weakness seems to be fire." Janus responds.
"That's all great and good. But we don't exactly have access to the stuff." Matt says.
Suddenly a ball of fire comes from the sky and strikes the leader full on. The leader screams in pain and
turns into rubble. The familiar horse appears in the sky and flies down to the earth.
"Thank you Masked Ranger." Cynthia says.
Jake can't help but to notice how much Cynthia likes to eye the Masked Ranger.
"No problem. I am always willing to help the needy." The Masked Ranger responds.
"We still would like to know who is saving us. Who you really are." Jake says.
"In time. Not now but in time." The Masked Ranger says then gets his horse to fly up into the sky.
"But when?" Jake says even though he knows the ranger can't hear him anymore.
Cynthia stares into the sky for awhile before she realizes that she's staring and breaks the stare.
"Well what are we waiting for? Let's get out of here." Jake yells.
They run towards the direction of where they entered. As they approach the entrance booth appears again
but this time it's facing towards the circus.
"I'm sorry but you can't leave. You see nobody has ever escaped." The barker says.
"Yeah well we plan to be the first." Matt says.
"You can try but I doubt you'll succeed." The barker says evilly then disappears.
Matt runs ahead and gets knocked back by some energy barrier. They all pull out their blasters and
concentrate on one portion of the barrier. It doesn't do any good.
"Janus. We can't get out. There's an energy barrier preventing our way out." Matt yells into the
communicator.
"It appears to absorb any energy thrown at it." Janus says.
"Then let's give it a bit of heart burn. Set your blasters to full power. Janus fires all weapons at the barrier.
Be sure to aim at something that won't hit us if the barrier goes down." Matt says.
"Affirmative." Janus says.
The four all start blasting at the barrier at one spot again and suddenly a bigger beam of energy from the
ship strikes it. After about a minute of barrage the beams break through. They all run for the ship and get
on it.
"Let's get the heck away from this weird place." Matt says.
The ship lifts off and gets away from the planet and stops.
"For now I'd say it's safe to calculate the best path to earth." Janus says.
The sensors go wild. Janus goes over to look at them.
"The planet is overloading with power. I am afraid that it's gonna explode." Janus says.
"Can our shields hold if we get far enough away?" Matt asks.
"No. That blast used up too much energy. We can' properly calculate the jump anymore." Janus responds.
"But we have to jump or we will be destroyed." Matt says.
"Yes. The only other solution is a blind jump." Janus says.
"But if we jump blind, we won't know our position. We will need a position to find our way out of this
galaxy and get home." Joshua says.
"It's either lose our position or be destroyed." Janus says.
Matt looks over at his picture of his family with sadness.
"I will get home somehow. No matter what it takes." Matt whispers.
The whole crew is looking at him expectantly.
"Do it. Do the blind jump. I am not giving up that easily. We will find another way home." Matt says.
Janus goes over to the navigation console and pushes some buttons. Outside in space the ship makes a
jump just as the shock wave of the exploding planet hits the area the ship was just in. Meanwhile in a
nearby area the ship reappears.
"It's just as I feared. The computer cannot extrapolate a location for us. We're lost." Joshua says.
"So now what do we do?" Jake asks.
To be continued…
Next week
They lost their powers. They have lost their way. And next week they may lose their ship.
Previously on Power Rangers…
"We quit. We don't want anything to do with your civil war. We especially don't want anything to do
with your prophecy." Matt says.
-- Agenda part 2 --
"That one decision changed many things. Including how many of us would make it home alive." Cynthia
says.
And now for episode 11…
"It's time to plot a course home. Even if it's gonna take a long time." Janus says.
"No matter how much time it takes, at least we will be headed home." Jake says.
"We got enough energy stockpiled to make it." Matt says.
"Computer, plot a course for the edge of the galaxy." Janus says.
Outside the ship goes into lightspeed and disappears. Onboard the ship starts the shudder with some
energy surge.
"What's going on?" Jake asks.
"We are experiencing a power surge in the engines. We better go back into normal speed before it burns
out." Janus answers.
The ship shifts into normal speed.
"Okay I will begin to look at the systems to find out what happened." Janus says.
Matt nods then looks at other systems. Suddenly the sensor console goes wild. Janus quickly goes over to
check out what's going on.
"We're being scanned." Janus says.
"By who or what?" Matt asks.
"Not sure. It appears to be coming from the nearby planet." Janus responds.
"What now?" Jake wonders.
"They aren't doing anything lethal. It could just be a standard scanning to check for hostility." Matt
responds.
"I say we wait for now. While I continue to find what the problem is." Janus says.
