[970827]
                                                                      [Preview]
Never in her worst nightmares would Beverly find herself trapped within the dim
and grim confines of the Nazitan's outpost underneath the surface of Pluto.  It
is more frightening than she could ever assume in today's episode, "Abduction!"

                                                                  [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:

     Under the ice covered world of Pluto, the Nazitans' outpost sat within the
subterranean caverns artificially installed by their battleship.  Inside of the
main chamber--Pleadia stood before Adol who paced in front of his throne. Being
in mid conversation, he dared interrupt him.  "Adol the Great, forgive me, sire
but believe this is a venture worth pursuing!"
  "The Astroranger task force will no doubt retaliate if we take their prized
yellow EarthAstro ranger," Adol replied.  "I am not as greatly concerned with
that as I am another problem.  I wanted you to work on making the collection
of solar spheres we already have function for us."
  Pleadia nodded.  "I know that, but preliminary tests already show that we, in
fact, need the others."
  "Well that's just great then," Adol sarcastically said while returning to his
throne.  "We would stand a better chance of building better, new, more powerful
weapons and perhaps present the next class in Armaton soldiers and cyborgs as
well.  But!  It all relies on even having a fraction of this Genesis power!!"
  "Trust me, if I have the second female Astroranger, right here, I will be
closer to uncovering the secrets of the task force than ever before," Pleadia
tried to convince.  "We also stand a better chance of making her into a hybrid
host of Nazitans.  The possibilities here are probably a great many and all we
have to decide is which one is best for us."
  "Mainly like going to her to find out where the remaining solar spheres are,"
Adol annoyedly said.  "Okay, Pleadia--have it your way.  But I am warning you,
I want that Infinitum Genesis Ring and if you or anyone else causes me the loss
of that, be prepared to face dire circumstances."


                                  Episode 40:
                       "Abducted! Beverly's Darkest Day"                      

     Tom noticed it was unusually hot and humid in Los Angeles suburb of Los
Feliz that late November mid-morning.  In front of his house in the Hollywood
hills, he rolled the green trash receptacle down the driveway ramp, between the
yellow recycling bin and black trash bin for pick up the next day.  A new
looking neon green compact Toyota drove up the road before parking across the
street from their house.
  Tom had pulled a rag out of his back pocket and wiped off his forehead before
noticing Sara getting out of her car and walking across the street.  He smiled
at her and walked half way up the walk towards the house.  Sara had caught up
with him.  "Hey, Tom."
  "Hi, Sara--would you like to come in?  It's out here."
  Sara shook her head.  "No, thanks.  I wont be but a second."
  "Really?" he said mildly surprised.  He stopped walking to the front door and
looked at her.  "So what brings you here?"
  "I missed you and I wasn't getting any work done because of that so I thought
I might come up here and pay you a visit," Sara smiled and answered.
  Tom was surprised even more.  "Well I'm glad you thought of me.  Where do you
work?  It isn't far is it?"
  "That isn't important; the drive only seemed long to because I couldn't get
up here soon enough," Sara replied with a grin.  "I'm not too far from here
anyway, at least, not according to my odometer," she chuckled nervously still.
  "So how come you were so inspired to come up here so fast anyway?" Tom asked.
  Sara took a deep breath and stepped closer to him. "Close your eyes, I have a
surprise for you."  Tom squinted with a suspicious grin.
  "Come on, don't make this hard for me," Sara playfully pleaded.
  Tom looked confused--as usual.  "Ah all right, but I don't understand what.."
  Sara rolled her eyes, "Just close 'em."  He stood there and closed his eyes;
she grinned and thought, ``Took him long enough.''  Putting her hands on his
chest, she began kissing him softly and his eyes opened with confused surprise.

     Inside of the Nazitan outpost underneath the surface of Pluto--Adol stood
upon the steps to his throne looking at Tortan and Ginara.  "As soon as we
detect movement within the Astroranger task force in an attempt to recover the
human the Armatons are abducting, you will go to Venus to retrieve its solar
sphere, Ginara."
  Tortan steps forth.  "Sire, please.  She has undergone a considerable amount
of distress regarding her most recent mission.  I should go in her place!"
  "Very well," Adol conceded.  "Just be sure that you will not fail me.  For if
you do, the consequences will not be delicate."
  "I stand a greater chance at success without the Astrorangers getting in my
way," Tortan told him.
  Adol nodded.  ``That's the only way he could succeed,'' he thought.

