Ashley wandered through the corridors of the Astro Megaship, wondering what had become of the Rangers' reclusive leader. "DECA," she asked suddenly, addressing a tiny videocamera set into the wall near the ceiling, "where's Andros?"

The red light on the camera blinked on, and a calm feminine voice replied, "Andros is currently on the Bridge."

Ashley hesitated. He's probably in the middle of something… But she'd never know if she didn't ask. With new determination, she made her way to the lift and headed for the Megaship's Bridge.

The lift doors opened on a nearly deserted command center. A flash of red caught her eye, and she turned to see Andros, standing with his back to her at the auxiliary scanner console.

"Hey," she said quietly, not wanting to startle him.

He looked over his shoulder. "Hi, Ash."

She took a deep breath. "The others are down at the Surf Spot… Want to join us?"

As she had expected, he shook his head. "I've got too much to do here. But thanks anyway."

"What's so important?" Ashley asked, coming up behind him and resting her hands on his shoulders. She felt him tense at her touch, and tried to suppress a sigh. They'd been friends for more than a year, and officially dating for a week and a day. But the moments when he was truly relaxed around her were few and far between.

"I'm trying to recalibrate--"

His explanation cut off as DECA interrupted. "Warning--temporal anomaly detected off the starboard bow."

"Temporal anomaly?" Ashley repeated, puzzled.

Andros shook his head. "We'd better go check it out." Pulling away from her, he headed for the doors without a backward glance.

Ashley frowned, wondering if she'd done something wrong. She followed, catching up at the entrance to the Glider holding bay. "Should we let the others know?" she asked Andros's back, as they climbed to the upper level of the bay and took their places in front off their Jump tubes.

"We'll tell them as soon as we figure out what's going on," Andros said, and that was that.

He can't admit to needing help, even for something as minor as this, she thought, catching his eye. He nodded, and they whirled simultaneously, grabbing the bar above the chutes and swinging into them feet first.

A sparkle of gold and a surge of Power racing through her were the only clues Ashley needed to confirm her morph. The metal deck slid away beneath her, and she landed in a crouch on her Galaxy Glider just as the board launched into the void of space.

The anomaly was immediately visible--a dramatic vortex of green, like swirls of ionized oxygen against the starry backdrop. She glanced sideways, and saw the Red Astro Ranger at her side, all his attention apparently on the spatial whirlpool in front of them.

"Let's get a little closer," he told her, over the communicators embedded in their helmets. His voice came through with surprisingly little distortion. "See if we can get a better reading on this thing's energy signature."

"Right," Ashley acknowledged, sending a thumbs-up in his direction. She leaned forward to accelerate in the direction of the anomaly--

The vortex expanded abruptly outward, sparking green and racing toward them at an incredible speed. Before she could shout a warning, the anomaly had engulfed them, and she could see nothing but lightning green, feel nothing but the sensation of falling, spiraling downward…

***

Ashley blinked up into a cloudless blue sky, inexplicably disoriented. Where am I? she wondered, thinking there was something strange about the view but not able to pin it down more than that. And--why am I lying on the ground?

Andros's face entered her admittedly limited field of vision, and he smiled down at her. "Taking a nap?" he teased, offering her a hand. "I've been looking for you everywhere. Come on; we're going to be late."

She took his hand automatically, letting him haul her to her feet. He didn't step back to give her room, however, and she found herself staring into his eyes from only a few centimeters away.

"You look nice," Andros murmured, and her eyes widened. In the entire time that she had known him, Andros had never complimented her. She had seen it in his expression sometimes, but the words had never actually been spoken.

To add to her astonishment, he leaned forward and kissed her. It was a casual kiss; gentle, but full of promise, and she knew instantly that it wasn't a first kiss.

What in heavens' name is going on here?

He drew back, a look of confusion growing on his face. "Ash? Is everything okay?"

She managed to nod. It wasn't true, of course--but this wasn't her Andros, and she didn't want to say anything until she had some idea who he was. "I'm fine; thanks," she told him, forcing a smile. He was on his way somewhere… "Why don't you go on ahead? I'll catch up in a minute."

