***

His head hadn't hurt this much in a long time. It was the first semi-coherent thought he had, but the second one was right on its heels: he wanted to go back to sleep.

He twisted restlessly, trying to find some position that was less uncomfortable than the one he was currently in. It seemed to be a losing battle, but the stakes were too high for him to give up so easily. He couldn't see, but he could feel, and he found himself longing for the peaceful oblivion from which his body seemed intent on awakening.

He heard his name in the darkness, barely audible, but impossible to ignore when uttered by a voice he knew so well. Suppressing a groan, he managed to roll over in the general direction of the sound. "Ash?" It came out as a hoarse whisper, but he supposed that was better than nothing.

"It was our wedding," she mumbled, her words an almost unintelligible jumble. "I remember now; we were getting ready for our wedding."

He put out a hand blindly, flinching at the immediate protest of the muscles in his arm. Only when he encountered nothing did it occur to him that he was too close to the edge of whatever he was lying on for comfort. He tried to pull away, and the effort left him breathless.

"In the gateway," he heard her murmur. "Remember when we were in that other dimension?"

There was another voice that he should recognize, but it took him a moment to place it. In fact, he wasn't entirely sure how much time passed between his realization that someone else was speaking and his comprehension of her question.

"Not really," he muttered at last, wanting to sit up but fairly certain he wouldn't be able to do it. "At least, I know I'm not feeling so great… Ash?"

"Lousy," she answered immediately, but her voice was no stronger than his. "I feel awful, but thanks for asking."

"I've alerted the others," DECA said. "They're on their way."

"--twenty-four in the morning," DECA was saying, apparently in answer to something Ashley had asked.

"Can't it wait?" Ashley demanded. "It's the middle of the night; they don't have to get up for us. It's not like we're dying or anything."

"Speak for yourself," he muttered, pressing his fingers to his temples. "What happened?"

"You were attacked by an unidentified entity outside the Surf Spot last night," DECA answered. She didn't sound particularly pleased, but it was hard to tell who her displeasure was directed at.

"Last night?" he repeated. "What time did you say it was?"

"It's three twenty-five in Angel Grove."

He squeezed his eyes shut, not that it helped to stifle the flashback. "I assume you mean in the morning, since it's like deep space in here."

"Would you turn the lights up a little?" Ashley agreed, her voice plaintive. "It's spooky enough not knowing what's going on without being blind too."

The lights came up slowly, strengthening to their usual overnight illumination before leveling out again. "Thanks," Andros managed, getting his elbows behind him and ignoring the discomfort as he pushed himself up. "DECA, what's wrong with us?"

There was a brief pause. "You don't recognize the symptoms."

It was more of a statement than a question, but that didn't make it any less irritating. "If I did, would I have asked?" he snapped.

There was no answer, and he winced as pain lanced through the back of his head. "I'm sorry," he muttered, recognizing her unamused silence. "But I'm tired, and I hurt, and I just want someone to tell me what's going on!"

"--severe withdrawal. Your Power signature is almost nonexistent," DECA told him.

He tried to repress a sigh, knowing she wasn't going to appreciate this. "What did you just say? I didn't hear the first part."

"You too?" Ashley murmured, from her cross-legged position on the next patient bed. "Are you getting these weird flashes of things that've already happened?"

He glanced over at her, trying not to flinch when his eyes rebelled--painfully--against the movement.

"Oh, I know that expression," TJ's voice said sympathetically. The Blue Ranger stepped in between the patient beds, heading for the medical synthetron. "I'm glad you guys are awake, at least."

"How are you feeling?" Cassie added, sitting down gingerly beside Ashley. "You don't look very good."

"That's about how I feel, too," Ashley sighed, leaning gratefully against her friend's shoulder. "What happened?"

"We don't really know," TJ told her, handing each of them one of DECA's custom pain relievers. Andros swallowed his without a second thought, but he saw Ashley make a face at the taste. "Someone attacked you, drained your Power, and probably copied your memories. At least, that's our guess, and if you ask me we're lucky to have gotten that far."

A soft whine came from somewhere near his right hand, and Andros glanced down automatically. Jetson put one paw on the patient bed, nosing his hand gently, and he couldn't help but smile.

"The same person that attacked Cassie?" Ashley was asking. "But I didn't even see anyone."

