The Gate Opens
Quantum Odyssey
Power Rangers go!
Quantum Odyssey
Power Rangers go!
Through the Quantum Tunnel
Dangers far and near
With the Odyssey Morphers
There's nothing to fear!
Searching through the galaxy
For a place to call their home
When evil rises they'll be there
Power Rangers go!
Quantum Odyssey
Power Rangers go!
Quantum Odyssey
Power Rangers go!
"Coffee, Commander?" Yeoman Connors appeared next to you, a red-haired, gangly lad who seemed a bit in awe of you. You hadn't even notice him approach, and you give him a grateful nod. "Thank you, Connors. I should give you a medal for saving me a from lack of caffeination."
He chuckled. "Are there medals for budget reports, too?"
You purse your lips. "I'll have to check. I can always make one up."
The faces on the files stare back at you as Connors wanders off. They're a thorny problem. You're acutely aware of how difficult it can be to gauge someone's true potential by looking at a file. But over the years of dealing with the bureaucracy, you've gained experience at it.
Jordan draws your attention immediately. As a Reclaimer, she's probably spent more time in the world outside the Arcologies than the rest of the applicants combined. The only sticking point - will she accept the mission of Odyssey? Leaving Earth? The eyes on her photograph stare back at you, yielding no answers. You stare for a moment and put her back in the pile.
Rook was an engineer, but then, you had an entire team of engineers who had already worked with Odyssey technology. Madan's skills might have practical applications, but she is primarily a performer, and you need recruits willing to deal with the real world.
Arthrit and Ikeda both cause your gaze to linger longer. Arthrit's distinguished herself in Civil Protection - tracking down several high profile criminals and being wounded in action once. Still, you can't shake the feeling she might be… inflexible. You look down at your mug of coffee - real coffee, not caffeine extract in brown water. Your rations would stretch to cover real coffee once a week, twice if you scrimped. You'd gotten a case from a gentleman who grew it in a hidden greenhouse, making it technically contraband.
Perhaps Arthrit might be a touch… inflexible for your tastes.
Ikeda raised similar flags. If this were a military expedition, you have no doubt that he'd be an ideal choice. But he'd been born too late for the real military - there were still those who lived outside the Arcologies, but they were more desperate nomads than daring raiders these days. And the Arcologies had never gone to war with each other. The Odyssey Project was a scientific and humanitarian mission.
That left Andon and Coleman. Lewis was an easy decision - any expedition could use a medic. Nico… Nico was a puzzle. His file was the result of your own investigations, not a file given to you by Command. But you'd known there were people who wouldn't fit in the official boxes that nonetheless might be helpful. He'd been in and out of trouble for years, but never anything serious. He had a potent mutant power, but despite getting into fights, had never seriously hurt someone who wasn't a much worse criminal. In addition to being able to handle himself, he'd bring perspectives and insights that no other Ranger could match.
There. It was decided.
----
"Open your mouth and say 'Ah'." Lewis Coleman put a tongue depressor on your mouth as you obey, shining a light down your throat.
"'Ee 'nything?" You mumble around it as you study him. Tall, dark-skinned, handsome, with piercing green eyes. He moved with practiced ease and absolute confidence.
He shook his head. "No swelling, but some mild irritation."
You raise your eyebrows. You'd come into the clinic following the imp of the perverse - Lewis volunteered here, and you thought coming in might be a good chance to observe him 'in the field.' "Oh? Nothing serious I hope."
He took the tongue depressor back and studied you intently with piercing green eyes. "That remains to be seen. I don't like having my time wasted. There are people who really need help, and I doubt a Commander needs to visit a clinic like this one. Was your personal doctor too busy to take a house call?"
Irritation indeed. "Please don't tell me Connors booked the appointment under my name."
"No, 'Samantha'." Lewis tapped his fingers on the tray next to him as he studies you. "I happen to remember you. Your name was on the last budget order we got. It cut our allocation by 10%. I wanted to know who had made that decision, so I looked you up at the time."
You return his gaze. "You know where that allocation went."
"To Sector 4, yes."
