Disclaimer: This fic is based on "Cube" and "Cube II: Hypercube" and are owned by Geraint Wyn Davies and the Sci-Fi channel. I am using them without permission. Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, Time Force, Wild Force, Lightspeed Rescue and all related characters are owned by Disney Entertainment and/or Saban. I am also using them without permission. I don't intend to make any money from this, but if I do, don't sue me.
A/N: I know it's been a while since I updated any of my fics. I was having some major computer problems, but they're been corrected. Thank you to everyone for your patience!! Enjoy.
Please take a minute to review, I live for reviews.
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"I know who trapped us in here," Cam said.
"You know who trapped us in here?" both the Kelseys' asked in unison.
All of them turned to Cam, who seemed to be mumbled something to himself. Finally, he removed his glasses, walking towards the rest of the group. "We've been going about this the wrong way all the time. We were working on the assumption that if there's an entrance, there had to be an exit, but that isn't true. We were all teleported into this thing somehow, which means there isn't an exit, at least by any conventional means. We've already established that we all discovered the subspace variance before we needed up here, and we all agree that the only person who could pull off something like this would have to have a knowledge of not only the past and present, but the future. There's only one person here who fits that profile," Cam explained, turning his attention to Alex.
Alex took a step back. "Wait, you think I'm responsible for this?" he asked them.
"It does seem strange that when we tried to determine how we got in here, you were so quick to discount that it had anything to do with the subspace variance," Alyssa pointed out.
"And you seem to be the only one who knows all of us," Karone mentioned.
"You're from the future. Its possible your superiors built this thing, and then started trapping us inside as some type of experiment. Then they sent you in here to monitor us," Kelsey added.
"That's why he keeps saying 'lets keep moving'. He's trying to lead us somewhere," the other Kelsey brought up.
"I admit, Time Force has participated in some questionable experiments, but they have nothing to do with this thing, and I'm not in here to monitor anyone. I told you, I'm trapped in here like the rest of you. If you want to put the blame on someone, look at Karone. She's the one who's known about tesseracts her entire life. We've never seen anything like this on Earth, so for all we know this thing could be from KO-35," Alex pointed out.
"That is a good point," both the Kelseys said.
"But I read about it when I was child, that was years ago. I don't know anything more about this place than the rest of you do. It was Alyssa who knew who created this thing, maybe she knows something she isn't telling us," Karone said.
"I've told you everything I know about this place," Alyssa snapped. "Guys, we're doing this wrong. We're all tired, we're hungry and we're confused. It's this place; it's turning us against one another. The last thing we need to do is point fingers and place blame, we're all in this thing together. We've all been in tight spots before, haven't we? But we're Power Rangers, its our job to overcome obstacles like this," she turned to Kelsey. "I've read about the Lightspeed rangers in the paper, I know you guys have your hands full with Queen Bansheera and protecting the city. I've been fighting orgs for a while now," she turned to Alex. "Alex sent the Time Force rangers back in time to help with the mutorgs, so he knows how hard I've had it,"
"That's right, I did," he mentioned.
Alyssa nodded. "Like I said, we've all had it rough, but if we're going to get out of this place, we have to work together," she told them.
"So what do you suggest?"
"The only thing we can do is keep moving. Standing here arguing about who did what to who isn't getting us anywhere," Alyssa said.
Cam walked over to him. "Listen, I'm sorry for…" he cut him short.
"Its okay, I understand. Its easy for even the smartest person to go crazy in a place like this," Alex told him.
"Alright, lets go," Karone sighed.
It was Alyssa who walked over to the panel on the side of the wall, pressing her hand against the plate. She quickly climbed through, followed by one of the Kelseys', Karone, then Cam. Alyssa climbed the ladder quickly, positioning herself over the panel. As Alex stuck his head through, she kicked him in the face, knocking him back through the door.
She quickly jumped down, watching as Alex, with a huge cut over his eye, rushed at her, but the panel closed.
"What did you do that for?" Karone asked.
"Cam, you were right. I think Alex had something to do with all of this," she said.
"But what about that speech about all of us being in this together?" he asked.
"Doesn't it seem convenient that he knew exactly where we were, and had enough time to take off all his clothes, tie them in a knot and pull us out of that room just in time?" she brought up.
"Now that you mention it," Kelsey sighed.
"You think Alex has been playing us the entire time?" Cam asked.
"No, just that one. I think whoever is pulling the strings around here purposely made sure we'd get separated from our Alex, then set us up with a fake Alex to lead us exactly where they wanted us to go," she explained.
Cam and Karone took a step back. "Alyssa, I think you've been in here way too long. You're not thinking straight," he said.
"I'm thinking just fine. I'm beginning to think I'm the only one who is," she said.
"It was that room we were in. The air wasn't thin at all, it did something to you, made you crazy," Kelsey said.
Alyssa grabbed Kelsey by the throat. "You think I'm crazy?" she snapped, pushing her up against the wall.
"Alyssa, think about what you're doing here. You are acting strangely, and it happened after we were in that room," Cam pointed out.
"So why aren't you acting different?"
