It was raining. Ashley pulled the blanket closer around her shoulders, trying not to think about anything. One thing she could say for electronic readers: it was much easier to hold them one-handed than it was an actual book. She tucked her unoccupied hand under the edge of the blanket to keep it warm and rested her head against the back of her giant beanbag chair.

It wasn't really a beanbag chair, in the sense that no one here called it that. She and Kerone had finally gone shopping, giving up on the boys ever being ready to participate in such an event, and they had ended up with honest-to-goodness furniture. Not that Zhane's grandparents hadn't helped them out considerably at first, but a couple's castoffs couldn't furnish the living arrangements for five people.

So now she had a big, moldable, beanbag-like chair, and the perfect place to snuggle when she wanted to ignore the rest of the world for a while. The only problem was that the rest of the world wasn't letting her ignore it. First, the rain had started, evoking a round of complaints from the zords. Then her heater had inexplicably shut off, and she just didn't feel like doing anything about it.

Now, when she was finally comfortable and determined not to venture out of her room for anything, there was a knock on the door. Ashley sighed, wondering if whoever was out there would believe she had fallen asleep. Or left. Maybe she wasn't in her room at all.

The knock came again. This time she lowered her reader and eyed the door with exasperation. After a few seconds of internal debate, she called reluctantly, "Come in."

Zhane poked his head around the doorframe, and she mustered a small smile. "Hey," she greeted him, setting the reader in her lap and hiding her other hand under the blanket. "What's up?"

"It's cold in here," he complained, not bothering to answer. "Did you turn off your heater on purpose?"

She shook her head wordlessly. She didn't feel like explaining, and he didn't seem to expect her to. He just crouched down by the heater and rebooted it, making a face when it took a moment to warm up again. "These things are so slow," he grumbled.

Turning to brace himself against her bed, he slid to the floor next to the heater and regarded her curiously. "What are you doing?"

She shrugged, not really in the mood to talk. "Reading."

For some reason, that made him grin. "That's what I always say, too. Want to go do something?"

She really didn't, but before she could tell him so the shriek of their newly installed alert system cut through the quiet. She clapped her hands over her ears, wishing for one brief second that she could just curl up under the blanket and wait until the noise went away. Even as the thought crossed her mind, though, Ranger instinct pushed her to her feet and she chased Zhane out onto the catwalk.

"Whose idea was it to make it so loud?" Zhane shouted over the sound, and she rolled her eyes as she joined him at the railing. The first makeshift alarms had been routed through the comm screens and relied on DECA to make sure they knew what was going on. The new one was a separate, generalized warning system designed to wake the soundest sleeper--probably throughout Keyota.

The alert system was abruptly silenced, and Ashley saw a sparkle of violet dissipating from the nearest siren. "Thanks, Kerone," she called, taking her hands away from her ears.

"No problem," Andros' sister answered, her voice echoing up from the middle of the zord bay. A moment later she emerged, pushing a short, blue-clad figure ahead of her. "We seem to have an intruder."

As she caught sight of the intruder's face, she knew her first reaction had been right. Alert be damned, she should have just pulled the blanket up over her head and stayed where she was. There was only one way Justin could have appeared without any kind of warning inside the hangar bay.

"JT?" Zhane was hanging over the railing, peering down at the two of them with a strange expression. She had no idea what made him think this was JT rather than Justin, but he must have been right because the figure in blue nodded.

"You can talk," Kerone said warily.

"Thanks," JT responded. "I think. You take your intruder alerts very seriously."

"Don't you?" Kerone retorted. She didn't sound amused.

JT shrugged. "Point."

"What are you doing here?" Zhane wanted to know. He must have ranked JT low on the "threat" scale, for he was already starting down the stairs. Ashley debated teleporting, just on principle, but in the end she followed his example.

"I suppose you wouldn't believe me if I said I was testing your response time," JT offered, a hint of Justin's old humor showing through.

"It's only funny if it's not true," Zhane warned, not taking his eyes off the stairs. He was suddenly in a bad mood, Ashley thought. She wondered if he was taking over Andros' role in the Red Ranger's absence.

"You're almost as bad as we are." JT didn't look intimidated in the slightest. "And we have a reason for not having a sense of humor."

The war in JT's dimension was certainly an excuse, but they seemed to have their own brand of humor nonetheless. It was sometimes dark and deadpan, but it was there and most of the time it was surprisingly normal. She supposed Rangers in any dimension did whatever they could to keep some normalcy in their lives.

"We have no way of knowing you're who you say you are," Kerone informed him. "So either give us some proof or get to the point."

"The point is that I'm here at all." JT's face was devoid of expression now. "And if I got in here just like that, you have bigger problems than who I really am."

