[970809]
                                                                      [Preview]
The Astrorangers deny Australis, JupiterAstro, is dead and hope to find him but
they must abandon their search when Cyborg Centaur comes to Jupiter forcing the
return of the task force.  Read ahead...

                                                                  [Title Theme]


Artist Bros. Enterprises presents . . .

                        GALAXY TASK FORCE ASTRO RANGER
                        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Starring...

         Sheratan Kasei, a.k.a., Dave Marcello.  MarsAstro!

         Australis Mokusei, a.k.a., Will Richards.  JupiterAstro!

         Nashiran Dosei, a.k.a., Tom Nevison.  SaturnAstro!

         Messuta Suisei, a.k.a., Ron Michaeli.  MercuryAstro!

         Lotia Kinsei, a.k.a., Amy Leven.  VenusAstro!

         Beverly Tenmei.  EarthAstro!

  and... Commander Leto, a.k.a., Dr. Aaron Hanson.

  Featuring...

         Detective Frank Mahoney and Detective Kathy Sanchez.

 with... Captain Tony Fleishman.



  ACT I:

Last time on Astroranger
    "No no no, that's tired, Igan," Ginara interrupted.  "Tortan and I
  should go to Jupiter."
    "But Ginara, we have yet to survey that planet for the solar sphere,"
  Pleadia said.  "And we have already lost the Saturn solar sphere."
    Ginara frowned.  "Don't you think I know that?  The Astrorangers will
  believe that we are going to Jupiter for its solar sphere because they
  seem to be aware of our movements.  . . . when they arrive--Tortan will
  ambush the Astroranger task force." 

A grim fate awaited the Astroranger battle team, namely for Australis;
meanwhile, Tom enjoyed human company, much to Dave's ridicule.
  In the green, tree-lined neighborhood was Sara Bergstrom's house.  Here, a
  nicely dressed Tom knocked on her front door and a little while later it
  opened.  In a slim sun dress, Sara modestly smiled while greeting him.
  "Come in."

Meanwhile, Amy cornered Ron at their house.
    "Do you think you could record a song I wrote?" Amy asked.
    Ron shrugged.  "Sure, but I don't play.  I just record the stuff."
    Amy nodded.  "Yeah I know.  I was hoping Tom could perform it."

       In Dimension XII of the planet Jupiter, there were many hills and
  mountains in a red desert terrain.  In the sky--clouds swirled circles of
  red clouds.  Ginara and Tortan had walked about looking for a suitable
  location for battle.
    "Adol the Great; this is Tortan, we have arrived at the designated
  coordinates and await your assistance."
    Adol had nodded and stood from his iron throne.  "By the power invested
  in me by Lord Vahora of Procyon III, I, Adol the Great, command you to
  _grow_, Tortan!"
    On Jupiter, 150-foot tall Tortan marched into position.

Prepared Armatons were ready to attack but were still beaten by the Astroranger
task force when Titan-Tortan forced them to form AstroMan.
  Inside of the cockpit, MarsAstro keyed in a number on his keypad. "SunSabre!"
    AstroMan was armed with the single-sided, silver-bladed sword with a
  golden sideways I for a guard and charged ahead.  Titan-Tortan marched in
  as well.
    Titan-Tortan used his left hand's finger tips to electrocute the huge
  robot.  As the sparks blew, AstroMan crashed into the ground and rolled
  over.  From out of the red-tinted sky came MercuryAstro and VenusAstro
  free-falling into the ground.  Following them were JupiterAstro and
  SaturnAstro also took a dive into the land when finally MarsAstro fell out
  as well. 

The culmination of the Nazitans' plan had arrived with Ginara's utilization of
a new powerful device.
    Aimed upward, the special weapon Pleadia had designed was within
  Ginara's hands as she brought it down to point at straight ahead.  "Now
  you will face oblivion."  Watching through her target scope, Ginara saw
  JupiterAstro stand up while breathing heavily.
    A low humming noise became louder as a glowing light built up within the
  barrel of the weapon.  Suddenly, a stream of white light pushed forth and
  JupiterAstro was hit with the light.
    More light beamed through the green Astroranger when he vanished into a
  fountain of rainbow light that rained down.  A star-shaped light hovered
  backwards from the site of disintegration; Ginara's rifle backfired sparks
  from feedback and she dropped the smoking gun onto the ground.
    VenusAstro looked at the ground where the green Astroranger disappeared,
  bent down to look at the burnt ground.  She stood up, breathing heavily
  and suddenly had shouted out, "Australis!!"  


