Chapter 32—Intro to Cybernetics 201, Part II: Link of Life

Patrick

I leaned my head on my boyfriend's shoulder as we talked quietly together in a tiny alcove off the ship's bridge.

"You know, you'd really like Chicago," I said.

"So you've been saying…" he said apprehensively.

"Why do you always freeze up when I talk about DePaul?"

He sighed and sat up some, signaling he wanted me to get off his shoulder. I frowned inwardly, but he turned away and stared at the carpet of the floor.

He sighed and said, "I dunno…it's just like you have a completely different life in Chicago; you act a lot different."

"What do you mean?" I asked him, a little bit more concerned now.

He finally looked at me. "I dunno, you're like…well…agh!"

"What?"

"Don't get mad, okay? Please don't," he cautioned before I nodded. "You're more…'open' with your sexuality now."

"Ah."

"I mean, it's not bad," he lied, "it's just…I dunno, it's different. I'm used to people not being able to tell we're together."

"Yeah, I know," I sighed. "It's actually something I noticed too. I feel like I'm becoming super…couple-y," I said with distaste.

"Well, it's not just that; it's like a bunch of stuff—like your music taste and stuff is…different."

"Well, yeah, people change…" I said slowly. "My music taste matured a lot since I moved to Chicago…it's like…a cultural hub. And there's tons of guys like…us."

"Dude, that's bullshit, I've seen the pictures on Facebook; those guys aren't like us at all."

"Yeah," I said firmly, "they are. Just because they're more open about it doesn't make them different from us. You're an Eltarian, you shouldn't have a problem with it at all!"

He motioned for me to be quieter, since I was definitely starting to get pissed. But this had been happening more and more often. I hadn't really been able to talk to any of the rangers about it, but shit with Aaron was getting way too difficult.

When I moved to Chicago, I was a Reefside kid trying to make it in a city of over 20 million people as a foreign diplomat—mostly because I was aiming for an ambassadorial position with Eltar. Even in college, I was planning my future around Aaron. But I enjoyed it. DePaul was rigorous, but it was such a vast amount of knowledge that my incredibly overactive brain ate it up and was drained by the time I needed to sleep. And the parties! Oh, God, the parties! I quickly fell into a social ring—not the best of people, but they were honest enough, just trying to find their way in the world like me. Only, minus the ranger thing.

I learned a lot about music and life in my first quarter at DePaul, and by the time I went back to Reefside for Christmas with Aaron and his family, I had already started changing. I went to a couple parties with some old friends from high school, got drunk, and showed everyone the new Patrick—and Aaron seemed okay. Until winter quarter started when I stopped partying as much and mainly chilled out, though I was exploring my alternative side; with this came my songwriting and my interest in older music from the mid-2000s.

And then we got here. Our phone calls had become less frequent, the green ranger was a rarity on the battlefield, and school monopolized what little free time I did have with my friends. What Aaron kept referring to—my openness—really pissed me off, as I thought I was just growing up. To me, it just felt like I was growing up, and I was exploring other alternatives—like my writing abilities, my drawing, and, secretly, my singing.

"I mean, if you want me to stay the same forever, you and I both know that's not gonna happen," I finally said.

"It's not that!" he said angrily. "I just want my fucking boyfriend back!"

"I'm not sacrificing school for you; I'm already working myself to the bone so I can become an ambassador for your home planet. What the fuck do you want from me?"

At that, he was quiet.

"I'm going to take a nap," I said finally, standing from our alcove and checking to see if anyone had overheard; Amy and Jay weren't paying any attention, and Matt was sulking apparently, while Grace and Beth talked back and forth. Our entire argument went unnoticed, even by Dustin and Hunter.

—32—

We were roughly ten minutes from Zordia's atmosphere when I awoke. Aaron had come in after I'd fallen asleep and had pulled me close into his arms and against his solid and soft chest. As right as it felt, I still felt uneasy. I rubbed his forearm for a little bit, caught in a daze of thought until the five-minute mark of atmospheric approach was announced. I slightly shook Aaron and we headed to the bridge of the ship where the others were already strapping themselves in.

"Time and a place, guys," Matt joked with a chuckle.

I half-glared, my look telling him sex was definitely not on our agenda.

"What's the status?" Aaron asked soberly.

"We're approaching the planet's surface now…it doesn't look good," Hunter responded.

"What happened to it?" Amy asked breathlessly as she observed the charred and destroyed state of the sky and ground.

"Zordia was ravaged by something like nuclear war…there's nothing left but an ongoing war between the Divine Data Beasts and DigiMech," said Hunter.

"What?" I asked. "How can there be a war going on between Zords?"

Dustin looked at Hunter with a look of knowing, but neither said anything.