"If you're going somewhere with that," Zhane said, jumping down the last few steps and striding across the bay, "you can start any time now."

"Had any unannounced visitors lately?" JT asked, halting Zhane's advance with a seemingly casual question. "Bad guys showing up where they shouldn't be? Quantrons slipping past sensor nets?"

Ashley caught up with Zhane and they exchanged glances. "Yeah," Zhane said slowly. "What do you know about that?"

"I know what made you switch places with our Rangers when Justin and I first started the ID experiments," JT told him. "It wasn't just the fact that you were counterparts. It was Dimitria. Or your proximity to Dimitria's Rangers, in your case."

Ashley frowned, catching Kerone's confused gaze and shaking her head in return. "What are you talking about?"

"Interdimensional beings use landmarks, road signs to find their way through the dimensions," JT explained. "Some of them they know instinctively, some they're so familiar with that they can find them with their eyes closed. But most of the time they need a way to figure out where they are and where they're going, sometimes very quickly."

"Which has to do with us how?" Kerone interrupted.

"It doesn't have anything to do with you, actually." JT considered her for a moment. "You didn't know Dimitria... at least, as far as I know?"

"No," she agreed, not looking any more enlightened.

He nodded. "You're all right then. But Dimitria obviously considered the Turbo Rangers 'hers'. She often used them to find her way back to this dimension, as she did in ours before the war."

"How?" Ashley had a sinking suspicion that it wasn't going to be something as simple as just looking around for them and then popping in.

"By tagging the Power you held at the time. That's why Cassie couldn't stop the switch by giving away her astromorpher."

"But we don't hold the Turbo Power anymore," Ashley protested.

JT looked surprised. "Did you give it away?"

"It was destroyed," she said, looking to Zhane for support. He just shrugged. "We lost it when Divatox blew up the Power Chamber."

JT gave her an odd look. "Who told you that?"

Before she could answer he continued, "Justin got his powers back. What makes you think the rest of you can't? The Power source is still viable."

"And what does this have to do with you appearing in the middle of the hangar?" Kerone insisted. When they looked at her, she tossed her head. "Just because he looks like JT doesn't mean he is JT. He hasn't even said anything useful, let alone explained how he got here."

"Obviously, I traveled interdimensionally." JT rolled his eyes in such a Justin-like fashion that Ashley had to hide a smile. "I thought you'd have already figured out why I'm here by now."

"To bring back bad memories?" Zhane suggested dryly.

JT didn't smile. "Dark Spectre is an interdimensional being," he told them. "And you guys are homing beacons."

Water splashed in his face and he threw himself out of the way, tumbling back into the world of murky silence as he lost his grip on the fin that had hauled him to the surface. With a powerful kick he shot back toward the source of the splash, keeping his head just under the film that separated water from air. He could see the place where it lightened and his hand shot up, breaking the surface and grabbing Aura's ankle.

The light vanished as she lost her concentration and crashed through the waves in a swirl of air bubbles and long shadowy hair. Before she could retaliate he felt the familiar fin under his hand again and his fingers closed on it without question. The dolphin sped away faster than he could swim, keeping him just out of Aura's reach and as she pushed him up out of the depths once more.

Aura popped out of the water a short distance a way, face tilted back so that her hair slid away across her shoulders as she emerged. "Conspiracy," she declared, voice bouncing off the waves toward him. "You would never escape on your own!"

"That's why she helps me!" Carlos shouted back. "She feels sorry for me, being pitted against your superior strength and maneuverability!"

"She should feel sorry for me, having to deal with your devious and underhanded tactics!" Aura retorted. Her hands glowed as she lifted them out of the water and braced them on the surface. With practiced ease, she boosted herself up and let the glow of rehydration completely envelop her as she settled on the surface.

It wasn't part of their game to admit it, but the way she pretended he didn't *need* the advantage--that he was somehow cheating by letting Tori help him--made him feel more comfortable on Aquitar than anything else could have. He was lucky, too, not to be the first. Billy had all sorts of random but useful advice, and Aquitar's own open door policy ensured that many species before theirs had found ways to adapt to a hydrocentric biosphere.

Aura's communicator went off a fraction of a second before his, probably due to the cell phone linkup Billy had modified his to accommodate. He saw her tilt her head, but she didn't open her eyes or let the glow fade. He lifted his own communicator and acknowledged before it could go off again.

"It's Billy," the voice answered, and he grinned. Speak of the devil. "I've got someone here asking for you."

"For both of us?" Carlos found that highly unlikely. There weren't a lot of people on Aquitar that would be trying to contact him, and even fewer that would be doing it in person.

"Just you, actually," was the unexpected reply. "John, from Eltare?"