He frowned at her. "Are you sure you're feeling okay?" Eyes narrowed, he asked, "That headache from this morning bothering you again?"

"No, I'm fine, really," she reassured him, just wanting some solitude and a chance to figure out what had happened. I was out with Andros, investigating some anomaly DECA had found… "I'll be along in a minute, all right?"

"All right," he agreed at last, clearly not convinced.

Watching him back away, she noticed that his expression had closed up. The smile had faded and the tenderness was gone--he looked more like the Andros she knew.

Andros, she thought, trying to look around surreptitiously. We were pulled into that vortex--if I'm here, what happened to him?

"Ashley?" A whisper made her whirl, and she found Andros standing directly behind her. At least, it looked like Andros. She couldn't make herself believe quite that easily, not after what had just happened.

"Andros?" she asked doubtfully, not sure how to phrase the question.

He saved her the trouble by nodding. "The same one that was pulled through a temporal anomaly with you."

Letting out a sigh of relief, she told him fervently, "You have no idea how glad I am to hear you say that."

"Are you?" he asked, eyes hooded, and his gaze flickered past her, in the direction the other Andros had gone.

She winced. "You saw that?"

He lowered his gaze--answer enough for her. "I guess I shouldn't be jealous of myself, huh?"

Ashley smiled, trying to contain her delight at his admission. "Oh, Andros…"

She clasped his hand, and he lifted his eyes to meet hers. "Ash, I know this isn't really the time, but--do you want to go see a movie tonight?"

Her smile widened. "You know I do." Glancing around, she added, "If we can figure out how to get out of here, that is."

"Or even where 'here' is," Andros agreed, following her gaze. "It looks a lot like Earth."

"But there's no sun," she pointed out, the strangeness she had noticed earlier finally crystallizing in her mind. "There's grass and sky, but no sun…"

The hand holding hers tightened on her fingers. "It's a colony ship," Andros realized, and she looked at him in surprise. "We took one like this to KO-35," he explained, and sadness settled over his face with the mention of his lost homeworld.

She squeezed his hand in return, wishing she could take that look off his face. "So why are you on it?" she asked, the memory of that kiss springing unbidden to the surface of her thoughts.

"The other me?" Andros shrugged. "I don't--"

"The anomaly," Ashley interrupted suddenly. "The temporal anomaly--Andros, we're in the future!"

He raised an eyebrow skeptically. "The future?"

With some degree of asperity, she asked, "Does this look like the past to you?"

"Hey, guys!"

The hail came from somewhere behind them, in the opposite direction from the way the other Andros had gone. They whirled, afraid that someone had overheard them.

As Ashley got her first good look at this particular view, she could see structures some distance away that must house the people living on this ship. Cassie was just emerging from one of them, and she waved as soon and Ashley and Andros turned.

Glancing at Andros, Ashley waved back. "What else can we do?" she whispered, in answer to his expression. "As far as she's concerned, this is our time too. Do you expect me to yell, 'sorry, I'm not who you think I am, but nice to see you all the same'?"

"We can't interfere in the future," Andros insisted. "We don't belong here. We can't go around disturbing things."

"Wouldn't it be more of a disturbance to ignore her?" Ashley reasoned quietly, but Andros only shrugged.

Cassie was coming toward them now, trailed by someone Ashley didn't recognize. With dark hair and a black tunic, his stance did look vaguely familiar, but she was sure she had never seen the face before.

She gave Andros a nervous look, but the Pink Astro Ranger and her companion from the future were within earshot before they could exchange any more words. "Hi!" Cassie greeted them as she approached. "Shouldn't you two be at the ceremony already?"

Ashley didn't wait to see if Andros would answer. "Shouldn't you be?" she countered, smiling tentatively at the best friend she had seen only this morning.

Cassie laughed, linking her arm through Ashley's. "Yes--but Saryn heard from home just a few minutes ago, and I waited while he talked to his sister. I figured a call from a sister was something Andros couldn't get upset about," she added, with a knowing smile in Andros's direction.