"The reactor malfunction." Dozens had died, more suffered burns, sickness from toxic fumes. It was one of the more memorable disasters in the last several years, and the rebuilding had taken resources from the entire Arcology.
"Yes." He stopped tapping his fingers. "I'll give you a clean bill of health, if that's what you want."
"I want more than that."
"I'm listening."
"There's a project." You outline the basics - exploration, the promise of a new home, new resources, a world that wasn't always riding the razor's edge of collapse. "We have a team, and they need a medic. One who might be able to treat anything. Alien fungus, radiation burns, parasitic brain worms. We don't know what's out there. I know you've been on the scene of a dozen small disasters and a few big ones. I know you have what we need."
"It would take me away from those disasters. Here, I help people every day. You're talking about maybes. What-ifs. You're asking me to put aside what I do."
"I am." Your voice is flat, uncompromising. "Consider this, Coleman. You can help people a few at a time here. I'm not saying that's wrong. But where I'm taking you, you can help the world."
And what else could he say to that?
----
"-and I'm not saying that's wrong," Talia spoke to the semi-circle of men and women in hazard suits around her, "But here, by doing your part, you can truly help the world." She pulled up a shovel into her hands. "Now, let's get to work."
You surveyed the land from a nearby rise, wearing a breath-mask over your uniform. The scene was… well, it was Earth. This wasn't a particularly bad site. A large group of Grinders had been destroyed here, along with some sort of tracked vehicles. Poisonous oil had tainted the land with a sickly rainbow slickness and machine parts littered the wastes. Nothing grew here. The only wildlife was a pair of birds flying high overhead.
You watched Talia set her team to their tasks with calm efficiency and go over to the nearest set of debris. As she worked, you approached. You can see her reciting something under her breath as she gently worked a bleached, crumbling skeleton dressed in the tatters of a military uniform out of the ground, placing it on a canvas.
"What did you say to it?" You ask.
"The Mourner's Kaddish. It should really be said by family members, but it feels wrong to send them on their way without saying something, and there's no one else to do it." She turns to look at you. Her angular features and cool blue eyes take in your uniform and your rank tabs. "You're not dressed for clean-up duty, Commander."
"That's right." You answer her challenge with a cool stare of your own. "I came to talk to you."
"Whatever it is, I'm not interested." Talia turned away and began pulling the canvas into a bundle, then went to the destroyed Grinder next to the body. The robot was treated with none of the delicacy of the human body, and you thought you could see repressed rage in the set of Talia's face.
"You've turned down several opportunities for promotion, haven't you?" It was a rhetorical question, of course. Indeed, Talia could have had any number of opportunities for promotion - out of the Reclaimers.
"They want me inside." Talia worked a loosened connection, then expertly yanked the Grinder's arm out of its socket, to deposit it on another tarp. "I can do more good out here than stuffed up in some office writing reports.
"An office isn't what I had in mind. How about a planet?"
She stops her work, straightening her back and meeting your gaze again. "What exactly do you mean?"
"Earth is sick, Talia. We both know it. And while we're here, we're going to be too busy taking care of ourselves to really fix her. What if we could live in a place with clean air, and fresh water, and food that was grown in real soil? How many more could work on Reclamation then?"
"There's nothing left of the space program. Command would never go for it."
"No space shuttles, no colony ships." You extend your hand. "Come with me. I'll show you. All you have to do is take the step."
She breathes out, her eyes looking at the hand. She stares back up at you, and you see her eyes.
That's two.
---
You approach the cell, your eyes flicking to the green warning sign outside saying, "Danger - Mutant", and the electrified bars. Inside, a man sits on a bench, looking out into the corridor. You take in his shaggy black hair, shot through with streaks of red, and the reddish veins that stretch out from the corners of his eyes like some sort of inflammation. You also notice the shackles on his wrists, bolted to the walls beside him.
"Really?" You turn to the officer next to you. "He's barely more than a child. Is all this necessary?" You hope the nonchalance in your voice sounds sincere.
"We'll bring him to the interrogation room." The officer says.
