When he stepped down as a ranger, he was convinced he would never be called on again. 'I've done my part; I've saved the world. The world owes me now,' he thought to himself. Though walking away from his life as a ranger wasn't as easy as he expected it to be, he knew it was the right decision. He'd finally come to a point in his life where he was happy without his powers; with the extra time on his hands, he was able to dedicate more time to things he enjoyed. It had given him the chance to spend time with his family, his friends, with her, but unfortunately, fate had other plans for him.

"Lights," he said as he walked into his quarters. As the lights came on, he headed for the living room, sitting down on the couch and letting out a sigh of relief. Things had been difficult the last few days, readjusting to life as a ranger again, being forced adapt to a whole new way of life.

He glanced down at the morphers on his wrists, admiring them. It was unlike anything he'd ever seen before. It was smaller than the average, much more slender, but a little longer than a normal morpher. Instead of only one morpher, there were two, each of them going more than half way up his forearm. They were black with gold trimming, with a small screen on the left one.

He had to admit, the black morphers were more powerful than he'd ever seen before. From the second Alex gave them to him, he could feel the power surging through his body. Becoming a ranger again wasn't his first choice, but given the circumstances, he was more than willing to help.

Just then, the morpher began to beep. He quickly reached for it, pressing a button. A holographic representation of Alex appeared, almost as if Alex were in the room with him.

"What can I do for you Alex?"

'How are you feeling?' he asked him.

"If you're asking as there any side effects, no. I feel just fine,"

'I was a bit concerned about the radiation levels coming from the morphers, and I'd still like you to come down to headquarters from an examination. You know, just to be sure,' Alex told him.

"If you insist, but I really am fine,"

'Glad to hear it. Report to my office today at 1300 hours. I'll have a doctor meet us there,' he said.

"Understood,"

(*)

"When you get inside, you'll see that the coordinates have already been set and the auto pilot is engaged. The parameters of your mission will be explained in the files you find in the ship, and after you read them, they must be destroyed. Follow out the instructions to the letter, then return here for de-briefing and memory adaptation," Alex instructed.

"Memory adaptation?"

"It's a standard procedure. When you return, memories of the mission will be erased from your memory to preserve the timeline," he said.

"Understood," he said as he nodded slightly, heading towards the time ship.

A small hatch opened, allowing Tommy inside. As soon as he was on board, the hatch closed behind him, and he took a seat in front of the control panel. Just as Alex mentioned, there was a vanilla folder sitting on the control panel.

'Course set and locked. Do you wish to disembark?' the computer asked him.

The voice startled him, breaking his concentration as he read over the files. "Oh, um, yes. I wish to disembark," he said.

'Engaging engines,' the computer announced.

A time hole began to open in the sky. The ship lifted off the launch pad, leading from the vortex as it disappeared into it……

Tommy didn't even bother to sit up this time. Over the last week, he'd grown use to the dreams, waking up in a cold sweat. As usual, he was able to retain more of the dream. 'I was on a time ship, and there was a vanilla folder,' he thought to himself. He tried to recall what the files in the folders said, but was drawing a complete blank.

'Come on Tommy, think,' he said to himself, realizing how important it was to remember. Alex mentioned something about the balance of power in the universe shifting, and if it was that important, he knew he had to remember something.

He tried, but his head began to throb. He howled out in pain as he rolled off the examining table, hitting the floor with a thud. The doctor rushed into the room, tending to him.

"Tommy, are you okay?"

"Why can't I remember?" Tommy screamed.

"Memory adaptation is designed to block the synaptic pathways associated with short term and long term memory. You don't remember because you're not suppose to," he said.

"So why am I having these dreams?"

"As a result of your DNA being altered in a molecular level, the memory adaptation procedure wasn't as effective as it should have been. You'll more than likely continue to have the dreams," he said.

"But why?"

"Your DNA is forcing the synaptic pathways to unblock themselves, which explains the headaches you're feeling," he said as he helped him up.

Tommy sat down on the examining table. "When will the headaches stop?"

"When your memory returns fully, the headaches will stop. It could take 48 to 72 hours, or it could happen right now. Honestly, there has never been a time when someone was able to regain their memory after the procedure. This is as new to me as it is to you," he told him.

"Thank you Dr. Hamilton, for everything,"

"What do you mean?"