     Across the shoreline at Venice Beach, the coast was spotted with rainbow
colored beach blankets, umbrellas as well as lots of people in brightly colored
swimsuits.  In a plain yellow bikini, Beverly found herself led away from the
pier by her brown husky, King.  In a blue bathing suit, Sasha joined her on the
walk.  "How were you able to spend a day at the beach?"
  "The K-9 unit has longer weekends so I get today and Thanksgiving Day off,"
Beverly answered.  "They're still trying to fix the A/C in my car, so I'm glad.
This is a real hot day."
  "Yeah," Sasha replied.  "It's a little overcast, though."
  She looked over at her and smiled.  "This is a good thing, Sasha.  Now we can
avoid swimming."
  "'fraid you'll lose your top in the water?" Sasha joked.
  "No, that's not what I care about" Beverly refuted.  "I just swim badly."
  "What?" Sasha reacted.  "Didn't you take lessons?"
  "Sure I did.  Me and the water just don't seem to get along," Beverly replied
when she stopped for a minute.  "Like right now.  I need to use the restroom;
I'll be right back."
  "Okay, I'll be where you see the big Amtrak novelty blanket," Sasha informed
her.
  She chuckled and nodded.  "Okay.  Be right back," she turned her head to talk
to her dog.  "Come on, King--let's go, boy."  The dog barked happily as the two
of them had walked up the sand away from the shore.
  They began to come upon an area with very few people.  King became nervous
but Beverly was too preoccupied with finding the ladies' room to notice when
her ring started glowing.  It caught her attention but much too late when, in
the sky, Armaton soldiers--armed automatons--somersaulted overhead in opposite
directions and out of sight.
  Landing all around her in a circle; Beverly was instantly surrounded by the
warriors.  King started barking with fierce anger at the threatening soldiers
but they were oblivious to the dog.  Meanwhile, Beverly looked all around and
tried to figure out what to do.
  "Can't AstroCharge; Sasha isn't too far away," she complained.  "Gotta take
these guys as I am!"  Beverly watched the eight soldiers zig-zag after her as
she assumed her EarthAstro fighting position.  "This is going to be ugly."
     One black soldier cartwheeled in and high-shin kicked Beverly.
After blocking with her palms, she dropped to low spin-kick it's ankles.
  It tripped over while Beverly back flipped away from another high
spin-kicking Armaton.  Landing again she roundhouse-kicked its fist
away and grabbed it's arms.
  Holding both arms, she knee-kicked the soldier in the abs, threw off
its arms and double-punched its abs as well.  Stunned, the Armaton
found itself being knocked over into the sand when Beverly punched it.
     King started barking and Beverly noticed an Armaton attempting to
spin-kick her.  Thanks to his notice, she was able to duck and then
knock it down with her swinging fist.
  Beverly turned around and kicked away a karate chop.  She chopped its
abs and used her elbow to hammer its back.  "Thanks, King!"
  An Armaton's fist came swinging at Beverly and she caught its fist.
Attempting to flip the soldier, the automaton ended up on its feet
again.  "Uh oh!"
  The Armaton pushed her hand off of its own and side-kicked Beverly in
the chest.  She fell into the sand and saw an Armaton falling out of
the sky to pin her down.
  Pushing up her lower back by her hands, Beverly used both bare feet to hurl
the automaton's body over herself.  And while two Armatons were running after
her from behind, the one flying out of control knocked them down.
  She pushed off her hands and onto her feet again.  "Man, I gotta get rid of
these things!" she said looking behind herself.  King barked again and Beverly
turned around to find sand thrown up in her face.
  "Augh!" she shouted while blinking and waving her head around.  "I can't see!
This hurts!!" she hissed while attempting to clear her eyes.  "Man!"  She heard
Armatons come near so she tried punching and kicking but missed both times when
they grabbed her arms.
  "Cowards, let go!  This isn't fair!!"  Beverly could see again, though her
eyes still hurt, and found two soldiers approaching.  The two of them started
getting in easy-punches to Beverly's stomach.
  King couldn't stand it anymore, watching his master get beat up, so
daringly, he lunged after the gang of black soldiers.  He bit the ankle of an
Armaton soldier and used its canine teeth to hang onto its leg.
  "Good work, boy," Beverly commended.  She jumped up and, using the Armatons
holding her arms to carry her weight, she used both feet to push down
the other solider punching her.
  An Armaton standing by had found the dog and shot at it from its
rifle.  The dog ran into a tower of sparks exploding in front of
himself.  Overhead, his body flew through the air.  Hitting the sand
again, the husky had slid to a stop and didn't move.
  "King!!!" she shouted.  "You stupid idiots!!"  Beverly got her right arm free
and used the back of her fist to knock the Armaton down.  Using the same fist,
she struck the one holding her left arm in the forehead.
  The Armaton with the rifle shot down Beverly and sparks broke out of
her left bikini strap knocking her into the sand.  Beverly grabbed her burned
shoulder while the soldiers came and picked up all four of her limbs.
  "Put me down, damn you!!" Beverly started yelling.  The soldiers carried her
away and vanished into a bolt of lightning that smoked the sand.  Meanwhile, in
the sand not too far away, King lied still but was still breathing.