                                  Episode 35:
                                 "Deadly Arrow"                               

     Onboard the Astroranger SpaceBase orbiting the moon of similar shape and
color--Sheratan and Nashiran were arguing loudly while Lotia paced nervously.
Messuta was growing more and more annoyed with their bickering while trying to
work at the CommandShuttle terminal; finally he turned around in his chair and
said, "Hey!"  Both of them had been quiet as they both looked at him breathing
deeply from their shouting.
  "Will you two shut up?  I'm trying to think over here!"  Commander Leto was
surprised by his reaction; Messuta was having a tough time dealing with the
thought Australis--his mentor, could be dead.
  Messuta exhaled and returned to typing. "It's very difficult trying to do all
this while you both are screaming at each other."
  "Listen, Messuta, I don't know what you're jumping all down my back for,"
Nashiran said as a defense. "Sheratan claims that Australis disappeared because
of a Nazitan trick."
  "That's because it is," Sheratan insisted. "There just has to be some kind of
explanation of why there is no...  No body, Nash."
  "There doesn't have to be, Sheratan.  It's pretty obvious that what ever took
him apart was extremely high-powered, so powerful, it back fired.  Perhaps that
kind of a weapon wouldn't leave a body behind," Nashiran replied.  "Anyway, the
worst of it is that they've still got that weapon.  They can and will use it on
any one of us next." Sheratan couldn't reply because the threat he'd stated was
true.  Lotia wondered about trying to hold her tears back.
  Messuta hit the control panel; "Damn it!"
  "What's the problem, Messuta?" Leto asked.
  He sighed heavily.  "I haven't the first idea what happened down there. All I
know is that whatever that weapon did completely erased any trace of Australis'
existence."  Lotia closed her eyes as her head dropped down.
  "I'd hate to say this, but...  We need to be prepared to accept the fact that
(everything forbid) Australis--could be dead."

     Underneath the surface of Pluto, where the Nazitan's outpost had been
installed--Ginara carried the burnt out weapon back into Pleadia's chamber.  He
looked at it and immediately stood up from his stool.  "What in the hell?  Ugh,
Ginara--what did you do to this thing??"
  "I didn't do anything to this thing," Ginara answered.  "It backfired on me."
  Pleadia examined the item by flipping a switch which broke, producing sparks.
"Augh...  I think taking it to that high of a dimensional level exceeded it's
transport design limit."
  "So what does that mean?  We can still make Australis do our bidding since he
is virtually our prisoner now, right?" Ginara asked.  "Right??"
  "NO, Ginara; in all probability, the green Astroranger is lost somewhere
between the dimensional levels of the Universe, but that wont last long.  Soon,
he himself will pass out of the state of existence," Pleadia answered.  "For
now, he's like a ghost.  But nevertheless, you did get the job done; one less
Astroranger is proof that we've got the advantage."
  Ginara exhaled.  "Okay, so what happens next?  Tortan is ready for more."
  Pleadia put down the damaged weapon.  "HE is not doing _anything_ for now.  I
was not able to get a precise location of the solar sphere so I am about to
hatch Cyborg Centaur."
  "And what can Centaur do that Tortan cannot accomplish?"
  Pleadia smirked sarcastically, "(Anything...)  Actually; Centaur's incredible
running speed will enable it to search more area in 10 times the amount of time
any normal humanoid could."  Pleadia walked over to the display tilted down
mounted within the wall.  Ginara looked at the outline of a half-horse/half-man
creature.
  Pleadia looked at Ginara.  "It is currently being hatched now and will be
loaded into the firing chamber.  Once it arrives on Jupiter, it will make use
of it's unorthodox biological configuration of a half man, half Earth animal."
  Ginara looked at Pleadia.  "What kind of animal?"
  "Humans call it a horse, but according to memory scans in the database, many
have recorded the combination of man and horse as a centaur.  This cyborg will
be based on its legend," Pleadia explained.  "He has a sword and, for his bow,
an inexhaustible supply of arrows.  And now that the Astroranger battle team no
long has the archery expert, JupiterAstro, the remaining Astrorangers will not
be able to stop Cyborg Centaur." Ginara nodded in reply to Pleadia's statement.
  "Igan," Pleadia called.  He entered the chamber and stood still.
  "Inform Adol that I am about to launch the agreed upon cyborg on schedule."
  Igan nodded.  "Very well."

