Project: Power Eagle by Joe Rovang The blue clouds streak by at an unimaginable rate. I watch the puffs of vapor soar past in this endless black void, and I almost feel like I'm flying. But there's no breeze. Nor is there gravity, which is... odd. I look down. In my right hand is a Power Morpher that chooses not to respond. In my left hand is a rubber chicken. Something is definitely amiss. "Where did I go wrong, Jack?" Billy eyed the communicator on the table before him with unparalleled intensity. The white mouse in the cage beside him offered no suggestions. Billy had to admit, the data disc Alpha had given him was incredibly fascinating. It contained detailed specifications on the Command Center computers, the Power Morphers, even Alpha himself. Yet graduate of the Accelerated Baby Genius program or not, he found himself completely mindboggled by the physics behind it all. Something involving a neutrino power grid enveloping all of the universe... very strange. But he was learning. So far, he had designed a set of communication devices which would actually transmit a microwave signal through the grid itself, homing in on a receiver and having it "come out the other side" with no delay. Well, that was the intention. As yet, they remained unable to tap a valid sector of the grid for some reason or another. It was extremely perplexing. Then, before Billy's eyes, a tiny red indicator light in the upper right corner of the communicator blinked on. It had locked on. He quickly turned his head toward the other four communicators lying nearby. They were on as well. He'd done it! Forty minutes later, Billy watched as his four comrades pressed their communicator buttons and promptly dissolved into nothingness. He was now alone in the hallway of the Youth Center. Now you've done it, he heard himself think. So the communicators hadn't worked as planned. He'd mixed up some data and accidentally tapped a sector in use by the Command Center's teleportation systems. But Alpha had easily fixed the problem. Now they could communicate and teleport freely with the devices without having to be morphed. Teleportation... there was an interesting concept. Billy considered the possibility of propelling a vehicle using an infinite series of infinitely small jumps. If this were possible, he had some nefarious plans for his father's Volkswagen. Weeks later, during the time not spent attending school, saving the world, and repeatedly explaining to his father that his Beetle was indeed driveable despite its unusual customization and the comments it enticed from his coworkers at the office, Billy analyzed the second most fascinating aspect of the Ranger powers: telepathy. A telepathic connection from Ranger to Ranger, and Ranger to Zord, allowed for a vicious sense of efficiency. Without it, Megazord combat would have been impossible, and Zordon help the team without telepathy left to wonder what a battle cry of, "Let's do it!" referred to. Then, of course, were the simultaneous hand gestures which any casual observer would have guessed had taken hours to learn. On his quest to unravel the secrets of telepathy, Billy had completed a setup which would facilitate direct thought transfer. No small feat, but he had confidence that it would work. That afternoon, when Kimberly came over for tutoring, he brought her into his garage laboratory and showed her how it worked. Kimberly was a great friend and a trusted close companion, and Billy cared very much for her. Had he been asked why his thought transfer invention consisted of two standing areas perfectly shaped for his and Kimberly's bodies such that they would have to hold hands during the experiment, he would have rigorously denied any hidden motives. She smiled at him as her fingers wrapped around his. Billy's pulse began to quicken... from the excitement of a new experiment, he told himself. Yes, that must be it. He flipped the switch. "Hello?" "Kimberly...?" Billy asked timidly in a voice which was new to him. The phone rested between his ear and his shoulder in an awkward manner. These shoulders were too small. "What is it now, Billy?" came the impatient reply. The odd part was that it was his own voice. Billy looked down at his new body shamefully. "I can't get your bra on." After the infamous "Body-Switching Incident of '93" (which he had eventually traced to a simple crossing of wires, much to his own embarrassment), Billy had sworn off the wild experiments and had grown content with studying the Command Center's systems. They taught him a great deal about the technology which was centuries beyond Earthen standards. Slowly, he learned more and more. He learned of a new security system for the Dinozords. He learned of a planned renovation for the Command Center. He even learned the molecular composition of their Ranger suits. Why, with a little experimentation, he could probably-- Billy blinked and looked up from his monitor toward his empty lab table. "Well," he told himself, "that lasted a week." In the months that followed, Billy