Power Rangers In Space/Power Rangers Lost Galaxy - Heather Ray (books for 5 year olds to read themselves txt) 📗

the Commander asks.

"Not a single word," High Councilor Renier sighs, her frustration evident.

The Commander makes his way to the intruder. My fingers hover near my weapon as Stanton gets far too close to the prisoner. He might be 'cuffed, but that doesn't mean he's harmless… I'm sure he's not.

"I've got enough problems right now without adding you to the list," the Commander states firmly. But the attempted thief doesn't even meet his eyes.

Shaking his head, the Commander turns to the nearest security guards. "Put him in detention."

"Yes sir!"

I watch as the stranger is led away, once again without any resistance. It looks like the guards have everything well in hand, laser rifles loaded, manacles locked… and my place is really with the Commander until I'm dismissed.

But I follow anyway. I still don't know precisely what kind of threat this intruder poses, and it would be irresponsible of me to let him be imprisoned in a regular detention cell knowing he had unusual abilities.

As we pause outside a standard cell, the handcuffs are removed and he casually enters the darkened cell. I nod to the two guards, who take their station at both sides of the door, and then I just…watch him.

He has his back to me, just like he did when I first found him. Still the picture of calm, with his head held high, and hands resting at his sides.

We stopped him from getting the Book, but this casual calm really puts me on edge. If we really

stopped him, he'd be upset. It's obvious he doesn't see us as any kind of hindrance, and that worries me.

"I knew you would come."

I blink at the deep voice issuing from the cell. It's the first time I've heard the intruder speak, and his voice is… weird. There's a strange foreign accent, and formality and gravity to his speech that makes you stand up and pay attention.

"You must help me to recover the Book."

I smirk at the nerve of this guy. "Excuse me?"

"The Galaxy Book. It doesn't belong here," he explains. "You must help me."

I stare at his back, curiosity drawing me into the detention cell when good sense probably would've made me lock the door and go back to bed. "Why me?"

He turns around, but his face mostly shrouded in the shadow cast by the corner of the cell. "Because you are the Blue Ranger."

I stare blankly for a beat. And then I jump for the keypad, locking the door from the inside.

So he really was looking through me before. He saw something in me; something that gave me away.

I'm not dealing with one of Trakeena's interchangeable monsters here. "Who are you?"

He turns toward me, stepping into the light. "I am the Guardian of the Book."

What?

I take a step back, struggling to make sense of this. How could the Book have a guardian? I mean, something as dangerous as the Galaxy Book rightfully should have a guardian, but where has he been all this time?

He walks toward me, his eyes calm and deep as he measures my reaction. "It was stolen centuries ago. Recently it sent forth an energy pulse."

Yeah, an 'energy pulse'

that left us stranded in space. Talk about an understatement. "How did you know that?"

"Because someone started to recite the Keonta spell." His voice was serious before, but it becomes grave as he speaks about that spell. "The energy pulse was small. Had the entire spell been spoken, the result would have been unimaginable."

My imagination starts to try. Would it create some kind of vortex or black hole? Blow up the nearest star? Summon a monster from another dimension? Whatever the answer, it would definitely spell doom for Terra Venture.

The Guardian pauses in front of me, looking directly into my eyes. "This Book was never meant to be a research experiment. I must take it back. It is your destiny to help me."

My…destiny

?

I've never put much stock in destiny. But, past experience has taught me to trust my intuition. That gut feeling made it clear to me during combat training on the moon all those months ago that I couldn't

abandon Kendrix, Mike, Leo, and Maya. That I had to find a way to follow them through that warp hole to Mirinoi, even if it meant risking my life, and risking my chance to travel with Terra Venture. Some deep internal feeling pulled me to the Megaship museum, where I met Damon. Some people might call it duty, or maybe destiny, but that turn of events ultimately led to me becoming the Blue Ranger that day.

This feels a whole lot like that day. His last words to me… they make a lot of sense. The Galaxy Book is far too dangerous to be on Terra Venture. Even if Commander Stanton stops anyone from studying it, it's a trouble magnet. So long as we keep it, Trakeena will keep trying to get her hands on it.

The question is…can I trust this Guardian?