Ashley saw Andros stiffen, and she spoke before he could. "Of course not," she assured Cassie, wondering what could prompt her friend to say something like that. Has Kerone been found since our time? She sincerely hoped so--few things had hurt Andros as deeply as the loss of his sister all those years ago.

"So, shall we all be late together?" Cassie suggested, running her free hand through her hair. The sparkle on her third finger caught Ashley's eye, and she had to look again to make sure she wasn't seeing things. The ring finger on Cassie's left hand was encircled by a thin band of gold, with a pale pink stone set into the middle of it.

Married?! Ashley couldn't believe it. But it didn't really look like a wedding band--engaged, then, or promised, Ashley thought, still trying to get over the shock. To this… Saryn?

She glanced over at him, trying to figure out where the bizarre feeling of knowing Cassie's companion came from. He noticed her regard and smiled, extending a hand gallantly to gesture her and Cassie forward. "After you, ladies."

It was his voice that did it. It tugged violently at her memory, sending her thoughts spiraling back toward those days as the Turbo Rangers, before the Power Chamber had been destroyed. Back then, the voice had always been filtered through his Ranger armor, and his hand held out only to Cassie.

"Phantom?" Ashley blurted, and out of the corner of her eye she saw Andros's head snap up.

Cassie frowned at her, and "Saryn" raised an eyebrow. "Yes?" he asked, obviously puzzled by her exclamation.

Ashley caught Andros's startled eye. Clearly, he hadn't recognized their old ally either--none of the team had ever seen Phantom demorphed. Now, though, she was at a loss to explain her reaction to these two from the future.

Cassie saved her the trouble. "Ashley," she said slowly, studying the Yellow Ranger, "when did you find your necklace?"

Ashley's hand flew to her neck, where the pendant Andros had given her for her birthday hung on its chain. "What do you mean?" she asked, not knowing how else to reply.

"I mean," Cassie answered, letting go of her arm and stepping back a little, "you lost that necklace last week. You were devastated--don't you remember?"

Ashley exchanged glances with Andros again, and Cassie moved closer to Saryn. He put a protective hand on her shoulder, and Ashley realized that they had better explain before someone got in trouble. Namely, us, she thought, wondering how long the other two would listen before she and Andros were written off as Astronema's latest scheme to destroy the Power Rangers.

"Look, it's not what you're thinking," Ashley began. "I really am Ashley, and this is Andros--but we're not the people you know. We're from the past… I'm not sure exactly how long ago, to you, but it was June sixth when we were pulled forward by some kind of anomaly."

Saryn looked down at Cassie. "Six months," he murmured, and she nodded.

"Two weeks before finals," Cassie added, her gaze going distant. "I remember--Saryn, they're telling the truth. The rest of us were down at the Surf Spot that day, and when we came back, Ashley wanted to talk to me…

"You took me aside and told me the wildest story," she said, looking at Ashley now. "Something about going into the future, and having a message from the Phantom Ranger."

Ashley looked expectantly at Saryn, and he shifted uncomfortably. "I sent you a message from the future?" he asked Cassie.

She nodded. "Ashley said I couldn't tell anyone else, because it would be bad for the timeline to tell the whole team where they'd be six months from then. But you had said that it was important, something you really wanted me to know."

Saryn regarded her a moment longer. He did not, to Ashley's surprise, ask what the message had been. Instead, he glanced over at Ashley just long enough to catch her eye, before looking back at Cassie.

"When you get back to your time," Saryn said quietly, "tell Cassie that I love her. Tell her I'm thinking of her, even though I can't be with her. And tell her, if you can, that we'll be together soon."

Ashley nodded, the words burning themselves into her memory. "I will," she promised, and Cassie smiled at her.

"I know you will," her friend assured her, reaching for Saryn's hand. "He just recited, almost word for word, the message you gave me six months ago."

***

Andros's gaze roved across the crowded commons, searching for the face he had seen only minutes before. The same face--but not the same person.

Finally, a telltale gleam of yellow gave her location away, and he sighed in relief. Making his way through the throngs of people, he stepped up behind her and reached around to place his hands gently over her eyes. "Guess who," Andros whispered in her ear.