The Earth name sounded so incongruous when associated with the galaxies-distant planet that it took him a moment to place the name. Several of their Robot Rangers had adopted new names in an effort to establish their own identities, and "John" had originally been TJ's mechanical counterpart. Carlos' had vanished after an argument with Zordon that no one seemed particularly willing to talk about.

"Right," he said at last. "John. What, is he out to see the universe or something?"

"He says he has a message from Justin," Billy answered. "He'd prefer to deliver it face to face."

Of course. He sighed, patting Tori's side absently as she twisted her head to nose the air in question. His only consolation was that it was still Friday afternoon, and he could spend the whole weekend here if he wanted. "We'll be there in a few minutes," he told his communicator.

"Acknowledged."

He dropped his other hand to Tori's back, letting her buoy him up and smiling at her curious look. "I just have this feeling it's bad news," he told her. "We don't hear from Justin much since he left Earth, but when we do, it's usually something we wish we didn't have to know about."

She dipped her head this time, a dolphin mimic of the Aquitian greeting.

"He's a Ranger," Carlos explained. "He used to be one of Earth's Rangers. We were on the same team for a while, but he stayed behind when we... joined another team. Then he left Earth, and he's been doing all sorts of experiments with interdimensional travel on Eltare."

Tori shook her head sharply, and he rolled his eyes in agreement. "Yeah, it's crazy. He has these Robot Rangers helping him--they were built to be just like us. Like me and the members of our old team, the one Justin was on. And then there are the Psycho Rangers, who were magically created to steal other people's identities, and who did they pick? Us. They're good now, and they're helping him too, but basically whenever any of them gets involved in one of his experiments, we end up right in the middle with them."

The dolphin made a complicated movement that he couldn't interpret.

"She says she thought one of you was enough," Aura informed him, the glow fading from around her as she slid into the water again. "And I agree with her."

"She didn't say that!" Carlos protested, seeing Tori make an abortive rolling motion that was clearly disagreement. "Besides, I don't have a Psycho Ranger, thanks to you, and my Robot Ranger took off. So I don't know what you're complaining about."

"I'm complaining about the fact that this does not seem to exempt you from whatever new crisis Justin has created." Aura swam to his side without any visible effort, pressing her cheek to Tori's bottlenose in greeting. "I assume John is not here for a social visit."

"How come sometimes you can hear when you do that and sometimes you can't?" Carlos demanded. "I can't figure out when I'm safe talking and when I'm not!"

"You are never safe from me," she replied, grey eyes gleaming under the cloudy sky. She captured one of his hands and he slid his fingers through hers instinctively. She smiled, reaching up to lift his breather from around his neck. "Shall we go?"

He sighed, patting the dolphin once more. "Thanks, Tori," he said, sliding a little lower in the water as he let go of her support. He let Aura put the breather in his mouth, but he released her hand to motion, I wanted to spend the afternoon with you.

She extended her thumb and little finger, gesturing between them with a smile. Me too.

Tori, not so willing to be dismissed, slid back under his free hand. He glanced over at her surprise, and the way her nose circled was clearly an impatient gesture. Let's go!

He caught hold of her fin without hesitation, letting her draw him back under the water. He saw Aura neatly invert herself, arrowing after them with an ease that could only come from living most of one's life underwater. Billy had tried to explain to him why Aquitians didn't need buoyancy compensators, despite having almost the same density as humans, but he had yet to follow the explanation.

Tori left them right outside the waterlock, and as the water drained out of the tiny room Carlos gestured to Aura. How does she know when I'm here?

There's a pod that watches the Ranger Dome, she answered. I think they tell her.

He dropped his breather, taking a deep breath as in the cramped quarters of the waterlock. The door cycled open at last, and he motioned for her to go first. They made their way out into the corridor and took the lift up to the control room: she speculating aloud over Justin's message, and he wondering if John had already been to Earth.

The first thing he noticed when the door slid open was that John was wearing grey. The second thing was that Billy and Cestria were both with him, and Cestria wasn't in uniform. Neither was Billy, actually, but Billy's clothes were slightly less flamboyant. Since when did Cetaci let on-duty Rangers wear whatever they wanted?

"Hi," John said, interrupting his train of thought. "Sorry to take you away from whatever you were doing, but this is kind of important."

"It always is," Carlos agreed with a sigh. "What's going on?"

"Well, for one thing, Jay and Justin have stabilized their access to ID space." John must have seen and correctly interpreted his expression, because he added, "They can send people anywhere in the Local Group interdimensionally. That's how I got here, in fact."

"Without the inconvenience of switching places with your dimensional counterparts, I assume," Aura interjected.