     At the Astroranger SpaceBase behind the dark side of the moon--Sheratan at
the communications console on the right wall of the chamber had finished typing
at the terminal.  "Lotia," he said while turning around.  She stopped pacing to
look at him.
  "I've contacted Beverly like you asked," Sheratan told her. "I'm glad Messuta
figured out a way to tap into an empty channel of the cellular network in the
city.  Now we can make completely untraceable calls to Earth."
  Lotia nodded; Nashiran walked up to Messuta still scanning a synthesized wave
table.  The graphics displayed subatomic vibrational information and it was his
job to trace their source.  "Any trace of Australis?"
  "No, Nashiran--it's as if he doesn't exist at all," Messuta answered.  "And I
have searched all bands."  Sheratan exhaled when suddenly the main entrance had
slid open.  Beverly walked through in her uniform.
  Everybody noticed her enter.  "Miss Tenmei, you got here fast," Commander
Leto said.  "On your lunch break?"
  Beverly nodded.  "Yeah; I also got the code number on my pager indicating
this is a level 3 emergency; that's the highest so I came as soon as I could.
What's the story?"  Everyone had paused; Nashiran took a deep breath.
  "Beverly," he'd paused, "we've got some pretty convincing evidence to back up
our suspicion that Australis is dead."  So disturbed, she was frozen, Beverly
looked concerned and wondered how this could have happened.
  "We've done everything to find him."  Beverly looked down with shock--she'd
barely known him and now he's gone forever, she'd thought.  Lotia had felt her
mind spiral while trying to grasp the depth of this situation.

     Griffith Park, Los Angeles, California; the largest natural oasis in the
city, home to many golf courses, tennis courses, horse ranches.  Also including
the L.A. Zoo and Griffith Observatory--the Astrorangers' means to traveling to
the SpaceBase.
  Australis was on his back, in his Earth clothes, unconscious while lying
along the trail near a bird sanctuary.  Strangely, he was nearly invisible and
actually transparent.  His eyes fluttered open and looked around.  Immediately,
he wondered where he was but then he began to worry.  He could not feel wind,
he couldn't smell the air; Australis could not do anything but see.  He stood
up and looked around when the skyline of the downtown area came within his
sights, Australis guessed he was in Los Angeles.
  He began to walk south based on the location of the sun in the sky.  It could
not have been morning because the way the sun had shined denoted an afternoon
time so it had to have been in the west.  Australis continued to move when he
suddenly stopped and looked around in worry--he looked at his hands and noticed
he could see straight through them.  He thought his eyes were playing tricks on
him.
  "No no, I'm just hurt," he said to himself while shaking his head.  Australis
kept walking down the road.  He thought he heard something behind himself so he
put his hand on a rock and tried to pick it up but his hand moved straight
through the mass.
  "What the?"  He tried picking it up again but his fingers passed through it
as before; experimenting, he pushed his fingers inside of the rock successfully
and waved his hand.
  Australis pulled out his hand and gasped with fear.  "How is this
happening??" He continued to wander in disturbed confusion; he definitely knew
he wasn't well.
  Some time had passed as Australis came upon a picnic area.  Before he did, he
saw some people near a secluded field of brush to his left.  Australis moved
west in their direction.
  Australis heard an automobile--a taxi cab--drive around the north turn of
Vermont Canyon Avenue.  A teenaged couple left the road and approached the
secluded field of soft grass surrounded by brush and green bushes.  This was a
very old area nobody came to.  Nobody except for them and, unknown to them, the
green Astroranger in Earth clothes and not his uniform.  In this area, the two
had made their picnic; even though a picnic area was not far from where they
were north of a tennis court.
  "You were right, Billy--this place is beautiful," the girl said putting down
a picnic basket.  She looked at the view of the city from their elevated
location.
  Australis stepped forth and looked on as Billy laid down a blanket where she
sat; he was confused about why she'd dressed so lightly though it were a chilly
October afternoon.
  "Yeah; it took me a while but I finally gathered enough cash for a taxi ride
for the both of us from Olive Boulevard," Billy replied.
  Australis would hate to interrupted but he had an emergency and could use
anybody's help--still, he hesitated; awaiting a suitable opportunity to try and
gain their attention.
  "Well, we saved money catching the bus to get to Olive so we could use the
taxi," Jennifer said.  "I was glad to pitch in."  She grinned and giggled.
  "How did you ever talk your father into letting you go out after school,
Jennifer?" Billy asked while unpacking items from the picnic basket.
  "I told him I wanted to go to the library to study because I had to research
for the project at school," she replied.  "But let's not waste time talking
about that."
  Billy nodded and stood up.  "Yeah.  All that is important now is that we're
here, alone and together at last," he said while holding her hips.
  Jennifer, standing close to him, wrapped her arms around his neck as they'd
started to make out.  Australis listened to their chuckles while watching them
grin but had to try and interrupt.
  "(Oh, it's now or never...)  Hey!  Hey!!  Can you hear me?  Hey!"  They
didn't act as if they heard him; Australis had walked through the bushes,
literally and came up beside them.  "Can you hear me?!  Guys!?"  They were
oblivious to the see-through Australis standing there.  They finally broke
their kiss and Jennifer had sat down to lay back on the blanket.
  "I can't tell you long I've waited for this," Billy said; he moved through
Australis to open the picnic basket to retrieve a box and began to open it to
remove its contents.  Jennifer began undressing.
  "Dear goodness, they can't see or hear me!" Australis said.  Billy had laid
beside Jennifer as they'd continued their physical affections.  Australis shook
his head and ran away from there.
  Australis' frustration grew while heading further northeast on the trail.  "I
can't understand this, why is it that I'm here but it's like I don't even
exist??" he asked himself.  "As if I'm . . .  Not alive."  Australis began to
ponder this as he had wondered if he actually were still alive.  And that, in
fact, he were actually--a ghost.
                                                                              