    In the Hollywood hills where the Terranian house stood--Will waited for the
microwave oven to chime.  When it did, he removed a blueberry muffin from the
inside when he noticed Dave come in through the back door.  "Hey, Da..."
  "Hi, is Amy home?" Dave asked.
  Will shrugged.  "Where've you been all day?"
  "At the gym.  Trying stay in shape, keep busy..."
  "Stay distracted," Will finished for him.  "Dude, you can't use activities to
get your mind off of her."
  "Who says?" Dave countered.  "Just so you know, I talked with a woman at the
gym today who was very charming."
  Will grinned.  "A human woman, Dave.  What ever happened to those standards
of yours?"  Will left while eating his muffin; Dave followed him out of the
kitchen.
  "Oh, come on, Will--give me a break!  I'm trying to do something that's very
hard here," Dave whined.  "At least you could be a little supportive.  If I try
and stay with Amy, it could spell disaster--I've gotta get over her."

     It was dark, warm and humid; laying on her right side, she felt a cold and
flat surface under her sweat-slick skin.  Beverly's head rested on her arm when
her eyes fluttered open.  Looking from side to side, her head came up while she
pushed her sore body upwards.  Her black, short-cut but messed, sand-covered
hair had fallen around her ears while slowly pushing her sore body up off the
metal she layed on.  Metal?!  She jerked and looked around at her surroundings.
  Beverly's bare back contrasted strongly against the thick metal bars that had
boxed her in the cage that was suspended above the floor.  "Oh my God!" Beverly
cried out.  Her face quickly came upon the bars in front of her while her hands
gripped them.  "Hello!?  Hello?!" Beverly called.  "Let me out of here!!"  She
looked down and noticed her hips were bare.
  "Man," she whispered.  "Get me out of here!!"  Beverly shouted while rattling
the cage.  A sound to her right caught her attention when she sat back onto her
heals.  Igan walked through the dimly lit chamber and raised the level of
lighting.  "Pleadia," he called in the Nazitan language.  "The female
Astroranger has awakened."  Beverly watched him just about leave when she
started shouting at him.
  "Hey!!  Hey, who are you!?" she asked.  "Answer me!!"
  ``I am Igan and soon you will meet Pleadia who will administer your
examination,'' he replied telepathically.  After saying so--Igan left the room.
  She looked at him anxiously.  "What!?  Examination??  What are you gonna do
to me?!"  Igan left without a word.
  "Damn!" she sighed, sitting back in her cage.  Beverly looked around and then
braced her wrist in preparation to do something.  "I need out of here--now."
  She brought up her right fist.  "ChangeF...  No!" she gasped.  Beverly's fist
was devoid of her golden ring with the jade genesis gemstone on top.  Pleadia,
just entering, looked at her and communicated telepathically, "Did you _really_
think I would let you keep that just so that you can escape? I worked very hard
to bring you here."
  Beverly stood on her knees holding the bars.  "Where am I?!"
  "You, my patient, are at the Nazitan's outpost located beneath the surface of
the planet you call Pluto," Pleadia answered as he pushed a few buttons on the
wall causing it to revolve.  On the other side was an electronic panel with
four cuffs.
  Beverly started to panic but tried not to show it by being confident.  "We
can't be on Pluto, Nazitan; we are billions of miles from the sun, it'd take us
years to get here not to mention we would freeze to death."
  "Primitive earthling, your technology could not approach what we have
accomplished in deep space travel," Pleadia replied.  "Regardless, I have you
here for a very special purpose."
  "Visual aid for your self-amusement?" she asked.  "(Aheh.)  Not interested."
  Pleadia walked up steps behind a wrap-around console facing her cage.  "Your
nudity is only to ensure my equipment will not do any unnecessary damage by
being forced to work extra hard," he told her while typing.  "If possible, I do
want you in the best condition for what I need you for."
  "You've yet to answer for that," Beverly mentioned. "What am I 'needed' for?"
  "You will provide me with invaluable information about your species and the
Astrorangers," Pleadia answered.
  Beverly eyed the equipment behind her and then looked at him.  "And just what
do you plan to do to get me to talk?"
  "I don't need your words.  Because you're a sentient, sophisticated race with