John grinned at her. "I think 'inconvenience' is a mild term for it, but yes, without that."

"Good," Aura said smoothly. "I have no desire to experience that again."

"Hey!" Carlos glared at her. "Who was doing the experiencing again? Don't try to convince me I was any worse than you were."

"Perhaps you both suffered for not having met the other," Cestria offered. When they both turned to look at her, she smiled a little. "Or perhaps not."

"So we don't have to worry about being switched again, is that the message we're supposed to get?" Carlos asked pointedly.

"Well, not exactly," John admitted. "Yes, that's true, but no, that's not what I came here to tell you."

Carlos raised an eyebrow, and John grinned suddenly. "Man, I miss you. It's been a long time since our Carlos has been around."

"For which you should count yourself lucky," Aura put in, filling a silence that Carlos wasn't sure what to do with.

"I have my own fan club," Carlos told John, deadpan. "You should sign up."

John just shook his head, giving Aura a little more attention than Carlos would have liked. "I can see that," he said at last, still grinning as he looked back at Carlos. "Anyway, Jay discovered something while they were looking for a way to map the dimensions, and it involves you and Dimitria."

"Me and Dimitria?" Carlos repeated, giving John an arch look.

"All of the Turbo Rangers and Dimitria," John amended. "Jay and Justin were talking to Zordon about how interdimensional beings find their way, and it turns out that they basically use whatever landmarks they're most familiar with.

"Unfortunately, in Dimitria's case, that was the Power that her Rangers were using. It was strong enough to be detectable outside the dimension itself, and it was anchored through the five of you. So basically she used you guys to find her way back to your dimension whenever she left."

"I'm guessing this is bad," Carlos remarked, when John paused.

"Yeah," John said seriously. "For a couple of reasons. One, any interdimensional being can use the 'signs' that another establishes. Two... Dark Spectre is an interdimensional being."

"Was," Carlos corrected uneasily. He glanced around at the others and was reassured to see them in varying states of confusion. Even Billy didn't look like he knew where John was going with this.

"Is," John said firmly. "When you blew up Dark Spectre's flagship, you didn't destroy him. You just destroyed his conduit to this dimension."

"Are you saying he can come back?" Aura demanded.

"No." Billy was shaking his head before she'd finished asking the question. "He can't spontaneously generate a new conduit. He's cut off from this dimension forever."

"He is," John agreed. "His influence isn't. He's still alive in JT's dimension, and he's gotten so powerful that he can start affecting things in this one again. He can't physically manifest here, but he can communicate with soldiers in this dimension and he can move them around if he has reference points."

Billy got it first. "The Turbo Rangers."

"Yeah," John said grimly. "The Turbo Rangers."

He slid a full glass across the counter and retrieved the last one, holding it under the tap until it was in danger of overflowing. The ice clinked against the sides as he lifted it to his mouth, taking a huge gulp of water and then putting the glass back under the faucet to top it off. There were advantages to being the one in charge of drinks.

"Karen!" Max did a good impression of outrage, especially when he wasn't. "What have I told you about the responsibilities implicit in the serving of food!"

"Um..." Karen did a much less convincing impression of shame. "That you should take advantage of them as often as possible?"

"You take advantage of an error," Max informed her. "You live up to a responsibility."

"Yeah?" Karen's grin was evident in her voice. "What's your point?"

"She's going to tell you that putting her in charge of the food was your mistake," TJ put in, lifting his glass out of the sink and turning around. "Even I can see that one coming."

"I had hoped that my trust in her would set her on the path to responsibility," Max replied, giving every evidence of disappointment. "Clearly that was, as you say, my mistake."

"Complain, complain, complain," Karen teased, picking another shrimp out of the rice she had dumped into a casserole dish. She popped it into her mouth without any attempt at subtlety. "Better get a plate before I eat it all."

"Tess!" TJ called, leaning over the counter to peer into the living room. "Food's ready!"

He could just see her around the corner, star and moon fleece socks waving idly in the air as she sprawled on the floor with her textbook. "Be right there," she answered distractedly.

"That's what you said ten minutes ago," Karen reminded her, helping herself to the rice before Max could say anything. "Whatever you're reading can't possibly be that interesting."

"It's interesting enough that the professor's testing us on it on Monday," Tessa retorted. She hadn't moved from her place on the floor.

"You have an exam on Valentine's Day?" Karen just shook her head, handing the spoon to TJ before grabbing her glass and moving down the counter. "That's pretty harsh."

TJ chuckled. "You always say that," he pointed out, heaping fried rice onto his own plate and reaching over Karen's arm to snag a couple of chicken fingers. "You think it's unfair no matter what day it's on."

