*No sun,* Ashley thought, studying the sky. After three weeks in deep space aboard Terra Venture, the phenomenon shouldn't still surprise her. And yet she kept expecting to see the sun peeking through the trees, or hanging low over the horizon in the evening.

*And that's not the only thing that's changed,* she reflected ruefully, turning slowly to stare out across the meadow biome. It shared a border with the commons, as did the forested area, allowing the station's main gathering place to exist without environmental disruption in the middle of the overlap.

She had been part of the crew that set up the daylight requirements for this part of the station. It wasn't something she ever pictured herself doing, back on Earth, and it really wasn't anything she knew that much about. But she had been assigned to the light team, and so she worked with them. That was how it was for all the Rangers, now, although Andros had final say on where and when they worked.

It was strange to get up every morning and... go to work. Nine to five was a foreign concept aboard a station that might press its command and support staff into service at any time of day or night. But it was still very much like a job, far more so than her time as a Power Ranger had been.

It was hard to think of herself as employed when it seemed like she had only just graduated from high school. In fact, she had, albeit with a crowd of reporters trailing her every move. The invitation to Terra Venture had been, not only an exciting opportunity, but also a welcome relief, for unauthorized personnel--especially reporters--were not permitted in orbit.

*How many of us came just to get away from Earth?* she wondered suddenly. Though she would never admit it to TJ or Carlos, who had seemed genuinely enthusiastic about this voyage for its own merits, she had not been able to face their continued popularity back home. Terra Venture had been a safe haven of sorts.

She thought Cassie had actually enjoyed the media attention, but the former Pink Ranger had come back to space anyway. And everyone knew why--when Saryn found his way back to her, only days after the wave of pure goodness had swept throughout the universe, he had been very obviously uncomfortable with the press of people constantly surrounding the Rangers. He had borne it, and the eventual revelation of his identity to the public, for the sake of being at her side. But he had never liked it.

When the request for a Ranger presence on the new colony ship came, Cassie, Saryn, Zhane and Kerone had all signed on as "temporary crew". Zhane and Kerone had almost returned to KO-35 several times before Terra Venture invited them aboard, and Ashley knew neither of them considered the colony a permanent responsibility. To them, it was only a transition from one lifestyle to another, a break between the fighting and the rebuilding, and a way of repaying Earth for its support during the final battle in the process.

Cassie and Saryn, on the other hand, had never said where they planned to go after Terra Venture. Cassie said only that she expected him to get homesick eventually, and Saryn had never contradicted that statement. Their departure time was as uncertain as Zhane and Kerone's, but Ashley hoped fervently that it was far in the future yet. She couldn't even imagine the team breaking up after all they'd been through.

And Andros...

*Then there's Andros.*

Why had Andros come to Terra Venture? He had hated the spotlight at least as much as she, and there were times when she thought he and Saryn disappeared to some sort of alternate dimension to avoid being found. And no matter what they said, Ashley knew that Andros was the only thing that really kept Zhane and Kerone on Earth after that first week of reporters and press conferences. If he had wanted to go home to KO-35, his friend and his sister would have followed him gladly.

Yet he had stayed. There were times when she thought--she hoped--he had stayed for her. Once he had even told her that she was the reason he chose to come with them to Earth in the first place. That was the first time he said "I love you", and she had never, ever, forgotten the look on his face as he said those words.

But though he had never taken the words back, they had seemed to be forced further and further apart by the chaos that typified their life on Earth. She had been trying to finish high school with the others, and though several of their teachers had been more generous than they ought, it was still a miracle any of them had graduated with their class. Things were just too *busy* for anything but the most cursory of study sessions, and her relationship with Andros had suffered even more.

By the time she volunteered for Terra Venture, she was almost surprised that Andros seconded her decision. She had been grateful for his support and relieved beyond words that he was coming, and she had hoped that the project would give them time to work together, the way they had in the old days.

It didn't, of course, but at least they managed to coordinate their schedules so that their time off on the station coincided. And away from the whirlwind of news and media events and public attention, they actually found time to spend with each other again. She had time to listen when he said "I love you", and he had time to smile at her when she kissed him. Their world hadn't slowed down much, but it had been enough to remind her of why they were together.

As the time for Terra Venture's departure neared, she had sworn to herself that things would change once the colony was under way. They would *make* time for each other, and they would put their relationship first. It was what she wanted, and she thought he did too--but wanting turned out not to be enough.

*Cassie finds time for Saryn,* she thought with a sigh. And Zhane was forever dragging Kerone away from some project or other, threatening her team with magic or worse if they so much as thought about protesting. Why were she and Andros so different?

*We're both too responsible,* she decided, trying to ignore the resentment she couldn't help feeling for the others. It wasn't their fault, it was hers, and Andros', but she was just too used to doing what "had" to be done.

"Who decides what has to be done?" she whispered to herself. The answer was almost as distressing as it was comforting: *Us. We decided,* she admitted, in the privacy of her own mind. *We decided the colony was more important. Zhane and Kerone and Cassie and Saryn didn't.*

But the colony had never been more important to them, she realized. The colony wasn't going to be *their* home. The four of them were all "temporary crew", with the lessened responsibility that status implied. They worked as hard as anyone else--but they knew when to stop, when to let it go and focus on the things that would matter to *them* in the future: their own relationships.

*That's what should matter to us, too,* Ashley thought, turning to scan the commons again for some sign of Andros. *Just because we're going to live here doesn't mean the colony is our life.*

There was no telltale flash of red to give away Andros' presence, but she knew he would be here soon. He had come to the same realization she had; she *knew* it. That was why he had given them all the time off. That was why he had still been in her room when she woke this morning, and it was why he had made her breakfast for the first time ever.

Somehow, some way, they were going to set things right between them. She wouldn't let them keep drifting in and out of each other's lives like this, always on the periphery of a relationship neither of them could define. They were going to define it today, and she was going to make sure they followed through on their decision.