a mild sign of intelligence, you can exhibit elementary levels of deception,"
he answered.  "I will extract the information from your mind."
  She had every reason to believe he was telling the truth despite how sheerly
impossible that had sounded.  "You can dig as deep as you want, Pleadia, there
isn't anything you can get from my memory!"
  "The subconscious mind picks up more information than you could possibly sort
through," Pleadia told her.  "Your brain can perceive information that you
normally screen out."
  "This is so morally depraved, it's sickening," Beverly scorned.  "All I have
to say is that you better never let me out of this cage.  Otherwise, I'll make
you wish you were never born!"
  Pleadia nodded.  "Duly noted.  Armatons," he signalled.  Instantly, black
soldiers filled the chamber and took Beverly's cage off its chain, setting it
on the ground.  They surrounded the metal box while Pleadia continued working.
  Up against a wall, silver cuffs chained Beverly's wrists; Armatons held her
bare feet in place as the metal cuffs bound them too.  She looked up at each of
her wrists while trying to pull them out of the rings.  Beverly's attention was
quickly diverted when a strange tube ascended from the floor that was directly
pointed at her.  Along its shaft, gray segments lit up sequentially towards the
tip when it was activated.  The low hum indicating the high levels of energy
running through the unit, she began to breath deeply from nervousness.
  Pleadia noticed her stomach pumping from her breathing hard.  "Do not be
alarmed.  This unit is not designed to induce pain."  Designed to; whether or
not it did was up to whether or not it did induce pain, Beverly thought.  While
breathing deeply, sweat started forming a sheen on her chest above her bosoms.
Beverly noticed the low hum in the machine begin to raise its tone.
  The sequential illumination of the device began to accelerate when Pleadia
looked at monitors on his wrap-around display, each showing a different layer
of her physiology:  Outer tissue, nerve system, muscle network, arteries and
veins, skeletal structure, torso cavities, internal organ and glands.  One
monitor displayed many meter bar graphs and line graphs showing information
about her brain with a dialogue box periodically displaying "top priority"
information transmitted by her brain.
  "Fascinating.  It is remarkable that you are only using ten percent of your
total neurological capabilities," Pleadia commented.  "It is no wonder you are
so easy to defeat."
  Beverly trembled of anger.  "You are never going to get away with this,
Pleadia.  So help me, if my friends don't stop you--I will!"
  Pleadia looked at her sharply.  "Conserve your strength, Earth creature.  You
will require as much of it as you can manage once you feel your mind going into
cycle. Involuntarily sifting through your memories recorded since the beginning
of the year."
  Beverly looked at him and all around herself as the probe began to produce a
wide but thin transparent ray of red light that began to roll over her skin.


 ACT II:

     The following morning in Los Feliz, the Hollywood suburb of Los Angeles; a
doorbell had sounded inside of the house there.  Amy walked through the living
room and opened the door.  On the front portch were the two familiar L.A.P.D.
detectives.
  "Hello, Miss Leven; in case you've forgotten, I'm Detective Kathy Sanchez and
this is my partner Frank Mahoney," she'd introduced.  "We were wondering if we
could come inside."
  Amy appeared bored.  "What for?"
  "We'd like to ask you a couple of questions," Frank answered.  "May we?"
  "Why do you need to come inside?" Amy asked.
  Kathy sighed.  "Okay, look.  One of our officers have failed to report in for
duty and we have reason to believe you might know where she is.  You and Tenmei
are friends."
  Amy nodded.  "Have you tried calling her?"
  "Yes, Miss Leven--there's no answer.  Not even from her cellular telephone or
pager," Frank replied.  "Listen, if you know where she is, give us a call at
213-485...  Oh wait, here's our card."
  Amy took his card and looked at it and then at them.  "I'll see what I can do
fellas."
  "Thanks, we appreciate it," Kathy replied.  The both of them walked away, Amy
closed the door and walked away.  She was a lot more concerned than she let on
because she didn't need them giving her a hard time. "I better check this out."

