"Good morning everyone," Katie said cheerfully as she walked into the science lab with a carrier full of coffee cups in one hand and a box of doughnuts in the other.
Trip and Camille barely noticed her as they went over calculations for the Slipstream portal, but Jen greeted her warmly with a slight wave and a smile.
"Hey Katie," she said.
"I figured since we'd be saving other dimensions from imminent doom today, the least I could do was bring us something to eat," she said, sitting the coffee and doughnuts on the table.
Jen paused. "Coffee? I thought you hated coffee," she brought up as she watched Katie take a swallow.
"We've been working pretty hard lately, and I haven't been sleeping well. I just needed a pick me up," she mentioned.
"I guess so," she walked over to the table, picking up a coffee. "Hey, you changed her hair too," she noticed.
Katie's hair was much shorter, hanging just above her shoulders, and it seemed darker than normal. Jen also noticed she had golden-blonde streaks in her hair.
"Yeah, I just thought it was time for a change, that's all," she said.
"I know we've been giving you a hard time about the curly hair, but you didn't have to go all out like that," Tommy said as he walked over to the table, reaching in the box. "Ooooh, jelly,"
"What? You guys don't like it?"
"No, that's not it at all. It's really nice, it's just…. New," Jen said.
"That's what I was going for. So, what's on the 'do to' list today?" she asked.
"Nothing just yet, the wonder twins over there say they found something wrong with the Slipstream this morning. Nothing serious they say, but it'll be a sec before they have it running again," she told her.
"Did they say what was wrong?"
"I never understand all that technical mumbo jumbo, but I did hear something about a misalignment in the phase thingie," she said.
"Yeah, phase thingies are important," Tommy said with a mouth full of doughnut.
"Where is Logan?" she inquired.
"He had a meeting with Temporal Investigations this morning. He should be here any minute now," Jen said, glancing up at the clock.
"I think we're ready over here," Camille said, getting everyone's attention.
Tommy, Katie and Jen walked over to the control panel, where Trip was making the final adjustments. "I still don't know what went wrong, it looks like someone input the wrong program sequence. That must have called the misalignment in the phase converters," he explained.
"Is everything okay now?" Jen asked.
"Yeah, everything checks out. We're ready to go here, but I want to stay behind just in case something comes up," he said.
"Understood."
"Make sure you take one of beacons so we lock coordinates on whatever world you come to after you get back. It's important that we be able to map out where we've been," he said, handing her one of the metal spikes.
The device itself was rather small, maybe two feet tall with a circular top to it. The top seemed to hum slightly, giving off some type of signal.
"We'll take care of it," she told him as they walked over to the portal.
"The portal is set to reopen in 30 minutes, that should be more than enough time to do whatever you have to do," Trip said.
"I'll try not to get too comfortable this time," Jen assured him.
Trip nodded, inputting the final sequences and activated the portal. Even after seeing the vortex open dozens of times, the sheer beauty of it was enough to make Trip crack a smile everytime.
"Alright guys, come back in one piece," he said.
One by one, Camille, Jen, Tommy and Katie walked through the portal, disappearing.
(*)
They found themselves in a room that resembled the science lab, but was much darker. The entire room seemed dirty and not very well lit. There were so signs of technology, and a damp, dingy smell in the air.
"Where the hell are we?" Camille asked.
"I don't think we're in Kansas anymore," she giggled. "I've been waiting for the chance to say that," Katie mentioned.
Before they could make a move, a door opened and the room began to fill up with people. Then again, people wasn't the best term. At first glance, Jen noticed several different races of beings occupy the room. A few of them were Xybrian, others were Eltarian, and quite a few races she hadn't seen before.
"What's going on?"
From the looks of it, there were four dozen beings in the room, all of them seemed to be facing the front of the room as a man walked in wearing a white coverall and a yellow construction hat. He stood on a podium, allowing him to look down at the group. "Whether you're from KO-35, Eltar, Tera Venture, Xybria or any other world, you're all here for one reason: the authorities on your respective worlds consider you a bad element, outcasts. All of you have committed a crime of some sort, and have been sentenced to spend the rest of your lives here. Whether or not you're innocent or not is not my concern. For those of you who don't know me, I am Chief Administer Riley; I am your judge, jury and executioner. There is only one rule here: you work, and you will be treated well. You defy me, or disrespect anyone in this facility, you will be exiled. From this moment on, your names aren't important, your personal beliefs or religious preferences are obsolete. I am your God, and those who don't follow my instructions will be punished," he explained to them.
"Wait, there has to be some mistake," Tommy said, fighting his way through the crowd and making his way to the front.
Riley motioned his hand slightly, and a group of guards rushed in the room, grabbing Tommy and took him away. Camille wanted to make a move, but Jen grabbed her arm, restraining her.
