Disclaimer: Powers Ranger Space Patrol Delta and all related logos are property of Disney Entertainment; I am using them without permission. Any original characters you see are mine, and I obviously have permission to use them.
A/N: This takes place only days after "Endings part 2"
New Tech City, California 2025 AD
"Commander, I've just lost the signal on Officer Tate," Kat informed him, turning around with a concerned look on her face.
The Commander rushed over the controls to get a look for himself. "This anomaly is interfering with our censors, could this be a malfunction of some kind?" he inquired.
"No, I've accounted for the interference. Officer Tate is just… gone," she sighed.
It was all too familiar to Commander Cruger. He remembered seeing the exact same situation happen years ago with Sky's father, but this time, he was determined that things would be different. He reached over, pressing a button on the control panel. "Officer Drew, report!"
"Sky was sucked into the anomaly. It just came from out nowhere, there was nothing I could do," she informed him.
"Hold your position, I will join you shortly, Cruger out."
Liz, Bridge and Z arrived at the industrial district, looking for any type of equipment, anything that could have initially formed the anomaly. The truth was, Liz' mind wasn't on the mission at all. The idea of having another version of herself around appealed to her. More then a sister, more than an identical twin, they were the exact same person. They shared the same thoughts and feelings, had the same opinions about everything. Having someone who understood you that well appealed to her, but having that person was ultimately going to cost both of them their lives.
Bridge's statement had been echoing through her mind since he said it. '…the longer you stay apart, the more at risk you are. I'm not a scientist, but unless we find a way to put the two of you back together, I don't think either one of you will survive very long.'
If that were true, then it was just a matter of time before both of them were gone. But, even if they were able to find a way to recombine somehow, it would mean that one of them would be gone forever. 'How do I decide which one of us deserves to live and which doesn't? Who am I to make that kind of choice?' she wondered. There she was, not even ten feet away from her counterpart. With the exception of different colored hair, they were the same. Asking her to give her life would be, in essence, a form of suicide, but not asking her to would be as well.
"I think I found something over here," Bridge said, breaking her concentration.
"What is it Bridge?" they asked in unison, each of them cracking a smile at one another before following after Bridge.
Bridge led them into what appeared to be an abandoned building. The outside was raggedy and worn down, blending right with the rest of the area, but on the inside was a much different story. It was a laboratory of some kind, just as sophisticated as SPD headquarters, if not more. In the middle of the room was a long chalkboard, covered with calculations. Bridge walked over it, trying to make sense out of all of it.
"Looks like a complex mathematical formula for…" he paused, wanting to be positive before saying anything. "… inner-dimensional travel," he said.
"Is that even possible?"
"It makes sense; it explains the wormhole, but it looks like one of the calculations are off by a few thousand percent. A miscalculation like that would certainly cause the wormhole to grow out of control the way is has," he mentioned.
"Sure, now you tell me," a voice said. The three of them turned around as a young woman walked into the room, making her way over to the chalkboard. "I worked on these calculations for months but couldn't figure out the last part of this equation," she said.
"Who are you?"
"Its Dr. Rheas, the scientist," Liz commented.
"You're familiar with my work?"
"In a way, we have a mutual friend. Jack Landers."
"You mean the red ranger?"
"Actually, he's retired now," Z pointed out.
"What are you trying to do here? Do you know that wormhole you created is loose in the city?" Bridge asked her, getting back on track.
"Wormhole? I didn't activate anything yet; I've just been working on it here in my lab. I'm months away from an actual test run," Dr. Rheas responded.
"Our censors detected that the wormhole originated here, in this area," Liz mentioned.
"I haven't attempted anything yet. If anything, I had to shut the project down for a few weeks because of a power surge. Everything is offline until I'm able to…" she was cut short.
"Power surge?" Bridge asked.
"Yes, there was an unusual buildup of power about 36 hours ago. The readings were off the charts, and I had to shut everything down. The system will be offline until I determine what caused it," she said.
"I think that the power surge caused your equipment to open a wormhole prematurely," he said.
"If it did, there's no telling where it would lead to. It would have dangerously unstable," she added.
"Well, its happening right now, and we have to stop it. Is there anything here that would be able to shut it down?" Liz asked her.
"I did create a device that would lock on to the exact frequency of the wormhole and close it, but it has to be activated on both sides," she said.
"We have one similar to that, but we'd rather not send anyone into the wormhole to close it. Is there anything else we can do?"