"I heard you and Commander Collins talking the other day, and I know what he wants to do. I appreciate the things you said, but if the balance of power in the universe really does hinge on the information I have in my synaptic whatever-you-call-it, maybe it is worth the risk of giving…" he was cut short.

"I swore to do no harm Lt. Oliver, and that's an oath I plan to keep. Your sacrifice is noted, but not necessary," he told him.

"Thanks doc," he sighed.

(*)

Jen and Katie stood outside Alex' office, going over the plan one more time.

"Just go in there and do whatever you have to to get him out of there. Once he's gone, I'll switch on the cloak and see what I can find," she said.

"But how do I get him out?"

"Show'em some cleavage or something, I don't know. Whatever it takes," Katie said.

"Maybe you should show'em some cleavage. You have more than I do," she admitted.

"Too bad Camille isn't here. She's got some jugs on her that would…" she was cut short.

"Katie!" she mumbled, interrupting her.

"Look, Alex isn't secretly in love with me. Just go in there and do what you have to. I'm sure you'll think of something," she said.

Jen sighed. "Fine," she groaned as she tapped on the door, not even waiting for him to respond before she peeked her head in.

"Jen?" Alex mumbled as he looked up.

She walked in, only to find that Nadira was sitting in front of his desk wearing a Time Force uniform. "I didn't know you were in a meeting, sorry," she sighed.

"No, Nadira and I are done here," he told her.

Nadira stood up. "Thank you again sir. You won't be sorry," she said cheerfully, walking out the room.

"You let Nadira join Time Force? What about the no mutant law?" she inquired.

"These are desperate times for Time Force, and we need all the help we can get. Nadira has been instrumental in Time Force's survival in the past, and when the counsel asked who I felt should be given a chance, I chose her," he told her.

"That was nice of you,"

Alex glanced at the clock on the wall. "We have to make this quick, I have an appointment at 1300 hours. What can I do for you?" he asked her.

She paused. "I just thought it would be nice to come see you. With everything that's been going on, I thought you could use a friendly face. Besides, I get kinda lonely cooped up in that stuffy medical lab," she said, tempted to unzip her uniform and take Katie's advice.

"What are the doctors saying?"

"That I should be okay to go back to work in the next few days," she paused. "You've got a few minutes, we should go grab a cup of coffee or something before your appointment," she mentioned, trying to get him out the office.

"Sorry, I can't. I have to meet someone in the examining room. Can I take a rain check?" he asked.

"Sure,"

"Come on, I'll walk you back to the medical bay," he said as he motioned towards the door. The two of them walked out the office, heading down the hallway.

Katie waited until both of them were gone, then switched on the cloak, quietly heading into Alex' office.

~

"I've gone over this a hundred times and I can't figure out who the damn black ranger is. I'm beginning to think we were seeing things," Trip sighed with frustration as he put his head down on the control panel.

Camille walked up behind him, massaging his shoulders. "Calm down Trip, I'm sure we'll find something. We did the first time," she mentioned.

"Yeah, too bad Alex had our minds wiped,"

"What happens to memories once they're erased?" she asked.

"They aren't actually erased, they're suppressed. They're buried in the subconscious, making it nearly impossible for the human mind to recall them," he told her.

"So if the memories are still there, shouldn't we be able to access them somehow?"

"We could, but the procedure could kill the average person. Memory adaptation isn't something you play around with, it could cause all types of mental disorders," he said.

"So trying to reverse the procedure on Tommy…"

"… would probably kill him," he said.

"I guess we can rule that one out," Camille sighed.

"Black ranger aside, what could Alex be talking about that would shift the balance of power in the universe? What could be that important that he wouldn't want us to know about it?" Trip asked her.

"I think I have the answer to that," they heard a voice say.

They turned around as Tommy walked into the room with a folder in his hand.

"How ya feeling Tommy?" Camille asked.

"Much better. I had another one of those dreams, and this time I was able to remember a lot more. I remember going on a mission, but I'm not sure to where yet. Alex told me there was a folder with all the information I would need inside, and to destroy it after I'd read it. Somehow it occurred to me to hold onto the folder just in case," he handed them the folder. "I must have put the folder in my locker before I went to memory adaptation," he told them.

Trip opened the folder and began to read through the files. "Oh my God," he sighed.

"What? What is it?" she asked.

"It says that Alex was contacted by someone from the future and was given certain technology, technology which should only be used when destiny takes a wrong turn," he said.

"The future?"