 ACT II:

     In a calmer, more hospitable region of Jupiter, in its twelfth dimension,
hooves galloped along the red dirt covered terrain.  A horse-like creature ran
through the valley around the mountains looking for an entrance to the
underground tunnels.  From the waist down, Cyborg Centaur was a horse but above
that, it was a pale white humanoid with a sheath strapped to its back carrying
its sword.  In its left hand, it carried a bow that could dispense its own
light arrows.  Its head wore a helmet like most cyborgs adapted from humans;
the thin black visor in the black helmet featured a roving red light that left
a trail as it pulsed back and forth from, left to right.
  From its point of view, it was tracking the approximate distance between
itself and the solar sphere's energy output location.

     The opal sphere space station that orbited the moon remained in Earth's
blind spot; meanwhile, onboard--Officer Beverly Tenmei remained stunned after
listening to the story of the attack on AstroMan and the loss of Australis.
"Are you sure this is all true?"
  "We were there, Beverly," Nashiran answered.  "At first we didn't know what
happened but if you're alive and have a Genesis Gem Stone, we should be able to
find you."  Beverly looked down in disbelief.
  An alarm sounded and Sheratan walked up to the terminal to hit a few buttons.
"Woah!  WHAT is THAT?"
  "I have no idea," Messuta said.  He looked at the screen display an overhead
visual of Cyborg Centaur running down a valley.  "This thing is pretty fast
though, faster than any Earth horse."
  Beverly squinted.  "It's a centaur--I think."
  "It was probably enhanced while the Nazitans made that cyborg out of some
living creatures," Nashiran said.  "Come on, let's get going..."
  Beverly put up a hand.  "Wait a minute, what living creatures?"
  "Beverly...  The Nazitans fabricate their cyborgs out of other humanoids,"
Sheratan explained.  "The first were from other planets but we think their
supply of cyborgs ran out and are now using the ones they capture from Earth."
  "Intelligence reports indicate the rest of the humans are used as hosts. This
way, their dying race can stay alive," Commander Leto said.  "Anyway, I believe
it might best if Beverly stays behind to maintain her post on Earth.  We do not
wish to arouse suspicion."
  Beverly nodded.  "If you need me, I'll see what I can do to show up as soon
as I can."  Lotia followed the others as they took their places.
  "Ready?  ChangeForm!" Sheratan said and the others promptly positioned their
fists.  "AstroCharge!"  The four of them forcing forth their GeneGem rings
caused the stones to flash brilliantly.
  In outer space, the red, black, white and pink AstroShuttles left the moon's
orbit.

