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.
I have been very pleased with the response this fic has gotten since I originally posted it. I was afraid that not enough people would be familiar with the movie to fully understand and enjoy it, but to the contrary, most of the emails I've received have said that though they hadn't seen the movie, they planned to because of this fic. Thank you to all of you. Please take a minute to review, I live for reviews.
~~
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.
'I guess I'm on my own now,' she sighed inwardly as she leaned up against the wall, trying to gather her thoughts. 'This place is starting to get the best of me, but there has to be a way out. Come on Alyssa, think,'
She walked over to the panel in the floor, pressing it as it slid open. She peeked in, and once she determined the room was empty, she climbed through. She landed on her feet as the door closed.
"How'd I know this room would look just like the last one?" she asked herself.
She was about to head for another panel, but she noticed something carved into one of the panels on the wall.
105709
"Its that number again, but it's different handwriting," she paused. "Oh God, this is my handwriting," she concluded.
She ruled out the possibility that the number was a coordinate on a map, or a combination of some kind. It obviously wasn't the number of rooms inside the tesseract. 'There's no way to be sure how many rooms are in this thing,' she thought.
She headed for another panel, this time the one against the wall, opening it and stepping through. As soon as she made it through the panel, she saw a file of something in the corner. There was an odor to the room that reminded her of the room they found Jason in as well. With reluctance in her step, she approached whatever it was. The closer she got, the better look she got. "Oh God, it's half of Kelsey," she cried.
Alyssa carefully rolled her over, only to discover that her entire lower body had been completely sliced off. There was a pool of blood on the floor where she laid, but it had long since dried up, leading her to concluding that whatever happened, it was a long time ago. "I'm sorry Kelsey," she sighed.
She was about to head to another room, but the panel opened before she touched it, and there he was. "Alyssa, just the woman I was looking for," he said eagerly, climbing through.
"Alex?" she took a step back. "Wait, which Alex are you?" she asked.
"What are you talking about? I'm…" he paused as he noticed Kelsey laying on the floor. "Oh God, what happened?"
"I don't know, I found her like that,"
Alex noticed that there was no blood on Alyssa's clothing, leading him to believe she was telling the truth. "I got separated from the rest of the group, but I think I know how to get out of here. The only problem is, I'm going to need some help," he said.
"What do you need me to do?"
"Do you know what time it was when you saw the flash of light for the first time?" he asked her.
She paused. "Maybe about eleven o'clock, why?"
"I'm willing to bet it was 10:57 and 9 seconds," he said.
"What makes you think…" she paused. "That's it, that's the number we keep seeing. It wasn't a combination at all, it was a time," she said eagerly.
"I think we've been going about this the wrong way the entire time. Instead of going room to room, we have to find a room where someone is going to be transported in. I suspect that the light we've all seen is a doorway of some kind,"
"And if the doorway leads in…" she started.
"It should lead us out too," Alex finished.
"But what about the others? We can't just leave them in here,"
"I don't plan to. If I'm right, once we make it to the other side, we'll find whoever is behind all this. Once we stop them from trapping people in this thing, we'll be able to save the others from the other side," he said.
"We're going to need help though,"
"I thought of that too. I don't know if the two of us will be enough, but right now it's all we have," he pointed out.
"So what do we do? How do we find a doorway?"
"I say we wait. Sooner or later, one of the doorways will open to transport someone else here, and when it does, we go in," Alex said.
"Fine, but can we wait in another room? This one smells bad," she mentioned.
*
"Damn it," Cam climbed the ladder again, reopening the door, but Alyssa was gone. "Damn it Alyssa," he snapped.
"She did what she thought was best for the group," Kelsey sighed.
"So what do we do now?" the other Kelsey asked.
"If we're going to get out of this, we need to stick together. There has to be something we've overlooked, something we're missing," Cam said.
"I agree," Karone sighed.
"Come on, let's get going,"
The four of them headed towards the panel up against the far wall. Kelsey reached out for it, ready to press her hand against the panel, but the panel slid open, and he grabbed her. "You bitch!" he screamed, pulling her through the panel.