"Neither of us saw anyone," Andros muttered, trying to sort out his thoughts.

"Tessa says she saw some guy in blue with dark hair," TJ offered, leaning against the end of Andros' bed. "A little shorter than me, she thought, but that's all she could tell."

"These attacks are specifically targeting the Astro Rangers." Saryn stood just inside the door, arms folded and a neutral expression on his face. "There can be no doubt that your attacker knows exactly who each of you is."

"She called me 'Pink Ranger'," Cassie put in. "And if she was wearing TJ's color when she attacked him--"

"Wait," Andros interrupted at last. If they would stop talking so fast, he might actually be able to think. "Just wait, all right? Be quiet."

There was a moment of silence, and then he heard Ashley whisper, "TJ was attacked too?"

He glared at her, and she held up her hands defensively. "Sorry!" Her voice said one thing, but her expression said another.

"I didn't mean--" Finally, he realized what it was that had been tugging at the edge of his awareness. "Did you say you didn't see anyone?"

She frowned a little. "When we were attacked? No, I didn't see anyone."

"Neither of us saw anyone," he repeated. "That's the problem."

He saw her exchange glances with Cassie. "Andros?" she asked, looking back at him uncertainly.

"Someone could have snuck up on one of us," he said, trying to remember the moment more clearly. Ironic that he could remember flashes of old memory in perfect detail, yet the one thing that he *wanted* to call to mind seemed to elude him. "But one person couldn't have surprised us both."

Ashley's frown deepened, and he knew that at least she understood. "She was using both hands," she said slowly. "One hand over my mouth, and one… on my forehead." She gave him a questioning look. "She *couldn't* have grabbed you at the same time."

He shook his head. "There had to be more than one of them."

"Wonderful," Carlos interjected, pressing his open hand against the doorframe in a gesture of frustration. "So now there's two shapeshifting telepathic leeches running around?"

"--more likely," Saryn finished. "It is at least safer to assume that than anything else at this point."

"What?" Andros asked, frustrated at continually missing half the conversation. "DECA, why can't I concentrate!"

"Andros, chill." TJ's tone was just genuine enough to be sympathetic rather than condescending. "Saryn said there might be one of them for each one of us, and you can't concentrate because whoever attacked you did something weird to your memory. Believe me, you're doing a better job than I was."

"Are you all right?" Ashley asked. "What happened to you?"

"Someone attacked me outside the theater." TJ shrugged as though it wasn't important. "Tessa called DECA, and she teleported us here. She said something incredibly complicated, which by the way would have been more impressive if I hadn't had a killer headache at the time--"

"Based on your symptoms and Saryn's description of the attack, I believe that whoever has been attacking you is telepathically accessing your long-term memory," DECA interrupted. "Whether that's the goal or simply a side effect of the Power drain, I do not know."

"Wait--Saryn was attacked?" Ashley sounded as confused as he felt. "I thought someone said these things were only going after Astro Rangers."

"I said it," Saryn answered quietly. "And no, I was not attacked. What I told DECA was based on the impressions I received while Cassie was under attack. I perceived her distress as my own, and reacted accordingly."

"Ow, by the way!" Cassie added.

He looked chagrined. "I was not at first aware that your mind had been turned into a battleground," he murmured. "I'm truly sorry."

She put her hand on his arm and smiled up at him. "It's all right--I'm just as glad to keep my memories. Thanks."

"That's why she wasn't totally distracted afterwards," TJ added, for their benefit. "Saryn managed to protect her through that link of theirs."

Andros frowned, knowing there was more to that than he could think of right now. It wasn't just their memories that had been affected, after all.

"The Power," he said suddenly. "Withdrawal. They're draining our Power? How? And why can we feel it when Cassie didn't? Or TJ?"

"Oh, I felt it," TJ put in. "I still do, trust me. Cassie's was tapped too, but neither of us took as bad a hit as you and Ashley."

Cassie cleared her throat, lifting one hand to touch the ruby hanging over her nightshirt. "DECA says mine's actually been drained more than TJ's, but…"

"I suspect she's drawing mine," Saryn finished quietly. "That's why she suffers no significant symptoms."

Carlos' impatient sigh caught Andros' attention. "Can't either of you control that?"

