Sector 13 High School
Metro City, Canada
May 4th, 2015
11:55 AM
"Marcus Reynolds"
"Ah, here's a good one. This'll definitely be on the test," said Riley, skimming through the pages of my Science textbook, "What is the difference between an endothermic reaction and an exothermic reaction?"
"One starts with 'Endo' and the other starts with 'Exo', similar to the difference between a stalagmite and a stalactite." I said.
"If you're not going to take this seriously, then why should I bother helping you?"
"Because it's part of the guy code." I said.
"You mean the thing that doesn't technically exist because it's never been written down?" asked Riley, "The one that changes several times daily just to justify things?"
"That's the one." I said.
"Listen closely," said Riley, "Exothermic reactions release heat to their surroundings, while endothermic reactions absorb heat from their surroundings. Now look at your notes and tell me what that means."
Sometimes the way Riley tutors just strikes gold and I understand things completely. Maybe it has to do with the amount of times he repeats something in so many different ways. But in this case, I looked at the notes and felt the imaginary gears in my head start turning.
"Endothermic reactions have positive enthalpy and exothermic reactions have negative enthalpy." I said.
"Now can you tell me what enthalpy is?" asked Riley.
"It's the sum of something or other, and it's represented by a triangle and an italic letter or something." I sighed.
"You're definitely on the right track," said Riley, "Enthalpy is the sum of all potential and kinetic energies. The triangle is Delta, from the Greek alphabet, and the italic letter is 'H', but see how close you came?"
"Okay, give me another and we'll try and finish it before lunch." I said.
"Here's a bit of an easier one," said Riley, "What are the five different kingdom classifications?"
"Oh, I know this," I said, "Um... Animal, Plant, Fungus, Cells and then there's another kind of Cell."
"You're very close, but you won't get points unless you know the proper names for them," said Riley, "Animal is Animalia, Plant is Plantae, Fungus is Fungi and then there's Monera and Protista."
"It sounds like they're just adding extra letters at the end." I said.
"Basically, yeah."
The lunch bell rang. Study hall was over and I had a relatively fresh turkey sub waiting for me in my knapsack. Riley followed me out of the classroom.
"Maybe I should write down the guy code." I said.
"What would that accomplish?"
"Just to say I've done it," I said, "Also it might be useful for us to have our own official version of it. That way I won't be able to bring it up all the time."
"Well, why don't you just stop bringing it up without writing it down?"
"Because that's no fun." I said.
Our Digitizers went off and I heard Silver's voice. He sounded quite peculiar. He had a tone of voice that I had never heard him speak with before.
"Rangers, I need you to report to Headquarters as soon as you can," he said, "I'm afraid that I might have doomed us all."
"Stephen, I didn't fly all the way to Metro City to listen to you wallow in self-pity," said a woman's voice that I didn't recognize, "It doesn't suit you. Now get over yourself."
The transmission ended kind of abruptly. Even though I could only see Riley, I would bet that he and I weren't the only ones trying to figure out who that woman was.
"There's only one way to find out who she is." said Riley.
"Can I grab my turkey sub before we go?" I asked.
"You didn't tell me you had a turkey sub."
"You never asked," I said, "But at least I told you now."
"Yeah, go grab it," said Riley, "I always forget how hungry tutoring makes me."
Several minutes later, Riley and I found ourselves in the parking lot. We snuck away from all the cars and went into the same alley where Riley saved Oz on the day we first became rangers. Nobody could see us here, so we proceeded to teleport.
Once we arrived at headquarters, we waited for the others to arrive. After about thirty seconds, Rachel and Chloe showed up, and then about four minutes later, Oz showed up.
"Sorry I'm late," said Oz, "A funny thing happened to me on my way to headquarters."
"That wasn't even funny the first time you said it." I said.
For some reason, which Silver has never actually explained to us, there are limits to where we can teleport within Headquarters. Normally, we're able to just sort of appear in the main chamber which is where the Mainframe and our little lounge area is.