     See-through Australis walked through down the middle of Vermont Canyon
Avenue cars drove by but they passed straight through him.  He almost wished
they could hit him and put him out of his misery.  Australis felt miserable
because he had died without the opportunity to see his wife Himalia again.  He
had promised to come back and raise a family with her.
  "I didn't even have the chance to say goodbye to everybody."  He sighed an
realized that this is the way war works and pondered if this afterlife of his
would remain on this Earth world.
  "It's weird being dead.  You don't owe anybody anymore, everybody thinks
about what you did while you were alive and suddenly everything you've created
becomes really valuable," he said aloud to himself.  He talked aloud because he
knew nobody could hear him.
  Walking by an abandoned car parked in the dirt off the road, he stuck his
head inside of the trunk and saw the owner had neglected to replace his spare
tire.  Lots to see and lots to talk about but nobody to talk about it to.  Yes,
death was truly going to be an extraordinarily uninteresting non-existence.
  Then it occurred to him.  "Wait a second...  If I am dead, why do I have
memory?  Memory is a tangible aspect of a brain--if which no longer exists,
neither does the memory," Australis said aloud.  "And how come gravity is
holding me down?  I should be floating around."  The superstition of what being
dead is like was nullified completely by his realization that he did, in fact,
exist.
  "That gun Ginara used on me...  That somehow made me invisible to everybody,
and made it so nobody can hear me either," Australis said to himself.  "But why
am I passing through things?"  If he weren't dead, this sure was a convincing
way to make it seem as if he were.
  "I've got to get a message to the others," he said to himself.  "Hm.  How?"

