By N. E. Shaw
To Andros's anguish, he was still being questioned an hour later. He sat on the lobby sofa, the police officer standing over him like a judge. The other girl was nearby, listening to his story as he told it for the hundredth time. On the other side of the room, men and women in badged blue wandered up and down the stairs, sometimes returning with a plastic bag of "evidence" of some kind. Andros couldn't see what any of it was. The officer questioning him kept standing in the way.
"And you flew in from Dublin when?" asked this officer. She was the fifth he had spoken to, and still more were arriving.
"Two weeks ago," said Andros patiently. "I flew into Angel Grove International to visit her at home. I didn't know she had moved at the time."
"And what did you do for those two weeks afterward."
"I worked at a restaurant until I could afford to fly here."
The officer took Adelle's name and phone number down.
"And Ms. Hammond didn't know you were coming today?"
"No, I haven't spoken with her for almost a year. I recently got a seven month old letter from her that she wrote while she was still in Angel Grove."
Everything he told was the truth, or at least something that they'd have trouble proving was a lie. He longed for the moment when he could dash out of that dormitory and collapse somewhere to think about this. The harsh light of the lobby gave him a headache.
At long last, the officer checked her notes and nodded. "Alright son, you can go now. I suggest you stay in town in case we need you again. Where are you staying?"
"I haven't got a place to stay."
"Well then come down to the station with us and we'll make sure you get a hotel room." She walked away to confer with her colleagues. Andros didn't waste any time, snatching up his coat and bag and heading for the door.
But Ashley's friend jumped up and caught him by the sleeve.
"Wait," she said. "You are the guy from the picture in Ashley's room, aren't you?"
"Probably, why?"
"Did you know her real well?"
"Yeah, I did."
The girl swallowed. "My name's Dawn, I'm in her design class. Ashley checked into the building at three-thirty today and no one saw her leave again, but when I came to see her at four, she was gone. Do you know why she might have just disappeared like this?"
Sadly, Andros did know. If she were still a Ranger, she would probably have disappeared to fight some monster; but Ashley wasn't a Ranger anymore. There was no explanation this time. At least, none that Andros could see. "I don't know where she went, Dawn. She used to have this habit of disappearing from places without telling anyone."
"But no one saw her leave the building. And she's not in anybody else's room--"
"I told you I don't know anything."
His tone made Dawn visibly annoyed. "Well, sorry to bother you Andros. Don't freeze out there in the cold ok?" She turned on her heel and started to walk away.
Then Andros remembered something.
"Dawn, wait."
She turned to look at him.
"Who was that guy named Rob you mentioned?"
"Her boyfriend. Why?"
Andros's heart ripped in two.
"Has anyone seen him since Ashley disappeared?"
"The cops are looking for him now," Dawn replied, but Andros's meaning had taken hold. "Look, I tell you what," she said. "As soon as you've got your hotel room, look me up and we'll keep each other posted ok?"
Andros thought about this, and then nodded. "It's a deal. Thank you."
Dawn shrugged. "Don't mention it."
She went back to sit down in the lobby. Andros followed her, deciding to wait in the warm lobby with a friend instead of in the wintery cold outside.
Dawn arrived twice the next morning. The sun was barely up--peering icily into Andros's hotel room--when a knock came at the door. He hadn't bothered to undress the previous night, so he simply peeled himself off the bed, straightened himself out and went to see who it was.
Dawn was waiting on the other side.
"Good morning, sunshine.." she called out softly. Andros squirmed at Ashley's favorite phrase coming from someone else's lips, but opened the door the rest of the way.
"Good morning."
"Hi. I can't stay long, I have to get to class, but I wanted to make sure you were updated. The police have no official explanation for Ashley's disappearance. They're calling it kidnapping, with no signs of forced entry."
Andros nodded, rubbing his brow. "Have they called her father yet?"
Dawn nodded. "Yeah, he's putting loads of money into the investigation. He wants to make sure they spare no expense."
"How do you know all this?" he asked. "I thought the police would be keeping their findings secret."
Dawn shrugged. "My boyfriend works for the next precinct. He gets all the gossip from his buddies. He knows I wouldn't tell a soul--unless they needed to know."
Andros nodded again, leaning against the doorframe. "I appreciate your help. I'd be a lot worse off without an ally in this city."