"I do seem to recall you complaining about a test that fell on your cat's birthday," Max said thoughtfully, picking up a pair of chopsticks. "Are there any days you would consider a test acceptable?"

"No." Karen didn't even have to think about it. "Exams are a waste of time. If you know the stuff you then shouldn't have to prove it, and if you don't know it, what do you need the reminder for?"

"There's an obvious flaw in your reasoning, my dear." Max followed along behind them, using his chopsticks where they had used spoons or their fingers.

"And I'm sure you're going to tell me what it is," Karen agreed. "Tessa! Max is hogging all the tofu, so unless you're planning to fight him for it--"

That elicited a laugh from the direction of the living room, and the sound of a book slamming shut. "I'm coming already," Tessa said, coming around the corner to join them at the kitchen counter. "Did you steal my plate?"

TJ offered her his and she pretended to inspect it. Taking one of the mushrooms from his rice, she smiled at him as she put it in her mouth. "Thanks," she said lightly, accepting the empty plate he handed her.

"Students don't value learning for its own sake," Max was telling Karen. "They learn only because it's expected of them. They wouldn't bother if they didn't have anything to show for it at the end of the year."

"Oh, that's not true," Karen chided. "Plenty of people learn just because they want to know!"

"Says the undeclared liberal arts major," TJ put in.

She rolled her eyes at him. "I said 'plenty of people'," she reminded him. "Not me."

"Feeling cynical about the teaching profession tonight, Max?" Tessa asked, taking a spoon to the tofu and sprouts.

"It's Friday," he told her. "I'm allowed to be cynical on Friday."

There was the sound of footsteps outside, and TJ caught Max's eye. The other looked puzzled too, clearly not expecting anyone. TJ put his plate down even before the knock came and he headed for the front door.

Peering out the front window, he was startled to see Cassie standing there. "Hey!" He threw the door open and stepped out, laughing as he went to hug her. "What are you doing here!"

She hugged him back, a little awkwardly, and only then did it occur to him that she was huggable again. Hands on her shoulders, he took a step back to study her. "Are you all right?" he asked, delight turning to concern as he tried to remember how close to term she had been. "What happened?"

"I'm not Cassie," she said, flashing him an oddly indulgent smile. "And she's fine, as far as I know. Still due sometime next month. I'm Sandy."

He blinked, not letting go of her shoulders. "Sandy... hey," he repeated, and he had to grin at her amused expression. "That's--weird, but you probably think the same thing about me. Come on in."

The others had gathered around the door by now, and of all of them, Max looked the most confused. "Sandy?" he repeated, studying her curiously. "Have we met?"

"Sandy's a Robot Ranger," TJ explained, keeping one hand on her shoulder as they stepped inside. "Sandy, this is my uncle, Max, and you've met Tessa and Karen."

"Hi," she said, nodding to them and then transferring her smile to Max. "It's nice to meet you, Max. John's told me a lot about you."

Max raised an eyebrow, looking from her to TJ and back again. "John?"

"My... friend," Sandy answered. TJ glanced at her sideways, wondering if he had imagined her hesitation. "He's a Robot Ranger too. He has some of TJ's old memories."

"Some?" TJ echoed, squeezing her shoulder. "Are you guys getting forgetful in your old age?"

"Just making some memories of our own," she said lightly. Though she didn't look upset, he knew when to back off. She had the same expression that Cassie wore when he'd said something so stupid that she didn't want to embarrass him by pointing it out.

"Well, Sandy," Max said with a beatific smile, "It's nice to meet you too. Will you join us for dinner?"

"Actually," she admitted, "I just came to deliver a message."

"You came a long way for a message," TJ pointed out, reaching past her to push the door shut. "Come on out to the kitchen, and maybe we can change your mind."

She smiled, but she allowed him to lead her out back. "Chinese food," she said, looking a little surprised as they gathered around the counter. "I..." She caught TJ's inquiring expression and she looked a little embarrassed. "John made it sound like Max wouldn't be caught dead ordering out."

"It's been a long week," Max huffed, handing her an empty plate. "I am entitled to my moments of weakness, just as everyone else is. Chopsticks or fork?"

"Chopsticks," Sandy said promptly, putting herself back in Max's good graces with that single word. "Thanks."

"Something to drink?" TJ suggested. "Water's the main thing on the menu tonight, but we could probably find a soda or something if you're homesick."

He regretted the word the moment he said it, but it was too late to take it back. Sandy hesitated, flashing a smile when she saw him wince. "It's all right. Water is fine, thank you."

"So what brings you all the way from Eltare?" Tessa asked, as TJ went to the cupboard for another glass. "I hope it's not one of those 'the galaxy is about to be invaded' messages."