     A yellow sun shined in the clear blue sky spotted by large white fluffy
clouds.  A bird-like humanoid flew through the air when it landed on the ground
and began walking towards another of his type.  The city, resembling a shopping
mall, seemed to be made out of plastic though everything was strong as steel. A
monorail train ran between levels providing for high-speed land transportation
in this dimension of Venus; the sixth dimension of the planet.
  This outdoor mall city was occupied by many different types of birdmen and
women who spoke in a language of high-pitched, echoing sounds.  Meanwhile, a
sealed area outside of the city was a industrialized site.  Huge tanks had long
transparent tubes connected to gigantic machines with probes lodged within the
ground.  Near by, a monorail passed by the site; onboard, a young birdman had
looked at an adult bird-like woman sitting by his side.
  In his own language, he said, "Mother--that looks just like the water we swim
in and drink.  How are they getting it out of the ground?"
  "There are underground wells that have a more pure source for this water.  It
is very valuable because they use it to make medicine," she replied.  "There is
something about the walls of the ground underneath the surface that purifies
the water which comes in from the ocean."
  Huge metal crafts that resemble stealth bombers with tanks inside began to be
filled up by their form of water.  This was a massive complex because they had
to supply this substance to the entire continent.
  In the sky, Tortan somersaulted overhead and out of sight.  Landing in the
field, the workers saw the metallically-armored samurai-styled warrior running
after them.  One birdman took a double take as they saw it.  "Monster!" he
shouted.  "Call for protection!"  An alarm began to sound and Tortan stopped to
look at them.  "Oh drat.  A civilization; just when I thought I was home free."
  The mine shafts were not far away as they would be his pathway to the Venus
solar sphere far beneath the surface of the planet.  "This better not take very
long."  Tortan ran towards the service elevators that were used by the crew to
replace probe vacuum heads but then a chain lasso was tossed through the sky.
  Standing there were 12-foot tall exo-robots being piloted by the bird people.
The ExoGuard with the lasso connected to its wrist began to real in the chain
in that was holding Tortan's neck.
  He gripped the chain and sent an electrical arc of electricity along the
metal link.  This blue light cracked sparks off the white metal surface of the
one robot. The other one made two loud steps forth and fired two beams of light
from the head lights on its chest.
  Tortan rolled over through the air as the black smoke rose from the dark
yellow sparks burning from the ground.  Hitting the ground, he stood up and had
brought up his sword while leaping into the air.
  Tortan came down out of the sky--upon landing, he struck down and his blade
sparked off the exo-robot that shot at him.  He turned around and slashed the
one approaching from behind.  Tortan also took down one on each side as well.
  More closing in started firing at Tortan; two towers of sparks exploding had
no effect on him whatsoever as he used the jewel in his sword's guard.
  "Sword of Procyon!" he shouted.  "Thunder Crack Attack!"  A wide ray of light
narrowed down into a beam of purple energy shooting from his sword's base.
  One ExoRobot burst into flames, another one fell over after sparks erupted
from the ground near it.  Another ExoGuard was also destroyed after the beam
pushed through its shell, causing it to explode.
  Workers jumped up and flew away from the fields with black smoke pouring out
of hit equipment catching fire.  Emergency rescue teams began to show up in
cone shaped vehicles that hovered about picking up the injured.
  Tortan nodded with satisfaction. "Good, they are retreating."  It wasn't over
yet as Tortan was suddenly surrounded in multiple exploding towers of sparks. A
fleet of ExoJet fighters, the bird-like men in flying armor, came in and fired
dual bolts of light into the ground at Tortan.
  Sparks popped out of the white sandy ground as Tortan ducked back.  "This is
beginning to get annoying!" Tortan growled. "Armatons!  Breech their defenses!"
In the sky, the black soldiers somersaulted overhead and out of sight in
opposite directions.
  Landing in the mining fields, they pulled out their rifles and opened fire at
the ExoJets.
  The silver, hawk-like exobots spread out; one of them fired back.  A bolt of
light impaled one Armaton as it instantly exploded.  More kept firing back into
the sky. One of the ExoJets were hit in the wing and went down.  Falling out of
the sky, it hit the ground at an angle, disintegrating and exploding on
contact.  A new squadron of ExoGuards came stomping back and Tortan pointed his
sword.  "Go Armatons, destroy the creature driven robots."
  The black soldiers started to fire upon the ExoGuards.  Harmless sparks
resulted from the cyan pellets bouncing off their armor when they fired yellow
bits of light back.  The sparks that burst out of the chest of the soldiers
took them down instantly.  Meanwhile--other Armatons dismembered ExoGuards with
the blade on their rifles.  Tortan knew this would not end soon.