"Agreed." Matt says nodding.
The communication console sounds off and Jake goes over to it.
"We are getting a communication from that same planet. It seems to be an automatic message." Jake says.
"Put it on screen." Matt says.
Jake pushes some buttons and the blank screen is replaced by some advertisement of some sort.
"Come one come all. To the famous worldwide circus and carnival. We have everything to tantalize your
imagination and to fulfil your fun needs." The advertisement says.
"How can they know our language?" Jake asks.
"I am thinking that the scan was to find out what our language is. They must learn fast." Matt responds.
Janus looks at the database computer.
"Yep it's been accessed." Janus says.
"Has anything other than our language files been accessed or messed with?" Matt asks seriously.
"Not that I can see." Janus says.
"Well shall we take the invitation?" Jake asks.
"Why not. We deserve a break after what we have been through. This will by our only chance once we
jump out of the galaxy." Cynthia responds.
"I would like to stay behind for now to continue checking on things." Janus says.
"Okay this leave is on. We should report back on a regular basis. We never know what can happen on a
strange planet. Even if it seems good." Matt says.
Jake nods and sits down at the navigation console. Outside the ship heads for the planet and then
approaches the atmosphere.
"Initiating planet landing sequence." Jake reports.
Outside the ship enters the planet's atmosphere. The ship's landing gears extend from the bottom and the
ship makes a smooth landing. Soon after the landing comes out and the hatch opens. Jake, Cynthia, Joshua
and Matt all walk out looking around. Matt takes out a scanning device.
"This is strange. I am not picking up any kind of carnival, circus or anything." Matt says frowning.
"Oh man. I hope this isn't a trap." Jake says.
Matt does some more scanning.
"I'm picking up a small structure about a kilometer that way." Matt says pointing in an easterly direction.
The four start heading in that direction. Suddenly a booth appears in front of him. With a barker type
person in it.
"Ah customers. Welcome." The barker says.
"Welcome? To what?" Jake asks.
"To the worldwide carnival and circus of course. You got a advertisement did you not?" The barker
responds.
"Well yes but where is it?" Jake asks.
"It's beyond this booth but you will never get a glimpse at it until you pay the entrance fee." The barker
responds.
"A cloaking device?" Josh wonders.
"We don't have any currency on us. What could we use to get in?" Matt asks.
"We can take items and give you their money in worth." The barker responds.
"All we have is very valuable and we require that we keep them." Matt says.
"What about that lovely thing that this lady has in her hair?" The barker asks.
Cynthia looks startled as she fingers her hair clip.
"You mean my hair clip?" Cynthia asks.
"If that is what you call it. It is very valuable." The barker responds.
"Okay if you say so." Cynthia says taking it off of her hair and handing it over.
Jake does a double take when he sees how more beautiful Cynthia looks with her hair down.
"Yes. Yes. Excellent." The barker says fingering the clip with a smile.
Matt looks apprehensively at the barker. As if to dare him to take off with it and not letting them in.
"This is very good. This will let you in plus give you hundred carnival dollars. They can be used to go on
the rides and play the games." The barker says.
After the barker hands some strange looking currency to Matt, he relaxes.
"Have fun." The barker says.
Suddenly the booth disappears and a huge area of buildings and people now replaces the whole area that
was once empty.
"All right. It's about time." Jake says starting to take off.
"Hold it Jake." Matt says.
Jake stops and turns around.
"Remember that if there is any trouble. ANY trouble. Don't hesitate to call us." Matt says.
Jake rolls his eyes up and nods. Then he and the others go there separate ways. Matt decides to test his
skills at the games. Cynthia goes to the circus to see the freaks. Joshua goes to a science exhibit and Jake
of course goes to the rides. Back on the ship Janus is still scanning the systems. Something in the scan
suddenly gets her to scan the system around the ship. A bad look comes over her face after the results
come through. She tries to contact the others but something is interfering with it.
"Darn it. What is going on here? I have a very bad feeling about this whole thing." Janus wonders.
Jake gets ready to go on a roller coaster type ride. He uses his share of the money to pay for a ticket. He
gets and finds himself on one majorly wild ride.
"Man this is better than any of earth's coasters." Jake thinks.
Meanwhile Matt walks towards a firing range to test and make sure he can still aim and fire well. He pays
for the game and picks up a rifle type weapon.
"So hope I'm not too rusty." Matt says.
Joshua enters the science exhibit and begins to look around at all the alien technology.
"I wonder if they have anything that could help us get home faster." Joshua thinks.
Cynthia enters a freak show tent after paying her way in. She sits down and sees a bunch of strange
looking aliens up there.