   Hills and mountains created many valleys in dimension twelve of the giant
planet Jupiter. The red dirt covered ground was the result of changes in the
atmosphere.  Changes caused by the repeated volcanic explosions, also making
in the many caves from the flow of lava.  Higher up within the ground, water
from the strange clouds above, turned to steam and produced smoke vapor from
the cracks in the ground caused by earthquakes.
  In a rock quarry where a volcano had probably blew up a mass of land, the
team of four Astrorangers--pink VenusAstro, white MercuryAstro, black
SaturnAstro, and red MarsAstro had arrived.  They all looked in various
different directions while spreading out.
  "Just remember, you guys--they've still got that weapon," SaturnAstro said.
  MarsAstro nodded.  "I know."
  "Why do I get this sinking feeling that this is another trap," VenusAstro
asked.  "This all seems apart of an elaborate plan."
  SaturnAstro nodded.  "I know; it seems like they've been ready for us so far.
Watch your backs guys--that centaur cyborg is around here somewhere."
  MercuryAstro pointed.  "Yeah, like--right over there!"  Galloping towards
them was Cyborg Centaur which had drawn its sword.
  "Celestial Weapons!" MarsAstro commanded.  "FireSword!"
  SaturnAstro held out his weapon.  "BattleScythe!"
  "PowerStaff!" MercuryAstro said drawing his white weapon.
  VenusAstro's weapon gleamed as she posed with it.  "Sonic Boomerang!"
  Four mighty legs used its hoofs to carry Centaur head first to where they had
stood. The cyborg came between the team forcing them to leap apart, two by two.
The red Astroranger rolled clear with SaturnAstro and both leaped into the air.
In the sky, they attacked, aiming their weapons ahead.
     Cyborg Centaur turned its sword sideways, using the blade to block
their weapons.  Centaur jumped up and used its front hooves to push down
the Astrorangers.
  MercuryAstro swung his PowerStaff into the side of the beast and it
used its sword to block the strike.  Centaur turned around and sliced
up to knock his staff away.  The cyborg struck down and MercuryAstro
used his staff to block the strike.
  Cyborg Centaur turned around and used both rear-hooves to kick
MercuryAstro down.
     In the sky, VenusAstro body-flipped through the air; she landed on
the back of Cyborg Centaur and grabbed its mane.  Centaur jumped
around, jerking the pink Astroranger around while it tried to throw her
off.
  "Woah!  Man you're strong!" she said while being tossed about.
Eventually, Cyborg Centaur threw her off.  VenusAstro hit the ground
and rolled over; MarsAstro came to her side as she got up.  "You okay?"
  "Yeah, but watch out for those hooves," she said.  He nodded and got up.
     MarsAstro and Cyborg Centaur clashed swords and Centaur knocked
MarsAstro's sword away.  The red Astroranger blocked the downward swing
of Centaur's blade and turned around to kick its sword away.  He swung
down making his blade spark off its leather-like chest armor.
  Cyborg Centaur knocked away a second attack and struck back causing
MarsAstro's uniform to spark.  He hit the ground and rolled over many
times.
  "This guy is big but he wont last for ever," MarsAstro said.  The others
helped him up.  "Lotia, your Boomerang."
  "You got it!" VenusAstro replied; she hurled her arched stick into the air.
     Cyborg Centaur grabbed the bowstring on his bow and pulled back
which caused a beam of light to form between the bow's arc center and
its fingers. When that beam became a special looking arrow, Centaur let
it go.  The arrow zipped into the air.
  In the red sky, sparks shot out of the Sonic Boomerang as the arrow
knocked it out of the sky.
  "You broke my boomerang!" VenusAstro shouted.  Cyborg Centaur pulled up its
two front feet and started galloping towards the Astrorangers again.
  "Uh oh," SaturnAstro warned.  "Here it comes again!"  Centaur charged while
it fired another arrow.
  A dust cloud burst from the ground when the arrow hit the red dirt;
somehow, MercuryAstro managed to tumble forth and leap into the air.
In the sky, he had prepared to tackle the centaur.
  Cyborg Centaur fired another arrow into the sky and the white