"You can't steal a Ranger's Power," Andros informed the room at large. "It's not possible. The Power doesn't work like that."

He saw Carlos roll his eyes, but he ignored it. The Black Ranger had been moody since his breakup with Aura, and some days were worse than others. He'd almost gotten used to it by now.

"Not at the source," DECA agreed at last, when no one else offered any reply. "But your connection to the Power has not been transferred, or even completely severed. You are simply not receptive to the same degree you were before."

"What does that mean, exactly?" Ashley wanted to know. "We're weaker? Or whoever did this to us is just stronger?"

"Both?" Andros suggested ominously. "Can we still morph?"

"I don't know," DECA said, and her obvious frustration sent a pang of guilt through him. For all her abilities, she wasn't omniscient. "However, I would not recommend attempting to morph until we know more."

"How will we know more if we don't morph?" Ashley demanded. "We can't just wait for whoever attacked us to try again."

"That's really irritating," Andros muttered. "TJ, how long did it take for your flashbacks to stop?"

TJ gave him an odd look. "Flashbacks?"

"TJ's reaction was not as serious as yours," DECA interjected. "He seemed to regain the state you see now within an hour."

TJ raised an eyebrow at her camera. "State?" he repeated. "I'm in a state?"

"One of several," she agreed. "They are not difficult to classify. Perhaps you would be interested in knowing more at a later time."

"Somehow I doubt it," he said, giving her a suspicious look. "Thanks anyway."

"The morphin grid," Saryn said suddenly.

Andros glanced around, wondering if he had missed another integral part of the conversation. For once, though, no one else seemed any better informed than he was, and he frowned at Saryn. "What about it?"

Saryn looked from him to DECA's camera. "Does it not respond on an instinctive level to alterations in a Ranger's receptivity? Why has it not intervened in this instance?"

"Would it notice this kind of thing?" Andros asked, surprised by the idea. He, too, turned his gaze on DECA's camera.

If DECA could have shrugged, Andros was sure she would have. "Either of you would have far more knowledge of the grid's capabilities than I."

"The what?" Ashley asked at last, and he saw her stifling a yawn as he glanced over at her. She was leaning on Cassie again, watching the conversation through half-closed eyes. "What are you guys talking about?"

"The morphin grid is the original source of the Power Rangers' strength," Saryn said. Even he was leaning back against the wall, and Andros wondered what time the rest of them had finally gone to bed. "There are various devices, artifacts, and morphers that serve as conduits, but the Power comes, universally, from the grid."

"So is it a thing, or a place?" Cassie wanted to know.

"It's not truly either," Saryn said, catching Andros' eye.

Andros just shrugged. "Don't look at me; I've never been inside it. All I know is what Zhane told me."

Saryn looked a little uncomfortable. "I have only been inside it once myself, and the incident was not particularly enlightening. I am, if anything, less certain of what it is now than I was before I experienced it."

"That's what Zhane said," Andros agreed with a small smile.

Eyes closed, Ashley murmured, "But not word for word, I bet."

Andros edged forward, pushing himself to his feet as quickly as he dared. TJ caught his arm as he stumbled, but he didn't sit back down. He took a step forward, leaning on TJ more than he cared to admit, and he put out a hand to catch himself on the other patient bed.

Ashley's eyes had fluttered open, watching his progress worriedly, and she lifted her left hand automatically as he held his out to her. He took her hand, catching Cassie's eye. "We might as well try," he offered. "I've heard the grid is more responsive to team Power."

She frowned, clearly not understanding. Before Andros could say anything else, though, Saryn reached over her shoulder and caught her fingers. He laid them over their joined hands, then motioned for TJ to do the same. "Put your morphers together," he said quietly. "That is how I was initiated as well."

"Right," TJ said, after a moment's pause. With a shrug, he let go of Andros' arm and put his hand over Cassie's. "Okay."

"Carlos," Andros said, and he heard the other sigh.

"Far be it for me to interfere with people who don't know what they're doing," Carlos muttered. He joined them on Andros' other side and put his hand on top of TJ's.

The light brightened abruptly, dispelling the shadows--and the Medical bay, for that matter. For a moment no one spoke.

"If I was dreaming," Ashley said at last. "Someone would wake me up, right?"