She smiled, a little lopsidedly. "My pleasure. So where are you from Andros? You've got a funny name."
"I'm from Angel Grove. My parents named me after an ancestor I think."
"Can I call you Andy? It's easier."
"Be my guest."
"Right. See ya Andy. If you need anything, gimme a call."
She gave a little wave, then breezed away. She was back to a bouncy, bubbly self that had a smile for every occasion. Kind of like someone he knew...no wonder they were friends.
Andros eventually undressed and took a shower. He had come to enjoy soap and water showers as opposed to sonic showers like on the Megaship. When he was clean, he got dressed in some clean clothes and went downstairs to see what he could eat. The lobby was busy, as men and women in suits and skirts checked out of their rooms for the day. This wasn't an upscale hotel, but so far everything had been clean and pleasant. It was better than his corner in Adelle's office.
A small pastry and disposable cup of juice was offered to him with the name "Continental Breakfast" attached; but he could have eaten mud at that point so he was happy. He took the food to the lounge where a television was on, and sat down to watch for any bulletins about Ashley but there were none. The police were indeed keeping quiet. Either that or kidnappings weren't headline news around here. Andros wondered why there was not at least a "Have You Seen This Girl?" message somewhere in the broadcast. Alas, when the news was over, a talk show came on and there was nothing else to wait for. Andros returned to his room.
He lay on his bed for a long time, thinking. Dawn was a good resource. She had connections, she was a friend of Ashley's and therefore friendly to him, and she had access to the scene of the crime. No doubt Ashley's room was off limits, but the general vicinity was available to her. Perhaps Andros could take advantage of that.
For the only answer Andros had for all this, was that Ashley's kidnapper was not of this world. It was an old enemy from the past perhaps--someone who had escaped the purging wave of good that Zordon died to create. This someone had found her here on Earth, vulnerable without her Powers, and decided to take advantage of her situation. The Police would be reluctant to buy that, but there might be some clue that would help Andros get a lead. He had his connections too, just not on Earth.
So he picked up the phone and dialed Dawn's number. She wouldn't be home right now but he could leave his message on her answering device.
"This is Andros, I'm calling to ask for a favor from you. It probably isn't legal so don't tell your boyfriend, but I'd like you to look around Ashley's room for me. Get as close as you can, and try to find anything the police may have missed. Don't be afraid to report strange things either. Call me at my room if you find anything."
That done, he had nothing left to do but wait. And wait is what he did.
His phone did not ring until early evening. By then he was climbing the walls, trying anything to stave off boredom and anticipation. He had filled several sheets of hotel note paper with random thoughts and scribblings. He had even counted the number of "Smiths" in the New York City telephone directory. The number swam in his head. He set to multiplying it by the average number of family members in each of those households.
Then the phone nearly put him through the ceiling.
"Hello, Dawn?" he blurted.
"No sir, it's Room Service. Will you be purchasing any pay-per-view television this evening?"
"No, I don't even know what that is. Now excuse me, I'm waiting for a transmission." He hung up and chewed his lip for a minute, annoyed at himself for getting worked-up. Then suddenly, the phone rang again.
"Hello?"
"Hi, it's Dawn. You wanted me to do some snooping?"
Dawn had done as he asked, and gone to Ashley's room with a notepad and a few plastic bags. For some reason, she mentioned having read a lot of "Nancy Drew Books" as a child. She couldn't go into the suite itself, but she was allowed access to the hallway right outside. Other students had to use it, naturally. She had spent a full hour there, making note of things that fell under the category of strange.
"Such as?" Andros queried.
"Such as Ashley's door poster isn't there. She had this autographed poster of the Power Rangers on her front door, and now it's missing."
"I know the poster you mean," said Andros, telling her the truth for once. "What else did you see?"
"Nothing obvious at her doorway, but I did find something strange when I went back to mine. A little piece of velcro."
"Velcro?"
His tone gave her pause. "Yeah. You know that stuff that kids tie their shoes with?"
"No."
Dawn was perplexed. "The cloth with the little hooks on one side and the little loops on the other side so they stick together. C'mon Andy, there's some on your jacket. Anyway there was a little piece of it on the carpet near my door. I dunno where it came from."
"Maybe it fell off one of your jackets."
"No, I don't think so. It's too small to be for holding clothes together."