But sometimes, even if we have the main chamber in mind, we end up in the area outside it and have to open the doors to get inside. This was one of those instances. If I had to guess, I would say that Silver designed those doors so that when they're closed, it creates a sort of anti-teleportation barrier. I don't know why he would make something like that, but again, it's just a theory.
The Mainframe was something Silver only recently gave an official name to. He started using it because it was easier to just say "Mainframe" than it was to talk about a specific part of his state of the art computer setup. In case you don't know, it contains the surveillance equipment, the virus database, the software that summons the Zords, the software that he uses to communicate with us remotely and the software that monitors our health and the condition of our suits. Needless to say, having given the Mainframe a proper title not only sounds cool, but is a huge time saver.
Riley was in front of the rest of us, so he was the one that opened the door. As we approached the middle of the room, nearly all of us gasped. It looked like a tornado came through and left everything in shambles. Everything was completely unplugged, except for an extremely futuristic laptop that Silver was working on with a woman who could only be the one whose voice we heard on Silver's transmission.
"Silver?" asked Riley, "What happened in here?"
"Rangers, I'm glad you're here," said Silver, "I'm afraid I have some bad news."
"I take it this bad news is on a whole different scale than a virus attack?" I asked.
"Yes, but I'll tell you about it later because I know how curious you must be as to who my lady friend here is."
"Don't ever call me your lady friend again," said the woman, "It makes me sound like I'm in my fifties."
"Rangers, I'd like you all to meet Jenna Dawson, my long time friend from college." said Silver.
"Wait a minute, I think I know that name," said Riley, "Isn't she the founder of your company's rival company?"
"She is indeed, Riley," said Silver, "Jenna and I were both child prodigies and we both went to the same schools, where we both had the same grades."
"Originally, we were working on an operating system together," said Jenna, "That one would've either been called, Helix or Nexus, we hadn't decided, but we knew the name had to have an 'X' in it, because we thought it sounded cool."
"But eventually we started to disagree on how we thought it should work," continued Jenna, "So, Stephen and I went our separate ways. I went on to develop J-Ware based on my version of the operating system, while Stephen continued the work we had started and turned it into his own version."
"But the media always makes it seem like you two are bitter rivals." said Riley.
"The media takes what people tell them and then warp it into whatever they think will attract the biggest audience. They don't care if it's no longer accurate. That's what their jobs entail." said Silver.
"Well, anyways, now they know who I am, so I'm just gonna you know, get back to fixing this," said Jenna, "Stephen, isn't this the part where you give a long, boring exposition?"
Riley snickered quietly. I might have too, if I had any idea what the hell an exposition was.
"Are my explanations really long and boring?" asked Silver.
"Maybe a little bit, but we don't care," said Oz, "You do all the inventing and explaining and then we do all the fighting."
"I think that's Oz speak for saying its win-win." I said.
"Well then by all means, Stephen, explain away." said Jenna.
"I'm sure you all know by now that one of the most crucial components of the Mainframe is the massive database that contains information about each and every virus that Trojan can potentially create." said Silver.
"I figured as much, but I don't know how you got it." said Chloe.
"Well, that's because you weren't a ranger at the time," said Silver, "The rest of you, try to think back to your first month as rangers."
I remember that first month all too well. Oz was the biggest bully at our school and I had promised myself I would never play chess again. Then of course there was that fateful day when we were recruited by Silver. And, later on, the virus from Sector 8 that made me think I was seeing my father. Those are the memories that are most prominent in my mind from that month, but I doubt that's what Silver wants us to remember.
"I discovered that database accidentally and was shocked when I realized that it had absolutely no protection on it whatsoever. I figured that I had just caught Trojan on an off day or that he didn't realize just how useful that sort of information could be to us," said Silver, "But I was a fool. I let my excitement get the best of me and didn't stop to analyze the situation or try to predict what the possible repercussions of downloading that database could be."
"Where are you going with this, Silver?" asked Rachel.