"Oh God, its Alex," Cam said, rushing over to Kelsey and grabbing her legs, trying to prevent Alex from pulling her through. "I could use a little help here," he screamed.
Karone and the other Kelsey followed suit, grabbing Kelsey's legs and pulling her back.
"Its no use Samurai ranger, this bitch is mine!" Alex screamed from the next room.
Then it happened…
The panel closed, slicing Kelsey in half. The three of them fell to the floor, still holding onto Kelsey's lower body.
"Oh my God," Karone screamed.
"I'm dead. Oh God, I'm dead," Kelsey screamed, turning her head away from what was left of her counterparts body.
Cam stood up, backing away slowly. "Why the hell would Alex attack us like that?" he snapped.
"Maybe that was the Alex that Alyssa attacked. There's no telling how long he'd been in here, or how this place might have effected him," she said.
"Lets just go, we have to get out of this room," he said, walking over to the panel on the floor and pressed his hand against it. The panel opened, and Cam stood to the side, allowing Kelsey and Karone to go through first. Once they'd made it through, he followed them.
He landed on his feet, but as soon as the panel door closed behind him, he found himself face to face with Jason. He quickly noticed that this Jason looked much older, with a full beard and much longer hair. His clothes were practically ripped to shreds, and there were scars covering most of his body.
"Jason?" he inquired.
"I knew it, another illusion," he screamed, lunging at Cam with a sharp metal shard. He managed to jam it into Cam's side before Karone and Kelsey hit a double spin kick, knocking him up against the wall.
Jason made it back to his feet, giving Karone a backhand and taking her down. He was about to attack Kelsey, but Cam pulled the metal shard out of his side, throwing it at Jason. The shard sliced through Jason's neck, sending him to the floor. Jason laid in a pool of his own blood as Karone and Kelsey hurried over to Cam to check him on.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
"I'll be fine," Cam groaned, pressing his hand against his wound in an attempt to stop the bleeding.
"No, you're not. We have to get you to a hospital," Kelsey said.
"I'm sure they'll be a hospital in the next room," he sighed.
"We're running out of time. If we don't stop the bleeding, you'll eventually bleed to death," Karone said, quickly removing her shirt and tying it around Cam's wound. "This isn't enough, I need something else,"
Kelsey quickly removed her jacket, then her shirt, handing it to Karone. As she put her jacket back on, something fell out the pocket. "What's this?" she leaned down, picking it up. "Its Carter's pocket watch. If I don't get it back to him, he'll kill me," she sighed, sliding it back on her pocket.
"This is the best I can do for your wounds, but it won't hold for very long," Karone sighed. "It's a matter of time before it gets so bad that…" she was cut short.
"Wait, what did you just say?" Cam asked her.
"That the bandages I used won't hold for very long, and…" she was cut short again.
"No, after that,"
"It's going to get bad if…"
"No, you said it's a matter of time," he paused. "Kelsey, what time does your pocket watch say it is?" he asked her.
She reached in her pocket, taking a look at the watch. "It says 11:58," she said.
"And how long have you been in here?"
"About an hour or so, why?" she asked.
"Karone, you said you were on board your ship when you picked up the subspace variance, right?" Cam asked her.
"What time was it?"
She paused. "It might have been eleven o'clock, maybe a little after," she said.
"I bet it was 10:57," Cam said.
"What?"
"It's the number we've been seeing, it's a time. 10:57," he told them.
"So what does that mean?"
"It means that even though all these rooms have different sets of laws, and each of us brought here from different time periods, it was always the same time. There has to be a way we can use that to our advantage," he said.
"Since time moves differently in this place, it's a safe bet that its 10:57 in one of these rooms. All we have to do is wait, and when whoever has us in here tries to trap another ranger…" she was cut short.
"We can escape!" Karone said.
"But what about the others? Alyssa, Jason and Alex?"
"For this place to have time shifts the way it does, it would have to exist outside the space/time continuum. In theory, if we shut it down, all of us will be returned to where we came from with no knowledge of this ever happening," Cam groaned as his injury got the best of him.
"I say we wait it out here. Sooner or later one of those portal things are bound to open," Kelsey said.