"No," Sandy said with a laugh. "We're spared that, at least for now. This is more of an, 'oh by the way, don't go near the Border' message."

TJ frowned as the ice maker ran briefly, glancing at her as he turned back to the sink. "The Border? Why not?"

"Look at that," Karen commented, not seeming to take Sandy's warning seriously. "She's going for the tofu too. I really don't know how you guys can eat that stuff."

"You're not a fan of tofu?" Sandy asked in all innocence.

"Let's just say that if you were anyone else, I'd be offended that you put me and 'tofu' in the same sentence." Karen lingered by the end of the counter, waiting for Sandy and Max to finish filling their plates before heading into the living room. Tessa was already munching absently on a piece of broccoli.

"The Border," TJ reminded them. He handed Sandy a glass of icewater before gathering up his own food and drink. "Why shouldn't we be going out there?"

"Dark Spectre is organizing new quantron armies," Sandy answered. She was serving herself rice--with chopsticks--as easily as Max had, and without any of the concern she ought to have shown for such an announcement.

"Don't you love being a Ranger?" Karen asked, apparently directing the question at Tessa. "'Hey there. The Monarch of Evil is trying to kill you. Pass the tofu.'"

"I've been standing up all day," Max declared. "My dinner will be conducted in a civilized fashion that involves actually being seated while it's consumed. You're welcome to join me in the living room or not, depending on how much you think it will matter to this Dark Spectre."

So they all ended up in the living room, Karen and Tessa on the couch while Sandy settled herself carefully on the futon. Max took the chair by the porch door, and TJ slid onto one of the stools by the counter. He waited until Max's mouth was full to turn an expectant gaze on Sandy again.

She caught his eye immediately. "Dark Spectre has been launching quantron raids against the Border, but you probably know that already. What I came to tell you is that you, TJ, and Carlos too, shouldn't plan any visits out that way in the near future."

"Wait," Karen interrupted. "You lost me already. Since when is Dark Spectre alive?"

"He was never dead," Sandy told her. "He was just cut off from our dimension. Unfortunately, he's become so powerful in JT's dimension that he's starting to extend his influence again."

"He wasn't dead?" Tessa repeated incredulously. "Who survives having their ship blow up around them?"

"An interdimensional being with a built-in escape route," Sandy answered. "He can't manifest his physical form in this dimension anymore. But if he can perceive this dimension from another one, he can still affect things here."

"How can he see anything in this dimension if he's not in it?" TJ wanted to know. "That doesn't make any sense."

"He can't see things that are only of this dimension," Sandy agreed. "But there are plenty of things here that aren't. Other interdimensional beings, Jay and Justin's interdimensional portals... you and Carlos."

"Stop," TJ said, even though she already had. He pointed his fork at her. "Why me and Carlos? You said that before and didn't explain it. How come Dark Spectre can see us? We're not interdimensional."

"No," Sandy admitted. "But Dimitria tagged you, back when you were Turbo Rangers. She wanted to make sure she could always find you, and that you could always contact her if you needed to, no matter where she was.

"Jay and Justin call them 'road signs'," she added, as though that might help. "She altered the Power you held just enough that she could distinguish it from the Turbo Power in any other dimension. It made you safer, then, because it meant that she could keep an eye on you from anywhere. But now that she's gone, it just means that you're visible to any interdimensional being that happens to look for you."

"Wait," TJ repeated, a sinking feeling in his stomach. "Dimitria's gone?"

Sandy paused, glancing around at the others before her gaze came to rest on him again. "I thought you knew."

He shook his head mutely.

"She was cast out of our dimension during the occupation of Eltare," Sandy said, her voice quieting. "She tried to protect Zordon, and Dark Spectre used his power to strike her down. She barely managed to escape in time."

There was a moment of silence, which Max finally broke. "So what you're saying," he said, chopsticks poised in midair, "is that even incredibly powerful people are helpless against this guy, and he basically has a map showing him where the former Turbo Rangers are at all times."

Sandy smiled a little at his summary. "Among other things," she allowed. "We're pretty sure he can't send quantrons this deep into League space yet. For one thing, he's using his own energy to move troops through ID space, and that's not easy. For another... well, if he could do it, you probably would have seen them by now."

"He's using ID space?" Tessa echoed. "Even Justin couldn't do that!"

"Couldn't," Sandy agreed. "He and Jay can do it now, though. That's how I got here."

"Right," TJ said, the unasked question now answered. "This was a test, then?"

Sandy hesitated, and he got the same impression she'd given him earlier: she wasn't pausing because he'd caught her out, she was only trying to find a polite way to voice the truth. "Yes," she said at last. "But not of ID travel.