"Trojan left that database unprotected and used it as bait. I was too wrapped up in my excitement to notice the enormous mouse trap beneath it," moaned Silver, "I fell for his trap by taking the bait!"
"So the trap snapped closed on you, what's the big deal?" asked Oz.
"The big deal is that the bait I took has, by now, infected nearly every aspect of the Mainframe, as well as all the devices that are powered by them, controlled by them or connected to them."
"Silver," I said, gesturing to the others in the hopes that they would follow my lead, "We don't blame you."
"You might have made a big mistake, but we've faced plenty of worse things before and we've always pulled through!" said Rachel, trying to cheer him up.
"Didn't you hear what I said?" groaned Silver, "The Mainframe is gone! It took me years to build it, but only a hasty decision to destroy it!"
"But it didn't get our Digitizers," said Oz, "They still work, right? I mean we got your transmission and we were able to teleport here."
"The Digitizers themselves are fine, yes," sighed Silver, "But their connection to the Morphing Grid has been severed."
"What's worse is that because the Mainframe is down, there's no way to recharge your Digitizers," said Jenna, "Normally, they receive a constant source of energy, but now that the source of energy is gone, once they run out of power, they're done."
"Wait a minute," said Oz, "Is she supposed to know that we're the rangers?"
"I'm the one that convinced Stephen to go through his plans for the codecs." said Jenna.
"But of course, none of that matters now," said Silver, "Trojan has won. It won't be long until he unleashes a massive army of viruses into Metro City, and with the rangers out of the picture, there'll be nothing stopping him from achieving world domination."
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Silver was the one who brought the four us together in the first place. If it wasn't for him, none of this would have ever worked. And now, just like that, he was throwing in the towel all because he made a mistake!?
"Don't count your chickens before they hatch," said Jenna, "You and I both know that the Mainframe can be rebuilt. You were working alone, by yourself last time."
"Even with you here to help me," said Silver, "If we build another one, Trojan will just destroy it again. He knows how now, thanks to me."
"Then let's build more than one," said Jenna, "We have all the program codes saved on my laptop, so it's not like we're starting back at square one."
"That's brilliant." said Silver.
"If we build four Mainframes and house each one in different places," said Jenna, "All four of them would work together. If one goes down, the other three will pick up the slack until the fourth one is up and running again."
"One Mainframe will be here and you'll have the second one," said Silver, "And I'll bet that Lloyd and Brennan's companies could each house a Mainframe."
"This doesn't solve everything you know," said Jenna, "They're still powerless with the Morphing Grid out of commission."
"Right, that complicates things a bit," said Silver, "The Morphing Grid was created by the Eltarians, so only someone with Eltarian knowledge would be able to fix it."
"Riley Bishop"
"I think I might know who could fix it," I said, "The Phoenix."
I had never told Silver about my meeting with the Phoenix yet. But I figured that given the situation, now was as good a time as any.
"The Phoenix spoke to you, didn't it?" asked Silver.
"Did you already know?" I asked.
"No, I just had a hunch," said Silver, "I knew you would tell me about it when you were ready."
"I'm confused," said Rachel, "What's the Phoenix?"
"It's a program," said Jenna, "A program that has been in Cyberspace so long that it has gained sentience."
"It's called the Phoenix because it's programming is designed to reset itself anytime its current version becomes too outdated or corrupted," said Silver, "Just like the Phoenix from mythology."
"When my GameSphere became a virus, I killed the Balrog it created, but would've fallen to my death if the Phoenix hadn't saved me." I said.
"Why didn't you tell anyone about that?" asked Marcus.
"Because I wasn't even sure if it really happened," I said, "I had been hallucinating pretty much that entire day."
"He's right though," said Silver, "The Phoenix is essentially a god. Therefore, it's easily one of the most powerful entities in Cyberspace."
"Well, if that's true," said Oz, "Then how are we going to contact it? I doubt we can just send the Fennix an email."
"Phoenix." I said.