Ashley caught his hands and spun around, throwing her arms around him. "I thought you'd never get here!" she exclaimed, hugging him tightly.

Closing his eyes, he breathed in the clean scent of her hair and smiled to himself. This was the girl he loved. "I was… detained," he said, reluctant to trouble her but figuring that if anyone should know, it was her. Besides, it was her help he would want to deal with this.

She pulled back, immediately aware that something was wrong. "What happened?" she asked, searching his gaze.

He glanced instinctively over his shoulder, and cocked his head toward the edge of the commons. Ashley nodded, and they moved away from the gathering toward the more secluded areas that surrounded the open park.

"I think we have an intruder on board," he told her at last, when he was sure no one could overhear. Andros related what had occurred, and she listened, first with alarm and then with growing thoughtfulness.

When he mentioned alerting the onboard computer, she shifted. "Andros, wait," Ashley said slowly.

He regarded her expectantly.

"Does this sound familiar?" she asked, cocking her head at him. "It's our first contact celebration, and someone who looks just like me shows up… I'm willing to bet you're here too."

Andros didn't understand at first--then it clicked. "The temporal anomaly DECA discovered six months ago."

She nodded. "We're on the other side of the time loop now."

He caught his breath as the implications of that sank in. "Ash--we could keep Zordon from being cut off from this dimension. All we have to do is tell them where he was being held--they could get to him before the war escalated out of control, and he wouldn't have to give up his time warp to keep the universe from destroying itself!"

She put a hand on his arm. "No, we can't."

"Why not?" he insisted, caught up in his altered vision of the past. It's my fault Zordon can never return, he thought. If we tell them, they could keep it from happening again.

"Because we didn't," Ashley told him patiently. "Remember when we were them? If we had told ourselves then what would happen, we would have changed it. But we didn't, so we can't."

Andros shook his head, frustrated. "That's not a good enough reason."

"No," Ashley agreed. "But the reasons behind that choice were sound, and still are. Look around you, Andros. A lot of good came out of that time--the Terra Venture is here because of Zordon's sacrifice. Without him, this ship wouldn't be possible. And Cassie…"

She looked away from him, gazing out across the park. "That war reunited her and Phantom. Would you deny them their happiness--or this community its very existence--on the chance that somehow you could make things better six months ago? What if it didn't work?"

"At least we would have tried," he muttered, touching the locket that always hung around his neck.

"You did try," Ashley reminded him. Placing her hand on his chest, she covered the locket with her fingers. "And Kerone is safe now, too. It worked out for the best, Andros."

"But if I had known," he protested, unable to forget the pain of losing his sister for a second time. "I could have stopped her from going. She would have stayed on the Megaship, and never had to be Astronema again!"

"And she wouldn't have been there to save Zhane," Ashley continued relentlessly. "He would have died on the Dark Fortress, without her there to help him. And remember, it was Astronema, not Kerone, who brought Dark Specter down."

Andros was quiet for a moment. In the end, though, he had to concede her point. He sighed, staring into the eyes of the one who had single-handedly brought light into all the dark corners of his life. "You're right," he admitted, reaching out to stroke her cheek.

She smiled at him. "I know," she assured him. "Now let's go find our counterparts before they get into trouble."

"Just a moment." He dropped his hand to her shoulder and held her firmly in place. "If I remember right, there was something I wanted to do then, but didn't dare."

She tilted her head up at him. "What's that?"

He leaned down and touched his lips to hers. She responded, pressing closer and wrapping her arms around his neck, and for a moment he banished all thoughts of the past from his mind.

***

"Did you truly tell your teacher that school was interfering with you education?" Saryn asked, looking at Cassie with interest.

Ashley grinned. "She sure did. But it was what she said after that that got her three days of detention."

Saryn shook his head. "I am amazed that you attended school for so long without the people of your world knowing that you were a Ranger. It must have been difficult to explain at times."

Cassie rolled her eyes. "That's the understatement of the year."