"Not that I know of," she paused, looking at Z and Liz carefully. "Are you two twins? I could swear that…"
"No, I came in contact with the wormhole and this happened to me… um, us," Z told her.
"It cloned you? For that to happen there would have to be a significant imbalance in your DNA, it shouldn't be possible," she said.
"My DNA isn't exactly normal. Is there anything you can do to recombine us?" Liz asked.
"Recombine you? What do you mean?"
"It's a long story, but right now we need to focus on getting that wormhole under control. There has to be something we can do collapse it without losing anyone in the process. Come on Bridge… think," he walked over to the far end of the room and balanced himself on his hands upside down. "What am I overlooking?"
"What is he doing?"
"He's thinking," Z told her.
"Upside down?"
"It works for him."
"Assuming that the wormhole actually leads somewhere, if we could contact someone on the other side and show them how to use the device, we could close it from the other side without losing any of our people. But now the question is, how to do communicate with them on the other side without actually going in?" Bridge asked.
"I think we have another problem," Dr. Rheas brought up.
"What is it?"
"If the surge did create a wormhole prematurely, based on these calculations I have, the wormhole is more than unstable, it will implode in on itself in a matter of hours," she said.
"Implode is a good thing, right? That means it'll just suck itself up," Z said.
"No," Bridge stood upright, walking over to the rest of them. "It will implode and suck everything in with it. Depending on the intensity of the implosion, it would take the entire city with it, or even the planet," he said.
Syd stood in front of the wormhole, simply watching it. She kept her distance, but was as close to it as she could possibly get. She kept hoping that Sky would step through and be all right, but there was no way of telling where the wormhole led, or if it was really a wormhole at all. 'Damn it Sky, why did you have to go in there?' she grumbled in frustration.
When Commander Cruger contacted her, she felt it best to lie to him. If he knew that Sky disobeyed a direct order and went into the wormhole, it could cost him his position as red ranger, or worse, get him released from SPD altogether. But, judging on the way the wormhole had been changing rapidly in size, color and intensity, she was certain that being kicked out of SPD was the least of Sky's problems.
"Officer Drew," a voice called out. She turned around as Commander Cruger walked over to her. "Report."
"There has been no change, sir. He's still in there," she said.
"How long has it been now?"
"About twenty minutes," Sky's order repeated in her mind. 'If you haven't heard from me in five minutes, activate yours and aim it at the anomaly. I'll turn mine on, and that should be enough to collapse it,' but she couldn't bring herself to do it. "I keep wanting to do in after him, to save him, but…"
"You were wise not to follow in after him. Doing so would only put you in danger. There is still too much we don't understand about this anomaly, taking an unnecessary risk wouldn't be beneficial to any of us at this point," he told her.
"Commander Cruger, come in," a voice said.
The Commander Cruger reached for his communicator. "What is it Bridge?"
"Dr. Rheas is responsible for the wormhole, but it wasn't her fault. There was a power surge that created it. Based on her readings, if we don't collapse it soon, it will implode and take a chunk of the planet with it," he said.
He sighed. "Then we have to stop it now, before it gets out of hand. Meet us here so we can stop this thing once and for all."
"Yes sir. Bridge out."
"Sir, we're not just going to leave Sky in there, are we? We'll save him before we close it, right?" Syd asked.
"The situation is worse than we originally thought. This anomaly has to be closed now before anyone else gets hurt," he said.
"But Sky is in there sir, we have to help him!"
"I think the life of one person is an acceptable lose if it will save the entire planet. I…" he was interrupted.
"Well I don't. No ranger will stand by when another ranger is in trouble. That's what you taught us, and I will not stand by and do nothing when Sky needs me," she protested.
"That is enough Officer Drew. We will do what must be done in order to protect this city, this planet. Those are my orders," he told her.
"No," Syd whispered.
"Excuse me?" he asked.
She knew that by disobeying his direct order, it could cost her the career she'd worked for her entire life, but she couldn't stand by knowing it could cost Sky his life. With a heavy heart, she took a deep breath. "No!" she said, this time in a firm voice.
"Are you disobeying an order from your superior officer?"
"If it will save my friend and fellow officer, yes. Yes, I am," she said, standing confidently behind her decision. "I will not leave him behind, and if need be, risk my life to save his, just like you did for Icinia," she told him.
Her statement was enough to sigh with frustration. "Very well. We will make every attempt to bring Officer Tate back, but if we exhaust our options, I will collapse the wormhole," Commander Cruger said.
"Thank you sir."