     Synchronously orbiting the Earth's moon in its dark side was the sphere 
shaped opal space station.  Onboard the SpaceBase--Commander Leto walked away
from one of the stations on the right wall.  "I've finally located the Jade
GeneGem but I've got some bad news."
  "It's a good thing you told us about this when you did, Lotia," Australis
said to her.  "Where is it, Leto?"
  "And how come it took so long to find it?" Nashiran asked.  "Is there any
sign of Beverly herself?" 
  Leto shook his head.  "I can't find her but her ring is in an odd location."
  "Well, Commander," Sheratan urged, "spit it out."
  "It's located approximately four meters below the surface of Pluto."
  Messuta was shocked.  "Pluto?!  How'd it get WAY out there?"
  "I have no idea but what's even more of a puzzle is why there's an artificial
atmosphere being maintained by a cloaked generater located near the surface,"
Leto reported.  "I'd say it's likely that Beverly may have been taken there."
  "We need to go there and find out," Sheratan told everyone.  "Pluto is far so
we'll need to get going right away."
  Nashiran frowned.  "I'd hate to state the obvious here but this smells like a
trap.  I mean, what easier way to lead us to this way out place to be killed is
there other than abducting one of our team mates?"
  "I know but as usual, we have no choice.  We just have to be ready for what
they've got waiting for us," Australis answered.  "I bet they were looking for
the solar sphere over there and ran into something so horrible they thought
they'd use it on us."
  "Maybe," Lotia muttered.  "Or maybe they're going to try and turn Beverly
into one of their slaves again."
  That thought frightened Sheratan more so than what Australis had thought.  "I
say we go one way or the other; just to get Beverly out of there and find out
why her GeneGem ring is on Pluto."  Red columns of light lined the corners of
the walls when an sharp sound was heard.
  Messuta walked up to one of the stations on the right wall and started typing
when he turned up a grid-like chart on screen.  "The computer just now realized
that Tortan has entered Venus' sixth dimension."
  "No doubt looking for the solar sphere there," Lotia replied. "I wonder why
they waited so long to get to that planet?"
  "Maybe they wanted to try for the spheres we had before potentially losing
another to us in battle," Messuta figured.  "Even though somebody needs to be
on Venus, we'll need as many of the team as we can take to Pluto if we expect
to survive the Nazitan's base of operation."

     In Downtown Los Angeles at LAPD Headquarters, Parker Center--Kathy Sanchez
returned to her desk with Frank Mahoney in the office.  He looked up at her and
stopped filling out forms.  "Well, what did you turn up?"
  She shook her head with concern.  "I couldn't find anyone who could tell me
where Beverly was last."
  Frank wasn't content to let this go.  "What about her friend, Sasha?"
  "I had to go and convince Pacific Bell to let me have her unlisted number. No
easy feat," Kathy answered.  "I called her but wound up with a machine."
  "Hopefully, she'll call you back," Frank said to her.
  "It's as if she dropped off the face of the planet," Kathy replied.  "I sure
hope the Nazitans didn't get to her."
  Frank sighed.  "I'm sure Tenmei would not just leave without saying anything.
I've heard stories about Beverly being one of the few women here that would not
accept defeat or obstruction."
  Kathy nodded.  "She fought to be on the force."
  "Indeed.  Which is why I'd like to see her back," Frank replied.   Suddenly,
she came marching into the office--Sasha Castillo.  Neither Kathy or Frank had
seen her before.  Frank stood up and looked at her.  "Can I help you?"
  "I've called the desk 99 thousand times already and your personnel hasn't
told me squat!" she scolded.  "I wanna know where the hell Beverly Tenmei is."
  Kathy put her hands out.  "Calm down, Miss..."
  "Castillo, Sasha Castillo," she announced.  "Detective Sanchez, I do not want
to disrespect you, your department or work at all but I am worried beyond
belief that Beverly is out of contact from everyone that I know."
  "I know," Kathy informed.  "We too have lost track of her."
  "What?!?"
  "We're right next to having a search party look for her.  Do you know where
Beverly's last where abouts were?" Frank asked.  "We've been trying to contact
you."
  "But I already told your offic...  Never mind," Sasha said.  "We were at the
beach; Venice Beach.  Beverly and I took a walk while she walked her dog King."
  Kathy took notes.  "Uh huh."
  "She went to the bathroom and then when I went to look for her, all I found
was her dog, lying in the sand," she uttered tragically.  "Detective, I _know_
something had gone on there.  I had to take King to the vet for burns."
  Kathy looked at Frank.  "Sounds serious."
  "Sasha, we're gonna do everything we can to find Beverly," he assured. "You
have been very helpful."
  Sasha took a pen, a piece of blank paper from her purse and started writing
on the desk.  "This is my number.  Call me when you hear anything, okay?"
  "We'll let you know as soon as we do," Kathy said, taking the paper.
  Sasha nodded.  "Thank you."  After she left in the same hurry she arrived in,
Frank looked at Kathy as if he didn't know what they were going to do.

