“Maybe we should tell Eric we’re from the future,” Trip said eagerly. “Maybe then he’d see what we’re up against, and how important our mission is, and he’d be willing to work with us.”

The Time Force Rangers were having a meeting in their clock tower headquarters. A month had passed since Eric had stolen the Quantum morpher, and to their relief, he had so far shown no inclination to misuse his new powers. Unfortunately, he had also shown no inclination to cooperate with them. What he had done was show up during two of their confrontations with Nadira to, as he arrogantly put it, ‘Bail you guys out.’

“I don’t know. If my father finds out our technology is from the future, he’ll try even harder to exploit it. And it might give his scientists an edge in trying to figure it out,” Wes said.

Shortly before, they had seen a disturbing news story, a press conference given by Alan Collins announcing that Bio-Lab was analyzing the Quantum Ranger technology, and expected eventually to equip all of the Guardians with Ranger weaponry. Eric had been there, in the background, although he didn’t look too happy.

“I doubt they’ll be able to do it anytime soon. But you never know. This certainly confirms that we were right not to get closely involved with your father or Bio-Lab,” Jen said, smiling at Wes.

Wes smiled back. He had suggested to the others that they approach his father, and even join the Guardians if necessary to get his help. They had firmly refused, unanimously telling him they preferred to keep the team the way it was.

“It just gives us another reason to get that morpher back, if we can’t get Eric to listen to us,” Jen went on.

Lucas spoke up. “We can’t just take it by force. He’s more powerful than all of us together, with the Quantum Defender and the Q-Rex. And even if we got it away from him, we couldn’t use it.”

“Why not?” Wes asked.

“The Quantum morpher and all the Quantum weapons including the Q-Rex are voice activated. They’re locked to the Quantum Ranger’s voice. When the morpher was sent back to this time, it was set up to lock on to the voice of the first person to command it. That was Eric.”

“I know. I was there,” Wes said.

Katie added, “Someone else can only use it if the current user unlocks it. I don’t think Eric’s going to do that anytime soon.”

“Even if we can’t use it, we might have to get it away from him. Our only chance would be to take him by surprise,” Jen said.

“You’d probably have to kill him to get it,” Wes objected.

Jen and Lucas looked at him, their expressions grim. Wes stared back and burst out, “Wait a minute! That’s not what you’re thinking about doing? Is it?”

“Of course not. But if he ever starts to misuse his power, and becomes dangerous -- we’d have to do whatever it takes,” Jen said.

“Forget it! I’m not going to be part of murdering anyone. Even Eric.”

“Look, Wes,” Jen said, her voice low and intense. “We’re not playing a game here. You heard Captain Logan’s message. If we don’t stop Ransik, our world is gone. Millions -- maybe billions of people, dead. We’re not going to let one man get in our way. And what about this city, right now? Eric has the power to destroy anything and anyone he wants to now. We’ve seen how violent he can be. All this power may make him worse. What if he loses his temper with the Defender in his hand, or the Q-Rex by his side?” She took a deep breath and calmed herself visibly. “We’d never do such a thing unless it’s absolutely necessary. Let’s hope it never comes to that. So far, Eric hasn’t given us any reason.”

Wes looked around, uneasily remembering the two times he himself had been afraid Eric would kill him. Lucas was stony-faced; Trip and Katie looked miserable but did not protest. He sighed and said, “I sure hope he never does.”

“I still say Eric’s not so bad,” Trip said. “He risked his life to save us from the Quantasaurus. And he captured Brickneck for us.”

Lucas snorted. “You mean he risked his life to get control of the Quantasaurus. And you saw what he did when he defeated Brickneck. Almost killed him.”

“Well, it’s pointless to argue about it now,” Jen said. “Right now I’m more worried about how much Bio-Lab is going to find out about the Ranger technology.”

In a laboratory at Bio-Lab, the Quantum Ranger was flat on his back in a CAT scan machine, and not very happy about it. Eric had never liked doctors, and intensely disliked the poking and prodding he had gone through in the last few weeks. He disliked even more having to let his morpher out of his possession for various scans and tests. Part of him was afraid someday they wouldn’t give it back.

He also resented the time he was forced to spend away from his duties as commander of the Silver Guardians. He knew he had done a good job so far. Most of the Guardians had gotten over their initial resentment at having Eric promoted over them because he was a Ranger and had come to respect him. While he didn’t have a friendly relationship with them, they had found him to be a natural leader, tougher and more hard-working than any of them, demanding but also intensely loyal to and protective of his people. He had even won over Miller, the man who had been temporary commander, by keeping him as second-in-command instead of firing or demoting him.

Despite Eric’s annoyance with the scientific research on his morpher, he had to admit that Dr. Michael Zaskin, the principle investigator on the Quantum project, had been considerate and friendly. And his enthusiasm was infectious. Eric admired that kind of dedication. Zaskin was also one of the few influential people at Bio-Lab -- he was even on a first-name basis with Mr. Collins -- who genuinely liked Eric and treated him with respect.

