By N. E. Shaw
"Scan complete. Results negative. Please try again," said the computer.
Andros clamped his hands around his head. "Just lemme think for a minute alright?" His tone was sharp, even though the computer would never understand. As well as HEXA performed, she was nothing like DECA in that she couldn't seem to anticipate what he needed. DECA had always thought along the same lines as he. She saved him so much time by figuring out what he wanted to do, and making the proper adjustments to best fit the need. Of course she was just a computer, but she had a touch of humanity in her as well. The Megaship wouldn't have been the same without her.
But here on the Sunshine, all he had was HEXA, and he would just have to learn to live with her.
"Alright, let's try again. Set the scanners for human life in general. Exclude myself and those present back on the Outpost."
"I do not understand the reference to 'The Outpost'."
"Outpost 99, where we were six hours ago."
"Outpost 99 is now out of sensor range."
Andros sighed in misery. "Then don't worry about it! Begin scan!"
HEXA complied and Andros pinched the bridge of his nose. If this scan turned up nothing, he was going to go get a headache remedy.
This scan was broader then all the others so far. Naturally it would take longer, but after a minute, HEXA had seemingly fallen asleep. Andros waited with great impatience.
"Well?" he said finally.
HEXA bleeped. "Please rephrase the question."
"Did your scan turn up any sign of human life, HEXA?" "Affirmative, Andros," she replied.
Andros blinked. "Why didn't you say something??"
"I have said something. My last response was 'Affirmative, Andr--"
"Nevermind that! Show me the life sign!"
"On screen."
A star chart appeared on the viewer. Andros struggled to recognize it, but HEXA saved him the trouble. "Quadrant Six One Nine, Sector Fifty Five, Region Seven Four One Two--"
"Thank you, I see it. Show me the life reading."
"On screen," she said again.
This time, a little red dot replaced a star in the corner and began to blink calmly. Andros sat forward, heart and mind beginning to race.
"Narrow the parameters and re-scan. Questions: What is the general health and condition of the being? Is the being male or female? Go scan."
HEXA did as she was told, but replied not a moment later. "Reading is too far out of range. I cannot answer those questions."
He pursed his lips. "Alright, that's fine, we've still got the lead. Move us within the proper sensor range, Hyper Rush Eight."
"Negative."
"Negative what?"
"Negative I cannot comply. The life reading is beyond the borders of unfriendly space."
Andros recognized the star chart finally, and realized what the problem was.
"HEXA, update your records. We are no longer at war with the Kreebo, we can safely pass through their space."
"Understood. Updating information now," she said. "Shall I proceed with the course?"
"If it's not too much trouble."
"It is not too much trouble to--"
"Just go!"
Ashley flattened herself against the wall and held her breath. With a shaking hand, she reached up and plucked the dart out of the side of her neck.
Wherever it came from, it had struck its mark and she was growing dizzier by the second. She lay down deliberately this time. No need to take another fall. In a few moments, the dark ceiling of her cell faded into blackness, and she fainted away.
When she woke up, she was surprised to find a new ceiling above her. This one had weak lights buzzing from behind glowing panels. She had been moved to another metal room, but this one was actually a room--not a dungeon. Slowly, Ashley began to sit up.
This room was the size of an apartment, circular, and made all of gleaming metal. A band of large windows filled the upper half of the walls, and the view outside them was breathtaking: This building was at the peak of a great mountain, cloaked by night. Scattered on the slopes far below were thousands of tiny points of light coming from the windows of other buildings. A thousand people could have been camped there. The buildings stopped at the shore of a glittering black sea that stretched away to the horizon, and stars dimly lit the coastline.
Ashley had seen all this in a moment, and was just about to turn and complete her view, when someone grabbed her arms. Two tall figures flanked her suddenly.
They were Quantrons.
Before she could fight them off, a voice came. "Please don't struggle, Miss Hammond. You are not to be harmed."
The Quantrons turned her around and she saw the other side of the room. The windows went all the way around, showing the same ocean view. But a desk sat here. A man sat at the desk. He was a fearsome individual, decked out in black leather and shining steel. A mask hid his face from Ashley's eyes.
"Welcome to my headquarters," said the man, gesturing to the room and the island outside. "You my dear, are an honored guest."
"Who are you?" Ashley demanded. "What do you want with me?"