"Jeez they all look like freaks to me." Cynthia thinks.
After Jake gets off the ride he tries to leave but his way is blocked by a bulky humanoid.
"Hey what's the problem here?" Jake asks angrily.
"No problem if you give me all your money." The hulk responds.
"Hey where's the security around here. Where's the guy that was controlling this ride." Jake yells.
Suddenly Jake realizes that he is looking at the guy that just a few minutes ago were controlling his fun
ride. Matt does a fine job of firing and wins a prize. He takes the prize and before he knows it, the prize
comes to life and nearly tears his face apart.
"What the heck?" Matt yells then drops the doll.
Suddenly the man behind the game counter leaps over the counter and takes out a weapon. Cynthia is
continuing to watch the freak show. She sorts of figures out which ones are supposed to be the freaks. She
laughs when one of them stumbles and falls on itself. The fallen one gets up and approaches Cynthia
menacingly.
"So you think that was funny eh?" The freak asks.
"I'm sorry. I thought it was supposed to be funny." Cynthia says backing away.
"Let's show this girl what's funny." The freak says motioning to the others that were in the act.
Joshua approaches an exhibit on hyper-light speed.
"Excuse me sir. But I am with a crew of people that are very far away from home. We could need
something to make the journey back home faster." Joshua tells the humanoid behind the counter.
The man doesn't answer.
"Hey didn't you hear me?" Joshua asks.
He reaches over to touch the man and the man falls onto the floor with a blade in his back. Joshua steps
back frozen in fear. Suddenly a bunch of big security officers storm in and raise there weapons. On the
ship Janus finally is able to break through.
"This is Janus. Can anybody hear me?" Janus asks.
"I'm a little busy right now." Matt says as he is fending off attacks by the game master.
"I have found out something that may shed some light on why we are here. I didn't find anything wrong
with the engines or the logs. So I did a scan of the surrounding area. There seems to be some kind of
dampening device. Something that makes it extremely hard to go faster than normal speed." Janus says.
Matt's shock almost allows the game master to strike him but he fends the blow at the last second.
"You mean that they put that up to force ships to stay in this quadrant?" Matt asks.
"It appears so. I see no other reason why." Janus responds.
"I may see a reason. I am being attacked by a seemingly normal carnival worker." Matt says.
"Let me try to contact the others." Janus says.
"Okay I got my hands full right now." Matt says.
"Joshua, Cynthia, Jake. Can you hear me?" Janus asks.
Nothing but a burst of static comes through the ship speakers.
"It's no good. For some reason you're the only one I can get hold of." Janus says.
"I'll search for them when I get rid of this pest." Matt says.
Matt takes out his blaster and finally just blows the game master away. He quickly takes out his scanner
and searches for the others. He heads for the nearest reading. He sees Jake being attacked by the ride
worker gone mad.
"Thank god you're here. I am having a little difficulty here." Jake says.
Matt and Jake are able to dispatch the ride worker fairly easily.
"I am beginning to see a pattern here." Matt says.
"What do you mean?" Jake asks.
"I'll explain later." Matt responds.
Matt finds another reading and comes upon Joshua on the run from a bunch of burly security officers.
"Help me guys. They are chasing me cause I found a dead body. But I didn't do it." Joshua yells.
"I believe you. This is all starting to fall into place." Matt says.
They all blast the security guards to nothing. Matt finds the remaining scans and finds Cynthia being
battered by a group of freaking looking aliens.
"Help me." Cynthia screams.
Matt fires on one of the freaks but the shot doesn't even faze him. It distracts him and his cronies enough
for Cynthia to escape however.
"What do you want? Why is your fun place attacking me and my crew?" Matt asks.
"We want you. We need slaves." The freak answers.
"So that's it. Everything makes sense. The speed dampening field. Forcing anybody to make a stop in this
sector long enough for you to catch their attention." Matt says.
"Shut up and give up your weapons before we are forced to destroy you. Our boss would be very unhappy
if we destroy good merchandise." The leader freak says.
"Uh Janus. We could use some serious help right about now." Matt yells into his communicator.
"I have been working on some new civilian weapons ever since we gave up our ranger powers. I am
sending them to you now." Janus says.
New weapons appear in each crewmember's hands. Matt has a sword. Joshua has a battle-ax. Cynthia has
her sais again. Jake has a whip.
"Now just try to take these weapons from us." Matt says with a smile on his face.
The leader roars with anger and rushes the group. Matt hits him on the head with the dulled side of his
sword while Jake trips him up with his whip. Matt swings his sword down on the freak but the sword
strikes a hide that is worse than metal. The hit sends a shock wave up Matt's spine. The other freaks rush
the other crewmembers with their weapons held high. Joshua blocks the strike with his axe but a sudden
shock goes through his body.