"That reminds me," Andros said suddenly, turning to look at Ashley. "If I have to come up with one more ridiculous excuse to get you out of class--"

"You'll what?" an amused voice asked from somewhere behind Andros.

They had been so absorbed in their story telling that no one had been paying much attention to the people drifting by on either side of them. Until, of course, one of those people had spoken to them, and the little group looked up to find Andros's and Ashley's mirror images regarding them all.

"Oh hi, Ashley, Andros," Cassie said calmly, not at all fazed by the doubles standing in front of her. "It's about time you showed up."

Andros's doppelganger raised an eyebrow. "You know who they are?"

"How did you know?" Ashley interrupted, giving Andros's twin a startled look.

He shrugged, putting an arm around the shoulders of her future self. "You don't kiss the same."

Beside her, Andros choked, and his double grinned at him. "You don't know what you're missing," he advised, and her Andros blushed, suddenly unable to meet her eyes.

"Well," Cassie said into the pause, "you obviously have things to talk about, and we have a celebration to join, so we'll leave you alone."

"It was nice to meet you," Saryn offered, nodding to both Andros and Ashley. "I suppose we will never speak again…"

"But we will," Ashley said with a smile. "For us, six months from now, but for you, anytime you want."

Ashley's twin echoed her smile. "That's right. I expect to see you more often, Saryn, now that you remember the conversation I had with you six months ago."

Cassie just shook her head, glaring at both versions of her best friend. "Stop confusing me," she complained.

Saryn laughed at her, and Ashley couldn't help staring at him. Phantom had never laughed in her presence before, and her eye was drawn once more to the ring on Cassie's finger. He's changed a lot, she reflected, watching the handfast couple wander away down the path.

And he's not the only one, she thought then, glancing over at Andros. His face was still slightly red, and she couldn't resist the opportunity to tease him. "So tell the truth," she said to his lookalike. "Was it really the way I kiss that tipped you off?"

Andros's double chuckled, and her own doppelganger smiled up at him. Ashley felt a flicker of jealousy--not of her future self, but of what these two obviously had together.

"That and the headache," he allowed at last, and she frowned.

"I didn't have a headache this morning," Ashley's double explained. "And we were together all night and most of the morning, helping set up for today's ceremony, so believe me, he would have known."

"Clever," Ashley admitted, nodding at Andros's future self. He just smiled, and she found herself wishing her Andros would smile that easily.

He will, she reminded herself, gazing at this vision of their future.

Her train of thought broke off when Andros cleared his throat, stepping forward and conveniently interrupting her line of sight. "Obviously, when you came here from the past, you didn't stay--so how do we get back?"

Their future selves exchanged glances, and Ashley found herself sneaking a look in Andros's direction. He was doing the same thing, and their eyes met. The corner of his mouth quirked up, and she returned the half-smile with a wink. He reached for her hand, and she surrendered it willingly, waiting for the verdict from their future selves.

"I remember something about a slingshot effect," Ashley's doppelganger said at last. "The anomaly sent us forward--stretching, so to speak--and eventually it snapped us back. We didn't have to do anything."

"Which is a good thing," Andros's double added, "since we lost our Gliders as soon as we came through the vortex."

We demorphed, too, Ashley noted. Maybe because the Power can only respond to one person at a time… and they're native to this time, after all. It would favor them.

Before she could ask, though, a sparkle streaked through the air to hover between the two couples. Joined by several other suspiciously green sparks, it flared outward into the familiar vortex of the temporal anomaly.

The Andros and Ashley of the future were completely obscured, and she looked over at her Andros. He squeezed her hand, and she moved closer to him, remembering the displacement and disorientation that had come with their first trip through this anomaly.

She took a deep breath, saw him nod, and the two of them plunged into the vortex together. Again came the unpleasant sensation of falling, but this time she landed solidly, and when she looked down she found her Glider beneath her feet and her Ranger uniform in place once more.

Shooting a glance to the side, she saw Andros turn his head toward her. With an eerie sense of déjà vu, she gave him a thumbs-up. This time, he returned it, and she smiled, knowing he would never see the expression behind her helmet.