Part Eleven
Chapter Four
It was a quiet Sunday afternoon as the senior Rangers returned to the city and strolled through the university campus. The sun was high above them, but dark clouds on the horizon promised another rainy night. The college grounds were mostly deserted, although there were still people around, finishing assignments in the computer labs, studying in the library or throwing around a frisbee on the grass.
"You know what I realised?" Zac asked, spotting a couple of students sitting in the shade and working their way through thick textbooks. "I don't have any assignments or reading to finish. I was kinda sceptical, but this scheduling thing really pays off."
Trini smiled. "We'll make a nerd of you yet," she said.
"I hope Bren's gonna be okay," Kim said. "He really didn't seem like himself."
"He'll be all right," Tommy said. "He's our weird little brother. He has to be."
"It's funny," Kim continued. "I wonder if we'll ever stop feeling responsible for the younger Rangers. I know we've seen them fight monsters and gods, but, you know. We watched them grow up. They're our kids!"
"I think they turned out okay," said Jason.
Zac swatted Jason on the shoulder. "Of course you would say that," he laughed.
Ahead, Billy came to a stop and held perfectly still. "Is that audible to anyone else?" he asked softly.
Everyone's Ranger instincts kicked in. A second later, they heard it, a deep humming noise that filled the air, causing a dull ache in their ears and the hair on their necks to stand on end. The Rangers turned to each other in confusion. But before anyone could speak, a mysterious cube floated around the corner of the science block towards them. It was all black, about a metre on every side and unaffected by the afternoon breeze. A large round lens was fixed on one side, while the other five sides were featureless. The lens visibly blinked as the cube turned to face them, and they could feel some kind of presence watching them through the glass. The cube hung there, motionless, for a few seconds longer.
"Uh," Tommy began. "Is it evil?"
A faint light appeared in the lens, and the Rangers dived to safety as a blast of electricity exploded from the lens, punching into the ground where they'd been standing and throwing chunks of dirt into the air. The Rangers rolled to their feet and raced towards the cover of the science faculty as the cube fired again, the air behind them igniting as the cube's hum became an angry roar. Reaching the narrow laneway between the science and teaching buildings, they found themselves safely out of sight of the cube.
"So much for a quiet afternoon," Kim said.
"It's morphin' time!" shouted Jason.
"White Tigerzord!"
"Mastodon!"
"Pterodactyl!"
"Triceratops!"
"Sabre-toothed Tiger!"
"Tyrannosaurus!"
Morphing in brilliant flashes of light, the Rangers charged onto the grass to see the cube still hovering a few metres away. Trini glanced around and saw the students on the lawn with the frisbee, alongside several people who'd ventured outside at the commotion. She sprinted towards them.
"Get inside!" the Yellow Ranger shouted. "Run!"
The cube didn't follow. The Rangers stared down their opponent when Kimberly summoned her Power Bow with a thought. The face with the lens spun towards her and fired, the blast carving through the ground in a wide arc and forcing the Rangers to scatter.
Jason and Billy dived behind a low brick wall.
"That thing is here for us," Jason panted. "But I don't know the whos or whys. There's no 'Z's on it anywhere."
Billy looked over the top of the brick wall, but quickly dropped low as a blast sizzled over them and smashed into the grass. "I can't see evidence of a motor or machinery," the Blue Ranger said. "There's nothing to provide propulsion or allow for levitation. I can't even see any intake vents. It's either magic, or technology so advanced it might as well be."
"That limits our options," Jason said. "Blunt force?"
"Blunt force it is," Billy replied. The Red and Blue Rangers grit their teeth and stood up quickly, only to see the hovering cube pull away and disappear around the side of the building. They immediately gave chase.
Summoning Saba, Tommy raced through the science faculty until he reached the atrium in the middle of the building. Leaping up to the third floor, he clambered over the railing and kicked open the nearest door. It was the teacher's lounge. Out the window, he could see the cube floating past. He raised Saba and took to the air, smashing through the window on a course for the murderous cube. But the flat side of the cube rippled and the lens suddenly appeared, blasting the White Ranger back into the building in a storm of fire and smoke.
Even as Tommy crashed to the floor in a tangle of broken furniture, Zac rolled onto the pavement immediately under the hovering cube. Staring up at the blank underside, he summoned his Power Axe, cocked the barrel and aimed straight up. Without turning, the lens appeared on the bottom side, and Zac rolled to safety as the cube aimed a sizzling blast for him, leaving a cracked crater in the pavement. Zac leaped to his feet, ready for a follow-up attack, but the cube ignored him and drifted towards the empty food hall.
Kimberly and Billy caught up to the Black Ranger. "C'mon," Kim said, and they raced after their opponent.
Jason was a step behind when Trini grabbed his shoulder.
"Jason, wait," Trini began. "Haven't you noticed?"