"From the files, someone from the year 3031 visited Alex forewarning him about impending danger to Time Force, and giving him instructions of how to repair the time line. It says that an Admiral Kelly Summers gave him a small white sphere, a sphere that restores a persons life force," he said.

"You mean bring someone back from the dead?" Tommy asked.

"Not quite back from the dead, but it does heal all injuries within a certain time. According to this, a life force can be restored almost a full three minutes after death," he explained.

"How is that possible?"

"I don't know, but it's reasonable to assume that they've perfected it in the future. It also says here that the sphere was originally tested on Alan Collins in the year 2001," he said.

"But I thought you said it was from the future?"

He paused. "I remember when Alex came to the 21st century during our mission to capture Ransik. He told Wes that his father would die, but somehow, Mr. Collins pulled through and history was changed," he recalled.

"Are you saying that Alex gave the sphere to Mr. Collins long enough to cure him and purposely changed history?" Tommy asked.

"I'm saying that if this Admiral Summers told him that Mr. Collins wasn't suppose to die, Alex would have gone back to save him. It was never confirmed, but everyone always suspected that Alex was a descendant of Wes, considering they're DNA was a match," Trip speculated.

"So if Alex gave Tommy this sphere, who did he use it on?" Camille asked.

Trip turned to the computer. "Computer, run a search for all former rangers on file and cross reference it with unexplained disappearances," he said.

'Working,' the computer announced.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm willing to bet that if Alex gave Tommy this sphere to restore someone's life force, history logs would have some reports of that person disappearing mysteriously after death. If that's the case, it should lead us right to the black ranger," he said.

"Can you imagine what would happen if the world knew that the technology existed to bring people back from the dead?" Tommy sighed.

"People would stop at nothing to possess something like that. They could live forever, and in the wrong hands, the results could be deadly," Camille said.

"Sounds like the kinda stuff that shifting the balance of power in the universe is made of," Trip pointed out.

"So all the secrecy about the black ranger doesn't really have anything to do with the black ranger. Alex was concerned that we'd find out about the sphere," she said.

"It's best that after we find out what we need to know, we wipe the computer logs clean so no one else finds out what we know," he said.

"Good idea,"

'Inquiry complete,' the computer said, displaying a list of names on the screen.

"Alright, one of these people on the list have to be the black ranger," Trip said.

"Aisha Campbell disappeared shortly after the Zeo quest in 1996, it could be her," Camille brought up.

"This list is still too long, there has to be a way to narrow it down," he said.

"You have to assume that Alex wouldn't risk giving the black ranger powers to someone who had been exposed to several different types of radiation like I was. It would just be too dangerous for them," he paused. "Computer, narrow the search parameters to rangers who have been part of less than three incarnations of ranger teams," he said.

'Working,' the computer said.

"Good thinking Tommy, but without knowing exactly how that sphere works, there's no way to be sure if we should rule the other rangers out," Trip said.

"Is it just me, or did anyone notice that the Admiral from the future's last name was Summers?" Camille brought up.

"Maybe she's a relative of yours," he said.

"Or maybe she's my daughter. You did say she was from the year 3031, I'm sure my daughter would be old enough to join Time Force by then," she pointed out.

"We only have to wait 30 years to find out," Trip joked.

'Search complete,' the computer said, showing a much smaller list.

"Rocky DaSantos was only part of two ranger teams, it could be him," Camille said, going over the list.

"I could be Zack Taylor. History logs say he died in the year 2005 but his body was never recovered. Considering he was the original black ranger in Earth, it might be him," he said.

"This list is still too long, and without knowing how the sphere works we could be looking in the wrong place altogether. Now that we know what Alex was trying to hide, we should just delete this data, destroy the files and wait to find out who the black ranger is," Tommy suggested.

"He's right," she agreed.

"Computer, delete all files displayed on screen and all inquiries concerning former rangers," Trip said.

'Authorization required,' the computer said.

"Authorization Trip Beta 6065 C," he said.

'Files deleted,' it said.

"Computer, are backup files still on the network?" Camille asked.

'Affirmative,' it said.

"Delete from the network as well, authorization Camille Omega 334," she said.

'Files deleted,' it said.

"I'll give rid of this folder," Tommy said as he stuffed it in his back pocket, walking out the room.

~

Alex walked into the examining room, only to find him sitting there. "1300 hours, right on time Lucas," he said as he closed the door behind himself.

TBC…….