"You'll see," Aaron whispered, setting a hand on my shoulder caringly.

I melted a bit under his touch, and let the animosity from earlier blow away like scattered papers in the wind. I was going to have to learn to let go.

Our little ship settled on the top of a previously crumbled cliff and we cautiously prepared to head out.

"Wait," Hunter said cautiously as we almost opened the boarding ramp. "Zordia's atmosphere is toxic to humans, so you'll need to wear these."

Dustin handed us the gasmasks Hunter had indicated, and slowly, fearfully, quizzically, we strapped them on.

—32—

I flipped backwards and dodged the boulder hurled at me, and then I spun around and called to Aaron: "Watch out behind you!"

It was too late. The mechanical beast whipped around and slammed its metal fist into Aaron's side, effectively knocking him into the dusty, ashy dirt that made up Zordia's ground. I jumped back in as quickly as I could, but even our elemental powers were drained from the lack of power in our morphers. I slammed my heel into the jaw of the ape-like structure and forced it back some, then gathered my waning energy and thrust it into a ball of lightning. To follow up my attack, Jay laid into the child DigiMech with a burst of flames and managed to melt some of its exterior armor. That was just the break Matt needed to throw an icy wind at the creature, freezing its plating into an immobile state. Finally, Amy and Grace let out pure energy to overload its circuitry and eradicate its existence.

"Is everyone okay?" Dustin asked as Hunter helped Aaron up.

"Yeah, just a little bruised up," I replied.

"Are there more of those things?" Beth asked, rubbing her arms off from the ash all over her.

"Thousands," Aaron panted. "Those are the enemy ranks."

"How are we supposed to fight them with no powers?" Jay questioned haughtily. "And why are our elemental powers failing us when we just overloaded the Cyber Network?"

"Your nature powers are ultimately linked to the Cyber Network; without a connection to the elements, you can only use what little elemental energy is reserved in your bodies…and doing so makes you incredibly weaker," Doc Ol said quietly. "It was a flaw in the program that we just couldn't work out."

"So that's why the Cyber Network is the catalyst," I mused slowly. "It had to adapt for the natural portions to be compatible with it."

"Exactly," Doc said as we continued to hike.

Before long, we were standing in front of a pyramid made entirely of alien alloys. It had four large spike-like pillars that all met at a point, forming a sort of tent-like pyramid that obviously operated as a base of sorts. It was enormous. It literally could have housed hundreds of Zords with no problem whatsoever. We could see it from miles back without any sign of it getting smaller in size. This had to be the Temple of the Divine Data Beasts.

I entered slowly behind Hunter and Dustin, through a dark-lit passageway made of the same alien metal and a sort of…moving circuitry? I had to be delirious from the lack of energy. There was no way that the circuits and wires were moving.

"Yanek hilys ynsen inoxym Haelen yur Zurdae?" thundered a rumbling, commanding, and majestic voice. I felt my ears tingle in respect. I was hearing the Eltarian language for one of the first times.

"What'd he say?" I whispered to Aaron.

"Who comes into our Haven for Zordians," he said back. "This is the Kaiser of the Zordians."

"Well, where is he?" I asked quietly.

"I am here," it growled out in English.

I flinched involuntarily.

"Inox exox dex Orymekap ban Earth, dex Cyber Squad," Aaron called out, his voice much deeper than I'd ever heard it. I'd never really heard him speak fluent Eltarian, only state random facts for the security computer at the Altar of Eltar.

"Om yanek arexynos dex Rystvak ban Efymax?"

"Zod dex Eyr ban Eltar, Aryn Zeta, om dex Orymeka Yemakry ban dex Cyber Squad," my boyfriend continued boldly. He was like a completely different person. Is this what he'd been dealing with all school year when he was called away to Eltar?

The Zordian seemed to be pondering the immensity of whatever Aaron said. "You are the Prince of Eltar, as well as the White Ranger of the Cyber Squad?" he finally asked.

"Mo," Aaron replied shortly.

I fought the urge to laugh. Mo? What the hell did that mean?

"Translation?" I asked Dustin.

"Aaron said 'we are the rangers of Earth, the Cyber Squad,' and then big dude was like, 'who speaks the language of the Eltarians?' So Aaron says, 'I'm the Prince of Eltar, Aaron Zeta, and the White Ranger of the Cyber Squad." Dustin took a breath and continued; "So the Zordian's all, You are the prince?"

"I speak English," I cut in. "What does Mo mean?"

Dustin chuckled. "Mo means 'yes.'

"Mo is yes and what is no?"

"Kes."

"Wow, this is one fucked up language," I chuckled.