"But Cam doesn't have that much time. If we don't get him out of here, he'll bleed to death," Karone pointed out.
"He'll bleed to death if we try to keep moving too. Its best if we don't try to move him anyway," she mentioned.
"Okay, we wait," she said, sitting down next to Cam on the floor.
*
The two of them had been waiting in the same room for, as far as they knew, about an hour. The previous room was covered in blood, and there were lifeless bodies on the floor. The room after that had each of their counterparts, but neither of them had knowledge of what was going on. Finally, the decided to leave them behind, and they'd been waiting ever since.
"Yeah, any minute now," Alex sighed, trying to encourage Alyssa. The truth was, he was trying to encourage himself in the process, but it wasn't working.
"I hate to think we'll be trapped in this thing forever and I'll never be able to tell Cole how I feel about him," she sighed.
He recalled the history logs mentioning something about she and Cole, but they were very vague. "Are the two of you together?"
"No, not really. I just had a crush on him,"
"Why didn't you tell him?"
"I planned on it, I was just waiting for the right time,"
"We have a saying in Temporal Investigations: There's no time like the present," he told her.
She cracked a smile. "Sorry to tell you, but I've heard that one before,"
"I didn't say I made it up, but it is good advice," he said.
"Assuming we get out of this place, I'm going to tell him how I feel," she said eagerly.
Alex couldn't bring himself to tell her that if they escaped, they would be returned the exact moment each of them arrived, leaving her with no knowledge of anything ever happening. 'Its probably for the best. None of us need to remember any of this,' he thought.
"You should," he sighed.
Just then, there was a wave of disorientation that seemed to pass over the entire room as the lights seemed to be getting brighter.
"Okay, I think this is it," she said.
"The two of them stood side by side, and each of them putting their hands over their eyes to protect them from the light. Within the light, there seemed to be an opening of some kind. Alex and Alyssa grabbed one another's hand, took a deep breath and jumped towards the middle of the light.
~~
Alex and Alyssa glanced around, only to find themselves in a room that looked almost identical to the one they'd left, but it was much dimmer, and there were hundreds of monitors embedded into the far wall.
It took their eyes a few moments to readjust the light, and when they did, they saw him. He was, at first glance, a little over 7 feet tall, and was covered from head to toe in some type of armor. The armor itself was covered in spikes, and his eyes had an eerie red glow to them.
"How did you escape?"
Alex responded with a spin kick, but the creature caught his foot, then lunged him towards the monitors on the wall. Alex hit the floor with a thud, simply collapsing.
Alyssa tried a kick, but when he caught her foot, she spun around, kicking him with the other, forcing him to stumble back. He quickly regained his footing, grabbing Alyssa by the throat and lifted her up. "You've ruining my experiment. You will pay for it with your life," he screamed, squeezing her throat.
She struggled to get free, but it was a losing battle. Alyssa was almost completely lifeless until a surge of electricity seemed flow through the creature's body, forcing him to release Alyssa. She made it back to her feet, only to see Alex standing behind the creature with an exposed wire in hand.
"Ridiculous human," the creature said, swinging back and hitting Alex in the face, taking him down again.
At that moment, there was another flash of light. It happened so quickly, Alyssa didn't have a chance to cover her eyes, but when they readjusted to the light again, she saw them.
"Guys," she said eagerly.
Karone was doing her best to keep Cam on his feet, but wasn't doing a good job.
"I can't believe it worked," Kelsey said, looking around.
"We'll celebrate later," Alyssa said, motioning to the creature.
It swung, hitting Kelsey in the stomach, forcing her to double over in pain. Karone laid Cam down on the floor, and then charged at the creature with a sabat kick, only to be swatted away for her troubles.
"None of you are a match for the mighty Univex!" the creature proclaimed. "I am all knowing, all seeing, all powerful,"
"All talk," Alex added as he swung, hitting Univex in the back of the head with a metal beam.
But it had no effect…
Univex responded with a kick, knocking Alex onto a table on the opposite side of the room. As he tried to shake off the disorientation, he noticed them. "Our morphers," he said eagerly, putting his on his wrist.