Astroranger's uniform burst with sparks when hit with the sharp arrow.
  MercuryAstro hit the ground and the other three came running up to
him from behind.  He pulled himself up while breathing heavily.  "He's too
fast!"
  SaturnAstro looked worried.  "Oh I wish Australis were here!"

    In Griffith Park--Australis, in his invisible state, walked right,
proceeding further west towards the main road again.  Down the trail, he passed
a child walking with his mother.  The boy looked up as if he saw something.
Australis, out of habit, looked back because he looked at him but remembered
that nobody could see him.  Strangely, though, the boy saw a _very_ faded image
of a person standing there.  He stopped and his mother stopped as well to look
at him.
  "What's the matter, Jonathan?" she asked then looking in the same direction 
as her son.  She saw nothing.
  "There's a man there, mommy."
  She was confused.  "I don't see anyone, are you sure?"
  "You can't see him, he's invisible," Jonathan smiled and said.
  She chuckled and smiled too.  "Okay," he acknowledged; attempting not to
patronize her son.  They walked away but Australis was intrigued.  ``Now I know
I'm not dead.  Unless that child can see ghosts,'' he thought to himself.
  Australis exhaled.  "No, I feel my internal organs.  I feel tired from
walking around this 3,000 acre park."  He shook his head and continued walking
with his hands in his pockets.  "I'm definitely not dead but it would help if I
had a clue about how to make contact.  I need a way to tell Commander Leto that
I am in trouble."  He took his hands out of his pockets and looked at his see-
through fingers again.  "BIG trouble."
     More time elapsed and he came upon the observatory.  Walking through the
gate, bordering the parking lot, he wondered around trying to think.  Suddenly,
he came upon a Los Angeles police car; with K-9 Unit painted on the rear door.
Australis wasn't sure if this was Officer Tenmei's car but he didn't know that
there are only 20 K-9 units in all of LAPD.  Who else'd be at the observatory?
He'd walked a little over a mile to get here--Australis owed it to himself to
take a closer look.
  Coming up beside the Crown Victoria, he recognized Tenmei's pet Siberian
Huskey; the dog was asleep with the windows rolled down so the dog, King, could
get some air.  Australis wondered quickly why Beverly was here.  The likelihood
she is aboard the SpaceBase was quite high which indicated trouble.  There is
no reason an _on-duty_ police officer would leave her post to come to the aid
of his friends unless they were in danger. Suddenly, it all became so clear.
The Nazitans faked his death so that they would be short one member.  If they
can't kill the Astrorangers, they will make us disappear instead.
  "No way.  They're not going to take us down that easily," Australis said.
"They're going to have to finish the job if they want us out of the way."  King
had waken up after strong thoughts from an unknown source began to permeate his
mind.  King was confused beyond belief--he _felt_ somebody near him but he knew
not where this presence emanated from because he could not see.  Fearfully, the
dog stood up in the back seat and started barking.
   People elsewhere in the parking lot turned their heads and noticed the noise
but did nothing.  Australis looked around nervously hoping that nobody would do
something to King--he needed this animal.  King would be his only link to the
outside world.
  "Heh, if nothing else, this proves one thing," Australis said as he pushed
himself through the rear left door of the police car.  "I am definitely not
dead."  He looked at the nervous dog looking around frantically.
  Australis got inside of the car and carefully sat on the seat.  "It will only
be a matter of time before Officer Tenmei returns and drives somewhere with
King.  If she takes King with her to our house, maybe Beverly will catch King's
cues and Lotia will pick up on my mind as well."  King calmed down somewhat as
he sensed the presence was not a threat.
  "Lotia is obviously not on Earth, or else I'd be able to contact her.  Which,
I bet, is exactly how those diabolical Nazitans arranged this nightmare."