conducted experiment after experiment, convinced he could unlock the secrets of morphing and someday simulate the morphing process. Given enough energy, he was sure he could generate a layer of superdense metallic fiber to surround a test object. For the fun of it, he would also simultaneously summon an accessory of some sort for the object, just like the Rangers' Blade Blasters. He just needed a test object with enough flexibility to test the compression resistance of the fiber, and enough irregularity in shape to present a fair challenge when scanning its surface area. Billy looked around the room. As he removed the rubber chicken from the surface mapper, Billy heard something pressing against the window behind him. He turned just in time to see a child's blond head duck out of sight. Outside, Timothy Winters crouched in the bushes and hoped with all his might that the inventor hadn't seen him. Just then, the window above him slid open, and Billy's head leaned out. "Timmy," he said with a smile, "do you need help with your homework again?" Timmy swallowed and frowned guiltily. "Jeeze, Billy, I'm sorry..." Billy extended a hand and helped the boy to his feet. "You know, if you want to watch my experiments," Billy told him, still smiling, "you can use the door." Timmy chuckled awkwardly and brushed some errant leaves off his jeans. "What are you doing out there?" asked Billy. Timmy looked down, avoiding the teen's gaze. "Um, I heard at school that you were a Power Ranger." Billy chuckled. "Who told you that?" "My friend Cameron," replied the boy, glancing up at Billy. "He said his brother heard you talking about morphing... at school with one of your friends." Billy looked at his young friend for a moment and then spoke, "Come in here, Timmy. I wanna show you something." "Wow, are you serious?" Timmy asked, examining the apparatus which filled an entire wall of the laboratory. "You can morph things with this?" "If all goes well," Billy answered. Timmy looked back at Billy in awe. "But why have you been making all these things? The teleporters, the Morphers..." Billy adjusted his glasses and replied, "Well, I can't let the Rangers be the only ones with the really cool gadgets." The boy smiled and resumed looking at the room-sized pseudo-Morpher before him. "Do you think it'll work?" "I'll tell you what," Billy proposed. "I'm testing the process tomorrow after school. You bring all of your friends here, and we'll see together whether it works." "Wow, really?" Timmy laughed, "Oh, this is gonna be so cool." "Project: Power Eagle" was, if nothing else, a public relations success. The crowd of middle school children anxiously awaiting the grand experiment had since disregarded all rumors concerning Billy being a Ranger. The big news now was that their local super-genius had built his very own Morpher. Billy smiled, rubber chicken in hand, as the crowd waited in hushed awe. "When I press this button," he announced, passing his hand over the control box, "this rubber chicken's gonna morph into a Power Eagle." There were some murmurs in the audience, and Billy noticed Timmy just arriving in the back of the room. He chuckled; Timmy had been so devoted to rounding up the entire neighborhood that he'd nearly missed the experiment. "This is a prototype," he continued, "and it's still in the experimental stage. And remember, don't touch anything." That said, Billy reached to the controls and pressed the button. At that moment, he vanished from existence. The rubber chicken was gone as well. Timmy looked at the equipment beside him in panic. What did I do? What did I do?! he shouted in his head. I just bumped it a little! A girl beside Timmy turned to him - she was obviously concerned. "Timmy, was this supposed to happen?" Timmy looked at her and grimaced. Suddenly, there was a whoosh of air as the Pink Ranger materialized from a column of energy in the corner of the room. The kids looked at Timmy, wondering whether any of this was planned. "Wow, the Pink Ranger!" he heard Cameron exclaim. Kimberly studied the apparatus. "As soon as I find the right wires," she told the children, recalling Alpha's description of the broken circuit, "we'll get Billy back." This relieved the kids. It did nothing, however, for her, as she had no idea where the problem could be. Why couldn't Alpha have called someone like Trini? And then it hit her. Billy had learned from his past experiences with crossed wires. Staring her right in the face was a bright green cable plugged into a red port. Billy winked back into existence, rubber chicken and all, to find the Pink Ranger having fixed his invention. He couldn't help but smile as he asked, "Hey, what happened?" Kimberly explained, "I guess these wires got crossed somehow." Timmy swallowed hard and stepped forward. "I want you to know... I'm the one who crossed the wires." Oh, for a hole to crawl into. "I'm really sorry." "Hey," Billy told the boy comfortingly, "we all make mistakes. It takes real courage to be honest. I really admire your