Alex picked up the other morphers, throwing one to Alyssa, then to Karone and Kelsey. Each of them stood side by side, standing between Univex and Cam, who was struggling to get back to his feet.
"Your time is up Univex!" Alex told him. "You guys ready?"
"Lets do it!" Alyssa said.
"TIME FOR, TIME FORCE!"
"LIGHTSPEED RESCUE!"
"WILD ACCESS!"
"GO GALATIC!"
"Your morphers will not be enough to defeat me rangers. I am eternal. I am immortal!!" Univex growled, staring at each of them rangers.
"Geez, do you ever shut up?" Kelsey asked, charging at him with a spin kick. He caught her foot again, but Alyssa and Karone gave him a double sweep, knocking him off his feet. As Univex tried to get back to his feet, Alex reached for his Chrono blaster, blasting him point blank in the chest. Following suit, Kelsey grabbed her blaster, shooting as well. Alyssa called for her crystal saber, cocking back and slicing off Univex's arm.
Univex stumbled back, but Alex gave him a sweep, taking him to the floor. "I told you Univex, your time is up!" Alex announced.
"Guys, we have a problem," Cam said, getting everyone's attention.
"What is it Cam?" Alyssa asked.
"The self-destruct sequence has been initiated, its set to explode in two minutes," he said.
"Pathetic humans. I am eternal, and I cannot be killed. When this complex is destroyed, all of you will be destroyed in the process. Your efforts here have been for nothing," Univex snapped.
It was Alex who stood over Univex, aiming his chrono blaster at his head. "Actually, with this place destroyed, the space/time continuum will be restored and all of us will returned to our points in time. The way I see it, you'll be the only one who doesn't make it out of here in one piece," he told him.
"60 seconds," Cam reminded them.
"I may not ever get the chance to tell any of you this, so I'll say it now: Although I hate the way it happened, I'm glad I got the chance to meet…" before Kelsey could finish her sentence, Univex shot a laser beam of some kind from his eyes, burning Kelsey's hand. She fell to the ground clutching her wrist as she was forced to power down.
Alex fired his chrono blaster, but Univex kicked it, forcing the beam to hit Alyssa in the shoulder. Alyssa fell to the floor as well as blood poured from her injury. Univex kicked Alex in the chest, knocking him into Cam, sending them both the floor.
Univex reached down, picking up his severed arm and almost effortlessly reattached it. "All of you will die by my hand," he growled.
Just then, there was another wave of disorientation, followed by a flash of light. As the light subsided, he was standing face to face with Univex.
"Jason, catch," Cam said, throwing his morpher to him.
"IT'S MORPHIN TIME!!" he called out, transforming into the red ranger.
"If the five of them couldn't defeat me, what make you think you can?" Univex snapped.
Jason rushed at him with a kick. Univex ducked and tried a kick of his own, but Jason caught his leg, then swung back around with a kick to the back of the leg, knocking Univex to one knee. Before Univex could get back to his feet, Jason kicked him in the back of the head, sending him face first to the floor. He tried to move, but Alex tossed the chrono blaster to Jason, and Jason fired. The beam disintegrated Univex with one shot, leaving behind only a pile of ashes.
"10 seconds," Cam warned.
Alex made it back to his feet. "It's been an honor to serve with each of you," he sighed.
Each of them nodded in silent agreement…
…and the complex exploded.
*
He made his way down a long, dark corridor in silence. At the end of the corridor was a small room, where there was equipment along the walls. In the middle of the room was a thrown of some kind.
"What is the condition of the cube in sector 104?" a voice asked.
"The test subjects were able to escape, and the tesseract was destroyed," he responded.
"And the subjects themselves?"
"Each of them were returned to their original point of capture, but retain no memory of the event," he said.
"Were you able to get the data we needed?"
"Yes, sir,"
"Very well, prepare another tesseract and select your test subjects. This time, include the Quantum ranger in your studies. It may prove most beneficial,"
"As you wish sir,"
"And Univex; do not fail me again," he warned.
"Yes sir," Univex groaned, walking out the room.
End?