     Underneath the surface of Pluto within the depths of the Nazitan outpost,
Beverly hung from cuffs confining her to a steel wall.  Hair fallen over her
sweat-glazed face, she was close to unconsciousness after the intense psycho-
probing Pleadia had performed.  He sat in his wrap around booth monitoring the
displays surrounding him in his station when looking up at her.  ``Smart; they
seem to have taken great pains to withhold the information from even their own
members about the location of the solar spheres.''
  "Why do you torture me, Nazitan?" she asked, words masked with heavy
breathing.  "Either kill me or give me a fair chance to fight back!"
  Pleadia ignored her bravado.  "Resting will restore your vitality, human.  In
the meantime, you will await phase two of my operation," he telepathically
replied.
  Beverly didn't like the sound of the word 'operation'. "What are you going to
do to me now?"  She could almost swear he stifled a laugh under his breath.
  "You are a masochist, Earth creature.  Nazitans would prefer not to know what
is going to happen to them in situations of danger," Pleadia remarked upon
standing up.  "Your mind will drive you insane with anticipation, but,
nevertheless; a request will not go unheard."  Beverly felt as if she'd really 
put her foot in her mouth then. Pleadia walked down the steps out of the booth.
  "You are not like the dozens of thousands of Humans my Armaton soldiers and
cyborg warriors had abducted; you seem to be a hybrid of a completely different
form of Homo sapien unlike anything I have yet to see," Pleadia said--taking a
few more steps closer to Beverly.  "See, the wonderful thing about what I do is
that I get to roam the galaxy and personally sample what's out there instead of
being stuck on Procyon III to study what is there."
  "Pleadia--ever think of going into research as a way to _help_ people??"
Beverly asked.
  Pleadia nodded.  "I am helping people.  I'm helping my people.  You see, our
species has been in existence for millions of years and we have had hundreds of
thousands of years of civilization in those millions of years to make us the
grandest race in the galaxy.  Now that our kind are going extinct for reasons
not even our science can explain, we are creating hybrid Nazitans out of other
races."
  "You can't do that!  Other species have a right to exist as well.  What if a
more powerful civilization came and took your populous to make them extend your
life span?" Beverly asked.  "You're time of existence is probably up and nature
is dictating that you must leave this universe to clear the way for a new form
of life to enter this galaxy."  Pleadia turned around to look at her sternly.
  "Such as the way of animals--may the best one win.  Just like every form of
life in this universe you speak of, we are exercising our right to continue our
existence," Pleadia said.  "Everything that anything does will _always_ come at
the expense of another form of life.  When you eat, you kill a plant or animal.
When you build property upon the land, you destroy apart of nature.  Some parts
of life are here to destroy others to continue living."
  Beverly shook her head.  "No, Pleadia. It doesn't have to be that way. Unlike
the animals, we are intelligent, thinking beings!  We can cooperate so that we
can discover new ways of remaining in existence in _harmony_ as well," she told
Pleadia.  "Can't you see?  War is not the way."
  Pleadia looked down hopelessly. "I would never expect you to understand this,
Earth creature, for your severe lack of intelligence leaves you short changed;
there is no possibility of our two societies working together," Pleadia said.
"The Nazitans would be insulted we are working _with_ the very creatures some
of them believe _deserve_ to die for being a waste of the precious resources we
require to exist."
  "That's what education is for.  You say your so-called civilization is that
advanced yet they are so primitive as to be prejudice against us.  Even if we
are primitive in comparison to your technology and level of intellect, they say
on my planet--two heads are better than one.  What you can't see, we can."
  Pleadia looked up. "Our mission to this solar system consisted of using every
valuable aspect of your race, Human.  Any sort of meager intellectual insight a
human we might have would be extrapolated in much faster time than sitting down
and asking them how to save our species."