"This was a test of the 'road signs'," she told them. "Justin sent JT, Jay, John, and I out to warn the former Turbo Rangers. If he could open an interdimensional portal straight to you on the first try, so could anyone else."

Sparkles of predawn light caught at the fountain's highest reaches, illuminating a droplet here or there as the streams of water danced in the dimness. Even at night, when Elisia's temperature plummeted to half the killing heat of noon, the air was so dry that the fountain had to be surrounded by a hydro containment field. There were fountains like it throughout the town, celebrations of life in the midst of an environment too harsh to flaunt such a luxury.

She watched the cascade of water from the cool refuge of the promenade, knowing it would be shut down by the time everyone was up for breakfast. There was a sandstorm sweeping across the desert from the west, and wind would begin to buffet the town by midmorning. They would be confined to the indoors by afternoon, and fragile water sources like the fountain were protected well in advance.

Cassie shifted a little, trying to sit up straighter without losing the support of the chair that Raine had loaned her. The "pregnancy chair", as the Green Ranger called it. She claimed there were times when no amount of pillows or and cushions could make a woman comfortable. That was certainly true, but the straight-backed chair only helped for short periods of time.

"Take anything you can get," Raine had advised. "Whatever you do, don't try to be brave or respectable. You're pregnant with twins, and you're entitled to anything that makes you feel even the slightest bit better."

She hadn't gotten more than a few hours of sleep the night before. She couldn't get comfortable, and at least being up and moving around distracted her. She had already done her stretches for the morning, but she was tempted to repeat them now just so she would have something else to think about.

It was too much work. She'd have to wait until she either caught her breath or decided that the discomfort of sitting still outweighed the effort of moving. She wished she hadn't left her reader inside.

"I'd always heard that you can tell when you're pregnant," Jenna had said once. "That it's a feeling better than anything in the world."

"Ask me about it later," Cassie murmured under her breath. "Like in twenty years."

She couldn't help smiling a little, as she imagined Jenna's reaction. If it was possible, she had no doubt that the former Pink Ranger would do exactly that. "Your twenty years are up," she would say, appearing out of nowhere and probably scaring Cassie half to death. "So what was it like being pregnant?"

"It was long and tiring and uncomfortable," she told her imagination. "Never have twins."

There was a whisper of movement from the doorway, and she turned her head a little. "Who are you talking to?" Saryn asked quietly.

She sighed, unwilling to let him see how glad she was that he was up. "Jenna," she admitted. "Just remembering something she said to me."

"What did she say?" he wanted to know, stopping in front of her and holding out his hand. She let him help her to her feet, closing her eyes in relief when he motioned for her to turn around.

"She--" Cassie caught her breath when he laid his hand on her lower back. Warmth spread through her skin and into her tired muscles. She felt a tingle replace the ache in her back, and then even that faded as he trailed his fingers up her spine.

"Thank you," she breathed, leaning back into his embrace as he slid his arms around her. His hands settled over her rounded stomach, and she covered them with her own. "I feel like I'm carrying around a lead weight sometimes."

"How is your ankle?" he whispered, kissing her ear gently.

"Better," she said with a sigh. She had twisted it the day before, tripping over the base of the counter, of all things. Saryn had taken care of that, too, but sometimes she felt like such a basket case.

"You're beautiful," Saryn murmured, lifting one hand to brush her hair away from her face. "You don't know how proud I am to be your husband, and the father of your children."

She let out her breath in amusement, closing her eyes again. "You don't know how lucky I am to have an empathic husband," she whispered. "Thank you."

"My pleasure," he replied, and his suggestive tone made her giggle.

"Only you could make that sound dirty," she murmured, turning in his arms to face him. It was a more difficult proposition than it had once been, but he didn't tease her about her weight. He knew, instinctively, how insecure it made her feel.

"Perhaps it is only you that heard it," he offered innocently. "I meant nothing more than what I said."

"Mm-hmm," she agreed, leaning close enough to kiss. "That explains it..."

His support was warm and comforting, and she reveled in the feeling of contentment he brought with him. Even kissing took most of her breath, though, and after a moment he held her closer and just rested his head against hers. "Tired?" he whispered.

"A little." She smiled into his shoulder and added, "Hungry."

His voice held an answering smile as he replied, "That can be remedied."

He kept his arm around her shoulders as she pulled away, turning back toward the door. They were just inside when he stiffened, and she looked up in surprise. She felt his other hand on her shoulder as he whirled, holding her in place, and the distinctive hum of a weapon powering up.

A glance over her shoulder revealed nothing more threatening than one of her old teamates, albeit not one she had expected to see here and now. She removed Saryn's hand gently as she turned around, careful to stay a little behind him. He took his self-assigned job as her protector more seriously than usual lately.