"No." You hold up a hand and interrupt him. "I'm going in. And release those damn shackles. I'm not here for an interrogation."
The officers exchange glances. You can't help but notice the black eye one of them sports underneath his visor. Wonderful.
Inside, the cell is exactly as comfortable as it looks. You look down at Andon, currently rubbing his wrists after the shackles had been released. "Well, aren't you in trouble."
Andon bared his teeth. "You don't look like Civil Protection. Are you another counselor?"
"Counselors help fix people who need help. I think you need help, Andon, but I'm not convinced you need fixing."
He settles back, giving you another look. "I don't need anything. I do fine on my own."
You shake your head. "A week ago, I might have agreed. It's been almost a year since your last incident, hasn't it? What possessed you to get in a fight with four CP officers?"
He crosses his arms, remaining silent. As you let the moment stretch, he eventually speaks. "Didn't like their attitude, that's all."
"You were pretty well set up in the Underground Market, as I understand it. Kept your nose clean, your credits might have been bootleg but you earned them. You had to know that fight would end up with you in here again. And you're not a kid anymore Andon. People like you, they end up in detention… sometimes they don't come out."
That sparked something in him. He stands up, snarling. "Don't you think I know that?" His body language is all aggression, and you fight the urge to take a step back. You're in control here. No matter how dangerous this mut- this potential Ranger could be.
"In fact, I do. I know you're not stupid. I've seen your childhood aptitude tests. Not a genius, but you could have done a lot better than this." You gesture at the four walls. "Those officers picked that fight, didn't they?"
"They were hassling the old man who ran the stall. Illegal trade, what a joke. They were there at the market to buy, same as everyone! They just hated that he had a mutant working there. He breathes in and out, still tense, but the rage subsiding a bit. "What the hell was I supposed to do? Hell, I barely fought back, I just got in the way."
"Quite." Your voice is firm. "I don't blame you. In fact, I'm here to make you a very special offer. One you might not get again, so think about it carefully."
"You're with Command, aren't you? I'm not joining your brute squad or being a bodyguard or anything like that."
"No, I don't expect you to." You turn behind you. "Kill the cameras." There's a barely audible click. "I have a job. One that needs people with your talents."
"You're not afraid of my 'talents?" He clenches his fist, and you see his eyes glow red. Again, you almost flinch, but you stand firm. A second later, his arm is embedded in the concrete wall beside him.
"As far as I'm concerned, you proved your control when you let four CP officers beat you into a pulp without once striking back. You could have won that fight, and we both know it." He nods, cautiously.
"This world has treated you poorly, Andon. How about we find you a new one?"
---
From there, it's a matter of paperwork. Mountains of it - non-disclosure agreements, requisitions for uniforms and additional equipment, and setting up the prospective Rangers' quarters in the Project HQ. Questions, dozens of questions for you and Dr. Nzara, and briefing the Rangers on the details of the mission and their responsibilities, introducing them to the technology, and running preliminary drills.
But now, it's launch day. There's an electric atmosphere at Project HQ. Three Rangers, each with a uniform jacket in their respective color. Morphers strapped to their waists - the attunement to their bio-fields will protect them from the destructive effects of the Quantum Tunnel, and they can deploy their Odyssey Ranger Suits should they encounter any dangerous conditions.
"Rangers. Your bravery and dedication to the project of finding a new home for humanity will go down in history. You are all, at this moment, heroes. I do not know what you will find at the other side of the Tunnel, but I know that you are the best hope. Godspeed, Rangers. Dr. Nzara, initiate the Quantum Tunnel!"
The archway crackles and with a thunderous snap, the portal opens. On the other side lies the first Time-Space Point chosen as a target for the Odyssey Project.
[] [Explore] STP A-43 - You see dense vegetation and occasional flickers of movement.
[] [Explore] STP B-6 – A expanse of vegetation growing in rows. Wait, you've heard of this… is that a farm?
[] [Explore] STP F-211 - The portal seems to look out from the top of a mountain. Below, the landscape is littered with debris.
[] [Explore] STP R-19 – You see a blasted landscape underneath a stormy sky
