Grinding his teeth under his helmet, Tommy shook his head. The Red Ranger had managed to escape, which not only meant that he'd failed to keep his word to Goldar, it also meant that the Power Rangers were steadily regaining their former capabilities; it meant that they were entirely too close to reestablishing contact with Zordon, which would be a problem if he didn't do something about it soon. There was also the problem of Empress Rita's current displeasure.

She'd almost insisted on him staying in the Dark Dimension, until he'd calmly explained that there was too much risk of his parents or the Power Rangers discovering his allegiance. She hadn't been pleased, though he didn't quite know if that was because she hadn't thought about the implications of his absence from Earth on her own, or if there was some other reason. It wasn't really his place to question, Tommy knew, but he still found himself curious.

Returned to Earth, and with no pressing responsibilities to his Empress, Tommy found himself with the run of his empty house.

The Yeerks inside his foster parents must have been called away by some matter or other of their own, and so Tommy made his way into the garage so that search for whatever Kandrona-generating device that the pair of them would be dependent upon so far away from the main Pool in Century City. As he looked over the stacked boxes in the garage, Tommy found himself thinking about the secrets he was keeping from Empress Rita.

He supposed he should have told her about them, about the rest of his friends and fellow Animorphs and what they were doing; but she had enough to concern herself with, considering that the Power Rangers were still around and they were clearly going to be bringing back Zordon as soon as they could.

Folding his arms as he contemplated the stacks upon stacks of packed boxes in front of him, any one of which could have contained the Kandrona generator they would need to support themselves so far away from Century City's Yeerk Pool, Tommy narrowed his eyes as he heard the sound of footsteps coming up from behind him.

"Tommy, what's brought you all the way back here, dear?" the Yeerk in control of his mother said, the same, empty smile on her face that he'd seen so many times when she had tried to talk to him before.

"I was thinking we could bring in another stack of boxes," he said, wondering if she would ignore the fact that he'd been trying to get a look inside some of the boxes, or if she would bring it up.

"Yes, I think that would be a good idea," the Yeerk said, stretching his foster mother's mouth into that same, empty smile he'd seen before. "Come on, let's get the kitchen boxes out."

"Sure," he said, as the pair of them began taking down a nearby stack of boxes.