"What?"
"The cube is leading us on a wild goose chase through the campus," Trini said. "It provokes us but then waits for us to chase. This thing was designed to hurt us, but whoever sent it after us? I don't think they're trying to kill us. I think they're trying to distract us."
Sarah, Teresa and I strolled down the pathway as it cut through the riverside park. The smell of the ocean was strong in the air, with the beach only a few streets away, while ahead of us was the Mooloolaba Wharf. Dozens of boats were lined up along the docks, from dinghies and trawlers to whale-watching boats and luxury yachts.
"I wonder where Scott went," said Sarah. "I hope he'll be okay."
"If he needed help, he would've asked us to go with him," Teresa said. "I'm not worried. In the last few months, I've started to see how tough he really is."
"It still leaves us with a mystery," I said. "The Mystic Realm cuts ties with Earth, there's UFOs everywhere, and Brendan's hallucinating. I wish we could figure this out."
The pathway took us through a grassy field beside the water. The river seemed murky, today, with dark shapes moving below the surface. The overcast sky didn't help. "So why are we heading to the Mooloolaba Wharf?" Sarah asked.
"There's an ice-cream place I've never tried before," I said, and nodded to Teresa. "What does Zac always say?"
"Never save the world on an empty stomach," Teresa replied.
"That makes sense," Sarah agreed. "Think they have choc-mint?"
Shadow fell over us. Teresa reacted instinctively, spinning into the air out of harm's way, while Sarah grabbed my arm and dragged me to the grass as a rowboat crashed to the ground where we'd been standing. We leaped to our feet, turning to see who'd thrown it at us, when a red tentacle exploded out of the water towards us. Teresa ducked while Sarah and I backed away. When the tentacle swung for us again, I rolled out of the way. The tendril slapped against the grass and pulled back into the water, but I noticed the grass where it landed was now sickly and brown, like it had been poisoned. Two more tentacles roared out of the water, and Teresa raced over to Sarah and I.
"Let's go!" Teresa shouted.
The park was deserted, but we couldn't morph without cover. A few metres away stood an amenities block, with barbecues and picnic tables under a timber awning. It was protected from the road, and the mansions across the river were too far away to see us. With our unseen attacker chasing after us, we raced over and reached for our back pockets.
"You ask the Universe for ice-cream and get calamari instead," Sarah sighed.
"It's morphin' time!" I shouted.
"Rhamphorynchus!"
"Velociraptor!"
"Stegosaurus!"
We morphed in three flashes of light, when a storm of tentacles exploded out of the water. We leaped to safety as they tore through the picnic shed and shattered the wooden beams like match-sticks. The creature followed after us, and we could see more and more of its body as it emerged from the water, with fins along its back, crablike claws, the tentacles of a squid, and two glowing yellow eyes. But there was no escaping the tentacles as they whipped through the air around us. Forced back-to-back, we reached for our blasters and shifted them to blade mode as the assault continued, slashing at the arms that came close. The fallen tentacles dissolved to dust as soon as they hit the grass, but still the creature continued to attack.
In desperation, I reached for the fallen rowboat and flung it straight for the monster. But a tentacle whipped into the air, wrapping around the boat and shattering it to splinters.
"We're gonna need a bigger boat," I said.
Sarah slapped me.
Alpha and Zordon could barely hear each other over the alarms blaring in the Command Centre, and could do little but watch in the viewing screen as the older Rangers battled the black cube across the university campus while Teresa, Sarah and I came under attack at the wharf. Finally, Zordon adjusted the warning system to prioritise immediate threats only, and the room fell silent.
"Ayeyiyi Zordon!" Alpha exclaimed. "Two ambushes within two minutes!"
"I fear the Rangers were right," Zordon began. "These events have to be connected. This is the prelude to something larger."
"Should I recall Scott?" Alpha asked. "Send Ian and Brendan to help the others?"
Zordon paused for a few seconds. "No," he said finally. "I don't think that would be wise. These current attacks are very random. The only goal seems to be keeping the Rangers distracted. That tells us that something else is incoming."
The alarm exploded, filling the room with light and noise.
"Zordon!" Alpha shouted, fighting to be heard. "I thought you adjusted the alarm to imminent threats only!"
"I did," Zordon replied. With an increasing sense of dread, he checked the incoming newsfeed. Footage automatically appeared on the viewing screen, and Alpha saw the emergency a second later. A great silver spaceship was crashing down through the atmosphere. Even as they watched, an explosion shook the side of the vessel. There were no other ships in sight.
"Zordon," Alpha began, "that's the Traxians! That's one of their ships!"
"And at that speed, it'll destroy anything it hits!" Zordon said. "Alpha, calculate the ship's trajectory. I'll contact Ian and Brendan. We haven't a moment to lose!"
To be continued.