A ground-shaking roar covered the sound of my laughter as the Zordian Kaiser showed his face. He was massive, a metallic face sporting a visible emotional pattern, scrapes and scratches along his face, and a particularly angry expression. He glared at me, his face feet from me.

"What humors you, little one?"

Shakily, I stepped back until I bumped into Aaron. "N-nothing."

"Then why do you laugh?"

"I…I'm learning the language…?"

"You find our language humorous?"

"Myfys kes vaertosys dex Rystvak oxys dex vy exos Eltaryan!" Hunter finally yelled.

The creature immediately swiveled its head toward the blond man, who stared back at him unblinkingly. "Om janek exov korov?"

Dustin whispered the translation to me: "'He knows not the language or how to be Eltarian, and the Kaiser just asked who Hunter was."

"Zod exod dex Dyr."

I knew that phrase. I am the king. It was the first sentence said by every Prince of Eltar when he was made the king.

The Kaiser was silent, scanning Hunter with laser blue eyes until his systems bleeped and confirmed Hunter's claim.

"You have established a meeting with the Council of Zordia, have you not?" asked the Kaiser, lights flickering in the corridor until it was illuminated by a bright blue light that filled the entire room.

The room itself was awe-inspiring. My eyes hadn't been deceiving me before—the wires really were moving! This whole place was alive! And it was easily the size of an enormous monument large enough to hold thousands. The Kaiser's throne was positioned at the end of the corridor, but he did not sit. He stood to his full height and beckoned us to follow when Hunter confirmed he had indeed set up an appointment with the Council of Zordia.

We walked through the incredible hallways silently, with the Kaiser explaining his history.

"I apologize for the condition of our planet. We Zordians were once a united, powerful race…but we were divided in our views of evolution."

"Evolution? How do you…you know…evolve?" Jay asked. "No offense," he added when Hunter shot him a glare.

"Zordians, despite our metallic appearance, are actually living beings—Eltarians reborn as ancestral beings you've come to call Zords. Like all living beings, though, our race must grow with time. When I proposed we learn to thrive off the cybernetic state of the planet, Zordia became divided. There were those who did not want to abandon the ancient ways of nature, and those who wished to combine the two," the Kaiser continued.

"Which are you?" Matt chimed in.

The Kaiser stopped and turned slowly to Matt, looking down on us all. "We are the hybrids. We retain archaic ways while changing with the new. We are, essentially, the link between biology and technology."

"You keep saying we," I said. "Where are all the other Zordians?"

The Kaiser paid me half a glance, though there was something different about his piercing gaze that gave way to a certain curiosity or admiration before he turned to keep voyaging through the never-ending corridor.

"Eventually, the Evolutionary Belief brought war to Zordia and the planet's nature was destroyed. Now, the Divine Data Beasts have been forced to sacrifice our natural, biological forms, to keep alive. Our enemy DigiMech Zordians take on the form of beasts to keep their way alive. As of now, they are winning."

"That's actually why we're here," Aaron finally spoke up. "We were protecting Earth from Cronus's spawn, The Angel, and a being known as Mesomorph. Somehow, they were able to use our Digital Orymeka powers to open a rift to this planet and summon a small squadron of DigiMech warriors with way too much power for our Cyber Zords to handle."

"The Cyber Zords are spiritless," the Kaiser said angrily. "Built by man, stuffed with data, and loaded with weapons—no wonder your zords failed you. You have no link with them."

"Hold on," Grace blurted out bitterly. "I loved my Psi Cyber Warrior, and to have it taken from me hurts like losing a family member or a friend. I'm not sure if there's room in that mechanical heart of yours to understand attachment, but I know my zord had a spirit. It had more than that." She paused for a breath and to get her bearings. "It had soul."

Everyone fell silent, the whirring of gears, wires, and circuits filling in the gap in speech.

"You question my existence—my ability to think and be sentient—yet you attach yourselves to pieces of metal made to destroy?"

"We never used our zords to destroy!"

"Then you never fought a battle with your zords."

Doc Ol grabbed his daughter's arm before she spoke. Their eyes connected for a moment and she settled down noticeably.

"Human beings are very curious indeed," the Kaiser mused. "Follow me to the Haven."

—32—

I couldn't believe my eyes. There were hundreds of them, populating the base like it was a city. Hell, it was a city. There were so many of them, all raw mechanical beings far more advanced than anything I'd ever seen. But they were so human! They laughed, they cried, they tripped, they went on dates—they were just like us.

"The Council is not far," said the Kaiser as he stomped down the wide pathways of street made for robotic travel. I stared in awe.

"What did you find so funny about the language?" Aaron asked me in all seriousness, but quietly.

I tried to flash him a smile, but he was completely stone-faced.

"I dunno…the words mo and kes," I said with a shrug. "I'm sorry."