"He was the first of your group to be exiled. If any of you wish to follow in his footsteps, by all means do," he motioned to the guards again, who began to work their way through the crowd, taking any jewelry of any kind and putting what looked like a thin metal chain around their necks. "Any personal items you came here with; jewelry, watches, chains, pictures of family members or friend, will be confiscated and disposed of. You have no name, no identity, nothing. You are nothing. The new collars you're sporting are electro magnetic tracking devices. If you enter a restricted area, the collar will send an electro magnetic pulse directly to your nervous system, killing you instantly. Once the guards have removed all unnecessary items, you will be taken to your cells until your duty shift begins. There are two shifts here: mornings and nights. There are no breaks, no rest periods. At the conclusion of your shift, you will return to your cell and a meal will be provided for you. Just remember, follow the rules and you'll be just fine," he said.
The guards walked over to Jen, snatching her morpher off her arm, replacing it with the metal collar. Katie wanted to make a move, but Jen motioned to her to stay back. The guards took their morphers and gave each of them collars, then made their way to the front of the room.
"Come with us," one of them said, leading the entire group out the room.
They headed down a long corridor, where the guard deactivated a force field, allowing them all inside. Once the last of them were through, the force filed was reactivated. They turned a corner; where there was a strip of cellblocks on either side of the room.
"Four to a cell. No more, no less," the guard said. "The bars are lined with an electro magnetic pulse as well, so I suggest you stay away from them. The pulse is shut down twice a day; once so you may start your duty shift, and again when it's over," he told them.
Jen, Katie and Camille made sure they were put in the same cell along with another woman, who appeared to be human, but had scales running down each arm, and what appeared to be spikes in her forehead. Her skin was pale, and her eyes were a yellow-ish gray.
The cell bars closed behind them, and a surge of power went through them. The guards walked down the halls one final time to make sure everything was secure, then headed back through the force field.
"What the hell are we suppose to do without our morphers?" Katie asked.
"Right now we need to figure out where we are, then worry about our morphers," Jen pointed out.
"And what about Tommy? Chief Riley said something about exile. We have to find him," Camille brought up.
"If your friend was sent to exile, you won't find him," the scaly woman said.
The three of them turned to her. "What is this place? And what is exile?" Jen asked.
"They call this place the prison planet. This is where every criminal in the galaxy is set to rot," she said.
"An entire planet dedicated to the containment of criminals? It seems like a bit much, don't you think?"
"It's a system that has worked for hundreds of years. Now with the increase in crime on the new world, even more prisoners are sent here," she said.
"If this really is where all the criminals in the galaxy are sent, even the entire planet wouldn't be enough to contain them all. What happens when the cells are full?" Camille asked.
"The cells are never full. Hundreds of prisoners are sentenced to exile everyday. There is always plenty of room here," she said.
"What is exile?"
"The prison itself is only the size of a small city, encased in a dome and cut off from the rest of the planet. Beyond the dome are unspeakable creatures, creatures that can survive in the wasteland. When a prisoner is exiled, they're sent outside the doom and left for the creatures to have their way with them. No one has ever survived exile," she told them.
"We have to save Tommy," Camille said.
Jen turned to the woman. "What's your name?" she asked.
"I am called Neesha," she said.
"Well Neesha, how do we get out of here?"
"There is no way out. Even if you were able to get out of your cell, and made it through the force field, the collars would prevent you from going any further. A transport ship comes once a week, so you've have to wait for that, but the ship is protected by the Power Rangers. No one gets on that ship without clearance, and prisoners aren't given clearance," Neesha explained.
Jen turned to Katie. "Is there anything you can do about these collars?" she asked her.
"If I had something to shield my hands from the shock, I think I could snatch it off before the pulse went off," she said.
Camille glanced around the cell, walking over to the padding on the beds. She quickly ripped two pieces of fabric off, handing them to Katie. "Is this enough?" she asked.
"Should be," Katie said, wrapping the fabric around her hands, then got a grip on the collar. She took a deep breath, and then snatched as hard as she could, breaking the collar in half. "So far so good. Now we have to concentrate on getting out this cell,"
"I've got an idea. Everyone get ready," Jen walked as closely as she could to the bars as she could. "Guards, help!" she yelled.
"What are you doing?" Neesha asked.
"You'll see. Katie, lay on the floor," she instructed.
A few moments later, the guard walked over to the cell. "What is all the yelling about prisoner?" he asked.
"One of the prisoners tried to take off the collar, I think it killed her," she said.
"And?"
"The least you can do is get her body out of here," she said.
He sighed. "Fine," he said, inputting a sequence in the control pad next to the cell. Jen did her best to memorize the pattern as the electric field shut down, and the guard opened the cell. As he leaned down to pick up Katie, she kicked him between the legs, and then grabbed him, ramming him head first into the side of the wall. The guard fell to the ground, and Katie stood up, kicking him one more time for good measure.
"Get his uniform off him. We're getting out of here," Jen said.
(*)
"How do I look?" Jen asked as she zipped up the coveralls and put on the yellow construction hat.
"It'll have to do," Camille said.
"Neesha, are you coming?" she asked.
"No," Neesha said, cowering in the corner.
"Fine. Camille, I was able to memorize the access code when the guard opened the cell. It's 0311, open as many of the cells as you can. If they have a riot to deal with, we'll be able to slip out of here undetected," she said.