"Gesundheit." said Oz.
"Sure, he can pronounce that with no problem, but he can't say phoenix?" asked Chloe.
"My great grandmother was German." said Oz.
"Riley, you spoke with the Phoenix once before," said Jenna, "How did you summon it the first time?"
"I didn't do anything. It just appeared before me," I said, "But the last thing it said to me was that if I needed it's help again, I would have to prove myself worthy in order to reawaken it."
"Then that means it's hibernating," said Silver, "It must be trying to hide from Trojan."
"If Trojan was to find the Phoenix, there's no telling what he could do with it." said Jenna.
"Marcus Reynolds"
"You two sure seem to know an awful lot about the Phoenix." I said.
"Of course we do, we helped create it." said Jenna.
"More specifically, we were both members of the team that programmed it." said Silver.
"Then does that mean you know how communicate with it?" asked Rachel.
"I have a few ideas," said Silver, "But after all this time, the program has evolved many, many times."
"If I was to try and upload a file that contained a virus, the Phoenix might wake up to destroy the file," continued Silver, "Then, once it's awake, I should be able to temporarily hack into it."
"That's it? That's all you have to do?" asked Chloe.
"It's a bit more complicated than that," said Jenna, "The file needs to look as if it's carrying a very powerful virus, otherwise it will just slip past the Phoenix's sensors."
"Like the opposite of a trojan virus." said Silver.
"Trojan viruses are usually disguised as legitimate, functioning programs," said Riley, "People download them, and then the virus attacks their computer from the inside."
"Wait a minute, I thought Aaron Kingsley was Trojan." said Oz.
"He is, and he named himself after a kind of virus." said Jenna.
"A virus that was in turn named after the Trojan Horse." said Riley.
"What about the brand of condoms?" asked Oz.
"Well, since their logo is a Trojan style helmet, it's safe to say that it's also named after the Trojan Horse..." said Riley, "Although, now that I think of it, I have no idea why they thought it would be a good name for a brand of condoms. I mean, in the story, the Greeks hid inside the horse in order to ambush the Trojans, which means the Trojans couldn't keep them out, and isn't that exactly why you would wear a condom in the first place?. You know, to stop invaders and what not-"
It was clear based on Riley's facial expression that he hadn't planned on going off like that, but without so much as a pause, he turned to Rachel and kept talking.
"You're supposed to stop me when I do that!" he whined.
"But I like it when you do that." she giggled.
"Can we uh, get back to the whole us not being able to morph thing?" I asked.
"Thank you, Marcus..." said Silver.
"There's not much you can do at the moment," said Jenna, "You should all go back to whatever you were doing. It might take quite a while for us to create this decoy virus."
"What about our ranger duties?" asked Chloe.
"Until the Morphing Grid is repaired, there are no Power Rangers." said Silver.
"Trojan is probably going to send more viruses than ever before!" I groaned.
"I know," said Silver, "But without your powers, you're no match for them."
"But we can't just do nothing!" said Rachel, angrily.
"It's an order!" said Silver, with an authoritative tone that we had never heard him use before.
"It's my fault that your powers are gone," he continued, "And if any of you are killed out there because of my mistake, then that will also be my fault. And it's a burden that I don't want to bear."
Nobody objected, nobody spoke. We were all seeing a new side to Silver that we had never seen before. It never occurred to us that he considered us to be more than just employees or partners. It seemed like he now cared about us like a good friend, or even a parent would.
The rest of the school week went by extremely slowly. We were forced to act like Silver had never chosen us to be the rangers. Every morning and every night we would watch the news with baited breath, waiting to hear about all the chaos that Trojan's viruses must be causing. But it never happened.
There wasn't even a story about how the rangers hadn't been seen in some time. It's strange, but instead of feeling relieved, I felt disappointed. It made it seem like even if we had never become rangers, the city would be exactly the same. All this time, we were fighting to protect the city, but it didn't make any difference. We've been removed from the equation, but yet the end result was still the same.
