Carlos groaned as Deca woke him the next morning. "It's too early," he said, pulling a pillow over his head to block the light.
Deca sounded amused as she replied, "You asked to be woken at seven thirty a.m. on weekdays. It is currently seven thirty a.m. on Monday, which is a weekday."
"Fine, I'm up," he said, shutting his eyes.
"Based upon my previous experiences with Andros, I am not convinced that you are awake."
"All right." He stood and stretched. Deca left him privacy to dress, and he headed off to breakfast.
As he passed the bridge, he saw Andros sitting in his normal seat. On the screen in front of him, a boy and a girl, twins, maybe six years old were practicing what Carlos recognized as telekinisis. The boy was unmistakably Andros, dressed in red, with the blond-streaked brown hair. The girl was dressed in yellow and her blond hair was pulled back. Both children wore black boots and identical lockets hung from their necks.
Andros has a sister, he realized with a start. He briefly wondered why he had never mentioned her, when he got his answer.
The two children lost control of the ball and Andros went after it. A few moments later, he heard his sister screaming.
"Andros, help me! Andros!"
"Karone?"
Andros came running back, but it was too late. There was no trace of his sister left.
Either the footage ended, or Andros couldn't bring himself to watch anymore.
"Deca, begin scanning this system," he ordered in a choked voice.
Carlos didn't stay to watch any more. Had he not been stunned, he would have noticed that the beautiful blue-green planet out the window was not Earth.
He wanted to tell the other rangers what he had just seen, but if had learned anything about Andros, it was that the red ranger was a very private person. It was really none of their business in the first place.
"You all right?" Ashley asked as he sat down.
"I'm just tired," he lied, faking a yawn. Ashley accepted his explanation with a yawn of her own.
"Me too," she said. "I couldn't sleep last night. I guess Andros couldn't either. I saw him on the bridge last night."
Carlos frowned. "He's on the bridge right now."
"Really?" Ashley looked surprised. "I wonder what he's doing. Last night I think he was watching a movie or something."
"What movie?" Carlos asked. If there was anyone who could get through to Andros, it would have to be Ashley. Once she set her mind on something, she was relentless.
She shrugged. "I don't know. He turned it off before I came in. We . . . talked for awhile. He said he'd teach me telekinisis."
"You're learning telekinisis?" Cassie asked as she entered the room, followed by T.J., who headed straight for the Synthetron.
Ashley nodded as they all watched T.J. submerge his breakfast in ketchup.
"Andros said he'd teach me. But don't make a big deal out of it, please. I think he's a little scared of us."
Cassie laughed at her friend. "You should see the expression on your face when you say his name. You like him!"
"I do not!" Ashley protested, blushing. "Andros is . . . um . . ."
"Don't you dare say he's just a friend," Cassie cried, grinning. "You can't talk your way out of this one."
Carlos frowned. The girl, Andros's sister, Karone, had been wearing yellow. Was Karone supposed to be here in Ashley's place?
"Deca, is Andros still on the bridge?" he asked. He should tell Andros that he had seen.
Deca seemed almost reluctant as she said, "No, Andros has gone down to KO-35."
"Did she just say KO-35?" T.J. asked. "Did I miss something?"
"I think we all did," Carlos said. "Deca, are we currently orbiting KO-35?"
"Affirmative."
"Why are we at KO-35?" Cassie asked.
Carlos sighed. Andros wasn't going to like this, but they were going to find out one way or another. "Andros has a sister. She was kidnapped when they were little. He must think that she came back here."
"Sister?" T.J., Cassie, and Ashley all asked together.
Carlos nodded. "I walked past the bridge when he was watching a video of it."
"Ecliptor has been detected on KO-35," Deca announced.
The four rangers looked up in alarm.
"I'll go get him," Carlos said. "You guys stay here."
"Are you sure?" Cassie asked him. "We'll go with you."
"He's more likely to see five of us than two of us," Carlos pointed out. "I'll be fine.
"All right," the others agreed reluctantly.
Moments later, the black ranger was speeding towards the Earth-like world that had met its doom fighting the same enemy he was about to face. But of course he had no way of knowing this.