"On it," she said, rushing out the cell and opening as many cells as she could.
"Katie, if you please," she said.
Katie walked over to Jen, getting a grip on the collar and snatched it off.
Soon, the halls were filled with prisoners, and the alarms went off. Camille hurried over to Katie, letting her snatch the collar off, and the three of them headed down the hallway. They stopped at the force field, and Jen used the name badge on the cover alls to deactivate it. They headed down the hallway, stopping in the room they were originally in, then rushed down the only other hallway.
Katie kicked the door in, where they saw Chief Riley examining the morphers as he sat behind his desk. "Ah, after I realized what these were and who you are, I knew you'd show up sooner or later," he said, never once looking up at them.
"Give us the morphers and we promise not to kill you," Katie said.
"You're not really in a position to make demands, are you?" he asked. Before they could move, a group of guards rushed in the room, aiming guns at the three of them. "Now, I have a deal for you: show me how these morphers work, and I'll release you," he said.
"No deal," Jen said.
"Sorry, that was the wrong answer," Riley said.
Just then, Tommy stormed in the room already in his ranger uniform, kicking the guns out the guards hands. Jen gave one of them a sabat kick, knocking him up against the wall as Katie went after Riley.
"Your times up," she said as she picked up a gun, aiming at his head.
"Katie no!" Camille said, grabbing Katie, but couldn't move her.
"He was going to kill us anyway, he deserves to die," she snapped.
"That's not your call. At ease Lt.," Jen said firmly.
"What's the matter Chief Administer Riley, I thought you were God. How does it feel to be on the other end, to know that I'm your judge, jury and executioner?" Katie asked.
"That's enough Katie," Jen yelled.
"No, it isn't. When we leave, he'll keep doing what hes doing," she said.
"Katie, it's his job. This is a prison. The people who come here deserve to be here," Tommy pointed out as he powered down.
"Did we deserve to be here? Did he even stop to listen to what we had to say? No, he just assumed we were guilty," she mentioned.
"Our situation was different, but most of the people here are guilty. Now put the gun down and walk away," Camille said.
Katie glanced down at Riley, who had remained motionless with a nervous look on his face. "Please, I didn't know. I have a family, a son," he told her.
Finally, Katie wavered, dropping the gun as she stood up, grabbing the morphers. "Trip, we're ready to go," she said.
'Acknowledged. Stand by,' a voice said.
"You did the right thing Katie," Jen told her, putting her hand on her shoulder.
"Come on Katie, lets go home," Tommy sighed as he put his arm around her.
The vortex opened, and Camille was the first to go through. Tommy and Jen were next, leaving Katie alone with Riley. She looked at the portal, then at Riley as he got back to his feet. She quickly picked the gun up, aiming for his head and pulled the trigger. As Riley's body fell to the floor, Katie cracked a smile. "Your times up, bitch!" she sighed with a sinister smile on her face, then walked through the portal.
(*)
As Katie came through the portal, it got smaller, eventually disappearing.
"What happened to you guys? I tried to contact you," Trip said as he walked over to them.
"We were held up. It was some sort of prison planet, we barely got out of there," Camille told him.
"I did some research while you were gone: apparently after Tera Venture left Earth in the year 1999, they were able to colonize a new world. Six months later, another ship was sent to retrieve the remaining humans, but those with criminal records were left on Earth to fend for themselves. After a while, other worlds began to dump their criminals on Earth, and in the year 2042, it was dubbed the prison planet," he told them.
"What about the creatures? One of the inmates said something about creatures," Jen brought up.
"They weren't creatures, they were orgs. After the planet became uninhabitable, a dome was constructed around the prison. With the Earth void of natural recourses and pollution at an all time high, the orgs were able to return. Whatever the dome was made up, the orgs weren't able to penetrate it, and chose to live outside the dome," he explained.
"Well, I'm glad that's over," Tommy sighed.
"Me too," Jen glanced over at Katie, who had a drops of blood splattered on her uniform. Katie saw Jen looking at her, quickly wiping away the blood with her sleeve. "I'm going to take a shower," she said, walking out the room.
(*) Later that evening (*)
Jen walked into Captain Logan's office, standing in front of his desk as he was going through some paperwork. She cleared her throat, getting his attention.
"Commander Scott, you're here late," he said, noticing the time.
"Yes sir, I wanted to talk to you about Katie," she said.
"What about her?"
"She was reckless on our last mission, I'm a little concerned about her," she said.
"If you want, I'll have a talk with her before our next mission," he suggested.
"I don't think a talk will do the trick. There's something wrong with Katie, and I intend to find out what it is," she said.
"What do you suggest?"
"Until we find out what's going on, I think we should take her off the Slipstream project," Jen told him.
"Is it that serious?"
"Yes sir, I believe it is," she said.
"You're the superior office on the Slipstream project; if that's your call, I'll support it, but you better have a damn good reason for this," Logan told her.
"I'll get the bottom of it personally sir," she said, walking out the office.