"Hurts don't it? This is a nice little number. When it is blocked it sends a shock through the person that is
holding the blocking weapon. It won't kill you like a non-blocked strike. Or at least at first." The freak
says laughing.
"So I have a choice between dying with one hit or dying with multiple hits. Hmmm I think I'll chose the
multiple one." Joshua says sarcastically.
Joshua brings down his ax onto the neck region of the freak.
"Or maybe I won't choose to die at all." Joshua says severing the freak's head.
"That's it. Go for their necks." Jake yells.
Joshua cuts off the head of another one and Matt does the same for the remaining freak. Leaving only the
leader. The leader sits still as if to welcome death. But Matt soon finds out why he is standing there when
his attempts to cut off his head are met with another bone jarring impact.
"Hah. Did you think I would be defeated as easily as my cronies would? I think not." The leader says
laughing.
Matt looks worried.
"It's time to show you my real power." The leader yells.
He starts to change into something more hideous then before. He grows in size and becomes more
muscular.
"Now you shall pay for defying me." The leader says in a more evil deeper voice.
"Uh Janus. We are like in major trouble here." Matt says.
"I have been scanning his body. His weakness seems to be fire." Janus responds.
"That's all great and good. But we don't exactly have access to the stuff." Matt says.
Suddenly a ball of fire comes from the sky and strikes the leader full on. The leader screams in pain and
turns into rubble. The familiar horse appears in the sky and flies down to the earth.
"Thank you Masked Ranger." Cynthia says.
Jake can't help but to notice how much Cynthia likes to eye the Masked Ranger.
"No problem. I am always willing to help the needy." The Masked Ranger responds.
"We still would like to know who is saving us. Who you really are." Jake says.
"In time. Not now but in time." The Masked Ranger says then gets his horse to fly up into the sky.
"But when?" Jake says even though he knows the ranger can't hear him anymore.
Cynthia stares into the sky for awhile before she realizes that she's staring and breaks the stare.
"Well what are we waiting for? Let's get out of here." Jake yells.
They run towards the direction of where they entered. As they approach the entrance booth appears again
but this time it's facing towards the circus.
"I'm sorry but you can't leave. You see nobody has ever escaped." The barker says.
"Yeah well we plan to be the first." Matt says.
"You can try but I doubt you'll succeed." The barker says evilly then disappears.
Matt runs ahead and gets knocked back by some energy barrier. They all pull out their blasters and
concentrate on one portion of the barrier. It doesn't do any good.
"Janus. We can't get out. There's an energy barrier preventing our way out." Matt yells into the
communicator.
"It appears to absorb any energy thrown at it." Janus says.
"Then let's give it a bit of heart burn. Set your blasters to full power. Janus fires all weapons at the barrier.
Be sure to aim at something that won't hit us if the barrier goes down." Matt says.
"Affirmative." Janus says.
The four all start blasting at the barrier at one spot again and suddenly a bigger beam of energy from the
ship strikes it. After about a minute of barrage the beams break through. They all run for the ship and get
on it.
"Let's get the heck away from this weird place." Matt says.
The ship lifts off and gets away from the planet and stops.
"For now I'd say it's safe to calculate the best path to earth." Janus says.
The sensors go wild. Janus goes over to look at them.
"The planet is overloading with power. I am afraid that it's gonna explode." Janus says.
"Can our shields hold if we get far enough away?" Matt asks.
"No. That blast used up too much energy. We can' properly calculate the jump anymore." Janus responds.
"But we have to jump or we will be destroyed." Matt says.
"Yes. The only other solution is a blind jump." Janus says.
"But if we jump blind, we won't know our position. We will need a position to find our way out of this
galaxy and get home." Joshua says.
"It's either lose our position or be destroyed." Janus says.
Matt looks over at his picture of his family with sadness.
"I will get home somehow. No matter what it takes." Matt whispers.
The whole crew is looking at him expectantly.
"Do it. Do the blind jump. I am not giving up that easily. We will find another way home." Matt says.
Janus goes over to the navigation console and pushes some buttons. Outside in space the ship makes a
jump just as the shock wave of the exploding planet hits the area the ship was just in. Meanwhile in a
nearby area the ship reappears.
"It's just as I feared. The computer cannot extrapolate a location for us. We're lost." Joshua says.
"So now what do we do?" Jake asks.
To be continued…
Next week
They lost their powers. They have lost their way. And next week they may lose their ship.