As I wallowed in disappointment, my phone rang.
"Marcus, we're all meeting up at Town Square in Sector 0," said Riley, "You know, where we had our very first battle as rangers?"
"Why?"
"Don't ask why, just be there!"
It's not like I had anything else to do. I might as well go to Town Square and see what this is all about.
It really is true that you never forget how to ride a bike. I had barely used mine since we became rangers because either Oz would pick us up or we could just teleport wherever we needed to go. I haven't had a car of my own since the day we became rangers. I didn't really care, that van was a piece of junk anyway. After mowing down that virus and being chased to the power plant, it never worked again. I let Silver take it apart to see if there were any parts he could put to good use. Not surprisingly there wasn't.
I biked over to a shuttle stop and locked my bike on the nearby rack. Then I hopped into the shuttle which brought me to Sector 0 about half an hour later. The shuttle stop I was dropped off at was the one at Town Square, so I got there before Oz and Chloe, but after Riley and Rachel.
Once everyone had arrived, Riley spoke up.
"It's been too quiet around here," he said, "I don't like it. The only reason Trojan would've tricked Silver into downloading that time bomb would be to get us out of the way. Without us, he'd have free reign to send an army of viruses into the city, but yet he hasn't and I want to know why."
"Is that why you had us all gather here?" asked Oz, "To play detectives?"
"No, I wanted us to be all together, in a part of the city where we could be easily ambushed to see if Trojan lets another perfect opportunity slip by." said Riley.
"Oh, wonderful," said Chloe, "I guess I can cross being used as bait off my bucket list."
"Yes, I know, I tricked you. It was wrong, I'm sorry, whatever."
"You do have a point though," I said, "Here we are, powerless, sitting ducks, and yet we're not surrounded by viruses."
"This can't just be the most amazing streak of good luck ever," said Rachel, "Something is either destroying the viruses before they can get too far into the city, or something is preventing the viruses from entering the city altogether."
"Maybe Silver is using his codec and destroying the viruses," said Oz, "Think about it, his codec is synthetic, meaning that it might still be fully functional while ours aren't. It'd be the perfect form of guilt therapy."
"I don't think Jenna would let him get away with that," said Riley, "It's not a bad idea though, Oz."
"The only person I know of that would be able to create something that could prevent the viruses from entering the city is Silver," I said, "And I seriously doubt he would do that and not tell us about it."
"Especially after that speech he gave us the last time we saw him," said Rachel, "If he had a machine that could stop viruses from entering the city, he would've told us that he had it so that we wouldn't worry about how bad things might get with us being powerless."
"Two good theories down the drain." sighed Riley.
"Well, well, well..." said a voice from somewhere nearby, "What have we here? It seems I stumbled across a secret meeting... How quaint."
I could tell it was a man, but not who it was. Their voice was very distorted. It sounded like someone was speaking normally, only their voice came out as if they were in slow motion. This resulted in him having a very deep, intimidating voice that often came out a little muffled.
"Who's there!?" yelped Chloe, "I c-carry a rape whistle!"
The stranger was walking towards us, but we couldn't see him because he was hiding in the shadows, where the light from the nearby street lamps didn't reach.
"Oh, I'm so scared." said the voice, mockingly.
"That's big talk for someone too afraid to show himself." said Oz, cracking his knuckles.
"You think I'm afraid?" chuckled the voice, "I'm just letting the tension build up."
"Who are you?" asked Riley.
"If I told you," said the voice, "It wouldn't be a surprise... And where's the fun in that?"
"I've never been one for surprises." I said.
"Trust me," said the voice, "You'll love this one."
Suddenly the stranger landed right in the middle of us, causing us all to jump back. It seemed like he had jumped down from above just to scare us.
"Ta-dah!"
We still couldn't see who he was though. His face was covered by a purple helmet. A helmet that looked almost identical to the ones we wear when in ranger form. The stranger was also wearing a matching purple suit that also looked nearly identical to our ranger suits...