Andros scratched his head in frustration. "You have no idea what it could be from?"
"No clue. In fact, I'm not even sure it's velcro, it kind of looks like metal now that I've got it under the light."
"Any chance you could bring it over?"
"Sure, have you eaten yet?"
"Well, no.."
"I'll bring some takeout. Be there in a few. Bye!"
She hung up rapidly and left him in mid-speech. He had been about to ask her not to bring vendor hot dogs. They never stayed down. Thankfully she brought Chinese instead. Now he only had to grapple with the chopsticks.
"Take this for me Andy, the velcro's in my purse."
He took the twin cartons of sweet-smelling vegetables, and she dug around in her handbag. Finally she produced a sealable plastic bag with a tiny square of grey in the bottom. Andros took it carefully.
"See it sorta looks like velcro, but when you get it under the light..."
She switched on the table lamp so he could see. "..am I right or am I right?"
Andros looked until his eyes watered. "You're right, it's not velcro." Unfortunately, he couldn't tell her what it was. The tiny patch of metal fuzz was part of a rotating friction joint. Part of a Quantron.
"Think I should turn it in?" Dawn was asking.
"What?"
"To the police I mean."
He shook his head, forcing nonchalance into his tone. "What would they do with it? It's probably nothing, don't a lot of people wear weird things in this city? O.I.N.Y?"
She looked at him strangely, but shrugged. "I guess so, I dunno. I just don't wanna be 'obstructing justice' or anything. For Ashley's sake."
Andros nodded.
"Come on, let's eat and we'll decide what to do."
"Um, actually, I can't. I have a job interview in a little while."
"In the evening?"
"It's for a nightshift."
"Oh. Well good luck. Sorry I just barged on over, I guess I was eager to find some answers to this mess."
"I know, I am too. Thanks for the takeout."
"No problem. You want I should keep that with me?" She nodded to the plastic bag.
"Maybe I should keep it here. Your boyfriend might find it at your place."
She smirked. "Like I let him touch my things. Keep it here with you then Andy, it's no big deal. Just don't lose it in the sofa cushions."
"I won't. Oh wait, Dawn?"
"Yeah?"
"What ever happened to Rob, Ashley's boyfriend."
Dawn shrugged. "Nobody knows. The guy hasn't been seen since Ashley vanished. So far he's the prime suspect."
Andros nodded. "Alright, thanks. Goodnight."
"G'night Andy. Sleep tight."
He closed the door behind her, then closed his fingers around the plastic bag. His first clue! Now things were starting to go somewhere. If Quantrons were in the dormitory, it proved two things: One, that some outer-space villain had survived the Universal Purge, and two, that they had a decent group of minions under their control. Just a couple Quantrons would have been no trouble for Ashley, Yellow Ranger or not. There had to have been many. Also, wherever Rob was, this proved he probably had nothing to do with Ashley's kidnapping. It was some greater evil from outer space.
It still made Andros's heart ache to think of it though. He had been replaced with another love. Maybe that's why she wrote the letter in the first place, so she could have an easy conscience when she started seeing this guy; but she wouldn't profess false feelings to him, would she? She had said she still loved him. Didn't she? He wished he could ask her. Unfortunately though, she wasn't available for questioning. Someone would have to rescue her before they could have a heart-to-heart talk about their relationship. And it just so happened, that someone was gonna be him.
Andros was on the hotel roof, his bag slung over his arm, when the Yugathi lander arrived. There would be some UFO sightings in the city tonight, but Andros would have frozen to death trying to make it to a rural area for the pickup.
After Dawn left, he had made three calls. One was to the police station, saying a new employer was transferring him out of town. The second was to Dawn, saying he had gotten the job, but had to leave New York for it. He was lying to both, but at least they were matching lies.
The third wasn't made on the phone. It was made on his portable communications kit. The Yugathi would be coming back through the Sol system about this time, and could they perhaps take the time to swing by Earth and get him? After all, his significant other was in more trouble than he thought, and he was her only hope for rescue.
They were there in record time.
"So Andros, back to Karova to regroup is it?" asked the Yugathi Commander, once Andros was aboard.
"No actually, I'm going to Outpost 99. Is there a fast pod I can hire from you? I'm willing to pay in information."
"What sort of information?"
"I'll tell you about it while we check out that pod. Apparently, there may be some evil left in the universe after all..."