  "Maybe not but we could share knowledge.  Since our people think in two very
different ways, what you know with how we think could serve to be more valuable
than you assume," Beverly told him.  "There is always a better way."
  "Silly earthling, it would take centuries for your people to even begin to
grasp the basic concepts of our technology," Pleadia replied.  Approaching the
chart on the wall, he pointed.  "You will most certainly need to begin using a
lot more than just one tenth of your brain to just get started.  Could you
promise to our unconvincing governments that--just like that, the entire Human
Race could radically transform, overnight, to stop the threat of our forces?"
  "If given the chance," Beverly said.  "The Earth is a very different world in
the light of the Nazitan's invasions.  Some would be willing to give it their
best effort to try and understand how to help if they knew that's all you
needed."
  Pleadia walked back up to Beverly.  "The simple fact of the matter is--even
if you were to talk me into believing that your infantile civilization would
help, there would be hundreds of my superiors to flatly refuse," Pleadia said.
"And then, they would probably execute me for treason.  I'm afraid I value my
life more so than that.  So, in light of that, my mission orders me to begin
phase two of this operation."
  "Which is?" she asked again.
  Pleadia turned around and walked back to his booth, stepping up the stairs to
enter his workstation.  "As mentioned before, you are unusual in very useful
ways.  It would be within our best interest to attempt breeding Nazitans from
your physiology."
  "Breeding?" Beverly asked resistantly.
  Pleadia sat down and looked at her.  "A few test runs will be initiated after
I have made the necessary biological alterations.  Then once it is proven you
are able to sustain the births, you, in your new Nazitan state, will be cloned
and modified electronically to correct potential genetic defects."
  "You have this all figured out, don't you, Pleadia?" Beverly rhetorically
asked.  "Tell me something, genius:  What about my memory?  My personality;
where will this all fit into your elaborate scheme to transform me into your
prized Nazitan hybrid?"
  "Your consciousness will be placed in an inactivate state.  You will know and
see what is happening but feel nothing and be able to do nothing as well," he
answered.  "Should we decide to incorporate you in with our civilization, we'll
re-educate you from the ground up to be one of ours."
  "You should hope that works, Pleadia," Beverly told him.  "Because if I ever
remember the day you did this to me, you will die.  I swear it."
  Pleadia, sitting in his station, looked at Beverly a long while; he sensed
both a strong fear of what was going to happen as well as an overpowering rage.
She, too, looked at him while breathing deeply--the fear beginning to re-awaken
the need of what she had left Sasha to do the previous day.
  A stone-faced expression was impressed upon Pleadia as he stood up from his
raised station.  "Armatons," he uttered.
  Beverly looked all around herself as the dark caverns leading to the chamber
became occupied by the black automatons marching in.  Her head looking from
side to side nervously, Beverly looked at Pleadia with shock while he left the
chamber to prepare for the operation.  Even though it were perfectly logical
that this was going to happen; she still couldn't believe that--this would be
the end of herself.  Beverly Tenmei would cease to exist.
  Armaton soldiers took her naked, energy depleted body off the wall, nearly
collapsing into their arms.  They lifted the exhausted lady upwards as a chain
from the ceiling lowered.
  Beverly's sore red wrists were again attached to metal cuffs connected to the
chain on the ceiling, leaving her to hang by her arms.  The automatons left the
chamber as the lights went dim again.
  Alone again in the darkened chamber, Beverly would now know what lies in
store for her in the short few moments to come.

                                                           TO BE CONTINUED    


Next week on Galaxy Task Force Astroranger. . .

The battle team makes the daring journey to Pluto to save Beverly's life while 
VenusAstro take on Cyborg Juryok sent to back up Tortan on Venus, in search of 
its solar sphere in Episode 41: "Her Darkest Hour!  The Interplanetary Rescue"

[624]
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