Andros let go of her hand carefully, taking a single step backward. The sun was high over the Keyota commons, but the steady tumble of the fountain was the only motion in sight. He took a second look at it as the sound suddenly registered--water hadn't flowed in that fountain for more than six years.

"I'll wake you up if you'll wake me," Cassie murmured. She took a step back and let out a squeak as she bumped into someone. "Saryn!"

"All right," TJ said, looking considerably more intrigued than he had before. He squinted up at the sun, then back at Saryn. "Assuming this is the grid, and not some sort of shared hallucination--should you be here?"

"Um…" It was Cassie who held up his ruby, still hanging on its gold chain around her neck. She actually looked a little sheepish. "Sorry."

"And you would be?" Carlos' voice inquired. Andros had no idea who he was talking to until he put the fountain behind him and turned around.

He blinked. "DECA? What are you doing here?"

She put her hands behind her back with a small shrug. "Your guess is as good as mine." Her eyes went distant for a moment before refocusing on his with a curious expression. "Literally, in this case. I've lost my link to the Megaship's sensors."

"Whoa," TJ interrupted, packing a surprising amount of disbelief into the single syllable. "Say again?"

Eyebrow raised, she turned her head to look at him. "Your guess is as good as mine. Literally, in this case. I've lost my link to the Megaship's sensors."

Andros grinned. "TJ, this is DECA. DECA, TJ."

"We've met," she deadpanned.

"Guys," Cassie said softly. Her tone was serious enough to get Andros' attention immediately, and he was already turning around as she added, "I don't like the look of this."

"If you want a second opinion," Ashley agreed without hesitation, "you've got it. Is it just me, or do they look way too familiar?"

The Astro Rangers stood on the far side of the stone fountain.

"Andros." He turned his head a little and saw DECA nod over his shoulder at the fountain. "If that's a symbolic representation of your Power, I suggest that allowing them access to it could be unwise."

Only then did he notice the unusual mosaic surrounding the familiar fountain. It had always been circular, but now the five Astro colors comprised the outer ring of the circle--as though their logo had been wrapped protectively around the commons' only source of open water.

"But they're us," he murmured over his shoulder, lifting his gaze to their doppelgangers.

"They're not," she said, and even as she spoke he saw what she meant. Each of the false Rangers sported five blood red bars across the front of their uniform, taking the place of the multi-colored Astro logo that would normally be there.

He motioned to the others, and they stepped forward as one.

As they interposed themselves between the impostors and the fountain, he wondered that the false Rangers didn't make any move to stop them. "Who are you?" he demanded, addressing the one in the middle. He tried to ignore the other's eerie resemblance to his own morphed form.

Every one of the false Rangers lifted their right fist to their chest. Flinging their hands forward in a strange shadow of the Astro Rangers' morphing gesture, five voices growled in unison, "Psycho Rangers!"

The figure in the middle came forward, but the other four turned to their respective sides and moved to encircle the fountain. At his back, Andros could feel his team spreading out to echo them, each one of them stepping up to the edge of the circle defensively.

The one in front of him stopped mere inches from the red stone on which Andros stood. "Psycho Red," it sneered, in what he assumed was supposed to be an introduction. Before he could respond, it reached up and removed its helmet.

His own face stared back at him.

He had to lock his knees to keep from taking a step back. He felt DECA shift behind him, subtly reminding him of her presence, and he took a deep breath. He caught a glimpse of Ashley's stunned expression from somewhere to his right, and, perversely, it made him feel a little better.

Then he heard a venomous voice utter the words, "Psycho Yellow!" He turned involuntarily, taking his eyes off of the being in front of him for the first time. Ashley's double stared back at her from no farther away than his own.

When it made no threatening moves, his gaze slid toward Carlos. The black "Psycho Ranger" was at least five long strides from the edge of the circle, and it made no effort to identify itself. TJ's counterpart, however, had no such compunctions.

"Psycho Blue," it hissed, pulling its helmet off with one swift motion. It stood maybe three steps from the circle, but its face was an exact mirror of TJ's.

Just to his left, Saryn had one hand on Cassie's shoulder and was glaring hard enough to drop a lesser threat with the sheer force of his expression. Cassie's "Psycho Ranger" was closer than TJ's, but it didn't stand toe-to-toe with her the way Andros' was. Possibly because of Saryn, Andros thought, trying to be amused by the idea.

