Disclaimer: I do not own te Power Rangers, the belong to Saban Brands, and will soon belong to Hasbro. This is a fan work and no profit is being made.
Author's Note: This chapter sets the new status-quo in the future following the events of The Ravalox Chamber and Trials and Wars. At this point in the present the Time Force Rangers are no longer able to communicate with the future. This story shows a little of what that future has become.

Interlude: Tomorrow's World


"As we awaken today to greet the year 3003, it is with confidence that the human race has achieved a utopia of peace and stability protected by the brave men and women of Time Force Command, the Earth's unified military forces. Under their careful guidance, the world shall never again face the perils of war and famine. It is with this in mind that I have today passed the Time Travel Prevention Act, making all reseach into the possibility of time travel illegal unless conducted under Time Force supervision. We are at a point were scientists have found ways to travel almost a decade into the past. Steps must be taken before these great discoveries can be used by criminal elements to undermine our society..."

"Turn that rubbish off!" somebody shouted. "We have work to do!"

"... Time Force Command is here to serve you. The best way we can serve you is if you cooperate. The best way for you to cooperate is to do as you are told."

A thick cloud of smoke accompanied by the noise of a dozen engines announced the arrival of the first wave of soldiers, charged with establishing a perimeter around the danger area. Two hours earlier an explosion had in the otherwise uninhabited area had drawn the attention of Time Force Command. The explosion had caused a large section of ground to give way, revealing a previously unknown structure. But it was the sudden rise in temporal radiation that had mobilised their forces - for Time Force had been charged with the task of eliminating the risk of time travel by controlling all time travel technology. It seemed that somebody had been hiding illegal experimentation and that one of those experiments had malfunctioned with disastrous results.

By the time helicopter carrying the Time Force Commander had set down, allowing him to take control of the scene, three trucks loaded with armoured soldiers had already unloaded their troops and had moved back to secure the perimeter. As the senior officer approached he noted that a clear gap had been left between the soldiers and the technicians studying the entrance to the building. With an unknown temporal experiment in progress, nobody had wanted to open the door without expert advise; illegal scientists were known to booby trap their facilities to remove evidence.

"Situation report!" he bellowed as he walked through the organised chaos.

"Sir, the doors are magnetically sealed and power to the control pad has been cut making it impossible to run a bypass. There doesn't appear to be anything on the other side of the door that could act as a booby trap..."

"But if they cut the power they know we'll have to knock the door down and that means they probably left a surprise," he guessed. "Pull your team back to minimum safe distance. We'll blow the doors in."

It was the quickest and surprisingly the safest way for them to gain entry based on the premise that any explosive would be unable to detonate if it was turned into plasma. When the door was blown open there was a chance that any explosive would be removed at the same time or would at least detonate while the soldiers were safely under cover.

A large cannon was moved into position and nailed to the ground with heavy spikes. Despite its size and the many flashing lights, it was considered a low powered weapon, just large enough to deliver a measured shot of heat and air. If calculated correctly there would be no need to worry about the door flying back and hitting anything because the cannon would vaporise it.

"Pressure wave calculated," Ferro said.

"Entering coordinates now," Spunkmeyer confirmed.

"Ready for your order sir!" Sergeant Alpone reported.

He took his time to adjust the focus on his binoculars before giving the order. "Fire!"

"Fire in the hold!"

The cannon whined into life as a powerful fan pulled in air at an astounding rate. Then there was a disappointing thud as the blast discharged. Despite the spikes that helped to counter the recoil, the cannon still moved back a little, startling the soldiers. The door gave way as expected, pooling into hot slag on the floor. They were relieved to find that the entrance at least was clear.

"Sergeant Redd. Order your units to spread out and secure this facility," the commander ordered. One glance inside had revealed that it was much larger than he first believed and extended deep underground. "I want any prisoners brought to me. Do NOT touch any of the equipment until the area is secure and we can get the boffins in to take a look."

"Yes Sir!" the sergeant replied.

There was a brief pause as the sergeant passed on more detailed instructions to his troops, all brightly coloured faceless warriors. They quickly formed up into groups, with the first team acting as point to secure the facility.

"Go!"

The soldiers rushed in. There was a brief silence followed by cries of "Clear" as room by room they secured the facility.

"How the hell did they manage to build this place without somebody noticing?"

"It's not new Sir. This place is centuries old. It's older than the Great Disaster."

That was a shock. Very little had survived the cataclysm that had devastated the planet. The world had been reshaped by those events and the effort of surviving had dragged humanity kicking and screaming into a new age. He was pretty certain that this area had been exposed to the widespread earthquakes that had levelled many of the major cities. How had something so big survived?

"Sir, video feeds have been established," Lieutenant Bleu reported.

"What took so long?" he asked as he followed the technician into the large super truck nicknamed Rhino.

"Temporal interference," the Rhino Systems Commander responded as he led the senior officer into the monitor room and handed him a headpiece. "We had to wait for the signal boosters to activate to workaround it."

Hundreds of monitors flickered into life, showing the view from the soldiers' perspectives as they made their way deeper into the facility.

"Looks like we've found the source of the explosion," he heard one private state. "Old wiring burnt out, the generator lost power and exploded. That's odd... Sir are you getting this?"

"What are you seeing, Hudson?"

"It looks like this generator is connected to others, but I don't see any other generators in this room."

"Pull them back!" the Time Force Commander ordered. "Touch nothing, just get out, now!"

"Sir?"

"That facility is filled with generators that are out of phase. If it dropped back when the wiring shorted and it lost power..."

"Then if anything causes the others to lose power we could have a chain reaction on out hands."

"Exactly."

They had stumbled upon an unexploded bomb and need to be careful how they disarmed it.

"What was it generator so much power for?"

"Sir, this is Vasquez. You need to see this Sir."

The feed was directed to the main monitor. It showed a large red box with a green arrow in the centre. The box was supported by a large scaffold although it was obvious some of the supports had given way under the weight.

"Sis, my helmet display is identifying this as being over a thousand years old."

"Well that makes sense," Lieutenant Bleu commented, "given the age of the facility."

"Yes sir, but it also says it was manufactured five years ago and is property of Time Force. The generators appear to be feeding into this unit."

Now there was an extra need to worry. How had illegal scientists secured Time Force equipment and how had it ended up travelling back so far in time? Time travel technology was limited to a decade at most.

"Sir this is Drake. We've found... something."

"Oh my god!" somebody, maybe Frost, but despite being their commander he had spent very little time with them, said.

There was the sound of several soldiers being sick.

"Sir, we need medical assistance and ... maybe some engineers in here."

"Drake, what have you found? Report!"

"People Sir, six of them. They appear to be prisoners of some sort ,sir. Four of them appear to be alive... five of them, how can he still be alive, he's missing half his head? Sir, four of them appear to be alive."

"Understood," Bleu responded. "Medical personnel have been called. You are instructed to fall back to minimum safe distance. Do not touch anything... or anyone on your way out. Everything in that facility is to be considered unstable."

"Yes Sir!"

"Have him report to me with his recording equipment as soon as he get back. In the meantime we need a Tech Team ready to safely shut that facility down."

Something was going on and he did not like it. Right now their best opportunity for answers lay in the prisoners, but first they had to find a way to release them.

END


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