An hour later, Eric was demorphed and back in uniform -- now including the commander’s red beret and braid. He watched as Zaskin strapped his morpher onto a bar in a small test chamber enclosed in clear plastic. Other scientists adjusted a forest of recording and detection instruments. At Zaskin’s nod, Eric stepped up to the microphone waiting for him.

Loudly, he said, “Quantum Power!” He watched curiously as the morpher lit up, glowing brightly. A red glove materialized around it, and waves of energy flowed over it, streaming past the open end of the glove to where a human body should be. After a few seconds, the waves dissipated, the glow faded, and the glove disappeared.

Dr. Zaskin unfastened the morpher and examined it. “I know the information we need is in here,” he said. “But we don’t even have the instruments to detect what it’s doing. If we could just take it apart...” He smiled at Eric’s scowl. “I know, you wouldn’t allow it, and neither would Alan. I’m not sure I’d want to take the chance of damaging it or setting off some kind of dangerous reaction, anyway.” A note of frustration crept into his voice. “But we’re not making progress. The technology in this thing is completely ahead of its time.”

“How can that be? It came from an archeological dig.”

“I don’t know. But we’re going to keep trying to find out.”

Ransik had watched the Bio-Lab press conference with interest. He still hadn’t entirely given up on acquiring the Quantum Ranger powers and the Q-Rex, whether that meant getting the Quantum morpher or getting the technology another way. And he definitely didn’t like the idea of the humans of this time producing an army of Rangers. After some thought, he went in search of Conwing.

It was morning in a quiet, peaceful neighborhood in suburban Silver Hills. Families were waking, having breakfast, getting ready for work or school. In front of one house in particular, Michael Zaskin was saying goodbye to his eight-year-old daughter. Neither of them noticed the car parked across the street, with three men and a pink-haired woman inside.

As Zaskin stood by his car, waiting for the little girl to go back inside, the four strangers crossed the street and approached him. As he turned to them, suddenly two of the men grabbed him and swiftly dragged him to their car. He struggled but they were strong - stronger than any human had a right to be.

A moment later they were gone, leaving the neighborhood as peaceful as they found it, except for a frightened little girl screaming for her mommy.

Two hours later the police had come and gone, leaving the Silver Guardians to protect Dr. Zaskin’s wife and child. Eric left their house, having done what he could to reassure them. From the girl’s description, he had immediately recognized Nadira and knew her accomplices must be mutants or cyclobots, disguised somehow. And he had no doubts about why Zaskin had been kidnapped. Obviously it was because of the research he was doing on the Quantum morpher.

Eric firmly pushed down the guilt he felt, both at being the unintentional cause of Zaskin’s kidnapping and at not having foreseen the possibility. The problem now was finding him before it was too late.

As he walked out of the house he saw five familiar colorful figures, sitting on their vectorcycles at the curb, ready to interfere as usual. He could imagine the expressions on their faces, behind those visors. The same expressions they always wore when they looked at him; disdain, distrust, and dislike.

“What are you doing here?” Eric asked.

“Same as you. Trying to find Dr. Zaskin,” the Red Ranger answered.

“We’ve got it covered. We don’t need your help.”

“We really need to work together on this,” the Pink Ranger said.

“I said I can handle it without your help,” Eric said stiffly.

“Can’t you listen for once? A man’s life is at stake here, not just your pride!” Wes said. Eric felt the burn of anger, and struggled to control it as he saw Wes and Jen exchange glances. Like it or not, Wes was right. And he wanted to show them he wasn’t the maniac they thought he was.

“So, what are you suggesting?” he asked reluctantly. He thought they were surprised, but it was impossible to tell with those helmets hiding their faces.

“If either of us finds out anything, share it. That’s all,” Jen said.

“I’ll think about it.” Eric gave them a hard look and crossed his arms.

As the others moved their cycles back into the street, Wes turned to him. “Eric, you should watch your back. Ransik and Conwing are after the Quantum powers. They may come after you and your morpher next.”

“I can take care of myself,” Eric snapped, and walked away. But it gave him an idea.

It was early the next morning when Wes was proven right. Eric had come home to the small house he rented in a poor but respectable neighborhood to get a few hours of sleep and a change of scene. Before returning to Bio-Lab and dressed in jeans and a shirt, he carried his two pet birds outside into the small and cluttered back yard for some fresh air.

He had gotten the birds a few weeks ago. Most of his life up to now had been spent in either foster homes, dormitories, or barracks. This was the first time he had lived alone. While he liked having a home all his own, and did not much care for the company of most of his fellow human beings, he was surprised to find himself lonely. Coming home to something living helped.

He lingered by their cage, watching them eat their birdseed and absently wondering what it was like to have such a simple life.

Startled by a sudden sound behind him he looked around to see a little blonde girl, about ten years old, whom he recognized as belonging to the couple next door. She smiled at him brightly and said, “Hi! Can I talk to your birds?”

“Sure,” he replied after a moment’s hesitation, wondering why her mother had apparently not warned her about talking to strange men.