"How did you get in here?" Saryn demanded.

"ID travel," Justin said brightly. "Didn't mean to startle you. Pretty neat, huh?"

"There are protocols we follow with regard to compound admission." Saryn's reply was stern. "How were you able bypass them?"

"I mentioned the interdimensional travel, right?" Justin hadn't moved, and his stillness was the only indication that he was less confident than he sounded. Cassie didn't blame him. Saryn had occasionally been known to shoot first.

"Prove that you are who you say you are," Saryn told him, "and I will put more faith in your explanation."

Justin sighed, but he pulled up his shirt to reveal an electronic panel instead of skin. "Satisfied?"

"That proves you are a robot." Saryn didn't lower his weapon. "Not that you are Jay."

"O-kay..." Justin's robot counterpart looked to Cassie for help.

"Bulk and Skull were trying to teach us something the first time you came to Earth," she offered. "Do you remember?"

He brightened. "Sure! They gave you and Ashley tennis lessons. That was pretty funny."

Saryn glanced at her, and she nodded. He lowered his weapon reluctantly, making it clear what he thought of the situation. She stepped around him, sliding her arm through his and smiling at Jay. "Sorry," she apologized. "KO-35's had some guests that weren't so friendly. Come on in."

"Yeah, I heard about KO-35," Jay agreed, stepping through the doorway. "That's part of the reason I'm here, actually."

"What do you know of that?" Saryn asked warily.

"Do you want something to drink?" Cassie offered. "Come in, sit down. We were about to have breakfast... want to join us?"

"No thanks," Jay said, bouncing up on his toes. "Just wanted to let you know what's going on. Dark Spectre sent those quantrons to KO-35, you know."

"No," Saryn said darkly. "We did not know."

Jay shrugged. "Not many people do yet. He's gathered a huge base of operations in JT's dimension and he wants to expand its influence into ours. We're not sure, but we think he may have developed his own prototype for ID technology."

"You're not sure?" Saryn repeated. He didn't look impressed.

"Either that, or he's found a way to coordinate with someone in this dimension that has massive teleportal capabilities." Jay actually shrugged, clearly not intimidated. "It's possible, but not very likely. For one thing, we should know about someone like that already, and for another, they wouldn't have any real reason to help Dark Spectre."

"Help him do what?" Cassie asked. "What do you think he's trying to do, exactly?"

"I think he's trying to use technology to do what he can't," Jay said bluntly. "You guys threw him out of our dimension, and I think he's trying to find a way back."

"That makes no strategic sense." Saryn eyed Jay skeptically, almost as though he thought the Robot Ranger was trying to manufacture trouble. "He already has as much power as he could want, and his monarchy is actively at war. Why engage on another front?"

"Since when is any amount of power enough for Dark Spectre?" Jay demanded. "The forces of evil are always at war, and they're always looking for more than they have.

"I don't know why this dimension, specifically," he admitted. "But we do have a history. Maybe it's a matter of pride for him, or maybe it has something to do with our experiments with JT.

"Probably not," Jay added quickly, seeing Saryn's expression, "but at least we can communicate with JT and try to work together in this. We've gotten our own ID portal up and running, and we've isolated some of the reference points that Dark Spectre is using in this dimension."

Cassie shifted her weight from one foot to the other, wishing she could sit down. This was going to be one of those conversations that could go on for a long time. Maybe Saryn and Jay could fight it out while she went to find some food...

"Which are?" Saryn pressed impatiently. He was probably just as hungry, now that she thought of it. Too bad Jay didn't have a "pause" button.

"The Turbo team, for one." Jay looked straight at her. "Dimitria turned your Power into an interdimensional homing beacon. Dark Spectre can see it as well as she could, and he's using Ashley's to invade KO-35."

"The Turbo Power was destroyed," she protested, then remembered Justin. "Or... we thought it was."

"It wasn't," Jay said easily. "But it's harder to access without a key."

"How do we disable this 'homing beacon'?" Saryn demanded.

"We don't know," Jay admitted. "We were doing pretty well just to find it. The good news is that Dark Spectre doesn't seem to be able to send soldiers this deep into League space yet, so you're probably safe."

"For now," Cassie put in, frowning. "We need to talk to the others."

"By comm," Saryn remarked, as though it was a given.

She sighed, lifting her gaze to his. He knew perfectly well what she meant. "Saryn..."

"It's time for breakfast," he interrupted, not letting her finish. To Jay he added, "Join us or not, as you will, but I have other concerns."

Cassie shot Jay an apologetic look as Saryn turned away, but the Robot Ranger just shrugged. He must have considered his message delivered because all he said was, "Catch you later, then." Giving her a wink, he turned and strolled back through the door.