"You just embarrassed the shit out of me in front of one of the oldest, highest ranking Zordians in history."

"I said I was sorry!"

"Just…for real…try to contain yourself. It's bad enough with Grace starting a debate with the Kaiser, let alone you insulting the Rystvak ban Efymax."

I was taken aback. So much that I literally stopped walking and watched him continue down the path as if nothing had happened. I tried to shake it, but something just felt wrong. Even Grace could see it on my face. But I said nothing and we continued to the Haven.

If I thought the throne room was amazing, the Haven was a completely different world altogether. There were pillars of pure energy that were conducted between two electromagnetic opposites, tubes that contained more complex circuitry than the entire Milky Way Galaxy, and about 6 other Zordians sitting on enormous columns that ended in a chair-like fashion.

"Greetings," bellowed the council.

"We are the Council of Zordia," spoke a female Zordian, her gentle green eyes falling upon each of us with curiosity.

"Tell us," said another, "why have you come here?" He was a male, far more laidback than the rest by his demeanor, and less interested in our appearance.

"We come to seek guidance," Aaron said. "Our Zords were destroyed by DigiMech now under the command of the Aleph Beyt Cult and the partnership of The Angel and Mesomorph. We are Earth's only hope of fighting them off and keeping the balance between the digital and the natural."

"And why have you come here?"

I looked to the calm, soothing voice that came from another female Zordian.

"We were wondering if we might be able to recruit a team—preferably a Megaenzurda Squad capable of combining—to help us keep the DigiMech on Earth at bay," Aaron pressed on.

I was starting to wonder why Hunter wasn't helping him with this when I realized Aaron's duties were being fulfilled. Aaron was effectively Eyr ban Eltar, and if Hunter had gone as far to get him the meeting, it would seem that Aaron had to prove himself worthy of keeping the meeting. It was like a rite of passage. Oh traditions.

"And why should we help you? You have shown little respect for the cybernetic importance of your morphers, as well as shown disregard for our race—some comparing us to average zords," spat another female Zordian. She was much rougher, almost curt and bitchy. I didn't like her.

"Because, by the royal blood in me, I am requesting the aid owed to the Eltarian race for giving Zordia life in the first place," Aaron snapped back. "And, because…we have learned the error of our ways. Our Cyber Network is completely shot—even our most intelligent minds can't fix it, because it's not meant to be created without feeling or soul—it's not meant to be coded. It's meant to be born. It needs life. And you, the Zordians, are the only bio-mechanical life forms in the galaxy with the sophistication, morality, and wisdom to assist us at this point."

If I wasn't impressed by Aaron before, I was all-out floored by his response. Even though I hated him for making me feel like shit, I couldn't help but admire his royal mannerisms and his commanding personality. There was even some flattery and elegance laced in his speech that baffled me.

The council was quiet, until the Kaiser spoke.

"I will offer my services to atone for my previous wrongdoings," he said. He let a large gap of silence flood the room, then locked eyes with me again. There was that same spark of familiarity and care there, but then he continued. "As the Green Ranger, I committed heinous crimes against my brother race, destroyed cities, and ended lives. I am forever indebted to protecting the Earth from now on."

"Wait," I said, "what? I'm the Green Ranger."

"As was I," the Kaiser said with a faint chuckle. "I am the other half of the Green Ranger."

Hunter, Dustin, and Aaron looked at me with a bemused look as my mind slowly pieced everything together.

"You're Zeta?"

He all out laughed now and nodded. His chuckle let out a hearty rumble that seemed to echo in the walls of the Haven. "Indeed, I am. In the metallic flesh, so to speak."

"But…but how?" I half-yelled.

"It is a story that requires lengths of time of which we do not have. If I am to assist, we will need to leave immediately."

"Wait," said the rude Zordian. "If we help you, how do we know we can trust you will treat us as equals?"

"I think the blond can answer that," said Zeta, the Kaiser.

Grace looked up defiantly at the female Zordian, who stared back expectantly.

"As I told the Kaiser, Zeta; I loved my Cyber Warrior more than anyone could love a zord—much less, a zord who apparently retains no spirit. The fact that you are living, breathing, procreating beings with a will to live, a will to do right, and a will to assist, makes you an ally—not a weapon."

I couldn't have agreed more with Grace.

"Then we shall assist you," they said unanimously.

The one to my left, the first female with the large green eyes, slender build, and sincere personality, stood and leapt from her column. She was followed by the laidback male Zordian, then the bitchy one, then one who didn't speak, and the soft-voiced Zordian. Then there was one more. She was a female who obviously held some sort of power, judging by her staff and imperial appearance. She, too, stepped down from her column.

"We will be your new Zords," she said in a shockingly powerful voice.