Unsettled, I move toward the door. "I'll be back in the morning." I need to think about this. And that trusted gut instinct of mine is urging me to get a second opinion, too.

Chapter Forty-Five

-Karone-

I don't think I knew what true frustration was until now.

Of course, I've had plans fall apart in the past. When I was Astronema, my plans seemed to always fall apart. But this sense of tension -- this knowledge that I'm so close to an important goal, only for it to slip through my fingers -- I've never felt like this before.

I feel like I have the energy to run for miles, but my feet are chained to the ground. I know I'm closer to solving this mystery of the Nexus…I know

it…but now I can't do anything.

So stare helplessly at the wall, forcing my breathing into a slow, steady rhythm in the hopes of inducing sleep.

Only my mind is just too occupied to rest.

It's been over two days since Leo and I discovered that alarming passage about the Nexus in the Galaxy Book, and we haven't made any further progress. It seems as if the timing of our discovery couldn't have been worse; after the bizarre power shortage, all research on the Galaxy Book fell under firm restriction. Everything relating to the Galaxy Book stored on the Science Division's shared drive -- everything

Kendrix and her team have discovered over months of research -- is suddenly out of reach.

I want to keep up our momentum. I've slipped passed security firewalls before, and even though Terra Venture is a marvel of Terran technology, I'm confident I can find my way back to the Science Division's server. And if I reach a true dead end, I can ask Damon for assistance. The engineer capable of restoring the Megaship is surely capable of cracking this security block.

More than anything, I want to take action. I want to do my utmost to find Kendrix.

I sigh into the darkness, thinking about the last shreds of information Leo and I found in the Galaxy Book. The fragmented, tragic account of Jun-ha Diran, saved from the Nexus, only to end her own life after suffering traumatic depression due to the return to reality.

I know we can't jump to conclusions based on one woman's story. There's so much we still don't know about the Nexus. We found something, but it's just the tip of the iceberg.

This is only the beginning…but Leo seems convinced it's the end.

He's been strangely distant since we read about Jun-ha. I know the account was disturbing, but I'm still surprised that all the enthusiasm he showed for finding Kendrix seems to have just…vanished

.

A sudden beep from my wrist jars me from my thoughts. Habit makes me stuff my wrist unit under my pillow, careful not to disturb my roommate, but I'm surprised to hear another tone echo in the darkness.

"Maya here."

So there's an emergency. I throw the blankets off, emerging from Kendrix's bed just as Maya rises.

"Karone as well," I respond belatedly.

Leo's voice passes through the intercom. "We're having an emergency meeting in our quarters. How soon can you get here?"

Maya tugs on her boots while I pull on a robe. "We're on our way."

We must make quite a spectacle, two women running through the hallway in pajamas in the middle of the night, but thankfully we don't have far to go, and we don't run into anyone. It takes less than five minutes for us to pass through the doors into the guys' apartment, and we're greeted by Leo and Damon.

Maya smiles at them, taking a seat on the couch next to the Green Ranger, but I immediately notice the absence of our teammates. "Where are Kai and Mike?"

Leo answers me. "Kai is on his way, and Mike's on duty for the next four hours. We decided we'll contact him if we need him. Otherwise, we'll fill him later."

So there's no urgent need for the Magna Defender? That information offers some relief. "Then, this isn't an emergency."

"It's a situation," Kai responds, suddenly appearing at the parting doors. "If Mike's on duty now, I'm sure the Commander already told him the preliminary details."

I watch Kai's demeanor, more than a little alarmed. He pours a glass of water in the kitchen, drinking it in what looked like a single swallow, before he joins us in the small living room.

But he doesn't sit down. Instead, he stands beside the view pane, his hands folded behind his back. "Somebody tried to take the Galaxy Book tonight."

It takes me several seconds to find my tongue. "What happened? Is the Book safe?"

"Yes. The thief was caught in the act. He's currently in a detention cell."

Kai looks at each of us in turn, his face strangely blank. "The thief…he claims to be the Guardian of the Galaxy Book."

Shocked silence settles among us. And I try to process that information, testing whether or not it is even credible.

Could the Galaxy Book have a Guardian? And could he possibly be here,