Coming nearer, she leaned close to the cage. “They’re so cute! Are they best friends?”

“I guess so,” he answered dubiously.

“That’s nice! Everyone should have friends.” Eric smiled at that, a bit ruefully.

“My name’s Alice,” she said.

“I’m Eric. It’s nice to meet you.”

They were interrupted by a hand falling heavily on Eric’s shoulder. He turned to see three strange men in suits standing behind him, one of them smiling at him. He instantly realized they matched the descriptions of Nadira’s accomplices in kidnapping Dr. Zaskin.

“We’d like you to come for a ride with us,” the smiling man said.

“And who are you?” Eric demanded, shrugging the hand off his shoulder.

Smiling Man answered, “You’ll find out.” He nodded at one of his companions who had moved behind Alice, and now produced a blaster and pointed it at the unsuspecting girl’s back. Sensing something wrong, she looked up at Eric uncertainly.

Eric knew he couldn’t take a chance with the child’s safety by putting up a fight. “All right,” he said quietly, gave Alice a reassuring smile, and let them lead him away. They were approaching a car when Eric caught a movement behind him and felt something crash into the back of his head.

Dazed, Eric felt Smiling Man’s friends force him to his knees and pull his arms above his head, and handcuff him. Smiling Man stepped up, grabbed his left arm with inhuman strength and removed his morpher. Eric tried to stop him, only to be slapped across the face hard enough to knock him down. The two other men pulled him up and shoved him into their car.

A fast drive later, they parked on a small bridge just outside town, in a quiet area of fields and woods. The two other men, who had not spoken at all, dragged Eric out of the car to face Smiling Man.

“What’s the deal?” Eric asked. “What do you want with me?”

Smiling Man smiled even wider. “It’s not you I want. It’s the Q-Rex.” He held the morpher in front of Eric’s face as the others tightened their grip on his arms. “Call it!” Eric only turned his face away.

Smiling Man touched a control on his belt. His disguise blinked out, revealing the tall, white form of Conwing, not entirely to Eric’s surprise. The two silent men metamorphosed into cyclobots at the same moment. They shoved Eric against the railing at the side of the bridge, bending him back far enough to see the drop beneath him into the fast, deep water of the Silver River, in an unspoken threat.

Conwing held out the morpher again, saying, “Do it!” Eric stared back defiantly. Conwing laughed softly. “How brave. Maybe we should take you home and pay another visit to your little friend.”

Eric knew he had no choice. And having the Q-Rex here would do Conwing no good. He raised his head and spoke quietly into the morpher. “Q-Rex. Come.”

It took only a few moments. The Quantasaurus swooped in, landing in a field next to the bridge. Conwing raised the morpher and called, “Q-Rex! Destroy the city!” There was, of course, no response.

Eric smiled unpleasantly. “It only obeys my voice.”

“I know. That’s why I brought this,” Conwing replied. He pulled a small mouthpiece from a hidden pocket, placed it on his face, and spoke again. “Q-Rex! Walker mode!” he said, this time, amazingly, in an exact duplicate of Eric’s voice. Eric froze in shock and horror as the Q-Rex obeyed.

“Fascinating little device, isn’t it? One of Time Force’s experimental models. Our technology makes yours look primitive, doesn’t it?”

“Your technology. Who are you?”

“Didn’t the Time Force Rangers tell you? We’re all from your future. The year 2200, to be exact,” Conwing answered. “Thanks for the morpher, and the voice lesson. Now -- I don’t need you anymore.” He strapped the morpher on his own wrist, drew his blaster, then pulled a dagger from his belt and pressed it under Eric’s chin, smiling as he forced him back against the railing. The cyclobots released their grip and took a step away.

“Eric!” A voice -- Wes’s voice -- shouted from the end of the bridge. They all turned to see the Rangers headed for them on their vectorcycles.

“Stay back or I’ll kill him!” Conwing shouted, turning to face them. The Rangers stopped only yards away. Eric saw only one possible way to escape becoming a hostage, and took it. He quickly turned, climbed up onto the bridge railing, and jumped off. Conwing saw him and got off a shot, grazing his arm as he fell toward the river. He felt the shock of burning pain from the blast and heard Wes shout again.

“Eric! Noo!” Eric had time for an instant of surprise at the anguish in Wes’s voice, just before he hit the water.

Disoriented by the energy blast and the impact, Eric struggled to find the surface, but it was no use. The water was cold and dark, and would not let him go. He fought it as fiercely as he had fought for everything in his life, but unconsciousness finally overcame him.

Wes started for the side of the bridge but Jen beat him to it, leaping over the railing after Eric. The other Rangers headed for Conwing, who raised the morpher and shouted, “Q-Rex! Attack the Rangers!”

“He sounds just like Eric!” Katie exclaimed.

“He must be using a voice synthesizer! I didn’t think anything could fool the Quantum morpher!” Trip said. They turned as the Q-Rex started for them.

“Here we go again!” Wes shouted as they ran off the bridge into the trees for cover.