strength, Timmy." He extended his hand, and Timmy blew out a breath of relief as he returned the handshake. "Of course you know," Billy continued, "I'm going to have to kill you now." The boy froze. "That's a joke, Timmy." Pink Ranger giggled. "You guys be careful now," she instructed, and then touched her hands to her belt and vanished. "Shall we try again?" Billy asked, regaining his position beside the control box. The kids enthusiastically agreed. He took a step back. "Timmy, would you like to do the honors?" Timmy smiled proudly and accepted. As the boy stood ready, Billy thought for a moment and then set the rubber chicken on the lab table. He nodded at his assistant. "Power it up." Timmy pressed the button. The children looked around as a growing electric hum began to fill the room. The lights dimmed for what reporters would call the mysterious citywide brown-out. A small pinpoint of green light drew all eyes to the object on the table. The point grew into a glowing line which bisected the object. More lines then spread out from the rubber chicken's beak like a star, then ran down the sides of the object. Another set of perpendicular lines criss-crossed around its circumference, forming a grid which covered the object's surface. "Loading the template," Billy explained, watching carefully. There was a flash of light, and the rubber chicken on the table was suddenly replaced by... a rubber chicken wearing a layer of green spandex. And strapped to the rubber ch-- "Power Eagle" was a miniature gray jetpack with silver wings folded down behind it. The crowd was stunned. But Billy wasn't finished. He picked up a remote control from the setup nearby and flipped it on. The Power Eagle stirred and began to hover inches off the table. Billy grinned and pressed the automatic door opener on the garage wall. "If you'd all proceed outside..." The headline of the next day's Angel Grove Gazette read: "Rocket-propelled flying chicken mystifies local residents." Reading it, Billy smiled; he'd broken the secret of the morphing powers. *** 1997. Tommy slammed against the ground with a lingering groan. "Tommy!" shouted Kat. Adam stood in front of his downed comrade in a karate stance as Tommy rose to his feet. Lumbering toward him was a large armored monster wielding a massive sledgehammer. Adam glanced back at his teammates. "This guy's too strong!" "You're right, Adam," replied Tommy, eyeing the approaching monster. "Let's do it, guys! Shift into Turbo!" As he flexed his left arm in front of him, Tommy quickly twisted his wrist. Delicate motion sensors in his communicator triggered a Class 2 equipment summoning, and a silver morphing device shimmered into existence in place of the communicator with a flare of red light. At the same time, a silver key forged from the metals of an ancient alien artifact materialized in his right hand with a Class 3 summoning. With a blur of arm gestures, Tommy inserted the key into the wrist device and turned, activating its primary morphing systems. A dual-phased secondary morph generator formed around Tommy's waist and ran its preprogrammed suit generation algorithm. Energy drawn through the Turbo Key coalesced into matter, weaving a complex metallic fiber around every inch of Tommy's body on the molecular level. Finally, composite sections of helmet, each containing powerful microcomputers, interlocked and formed a seamless whole around Tommy's head, becoming his new eyes and ears. By any standard, it was a far more advanced design than had been used by any previous Earth Rangers. The Turbo Megazord raced toward the giant armored monster with the Turbo Megazord Saber in hand. At first impression, the situation would have looked hopeless. The monsters used by Divatox were of a much stronger breed than monsters of the past. Few Megazords, short of the Super Zeo Megazord, which had been rendered useless by the Machine Empire, would have had the raw power to finish off such behemoths. Certainly, the relatively puny Turbo Megazord Saber couldn't hope to put a ding in this monster's thick armor. Suddenly, however, the Turbo Megazord began to spin rapidly. As it glided past the monster, the Megazord delivered a meager three hundred twenty-six slashes to its foe's midsection. The armor was gashed open after eighty-seven. Billy grinned as he watched the explosion on his palm viewer. He was especially proud of that maneuver. A tap to the viewer made it vanish, and he stepped into his personal quarters. Their personal quarters. "Hi, honey, I'm home," he called out as he peeled the biotech braincap from his head. Standing at his new display case in the wall by their main underwater observatory window, Cestria turned and smiled sweetly. "That was a quick conference." She wrapped her arms around him, something in hand. "Billy," she said after kissing him softly on the lips, "I'm afraid my knowledge of your culture is still lacking." "Oh?" She presented him with a rubber chicken. "I have no idea what this is." He smirked. "That, my dear, is a Power Eagle."