"One question at a time, girl. First of all, you may call me The Corruptor. Second of all...many things."
"Such as?"
"You get right to the point, don't you? Well, the list includes information on the Power Rangers..."
Crap, he knows, Ashley thought.
"..but we can go over all that later. First, is there anything you urgently require?"
Ashley was bewildered. "Anything I require? Where do you want me to start?"
"I was referring to health and safety needs," said The Corruptor impatiently. "Are you ill or injured in any way?"
Play the card, Ashley.
"I've been coughing. It's a little damp in that cell down there."
The Corruptor nodded. "I'll have that remedied for you...although you cannot have a different cell--"
"And your flunkies here are bruising me."
He gave her a warning look, but gestured to the Quantrons to ease up a little.
"Now, on to the business at hand--"
"Why don't you start by telling me what the hell you think you're getting away with here? If you know who I am, then you know who my friends are."
The Corruptor kept his cool, but stood up from his chair. He came around the desk and approached her, standing close enough that she had to look up at him.
"If you are smart Ashley, and I know you are, then you'll moderate your tone towards me. I do not respond well to disrespect."
"And I don't respond well to being kidnapped. You don't scare me."
"You tread on dangerous ground."
"Give me one good reason not to."
"I'll give you five," he said, and smacked her.
It wasn't a vicious slap, but it stung, and made her lip throb. Ashley wasn't used to being slapped either. She shook with anger and did not look up at him again.
"I'm sorry to do that," he said gently. "But it was important for you to see that I would. Again, I do not respond well to disrespect."
He waited for her to snap off a harsh reply. She only brought her eyes back up to him, filling her gaze with as much disgust as possible.
He inclined his head, saying, "I've made my point." and walked calmly back to his seat. "Now that that's settled, we'll discuss future plans." He pressed a button and a trap door opened in the floor before his desk. A chair rose up on a platform. The Quantrons brought Ashley forward and pushed her down on it.
"In answer to your second initial question," said The Corruptor. "I want from you the following things: Information on the Power Rangers, information on the monetary assets held by your father, Mr. Daniel Hammond..." A dramatic pause. "..and something slightly more personal..."
The lilt in his voice told all.
"Go to hell," she snapped from her bleeding lip.
The Corruptor only smiled. "Silly girl. I run that place."
His plan was explained in all its detail. He was going to use her to gain control of the Power Rangers, who would become his personal team of enforcers in a bid to take over the planet. They would systematically kidnap a long list of world leaders, each of whom would be a link in a chain--a chain of control. By threatening the leaders' lives, the chain could be tightened around any country, or even the whole planet. And that chain would be in the hands of The Corruptor.
Ashley's father came in on a strictly financial level. It was pure coincidence that a former ranger had rich folks. The Hammond Fortune would cover any expenses incurred during the domination of the planet.
And lastly, Ashley herself was to become Mrs. Corruptor.
"It's only logical that I should make you my wife in the meantime," reasoned the supervillain. "What else would I do with a lovely female pawn?"
"You have got to be crazy..."
He was amused. "How hurtful. What makes you say that?"
"Every part of this 'Master Plan' of yours has been completely predictable. If I were still one of the Rangers, we would have kicked your butt long ago. No villain has ever gotten one of these plans to work, and I don't see any threat of that changing."
The Corruptor considered this deeply. "You're right of course. No one has ever brought one of these plans to fruition. If mine is to work, it must be different from all the others somehow. What could that difference be?"
Ashley waited while he pretended to ponder this. He stroked the chin of his mask until she rolled her eyes impatiently.
"I think I have it," he said. "The difference between those other plans and mine..."
"Is..?"
The steel mask moved as The Corruptor's face smiled. "..that the good guys don't know."
Ashley frowned. "Excuse me?"
"The Power Rangers can't stop me because they don't know I exist. And if they even know you're missing, they certainly don't know where to look for you. We're in the best hiding place we could be. When the time comes, they won't know what hit 'em."
And with that, The Corruptor began to laugh in an insane, supervillain sort of way. He shook with laughter, the sound reverberating in the room like thunder. His insanity was the most frightening part of all this. Ashley was suddenly afraid to make him angry, because she didn't know how he might react--what painful powers he might use on her.
She thought she had given up the Ranger life--the risks and the danger. Maybe she was wrong...