"Psycho Pink," the last one declared, rather sulkily. It folded its arms, adding to the sullen impression. It did not remove its helmet.

He felt himself falling suddenly and he tensed, putting his hands out automatically in an effort to catch himself--and then he realized that the floor of the Medical bay was underneath him, and he was leaning back against one of the patient beds.

"Andros?" Ashley's worried voice asked. He felt the patient bed shift, and then her hands were on his shoulders. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," he muttered. The grid's disorienting effect must have been enough to make him lose his balance. "Just--really tired."

"There must be some sort of constant drain on your Power." DECA's camera tilted a little to look down at him. "It must not have ended when the attack did--there is no other explanation for your continuing symptoms."

"They are drawing their own power directly from the Astro Rangers," Saryn surmised, glancing up at DECA's camera for confirmation.

The red light blinked once. "So it would seem."

"By 'they'," Cassie began uncertainly, "you mean--these Psycho Rangers?"

Saryn must have nodded, for TJ added, "All right, so everyone else saw that too. That's good; at least I'm not going crazy."

"I do not believe that fact alone discounts the possibility of your insanity," DECA informed him.

TJ swung around and pointed at her camera. "And you! Since when have you been a person?" he demanded.

"I am nothing more or less than what I was a year ago," she replied calmly--and, Andros thought, a little smugly.

It took more of an effort than he'd expected to lift his head, but he managed. "DECA's always had a holographic interface," he explained. "I just don't use it anymore. Zhane might; I don't know."

"And this never came up before?" TJ wanted to know.

"You didn't ask," Andros began defensively, but TJ cut him off.

"You're not the one I meant." He gave DECA's camera an indignant look. "During that entire 'three thousand languages and all known galaxies' speech, it never once occurred to you to mention that you also happen to be a twenty-something single white female?"

"Do you feel that such a reference to the image I choose to adopt would have added anything to the conversation?" DECA inquired.

"Well…" TJ glanced around helplessly.

As amusing as it was to see the self-possessed Blue Ranger flounder, Andros just couldn't concentrate. Instead of flashbacks, he found himself plagued more and more by an uncontrollable drowsiness, and his position on the floor wasn't helping.

"DECA's appearance aside," Andros said at last, tilting his head back to rest it against the patient bed, "is there any part of this conversation we can't put off until we've gotten some sleep?"

There was a moment of silence before Cassie said, "Probably--" She was interrupted by a yawn. "But I'm not awake enough to know what it is."

Jetson lifted his head from Andros' leg as she stood up, and Andros considered him for a moment. He hadn't even noticed when Jetson lay down, but the dog had apparently been using Andros' leg as a pillow for some time now.

TJ offered his hand to Andros, and he took it gratefully. The other Ranger pulled him to his feet, but when Andros wavered he said, "Maybe you two had better stay here for the rest of the night. Let DECA monitor you for a few more hours, just in case."

"Sure," Ashley murmured sleepily, already curled up on her patient bed again. "Good idea, TJ."

"You all right?" Carlos asked quietly, but Andros nodded and waved him off.

He stumbled over to the other patient bed and managed to sit down before he fell--he could only hope that sleep was going to help. "I'll be okay," he said aloud, when he realized that Carlos was still watching him. "I don't think anyone should go down to Earth before we've had a chance to talk, though."

"Note to self," Carlos replied, sounding a little more like himself. "No sleepwalking."

Andros smiled, then nodded when TJ put in, "Breakfast strategy session, then. No one go anywhere beforehand."

He could barely keep his eyes open as the others started to file out. He heard Jetson's toenails clicking on the deck as the dog followed Cassie and Saryn out into the hallway, and a moment later TJ said something to Carlos that he couldn't quite overhear. But he was too tired to care much at that point, and as he lay down he decided that the supposed discomfort of the patient beds' had been seriously overstated.

DECA let the lights dim without being asked, but just as he was closing his eyes he heard Ashley say his name softly. "Yeah," he muttered, not moving.

There was a pause. "We still need to talk," she whispered at last.

He opened his eyes at that, but he couldn't see anything in the darkness. "Yeah," he agreed finally, letting out a soundless sigh. He hoped those words sounded less ominous in the morning. "I know."