"Maybe it effected us in different ways. I was the only one who passed out, and Kelsey wasn't even effected at all," he paused. "Maybe it wasn't thin air at all, maybe it was a room where time moved faster than the other rooms. The human mind wasn't meant to withstand that type of thing, and it could easily lead to paranoid delusions," Cam told her.
Alyssa paused, releasing her grip on Kelsey slightly. "Maybe I…" her sentence trailed off. "Kelsey, I'm sorry," she sighed, backing away from her.
Kelsey held her throat, still with a look of terror on her face as she tried to catch her breath.
"Listen, we should keep moving," Cam mentioned, walking over to the panel against the wall and pressing his hand to the plate.
The panel slid open, and Kelsey quickly climbed through, followed by her counterpart. Cam was next to go through, with Karone right behind them. Alyssa waited until Karone was through, then stopped. "I'm not going," she said.
"What? Why?"
"You're right, something is wrong with me. You have to go on without me," she said.
"We're not leaving you," Karone said.
Alyssa stepped off the ladder, and the panel closed.
*
Alex had been wandering from room to room for, to the best of his knowledge, was hours. Each room was exactly the same, but he was amazed that he hadn't come across anyone else during his journey. The silence was beginning to get to him, the solitude was affecting him. 'I see how Jason could have gone crazy,' he thought to himself, but he was determined to prevent it from happening to him.
He pressed his hand on the panel, and as soon as it opened, he stepped through. When he made it to the other side, he saw them.
"Oh God," he sighed, covering his mouth in terror as he stood over them.
There were three bodies, all of them motionless. "Cam?" he called out, hoping Cam would answer, but there was no response. Or a pulse.
He turned his attention to Kelsey, checking her for a pulse as well, but there was nothing. Finally, he turned to Alyssa, checking her, but the results were the same. "Oh God, what happened to you guys?" he sighed inwardly.
He stood up, but suddenly, his head began to throb, forcing him to fall to the floor, holding his head in pain. 'It's this room, there's something different here,' he thought. 'Time is moving faster in here, which explains why all of them died so quickly,' he concluded. It took every ounce of strength he had to crawl to the panel on the floor, pressing his hand against the plate. The panel slid open, and he crawled his way through.
Final, his strength gave out on him, and he couldn't move. Just lying there, he could feel himself getting older. His facial hair was growing, his fingernails were getting longer, and his hair was growing before his eyes. Just then, someone snatched him through, sending him to the ground.
"Stay where you are," he snapped. Alex glanced up at him. His vision was blurry, but at first glance, he appeared to be… 'Cam?' he thought to himself. "Care to tell me what's going on?"
"Cam? Its me," he mumbled as his strength slowly returned, but he was still having a hard time getting on his feet.
"I don't know who you are, and you've got 10 seconds to tell me where the hell we are," he snapped.
'Great. The first person I come across in hours and he just got here,' he thought to himself. "Let me guess, you were in Ninja Opts and you picked up on a subspace variance, then there was a bright light, and you ended up here, right?" he asked him.
"How did you know?"
"You're familiar with a tesseract, right?"
"I've read about them, but its only a theory," he said.
"Well it isn't a theory, not anymore. This is a tesseract, and rangers are being trapped in here as part of some bizarre experiment," he told him.
"And you are?"
"My name is Alexander Collins, I'm from Time Force," he noticed the confused look on Cam's face. "I'm from the future, the year 3000," he added.
"The future, huh?" Cam stared him up and down. "How much of this are you expecting me to buy?" he asked him.
"I don't have time for this," he finally made it back to his
feet. "Thanks for the help, but I'm going to keep moving," he said, heading for
the panel on the wall.
"Where do you think you're going?"
It was a simple enough question, but it was enough to make Alex stop dead in his tracks. 'Where am I going? I could be wandering around this damn thing forever and never find a way out. There has to be something I'm missing, something I'm overlooking,' he thought.
'I know how everyone ended up in here, where they all were. I know they're all from California, that each of us are from a different point in history, that all of us are rangers, but who would want to trap us in this thing?' he wondered.
"Cam, if memory serves me correctly, your rival is Lothor, correct?" he asked him.
"Yeah, what's your point?"
"Lothor was a human, but was banned from Earth and sent into space. It couldn't be him," he thought, but didn't realize he was thinking out loud.
"Lothor couldn't be what?"
Alex ignored him. "I know there is more than one of me here, and more than one Jason, and obviously more than one Cam, so who would have the ability to not only transport all of us here, but each of us from several different points in time?" he mumbled.
"What the hell are you talking about?"
Still, Alex ignored him. "Each room has its own set of laws, but there has to be one common rule, one common law that they all share," he paused. "Of course, 105709," he said.
"What is 105709?" Cam asked him.
Suddenly it occurred him, it came to him in a flash. 'Why the hell didn't I think of it sooner?' he asked himself.
Finally, he turned to Cam. "Come on, we're going to find the others," he said.
"There are other people in here?"
"Yes, and the sooner I find them, the sooner I can tell them how to escape,"