     On the ground, horse hooves pounded the red dirt; Cyborg Centaur was
charging ahead yet again in the twelfth dimension of Jupiter.  The pink, white
black and red Astrorangers there had noticed Centaur was aiming to try and
enter the cave at the foot of that mountain to their left.
  "Guys, we gotta keep him away from that cave," MercuryAstro pointed and said.
  "What do you think we're trying to do?" MarsAstro asked. "This is easier said
than done."  Running between the two sets of Astrorangers, Centaur used its
sword to knock VenusAstro and MercuryAstro down in a blast of sparks.
  "Oogh!!" VenusAstro screamed.  "Here it comes again!"  Cyborg Centaur turned
around and galloped towards the last two.  MarsAstro was blown down with the
blade of its sword sparking off his uniform.
  SaturnAstro jumped out of the way and tumbled onto the ground.  The black
Astroranger suddenly found himself directly in the path of the galloping cyborg
when it ran into him.  SaturnAstro held on as his body was dragged backwards
over the ground while holding onto the cyborg.
  MarsAstro was joined by his white and pink suited comrades and looked at each
on both sides when they arrived.  "We gotta help Nashiran!  Moleculatom
Weapons!"  All three swung their arms through the air, wrapping their gloved
hands around their belt's holsters.  They drew the weapon and held it out in
front of themselves.  "Fire!"  Three beams of electricity caused sparks to
burst from the thick-skinned cyborg's hide.  Cyborg Centaur jumped and dropped
SaturnAstro in the process.
  He rolled over several times until he stopped--MarsAstro helped him up.  "You
okay?"  The other two had joined them.
  "You'll know when you get dragged several yards at thirty miles and hour."
  MercuryAstro clenched his fist.  "We're never gonna get this guy on foot!  We
need speed."
  "The HydroCycles," VenusAstro said.  "They're onboard the AstroShuttles!"
  MarsAstro nodded.  "Alright.  AstroShuttles--Dispatch HydroCycles!"  Cyborg
Centaur was galloping forth when suddenly towers of sparks exploding had
surrounded the beast causing it to stop immediately.
  The four flying motorcycles were coming in for a landing.  SaturnAstro
pointed at where they were.  "There they are."
  MarsAstro nodded.  "Let's go."  After the red Astroranger charged away,
Cyborg Centaur put its sword away and prepared for attacking with bows and
arrows.
  The four Astrorangers rode side by side after the galloping cyborg on their
red, white, black and pink motorcycles over the red dirt ground in the
mountainous desert area.
  "Engage Moleculatom Guns," MarsAstro said.  He pushed a key on his terminal;
in the front panel of the motorcycle, a tube door had opened and a machine gun
barrel had extended from the inside.
  "Guns online," SaturnAstro reported while reading his color display.
  MercuryAstro nodded and radioed back.  "Target is in position and locked."
  "Open fire," MarsAstro commanded.  The four motorcycles had beams and bolts
of light flying out of barrels beside the headlights above their front
tires.
  Fireworks had exploded in front of Centaur however in a massive leap,
Cyborg Centaur had jumped into the air.  It flew overhead in the sky
and its hooves landed in the dirt yet again as it continued galloping.
  It was its turn now--it pulled back on its bow and shot and arrow ahead.
  "Scatter!" SaturnAstro shouted--all of the motorcycles pulled away as a tower
of sparks exploded.
  Cyborg Centaur made a right turn and fired an arrow into the side of
white HydroCycle's front tire.  A tower of sparks exploded in front of
the white HydroCycle and MercuryAstro was tossed into the air.  He took
a hard tumbled into the ground, unable to stop rolling over at high
speed with his bike following.
  VenusAstro driving ahead looked behind herself.  "Messuta!!"  She looked
ahead again and accelerated.  Cyborg Centaur drew its sword while galloping
towards her--head on.
     They passed each other and a blast sparks knocked VenusAstro was
knocked right off her seat when Cyborg Centaur's blade struck her
uniform.  She hit the ground and didn't move at all.
  MarsAstro drove beside the black HydroCycle and reached out, "Lotia!!  Damn
it."
  SaturnAstro looked over at the red Astroranger and clenched his fist.  "I'll
get him!"  He had sped up, driving the black HydroCycle out in front.
  Centaur pulled the bowstring back causing light to form another arrow
and let go.  SaturnAstro pulled his bike up and used the force of the
blast from the explosion arrow to jump into the air.
  SaturnAstro, riding his black motorcycle, was coasting through the sky over
the fire ball bursting behind himself so Centaur stopped and shot another arrow
into the sky.
  Sparks exploded from SaturnAstro's uniform and he fell from the black
HydroCycle landing on the ground.  Both he and his bike crashed into the
ground.
     MarsAstro pulled around to stop the red HydroCycle, its wheel
kicking dirt in the process.  He looked to his side directly at Centaur,
pointing at the cyborg.  "You're gonna pay for what you did to Lotia and
Nashiran."  He started up the turbo-charged engine on his HydroCycle
and drove the motorcycle in the opposite direction to gain some
distance.  Cyborg Centaur stood still thinking the red Astroranger was
retreating.
     In the distance, a flash of red light emanated from the barely
perceptible MarsAstro.  He was on his red HydroCycle driving forth at
what must have been 90 miles per hour with his FireSword in hand.  He
aimed it with the point ahead of his bike.
  Cyborg Centaur had also gained top speed while galloping with all the
power it had.  He'd drawn the sword from out is back-mounted sheath and
pointed the sharp tip ahead of itself.
  It was MarsAstro verses Cyborg Centaur as they were coming together
at speeds now almost exceeding at least one hundred kilometers per
hour.
  SaturnAstro had come to but jumped in shock as he'd witnessed what
they were about to do.  "Sheratan!  Don't!!"  He was fast realizing
what a burdensome position Australis had as second in command.
  VenusAstro had held onto MercuryAstro's shoulders in suspense over
the mounting tension.  Soon, however, it would be all over...
  When they were about to ram one another--the sword of Cyborg Centaur
had made impact against the white logo in the red Astroranger's uniform
and sparks had exploded upon contact.  MarsAstro was knocked backwards
off his motorcycle.
  "Sheratan!!" VenusAstro screamed.  The red HydroCycle's wheel had
spun freely while laying on its side next to MarsAstro.  His uniform
smoking, he'd lain motionless.


                                                           TO BE CONTINUED    


Next week on Galaxy Task Force Astroranger. . .

Cyborg Centaur is inches away from taking the Solar Spheres lying helplessly
within one of the many tunnels underneath the surface of volitle Jupiter, in
the twelfth dimension.  Australis will need to hunt down Centaur through the
maze underground; but will he be restored in time in Episode 36: "The Return
of JupiterAstro"?


[624]
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and Ishimori Productions.                                               [TV-PG]
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